Category Archives: Cocktails

Marvelously Overwhelmed

I had a marvelous weekend, but it was busy, and left me extremely overwhelmed. Like to the point of sobbing on the phone to my mom and not being able to follow through on Sunday’s plans because I worked myself up to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. I seem to always need to re-learn the same lesson, every few months, about over-exerting myself. This summer has been so fun and as much as I’m dreading the colder weather, I think I need fall to get here so that I’ll start slowing down. (Oh but I’m travelling three weekends in September, I’ll try not to think about that for now.)

Link up with Katie today to share your marvelous!

Still, there is plenty of marvelous about this past weekend in CT (yes, another one) to be thankful for.

Marvelous is…meeting my parents at Mohegan Sun for another overnight stay. The fam can’t seem to get enough of the casino lately and I’m not complaining about it one bit!

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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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Seaport Secret: Sam’s at Louis

I received the food and drink in this post free of charge. All opinions of the experience are my own; this is not a sponsored post.

The title of this post is a bit misleading because there are already plenty of Sam’s at Louis fans out there. The patio is hoppin’ in the summertime and the restaurant is located on the water right along Boston’s Harborwalk. But unless you’re looking for it, you’re not likely to drive by. And if you call an Uber from there, you’re likely going to have to go meet your driver out on Seaport Boulevard if you want a chance of him or her finding you. So I’m going to go out on a limb and call Sam’s a bit of a secret – location-wise at least.

samsatlouis3

But now that I know where it is, and how WONDERFUL the food and drink are, I’ll absolutely be back. Jeannie and I had dinner there on Tuesday night, and she’s had nothing but great things to say about Sam’s at Louis for awhile now. The food and drink of the Sam’s Instagram feed have been torturing me and I’m so happy I finally was able to go and experience it for myself.

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Thinking Out Loud: Shin Happens

My blogging inspiration and drive has really been in high gear the last couple of weeks! Probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve been trying to give myself the nights in I need to balance the nights out. So that means I have more time to think out loud.

Be sure to link up with Amanda if you’re thinking out loud today!

1. My left shin is freaking killing me and I am SO OVER IT. I had originally planned to run a 10K distance on Tuesday after doing spin on Monday, but once I woke up Tuesday and my shin hurt even when walking, I knew that wasn’t smart. So I ran 3.4 miles instead, but that was also not smart. My shin was literally throbbing afterward. I went home and utilized the closest thing to an ice pack that I had – frozen broccoli.

And wine, because always wine.

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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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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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Trade Em Up Tuesday: Because It’s Not Monday

I tend to recap my weekends in the form of Marvelous In My Monday, but I didn’t feel like blogging Sunday night and yesterday was too busy. So since it’s Tuesday, this weekend recap is coming to you in the form of Trade ‘Em Up Tuesday, which I haven’t done in awhile (holy – since before I had my new job!) anyway.

I would not trade…the Friday night that I really needed. As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I felt like a big whale all day thanks to a looooong wine tasting and dinner for work the previous night. What kept me going all day was the knowledge that I’d be able to spend my evening with great people! First I met Jen at Eastern Standard for her first visit there (!!!) and we enjoyed some relaxing girl time over drinks and yummy food. Thankfully Jen agreed that the restaurant lived up to my hype and it was another nice visit of great service and spot-on cocktail recs!

My first drink – the Red Hook – a Manhattan-like cocktail. I took a sip and said “ahhh”.

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Five Things Friday: Good and Bad

I guess twice a week of posting is the best I’m gonna get this summer. Not that I won’t strive for more, but this season sure is busy. With my busy weekends I don’t have time to draft up posts on my days off! Oh well, fun fun fun, and I’m still posting as frequently as ever on Instagram. Let’s get this Five Things Friday show on the road.

Be sure to link up with Clare if you’re participating!

1. I ran 7 miles this week! Once again I got my long half marathon training run done on Tuesday and once again it went better than I thought it would. I stuck by the Charles River for most of the route and that made a huge difference. The gorgeous sights and “sea” breeze were helpful but most important was the presence of so many other runners. I really felt like a part of that Boston running “scene” and that motivated me to run strong and keep going! Really once I got to my halfway point and turned around, I knew I was home free because well…I have to get back home, right? The hardest part of my runs, I’ve found, is getting to a halfway point and turning around. But that makes the second half easier, so I’m going to try to stick with that type of route, instead of one that takes me on a circle of sorts.

I wore my pink and purple PUMA ensemble (the leggings too) and being so matchy-matchy definitely helped my run motivation!

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2014 Best of Hartford Magazine Winners Party!

Oh how I have missed my Connecticut events! Boston events are great, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t have nearly as much of a network here as I do back in the Hartford area. That’s one reason why I was so excited to be able to attend the 2014 Best of Hartford Magazine Winners Party this past Friday! As first runner-up for both Best Twitter and Best Blogger in the 2014 Readers’ Poll, I received one ticket for me and one for a plus one – so I brought Rachel, the girl who named this blog. Of course that’s really a reason way down low on a very long list of reasons why I brought her with me. She’s a great friend and I was so happy to be able to share the special night with her!

Our red carpet glam entrance - thanks Sean!

Our red carpet glam entrance – thanks Sean!

And of course I got to reunite with all of my CT event buddies! That included Carolyn Paine (founder of CONNetic Dance, which I have blogged about before) and Emily Cahill, Community Manager for Yelp Hartford. Oh, and you know Kat was there. That’s a given.

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