Weekending: Keeping Warm!

Good morning! I had yesterday off which was such a nice treat, especially after drinking vino all afternoon at the Boston Wine Expo on Sunday πŸ˜‰ Our weekend was filled with lots of good eats, tasty drinks andΒ plenty of love to keep us warm- let’s recap!

  • A free sweetgreen lunch on Friday was a nice treat πŸ™‚ If you come to my 5:30 sweat-KICK class at Foster Fitness, you can also get a voucher for a free meal at sweetgreens;)

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  • After work drinks at Tony C’s at Assembly Square with some college girlfriends was a fun treat, but coming home to surprise early Valentine’s Day flowers and a delicious spaghetti with clams dinner was even better!

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  • I thought my kickboxing class on Saturday would be quiet because of the weather, long weekend and holiday, but there were still about 40 people who showed up to sweat with me- they killed it!
  • I did a huge grocery haul at Whole Foods after class so we didn’t have to leave for the rest of the day… which must’ve been everyone else’s plan because it was SO BUSY!

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  • I started my Box FIIT certification later that afternoon. I can’t believe how much time and energy George Foreman III put into this certification- it’s so impressive and I can’t wait to be part of the team!

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  • Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies- enough said!

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  • I slow cooked chicken all day to make pulled chicken for taco night… or what was supposed to be taco night! I was prepping the last bits of the meal when we lost power in half of the apartment, including the stove, which meant no tacos for us 😦 While the pizza we ordered was delicious, I was REALLY looking forward to pulled chicken tacos!

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  • Sunday morning we still didn’t have power in half of the apartment so we headed over to RM’s mothers to have our pancakes there. I had all intentions of making cute heart shaped ‘cakes, but these still did the trick!

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  • We bundled up and headed into the city on Sunday afternoon for the Boston Wine Expo. It was such an awesome way to spend a frigidly cold Valentine’s Day!

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  • We also ran into our friends from Tre Olive which was a fun surprise. I’ve posted about them a few times (here and here) so it was great to get to see them. Every time we went to their booth they were slammed, but I did manage to get a photo with them and they were gracious enough to give us quite the goodie bag. Seriously- look at all of the oils they gave us and the fig balsamic which is literally drinkable it’s so tasty. If you’re looking for an interesting gift to give your boss, client, parents, friends who are getting married, etc., Tre Olive has everything you’d need! Their packages make the best gifts.

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  • After the wine expo, we weren’t quite ready to stop having fun so we popped in at Rosa Mexicano for a drink and a snack. So tasty!

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  • For dinner, I was able to make the pulled chicken tacos that I couldn’t make on Saturday. I apparently forgot to take a picture, but they were fantastic!Β  I sautΓ©ed some broccoli slaw and bok choy for the base, topped that with pulled chicken and homemade pineapple salsa and avocado. We had plenty of leftovers so I made us a quesadilla last night- just as good!

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  • I had Monday off so I spent time in the morning filming some cardio kickboxing combinations before heading over to Gymit in Watertown to checkout the new Everybody Fights addition. George has been teaching a bunch of intro classes and luckily I had time in my schedule to take one. It was such a great class- very challenging and let’s face it- you feel like a total badass punching the big bags πŸ˜‰

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  • And finally, the rest of the day was spent doing more of the certification and doing lots of meal prep! Love starting the week out with lots of healthy food options right at our fingertips.

Did you make it this far? I had more to share than I thought I did! I hope you all have a great week- soak up this warmer weather while you can πŸ™‚

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Did you do any good workouts? Did you do anything for Valentine’s Day? How did you keep warm? Do you prefer quesadilla’s or tacos?

Five on Friday {12.3.15}

Good morning! I opted to not post last Friday because I figured everyone would be out shopping and not sitting at home reading blogs πŸ˜‰ I’m happy to be back today sharing five more random thoughts/things with you, though!

1. How the heck is it December already?! I feel like it was just October the other day. November completely FLEW by. Have you started Christmas shopping yet? Do you have lots of holiday parties lined up?

2. Athleta pants– I’ve been in the market for a pair of full length leggings and ended up finding these amazing Chaturanga tights at Athleta the other day so I decided to just go for it. I’m so happy I did because I’ve worn them twice so far and absolutely love them! I was originally nervous about the light gray color, but so far they haven’t been overly offensive in terms of, well, crotch sweat… sorry, likely TMI but it’s something I think about because as an instructor I’m doing everything in front of the class and hate when you can see my sweat everywhere!

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3. 1806 Candles: Home by the Fire soy melters My mom always shares her latest wax smells with me and this one is absolutely fantastic! It literally smells like freshly cut Christmas trees!

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4. Stop Trying to Be Happy this is a little bit of a long read but it’s absolutely fantastic and I really encourage all of you to read it! RM sent it to me and I loved everything about it.

