Tag Archives: friends

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.

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Judging Crazy Concoctions at CHS Cookoff

I can’t wait to attend Taste of the Nation Hartford tonight with my blends Kaitlin & Kelly! You can still get tickets at the door – general admission is $75, but I’ve been to this event before and it is WORTH IT. Best food tasting event I’ve ever experienced!

I’m so excited to share my experience judging the Connecticut Historical Society‘s first Community Cookoff! Held last Friday from 5:30-7:30pm (nice and early!), the event attracted a good crowd and had the work day craaaaawling by as I anxiously waited for the clock to hit 5 so I could hit the road for Hartford.

I wore my latest splurge – a Lilly Pulitzer top that I got on sale in FL – for such an important event! Little did I know Lilly herself would pass away in a couple of days.

I walked into CHS and was greeted by the smiling, excited faces of Jenny Steadman and Ed Main. They are the ones who came up with this idea, included me, and even planned the event’s timing around my vacation schedule. I couldn’t have felt any more special thanks to them!

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Marvelous Already Had and Yet to Come

Entries for a free Lendperk dress rental close tonight at 11:59PM EST so make sure to enter the giveaway!

Before I get to work recapping what is marvelous on this Monday, can I just express my hopelessly addicted woe over the fact that Instagram has been down (for me) for almost…wait, it’s been less than 24 hours? I need to get a grip. Okay, moving on.

Thank you Katie for helping us see the marvelous in Monday!

Thanks so much for your support in response to Thursday’s reflections on the difficulty I had over my FL vacation letting go and living life. Since being home for over a week now my ego has quieted its mean voice, but I’m wary of its ability to spring back up as soon as I step a toe out of my comfort zone, so I’ve been practicing my positive mindset-mode nonstop. This MIMM post is just one of many ways I can do that.

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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.

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Birthday Dinner at Max Downtown

Thanks for putting up with my spotty blogging the last couple of weeks! I hope now that the pre-vacation work rush and during-vacation relaxation has passed, I will get back into my routine, including regular blogging!

I still have some Max Restaurant Group establishments to cross off my list, but I selected their ritziest, Max Downtown, for my 24th birthday celebration dinner. My birthday was on 3/22 and this dinner occurred the weekend before that, but vacation and a last MBA semester typically result in late recaps such as this post, so forgive me!

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I (obviously) invited my parents to this special dinner, as well as my best friend Lidia! My dad was kind enough to me and my mom off while he ventured out to find downtown Hartford parking (hey, we were cold!) so I had some time to take some shots of the restaurant’s lovely interior while we waited.

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Barcelona Meets Mendoza: Wine Dinner

Last week (Wednesday 3/13) I had the pleasure of attending Barcelona Wine Bar’s latest wine dinner at their West Hartford location – La Vendimia de Mendoza. Funny enough, it fell on the same day that the new pope – from Argentina – was chosen! Fancy that.

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The moment I arrived I knew it’d be a wino’s dream evening. The menu listed SIX different wines that we’d be sampling. Keep in mind the event came with food too, and only cost $45 per person (plus tax and gratuity)!

ALL THE WINE.

ALL THE WINE.

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Great Tastes at Top Nosh

Remember the Jewish Teen Learning Center charity event, Top Nosh, that I mentioned a couple weeks ago? Well that 18th birthday celebration for the Center was held last Wednesday 2/27, and it was the cherry on top of my February!

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MIMM: Weekend Edition

It occurred to me yesterday while I was in a bit of a late afternoon funk that my weekend as pretty darn marvelous. So let’s focus on the positives on this Monday, with Katie‘s weekly celebration.

Marvelous is…Huffington Post Women‘s Twitter account tweeting my National Eating Disorders Awareness Week blog post on Friday morning. Um, holy. For them to think I’m worthy of a spot on their feed is a true honor. And all of your reactions in the comments and on Twitter were marvelous as well. Thank you!

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Love and Bitters at Barcelona

Remember to check out yesterday’s post, where I shared a special announcement…

My friend (since high school!) Andrea and I made plans on a Monday this month to go out to a fab dinner in honor of her birthday. I discovered Barcelona in West Hartford was doing one of their fun food and drink pairing events that very night, so we decided to turn that Love & Bitters Cocktail Class into our celebratory meetup!

Quite the lineup!

Quite the lineup!

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Millwright’s Tavern Tuesdays!

Thanks to the local foodies who entered my Taste of the Nation Hartford giveaway! Out of 44 entries, the winner is…

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Kristen of Been There, Run That! Congrats and I will be contacting you about how you will receive your two free passes to the April 11 event.

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