Tag Archives: salad

Marvelous Visitors!

This past Saturday, two very special visitors touched down in Boston to stay the night – my good friend Rachel and her husband Steve! She got her wedding dress on Newbury Street, so thankfully for me, each fitting involves a visit to moi. (Rachel and Steve got married in a family-only church ceremony on New Year’s Day, but are having a big ceremony/party in Mexico in June, hence why Rachel the wife still needs a dress fitting.) And once the fitting was done (of course Steve didn’t accompany us to that portion), I had plenty of marvelous activities planned for the three of us.

Link up with Katie if you’re sharing a marvelous post today too!

Marvelous is…retail therapy. Before reuniting with Steve, we took advantage of girl time and headed to the Pru for some shopping, which I actually haven’t done since moving here. LOFT was having a great sale so I got a couple of tops for just $36, and a very helpful Sephora associate helped me pick out my first bronzer and eyebrow pencil. I’m really growing up!

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Eat Smart: Just Add Veggies


I applied for this Clever Girls campaign as soon as I saw that it had to do with SALAD. I love salads. I eat one for lunch every weekday, and love how they can be so much more than the rabbit food side salads you might find at a place like Chili’s. Salads can taste great and the best part of all? You can eat a lot of them.

My coworkers were a bit befuddled when a cooler full of salads showed up to the office!

My coworkers were a bit befuddled when a cooler full of salads showed up to the office!

Eat Smart has come out with Gourmet Salad and Stir Fry Kits to make it easier for folks to get their veggies in. And these aren’t your average bagged salads – we’re talking five to seven ingredients, including BRUSSELS SPROUTS. We’re talking kale. We’re also talking some pretty cool accompaniments to these salads, like roasted pumpkin seeds and feta.

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Staying Put is Marvelous

I cannot thank everyone enough for the support I received in response to last week’s post about my doctor’s appointment. It’s weird – sometimes something is weighing on your mind so much that it just has to come out in some way. So I wrote that post. But once I did, I was kind of over talking about it. I am so appreciative of the love I have received, but I also often found myself politely brushing off the subject with an, “I’m doing better!” or a quick change of subject whenever someone checked in on me. I’m glad I put my feelings out there, but now am trying to focus on moving on. What better way of doing that than a Marvelous In My Monday (MIMM) weekend recap?

Link up with Katie if you too are talking marvelous on this Monday.

Marvelous is…STAYING PUT! Every weekend in September except this past weekend I have plans to be away. So I knew I wanted to just stay in Boston. After all, I always can find plenty to do in the city. Starting with Friday night – after-work happy hour with co-workers turned into dinner, dive bars, and a bit of dancing.

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Long Newport Weekend

Once I got going writing yesterday’s post, I knew this recap of the long July 4th weekend in Newport, RI would have to be a two-parter. So many photos and so much to say! Thankfully I woke up at 5:30AM for no reason this morning, actually feeling quite well rested, so I was able to sneak in a quick run and sit down here to blog before starting my work day. Let’s pick up where we left off:

Sunday 7/6

So I woke up and despite feeling guilty about what I’d eaten/drank the day prior, I also just didn’t feel like going running or doing cardio of any kind. Our timeshare complex had a gym that I walked into and said…wtf? It had three machines, dumbbells that maxed out at 10lbs (not that I’m strong man or anything, but come on!), and not even a space to do abs and no bench. So I basically did arms for 20 minutes, abs from the now-longer-than-30-days ab challenge, and called it a day. I was happy to be able to hightail it to Mokka Coffeehouse down the street to get some work done!

The shop was adorable as you can see from the above photo, and the iced coffee DELICIOUS. I had it a few other days on my trip and definitely recommend this place, though Coffee Grinder is still my favorite coffee place in Newport simply because of the waterfront seating (unfair advantage). After plugging away for a couple of hours I got hungry and found out my family was having lunch at a diner. I just didn’t really feel like eating diner food, and OK I was having anxiety over it, so I decided to take my current read and check out Newport’s newest farm-to-table (this term is, to me, becoming overused) restaurant – Stoneacre Pantry.

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Newport for July 4th!

OK, sitting down to write this post because if I don’t, too much time will pass since last weekend and I’d really like to share the fun I had in Newport for July 4th! Anyone who has been reading my blog for a little while knows that Newport is one of my favorite places in the world. I make sure to go at least once per summer! You can check out past posts here:

Thursday 7/3

I ended up going to Newport a day early, Thursday late afternoon instead of Friday morning. Boston was essentially empty Thursday night, plus I wanted to beat Hurricane Arthur since he was scheduled to visit come Friday. Thankfully I have some great family friends in the form of the Cunninghams. They let me crash in their family’s Newport house Thursday night, and the ride there wasn’t even too awful – only half an hour longer than usual (due to predicted holiday weekend traffic). All I can say is I am glad I wasn’t going to the Cape!

