Saturday Recap

Hi everyone!

Just a quick Sunday morning post before I head out for some fall fun today.

Yesterday was my family filled day:  Cousin’s baseball game, aunt’s birthday, and Tim’s sister’s graduation dinner.

Aunt’s Birthday

For my aunt’s, my uncle cooked a nice chicken dish:  Chicken with tomatoes, onions, and feta cheese (obviously) and side of broccoli and squash.  We had salad too.

And birthday cake for Auntie Paula – the cake originally said Paulie – ha!

It was some needed time spent with that side of the fam.

Graduation Dinner

Katie’s graduation dinner was at West on Centre in West Roxbury.  Dinner was fun with everyone, but here’s my little review of the restaurant:

• Service:  Waitress was very nice and attentive to what everyone wanted, but our food took forever.  Maybe because it was a busy night or because we had a party of 12, but we waited quite some time to eat.
• Ambiance:  Loved it in there.  One side had a big bar with music, the other side was tables for dining.  In the middle they had an open kitchen and seating at high seats in front of the window to look in.  Very cool.
• Availability of Food:  Out of shipyard pumpkin, out of the hummusy spread for the bread, and only two scallop dinners left.  Three strikes?
• Food itself:  I ordered pumpkin ravioli with a side salad, but my raviolis were barely cooked – they were chewy!  I was disappointed.
• Price:  A little more expensive than your average place, but nothing too crazy.

Verdict:  I would probably go back for drinks and maybe a pizza or an appetizer, but probably not again for a full dinner.

After dinner, we went to The Corrib Pub down the street in West Roxbury for some more beers.  This one had Shipyards, phew!  You all know how much I’ve been loving Shipyard lately!  We hung out, played some games, and had some good laughs.

Overall fun night.

Another shameless Corpbasics plug:

Check out Corpbasics on BuyWithMe!

Couple great fitness deals:

1. $29 for 10 classes ($100 value)
2. $59 for three 60-min private training sessions ($225 value)
3. $89 for three 60-min semi-private training sessions for two people ($240 value)

Question of the Day:  Tell me about your weekend!  What did you do?

Have a nice Sunday!

Neighborhood Week in Harvard Square

By now you guys probably know how much I love a good deal.  Or coupon.  Or saving.  Read on…

Did you know that BuyWithMe is celebrating Harvard Square by giving away a few offers each day this week through Sunday October 9th for different businesses in the area?  5% of all proceeds from Neighborhood Week will be donated to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter in honor of the Harvard Square Business Association’s 100th anniversary.

When I found out about Harvard Square Neighborhood Week, I was thrilled.  Harvard Square is one of my favorite city spots to walk around and hang out in.  It’s pretty, historical, fun, and a quick bus ride from my apartment!  Plus, they have soooo many good restaurants and bars.

Check out some of the deals BuyWithMe has offered this week – it’s not too late to purchase them!

John Harvard’s Brew House
This deal is $20 for $40 worth of food and non-alcoholic beverages to John Harvard’s Brew House.

Zinneken’s
With this deal, $10 gets you $20 worth of food and European espresso coffee drinks to Zinneken’s.

City Wine Tours
Normally a $56 value, one admission to a Harvard Square, North End, South End, or Back Bay City Wine Tour can be purchased with this deal for $30. 

Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
There are a couple options with this deal to the Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre.  You can either pay $24 for one ticket to see Broken Shadows on October 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, or 28th at 8pm or October 16th or 23rd at 4pm (normally $38), or you can pay $50 for a 10-class card for drop-in Elementary and/or Intermediate Open Ballet Classes that never expire and are normally a $100 value. 

Fire & Ice
This deal will let you pay $22 for a dinner or brunch for two plus a shared dessert up to a $43 value at FiRe+IcE.

