Tag Archives: blends

Girls Night in Chestnut Hill Square

I’m so glad that Kaitlin moved to Boston in time for us to celebrate her birthday together! We spent late afternoon/evening of her special day at Chestnut Hill Square in the nearby suburb of Chestnut Hill.

The outing started with a trip to Francesca’s to pick out a necklace and pair of earrings. As Kaitlin said in her recap post, having a girlfriend there for feedback made the daunting task of selecting from many options a bit easier.

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I’ve been looking for a new makeup pouch for travel purposes, and when I saw this one, I couldn’t resist scooping it up!

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Blogger Reunion at Seasons 52!

My friend and fellow blogger (aka blend) Kelly and I have dined at Seasons 52 together three times now. It’s almost become our default place to meet here in Boston. So the Chestnut Hill Square location was a no-brainer suggestion for dinner a couple of weeks ago, when we finally found a time that worked for both of us to get together! It was the first time I’d seen Kelly since she had a beautiful baby girl a few months ago and catching up with her on family and life was the perfect way to spend a Monday evening.

Of course we started with bubbles. Looks like the champagne paps are out!

Of course we started with bubbles. Looks like the champagne paps are out!

Since Seasons doesn’t bring out bread to start the meal, I always like to pick out one of their flatbreads, because #TeamBread. The crust is delightfully crisp, and its thinness lets the toppings shine through. We love seafood and went for the lobster & fresh mozz flatbread with roasted sweet peppers, slivered scallion, and lobster sour cream. Both of us adored this, especially given how well the lobster paired with those sweet peppers.

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203 Wedding Weekend!

Last weekend I ventured back to the 203 area code of Connecticut for two important events – a visit to Kaitlin in Fairfield on Saturday, and the New Haven wedding of one of my friends from college, on Sunday!

I arrived in Fairfield at about 3PM on Saturday, and we immediately hit the road. Some friends of Kaitlin and her husband were having a BBQ, so I tagged along with them for a fun afternoon of beverages, burgers, and hot dogs.

I contributed a bottle of Earthshaker Wines Rose de Pinot Noir. Kaitlin and I had no trouble crushing it and I wished I’d brought another!

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My First Half Marathon!

I received a complimentary race registration from Zooma in exchange for blogging about my training and race experience. However I had already registered for the race and paid the registration fee before that arrangement was ever made, so I really and genuinely wanted to do this race – for reals, guys.

Well if you followed along at all with me on Instagram over the weekend, then you know that my week of resting my IT band (and perhaps getting it taped too?) paid off. I FINISHED MY FIRST HALF MARATHON and not only did I finish, but I did it faster than I thought I’d be able to – 2 hours, 10 minutes, 54 seconds. That’s roughly a 10 minute mile pace!

That time showing on the clock doesn’t take into consideration how long it took me to cross the starting line!

After facing terrible, awful, no-good, very bad traffic on my Friday late afternoon drive to the Cape, I pulled into Falmouth’s Sea Crest Beach Hotel to meet my mom (she did the race with me!), pick up my packet, and see Kelly. But first order of business – a Mayflower IPA, because it’s all I wanted after sitting in that traffic.

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Reach the Beach Part 2: First Run & Feeling Crummy

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was sponsored by New Balance and therefore received free gear, supplies, van rental, and Reach the Beach Relay admission. All opinions of my experience are my own and I did not receive monetary compensation for these posts.

In case you missed them, here is my Reach the Beach Relay announcement post and part 1 of my relay recap! When we last left off, I had consumed four glasses of wine at the pre-race dinner/party and woke up to my 5AM alarm on Friday morning…hating myself. I blame the not-so-good wine and a lack of sleep.

Last ones there...last call!

Last ones there…we shut the ski lodge down!

But it was my own fault and I sucked it up and drove Van 2, myself, and my van-mates to the start line as I’d promised! This was an advantage of being on a team of people that weren’t necessarily good friends or family – I wanted to put my best foot forward, make a great impression, and NOT make any excuses. With a team of people I knew really well, it would have been easier to make excuses or ask someone else to pick up my slack.

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Five Things Friday: My Week

I’m glad you all related so much to last week’s Five Things Friday post about aspects of life that have REALLY been making me feel adult-like lately. Those reminders have continued throughout this week, and I also want to give an update on how I’ve been doing since my particularly overwhelming weekend. Then I got to thinking – there are five days in a work week, and it’s Five Things Friday. So I’m going to share how each day of my week went/has been going, in an effort to catch you up on all the things.

Link up with Clare today if you are also rambling on about five things!

1. Monday

I knew all I wanted to do Monday was go to work, go to spin class, and stay in watching the Emmys. One of those things didn’t happen – spin class. Did I not feel well? Did I not have time? No, I just didn’t want to go. I got out of work late and the class was halfway over. I could’ve made it to half the class or gone to the gym to do my own workout, but I was starving. I was exhausted. So i went home, heated up the casserole I’d prepared the night before, popped a bottle of Prosecco (which I ended up not drinking half of and pouring out #singlegirlproblems), and watched approximately 20% of the Emmys. And then I went to bed, because it was absolutely necessary.

