Tag: Target

Weekending: Birthday Celebrations & Decorating for Christmas

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Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend. Although we did lots of Christmas-y things, it sure didn’t feel like Christmas with 50-60* weather all weekend. I’m not complaining, though, I’m sure we will have freezing temps and snow soon enough!

Before we recap, I want to wish my sister a very happy birthday!!! I hope you have a great day! xo

Friday

I really wasn’t ready to head right home after work on Friday so I texted my friend Jessi to see if she wanted to meet up for a drink on my way home. Lucky for me, she was around and willing to meet up! We met at Assembly Row and puttered through Home Goods before grabbing seats and some vino at the Legal Seafoods bar.

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I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home to get stuff for dinner: quesadillas! We had chicken we needed to eat and I was in no mood for a boring chicken and veggie meal. I feel like Fridays should be fun meals, not boring standard meals.

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We used Ezekiel wraps, chicken thighs I had baked earlier in the week, freshly shredded Gruyere cheese and veggies. I plan on writing these up in a post of their own because they were that good!

Saturday

It was my Saturday to teach and it was fun because there were lots of friends in class! I can tell winter is coming because each week my numbers continue to increase.

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We had a rare Saturday where both RM and I were around with no real plans. He took advantage of it by starting to study for his broker exam and I started to do some decorating. Since we loved the quesadilla’s so much, I offered to make them again for lunch!

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Later in the afternoon I popped over to Target to stock up on some household items… $85 later and multiple things I didn’t “need”. How does that store always do that to me?!

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We decided to get our Christmas Tree later in the afternoon. RM’s family always gets their tree at Russo’s in Watertown so we went there. I was totally impressed! The tree wasn’t cheap, but it just seemed to much healthier than the ones I’ve previously gotten at Home Depot so I didn’t mind spending the money.

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My sister was celebrating her birthday on Saturday night at The Brahmin so RM and I decided to head in a little early and grab some sushi at Red Lantern since it’s right next to The Brahmin. We got bubbly, spicy edamame, avocado salad, a spicy tuna roll and a salmon avocado roll and everything was fantastic!

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Once we got word that my sister was at The Brahmin we headed over. It was such a fun night- I definitely drank more than usual and more than I probably should have, but I don’t go out like that very often so it’s all good. We laughed, we danced and we took birthday shot shots- so much fun!

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RM and I were both craving pizza when we left, but we couldn’t find an open pizza joint so we ended up at Tasty Burger. I had never been and I have to say, although the burger was good, it wasn’t as good as Shake Shack! RM refused to share with me and made me get my own… two bites in and I decided I didn’t want a burger so we ended up taking it home, haha the fries on the other hand? Those were totally hitting the spot!

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Sunday

We slept in (no surprise there) and had a nice lazy morning. I whipped up some healthy pancakes and then went back to Target to get a new tree stand since the one I’ve had for a few years apparently had a big crack in it and leaked all of the water we added to it… so not fun!

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The rest of the day was spent decorating, food shopping and taking a stab at making Rosa’s sauce. I had a few bites and it definitely isn’t as good as hers, but it’s still pretty good!

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It’s been so fun decorating “our home” and getting our first Christmas tree together! We have so much fun living together that I sometimes still feel like we are playing house 🙂

For dinner, we had some paleo slow cooker wings that RM threw together- they were fantastic!

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And that about wraps it up!

Questions for you: Did you do anything fun this weekend? Have you gotten your tree and/or started decorating for Christmas? What’s the best meal you had this weekend? Any fun drinks or Christmas parties?

Five on Friday {11.20.15}

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Good morning- Happy Friday 🙂 I know I’ve said it before, but I’m having so much fun writing these “Five on Friday” posts because I can pull any weird tidbit of information I want and one of you can usually relate to at least something in the post so I’ll chalk that up to a win 😉 Also, I’m not sure if this means I have a problem or not, but when I originally typed “win”, I typed “wine”… hmm…

Anyway- on to this week’s Five on Friday!

