Weekending: Sushi, Shopping, Harvest Party & Travel

October 22, 2013October 20, 20133 Comments

Weekends go by fast enough when you have the whole one, right? Well, getting one cut short makes them seem even shorter 😦 Even though my weekend was cut short, I feel as though I was able to do a lot of fun stuff during the time I did have!

Friday night, I went to Douzo Sushi in the Back Bay. I had never been there before, but I was pleasantly surprised by both the atmosphere and the service/food. We sat right at the sushi counter which was fun because we got to watch the sushi chefs do their magic. I had a glass of Cava to start… nothing like bubbly to kick of the weekend!

We got the garlic-spice edamame (holy crap SO SO good. I want to try and recreate this at some point), a few signature rolls and some sashimi pieces. Yum!

Isn’t sushi presentation the best?!

Saturday started with a workout and then some shopping, which was really just a reason to exchange a pair of shoes. There was a Chipotle in the mall so I treated myself to a chicken burrito bowl for lunch. Delish!

My friend Nikia and her boyfriend, Kyle, had a Harvest Party at their gorgeous home in New Hampshire, so I headed north on Saturday afternoon to attend. It was only about an hour trip- love that. No surprise that Kia had the place beautifully decorated!

I was driving back home to Boston that same night, so I had a few glasses of bubbly at the start and then switched to water.

They had games set up outside and I had forgotten how fun it was to play corn hole, beruit, etc. Steve and I (well, mostly me… apparently I’m good at corn hole?!) killed it at corn hole!

Per usual, Nikia had an amazing spread of food.

Thanks for a fun party, Kia!

I made it back to Boston in no time at all and ended up watching the Sox game… I don’t watch sports, so I am glad I picked Saturday’s game 6 game to watch.

Sunday morning was spent blogging, catching up on some TV shows, filming something fun for an upcoming post and getting ready for an afternoon of travel. I love that most airports have Wi-Fi because it allows me to get work done.

I hope you’re having a good week so far, I’m hoping to be back tomorrow with a really fun Wednesday Workout post.

Questions for you: Do you like sushi? What is your favorite sushi restaurant? Favorite drinking game?

Weekend Catch-Up: Babysitting, Lunch at Cafeteria, Lulu Shopping, Sushi, Beach

July 16, 2013July 14, 20131 Comment

All last week I kept looking ahead to my weekend and felt great that it was literally wide open! However, by the time Friday rolled around, pretty much my entire weekend was booked; does this happen to anyone else? Since I am a planner, this isn’t uncommon for me, but it still made me laugh to see how quickly I turned an open, no plan weekend into a relatively busy weekend!

After I taught on Friday, I headed to Newton to babysit Trent and Lila. I met their mom, Renee, back when we used to take yoga every Monday together. I have been babysitting for them for over 3 years at this point; crazy to think it’s been that long! I always have a blast babysitting because the kids are great, it’s fun to catch up with Renee, and because they always have the best snacks and trashy mags for me to read after the kids go to bed 😉

Not a bad way to spend the night! Plus, babysitting money is my Lulu money, so you wanna know shopping was on the agenda for Saturday.

I let myself stay in bed until 9am on Saturday since I didn’t get home until 1am. I originally had plans to go to BodyPump, but realized that my body was exhausted and could use the rest. After I got up, I went to the Christmas Tree Shop and then Target to stock up on things for my trip this week. While I was at Target, I ended up getting a bathing suit for $22!! Love a good deal!

After errands, I showered and then my sister and my friend Lauren and I went into the city and had lunch at Cafeteria. Weekend lunches out require cocktails, right? And, it’s only fitting for me to have a glass of bubbly 😉

To eat, we ordered 3 sandwiches and shared amongst ourselves.

I got the black bean burger, but I’ll spare you the picture since it wasn’t very pretty. Everything tasted great, though!

After lunch, we walked over to the Lululemon. I went with the mission to get a colored pair of spandex shorts, but they only had black ones in my size. Boring 😦 I ended up finding a pair of HOT PINK capris (on sale!) and a bright lime green top instead. I can’t say I was disappointed about my purchases.

Don’t worry, I won’t wear them together 😉

In addition to my new outfit (I am SO excited to workout and wear them now- such a great motivator!), I finally got a new gym bag. I have been on a hunt for a new gym bag for MONTHS, so I’m stoked that I finally found one that I like. It’s really big so it’s perfect for my “work to gym” days (aka, every day).

I love it so much already!!

After shopping, Lauren and I got much-needed pedicures. It’s the little things!

