Life Lately {September and October 2014}

It’s been a while since I’ve done a life update post, huh? It’s been since August, to be exact.

I don’t know about you, but I welcomed fall with wide open arms this year. Like I mentioned in my new newsletter that went out last week, I was happy to embrace the new season because it meant things were slowing down a bit from all the craziness that the summer brought. The first week of September was spent off from work. We spent the first half of the week celebrating my birthday, checking out potential wedding venues, and enjoying some time at home. We spent the second half of the week up north in one of our favorite places, Maine!

When we got home from our vacation, we immediately were back into wedding mode, as we needed to make a decision within a week about our wedding venue. We were really torn between Atlantica in Cohasset for an ocean front wedding and Zorvino’s in NH for a rustic winery wedding. The second weekend in September we actually did a second visit back up to Zorvino’s just to make sure we had all our questions answered, and the return visit really clinched it for us. So that’s that! Our wedding date is set for Sunday, September 20th of next year at Zorvino’s!

We are really excited about our venue, but I am just so relieved that the venue researching part of the process is over. Don’t get me wrong, I am really enjoying other parts of the planning, but the venue hunt simply wasn’t one of them. I feel guilty saying that because everyone and their mom and second cousin once removed felt the need to remind me about how AMAZING all of that should have been, but you know what? Trying to coordinate viewing a bunch of places all over the state between the hours of 8 and 4 during the week and keep it all straight actually wasn’t that amazing to me. I’m way more excited now that we have our venue and church selected and can think about more exciting things like who is going to lead the Greek dancing circles, what color I want my bridesmaids to wear, and what our signature drinks should be. Right?!

Other mentionable September happenings include apple picking,

attending the annual WWCMA conference for work,

going to a sweetgreen passport class called Barre & Bites with Liz,

and much more of THIS than I’ve been able to do in a really long time:

There were also a couple of nights out to dinner with friends. I saw Allison for dinner at Seasons 52 in Burlington one night, and I met up with Bridget, Slesh, and Trina at a restaurant called Forum downtown. However, I’d say one of the main highlights of September was one of my bestie’s weddings! Holy moly, talk about an amazing fun weekend in NYC celebrating Erica and Chris. One of the best weddings I’ve ever been to, and just for the record, Tim and I figured out we’ve been to 23 in 3 years. So I think we are pretty good wedding judgers!

October was here before we even knew it, and I kicked off the month by hosting my really fun event at Athleta. Another one is in the works, so make sure to sign up for my newsletter to get early bird signup privileges and sneak peek details!

Tim was away for a bachelor party the first weekend of the month, so I used the time to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen a long time. I did dinner with my friend Erin at Isabella Restaurant and was able to get together spontaneously with some of the gym girls at Solea for sangria and tapas too. After we did dinner that night, I hung with Ashley at her house for awhile just catching up and drinking cider.

The week Tim got back, I was supposed to go to the October New Balance Girls Night Out event, but since we were still sharing a car at this point, it was impossible to get downtown. I was bummed to miss it, but Tim did get a new Altima, and we didn’t go broke (or start hating each other) in the process.

Other beginning of October things included a date night to see The Lion King (my birthday present, with dinner at Harvard Gardens first),

Tim’s godson’s christening,

a random Tuesday night sleepover/gym friend get together at Ashley’s house when Jen was back in the states,

and wedding dress shopping! I went first to David’s Bridal in Danvers to get a better idea of what type of style I was going for. I had no clue going into it whether I wanted satin versus lace, strapless versus not, etc. so that really helped. I brought my mom, MOH (Slesh), and bridesmaid (and seamstress!) Shannon with me, and they were all awesome throughout the whole process.

I went dress shopping again the following week, this time with my mom and Shannon again, but my Uncle Chris came along too. This trip I found the gown! I can’t wait for you guys to see it, but I suppose you’ll have to wait a year, huh?

October’s last few weeks were spent celebrating our five year anniversary (dinner at Harvest in Harvard Square + drinks at Beat Hotel — HIGHLY recommend both),

spontaneously going to Harvest Fest 2014 in Somerville (SO many fun beers and food samples!),

running the Oak Square OAKtoberfest 5k and post race brunching,

getting my monthly deep tissue massage (I signed up for a wellness package),

celebrating my friend Jen’s birthday with the gym girls,

going to Tim’s cousin’s birthday party, my friend Johnny’s housewarming party, and Patrice and Brian’s beautiful wedding!

