Weekending: Friendsgiving, SoulCycle, sweetgreens & Taco Night

November 23, 2015November 22, 20153 Comments

Good morning! Well, here we are- Thanksgiving is on THURSDAY. Can you believe it?! I have Wednesday-Friday off so last night barely felt like a Sunday night knowing I only had 2 days of work before an extra long weekend 🙂 We had a really great weekend, so let’s get to recapping it!

Friday

I went food shopping on my way home after work on Friday- how exciting, right?! Once I got home and unpacked, RM and I enjoyed a glass of wine while catching up and throwing around options for dinner. We ended up walking to Bertucci’s, but sadly our meal was just OK- the pizza was just not nearly as good as I remembered it being. I hate that!

Saturday

We had a lazy start to our Saturday until it was time for me to go teach at the Y. It was a really fun class and for some reason my energy was off the charts so I hope I didn’t scare any new members away 😉

After teaching, I showered and headed to Queen Bee Nails to get my nails done. I had a free manicure coupon and decided to upgrade and get a shellac since I wanted nice nails for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving and dress shopping. I thought this color was very festive for this time of year.

Once I got home, I got busy in the kitchen. I agreed to bring Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce so I had lots of things to make! For the Brussels sprouts I just sautéed them in EVOO and added salt, pepper and 1 clove of chopped garlic. I also added pancetta which adds a great salty & crunchy combination to the dish. Athena left a suggestion on my Five on Friday post for a homemade cranberry sauce, so I checked it out and decided to make it. I loved that it was so easy to throw together! The only things I changed were adding more water, I put all of the orange peels in it and added a little bit of regular and coconut sugar because it was still a bit too tart for my liking (I think I had more cranberries than her recipe called for). It was super tasty!

In the early afternoon, RM and I got gussied up and headed into the South End to meet up with all of my friends.

Saturday night out is always more fun with leather pants on 😉

My friend Amy’s brother has an incredible pent house apartment above Boston Chops and graciously let us host our gathering there (he plays hockey in Canada so he wasn’t there anyway).

We had a blast chatting and drinking wine and eating. The food was incredible- everyone did a really great job with the dishes they were assigned!

I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life- these ladies are the best of the best!

Sunday

Needless to say, I woke up with a bit of a wine headache on Sunday so I had breakfast and then snuggled up on the couch with our new book club book for a while before I went to spin.

Has anyone read this? I’m only about 100 pages in, but I’m enjoying it so far!

SoulCycle often sends out emails to take complimentary classes, I assume to help boost numbers for some of their lower attendance classes, but generally I can’t take part in them because they’re usually on really off times. This time, though, they had a Sunday 4pm class on the list, but when I called it was already full so they let me take the 11:45am class instead, which actually worked out better. I felt bad for the people next to me as I likely sweat out pure wine 😉 The class was really fun and the instructor, Jeff, had lots of energy! Per usual, I didn’t think the class itself was that hard- I don’t know what it is about the classes there, but I never think they are as hard as they are at other studios. Where I think they do step it up is the party atmosphere, which is what makes the classes so fun!

After class I went next door to have lunch at sweet green- a little Sunday treat 🙂

I did a make your own salad with kale, cucumber, broccoli, carrots and spicy quinoa and a side of their butternut squash which was not great- it was so thin and watery! The salad was fantastic, though.

When I got home, RM was snuggled up watching American Sniper so I decided to join him. It was a cold, rainy afternoon so it was a perfect thing to do! After the movie we went to Whole Foods to pick up a few additional staples for the week and for our taco dinner. We had a piece of steak in the freezer so RM took it out and suggested we slice it and put it in tacos. He’s full of good ideas sometimes 😉 To go along with it, I made a super easy salsa (red pepper, tomato, red onion, pineapple, lime juice- everything chopped really small and then throw half of it into a food processor to give it more of a salsa consistency.

I also made a avocado “sauce” made up of all sorts of random things we had lying around (I didn’t have sour cream or greek yogurt so I had to get creative): 1/2 avocado, 1 scoop of hummus, 1 scoop of goat cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, ~2 tbsp. EVOO and 1/8-1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Surprisingly, it came out great and was perfect to top the steak with.

RM cooked the steak in butter and with salt and pepper- so delicious!

It was a such a yummy Sunday night dinner! We both were pleasantly surprised by how well everything came together- even with using Ezekiel wraps instead of corn tortillas.

YUM!

And that does it for us- All in all it was a great weekend filled with good food, great friends, fun exercise and lots of relaxation!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do? Did you get in any good workouts? Hang out with friends? What are you making for Thanksgiving?

Weekending: Hopsters Date Night, Handle Bar & Brunching in Harvard Square, Hosting my Parents

November 16, 2015November 16, 20156 Comments

Good morning! What a busy, but fun weekend we had- let’s recap 🙂

Friday

After work on Friday I had to go into the city for an appointment. I had some time to kill and decided to pop into City Sports since I knew they were doing “going out of business” sales and I had a gift card I needed to use. I didn’t find much worth looking at (sales weren’t THAT good year), but I did find these awesome Saucony running sneakers I was able to get for 35% off! I’ve never run in Saucony’s, so I hope I like them!