Once we got home, I was absolutely beat and did something I NEVER do: napped! I had dinner plans at 7, but knew I had about an hour that I could allot to napping, or at the very least, resting. It felt great!!

Dinner was at Yoki, which I’ve blogged about on here once or twice before! The sushi is amazing and the Celtics roll is literally the best roll I have ever had!!

Mmmm 🙂

We were finally graced with a really sunny day on Sunday, so Lauren and Danielle and I decided to go to the beach! We went to Nahant, and it was already jam packed at 10am. Even though it was a beautiful sunny beach day, it was almost TOO hot.

Nonetheless, we lasted about 3 hours and then grabbed lunch at Tides, which is right at the start of the beach.

I got a Teriyaki Grilled Chicken Wrap on a whole wheat tortilla with a side of steamed broccoli. I loved that they had healthy, yet yummy, food options!

To counteract my healthy meal, I enjoyed a Blueberry beer!

There’s just something about an ice cold beer that quenches thirst unlike no other. Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels this way!

Once we got home from the beach, I did some pre-blogging for the week (have a few guest blogs for you- get excited!), cleaned up the apartment, did laundry and went to the grocery store. Since I will be away most of the week, I just grabbed some fruit and a salad to eat with the other half of my wrap that I got at Tides. Danielle and I did walk to get an ice cream. I was craving one bad! We ended up sharing one since they didn’t have kiddie sizes.

Phew! That was a long weekend recap; if you made it this far, thank you!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite hot weather treat? What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Ever been to Nahant beach? What is a MA beach that I have to try?

PS!! Check out the size of this summer squash that I picked from my garden!!!

what do you think I should make with it?!

Something Weird is Going On… And, I’m Sick- Again!

June 28, 20137 Comments

Hey B2B readers- Happy Friday! It would be a happier Friday for me if I wasn’t so sick 😦 On Monday, I started to get that “oh boy, I may be getting sick” feeling and sure enough, I was awake most of Monday night with post nasal drip and an itchy throat. From there, it turned to just a sore throat, to a sore throat with sinus pressure and now I have it all, including a cough that kept me up for 3 hours in the middle of the night last night! Needless to say, it’s not fun, especially since I was supposed to go to a going away party for one of my favorite Dynamax members at a fun bar in Southie that I’ve wanted to go to for ages! And, what was going to make the night even more fun was the fact that I DON’T have to teach tomorrow morning!! This is the first weekend in a while that I have totally off- no teaching, no traveling, nothing. It’s a great feeling, I just wish I felt better! I think my body just decided that since I have a relatively open weekend, it was a good time to get sick- makes sense, right? Who knows!

Anyway! This week has been much less busy than last week! I called my mom when I left work on Monday and said I wasn’t sure if I felt like going to the gym, but it turns out, I must have wanted to go because I went and had an awesome workout! Only 10 minutes of rowing cardio throughout the whole thing- the rest was all weight training-focused and I loved it! Tuesday I subbed for Athena’s class at the Oak Square YMCA; I was finally able to make it for a “two-a-day”, but I think that’s what got me more sick:( Wednesday I taught, but didn’t do much of the workout and yesterday I taught and only instructed in SHRED and taught the low-impact version of kickboxing.

After kickboxing, my friend Meaghan and I met for sushi at Yoki in Cambridge since it’s only a block from my gym. I thought about cancelling because I had no voice, but we were so long overdue for a sushi date that I decided to keep the plans. So glad I did! It’s always so nice to catch up with Meg, especially since she had so many fun wedding updates to share! Thanks for a fun night, Meg!

Something Weird is Going On…

So, as I said in my title- something really weird has been going on: I haven’t had dessert in over a week! I know, if you’re anyone who knows me and knows how much I LOVE sweets, you know that me going even a day with no dessert is unheard of! Now, I’m not saying I have a huge ice cream sundae every day, but I’ll have a few bites of a cookie after lunch and dinner and always a couple bites of ice cream at night.

Last week I had a weird stomach thing going on all week, so the thought of sweets created a huge aversion for me. This week, even though I don’t have stomach issues anymore, I still haven’t craved sweets and therefore, haven’t eaten them. And, you know what? I have survived!!! It’s so interesting because I always said that I could never give up sweets- like ever! But, it turns out, I never really NEEDED those sweets after every meal. I think it had turned into a habit, thus making me think I wasn’t satisfied until I had a bite of something sweet to finish off my meal.

