Category Archives: Holidays

MIMM: I Did It!

I don’t exactly feel quite as cheery as this title and its exclamation point make it seem, but I still feel a hell of a lot better than I did yesterday. I can’t remember the last time I blogged on a weekend but I did yesterday, just a quick rant, because I was sitting at my laptop feeling sorry for and doubtful of myself. I set out to prove to my all-or-nothing mind that I could enjoy last night’s Super Bowl eats without going overboard, without getting too full, and also without restricting. Well I proved to myself just that, so that’s pretty marvelous.

Link up with Katie today and share your marvelous.

In terms of beverages, I decided to start with a beer I purchased a long time ago and was saving for a beer-esque evening such as Super Bowl Sunday. Plus I thought it’d be easy to sip slowly. John Henry 3-Lick Spiker Ale was recommended to me at Yankee Spirits because I shared with the sales associate that I am a bourbon lover. This beer is aged in bourbon oak chips and I adored it! I want to try some more John Henry beers now. After the beer I switched to another special something that I was motivated to sip slowly – the last of some Johnnie Walker Blue my dad had! What a marvelous guy (my dad, not Johnnie). The evening later ended with champagne…Andres, not so marvelous, but it’ll do.

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Trusting Myself

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were hard for me. Thursday I ate an un-planned carby dinner. Friday I was out with friends who didn’t finish their grilled cheese or their fries, so I ate them. Saturday I had a delicious meal with friends at a new-to-me hole-in-the-wall gem of a restaurant, Suso. The food was incredible but the table ordered so much of it and I ended up really full. Three nights in a row that my plan of what I ate for dinner and how much I ate did NOT happen. I ended up eating different food and/or too much food. It was enough to leave me in a really bad place Saturday night when I came home from dinner. It’s been a long time since my mom had to stroke my hair and offer me comfort as I cried it out, but it happened.

I felt and feel so very frustrated with myself. My all-or-nothing thinking is taking hold and I’m experiencing this petrifying feeling, a fear that three nights in a row means a new habit, that this will keep happening. I don’t want to let food rule my life and alter my experiences and dominate my thoughts. I want to be a normal person who can eat, enjoy, savor, and move on. I feel so ashamed of myself and a freak for not being able to say, “Okay I’m full, let’s stop eating now.” Saturday night I recall sitting at the table, staring at the food even though I was full. I couldn’t stop thinking about it til I tried a bit more here, a bit more there. I have this assumption now that I can’t trust myself, that I can’t be around food or I will go overboard. So black and white…as if the only way I can trust myself to not eat too much is to not eat at all, and to restrict.

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Best of Each Month in 2013

Thanks for your feedback on yesterday’s post about my 2014 New Year’s resolution! I was hesitant to hit publish because I felt there were a few misconceptions you guys could get from the post. I do not think I’m ugly without makeup or my hair “done up”, and I also didn’t want anyone to think my resolution was vain. But this is my blog and it’s my resolution so I shared, and I’m glad I did. It seems that those who commented get that it’s about how I feel about myself, not how I look to others.

I have been debating for a few weeks now how I would recap 2013 on the blog. Last year I did a top 12 of 2012 but I really think it would be too hard to rank all the great stuff I got to do and the fabulous people I got to see this year. There is so much to look at in the year! So I decided to refine a bit and instead look at each month. I’m going to try my hardest to declare a favorite day/event/occurrence/etc for each and I’ll end up with a list of twelve things, but to be honest I still won’t do an accurate enough job of getting across how grateful I am for each and every person, place, or thing (noun?!) that made 2013 a year to remember.

January

The Mohegan Sun WineFest was a very special event for me! It was my second time there to help Mohegan promote the festival but this year I got to bring my foodie partner in crime Rachel. She got hooked and is taking her boyfriend back to this year’s event! I also met Kaitlin in person for the first time, and we shared a hug that made her boyfriend (now fiance!) think that we had known each other for year’s. It sure feels like it!

Me, Rachel, and our media passes!

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New Year’s Eve 2013

Lindsay commented on my last post and said some say New Year’s Eve (#NYE as we social-media-lites like to call it) is an indicator of how the upcoming year will be spent. I both hope and don’t hope this is true! I am currently sitting in my kitchen drinking the last of a Starbucks black coffee (Daybreak was closed today 🙁 ) and writing this post to put off going to the gym. I cannot stand all the New Year’s resolution talk going on right now but today I sure do wish I had the motivation of a resolution-er. Given the fact that I work out consistently, it’s just any old gym day for me. Stairs, abs, and maybe arms are on my agenda.

My New Year’s nails, which I surprisingly haven’t messed up yet.

Anyway, New Year’s Eve was fun. I pretty much allowed myself to drink and eat what I wanted. We started with a lovely dinner at Bricco Trattoria in Glastonbury, where I un-surprisingly ran into many people I know from around town. My good friend Kelly came to visit and some other old friends, including Greg, were part of my evening too.