By the time I finished up at City Sports, it was time to head to my appointment near the North End. As she was finishing up, she asked if I wanted any water, which I declined since I had a water bottle with me. She then asked if I wanted wine and I said “well, yeah! that’s more like it”. I thought she was totally kidding until she came back in the room with a big ol’ cup of wine. Best surprise ever 🙂

RM got home shortly after me and we decided to walk to Hopsters for a drink and dinner. I was there last Friday night with my sister so it was funny to be back again! We decided to get the sausage and arugula flatbread and harvest salad and both were incredible, the pizza especially. Wow- so so good!

Saturday

Saturday morning we woke up kind of early and decided it was a good morning for healthy pancakes so RM got busy.

Usually we do Sunday morning pancakes so this was a fun treat 🙂 It’s rare to have a Saturday at home without having to teach.

My sister and I had plans to go to The Handle Bar’s new Harvard Square location for an 11:30 class and then brunch after. The class was really good and challenging, the brunch was a big disappointment 😦 We ended up going to Park Restaurant and Bar and everything from the slow service to the really, really sub par food made for a less than stellar brunch.

I ordered the goat cheese and spinach omelet and it looked like they literally put a scoop of goat cheese in the middle of the omelet and threw in some barely cooked spinach. I could have made something way better than that. My sister’s burger melt looked like it was from McDonald’s- the slice of yellow cheese wasn’t even melted and the burger itself was tiny. And the kicker? it took 40 minutes to get the food and it wasn’t even busy! I would not suggest going there if you’re looking for a bunch spot in Harvard Square- save your money!

After I got home, RM and I booked our wedding photographer (!!!) and went to Chelsea to go to the huge Home Goods to get some house stuff. We ended up getting new pillows, a new throw and laundry baskets- we are getting there!

The rest of the night was spent food shopping and meal prepping for my parents visit on Sunday. I also made our favorite Shrimp and Veggie Curry Dish for dinner, which is such an easy and delicious meal to throw together.

Sunday

I woke up early because I knew I had a lot to prep in advance before my parents and my sister came over for a little luncheon. On the menu?

Easy Pumpkin Soup from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen
Roast Chicken
Roasted sweet potatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes, celery, carrots and onions
Spicy broccolini
Fancy veggie filled stuffing that my sister made and brought- it had grated carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms- it was a really fun change from your traditional stuffing.

We had such a nice afternoon drinking bubbly/wine, catching up and talking big time wedding talk. My mom got me my first bride magazine, which was fun to look through! I love that my parents are so willing to come down for a few hours and a meal.

After they left, we finished cleaning up and got comfy on the couch- preparing a big meal and hosting a luncheon is tiring!

Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Did you get any good workouts in? Do you like to entertain? Have you been to Park?

Although I still don’t know how to put into words the sadness and fear I have after hearing about the terrorist attacks in Paris, I’d feel remise if I didn’t take a little bit of blog space to mention it. We have been watching CNN and listening to NPR steadily since Friday night and I woke up Saturday wishing that it was all just a bad dream. What is this world coming to, where people can’t go to a concert, a game or out to dinner without the fear of an attack? My heart goes out to all the people who have been affected by this tragedy. I pray for a world with peace and love, not this crazy world filled with terrorists and fear.

I’ve only been to Paris once, but it has always been a place I’ve wanted to visit again. I loved everything about it and still hope to get back there some day.

Weekending: October Sunshine

October 12, 2015October 11, 20156 Comments

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!

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!

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.

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

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!

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

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 😉

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!

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!

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:

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?

Supplement Sale at Whole Foods

August 13, 2015August 12, 20155 Comments

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product and a gift card to Whole Foods in exchange for this blog post. As always, all opinions are my own and I think this is a great deal worth sharing- thanks for your support!

Good morning! Today I wanted to share a little information about a terrific sale coming up this weekend, August 14th-16th at all Whole Foods store locations. Along with tax-free weekend in Massachusetts, Whole Foods is doing their yearly sale on all supplements in their Whole Body department- 25% off, which is a really great deal since many of the supplements in the Whole Body section can be a bit pricy.

When they invited me in to check out their selection and to take some items home to try, I wasn’t really sure what to look for or ask for since I’m normally not one for supplements. It’s not that I don’t like them or agree with them, it’s more that I never think to take vitamins or probiotics or other things like that. I do love all Vega products, especially for post workout repair, but other than that I’m seriously lacking in the supplement area… or, should I say I USED to be lacking in the supplement area- the nice people at Whole Foods stocked me up with some great staple items:

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Currently I’m Crushing On… {pt.2}

January 27, 2015January 26, 20157 Comments

I have been meaning to write a second “Currently I’m Crushing On…” post for a while now, but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. I’m hoping to make this a more regular reoccurring post series, so here we go!

Chapstick Hydration Lock

I probably have some of the most chapped lips you’ll ever see. It doesn’t seem to matter how much chapstick I put on, my lips never get soft. RM jokes and calls me “chappy” and says I have this problem because I have big lips and therefore a bigger surface area to cover. I think he’s just full of it, but still. I have been trying to be better about keeping my list moisturized and this Chapstick has helped! I put the “night” side on before bed and when I get up and put the other end on throughout the day. While I still have chapped lips, they feel better when I put this on.