We rounded up the month by heading back up to Zorvino’s for our meet the vendors night, and finally, hosting Halloween! We were lame this year and didn’t require anyone to wear a costume. What we did require was everyone bring a seasonal craft beer so we could have a little tasting. It was fun!

Lots of good stuff going on outside of work lately!

–Let’s chat–
Tell me about the highlights of September and October? What stood out to you the most? I want to know what you’ve been up to! What are you looking forward to in November?

I am looking forward to a free Saturday and Sunday next weekend after we attend wedding #7 of 8 this year on Friday night! I am also excited for Thanksgiving. Slesh is hosting Friendsgiving again this year, AND Tim and I figured out how to spend the holiday with both of our families.

Have a great day, you guys!

Mini Vacation to Maine

Tim and I took a week off from work at the beginning of September. At the beginning of the week, we stuck around Boston to celebrate my birthday and do a lot of wedding venue hunting. For the tail end of our week off, we headed north for a mini vacation to Maine. Portland is one of our absolute favorite places to go together, and we stayed there for three nights to just get away. Plus, it’s SUCH a foodie city, and we always revolve our entire trip around what we are going to eat and drink while we’re there.

We arrived on Thursday around lunchtime, and our first stop was at the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth. My manager Julia and her husband Steve were also vacationing at the same time, and they invited us to stop by their hotel. The inn was beautiful, right on Crescent Beach, and we had fun hanging out for the afternoon. We ordered a little snack plate and a couple of drinks at the hotel restaurant before heading down to the beach.

Tim and I left around 5pm to check into our hotel in Portland and get ready for the night. We actually ended up meeting back up with Julia and Steve for dinner at Fore Street, one of the best restaurants in the area. The menu changes daily, and I love the ambiance in there. It seemed like the service was a bit slower than it was the last time we went, but since I like to take my time and enjoy my meals out, it didn’t really bother me. We ordered a tomato tart to split among the four of us, and I ordered scallops for my meal.

After dinner, Julia and Steve headed back to their hotel. Tim and I continued on for another drink at a bar called The North Point, another place we really enjoyed hanging out at last year. On the way in, I snapped a picture of this funny sign:

We only stayed for one drink before heading back to our hotel for the night too.

On Friday we woke up and decided to head to Kennebunkport for the day. We spent a couple of hours at the beach, and I finally felt like I could completely relax for the first time in weeks. We just sat in the sun just reading, napping, and enjoying each others company. We were in need of some serious quality time together!

Once we were done with the beach, we decided to explore the local area a bit and drove to Cape Porpoise. We walked around a bit and snapped some pictures of the pretty scenery.

After we were done exploring, we headed to downtown Kennebunkport to grab an appetizer and a drink outside. We ended up at David’s KPT, thanks to a recommendation from Monique! We ordered oysters and a cheese plate to share. There is just nothing like drinks and an app with a view, am I right?

We sat here for a few hours! Eventually it was time to decide whether to stick around the area for dinner or head back to Portland. We decided to stay because we didn’t feel that gross from the beach. We changed into something a little nicer and ended up at The Tides Beach Club Restaurant thanks to another recommendation, this time from Dawn! We LOVED this place. This restaurant was part of an oceanfront hotel. It was cozy, and the prices were up there for us, but I did not feel out of place because the service was excellent and our bartender made us feel welcome. It cooled down pretty quickly, so we didn’t get to dine outside, but we had a great time at the bar anyways. We just kept ordering food over the course of the couple of hours we were there! That’s what vacation is all about right? We split the Maine lobster spring roll (cucumber, mango, napa cabbage, cilantro, mint, and citrus sauce) along with a bowl of clam chowder. For my meal, I ordered the swordfish with mushroom ragu and grilled asparagus. Amazing.

If you are ever in this area and looking for a romantic dinner spot, I highly recommend Tides. Tim and I went for a walk on the beach after our meal before we drove back to Portland and called it a night.

When we woke up on Saturday, it was a bit cloudy and overcast, so we used the time to walk around the downtown Portland shops. We hit up all our favorites, including Cabot cheese! Yum.

Once we got hungry, we stopped at the Portland Lobster Co. for lunch. We hung out there for a bit during the afternoon and enjoyed beers while listening to the live band that was playing. We did get caught in a downpour, but that’s okay!