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Back In Town

Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I wish I could say I’m going into it ready to enjoy myself, but I’m experiencing lots of hesitation about my plans for the evening. I don’t have super-high expectations of a special New Year’s Eve; I learned long ago not to hope for “that magical night”. But my plans involve dinner at Bricco Trattoria then celebrating at Rooftop120. I’m going to be with my siblings and some of my oldest friends. I need to be excited! But New Year’s Eve out after trips to NYC and Florida, which happened to fall around the food-and-drink-heavy Christmas season, just has me thinking about calories. And the poor workout I will have the next day if I feel even the slightest bit hungover.

I got in almost all of the restaurant trips I wanted to this vacation. I already mentioned Chick-fil-A and Duffy’s. I also got to have a healthy plant-based lunch at Christopher’s Kitchen, got my Quizno’s fix in the airport during the trip home, had a special dinner at Seasons 52 with my family, Kat, and her sister, and got to take my sister and good friend Greg to the Rum Bar for some tropical beverages. And though TooJay’s was out of black and white cookies on Christmas Day, I got one later!

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On A Boat At Christmas

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I’m going to pick up from where I left off on my FL vacation recapping…Christmas Eve Eve aka my mom’s birthday aka December 23rd. My family headed south to Miami to see a Heat game (my grandma and mom are OBSESSED with the Heat…OK, and Lebron) but I had the most amazing evening with Kat, her husband Mike, and her sister Helen.

Come on, the title of this post was too easy. No I was not on THAT boat, but the photo above was taken from a boat I WAS on. One of Mike’s friends rented a boat for the evening so that we could cruise around, check out the Christmas lights on the boats and houses on the Intercoastal Waterway, and have a Cookie & Cocktail party. Oh. Yes. And I was invited!

12-23-13-boat4

And I wore a Santa hat, because I’m a cheeseball!

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On The Up and Up in Florida!

I hope you guys enjoyed my recap of my father/daughter traditional trip to NYC! It was a great time but the food and drinks definitely got to me and my travel day to Florida this past Sunday was a bit rough in a mental sense. I just felt gross the entire day after getting up really early for my flight (I got around 6 or 7 hours of sleep but Sarah understands…I swear any less than 8 and I’m a mess). I was wearing a slobby travel outfit, had on my glasses, and my hair was in a not-so-chic rat’s nest bun. I felt ridiculously dehydrated, so much so that I couldn’t even finish a little bit of coffee. My pants felt tight (even pants of the yoga variety!) and all I felt like doing once we got to yoga was 40 minutes of P90X Yoga…not nearly “enough”, in my head. To be honest with you, I found myself restricting my intake all that day. I just wanted to feel better about myself. It didn’t really work…it often doesn’t. That’s the lesson I seem to still be learning.

A very Florida Christmas.

A very Florida Christmas.

What DID make me feel better was having a snack after yoga, taking a shower, and deciding to make myself look presentable for our dinner at Duffy’s. I always visit this local chain when I visit; my family consistently looks forward to our Duffy’s dinner. So that was a perfect destination for our first night in town. Putting in some extra effort to blow-dry and straighten my hair, and also putting on a cute breezy outfit, definitely had me feeling better upon our arrival at the restaurant.

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Father-Daughter NYC Christmas 2013

Cheers from Florida! As per usual I will be behind on my recapping but I first must share with you some pre-Florida festivities…I’ve been all over the place (again, as per usual).

After some effort my dad, sister, and I figured out that this was our seventh father/daughter NYC Christmas trip.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

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My First Thinking Out Loud Thursday!

I definitely am feeling some of that pre-holiday and pre-vacation stress, and also trying to figure out where 2014 will take me. I need to make some big decisions about my career, my location, and just how much uncertainty I can handle. I have SO much on my mind that I figure it will help get it all off my chest to think out loud a bit.

Amanda's new link-up has already seen great success!

Amanda‘s new link-up has already seen great success!

1. I cannot stand the aforementioned uncertainty. I have no idea what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be this time next year. Okay, maybe I have some small idea of where I’ll be. But what I’m doing? I don’t even know. I keep wishing for something to come along that will be a huge “sign” and tell me exactly what to do with my life and what direction to go in and what decision to make and when to make it. I know, be careful what I wish for, because that something could end up being awful!

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CONNetic Dance Nutcracker Ticket Giveaway!

Last holiday season I had the opportunity to see the Sunday matinee of CONNetic Dance‘s The Nutcracker: Suite & Spicy at Downtown Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum. You can see my review here. Director/founder Carolyn Paine is a friend of mine as well as a huge part of Hartford’s cultural scene. She is one of those awesome people like Chion Wolf who I see at almost every area event; she’s on a mission to show the state that Hartford Has It. Well it’s that time of year again…CONNetic Dance will be performing The Nutcracker: Suite & Spicy at the same venue this coming Friday 12/20 and Saturday 12/21 at 8PM, and Sunday 12/22 at 2PM. Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased here.

My favorite dance of the show.

This year CONNetic is literally mixing things up by adding an official cocktail sponsor – Tanduay Asian Rum! You may recall that I am a fan (may or may not have had some last night, ice cold with a splash of sweet vermouth, not bad for a Monday). Tanduay will be pouring in the lobby and the program will have special recipes developed just for the show. Here’s a preview!

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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