Tag Archives: seasons 52

A Florida Birthday

March 22nd was my 27th birthday and I truly felt like the celebrations lasted for days and days. Jeff took me out for a great birthday dinner in Boston the Friday before, and I also visited one of my favorite bars with a ton of friends for an epic night out on Saturday. But I spent my actual birthday in Orlando, Florida with my family and Jeff.

No Florida birthday is complete without Publix cake, or a heavy dose of Lilly Pulitzer. My brother and sister gifted me a Lilly wine tote and stemless wine glasses, and my family gifted me my favorite white cake with white icing.

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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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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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Marvelous Massachusetts and Plan B

Man, I definitely need positive reminders of marvelous on this Monday morning. My morning commute involved a nose bleed and the shocking realization that my car’s tissue stock was depleted long ago – and never had been replenished. The fall air is here, with a vengeance!

Join Katie in this marvelous link-up!

Marvelous is…finally visiting my darling blend Kelly in Massachusetts! About a month ago, we made a plan for me to stay over this past Friday to Saturday. The timing could not have worked out any better and I was so happy to be able to be there for Kelly and her family during a tough time in their lives.

We’ve hung out a bunch on my CT turf, but this was my first visit to hers in MA!

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WIAW: Additional Florida Edition

Oo bet that title confused you just a little bit, huh? Stay quick on your feet folks, because this post will be speedy. I miss blogging so much and have not felt at all satisfied with what I have had time to post which is not much. I had a nice chat with my girl Meg about this yesterday – I also miss reading and commenting on all of YOUR wonderful blogs. But it also doesn’t do me any good to place stress on myself and try to make time for everything, because then what I do end up doing will suffer. I would rather do a few things to my best ability, and right now my top priorities are school and (alas, as much as I hate to say it) work. Hey, I gotta pay the restaurant bills. I have so much more than just FL vacation food recaps to share – there’s a lot of feelings associated with that food and the vacation and my birthday. I hope I will get to go deeper into that soon.

For now though I’m going to quickly use What I Ate Wednesday to recap my eats during my latest vacation to Florida. Alas I haven’t even had time to upload my camera photos so I only have Instagram photos to share for now but will try to share camera pics later when I discuss my feelings on the vacation food/drinks. I’ve recapped FL eats before in this photo-dump manner and it seemed to work well! So let’s get this Jenn-hosted party underway. I landed in Florida on Sunday afternoon 3/24 after some bothersome flight delays, and wasted no time stocking our condo with…provisions.

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WIAW: Florida Vaca Eats!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for a copy of the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD! Check out my thoughts on the post and enter if you are interested!

It’s time to do another notdailyeats take on Jen‘s What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW). I’ve already done that, and if I shared typical workday eats each WIAW, this blog would be Snoozeville, Population: ALL OF YOU.

After all, you’d much rather read/see a recap of the food & drink I enjoyed during my Christmas vacation to Florida, right? I thought so. I already shared my raw/vegan lunch experience at Christopher’s Kitchen with Brittany, and my apricot beer and TooJay’s takeout on Christmas Day, so start there if you haven’t seen those posts!

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Orlando – Day Five

My fifth full day in Orlando (last Thursday) followed my gym-tan-eat-tan-drink-eat-sleep routine (and trust me, I wasn’t getting sick of it) – but with another Connecticut-infused twist.

I woke up still feeling blah in the stomach area, just nauseous, but I was SOOO ready to be back at the intense cardio and decided to run a 5K on the treadmill. I was psyched to see they each had a TV but then saw that neither treadmill had a working one – bah! There was a big TV in the overall gym though, and it was empty in there (I mean, it was about 8am…) so I grabbed the remote and flipped channels while I pounded out 3.1 miles in 27 minutes! Once I started running, my nausea actually disappeared and I felt fantastic and full of energy. I like setting a distance goal as opposed to time because it motivates me to run faster – so I can get off that dreadmill faster! Works every time.

What do you know, another Connecticut friend was in Orlando when I was – Kelly! Her family are big fans of the parks (unlike mine) so most days she was Disney and Universal-ing, but she did have one pool day (well, morning) and I headed over to her hotel to join her and her mom. It was so great to hang out!

After Kelly and her fam left the pool for Epcot, I went to a nearby Whole Foods to grab lunch. Even though I have a location in my town, I love checking out different Whole Foods for the regional differences in the food offered at the hot and cold salad bars in state to state.

