Tag Archives: weekend

Friday Five: All the Topics

Thanks for the well wishes on my belated two-year blogiversary post yesterday! Your comments never fail to make me say “aw, shucks”.

I have a thousand ideas for posts bouncing around in my head and a bunch of stuff to talk about so how about I just do a Friday Five? That way I can talk about five of all the things. Killing five birds with one stone, or five topics with one blog post for the PETA-members out there.

1. The Onyx Moonshine Gatsby Ball is tonight!

I go to a lot of events and I can’t remember the last time I was this excited for one. Onyx is an awesome local company I have worked with since I started my blog and I was thrilled to be invited to their Moonshine Ball & Onyx 111 Infusion Challenge tonight at the Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill in Middletown (where Kaitlin is getting married next year!). I’ve got a flapper dress and fedora packed to change into after the gym, and am ready for some yummy eats from Wood-n-Tap. Some great restaurants (Krust and Pond House Grill for example) are participating in the infusion challenge, which uses the newer Onyx 111 proof. I and other guests will get a chance to try and vote on the infusions, and local foodie judges will make the final decision as to which restaurant will be crowned champion! I am attending with Kat and am so excited to dance the night away!

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This is the dress! This pic was taken in June 2009 – I have gotten great wear out of the dress for several Halloween/costume events and many friends have borrowed it and done the same! Best thing is it cost about $20 from Forever 21.

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Rizzuto’s at the March of Dimes Gala

I (unexpectedly) received the food and drinks in this post free of charge. All opinions of the experience are my own.

Next month (on Thursday 10/17), the Connecticut chapter of March of Dimes will host the 75th Anniversary Signature Chefs Auction Gala at The Riverview in Simsbury in celebration of 75 years of the organization fighting for stronger, healthier babies. Guests will have the opportunity to dine on food prepared by the chefs of some of the area’s best (and some of my favorite) restaurants such as Barcelona Wine Bar, Pond House Grille, Rizzuto’s, and more. Locally produced libations will be poured by Jonathan Edwards Winery, Peel, and Olde Burnside Brewing. One of the hosts, Scot Haney, is definitely someone I’d consider a CT celeb!

All participants

Individual tickets are $175 each and tables of 10 are up for grabs at $1,750. Though the price may seem steep and perhaps is not realistic for some, those who are able to spend the funds can be assured that a) they won’t walk away hungry and b) their money is going to a great cause. The money raised by the gala will benefit research and programs like CenteringPregnancy, Healthy Babies Are Worth The Wait, and NICU Family Support. 1 in 10 babies born in CT are born premature, and the March of Dimes needs fundraisers like these to take steps to both improve that number and support affected preemies and their families. If you can’t make it to the event but are able to make a donation, I highly encourage you to visit the event page and do so. Attendees will also have the chance to contribute outside of ticket costs, via both live and silent auctions featuring fabulous items.

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Helping a Marvelous Cause

It’s time for a special Marvelous In My Monday (MIMM) in celebration of a marvelous cause! I blogged on Friday about my plan to participate in this past Saturday’s 2013 Hartford NEDA Walk (the second ever) as Team Caption of Team Amazing Me. I’m proud to share that we raised the fourth highest amount of any team – a grand total of $595.00 if you add in day-of donations that aren’t showing online. Currently the Walk website shows over $28,000 raised, which may not be the $35,000 goal, but I have not yet seen a grand total tally that includes day-of registration and donations!

Be sure to join Katie’s link-up and share your marvelous!

I can’t express enough how thankful I am to my parents and friends for putting aside time to walk with me, and to anyone who donated. As my mom said, it’s a shame we even have to have a walk for this, but it’s eating disorders are an important and prevalent issue that cannot be ignored. Participating only made me more excited and anxious to take on more advocacy efforts. I even signed up to receive advocacy action alerts!

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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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MIMM: Summer’s Wine-ding Down

Remember to enter my Marshall’s Bishop’s Corner giveaway – you have until tomorrow night to do so!

Another Monday, another marvelous weekend behind me, and a low-key one at that! Well, low-key in the sense that no drives longer than 40 minutes occurred. That’s really all I can ask for, especially since this coming weekend I’ll be off to Boston (and will see this marvelous lady). I over-use this word but it’s all about balance…balancing my weekends away with weekends at home has been key to making it through this marvelous summer (I can literally feel in the air that it’s ending, ugh!) and focusing on how grateful I should be to have so much marvelous to even FEEL stressed over.

Inspired by Katie, a blogger who is SO good at seeing the marvelous!

