Hey guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine started last Tuesday. Yes, I had a sort of "staycation" again... similar to what I did in August sans the HOT weather. Rachael and I both had to use up some vacation time before we lost it so we decided to take a few days off and have a BFF weekend in PORTLAND!

First, I need to thank MAL for providing us with a list of restaurants/bars that were all ON POINT. (Mal lives in Portland. It was her wedding that took place three weeks ago... and yes, she met up with us the day after she came home from her honeymoon. #solidfriend )

First stop... Central Provisions. See the sign? Good food. Strong Drink. These are TWO FACTS. We loved this place so much that we went back the next day to try more small plates. Favorites: Prosecco drink, roasted cauliflower, fried browne point oysters, bread and butter, chop salad, and raw beef salad.

Next up, we headed up to Sonny's for a cocktail. Their cocktail list was plentiful but, both Rachael and I think we made poor decisions. She got the "Number 1 with the Bullet" and I got the "Jalapeno Strawberry" drink. Rachael's was better than mine, but, the floor was super cool. I wouldn't blame the place -- I'd blame our poor decision making.

After some shopping and walking around, we headed to MJ's for wine and cheese. Yep, wine and cheese. Happiness all around! This place was AWESOME and the service was fantastic. The manchego platter was delectable.

For dinner... we just got oysters and salads at Boone's and got to bed early. We woke up feeling great (perks of day drinking vs. night drinking) and headed to the gym for a solid workout. Ravenous, we headed to Central Provisions at 11:30. Hey, we didn't eat breakfast!

After "brunchish lunchish" we got coffees at Bard. I can say with 100% honestly that this was the best almond milk cappucino that I have ever had. It was strong, not bitter, perfectly executed with the espresso to milk ratio and of course... the presentation was adorable.

That afternoon, it was time for MASSAGES at Nine Stones. What is a vacation without a massage? It was incredible and so necessary.

Later that evening, we finally got to meet up with Mal at my favorite drink spot from our last trip to Portland... Hunt & Alpine Club. My favorite drink was no longer on the menu, but, the staff remembered it and made it for me. It has egg whites... it's delicious... just get it.

The 3 of us headed over to Eventides (a place I reallllly wanted to go to last year but, we never got to it.). The oysters and Prosecco were everything I ever imagined.

Sparkling Rose... yes.

Dozen oysters. Yes and 11 yesses.

We then headed over to Honey Paw... Eventides' sister restaurant (next door) for the rest of dinner.

I didn't take any food pics at Honey Paw, but, the spare ribs that were on special (and often are) were absolutely dreamy. Get them.

LOVE THESE GIRLS!

Rachael and I didn't wake up feeling as perky as we did the prior day... We woke up, headed to The Holy Donut and ate them so fast that we forgot to take pictures of them. #bloggerfail

We then decided that we needed more carbs so we went back to an old favorite... Flatbread Company.

See that salad? That's my favorite salad.

I love Portland. If you ever go - I'd recommend every place listed above. It's such a short trip from Boston and everything about it was easy. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown/Waterfront and joked that everything was a "0.3 mile walk or 6 mins" which was truly perfect.

We headed back to Boston on Friday afternoon, just in time for Sarah's bday party. Rob and I had a really relaxing weekend, which was so necessary after such a fun-filled few months. Relaxation, comfort food, family time, football, and wrapped it all up with dinner last night with my favorites for Rebecca's birthday celebration. It was awesome.

Hope you all have a GREAT week. xo

Last week, I took the entire week off for some real relaxation and local travel. It was so nice to take a break and spend time at home and also get away and explore Portland, ME with friends! When it comes to vacation workouts - I allow myself to do whatever I feel like doing. I don't skip working out completely because if I did, I wouldn't feel like myself, but, I definitely take it down a few notches. Plus, with all the drinking and eating - it's nice to get in a little sweat sesh. Here's what I put together:

Monday: Fighter Conditioning at PWG (James' Class) (Stayed in Boston this day, organized my life, and went to the beach for some solo time)

M St Beach is such a pretty place when it's not crowded with riff raff.

Tuesday: 4.25 mile run (Went to Dux with my mom after my run. We spent the day just relaxing and surprisingly the water was REALLY warm so we swam a lot!)

Wednesday: My parents have the best little workout room equipped with a treadmill, elliptical, roman chair, bench, ball, and a variety of free weights. I hit the elliptical for about 15 minutes on max resistance so that it looked like I was moving through sand. Then I did the roman chair - 3 sets, 3 sets of dead lifts, 3 sets of squats with overhead press, 2 sets of burpees, a couple rounds of abs. Anddd I think that's it.

Thursday: Nope. Arrived in Portland and there was absolutely no working out unless you count walking from bar to bar....

Friday: Woke up feeling prettty hungover but Kristen and I managed to do a 2 mi jog on the waterfront before we felt so dehydrated and starved that we had to stop to get breakfast, of course. Rob and I hit the hotel gym later in the day for a quick workout. I mainly did jumps and body weight work for about 20 minutes. Nothing crazy.

View from the top of the trail we jogged (Fort Allen Trail)

Amazingly necessary breakfast at Marcys.

Dinner at Flatbread Company post-workout.

Saturday: In the morning - Rob and I hit the hotel gym for about a half hour. I did a 15 minute interval workout on the treadmill (run, sprint, walk at max incline, etc). Then did squats, lunges, star jumps, burpees, pushups, and abs for another 15. Later in the day we rode bikes around Peaks Island which was SO FUN! AND, I overcame my fear of bike riding. haha