The Regattabar
Located in Harvard Square at The Charles Hotel, the Regattabar is offering the following options as part of this deal:

• $9 for a ticket to Battle of the Saxes at 7:30pm on 10/12 ($15 value)
• $9 for a ticket to Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra at 7:30pm on 10/18 ($16 value)
• $12 for a ticket to Jack Donahue at 7:30pm on 10/21 ($20 value)
• $12 for a ticket to the Sugar Ray CD Release Show at 10pm on 10/22 ($20 value)
• $10 for a ticket to the Jose Conde CD Release Show at 7:30pm on 11/1 ($18 value)
• $12 for a ticket to Rudresh Mahanthappa at 7:30pm on 11/3 ($20 value)
• $9 for a ticket to Pierre Hurel at 7:30pm on 11/10 ($15 value)
• $15 for a ticket to Djanjo Allstarts at 10pm on 11/11 ($25 value)
• $12 for a ticket to Sophie Milman at 10pm on 11/16 ($22 value)
• $15 for a ticket to Regina Carter at 10pm on 11/25 ($25 value)
• $15 for a ticket to Regina Carter at 10pm on 11/26 ($25 value)

Nubar
You can get $55 worth of food and non-alcoholic beverages with this deal to Nubar.  And you only have to spend $25.

Tommy Doyle’s
With this deal, $15 gets you $30 worth of food and non-alcoholic beverages to Tommy Doyle’s.

American Repertory Theatre
This deal gets you $35 table seats to The Donkey Show Octoberfest Special at the American Repertory Theatre’s OBERON.  This is normally a $55 value for one of the following Saturday 10:30pm shows:  10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, or 11/26.

Boston Chocolate Tours
Boston Chocolate Tours usually charges $48 for a 2.5 hour tour of 8 Harvard Square landmarks.  This deal gets you the tour for $29 on October 9, 16, 23 or 30, November 6, 13, 20 or 27, or December 4, 11, or 18.

I’m not sure if there will be more places added to the lineup over the next couple days, but I’ll definitely keep my eye out for you guys!  So far, I bought the deals for John Harvard’s, the Wine Tour, and the Ballet Classes.  Very excited!

Question of the Day – What’s your favorite place in Harvard Square?

Two-a-Day Tuesday

It’s pretty much confirmed that I am the biggest loser in the entire world.  I really must lead a sad life if having friends take my classes makes me THIS happy.

Thank you Katrina, Bridget, and Geoff for buying the YMCA BuyWithMe deal and coming to class tonight!  TWO classes for Bridget and Trina, and a two hour workout for Geoff.  Yay, yay, yay.  🙂  I can’t wait for them to all try my spin class tomorrow.

Liz’s Kix class rocked, per usual.  I was sad to miss out on Kix at CBC last night, even though I couldn’t believe how much free TIME I had in the evening without a class to go to.  I was done with my errands and back at my apartment by 8pm and literally asked my roommates, Is this what it’s like to have a night that starts before 8:30?!  Anyways, Andy posted a video from last night’s class on Facebook, so if I watched the video and did all the moves in my head, it’s like I still went right?  Check out the video on the Corpbasics Facebook page here to see what all this CBC stuff is all about!

Anyways, back to tonight – Liz honored one of my song requests, so that also made me happy.

Below is what I did in Muscle Power tonight.  I planned out my whole class ahead of time (I don’t always do that) but I left the routine in the printer at work.  So I had to improvise some of it.  Also, I did NOT listen to Pink’s “Funhouse” all the way through because it definitely had the word “F*cker” in it.  I wasn’t even prepared to yell over that part like I usually do if I know a swear word is coming.

WARMUP

COMBINATION ONE

Cardio, legs, shoulders, chest

• Runups on the step, with right foot lead.  30 seconds.
• Jumping Jacks.  8 in each direction – front, side, back, side, front.
• Lunges / Overhead Presses.  Keep one foot directly behind the body on the step while arms press overhead.  16 slow reps, then 8 pulses while holding arms overhead.
• Runups on the step, with a left foot lead.  30 seconds.
• Jumping Jacks.  8 in each direction again.
• Lunges / Chest Presses.  Keep other foot directly behind the body on the step.  This times, arms press in toward chest.  16 slow reps, then 8 pulses with arms squeezing in.
• Spiderman Pushups.  10 total, right and left being 1.   (I’m LOVING these lately if you couldn’t tell!  Plus Liz requested them.)