Hit the road with fresh 4th of July nails!

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Marvelous DC Trip!

I’m back from a marvelous weekend away and am excited to share photos from my trip! Thankfully my flight had me back in my apartment last night by 8PM, so I had time to sit down and write this post before hitting the hay.

Join Katie‘s link-up if you’d like to join the marvelous!

I’m back from my trip to DC to visit my friend Jeff, and I have to give myself some props for not only making sure I hit up many different restaurants and beautiful sights, but also for ensuring that I saw as many friends as possible!

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One bummer was that timing did not work out for Alex and I to finally meet up, since she was out of town for the weekend. But she did recommend a stellar dinner spot in Georgetown – Farmers Fishers Bakers!

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Spring at Seasons 52

Before I get rolling on this post, I want to announce the FIVE winners of my Taste of Nature bar giveaway! Another huge thanks to the company for offering that many prizes – very generous! The winners are:

I will be emailing you guys to connect you with Taste of Nature so you can arrange the receipt of your bars. Congrats and thanks to all who entered!

I received the food and drinks featured in this post free of charge. I had no idea that would be happening until I finished my meal, and all opinions of my experience are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

Seasons 52 is – as the name would suggest – all about seasonal food and drink. And seasonal often means the freshest, healthiest options. This is one of my favorite chains (it doesn’t even seem like a “chain”) and was first introduced to me when I started reading blogs. Once I finally got the chance to visit I saw what all the hype was about and even “converted” my family into Seasons 52 lovers. Now whenever we visit anywhere with a location nearby, we all have got to go!

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MIMM: Weekend in Pictures

It’s Marathon Monday! This is my first Marathon Monday as a Boston resident and I hope to get out of work a little early today so I can meet up with friends and take in the event. To do that I had to put in Sunday work time, and since I write these posts on Sundays, this will be a quick one! And don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll do a marathon-centric blog post, but seeing as I haven’t experienced it yet I’m holding off!

Share your marvelous on Katie‘s link-up. Thanks for hosting, recent-birthday-girl!

It was a marvelous weekend despite a Sunday spent feeling pretty guilty about my eats/drinks from the night prior, and also not loving my body at all. But gotta push on and hopefully the meaningful day here in Boston will help me refocus on what is most important in life.

Tried out a new-to-us spot by the office with some coworkers on Friday, while we killed time before an event. Asian restaurants are not places to go for good cocktails but they are places to go for pretty drinks!

In honor of our 90+ Cellars Paint Nite, I had the job of dressing the most interesting man with our new Rose t-shirt. Which by the way I get to model on our website!

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Two Marvelous Homes

This past weekend was spent in both of my marvelous homes – Boston and Connecticut. Even before I made my move I knew I’d be coming home for Penelope‘s first birthday party, which was on Saturday (the same day as her actual birthday). So I spent Friday night in Boston and Saturday night in Glastonbury. I told friends in Beantown that I would be “going home” Saturday, but then I told friends in CT that I was going “back home” on Sunday. I haven’t stopped calling Connecticut home, but I’m already calling Boston home too. Who says I can’t have two?

This link up of marvelous is brought to you by Katie!

Marvelous was…a date with a blend. Annie and I have hung out several times in a group setting but we’ve been wanting to get together for a heart to heart for awhile now. Finally, Friday night, we made it happen. She suggested what ended up being a great spot, City Landing. The restaurant was so extremely accommodating for both vegan and gluten-free diets, but also offered plenty for those following no specific diet. Our bartender was so awesome – when we asked her to take a picture of us she took several, did the “above angle”, and positioned our drinks (which were amazing) so that they showed in the photo. I will definitely be making a return visit to City Landing; Annie and I especially want to bring Greg!

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Getting My Marvelous Priorities Straight

I am blogging today from Mexico and seriously planned for the last week to title this post “Marvelous Mexico”. But I have other stuff on my mind today because I woke up the morning of my departure with yet another illness. Seriously, I never used to get sick and this is the second time in two weeks. Has anyone else ever moved from the suburbs to the city and suddenly found themselves getting sick more often? Let’s hope this isn’t a continuing trend.

Thanks Katie for hosting this link-up every week!

Whenever I go on vacation, I like to work out first thing in the morning so I can feel less guilty about the rest of the day just laying out in the sun, going outside my food/drink box a bit more, and being fairly inactive in general. Some people like to spend their vacations exploring their surroundings and doing outdoor activities. That’s fine, but to be honest I like to sit on my butt in the sun and go out to eat.

i just couldn’t not have a drink with the rest of my family to celebrate our arrival at the hotel, but it definitely knocked me out.

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