Bachelorette Weekend!

          Lately I’ve been writing posts only once a week, usually on Wednesdays!  That was never the plan, but just seem to happen that way, and now its amazing to me how fast that wed to wed goes by!!  Hopefully after all this wedding busy-ness is over, I can go back to a more frequent blogging schedule.
(edit: started this Wednesday, clearly didn't happen until today though)

Until then…

Bachelorette Party Recap!

have I mentioned before how AWESOME my bridesmaids are?! 

Well it all started when 2 of them picked me up at my house and we headed north to the beach in NH!!

We all thought it was hilarious when we all three of us pulled out the exact same Women’s Health magazine (we all subscribe).  So we set them up on our chairs for a photo op! 

 

The tide was so high there was really no actual beach, but we found a sandy area above the sea wall.

 

Once it started getting cloudy we headed to Portsmouth to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the girls and get dressed for dinner.

There were fun snacks, including mini cupcakes!

Prosecco with raspberries…complete with stickers to put our initials on our cups…those would be my future initials…BAM!

I got this dress at Target a month or so ago, and have been saving it for my bachelorette party!

There were also some fun presents!

I bet you could guess what some of it was ;)

Time to go!  Complete with my maid of honor and white boa!

 

First stop was Poco’s for some Sangria!  They have the BEST Sangria…fruity, but not too sweet :)  

    

Then it was on to Dinner, and boy what an amazing dinner it was…the girls know me well :)

We went to a new place called Cava, a Tapas and Wine Bar.  My maid of honor had already pre-selected the menu, and before you knew it course after course of small tapas plates started coming to the table.  We must of tried 12 or 13 different items!!

My photos started dwindling when I started getting full…so I don't have pictures of everything, but here goes!

Mezze: hummus, marinated feta, tabbouleh, baba ghanoujh  (and there was also a falafel on there!)

Served with warm pitas.  Everything was delicious…esp the hummus and falafel!

Crostini with fig preserves, Serrano ham and a fig slice…

Crostini with DARK CHOCOLATE and sea salt!!!  This was an amazing flavor combination!

Chickpea “fries”!

Shots of Gazpacho and corn chowder…YUM!

Shot of chilled melon soup with basil and Serrano ham…So amazing and refreshing!

Cousins!

Friends!

Mmm Olives!

More friends :)

Oooo…Roasted Medjool Dates stuffed with Manchego cheese and wrapped in ham….incredible. 

Blue hill mussels steamed in their own juices, red chilies, and cherry tomato

Garlic Prawns in a traditional tomato garlic sauce

By now, I’m hurting and somewhere in there was also Patatas Bravas!

But this next dish was so amazing and I was bummed I was too full to fully enjoy it!

can’t find a description on the website, but they were seared scallops with sliced black truffle on top and definitely some truffle oil in that sauce…AMAZING!

Tuna… so fresh!  I managed a tiny bite!

This is where the food pics end sadly, but there was also

• Paella
• Grilled Swordfish
• Pork tenderloin
• Roasted Sirloin

And we even CANCELLED desserts and the cheese plate because we were all SO full!! 

It’s such a testament to the fact that if you eat slower and savor each bite you wont be able to over eat.  We had MANY items, but of each item we only got 1 or 2 small bites and because it was spread out our bodies had a chance to catch up and we were all full.  I guarantee if all the food was out at once we would of ate way too much! 

I now have an excuse to go back because their desserts sounded incredible!

The night continued out at a few bars/clubs…however, it was surprisingly not that big of a night for Portsmouth?!  Plus there was a really “strange” crowd at the big dancing spot so that wasn't as great as we’d hoped but it was still great just to be with all my friends!

The next morning a few of us headed to our FAVORITE breakfast spot from our college days (UNH is right near Portsmouth).

The Big Bean!

 

Oh the memories…

I ordered a veggie egg white omelet, no cheese, but add hollandaise sauce on the side.  Toast (they make their own bread), and a fruit cup!

Just as good as ever.

Such an awesome weekend with my girls…I can hardly believe that was actually my bachelorette party and the wedding is only 10 days away!!!!

P.S. Finally got Windows Live Writer on my work computer hehe!  (no internet at the house yet…grr).

P.P.S. Totally felt like Fall this morning…LOVE FALL!!!

HLS and more New House Adventures!

Wow what a weekend!

First I must commend the girls who put on the Healthy Living Summit. It turned out to be a huge success and I think everyone, including myself, had a wonderful time and learned a lot. The most exciting part for me was to actually talk to so many of these bloggers in person. So many times you read blogs and even email with other bloggers and think how you just know you’d want to be friends with that person if they lived closer, and it’s still so true. There were a lot of us, so it was hard to talk to everyone or for any length of time but it was still so exciting to be around all of these amazing people who love so many of the same things that you do!

I mean where else would you find a room of 125 people who all get giddy over little jars of Barney Butter!? Or where the Greek yogurt flies off the breakfast buffet in the first 10min (I came about 15min after registration opened and it was long gone by then haha!).

No worries, the breakfast buffet was still delicious! I was pumped to finally try Mix My Granola!

Unfortunately I couldn’t join in the Saturday evening activities in the North End (At least I’m
local so I’ve been many times), or the Sunday morning run which looked glorious from seeing other peoples pictures. No, I had the fun task of MOVING in one of the hottest weekends we’ve had this summer!

I was able to make the Friday evening cocktail party at Rustic Kitchen though!! I love Rustic Kitchen so I was excited about this. I was also excited to wear the cute salmon-y colored dress I had worn to my friends wedding a few weeks ago! Well apparently great minds think alike because I walked in and saw my fellow Boston blogger, Elina, in the same dress!!! Hahah!

(ps I totally stole those pics from Meghann and Heather's blogs respectively...thanks girls!!)

Somehow we missed this photo op, but if you check out Meghann's post and scroll down you'll notice a pic with Elina, then myself and we are dress twins :)

Here are some more pics from the Summit. I'm sure by now you've read 124 recaps and this will be #125, so I'll just post some pics and keep it simple.

I Heart Swag
My delicious sandwich bar lunch at the Summit:
I wish I could have access to delicious cut fruit everyday! Snack time:

The rest of the weekend was moving...I hate moving, HATE moving (although I’m sure I’m not alone there). You never realize how much stuff (crap) you accumulate until you have to move it all.

However, more exciting...I am finally in the new house officially!!! It's so weird and exciting at the same time. I mean, I am now living in a House (not an apt), and it's MY house! I am finally living with Brian, and realized the other day that I never have to pack a bag to stay with him again!

Of course this has been the hottest week of the year so it's hard to get too much done around the house without breaking a sweat haha. I did document our first dinner on the new grill!!Brian is SOOOO excited about this. It lives in our back yard cabana:The grill man :) Now all we need is proper patio furniture, instead of the ghetto set we're using now: This was somehow pulled together with some veggies given to me from my uncles garden, a bag of frozen shrimp I brought from my apartment and some Emeril’s Essence spice that was sent to me via the Foodbuzz Tastemaker's program! I spy a hot dog ;) So maybe I was craving a grilled hot dog and made Brian split one with me as an appetizer. Grilled Shrimpies! Veggies:My plateP.S. Emeril's Essence is awesome!

I can't wait to share more pictures of the house...we've done lots of painting and practically re-did the bathroom!! It's coming along great.
Even the tomatoes are flourishing!

This weekend is my Bachelorette Party!!! Holler!!!!!! Can't wait to share that with you guys!

17 Days!!!!!!!!!