Home Happenings..

Greetings from Boston!

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I have loved every minute of my weekend at home with the fam and PJ. It was filled with lots of laughs, great food and friends, copious amounts of fantastic wine, fancy fuzzy socks,a faux Christmas celebration, and the creation of a pretty spectacular gingerbread house.

 Amazing salumi tray and hummus that my mom put together for PJ and I to snack on when we arrived Thursday afternoon.

Dinner Thursday evening was shrimp and grits ( recipe coming soon!) with roasted asparagus, salad, and vino. It's hard to make out the grits on my plate, but they are hidden under the shrimp. I went in for an additional helping of the grits  because their creamy, starchy goodness was just so darn yummy and comforting.

Amazing wine.

On Friday afternoon, PJ and I ran some errands and hit up one of my fave local spots, Mann Orchards. They have fantastic produce, baked goods, jams and spreads, and they now carry craft beer and cider. We clearly went to investigate the craft beer department, as PJ cannot travel anywhere without researching and visiting any and all craft beer retailers. Mann's also serves lunch, but PJ was starving so we opted to head across the street to another restaurant with a more extensive menu. We split ahi tuna wontons for an appetizer, and I had a simple Waldorf salad with chicken for my main dish. It was the perfect lunch!

We headed home after our outing and relaxed for a bit. We ended up heading to the Irish Cottage around dinner time for some food and drinks. None of us were in the mood for a fancy meal that would require drive time, so this local  pub fit the bill.  The restaurant had live Irish music which was very loud, but it also made the evening a little more festive. I have eaten here a few times during past visits home, and the food has always been great.

  Late Saturday morning, PJ and I headed into Boston to meet friends for brunch. We went to a fantastic restaurant called Deluxe Station Diner in Newton Centre, which is an adorable town bordering the city of Boston. We had some great eats and enjoyed catching up with good friends.

The menu at the restaurant was huge, and everything sounded phenomenal. I had a small snack of cottage cheese and pear in the car as we traveled into town, but it just didn't stick.  I always try to have something before I head out to brunch to prevent me from arriving overly hungry . Even though I did this on Saturday, it just didn't help.  You know when you have reached the point of hunger where you actually visualize (and even consider?!) yourself grabbing a handful of fries off someone else's plate and shoving them into your mouth? Well I had reached that point. Choosing my meal was difficult , as I was literally salivating at the plates of food in front of people at the neighboring tables. I went with my gut instinct which told me to get the tuna melt. I haven't had a tuna melt in probably three years, but it was calling to me from the packed pages of the menu. It was fantastic. I think I may have these more than every three years.

I slurped on a spicy Bloody Mary with my meal.  Yum.

Ok, let's move on from Bloody Mary's to yoga. I can't think of a better segue, can you? So,  I have made time to practice yoga each day since my arrival in Boston, and I am feeling pretty fantastic about it. I am now using the website YogaGlo instead of Yoga Today. I do like Yoga Today, but I found myself bored with their class lineup. I am loving the instructors and classes on YogaGlo, and I have definitely stepped up my practice since I started using the site.

In light of the horrendous events that occurred in CT on Friday, yoga has served not only as my form of movement, but it has also  served as a small way to express gratitude for all the wonderful people and gifts that I am lucky enough to have in my life. Yoga always provides me with the opportunity to reconnect with myself and to truly appreciate how full my life is. The events that occurred on Friday clearly illuminated the unfortunate reality of life's fragility. With this idea at the top of my mind,  I have found myself  more compassionate towards myself and others. The small daily nuances that tend to aggravate me about myself or others have been completely irrelevant over the past two days.

It's bed time for me now,  but I will be back tomorrow with some pics and updates from the "faux Christmas" we had here last evening.  On a side note, my Mom and I constructed this fabulous gingerbread house over coffee and breakfast this morning. Some activities just never lose their sparkle no matter how old you get!

xo

Sarah