MIMM: Looking forward to the week ahead

I don't know if it's the time of year, but I've been so busy lately. I've had to cancel plans with certain people several times because I've essentially double-booked myself. It's a welcome change for the winter since I typically hibernate at home due to my hatred/intolerance for the cold. Can you believe I'll be out almost every night this week with several inches of snow and ice on the ground from Saturday and this forecast?

Yeah, me either. Fingers crossed for no snow on Tuesday.

Tonight I'm attending a holiday party for wedding companies at the Providence Biltmore in lieu of my normal Monday routine of vinyasa and hot yoga. Free food and an excuse to dress fancy? Hell yeah. Funny how I get invited to this when I've literally assisted in DJing one wedding. My friend and I have plans to hit up Trinity Brewhouse for wings afterwards, too. Should be a fun night!

I have Tuesday off work (so I hope) and plan to squeeze in lots of yoga to make up for my lack of regular class attendance. I also find myself craving sushi something awful and am considering taking advantage of a sushi lunch special somewhere after AM yoga classes. It has been far too long since sashimi and seaweed salad have been on my agenda, or my plate.

I was scheduled to cover trivia on Wednesday night, but my godfather AKA my favorite man in my life/father figure invited me to Transiberian Orchestra. With one Providence performance each year, the stories I've heard about the show, and the opportunity to hang with Uncle Mark, I couldn't turn down the offer . Thank god my boss was understanding and found coverage.

Back to work Thursday with post-work plans for an unofficial office Christmas party at the Thirsty Beaver. Who knows what Friday holds.

Linking up to Katie's Marvelous in my Monday as per usual. I'm having trouble posting links and pictures on my iPad since I'm still learning, so bear with me! Also, this post is going up late. Oops!

MIMM: Sometimes you just need a reminder

As a favor to myself, I'm taking the time to link up to Katie's Marvelous in my Monday.
Marvelous is... The beautiful Christmas gift my yoga instructor made for me. It's so adorable and thoughtful!

Marvelous is... Nights out with old friends and staging Instagram photos to capture dumb moments. 

Of course this wine has fruit notes and the aroma of red grapes. Kevin is a true sommelier. I had to pay homage. Marvelous is... Lunch plans with old friends to introduce them to new places. 

After seeing that picture, I don't think I need to explain myself for knowing his mind will be blown. Check out all that falafel/tabouli/grilled vegetable action. Nom nom nom. Marvelous is... Hot yoga, followed by drinks and appetizers with fellow yogis. 

You know I'm going for that shrimp cocktail and jumbo sangria. Marvelous is... Another short work week. I won't focus on the fact that it's the last one until late spring. 

Christmas may be over, but the holiday craziness persists

Finding the time to sit down and write a blog post has been damn near impossible this month between all the holiday preparation, social events, the insanity of work, and lingering exhaustion from the combination of it all. I don't even quite have the energy nor the inspiration to write a post tonight. I've been at a family party for the past few hours and it took all my energy to pretend to be happy to be there. I promise I'll be better at this when things calm down and my winter hibernation begins. I also just ordered an iPad mini case and keyboard. Woo!

On my agenda for the rest of the night:

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Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

I have a stomachache, probably from consuming far too much of the only vegetables available at aforementioned family function, carrots and Sabra hummus (not my favorite, but I was STARVING). The popcorn I ate upon arriving home didn't settle my tummy troubles as expected, so I'm really banking on this gingerbread tea to ease my pain. It doesn't help that my chest is also radiating pain lingering from a far-too-tight embrace/attempt to crack my back on Friday night. Pretty sure my chestplate has some bruising. I can't really take Motrin when I'm feeling nauseous. Not feeling acid reflux.

I just started watching Once Upon a Time in Wonderland when I have the chance, and I have to say it's a pretty solid spinoff of Once Upon a Time. The cast and characters are great, however, there just isn't anyone as attractive as Captain Hook. WHY IS ONCE UPON A TIME ON HIATUS UNTIL SPRING?!!?!

I'm planning to meet with my friend for some fantastic falafel (alliteration!) and Middle Eastern cuisine at Sonya's Near East Deli in Cranston in the late afternoon tomorrow. FYI: If you live in RI and have the chance to stop by Sonya's Near East, I highly recommend it. Prices are very reasonable, service is awesome, and the menu is amazing. I have to be honest, I like it better than East Side Pockets. So sue me. Mondays also mean vinyasa yoga and hot yoga. Namaste!

Christmas 2013

Christmas always comes and goes too fast. All of this insanity for one day, then it's done and we fall into the frigid winter months with nothing to look forward to until Spring. And living in New England, that doesn't guarantee a significant climate change.

End rant. Cue Christmas recap.

I believe it's true that we learn something new everyday. I spent my entire Christmas Eve prepping food, baking up a storm, and attempting to clean up before church. I cooked quinoa, baked gingersnap cookies and peanut butter cup cookies, baked gingerbread protein bars (I followed Peas and Thank You's amazing recipe), and diced veggies, all while intermittently cleaning up after myself, from 9am straight through 3:15pm. What did I learn from all of this, you ask? I learned that when my family insists at 3:10 that I attend Christmas Eve mass starting at 4pm and I'm a flour-covered mess still in my pajamas, I transform myself into a presentable human being in less than 15 minutes, makeup and all. 

