A Fall Weekend Hike

Ok, so I know it’s technically still summer, but the weather was screaming FALL this weekend!  It was beautiful!!  Cool/Cold at night (in the 40’s…AWESOME sleeping weather), and then it would warm up to the high 60’s/low 70’s during the day! 

I wanted to be outside!

I miss hiking.  Brian and I used to go hiking/camping up in the White Mountains in NH every year in Sept when we were first dating.  I think it was after we got engaged that we were suddenly too busy for this trip.

Either way, I wanted to find a place close by that we could have an easy 2-4 hr hike!

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (dcr) website is a great resource for outdoor activities in Massachusetts!

Wachusett Mountain is about 1hr 20min from Boston, and is most known for being a local ski resort.  However, there are also a bunch of trails leading to the summit for hikers! 

Even broke out my hiking shoes I haven’t worn in years!

Before finding the actual trails, we went up this utility road which led to a wind farm!!

Those windmills are HUGE!!

From there we broke off on a trail.

Bonus if you have someone willing to carry the backpack :)

It only took about an hour to reach the summit!  A relatively easy hike, but I was definitely feeling it in my legs. 

Once we reached the top, there were people having picnic lunches, as well as a group of people watching a particular type of hawk migrate south. 

I could only see a few “specks” way up in the sky but apparently it was a sight to see all these hawks flying south. 

You could also see Boston!  It’s hard to see in the photo below but its in the middle off in the distance.

 

Going down is always the worst for me…its just hard on the knees.  Next time I need to remember my hiking poles! 

Hope we can get in another hike before it gets too cold!  My one gripe with this Mountain is the lack of “bathrooms”.  Even a lot of the bigger more remote mountains in NH have those vault toilets.  It’s just not fair how much easier it is for guys to go anywhere!!  I opted to “hold it” haha!

After the hike we headed to Gardner Ale house as Brian’s beer app told him it was nearby ;)

I missed photos of our food as I was STARVING by the time it came, but I did capture the beers.

Sampler for Brian:

Shipyard Pumpkin head for me..

Bad choice.  I wish I stuck to their own beers…  I don't like the Shipyard anymore…tastes like Bud Light with pumpkin/spice flavors.  Not good.  I’ve tasted WAY better Pumpkin beers this year!

Other deliciousness:

Breakfast!

Saturday included FINALLY trying the frozen Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants!  You need to leave them out overnight to rise, so we never think of it!

Um.  Amazing.  Warm, chocolatey, flakey, buttery…SOOOO good!

Sunday I whipped up a breakfast sandwich

• egg
• rosemary ham
• gruyere
• whole wheat British muffin

Half of a cider donut (left over from Saturday…got them at Idylwilde farm)

Cappuccino

A sampling of cider

Gave the pooch a bath

And baked some cupcakes to bring to my friends house this afternoon to watch the game!

Oh yes.

More on that later.

Oh and this little gem I picked up at Target…

        

           

And just like that weekend’s over…

The Flash Mob Video & Shoes

It’s one of those weeks.  For some reason I just don’t have much of anything exciting to write about and share on the blog! 

Lame, I know.

I’ve been working a little late both nights this week and the next 2 days I have post-work activities.  Meals have been leftover chili, sandwiches, or Trader Joe specialties…like tonight.

TJ’s Creamy Polenta and some roasted Brussel sprouts!

Easy and delish.

Especially when Brian preps and gets the brussels in the oven before I get home :)

Not too exciting, but super easy :)  

I did, however, remember that I hadn’t posted the video from the Bruins Flash Mob I was a part of last weekend on Labor Day!!

This was the one for Andrew Ference’s Day with the Stanley Cup in the North End. 

In the beginning, from your view I am in the 2nd row (the row facing the camera) and on the far left!

Once the big group joins in I am in the front row towards the center so I’m not always in the shot as the camera moved back and forth.  This is just one of the videos I found on You Tube! 

Enjoy:

Fun right?!

Much different than the dancing I did this past weekend, but it’s fun to just be able to dance sometimes!

And just to add another completely unrelated topic to this post, lets talk shoes!

I tweeted this morning that even though I was excited for Fall, I was going to be bummed when flip-flop season is over!! 

I mean, I’ll wear them until I just can’t take the cold anymore (or it snows), but right now my Rainbow’s are THE most comfortable shoes I own and it’s sad to put them away.