COMBINATION TWO

Cardio, legs, shoulders, biceps

• Up, up, down, downs.  Facing sideways, straddle the step and bring right foot up, left foot up, right foot down, left foot down.
• Squats / Lateral Raises.  Right foot on step, left foot on floor.  Squat and lift leg to side (works outer thigh) so that the right foot is supporting the body weight and the left leg is lifted to the side.  The arms come to a lateral raise.   Do 12 reps, then hold the lateral raise and keep the leg lifts going.   Then hold the squat on the floor – do two pulses and 1 regular for 8, then hold for 8.
• Bicep Curls.  16 slow reps.  Then hold left arm halfway and do 8 singles on the right.  Then hold right arm halfway and do 8 singles on the left.  Finish pulsing both halfway.
• Repeat the up up down down combo and the squat combo on the other side.

COMBINATION THREE

Chest, Core, Legs, Triceps

• Incline Pushups.  With hands on step and feet on floor, do 10 pushups and then hold the plank for 10 seconds.
• Side to side jumps.  Without coming out of plank, walk the feet in until legs are straight and butt is in the air.  Jump the feet side to side, keeping hands on step.
• Plie Squats / Overhead Tricep Dips.  D0 16 slow, then hold the plie squat while doing tricep extension pulses.
• Decline Pushups.  With hands on floor and feet on step, do 10 more pushups.  This time 5 with the right foot lifted and 5 with the left foot lifted.  Hold plank for 10 seconds at end.
• Repeat Plie Squat combo on other side.

COMBINATION FOUR

Biceps, Triceps, Core/Obliques, Shoulders/Back

• Sitting on the step:  Concentration Curls, 1 bicep at a time.  First 16 fast, then 8 slow (up hold down hold), then 8 pulses.
• Sitting on the step:  Tricep Dips.  8 with right foot over left, 8 with left over right, 8 second hold with both feet on ground.
• Sitting on the step:  Bicycle Twists.  16 total with feet off the ground.
• Lying face down on the step. – Arm raises first with arms in a Y.  Then with arms in a T.  Then arms straight behind the body, palms up.
• Lying face down on the step.  Lift arms up.  Lift legs up.  Lift both arms & legs up – swim.

COMBINATION FIVE

Glutes, Cardio

• Incline the step.  Glute work on all fours.  Extend right leg straight behind body.  Lift straight up and down, toe pointed down, for 10.  Then 10 crossing the leg over the opposite calf (inside).  Then 10 with the leg more to the outside.  Finish with pulses up to the ceiling and a lot of squeeze & holds.  Repeat on other side.
• Jump Rope.  15 seconds regular, 15 seconds side to side, 15 seconds front and back, 15 seconds regular.

COMBINATION SIX

All Abs

• Mountain Climbers.  Regular slow, then regular fast.  Finish by holding the plank 10 seconds and turning right into a side plank hold for 10 seconds.
• Elbow to Knee.  On all fours, extend right arm front and left arm back.  Bring right elbow to left knee.  16 times.
• Oblique Mountain Climbers.  Slow then fast.  Finish with the same 10 second plank hold and then into the left side plank for 10 seconds.
• Repeat the elbow to knee move on other side.
• V Up.  Start lying flat on back like a starfish.  Come to sitting bringing arms to legs in a V.  Do 10.
• Oblique Up.  With right forearm flat on ground, bring left arm to right leg as the body lifts up.
• 6 inches.  Hold feet 6 inches off the ground with hands under butt to support lower back.  Hold 15 seconds.
• Heel Taps.  Feet flat on the floor, tap each heel for 15 seconds.
• Repeat – V Up, Oblique Up on other side, 6 inches, and heel taps.
• Last move.  Hug knees into the chest, then extend legs long.  Do 12.

COOLDOWN / STRETCH

How my roommates and Geoff felt after class:

SUCCESS!

For a post-workout dinner, I actually ate the salad I made for lunch since I ended up getting a free lunch at work today because of the meeting I was in.  I had lettuce, grilled chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and bleu cheese crumbles with light raspberry pomegranate dressing.  Yum!

I’m already sore.  Time for bed.