Pretty impressive if I do say so myself. And a valuable lesson learned.

P.S. Is my sister gorgeous or what? I wish I had half her looks.

The end results of my morning chaos:

Gingerbread bars unpictured, they just aren't attractive desserts when your best camera is on your iPad.

Needless to say in my mad rush, I never even thought to wrap my Christmas gifts. So that meant returning home from work to run to the basement and discretely wrap everything before my family arrived. Barely got it done.

Now that we're all older, my family just does all of the gifts on Christmas morning. It's cute that my mom still writes "from Santa" on our gifts. I really hate when people buy me gifts, honestly. I'd rather see them use the money towards themselves or someone else. I have everything I need already; however, I was not at all disappointed in my gifts.

Rocking my festive Santa pjs, my gifts spread on the floor (don't mind the dog bed haha), and my new boots

Crappy pictures, but we had to hurry to get dressed and head to the cemetery to spend some time with Dad on Christmas. Christmas sure is different without him here. He had so much Christmas spirit, he was like a little kid. I love and miss him so much...

What a goon. 

Our family is pretty small now. Including the four of us, we had 10 people for dinner. At least it gives me the chance to be a little more creative with side dishes knowing there are less people to please.

This year's experiment was a recipe I threw together on the fly. Red quinoa, red cabbage, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, and scallions lightly sautéed in a wok with a dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce, Ginger, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, pepper, and garlic. I had three servings of that shit, no shame. Along with two small sweet potatoes, tons of roasted asparagus, and fresh green beans. I hate that ham is the traditional protein for Christmas dinner, I just can't eat it. It grosses me out.

We spent the rest of the evening playing Who's on my Head and just hanging out enjoying each other's company. We ended the night watching Just Friends.

Nights of lights upon lights

I will preface this blog post by saying that I have had en extremely eventful week. Do I feel guilty about all the eating, late nights, and lack of exercise? Yes, but I'm really trying not to. And I'm actually finding it easy to push those thoughts to the back of my mind and hope for more weeks like this in the future.   

I am so thankful to my Uncle Mark for thinking to invite me to Trans Suberian Orchestra on Wednesday night. I've always wanted to go, but it seems to sell out every year. Now I know why.

Holy lights, lasers, and long-haired men.

Last night I had no plans to go out. All I really wanted to do was chill at home on my couch doing next to nothing, however, when my sister actually wants me to do something with her, I jump at the opportunity. I have to say our relationship has been so much better than in the past recently, which really makes me happy. 

Anyway, my mom, sister, and I headed to LaSalette Shrine to meet up with her boyfriend's family and a couple of her friends. I haven't been to LaSalette since before my dad passed away and it has definitely changed.

They added thousands of LED lights this year and it is absolutely gorgeous.

I've always loved the indoor display of the hand-crafted nativity scenes. There were far too many to get pictures of, but I thought this big display was pretty cool.

We also lit a candle in memory of my dad. 

I just wish the prayer steps hadn't been closed due to ice. Not like I pray, but I had done the stairs with my dad when I was a kid and it would have been nice to do that again.

Overall, a solid week. Today I return to yoga after my brief-yet-far-too-lengthy hiatus. Definitely going to struggle there ha. 

Who doesn't love a free party?

Let me start off by saying how much I love not being at work during the middle of the week. I'm sitting on my couch in my pajamas at 11am with no agenda until tonight and it's awesome. And I return to only two days of work until the weekend, woo hoo! But I digress...

WRIK Entertainment, the company that hired me as a trivia host, is also Arpeggio Wedding Entertainment, a DJing and lighting company for weddings, corporate events, private parties, etc. At the end of this year's wedding season, I was asked to assist with DJing a wedding and a 16th birthday party following that, so I guess I'm now an assistant DJ in addition to a trivia host. I wear many hats, apparently.

Basically this warranted an invite to an annual holiday party for Southern New England Weddings at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence.

The event was absolutely gorgeous, from the lobby decor to the decorations and table centerpieces. There was a photo booth set up with a table of props, which we took full advantage of. Mustache sunglasses and elf hats were donned.

The food was also incredible. Spinach stuffed chicken breast, mashed sweet potatoes, grilled shrimp skewers, lamb (yes, I tried lamb and enjoyed it), fresh fruit, and a variety of pickled vegetables, breads, and cheeses. Wine and beer was also free. Win. We ate, networked, and danced to the live band until about 8:15pm, then headed to Trinity Brewhouse for wings and beer. I was all set on both, I had a glass of wine and was so stuffed from the party, so I just hung out. Definitely a fun night overall.

Tuesday morning I was able to go to yoga since I took the day off work. Daytime classes are nice because they're usually smaller and I can work on whatever I want. This particular day was basically a private lesson with Paula, although we spent most of the time talking and laughing than actually working out. The second class was a little more productive since another person showed up. Paula also snapped a picture of me doing this pose that I have been obsessed with recently. Don't ask why, I just find it really fun in its awkwardness.