1. Roasting a chicken- Two weeks ago, I roasted my very first chicken. It came out so good, I decided I needed to make it again for when my parents came down this past Sunday. RM and I agreed that my second one came out even better than the first! The best part? It’s such an easy meal to prepare! All you have to do is pick what veggies you want (we are veggie happy so we did Japanese sweet potatoes, regular sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and onion), chop them up, season your chicken with salt & pepper (I also used Herbs de Provance because that stuff is amazinggg), place some lemon slivers under the skin and then top with a few thin slivers of butter, which creates a nice crispy outer layer.

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2. Friendsgiving- I haven’t ever been a part of a “friendsgiving” so I am SO excited for the one we are doing with my college girlfriends tomorrow. We are all responsible for bringing various things, like Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes for me, and of course lots of vino 😉 I might also try to make some homemade cranberry sauce- anyone have any good recipes for this?

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3. Yoga strength- As I mentioned on Tuesday I had the opportunity to take a bunch of yoga classes last week. I shared some things I learned throughout the various classes I attended and today I’m totally loving Yoga strength. While it may not feel like the same type of strength as weight lifting, to hold poses, go from high to low plank and do arm balances it requires an incredible amount of strength, especially core strength.

4. New sneakers- There’s nothing better than getting new shoes, amiright?! And, for someone who loves all things fitness apparel related, I especially love getting new sneakers. I’ve tried out my new Saucony running sneakers a few times this week and I have to say, I’m diggin’ them. I like the way my Mizuno’s hug my feet better than the Saucony’s, but the Saucony’s feel more stable when I’ve used them to train in which is great for Wednesdays when I usually run and then teach my class.

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5. Target holiday things– Umm, how amazing is this shirt?! When I saw it, I knew I just HAD to get it. I see myself most definitely over-wearing it 😉

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And that does it! I hope you’ve all had a great week and have a great weekend planned out. Chat with you next week 🙂

Questions for you: Have you done a friendsgiving before? What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish? What brand of sneakers do you run in? Have you bought any Christmas things yet?

Weekending: October Sunshine

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Hi there! How are you? If you have today off, don’t tell me… not only do I have to work but I have to go INTO the office. Monday’s are usually my WFH day so it’s a very weird start to the week!

Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was great- a good mix of celebrations, relaxing and productivity. I’m absolutely loving this warm October weather and after a gloomy day on Friday, I tried to soak up as much of the sunshine as possible throughout the weekend.

After work on Friday, I went to my sister’s apartment for vino and pizza. The traffic was TERRIBLE, so it was so nice to be able to relax with drinks and laughter and good convos!

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On Saturday, after kickboxing class, I was able to run some much-needed errands and decided to grab lunch at Panera since I was out. Have you tried their lentil-kale bowls? Pretty good!

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We decided to head into the city in the late afternoon and hit up the new Uniqlo in Faneuil Hall. While it was a big chaotic, I did score this vest for $39 instead of $59! I’ve been wanting a light down vest for a long time and I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this.

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After shopping we stopped in at Back Deck for cocktails and a snack.

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We also stopped at a coffee shop on the way home and they had the most AMAZING sweet potato pumpkin pie macaroons I’ve ever had. We stupidly split this, but I could’ve eaten 5 of them myself!

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The rest of the night was very low-key and looked a lot like this:

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Do any of you watch Ray Donovan? RM had gotten us both hooked on it, which is weird for me considering I hate violence and it’s a very violent show!

Sunday was a perfectly productive day! We had breakfast and then went to Target and Whole Foods before doing some major cleaning and food prep back at home. Also, Whole Foods has the prettiest bouquets- and sometimes you just need to buy yourself flowers 😉

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The weather was too gorgeous to be inside all day so I took a break from house work and cooking and went for a quickie 5K run. The weather was so perfect!

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I made some oat bars, soup and the most delicious stuffed acorn squash- I love going into the week with a whole bunch of good, healthy food!

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Oh, and the BEST part of the weekend? RM’s mother stopped by and gave us our engagement gift, which is something I have literally waited my whole life for:

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The funniest part was that I had been talking about Kitchen Aid mixers all weekend! I can’t wait to put this to good use- she said she loves using hers for her pizza dough, so that means I need to get the recipe AND give it a try 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the weather? Did you do anything festive? What’s your favorite kitchen appliance?