With this being said, I am by no means “swearing off sweets”, I am just going to be more mindful of eating them. I think I’ve made it clear that I am not one for diets or restrictions or anything like that; I firmly believe in the saying “everything in moderation” when it comes to food. But, with that said, I never needed as many as I ate, so it actually feels good to not crave them all the time. I am a little nervous, though, because what if as soon as I have a bite of something sweet, I revert back to my crazy sweet-tooth ways?! Has anyone else ever gone through anything like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Questions for you: Have you heard of a lot of people getting sick this time of year? Have you ever given up food that has been hard for you to give up? Do you have a big sweet tooth?

Weekending! Harpoon Fest, Sushi, Sonsie, Friends

May 21, 2013May 20, 20134 Comments

Before I get to my post scheduled for today, I wanted to take a minute to say how much Oklahoma is on my mind. Seeing the images on the news that the tornadoes caused makes me speechless. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who have been impacted by these tornadoes. Absolutely heartbreaking.

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Hi there! How is everyone doing?! I had a super busy weekend, but it was really, really fun! My friend, JP, was in town for the weekend (he is my former coworker/BFF and is moving to Chicago at the end of the month), so it was fun to get to hang out with him, as well as some SMC ladies.

Friday

I was pretty busy with work on Friday, but I was able to make some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Bread during my lunch break. I don’t know where I got the recipe (definitely from a blog, but no idea which one), but mmm it came out so tasty!

I talked to my college girlfriends and realized that it was Harpoon Fest, so some of us decided to go. Although it was a little chilly on Friday evening, it was still a fun night!

(Do you follow me on Instagram, yet?)

Saturday definitely would have been the better day, weather wise, but I’m still glad we were able to go! Around 9pm, we all decided we were all pretty chilly and decided to head out. We joined JP and some of his friends for another drink at Dillon’s.

Knowing that I had to teach kickboxing at 10am the next day, I kept myself in good control and even drank a plain club soda while at Dillon’s… shocking, I know! But well worth it. There are some classes I could teach while being tired and a little hung over, but kickboxing is certainly not one of those!

Saturday

Kickboxing was a blast! There were not as many people as usual, but I blame that on the weather. Saturday was absolutely beautiful and had I not been teaching, I would have gone for a nice run outside!

When I got home from kickboxing, I worked in my garden a little bit. I had a few more things I wanted to plant and my dad was nice enough to give me 3 more bags of soil, so it felt good to knock that off of my “to-do” list, while still working on my tan 😉 And, the sun went in just as I was ready to eat lunch. Perfect timing! I sautéed some broccoli and summer squash and then added in an egg, scrambled it up, topped it with goat cheese and served it as a wrap. Easy, healthy, yummy.

Perfect fuel to clean the apartment, actually. Danielle was around to help, so we split up the different areas of the house to clean and got to work! By the time we were finished, I was exhausted, so you know what I ended up doing? NAPPING. If you know me, you know that I NEVER nap, so this was pretty crazy. I passed out for a solid 45 minutes and only woke up because ~~I was drooling everywhere~~ my sister told me it was time to shower. Luckily, I wasn’t groggy or anything, because that is the worst, and part of the reason why I don’t nap.

After we were ready, we headed to Joshua Tree in Somerville for a cocktail and snack before meeting up with my friend, Lauren, for sushi. Davis square was hoppin’! There was some sort of sidewalk/porch band festival thing, too, which seemed pretty cool. I love how the spring weather makes people venture out and about. I got a Sangria, but it was awful so I didn’t finish it. Boo 😦

For dinner, we went to Fuji in Kendall Square since I had a Groupon that was just days from expiring.

While we perused the menu, we enjoyed some edamame and Sauvignon Blanc. $26 for the bottle. Ummm amazing.

I ordered a Spicy Tuna Roll, which was only OK. It seemed like it had tempura mixed in and I wasn’t a fan of that. Everything else was delicious, though, especially the company and free valet parking 🙂

After dinner, Danielle and I went to Sonsie to grab a drink with JP since it might be the last time that we see him before he moves to Chicago 😦 The city was very much alive and I loved it! Sometimes it’s nice to have a reminder of how wonderful it is to be able to live in Boston. I think I take it for granted far too often, so last night was nice to soak it all in.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I went out and had fun with friends, had some great adult bevvies, and was able to enjoy Boston. Sunday was the icing on the cake as I was totally in my element at the Wellness By The Water retreat. I’ll do a full post dedicated to my experience there later this week, but I’ll say that it was awesome.

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you go to Harpoon Fest? Did you go out dancing (mom, I know you did!)? Drink any fun, summer-ish cocktails?

Scenes from Saturday

May 19, 20134 Comments

Good morning! I am about to head out to spend the day at the Wellness by the Water Retreat, but wanted to pop in and show you some scenes from yesterday! Enjoy!