Category Archives: Places

My First Massage – and One for You!

Unfortunately my host is under a bot attack that is targeting WordPress sites, so the blog has been down off and on since yesterday afternoon. I hope it gets resolved soon! In case you missed yesterday’s post about a paella cooking class I attended at my favorite restaurant for events, Barcelona in West Hartford, be sure to do so to learn about paella, pick up some cooking tips, and check out photos of both commonly and unusually delicious foods!

Despite my self-proclaimed addiction to daily deal sites, where  discounted massages are available on the reg, I have never had a massage! That is until I was contacted by Randi Plake, on behalf of Kellie Dunne and Brilliant Options Wellness in Plantsville, CT. Kellie is a Licensed Massage Therapist, as well as a Certified Health Coach and Occupational Therapist.

The radiant Kellie! (Source)

Continue reading →

Chobani and Physique 57 in NYC – Again!

During my August NYC trip for BlogHer ’12, I had two very important “firsts” – my first Physique 57 class (followed by a second a day later, holy addiction) and my first trip to then-new Chobani SoHo. I knew I wanted to experience both again during my NYC day-trip last week to tour the Elvis Duran Show, but would I be able to fit both in one afternoon? OBVIOUSLY.

Chobani SoHo

Kaitlin was super-excited for her first Chobani SoHo trip since she is a fellow Chobani fanatic! We arrived at the store after doing some fabulous shopping near the Elvis Duran studios (everything was grouped nice and close together) and found a sweet employee posted-up outside handing out samples of the PB&J creation (creamy PB, Concord grape jelly, sliced red grapes, peanuts, plain Cho).

Clearly everyone loved the samples - just one left!

Clearly everyone loved the samples – just one left!

4-30-13-nyc17

No we did not plan our matching jackets and bags.

Continue reading →

MIMM: Elvis Duran Show in NYC!

Man oh man! I am very thankful to It’s Only Natural for helping me spread the word about my gift card & cookbook giveaway – after they posted it on their Facebook page, I got tons of last minute entries! Oddly enough though, the winner was an early entrant – lucky #4!

ionwinner1

Congrats to my vegan friend Sasha. She has never been to ION before and I know she’s going to LOVE it! She also will be graduating from college this month so the cookbook is perfect for her as she embarks on post-college working life!

ionwinner2

Thanks to everyone who entered and I’ll see you at ION this summer at their weekend patio parties, yes?

Last Tuesday 4/30 I had the most marvelous opportunity ever – the chance to bring my blend Kaitlin with me to NYC so we could visit our favorite morning radio show, The Elvis Duran Show, at the Z100 Studios! I still remember the first time Web Girl Kathleen, the show’s web girl, tweeted me saying she liked my blog. Who knew that eventually she’d be sweet enough to extend an invite to me to come and tour the studio!

Thank you Katie for inspiring me to share what’s marvelous every Monday!

Continue reading →

Being OK With Marvelous

My giveaway for a $25 credit to healthy-living discount shopping site HealthyChic ends tomorrow night at 11:59 PM EST. Make sure to enter and if you don’t win, you can still sign up and use a discount code on your first order!

This weekend was really out of my box – like last weekend in Boston. I pshawed sleep, homework, and my usual kill-me Sunday morning spin class in favor of all sorts of marvelous. And I enjoyed myself while doing so. And that SCARES me.

Let’s get the marvelous moving, thanks to Katie!

Some people who read this post may understand exactly where I’m coming from. On the other end of the spectrum, some may think I’m a spoiled brat who will always find something to complain about no matter how good my life gets. I can see both perspectives but what it all comes down to is what feels safe to me and realizing that the safe option is not always the option I WANT. And that does not make me an irresponsible, reckless person. It makes me a normal 24 year old!

Continue reading →

TON of Fun at Taste of the Nation Hartford – Part 2

In case you missed it, my Taste of the Nation (Hartford) overall intro and libation recap post went up yesterday! I’m now going to move on to my two favorite parts of the event (and they’ll probably be yours too) – the food and the PEOPLE!

The Food

Some restaurants go with simple white-tablecloth-covered booths, and others go all out. Mill Restaurant Group (responsible for one of my favorite cocktail spots, Market Grille in Manchester) was at the all-out end of the display spectrum!