(source)

The other reason is commuting!!  I walk a lot now, to the train, from the train, to the office, the bus, at lunch…a LOT more walking these days.  Even my “comfy” flats will give me blisters if I walk for too long in them, and I’m sorry I just can’t rock the sneakers with dress clothes…

(source)

The other issue I encounter is “fake comfortable”.  You know, you try them on at the store, walk around and think ‘wow these are comfortable!’  Then you wear them out one day and are in dire need of Band-Aids…

I bought those at the Nordstrom Rack tweet up last week!  They are Vera Wang Lavender Label flats, and were seemingly very comfy at the store :)  I’m sure I just need to break them in…although that’s another thing I hate.  I wish I had a machine in the shape of my feet to break in shoes for me!!

So in conclusion, I have no answers.  I am on the hunt for cute comfortable commuting shoes!!  Ones that have some sort of support AND wont rub off the back of my heels!  Anyone??

If anyone knows where these magical shoes are please tell me!  I promise to share if I find them :)

Dancing, Dough, and Doggies

It wasn’t until this afternoon that I really sat down at the computer for any length of time since Thursday night!  It was actually pretty nice.  My weekend was a mix of super busy + down time. 

For one, it was my dance show!  I know I’ve mentioned it before but since February I’ve been rehearsing with a contemporary dance company in NH, directed by a friend of mine.

We had our shows Friday and Sat night… 

 
A little backstage action.  One of the girls was an expert hair teaser so she did all of ours for the final piece.

some of the girls stretching before the show!

The opening…

Yes, I am wearing bubble wrap.  There was a whole big theme to the show, called White Earth, and the first piece (“Resource Depletion”) involved the “plastic” dancers eating away at the “earth”.  I guess you can tell I was a “plastic”

It would make way more sense with the video, the dance was awesome and probably the hardest choreography I’ve ever done.  There was video taken, and as soon as I can get that from someone I’d love to share it!!  Just not sure when that will be :)  It will be a surprise one day haha. 

I took the day off Friday as I had to be at the theater by 12:45pm for a last run through before the show that night.  So I used Friday morning to bake something to bring for the cast.

I wanted something fairly simple yet delicious.  Then I remembered.

Dough balls!!  Those blog-famous little cookie dough-like cookies, that became so popular after the Foodbuzz Festival last year.  I still have never tasted the original, but I did get to try Diana’s at the HLS this year, and they were delicious.

I used Diana’s recipe as my base and made some tweaks.  They came out awesome, but I can’t wait to make them again to finalize “my” version :)

Screw raw eggs…I’m never NOT going to eat the dough…

I also need to get a scooper, not that I needed it but I was anally weighing each ball so they were uniform…and ended up with 1.25oz balls pre-baked. 

These were a freaking HIT!!

Almost everyone wanted the recipe! 

Saturday morning Brian and I were cleaning machines and tackled the house before some of his friends arrived.

They were off to the Belgian Beer Fest.  Beer + Dance = Bad, so I didn’t get to go :(  It’s usually in November so I was extra bummed that this fest AND the Sam Adams Oktoberfest were both the same weekend on a weekend that I couldn’t go!! 

But I did have a relaxing afternoon in a clean house, until it was time to get ready for show #2

Today was a time to unwind.  We ended up spending most of the morning watching the 9-11 tributes on TV…I was definitely getting choked up multiple times.  Feels like just yesterday…

But it was a gorgeous day out so we made the most of it :)

Family trip to the dog park!

We tried to get him to step into the water but no such luck…

He did, however, find a pug named Maggie and a bulldog named MJ to play with!

   
That bulldog was hilarious!  He was like a little meatball :)

Ok so what really happened was Maggie, the pug, was running around with Bromley for a while before MJ came over.  Then Brom decided to relax and just watch them go at it haha!

Later on the walk back Brom thought he could chase a vizsla that was running by…right.  He’s cute and fluffy but not exactly the fastest dog in the pack.  It was pretty funny, the vizsla would just run circles around him, then he gave up and needed a water break

   so.thirsty.

and so tired on the way home…

Our nice little Sunday ended with a big pot of chili, foot ball, and now I’m thinking it’s almost bed time.

The chili was my go-to recipe with ground turkey…oh and I added some shredded zucchini too.  STILL working through the zucchini!

Weekends like this remind me why I love September so much!!  Yet, my Fall isn’t real until we go apple picking…oh yes.

What’s you’re favorite part of fall??