Saturday night was our last splurge dinner out, and we decided to try Hugo’s. This was hands down one of the coolest restaurants I have ever been to. Their menu is a tastings menu divided into three categories: foraged and farmed (meats), from the sea (seafood), and forest and field (vegetarian, mainly). Basically you can choose between 2-5 courses from all the different menus. The wait staff were some of the most knowledgeable servers I’ve ever had when it came to describing the food on the menu, and we got to watch some of the food preparation. Since these were tapas sized tastings and not full plates, Tim and I each tried three items and tasted each others. My favorites were the yellowfin tuna and the heirloom tomato.

In between courses, we were given various palette cleansers. This was a Parmsean flavored broth, and Tim kept calling it cheese tea!

We left Hugo’s feeling full and very impressed. It’s definitely somewhere to go for a culinary EXPERIENCE and refined food selection, that’s for sure.

Finally, Sunday was our last day up in Maine. We started our day with breakfast at Local 188. All the other breakfasts and lunches we prepped and brought with us so we’d be able to reasonably afford our really nice dinners out, but we did want to do breakfast at least one day. I ordered a spinach florentine omelet, and it came with English muffins and home fries. It was a nice way to start the day, with a cup of coffee and outside!

After taking about a week and a half off from working out (I think maybe we did two light fitness days throughout our whole vacation?!), we were starting to feel pretty gross. Don’t get me wrong, my body definitely needed the physical rest for many reasons, and I am so happy I let myself take it, but after splurging for so many meals and not being as active as usual, it was starting to catch up with us. We decided to go for a 3.5 mile walk around Back Cove Trail, a really scenic route around the water with a great view of the Portland skyline. It was nice to get moving again!

About halfway around, we stumbled upon a fitness playground. We obviously stopped for a bit to play.

We finished up our trip with one last beach stint at Willard Beach in South Portland before heading home. The water wasn’t as swimmable as some of the other beaches we went to, but it was a good choice for a quick couple of hours.

After our insane summer, Tim and I really needed this little getaway to ourselves, but it went by way too quickly. Once I finally felt like I was starting to *really* relax, it was time to go home. We seriously think we could live up there, and as we were driving back into Massachusetts, I honestly felt anxiety and stress starting to kick back in. Not normal, right?!

Anyways, our mini vacation was great, and I highly recommend the beginning of September for a vacation week. Our weather was almost perfect minus that Saturday rainstorm. It wasn’t too hot, but it was still nice enough to be at the beach.

Until next time!

–Let’s chat–
Did you go on a big summer vacation this year or did you do several mini vacations or getaways instead? Have you ever been to Portland, Maine? What’s your favorite part?

For more F&F posts on Maine:

• Portland Eats and Drinks
• Downtown Portland and Scarborough Beach State Park
• Kennebunkport
• Peaks Island
• Portland Head Light
• Lucky Catch Lobstering Tour

Life Lately {August 2014}

August was yet another crazy month.

I had a total of two weekends with minimal plans at the beginning of the month, so I tried to soak up as much spontaneity as I could. We kicked off that first weekend with an impromptu get together at our friend Sam’s parents’ house. Sam lives in DC and was home for the weekend, so his parents hosted a lot of friends and family. They own an organic farm in Wrentham, so it was thrilling to go to a dinner party and pile my plate like this:

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to join my friends Liz and Alice at a btone class in Lexington.

We took the Tone N Torch class, which was an awesome combination of cardio blasts and strength training exercises on the Megaformer machines. I used my free ClassPass trial to attend this class, but I’m sad to say that I am officially the worst ClassPass user in the entire world! This has nothing to do with ClassPass not being awesome (um, hello, it gives you access to so many AMAZING studios around the city), but for my crazy schedule this year, I really didn’t get a chance to put it to good use. Several of the studios are smack in the middle of the city, and it’s hard for me to commute into the city when I work outside of Boston. Unfortunately, this spring and summer I’ve had to choose the convenience of working out close to home over trying new fitness things in the city to maximize on time. ClassPass, I’m sorry that I can’t give you a fair review on F&F, but maybe you’ll let me try again someday!!

