Weekending: Cape Edition

July 14, 2015July 14, 20158 Comments

And we are already amidst another week…. can time please slow down?! RM and I escaped to the Cape last weekend and it really was the most perfect weekend from start to finish. The only bad thing was it ending! I was saying to RM on our way back to Boston yesterday that normally I’m OK with weekends and parties and vacations ending because I love my normal day to day life, but for some reason I really didn’t want last weekend to end.

Friday night, we packed up and headed south around 6:45, but not before I packed up some “healthier” weekend treats. I don’t like to travel without some staple food items because they help me stay more on track with the way I like to eat- here are some staples and some splurges, all picked up at the Whole Foods in Lynnfield.

We hit ZERO traffic heading to the cape which was awesome! Before we knew it, we were saddled up at The Kettle Ho which is just down the road from RM’s family’s house. We had a few drinks and some dinner and called it an early night since RM had a 7:40 tee time on Saturday.

While RM was golfing, I took advantage of being down on the Cape and took Aly’s class at the B/Spoke Cape House “pop up studio”.

The class was AWESOME and judging by the crowds and waitlists, this was a great business venture for them. Aly’s class was crazy high energy, the tracks were challenging and I left there literally dripping with sweat.

Continuing on with my “morning of me”, I treated myself to a post class smoothie and pedicure at the Mashpee Commons.
Continue reading →

Weekending: 4th of July

July 7, 20156 Comments

Good morning! I am so excited to get back on track with normal eating, drinking and working out this week. Don’t get me wrong, I like to indulge and enjoy extra vinos, BBQ food and dessert, but it really doesn’t make me feel as good as I do when I eat my usual healthy way. With that said, this past weekend was filled with lots of good food, wine and company- hope you enjoy my recap!

Thursday-

I ended up not having to work on Thursday so I made good use of the day by cooking, blogging, working out and going to the beach. It was quite relaxing!

Thursday night some of my girlfriends were getting together to celebrate Jessi’s birthday, which was yesterday. We met up at Ducali’s and enjoyed vino, salad and pizza- oh, and a big ol’ side of girl talk 😉 RM made fun of me for my festive outfit, but I liked it!

We weren’t quite ready to end the night so we headed to Tavern in the Square across from the garden for one more drink.

(photo credit: Lauren)

On Friday, RM and I headed up to Maine… along with the rest of the friggen state of Massachusetts it seemed! It literally took us 2 hours to get to Portsmouth from Boston, which is more than the time it normally takes to get all the way to my parents house! Of course, it was the most beautiful day, too. We decided to pull off in Portsmouth for lunch on the deck at the Oar House to wait out some of the traffic and get some sun and drinks.

We ended up being there for almost 3 hours- oops!

Once we made it to Maine, we sat outside and chatted with my parents before having a dinner full of all sorts of random things including my dad’s fish chowder and pork pie, fresh trout from Lake Champlain, pizza on the grill using dad’s dough and sauce and my mom’s tomato and zucchini casserole. Although it was everything I wanted to eat, it may have been a little too many different things in one meal 😉

Saturday morning, I got up and went for a 3 mile run before heading into town for the parade.

Rm had never been to a parade, and was quite amused by the one we went to 😉

Our family friends had a BBQ later in the day, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it ended up sprinkling for the majority of the party 😦 While annoying, it didn’t ruin the fun, though! All the food was fantastic.

We ended the night making s’mores back at my parents house- perfect ending to a great day!

On Sunday, we helped my dad in the garden. I’ll tell ya- manual labor is no joke! After, we headed up to the lake to go out on Sara and Tim’s boat… all of which I did not think to take a single picture of- #bloggerfail. But, it was a perfect afternoon- we’re so lucky to have friends who have boats and live on the lake!

All in all, it was a great couple of days and mini “vacation”. Just what I needed!

Questions for you: How was your 4^th of July? Do you have any traditions for the 4^th? Did you indulge on holiday eats and drinks?

