What a Week… (Photo dump)

Happy Thursday all! Hope you’re all enjoying your day so far. Today is my Friday as I took tomorrow off because we are off to DC for the weekend for Dan’s cousin Lauren’s wedding. I have never been to DC before, besides driving through and I’m super excited for the festivities and to explore the city a bit.

This week has been full of ups and downs, between being sick with a nasty summer cold since last Friday and not getting a single workout in, to attending a great event at Mohegan Sun for New Belgium Brewing Company and eating some delicious meals (when I’ve had an appetite), it has been quite the week. Work has also been pretty busy so I’ve ended most days pretty exhausted.

Today I figured I would share a bit of a photo dump of the past couple of weeks since I haven’t had much time to write. As you will see from the pictures, we have been crazy busy but I really have been loving every minute of it (#tooblessedtobestressed). I’m looking forward to some fun and relaxation this weekend and I’m sure I will be back next week to tell you guys all about it!

My cousin Maggie’s graduation party from Villanova:

A beer tasting at Still Hill Brewery with our friends Erica and Jon:

Ice cream from Robb’s Farm:

Dan with Mike and Daniela’s dog Xena after softball:

Last Friday morning’s walk with coffee before my cold set in:

Friday night with the ladies at the Diamond:

A few pictures from Brian and Kelly’s party this past weekend, the food was incredible!

Sam’s bridal shower on Sunday was so beautiful. I love spending time with her and her family.

New Belgium Brewing‘s CT Launch Party at Mohegan Sun. Their beer was so good. The Heavy Melon is a perfect summer beer!

As you can tell, life has been very busy and with summer coming up, I know that it will just continue but I’m very lucky to have a wonderful husband and great friends and family to share it with. I hope you guys have the best weekend and let me know if there are any must see spots in DC!

 

Marvelous Monday: A Great Weekend

Happy Monday all! I can really say that since work is closed today and I’m currently writing this while relaxing on the couch in my PJ’s. We had the most fun-filled, packed to the brim weekend and I’m really excited to share some of it with you guys.

It really all started on Thursday evening since I had Friday off and we attended the VIP Grand Opening of NIXS Evergreen in South Windsor. It was a very nice event, albeit very crowded, with lots of good food to try and even more yummy drink samples. My favorite cocktail was the Moscow Mistress and the truffle fries were incredible. We can’t wait to go back for a full meal.

I spent my day off on Friday at Nelson Salon & Spa in West Hartford where I was redeeming the makeover I had won about a month or so ago at the blogger event at Vinted Wine Bar. The salon is absolutely gorgeous and I felt like a princess getting pampered for most of the late morning/early afternoon. First, I had my hair cut and styled by the wonderful Erickson. He did such an amazing job!

Next, I had a relaxing pedicure done by Lana and my feet have never felt so soft! After that, she did my makeup and I was able to chat for a bit with Dominika, the general manager of the salon, and learn about what makeup works best for me. I was absolutely floored by the results and I felt like the luckiest lady in the place! I can’t wait to go back and visit and I highly recommend Nelson Salon & Spa for anyone who needs to be pampered because not only do they have a salon but they have a full spa, including a masseuse and they do facials as well!

Photo Credit: Nelson Salon & Spa

Photo Credit: Nelson Salon & Spa

I had decided that a makeover called for a fancy Friday night dinner so we went to one of our favorite spots in town, Sayulita, and enjoyed some margaritas, guac, and tacos. It was so nice to sit at the bar and enjoy the Friday night atmosphere.

Saturday morning was spent getting some errands done because we were heading on a little getaway for the night! I had been toying with the idea of heading to Newport for a night and I ended up booking a hotel (The Howard Johnson Inn in Middletown) Saturday morning (at a very cheap rate) and we left a little after lunch time. The weather cleared up just in time for us to get there and we checked in and headed to Brick Alley Pub to watch the Patriots game. We had dinner there after the game and spend the rest of the evening wandering around the center of Newport before heading back to our hotel for some wine and a movie.

The cheese plate at Midtown Oyster Bar was amazing

Yesterday, we slept in, got ready and headed to one of our favorite restaurants, Diego’s, for the best brunch I have ever had. I had my usual standby, Diego’s Huevos, along with their house bloody Mary. The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the shops and after a quick stop at Greenvale Vineyards for a wine tasting and a reuben at The Shop, we headed home, stuffed and very happy!

It was honestly an incredible weekend and I think it is so important to take time out for yourself like I did on Friday and also to have those little getaways as a couple too. I feel totally refreshed and although I’m going to fully enjoy my day off today, I am ready to tackle the rest of the week when it comes! I hope you all have a great Monday and an even better week!

WIAW: A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

(Special note: I would like to thank all of the Veterans, past and present, for their service and sacrifice, not just today, but every day.)

Hi all!! Hope you are all having a fabulous Wednesday! I figured that a post recapping some of my recent favorite meals is well overdue at this point. These meals also include quite a bit of what we ate on our honeymoon in Mexico, although not all of what we ate because we would be here all day! 🙂 I have also thrown in a few other meals that I have enjoyed so much that I needed to share.

As soon as we arrived in Mexico, we made a beeline for the buffet and enjoyed an assortment of things, but especially the guac, because it was amazing!

Our resort, Catalonia Riviera Maya, had a tapas restaurant which was delicious and offered a lot of my favorites, such as this seared tuna.

One morning, we decided to try the buffet for breakfast and although we chose the sit-down restaurants every other day, it was nice to be able to choose what we wanted and control the portion sizes.

We also enjoyed our fair share of cocktails (when in Mexico?!) and this espresso martini was wonderful and so chocolatey.

The resort had a steakhouse style restaurant which included some of the best potato skins I have ever enjoyed.

These next few photos were taken with our new camera, and you can clearly see the difference from the usual iPhone photos. This was one of the many amazing breakfast options offered at the sit-down restaurant.

I also had my first ever experience with crepes, which were stuffed with nutella (!!!) and I was totally in heaven during that meal.

Dan loves french toast as he is a total bread lover so he really enjoyed this meal too.

Once we were back home, we visited the South Windsor Farmers Market and enjoyed a perfect variety of tapas from the Mercado food truck, including some of the best Brussels sprouts I have ever had.

This past weekend, we visited a couple of vineyards in Southern CT with Robbie and Jenna, and we stopped for lunch at The Dog Watch Cafe in North Stonington and I enjoyed an amazing lobster salad roll.

So as not to make it seem like we eat out every single day, last week Dan made delicious turkey wraps which were loaded with avocado, bacon, spinach, tomato, cheese, and honey roasted turkey breast, topped with some hot sauce.

That is all for today guys! I hope to be back again by the end of the week and I have a couple of great events coming up next week that I can’t wait to tell you guys all about!