After my Saturday morning workout, I remember having a day to just LOUNGE, and then Tim and I had a date night in the city. We tried Merchant, and even though the food and drinks did not disappoint, the vibe was a bit slow and empty. I thought maybe it was just the night, but I went with my friends from home a couple of weeks later only to find the same thing. Meh.

On Sunday, we headed back into the city to meet up with my friends Meghan and Erin because Meg was in town from DC! We grabbed brunch at Temazcal by the seaport, and then spent the rest of the day having a Sunday Funday at Harpoon Brewery. It was so great to catch up with these friends!

The following week I had a really awesome Thursday night out with my old roommates. Slesh, Katrina, Bridget, and I met at Gather downtown for dinner and drinks. Highly recommend! I also asked the girls that night to be in my wedding, and you bet we caused a scene. More on that in another post, but that night was exactly what I needed.

That weekend included two days of some much-needed beach and sun time along with dinner out with my friends from home at Papagayo.

Then things picked right back up again! There was one weekend in August where I had a wedding, a bridal shower, and my dad’s 60th birthday party all in 24 hours.

Cristin and Andy’s wedding was so beautiful and BOSTON! Check out this view from our hotel room.

They got married in a church located in Cristin’s hometown, but the party was under a tent at the Hyatt Harborside. Cristin looked beautiful, and it was a fun night seeing friends I used to work with! We barely get to see each other anymore.

The next morning I woke up early to book it to my friend Patrice’s bridal shower. Unfortunately, since it was the same day as my dad’s 60th birthday party, I couldn’t make it to the luncheon part, but Patrice’s bridesmaids organized a fun little pre-shower paint party at the Paint Bar for her. I was happy to at least be able to make it to part of Patrice’s special day. We painted flowers, and the colors of the painting were chosen to match the colors for the wedding. I loved this idea so much.

After the shower I rushed home to prep a few things, then Tim and I made our way to my parents’ house for my dad’s birthday party. We had a lot of fun with family, ate and drank, danced and played games in the yard, and reminisced as my dad opened his gifts. I put together a memory book for him where each guest submitted a few of their favorite memories of my dad. I called it Sixty Plus Memories For Sixty Years of Chuck.

The following weekend brought me to New Jersey for my friend Erica’s bridal shower! On Friday night, Bridget, Erica, Kelly, and I stayed at Erica’s parents’ condo. We had a lovely meal, toasted champagne, and just caught up. The shower was held at Erica’s godmother’s beautiful home, and the weather held out for us! It was such a great day celebrating one of my best friends, and I plan to recap it more soon because I have so many awesome pictures from the day.

After the shower, Slesh and I stayed at her parents’ house in Connecticut to break up our ride home. It was another great night of just sitting back and chatting over wine. It’s funny how sometimes it takes traveling to NJ or CT to slow down, huh?

The end of August was spent in full wedding planning mode. I felt like all I did was research venues, call venues, and go to venues, but at least I had my birthday weekend to wrap up the month. I turned 29, and let me tell you that 29 is completely and utterly UNEXCITING. And I loved every second of it. It was the first year I didn’t care to celebrate much at all and wanted something really low key. Tim got me flowers and tickets to go see The Lion King in October, which I’m psyched about because I’ve never seen that show, and I’ve always wanted to go.

On Saturday, we spent the day with my parents first at a couple of venues but then at Duxbury beach for the afternoon. At night we had dinner and drinks at The Olde Salte House in Cohasset. On Sunday (my actual birthday), we headed up to Newburyport for a day trip with Slesh and Will. We got some more beach time in, and then grabbed a couple of drinks at The Black Cow on the waterfront. I loved it there, and I’m not sure how I hadn’t discovered it before!

After our day trip, we headed home and Tim took me out to dinner at Dante. We were going to eat on their outdoor patio that overlooks the Charles, but it was pouring so we had to stay put inside. I was bummed, but we still had a great night out and enjoyed an awesome meal and a bottle of wine. After dinner, we continued our night at one of our favorite bars down the street, Mead Hall.

And that was my August!

–Let’s chat–
How did August treat you? Even though we’re well into September, what’s something great that already happened this month or what else are looking forward to?

I was happy to kick off my September with a week off from work and a long weekend getaway to Portland, one of our favorite places. We also had a free weekend last weekend and another one coming up this weekend. I’m excited that September has slowed down, but I cannot wait for Erica and Chris’s wedding festivities in NYC in less than two weeks! Eeek!