So now I'm home wasting time until Trans Siberian Orchestra with my godfather tonight. No complaints here! :)

Kicking off the Christmas season

I won't lie, I prefer when Thanksgiving comes late. I can only tolerate so much of the advertisements, decorations, and non-stop Christmas music on the radio. I feel that the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving, and since I've got less than a month to get into the holiday spirit, I can actually enjoy it this year.


Yesterday, my mom, sister, her boyfriend, and I hopped on the train to Boston. I spent the hour trip coaching my mom through level 147 on Candy Crush, which she's been stuck on for months. I wasn't successful. Fast forward to this morning, she'd beaten the level. Obviously, I deserve some credit for showing her what moves to look for and pair up yesterday. ;)

My mom and I on the train to Boston after she ran out of lives on Candy Crush and could be bothered to socialize.

Roasted beets, asparagus, edamame heaven

Avoiding Black Friday traffic without being housebound was nice. We shopped around Newbury and Boylston St, hitting up my favorite Marshall's store, and ending the day at the Prudential Center. We also enjoyed a late lunch at Cheesecake Factory in the Pru. We were all ravenous by the time we were seated...I should have eaten more than a grapefruit at 11:30am. Oh well. The result was me ordering and inhaling two shrimp spring rolls, basically before they touched the table. So good. I also ordered a chopped vegetable salad as an entree with Sesame-soy dressing.

We (barely) caught the 5:05pm train home, and began decorating the house for Christmas. I also baked some red velvet cookies with a cream cheese icing. Pictures and super-easy recipe will be supplied in a later post; I never bake these just once around the holidays. 

My favorite part about breaking out the Christmas decorations is a long-standing joke with my family:

A Very Perry with the Wine They Call Sherry Christmas (link to the entire CD on Grooveshark). This beauty randomly came in the mail addressed to my dad one year, and it has the best worst versions of all the yuletide classics. He recognized the guy on the cover as an employee that served him clam chowder on the Pine Lakes golf course during a golf trip with some friends. Oddly enough, my dad never gave his address, nor used his card to purchase anything, yet he was the only person to get the CD. I call that a divine intervention.

Once the tree was up and the lights were lit, we sat down to watch Elf together. Perfect end to a near-perfect day.

So bring on the Christmas craziness. I'm ready to embrace it...as long as I'm not forced to listen to "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney. 

A very thankful Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving! Today I bring you a cliché "thankful" post because my life can be pretty amazing sometimes.

I'm thankful for:

-Fun times with great, lifelong friends

- Having the ability to laugh at myself for mistakenly wearing moccasins to the gym this morning, and pushing through a workout regardless.

Clearly I do spend too much time in the yoga studio and not enough time doing cardio. I forget what it feels like to wear sneakers...or have a brain haha.

- This wine, which I'm enjoying after a massive thanksgiving dinner. Drops of Jupiter red blend. If it reminds you of the Train song, you're dead-on. It's from the lead singer's winery. 

Didn't snap a picture, but I had an enormous sweet potato, white meat turkey, gravy, chili roasted broccoli, and warm red cabbage salad. Yum!

- My amazing family

This picture is from the last holiday we spent together before my dad passed away. Easter 2010. Today we are smaller, but stronger, and I'm so grateful for what I grew up with and what I still have. I love my family and wouldn't trade them for the world.

Nothing could make my Monday more marvelous than a great weekend behind me and short work week ahead

Yep, the title pretty much sums it up.

I mentioned my pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving celebration with my godfamily in my last post. Needless to say, it was a blast. But let's be real, how could I not have an awesome day when I was sporting teal leggings? Bold colors make me feel happy.

As always, I ended up playing bartender and blowing everyone's minds with my drink concoctions. My favorite sampling of the night was what I called a Caramel Maple Cake. The Red Hot Apple Pie and the Cinnamon Pumpkin drinks were pretty incredible, too, if I do say so myself. (Just a side note, my "drink names" really do nothing more than describe the flavors of nips that were randomly purchased and combined. ) I sampled all night without actually imbibing, however.

Sunday morning yoga was great as always, and almost all of my favorite people showed up. Yay! A good workout + good conversation = success.

I spent the rest of my Sunday grocery shopping, doing laundry, joking around with my family, and taking the opportunity to watch Meet the Millers since my sisters rented it OnDemand last night.

Oh, and I have to mention that leftover turkey is the best and I enjoyed it for dinner on a salad with spicy brown mustard and habanero mustard for dressings. Yum!

Not to break from the positivity, but my Weather Kitty made me sad today with the forecast. So I put on glasses on him. Yeah, didn't change the fact that it didn't reach 30ºF

This is why I hate New England. At least this cat is amusingly adorable.

Monday's forecast, regardless of the physical outdoor temperature, is looking a-okay to me. Lunch with someone on my caseload as part of my workday, vinyasa and hot yoga, and a 3-day work week.

As always, thanks to Katie for the push to see the positive side of Mondays. Linking up!