Currently I’m Crushing On {Part IV}

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I go through phases for things I’m loving. Whether it’s fashion, food or fitness, I tend to be really into something for a while and then once I get sick of it, I move on to something new. I’ve share some other things I’ve been crushing on here, here, and here. But it’s time to share some new things I’m loving- most are fashion related, as that is currently something I’m really into- enjoy!

  • These Lululemon casual pants- I don’t remember what the name of them is, but I got them on super sale and LOVE them! So comfy.

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  • Skinny Jeans and Wedges/flowy tops (Shirt is from a boutique in Kennebunkport, jeans are J. Crew and shoes are Lucky Brand)

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Continue reading →

Weekending: Moving, moving & more moving

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Yup. Moving was the jist of my weekend starting on Thursday night. I keep telling everyone that moving to a new floor in the same building is just as hard, if not harder, than moving to an entirely new building! Instead of packing things up and doing a few big trips, I ended up not packing and just making a million trips up and down the stairs every time I needed something. It was a bad way to go about the move, let me tell you that!

After a few hours of strenuous moving on Thursday night, I had a glass of wine then treated my helpers to pizza and wine from Santarpio’s.

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#prioritiespeople Clearly wine is the first thing that should be in a fridge. Booze helps moving suck less 😉

I hadn’t been to Santarpio’s since my birthday weekend, and boy was I craving it! Per usual, Santarpio’s did not disappoint. Look at these bad boys!

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My parents came down on Friday to help my sister with her stuff (she’s moving in with me for a few months), so I rushed home after work to join the party. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in and saw this beautiful bouquet of flowers from RM. For those of you who don’t know, he’s actually my landlord and that’s how we met 🙂 Last year, when I was just his tenant, he knew I was nervous about moving and surprised me with a bottle of wine and little note in my fridge. This year, as my boyfriend, he left flowers… I’m a lucky girl!

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I took a quick break for dinner (we ordered from Jeveli’s) and continued working until 8:30.. yuck! It was fun having my parents around, though. Dad broke in my new deck, I toasted to the new apartment and we all indulged on delicious food!

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I didn’t sleep a wink on Friday night, so I was up and making trips up and down the stairs at 7am on Saturday. This wasn’t a good idea before teaching cardio kickboxing! I was such a space cadet in class 😦 and tired- physically really tired!

Once I got back, it was nice to do some more organizing and a few additional trips. My downstairs neighbor, Lauren, came up for wine and snacks later that evening- it was such a fun night! It felt weird to sleep at home by myself on a Saturday night, though… and even more weird to wake up on a Sunday and have a quiet place to myself… I took advantage of it and watched tv and blogged. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve done that! I was even able to eat lunch out on my deck- such a beautiful day.

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The rest of Sunday was spent moving the final pieces of stuff from my old place, cleaning it and doing the last bit of organizing in my new place. I went to Target and picked up some new curtains and a lamp- what do you think of the place so far?

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I finally decided it was time to put together some dinner. Salads have been making me gag lately, so I knew I needed to prep enough food to bring for lunch and eat throughout the week. Since my dad brought me all these veggies, I tried to put them to good use.

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I made a big ol’ batch of roasted veggies, including carrots, parsnips and onions from my dads garden and sweet potato and butternut squash (side note: I originally typed SQUAT instead of squash… i have issues) from the store. I just put coconut oil, salt, pepper and garlic salt on them and roasted them at 400* for about an hour.

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On the side, I made some stuffed peppers with the peppers that my dad gave me. I put onions, summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, black beans and ground chicken in them. SO good!

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I made some ground chicken burgers with the leftover ground chicken. Thank goodness I had wine to keep me going through all that food prep!

So, there’s my weekend. I have to say- it was really nice being around on Sunday without a million plans. My sister was gone all day, so even though I got lonely by 7ish, it was a super relaxing day where I was able to do what I wanted when I wanted. I need more days like that 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you make any good meals? Do you food prep for the week? What’s a way to spice up a salad?