4-11-13-ton19

MRG’s food quality was all-out as well in both aesthetics and taste! Check out these awesome chilled soup shooters served on slate…

Continue reading →

TON of Fun at Taste of the Nation Hartford – Part 1

As we continue to mourn the tragedy at the Boston Marathon this past Monday, I know many hearts are still heavy. I’m continuing to blog about “typical” topics today, and hope that this post will provide some distraction for those whose minds remain troubled and disturbed by the attack.

I feel like comparing my (now) two Share Our Strength Taste of the Nation experiences – last year I went to New Haven and this past Thursday I went to Hartford – would be silly because the obvious answer is that I had the best time this year. So that’s why I will be splitting this into two posts, because as I’ve been working on writing this for the last several DAYS, I’ve realized that one post will be way too long and crash everyone’s Internets with all the photos.

When glasses attack!

When glasses attack!

But that’s because of how much I’ve grown as a blogger! Both events had crazy amazing food and drink and not enough time (or stomach room or blood alcohol tolerance) to try everything.

Continue reading →

Belated Birthday and Vacation Reflections

I don’t have much time at all to expand beyond yesterday’s simple WIAW recap of my Florida vacation eats/drinks. Work’s so busy that I shouldn’t even be taking a lunch break to write this! But I am because I also finally managed to get more FL pics uploaded to share and use in this post about what you CAN’T tell from simply looking at my photos.

My co-workers know me well and got me a rhinestone birthday card and wine!

Right around my birthday (perhaps even on that day, 3/22) I felt much more pressure than usual from my ego. It’s almost like warning bells started going off in my head as soon as occasions – my birthday, a wedding, a vacation – came around that my mind saw as excuses I could use to “slack off” on eating healthily and exercising regularly.

Continue reading →

It’s WEDnesday!

No, I am not getting married. I would need a boyfriend to get to that step. But that’s neither here nor there. This past Saturday (the day after my birthday – hello celebration!) I attended the wedding of my childhood best friend, Megan Hurley. Or shall I say, Lieutenant Megan Hurley. She married a fellow member of the US Army and West Point graduate, Zachary March. Yes, her new name is Megan March. ALLITERATION!

3-23-13-wedding17

Continue reading →

Barefoot Contessa at the Bushnell: Giveaway!

I’m gearing up to leave for vacation this Friday (a week off work, what a perfect birthday present!) so work has been CRAZY. School too. Therefore I’m keeping it light again on the blog today and just popping in to do a giveaway!

Living just outside of Hartford gives me easy access to The Bushnell Center for Performing Arts, where fantastic musicals, plays, panels, and more are held year-round. The Bushnell seriously offers something for everyone! I’ve seen Wicked there twice, and took my Nana Connie to see The Addams Family Musical in 2011. You may recall that I attended the CT Forum’s Vision & Brilliance panel in December as well. I’ve sat on the floor and in the balcony, and I’m serious – every seat is a good seat. After all, the theater was designed so that every single patron could sit back and enjoy the arts, and that involves actually being able to SEE them!

Source

Continue reading →

Fashion Friday: Westport Buys

As promised today’s Fashion Friday is going to be about my finds in Westport when Kaitlin of For Love of Carrots took me there during my most recent 203 visit! We visited the outdoor shopping area in the town’s center and it was an adorable place with some incredible sales! Perfect for a cheapo like me.

3-10-13-shopping1

$10 scarf, $20 purse, $10 shoes.

Sometimes I have no success at the Urban Outfitters sale section and sometimes I come out loaded with ten new tops. This trip produced a happy medium! The scarf is such a pretty spring color. I’m loving my new purse (I needed a change) and I’ve already rocked the shoes this week!

Continue reading →

Welcome!

I’m Caitlin, a 24 year old full-time working girl and recent MBA graduate. I’m a total foodie and love restaurants. I also love learning about nutrition and fitness. I’m striving to live a healthy and happy lifestyle and will be documenting everything that comes with it in this blog. I hope you enjoy!

Social










my read shelf:
Caitlin's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)

2013 Reading Challenge

2013 Reading Challenge
Caitlin has
read 0 books toward her goal of 30 books.
hide



Recipage


Golden Heart Winner 2012!


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.

Privacy Policy

I allow third party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit this blog. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g. click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice visit the NAI at http://www.networkadvertising.org. To opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices.