Weekending: Birthday Celebrations & Decorating for Christmas

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.

IMG_3213

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.

IMG_3217

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.

IMG_3223

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!

IMG_3220

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?!

IMG_3232

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.

IMG_3234

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!

IMG_3236 IMG_3237 IMG_3238

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!

IMG_3243 IMG_3249

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!

IMG_3253

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!

IMG_3254

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!

IMG_3258 IMG_3259 IMG_3260

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 ๐Ÿ™‚

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

IMG_3261

And that about wraps it up!

Questionsย 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?

Weekending: Margarita’s, Birthdays, Puttering…

Last weekend was so much fun! It was a good mix of social events, fitness and relaxation. I was able to hang out with a number of different groups of people, which was a nice treat.

Friday

Friday night, I got together with some of my gym friends (Athena, Ashley, Jen and Stephanie) at The Painted Burro in Davis Square. I didn’t get a picture of us, but I got a picture of the food and margarita’s, which is just as good, right? ๐Ÿ˜‰

IMG_6445 IMG_6446

Have you been to the Painted Burro? Holy crap do they have amazing margaritas AND tacos. I got the zucchini one and the Mahi Mahi one.

Unfortunately, I ended up being double booked on Friday, so I had to leave the girls after dinner to make it into the city by 10 for my friend Keefe’s birthday at The Brahmin. I hadn’t been there since my birthday and was quickly reminded of how much I like it there! It was great to see so many friends from home and I’m happy to report that I only had 1 wine while I was there because I didn’t want to be hung over for kickboxing.

IMG_6447 IMG_6453

Saturday

After a sweaty and packed kickboxing class (love having my A team in the front row ๐Ÿ™‚ ), I treated myself to a Skinny Chai Tea Latte and shopped around Target, of course buying impulsive treats…

IMG_6450

IMG_6451

Since I had absolutely NO food in my apartment and wasn’t about to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach (worst idea ever), I swung by Panera Bread for some soup to warm me up!

IMG_6452

‘Twas a nice little Saturday afternoon ๐Ÿ™‚

I was tempted to stay in on Saturday night, but my upstairs neighbor, Lisa, invited me to join her and some friends at the Back Bay Social Clubย and since I didn’t have any reason not to go (I’m trying to be better about going with the flow and being spontaneous), I took her up on her offer. I quickly made a pizza and got ready. I’ve been doing straight hair a lot lately, but since I didn’t have time, I opted for an up-do. With curly hair, I don’t even have to use a sock or bun maker to make a nice looking bun- I love it!

IMG_6454 IMG_6455

Sunday

My first thoughts on Sunday morning: Holy hamstrings! I couldn’t believe how sore they were from kickboxing. Good thing yoga was on the agenda!

IMG_6457

I love Exhale spa SO MUCH. Seriously. The locker room alone is worth the cost of the classes- gorgeous showers, sandals, robes, razors, combs, lotion/gel/hair spray, etc. It’s such a nice treat since I’m so used to crappy gym locker rooms at the Y and the BSC.

The rest of my Sunday flew by, which is always a little disappointing. I changed the sheets on my bed, cleaned, prepped my lunches/salads/snacks for the week, blogged… and next thing I knew it was time to start cooking!

IMG_6476

Yes, that’s the most delicious lasagna- I’ve got to share the recipe with you!

And that’s about it. I finally got to get caught up with writing a bunch of posts that I’ve had drafted for a while, so be on the lookout for some good recipes, workouts and a few other things this week!

Questions for you: Where is your favorite place to do yoga? Where is the best margarita in Boston? Where is your favorite place to go out in Boston?