Italy Recap Part 3 (Final one!): Castiglione Della Pescaia

June 16, 2015June 16, 20152 Comments

I can’t believe I’m here with my 3rd and final recap of our recent Italian vacation… I’m not ready for it to be over! In case you missed the first 2 recaps, here they are: Italy Recap Part 1: Rome Italy Recap Part 2: Pienza Our last leg of the trip was spent on the sandy beaches in Castiglione Della Pescaia, which was about 2 hours north west of Pienza. The ride on Friday morning was actually quite nice as we entered into the more beach-y areas of Italy.
Continue reading →

Italy Recap Part 2: Pienza {including stops in Montepulciano & Siena}

June 12, 2015June 12, 20158 Comments

In case you missed my Rome recap, you can find it here: Rome. Today i want to share the second portion of our trip, which was spent in Pienza. Grab a coffee (or a glass of vino), and settle in- it’s a long, picture-filled recap!

On Monday, we packed up and headed out in this bad boy:

Poor RM- he was the only one who felt comfortable enough to drive this beast on the windy roads of the Tuscany region (and he knew how to drive a standard!). It wasn’t the most ideal vehicle to have due to the size of it vs. the size of the roads, but we made it work! He handled it very well, too, so that helped.

Anyway, before this trip I thought Tuscany was a specific place to visit like Rome or Florence, but in fact it’s a region to visit and you go there to visit all the little towns within the region. We absolutely loved Pienza as it had a super cute city center and was relatively close to other charming/picturesque towns. It was about 2.5 hours from Rome.

We stayed at Tenuta Santo Pietro, which was about 6KM from the city center, for our 4 night Pienza part of the trip. I loved the B&B for so many reasons! Here’s a bit about it from their site:

Nestled in the heart of the rolling Tuscan countryside, Tenuta Santo Pietro
is a tranquil oasis comprised of a twelve bedroom inn that dates back to the 13th century, and a 72 acre working farm. Vineyards and olive trees spread through rolling hills rising to a small valley. A stay at Santo Pietro is one of the best ways to enjoy all that Tuscany has to offer.

They serve wine from their vineyard, olive oil from their trees and vegetables from their garden- pretty awesome, right?! The service was impeccable and we all felt really at home while we were their. The rooms, grounds, food, wine, pool, etc. made for such a great stay!

Continue reading →

I Love Wine & I Love A Good Deal

May 21, 2015May 19, 20155 Comments

If you’ve been following B2B for a while, it should come as no surprise that I loooove my vino 😉 and bubbly, for that matter! I’m no where near a wine snob, so as long that it’s not Franzia in the box (sorry mom and dad, I just can’t do it!), it’s good for me. But, if you’re like me, you get comfy drinking your “favorite” wines, right? For me, those would be (in no particular order):

La Crema Chardonnay
Butternut Chardonnay
J.Lohr Chardonnary
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc
90+ Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
Konos Sauvignon Blanc
Layer Cake Malbec

…and so on. However, although I certainly have my “favorites”, I’m always open to trying new ones, especially ones that are in my price range ($10-15/bottle), which is why Club W is so awesome (<— full disclosure: this is a referral link- more on that below). My friend Kelly introduced me to this and as soon as I talked about it with RM, we were both totally game. 3 bottles of wine delivered to your house every month?! Sign me up! And, the way the referral program works is that when you sign up using the referral link in this post, you automatically get 2 free bottles of wine as part of your first month shipment. And, anytime someone signs up using your link, which you’ll get if you sign up, you get 1 free bottle, so it works out pretty well.

We’ve received 2 shipments so far, so we are pretty well stocked up, but another perk of this program is you have the option to gift one of your months to someone else, which makes for the perfect birthday present (or Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, anniversary….). Here’s a review of the wines we’ve received. What I love is that they give you a note card for each wine, telling you how to serve it (chilled, room temp, etc.), when to drink it (relaxing, dinner party, etc.) and what to serve it with as well as a recipe. Pretty awesome, right?