January 19, 2015

Weekend Sunshine_XX

January 19, 2015/ sherri d'alessandro

Goooood evening, my friends! I hope you all had a fun weekend! As previously mentioned, Rob and I headed to Maine with Molly, George, Sarah & Jimmy. Let me just start out by saying that Maine is really good for mental health! After the hectic holiday season and the slow, almost sluggish start into the new year... a relaxing weekend away with good friends is exactly what was needed. It didn't hurt that Molly & George were the most incredible hosts. Lots of delicious food, great wine, outdoor activities, shopping and most importantly... a whole lot of laughs! I'm kicking off the week feeling revitalized and refreshed!

We spent some time talking about our 'weekly routines' which I always find so interesting! I have to say that I was really inspired by Sarah & Jimmy's routine of writing out their daily dinners at the beginning of the week. I've mentioned before that I don't necessarily like doing a 'Sunday Food Prep' because 1) I enjoy cooking at night and 2) I like to eat what I am craving. What I like about what Sarah and Jimmy do is it's more open to modifications. So for example, if I'm planning on making fish and green beans, I could make potatoes OR quinoa to go with it. I think it also forces creativity in the kitchen, ensures all produce and meats are being used (instead of wasted), and of course, ensures a healthy meal every night. I think I might give it a shot! Stay tuned for an update later this week.

So, as you may have seen on my instagram, the two couples were instantly greeted with these incredible, monogrammed totes from L.L. Bean (FUNFITFLAVOR YEAH!!! #FFF). Molly went above and beyond - it was an incredibly warm welcome and as Rob says "Great, now you can cut back from 3 bags to just 1!" Score! As the night progressed, we ate pizza, drank wine/beer and caught up on life.

I'm kind of obsessed with Hinkley.

The next morning, we were incredibly balanced by eating chocolate croissants and going for a hike in the freezing cold! (unbeknownst to me that it was cold as I completely overdressed in fear of freezing)

We came back, showered, and got ready to go to lunch and hit the outlets then Maine Beer Company and then back to the house for an EXTREMELY DELICIOUS dinner.

Life chats by the fire.

And I even made my step goal! All about that balance, about that balance.

We had another great brunch the next morning and then packed up to go home and watch the PATS! The weekend was pure perfection. Huge thanks to Molly and George for hosting us in the most relaxing place in Maine!

Have a great week! xo

January 14, 2015

What's in my bag?

January 14, 2015/ sherri d'alessandro

What is it about those magazine articles that reveal "what's in my bag" so appealing? I guess we are all a little nosy by nature, right? I would say the other reason they are a 'must read' is because we are looking for some cool things to put in our OWN bags. Anything that makes our lives more organized, healthy, and prepared, right? So, today I'll show you what's in MY bag (or my POCKETBOOK as we from BOSTON say). I can 100% guarantee you that this post will look completely different in the summer so I'll re-post again once the warm weather hits.

The vehicle: This Madewell brown leather bag that I bought for myself last fall. It is one of my favorites and goes with EVERYTHING. I'm actually super practical when it comes to pocketbooks (er, bags) because I don't really like to switch them out much. I know, so odd for a chick.

Here it goes, from the top:

1. Hand cream
2. Black driving gloves
3. Red marker pen
4. My favorite new wallet
5. Glasses case
6. Random pencil, probably from a tasting event
7. Work cell phone
8. Hair elastic
9. Ginger chew
10. Tiny hairbrush
11. Eyedrops
12. Work keys
13. Eyeglass cloth
14. 12,745 lip glosses and chapsticks
15. Another pair of black gloves
16. Personal keys

Some explanations...
1. I am the Marketing Director at a large, outdoor lifestyle/shopping center. I wear gloves every single time I step out the door (which is often) so that's why there are two pairs. It's necessary.
2. My PWG tag gets more use than most things in this bag.
3. I rarely reapply my lip gloss/stick, but, for some reason there is always a minimum of 7 in my bag

1. These are actually Rob's eyedrops (he wears contacts), but, I usually always have a bottle in my bag. They are an instant beauty boost.
2. This mini brush is essential for when you have an after work meet-up or event.
3. Ginger chews are so necessary. They help soothe an anxious stomach (think, gingerale) and they are also little sweet if I have a craving.
4. Hair elastic. Need. Always.
5. I think this pencil is from a beer tasting, not sure

6. This is my work cell. I used my personal cell to take the photo. I get this question a lot... "Why do you have two phones?" Answer: I am in Marketing, I run 7 social media accounts and my email inbox is kind of crazy. It makes it much easier to keep it both separate. Especially with a blog.
7. Marker pen... I like using these pens for cards so I like to be prepared.
8. Crabtree hand cream. When I worked at Crabtree, Krista and I actually executed everything about this cream. The fragrance, the packaging, the size of the bottle, everything (except for the name, which is a different story for another day......-___-........) Anyway, it's one of my favs and it's so essential. I use it probably 5 times a day, in and out of the cold.
9. The other pair of gloves!

That's what's in my purse today! Some missing items would be random vitamins and ibuprofren. I usually have both. What are the essential things in your pocketbook? Um, bag.

January 12, 2015

Weekend Sunshine XIX

January 12, 2015/ sherri d'alessandro

Flashback! I haven't written a "Weekend Sunshine" post in a very long time... just about a year to be exact. That being said, since Friday Favs didn't happen this week, I thought I'd resurrect a little "Weekend Sunshine" to make up for it. Plus, this series was started in the cold and dark days of winter to bring a little 'sunshine' to the blogosphere, so it just seemed fitting.

This weekend, 11 of us went up to Loon Mountain for the weekend. It was fun! The addition of the INSANE Pats game, definitely made it even sweeter. Weekend getaways make the winter soooo much more fun and a lot more bearable, am I right?! We mostly ate, drank, laughed, and of course, had moments of close panic-attacks from 4:30pm-8pm on Saturday night. (side note: once again I was kind of terrible at taking pictures... ugh... but I was able to capture a few)

This was our awesome view from our townhouse.

On Saturday, I had an unplanned gym sesh which actually ended up being pretty great. This poster was up in the gym... straight out of the 1980's (just like the equipment). It was hilarious and awesome.
If you're wondering why we weren't skiing... well - only our two elites went skiing. Everyone else stayed behind mainly due to the early Pats game. I brought all of my stuff and intended on going if someone would join me since I haven't been skiing in 4 years and I'm not exactly the best skiier in the world. The boys decided the pool was a better idea so Shannon and I decided to squeeze in a quick workout and meet the boys to play basketball in the pool (insert laughter) I'm soooooo good at basketball, especially in the pool. All 5foot1andahalf of me. The Pool was 5 ft deep. Go ahead and picture how that worked out. Hahaha

My workout consisted of dead lifts, cleans, weighted squats, plyo squats, bench press, back flies, plyo hamstring curls, and some cardio (squat thrusts, burpees, bear crawls, etc). Oh, all of this was completed after I wolfed down an amazing cronut that Rob picked up for me... (errrr, all of us) while the boys were out getting everyone coffees (best bf eva).