This month I’ve had the chance to visit both Barcelona Wine Bar locations in Boston! First I went to Brookline to attend a Tour of Galicia dinner (and take over the Barcelona Brookline Facebook to share my experience).
My favorite bread of all time!
As usual there was no shortage of wine at this event…each course was paired with two different varietals!
Part of my dinner as well as the tickets to the show mentioned in this post were provided free of charge by Foxwoods Casino.
A couple of weeks ago, Emily mentioned to me that she had been asked by Foxwoods Restort Casino to come visit for the “ultimate girls night”, which obviously included male revue show Thunder Down Under. It had certainly been awhile since my last casino trip, and a night out with one of my favorite people sounded great, so I immediately said yes!
Matching MANhattans before going to watch a bunch of shirtless men. Source.
We got a room at a nearby hotel, Hilltop Inn & Suites, that was relatively affordable and offered a free shuttle to/from the casino. That way we could enjoy ourselves to the fullest and not have to worry about driving back to Boston at midnight. Despite some Friday traffic, we made it to the hotel just in time to freshen up, grab the 6:30 shuttle, and make it to our dinner reservation.
I am receiving a complimentary race entry from Zooma in exchange for sharing my training/race experience on my blog and social media.
Those who have been reading my blog for a year or more may remember that last summer, I trained for my first half marathon! For those who do not remember or were not aware, here are some of those posts to catch you up:
Though I am a self proclaimed non-runner, I still got such a high off of training for that big goal, and conquering it. I will never forget the overwhelming emotion and pride I felt as I crossed the finish line, with tears in my eyes, at the Zooma Women’s Half Marathon on the Cape last September.
I received complimentary admission to this event for media purposes. All opinions are my own and I’d pay for a Barcelona event in a hot second!
I had the chance a couple of weeks ago to attend a sherry cocktail making class at Barcelona Wine Bar‘s South End location in Boston. Regular readers will know this is definitely not my first event at Barcelona Wine Bar, and not even my first cocktail-related event – I attended a class about bitters at the West Hartford location a couple of years ago. This time around, the sherry-focused class was led by Corporate Bar Manager Jeff Marron.
The class started with some words from Jeff about sherry, but he quickly led us into the hands-on portion. He called up a couple people at a time to make four different cocktails, and the class got to sample each one!
Lately I have been hearing the same proclamation a seemingly endless amount of times: “You’ve been everywhere!” And I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that. Despite the fact that hearing this proclamation immediately triggers my brain to think, “You’ve been going out and drinking and eating too much and slacking on the gym!”, I’ve been practicing fighting that thought and feeling thankful for all I have been able to do so far this summer.
I’ve been to Knoxville, Tennessee to see my little sister graduate from college…
…Nantucket (with work) for the Wine Fest…
…Connecticut for my dad’s birthday and a wedding…
I haven’t had much time lately to write and during my free time, I haven’t wanted to write. So I’m here today on a four W-word alliteration bender to share some photos, mostly from the Memorial Day weekend, which involved me going back to Connecticut to see my good friend Kristen marry the love of her life!
Kristen and her husband Greg met when he fell into her at a bar, spilled her drink, and offered to buy her a new one. How’s that for a rom-com romance?
I’m popping in to say hi and quickly announce the winner of my giveaway five free product coupons from Dr. Praeger’s. Congrats to Alex! I will be emailing you about claiming your prize!
I’m on the road again, or shall I say the water? Likely when I hit publish on this pre-written post I am either about to leave on a drive to Hyannis, or on the ferry itself to Nantucket. I’ll be pouring wine for 90+ Cellars at one of tomorrow’s Nantucket Wine Festival Grand Tastings, and aside from that will be hanging out on that wonderful island, likely collecting material along the way for another event recap!
The remnants of last year’s festival.
It’s been a week of night out, night in, night out, night in. Monday I stopped by a Boston Bloggers event at Audubon – a last minute decision but an easy one once I found out my dear friend Emily was going. I kept things chill with a couple glasses of Rose, finally met Christina, got a chance to photobooth it up, and grabbed Whole Foods takeout (for the first time ever I was disappointed by it) on the way home. I felt reassured by my ability to go out and not GO all out.
I’m coming off another weekend on the road, this one spent in Knoxville, Tennessee to watch my little sister Hannah graduate from the University of Tennessee! I am exhausted, and bummed that my work day doesn’t end until 9PM tonight, but am so also glad that I made the trip south to celebrate with my sister and see my family and our friends as well.
Despite the fact that I handled this Tennessee trip better than either of the last two I have taken, I still dealt with the usual anxiety over drinking more than usual, out-of-routine food, and working out less. However I also realized that I didn’t drink or eat a huge amount more than I would lately on a weekend, and the rest day I took was the one per week that I’ve gotten used to taking (and sometimes it’s two).
Manhattans and fried pickles aren’t unordinary weekend occurrences nowadays.
That in itself is perhaps a sign of progress in my journey to stop punishing myself via restriction and overexercising, but more so comes back to my concern that I’ve really been overdoing it lately and need to reel it back in.
I received complimentary admission to this event, but I have paid for and would continue to pay for Barcelona Wine Bar events in the future – they are always more than worth the money!!!
I sound like a broken record to long-time readers, but I just ADORE Barcelona Wine Bar and feel very fortunate that I moved from one area with several locations to another! I used to blog about Barcelona West Hartford‘s events all the time, and though I’ve visted the Brookline location a few times since moving to Boston, I had yet to attend a formal, structured event here in Boston. That is, until last Wednesday!
And not only did I get to attend the Barcelona South End Wines of Catalunya dinner (or Caitalunya, as my sister so cleverly came up with), but I also got to share my experience during a live takeover of Barcelona’s Instagram, @barcelonawinebar! Fun fact: I have attended a Wines of Catalunya dinner at the West Hartford location as well…read that recap here!
I received Bully Boy whiskey free of charge for purposes of making this recipe. My opinion of the product (I was already a fan!) is my own.
After inadvertently scheduling my good friend Rachel’s bridal shower on Derby Day, I decided to roll with the coincidence and make the shower Derby themed!
Rachel’s dad made that horse – isn’t it amazing?
Since I came back to CT from Boston to throw the shower, I brought some Boston-based beverages back with me. Of course wine came courtesy of 90+ Cellars…
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!