5. Surprise engagement gifts- Coming home to this awesome package from RM’s college roommate (who is part of the Tre Olive family) was such a fun surprise on a cold, gloomy night earlier this week! It’s literally some of the best olive oil we’ve tasted, so we will surely be putting it to good use. I also can’t wait to try the Red Pepper Spread he sent, too. I was looking through all the other gift ideas in one of the flyers attached to the package and there are some great, affordable gift ideas if you’re looking for something for the foodie in your life.

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There you have it! I hope you all have a great weekend. I can’t wait to get our tree and decorate for Christmas- it’s my favorite time of year because it makes the house feel so cozy when it’s all decorated with lights and the tree!

Questions for you: Have you started shopping for the holidays yet? Do you have anything fun going on this weekend? What is your favorite athletic wear company? Did you relate to the article at all?

Tre Olive: Italian Olive Tree {with a discount code!}

For Christmas, RM and I got my parents a really neat gift. My parents are people who love being in the kitchen, and my dad is known as the “olive oil” king, so when RM asked if I wanted to adopt an olive tree in Italy for them, I was totally game. One of his friends from college started a company called Tre Olive, which is a company selling “100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil from olives grown in Italy, picked in Italy, pressed in Italy, and poured in Italy.” Their extra virgin olive oil comes directly from their groves in Calabria and “from tree to table, all TRE olive products are hand crafted in small batches to ensure the highest quality.”

The way Tre Olive works, is that you can adopt an olive tree from the Tre Olive grove for one year and receive a whole bundle of goodies at the time of adoption and lots of wonderful olive oil- from your tree (!!)- once the olives have ripened and are ready for picking, pressing and pouring. The standard adoption comes with the following:

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I’m Back!

Well hello, there! Remember me? I used to write a blog fairly consistently…. πŸ˜‰ I have to say, not blogging at all last week was exactly what I needed. It was so nice to detach myself a bit from social media and taking pictures and things like that. And, now I have so many posts I want to write- luckily I’m off from work this week and will hopefully have time to get them drafted.

How were your holidays? Anything fun planned for New Years Eve? Anyone else off all week? I’ve never had a “staycation”, but so far, I’m totally digging it! Let’s recap over the past week- lots of celebrations between RM’s birthday and Christmas!

To celebrate RM’s actual birthday (I threw him his surprise party a few days earlier), I took him to Eastern Standard, which is one of our favorite places. We snagged two seats at the bar and ordered up some drinks. Not only was it his birthday, but it was also the start of my very long “staycation”.

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We had a delicious meal of a pork dish, steak frites, bone marrow and oysters. Finished off with some birthday bread pudding and we pretty much rolled ourselves out of the restaurant πŸ˜‰

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We woke up on Christmas Eve and both had a bunch of things to do- he was picking up his new car (so funny we both got new cars right around the same time!) and I had to get my new watch fixed and pack for Maine. I listened to Christmas music the whole way and totally gotΒ  in the mood- match that with some bubbly and a Christmas apron and I was full on festive!

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Every Christmas Eve we throw a little party- we make homemade pizza’s, dad makes his tourtiere, people bring lots of food and we drink plenty of bubbly. I didn’t take any photos except for food and one of me- classic- but we had a good crowd!

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Christmas morning we awoke to crappy, rainy weather, but we made the best of it.

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My parents got me some fun things like new rain boots, sweaters, hair products, a Veggetti and some other random things. My sister got me a sick Reebok jump rope, Kate Spade earrings and a 3 month Birch Box subscription- have any of you done that? Roberto totally spoiled me and got me a Michael Kors watch, a Fitbit, perfume and slippers- incredibly thoughtful!

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On Friday, I hit up the gym and did Athena’s Chimney Workout followed by some supersets (will post them for you later!) before calling it a day. Athena- LOVED the workout! Post gym, I picked up RM at the train station and we did a few things before heading to my parents. We exchanged gifts (he got an LL Bean flannel! and he got my parents an Olive Tree adoption- more on that later) and had a delicious Cornish hen dinner.

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We headed back to MA on Saturday and RM and I did some returns in the city, lunch at Granary Tavern and a quiet night in with reading and a movie. Our book club book this month is Unbroken- have you heard of it or read it? I’m not a fan of anything army or military related (I know- sounds crazy, but it scares me), but so far, I’m totally hooked on the book!

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I was able to spend all Sunday at my apartment puttering, putting things away, cleaning and relaxing- it was wonderful! After an unseasonably warm run, RM and I went to Santarpios for dinner. He’s starting the Whole 30 diet/detox on January 1, so we are really living it up until then. I’m planning on doing that diet about 80% of the time.. we’ll see how it goes!

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Andddd phew! If you made it, thank you. I had so many pictures to share! I will be announcing the Happy, Healthy, Fit challenge winners tomorrow- thanks to all of you who participated!! Also on the dock this week is a recap of 2014, looking forward to 2015 and maybe even a workout? I’ve got about 3 or 4 workouts lined up for you πŸ™‚

Questions for you: How were your holidays? What was the best part? Have you read Unbroken? Are you on vacation this week? What are your New Years Eve plans?