Marvelous is…my beloved StepMill #39 getting fixed at my gym. Long story, but that machine is the only one of my gym’s four StepMills that I like to/can use. My solo cardio sessions have been nothing without it (running and elliptical are not for me). Friday night I REALLY needed kickass cardio before a dinner out and StepMill #39 was good as new and definitely kicked my ass.

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Fashion Friday: Bishop’s Corner Giveaway!

The experiences detailed in this post were provided to me free of charge (with the exception of my overzealous purchasing at 2 out of 3 stops). The opinions are my own.

A couple Sundays ago I had my second-ever experience at West Hartford’s Bishop’s Corner shopping center. My first was eons ago at the plaza’s Sakura Garden, but on this visit I hit three different spots and got to do so with blends. Winning! And you guys can do some winning too, just stay tuned til the end of the post…

The ladies in attendance – Julie, Latanya, Alana (of Eden’s, the company who put on the event), me, and Maria! Source.

I showed up in workout clothes (obviously) fresh out of a gym session and ready for lunch. To be honest I was super-wary when I found out the dining destination would be Noodles & Company. I’m not big into pasta or rice or any kind of noodle! A scroll through the menu had me calling this place “Panera for Pasta”.

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Accelerated Fitness – Cromwell

I briefly mentioned in my last post that over the weekend I took my first trip to Accelerated Fitness, at the Cromwell location (also located in Glastonbury and Tolland). My friend Maria brought me as her guest to join a session with one of Cromwell’s two personal trainers, Kevin Carlson (or as she calls him…Oh Sadistic One). This place is more than a gym; the primary line of business is personal training and programs tailored to each client’s fitness history and goals. Maria has her own program, but on Saturday when I was her guest, Kevin just decided to have some “fun” with us.

Kevin’s sick idea of fun!

I hadn’t been to a personal trainer in awhile so i was very excited! The setup was very Crossfit-box-like…plenty of toys of fitness torture were set up along the walls with an open space in the middle. The session lasted about 50 minutes and consisted of various circuits of 2-3 moves each, the whole circuit repeated three times. Here are some examples of moves Kevin had Maria and I doing:

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MIMM: All the Friends!

Welcome to the work week, folks. Remember that many of you may have a three-day (Labor Day) weekend on the horizon, so keep your chin up, you can make it through!

Make sure you join the marvelous party!

This was a weekend of friends of all sources. High school, Twitter, blogs, you name it. Not only did they give me the best of times, they also gave me the support I needed to give myself permission to enjoy the marvelous.

Marvelous is…Friday night in West Hartford Center.

My foodie partner in crime, Rachel!

My foodie partner in crime, Rachel!

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Three Things Thursday: Weekend Faves

I’ve been behind on my weekend recaps because those weekends have been quite epic, and require multiple posts when I blog about them. That’s a good problem to have! But we are headed into another weekend soon (YAY) that will need recapping next week, and I haven’t even talked about this past weekend. I thought some alliteration was in order to do just that.

I already blogged about Friday night’s cooking class at Pond House Grille, so that won’t be included in this post about my top three favorite things about this past weekend, but believe me when I say it was up there.

1. Spending Saturday by myself.

I have been travelling almost every weekend in the last month or so and it felt so amazing this weekend to have no drives that lasted longer than an hour. The highlight of my chill weekend at home was sleeping until 9:30AM on Saturday, going to the gym for a nice not-rushed StepMill + abs workout, and then taking myself, a packed lunch, magazines, and Daybreak iced coffee to the pool club. I stayed there for several hours and just read, took occasional dips, and soaked up the sun. It was amazing, serene, and exactly what I needed.

View from my chair :D

View from my chair 😀

I followed that up with a visit to my favorite nail salon, Ceci’s, for a mani/pedi (well, toe/hand polish change, AKA the cheaper option). I did my first mani in forever with no disco nail (gasp) but I just love the color I picked out for my hands – OPI A-Piers To Be Tan, from the new San Francisco collection.

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Hot Summer Night at Pond House Grille

Pond House Grille provided me complimentary admission to this cooking class. This is not a sponsored post, and all opinions on my experience are my own.

Pond House Grille has revitalized not just its appearance (examples: shiny website, tablet menu format) but also its food. Executive Chef Jordan Stein is placing a huge emphasis on seasonally appropriate and creative cuisine which makes heavy use of local ingredients. I had the privilege of receiving a chef’s tasting there not long ago, and was truly blown away by the dishes this talented and humble guy served up.

Love his signature fedora!

Love his signature fedora!

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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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