Healthy foods photograph the prettiest!

Well OK, that mac n cheese looks pretty golden and beautiful too.

Amazingly fresh Florida seafood salads.

I was a cheap-o and didn’t purchase any of the above ($10.99/lb…) but the seafood lover in me was remorseful later – right Meg? 😉

Hello there!

OK, so we do NOT have fish like that in my Whole Foods. No sir. I was also on a mention for seafood or meat for the next night’s grill-out dinner (the joys of staying at a place with a kitchen and grills!) and found just what I was looking for in the Seafood Department, thanks to a very helpful employee – hello if you are reading! (I gave him my card).

Just what I was looking for! I took home two Spinach & Feta Salmon Burgers, one Wild Salmon Burger, and one Shrimp Burger. I was already looking forward to the meal, and I hadn’t even had THAT night’s dinner yet (or the day’s lunch, for that matter). Story of my life.

Um, Whole Foods has a bar?! Don’t mind if I do! This location is the only one in Florida with a bar that serves beer and wine. The wine section itself was amazing! Need proof?

I snuck in on a tasting of Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clovera red blend (included one of my favorites, petite sirah). This wine was AMAZING, one of the best reds I’ve tried in awhile, and I was shocked at its affordable price tag. Also a fun side note on this International Woman’s Day, Concannon Vineyards hired the first professional female winemaker in 1950!

I was poured the above glass and then some, which I did not finish since I wanted to make it home alive.

Words cannot describe how excited I was to be having dinner that night at Seasons 52, a “blogger hot-spot” that I have seen on Meghann, Gina, Caitlin, and Julie’s blogs. I was rockin’ a new dress from the occasion, a Black Friday purchase (I know, it’s bad news bears when you’re wearing things for the “first time” in March and bought them in November) from Kohl’s LC Lauren Conrad Collection. You can’t see them well, but it has one of my latest obsessions, pleats!

I was blown away by our view! I had no idea Seasons 52 (we were at the ORIGINAL location, by the way!) offered gorgeous outdoor lakeside seating. Pleasant surprise!

After our little photoshoot, we finally took our seats and checked out the drink menu. It was very dark out on the patio, and my mom had to borrow a light from our waiter to read the menu! Silly mom.

I ordered the Organic Sunshine Martini: orange-infused Prairie organic vodka and agave nectar. However, it was not what I was expecting.

I chose this martini because the description made it sound like it would just be vodka made with a bit of agave, but after it arrived I could see that it had also been made with some kind of orange juice, a bummer because anytime drinks are made with juices they taste too sweet for me. Sure enough, it was too sweet, but our amazing waiter Garrett was kind enough to take it off the bill without my even asking – thank you Garrett!

Ugh, flash.

Instead of a martini, I decided to go with red wine and helped my parents out with the bottle they’d already ordered, Gascon Malbec, which was actually quite excellent! I made a joke that Gascon was an appropriate wine to drink when in Orlando, home of the creators of Gaston.

Surprisingly, Garrett had NOT heard that awful pun before!

Thankfully I didn’t have a tough time deciding on a meal because that night, a special was being offered that was made for me.

Mahi? Mediterranean? Shrimp? Tzatziki? SOLD.

Aaaand I DIED. What a fantastic dish. I’m a chronic dish modifier at restaurants and this was made for me – I did not have to order with ANY modifications. The fish was perfect, the shrimp tabouleh was perfect, the tzatziki came on the side without me even asking, and a nice surprise was included that wasn’t mentioned on the menu, olives!

My mom got the same dish and she was a bit bummed that the olives weren’t called out on the menu because she HATES them, but she picked them out and I finished them off for her. Before her meal, she got the Organic Baby Spinach Salad: sliced pears, feta, and toasted pine nuts on spinach. She couldn’t stop raving about it! My dad loved his meal too – despite the fact that it came with lots of veggies. Eat up Dad, they’re good for you!

We were too full for dessert so I did not try any of the famous Mini Indulgences that everyone raves about, but next time I will have to! What a great last dinner out in Florida.

Have you ever been to Seasons 52? If not, have you already heard about it thanks to the “blog world”?

Do you run on treadmills for distance or for time?

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen at a Whole Foods?