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Trade Em Up Tuesday: Where Is Summer?

I would trade…how fast summer has gone by.  Is it really already past mid-August? The air is already starting to get crisp and on Friday night when I went out after work, I felt absolutely frigid. Noooo New England, I’m not ready for my summer to leave yet!

I would not trade…finally finding a dress for Kaitlin‘s wedding! That wasn’t close or anything. I am so so so pumped for the Labor Day weekend rehearsal/wedding festivities, and getting to bring Maria as my plus-one so that she, Kaitlin, and I can FINALLY hang out together (all three of us) in person. Kinda nuts that that hasn’t happened yet. And I have to give a big thank you to Tobi for having a 50% off sitewide sale! I’m not going to post a photo of the dress for the wedding but I will share a photo of another dress I couldn’t help but buy because I know it’ll come in handy come fall…

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A Marvelous Weekend Recap

Ah, what a marvelous weekend, and I am continuing to live life on the slightly-more-low-key side. But, I’m still having a great time! I’m doing a pretty good job of listening to my body and mind, instead of FOMO. Unfortunately I went back to my once-a-week blogging last week, with only one recipe post. Who knows what this week will bring? I’m not too worried about it – I’ll blog when I have time – but at least with this post I know I have one down!

Link up with Katie if you are sharing your marvelous today!

Marvelous is…a rest day on Friday. Some lessons need to be re-learned and on Friday, I re-learned that if I don’t work out in the morning, it just is not going to happen. In CT I often worked out on Fridays between work and my evening plans, but there’s something about a Friday late afternoon in Boston that makes me just want to get the weekend started as soon as I leave work. When I left for the day I decided to grocery shop, then put away my laundry, then get my nails done…all to put off going to the gym. So then I decided (with help from a text-pep-talk from a friend) to just take the day off. And I felt much better after making that decision and sticking with it.

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Five Things Friday: Yup, It’s Me Again!

Happy Friday! Three days of posting this week – a recent record for sure. But I’ve had more downtime thanks to learning my lesson last week about wearing myself out. I was home last night after work for awhile – enough time to write a blog post, watch an episode of Breaking Bad (STILL working on season 4), and catch up on my celeb gossip on E! News (my favorite mindless TV). But I’m getting ahead of myself – Five Things Friday hasn’t even begun yet. It will after Clare‘s charming graphic:

Oooh. Aaah. Link up!

1. Everyone should listen to this amazing song and take its message to heart. EVEN if you’re not a fan of country music or the show Nashville. The song is about not throwing away all the beautiful gifts you have been given. Often I listen to it whenever I’m feeling tempted to restrict, base my self worth on my appearance, or just hate myself in general. In the worst of my eating disorder I was throwing away everything I’d been born with and all I’d worked for my whole life. This is the kind of song that can pull me out of a funk and make me re-evaluate what’s REALLY important in life.

2. My left shin has REALLY been bugging me. I’ll see how my new shoes (post to come on those next week!) help the situation but I don’t think I can shrug off the left shin pain I’ve been feeling during my runs any longer. Even though I haven’t done a “long run” in almost two weeks now, I still am feeling it both during and after my runs, no matter the distance. I’ve been running 3-4 days a week since I started training so I think that next week I’m going to do just 2 runs. Hopefully that, plus my new running sneakers, will send improvement my way. If not I will have to get serious about the left shin pain because I don’t want an  injury sidelining me from the half marathon, or fitness in general.

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Marvelous Miles!

This post will not be all about Zooma Cape Cod half marathon training, despite the title. But it will first and foremost make mention of a marvelous half marathon related accomplishment, because I’m just so psyched about it. Plenty of non-running-related marvelous to share too though!

Make sure you link up with Katie if you’re doing a MIMM post today!

Marvelous is…an 8 mile run on Saturday morning! So the run itself wasn’t exactly marvelous because well, I’m not one of those people who will pretend she enjoys running that long. (Not that those who do actually enjoy it are pretending they do.) I woke up really excited to just get my 8 mile long run done so I could feel awesome about it afterward, but during the run I had to battle with myself mentally. Once I got to my halfway mark (yay out and back runs!) I knew I’d make it back, so the mental battle became less – but the physical became more. I ran the whole thing pretty slow (over a 10 minute pace) and am glad I did.

It was hot out (I didn’t get started til 10AM – so worth it to sleep in though) and I also got a bit lost at one point. After calculating exactly how far I’d run, I realized I’d run 8.2 miles thanks to that fact. I did stop every now and then to wait at a crosswalk or drink water (thank you Charles River Esplanade for your water fountains) but the whole time I was actually running, I did run – I really didn’t want to walk! Big thanks to the BU campus grounds worker who sprayed me with his hose (I asked him to, don’t worry) right around mile 6. That got me through to the end! This is officially the furthest I’ve ever run because I ran 8 miles once back in 2010, and this was 8.2 miles. So seriously, go me. (Way better than the other GOMI.)

Yaaaaaas.

Yaaaaaas.

OKAY, back tracking to the start of my weekend…

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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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