Feeling Festive

Hey all! Long time no chat...I've been totally swamped with Christmas stuff at my main job plus working quite a few hours at Athleta, as well as trying to get all my personal Christmas tasks done! I'm essentially done with gifts (I just need a few more stocking stuffers) and have 3 more Christmas cards to write, so I'm in the home stretch.
I had the most festive day this weekend, from Providence to Stoneham. I would highly recommend all the following activities! :)

On Sunday morning, I went with Dad and Georgina to pick out our Christmas tree. Henry's Christmas Tree Farm has a gorgeous selection, both already cut and out in their fields. They also have wreaths and other greenery-we always pick one up for our door!

This time, we decided to take the ride out to the field and pick out our own. We had a great time walking through them all, even if my toes froze a little bit!

When we got home to put it up, I decided (of course) we needed a Christmas movie. We lucked out and Miracle on 34th Street was on TV! It was perfect to have that on while getting the tree settled (and enjoying some desserts, of course).

Later that evening, back in the Boston area, I picked up Elly and we met Michelle at Stone Zoo. They have ZooLights every year, and it is a blast! It's pretty small, but definitely worth the $10 admission. We made friends with a monkey and wondered just how badly we would be mauled should we cuddle the black bears...

I do feel uncomfortable with zoos, particularly ones with small/unnatural enclosures (which this one appeared to have some of), so there was a bit of cognitive dissonance of course.

All in all, though, there's still time for festive things-get out there and take advantage! Just 5 days till Christmas!

xoxoxo
Emma

Jesse Ruben, Castro, and Dia Frampton

I so love going to concerts but tend to struggle with actually finding them. I'm making an effort to take advantage of living in a city and all the opportunities it offers, so last week Michelle and I decided to brave a concert where we were almost 100% unfamiliar with the performers.

The venue was Brighton Music Hall-I hadn't been there before and was worried about being late (Boston traffic-always!) but it was a small enough show that not only did we get in plenty early, we had time to get a beer, peruse the merch tables, and get good seats. I can't express how happy we were to have chairs! :)

Jesse Ruben opened the night-I had heard some of his music, inspired by his showing up on a Spotify Discover Weekly playlist recently. Not only do I enjoy his music, but he is also an excellent performer. It's so disappointing when you love an artist's music but then they have no stage presence-definitely not the case here! He also created the We Can Project, partnering with schools and other programs to empower kids to do make a difference and achieve their goals. I'm excited to connect him to our youth!

Next up was Castro, who I mentioned in my Saturday EW post. They are a super fun family group and also excellent performers! The hints of bluegrass take the pop/folk sound to a new level.

Finally, Dia Frampton was wonderful. Her music is gorgeous and I can't say how much I appreciated her honesty regarding her emotional highs and lows. I don't want to take her story, but she expressed the struggle with perfection and anxiety relating to her music so beautifully. Thank you for helping to normalize talking about mental health and professional support.

Please, please leave me recommendations for more music and concerts!

xoxoxo
Emma

Entertainment Weekly 7.15.17

A little late, but better than never! We started our summer camp last week, so adjusting to that has been both a challenge and really nice-getting up earlier! Actually having evenings! This week, I've been

Reading: The Wanderers. I'm not too far into it, but it is so good! Meg Howrey is developing her characters and the setting beautifully.

Listening: All the bands I saw on Tuesday, of course! Castro is new to me, and they are super fun. I love bluegrass (or bands with some nods to it) so it was great to get some new music into my rotation.

Watching: Baby Driver. Such a fun movie-anything that places such importance on the soundtrack tends to appeal to me, and it was great visually as well.

I'm trying to get back on track with my posting, so this week will probably go well...but I'm going to go ahead and say the week after is going to be INSANE so there is minimal likelihood of anything then. Unless I can really get my act together and write ahead of time! :)

xoxoxo
Emma

Holiday Weekend Recap

My oh my, what a weekend! Going back to work today was a real struggle...not least because of staying up a little too late after the fireworks, enjoying the beautiful summer night.

On Friday night, I got to experience a gorgeous space-the Liberty Hotel. I felt a little weird about the whole concept of it being a converted prison, but I will admit it was gorgeous-and the cocktails were delicious. They have several bars and restaurants there, and I would definitely enjoy experiencing some more of them. It's also the kind of place that seems like it would be perfect in the winter for a staycation...making note of that for the future!

On Saturday, Michelle and I finally made it to Five Horses Tavern so she could get her sour beer. I opted for another tasty cocktail to go with my falafel sandwich and jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes (yeah, some eclectic combinations happening there), while Michelle had a special with her beer-a hot dog with mac&cheese! If I ate meat, you know I would have been all over that...
We attempted to go to Spoke, but didn't feel like waiting, so opted for ice cream at J.P. Licks instead. We're grown-ass ladies and can do what we want! :)

Sunday I made it to yet another new restaurant for dinner, Machu Picchu, after a productive morning of barre, church, and errands. It is an excellent Peruvian establishment-I had never had that cuisine before and definitely enjoyed it. We then meandered over to Brass Union for another beer...I hadn't been since my girls' night before I moved to Boston, and their patio was a lovely place to enjoy the evening!

Monday I was dead tired, so Michelle's and my plan to lay by the pool, drink some wine, and make empanadas was absolutely perfect. I may have swung by Blackbird Doughnuts on my way back from my friend Molly's for some patriotic treats...

And finally, the actual 4th of July! Naturally I went to barre in the morning before another day of eating and drinking. Dad had a flight out of Boston in the evening, so he came in early and we went to lunch at City Tap House, where they were having a BeerBQ competition-both the brews and BBQ were in it. Of course I could only partake in half, but I think it's safe to say Dad enjoyed 100% of it! The salad and tapenade I ordered off the standard menu were excellent as well.

I also had to make a point to embrace the upgrade to a childhood treat-a bomb pop frozen cocktail! A little sweet for my taste (which I think I could have guessed) but oh so fun. It's so nice to have Dad so close by that we can have a (fairly) spontaneous lunch like that-thanks, Dad!

I made plans with some friends to watch the fireworks from a restaurant in Charlestown, Blackmoor, which boasted views from their patio and dining room. I wouldn't say it was the best view, but the food and drinks were good and the service was fantastic-they were so very kind as I changed the reservation 3 times within a few hours! Suffice to say if I ever want to go back, I don't think the reservation can be under my name...whoops. I did make sure to leave a solid tip at least-I hate to be that person! Plus, we didn't have to deal with crowds at all which I definitely appreciated.

All in all, a fantastic long weekend...but thank goodness the upcoming weekend is only 2 days away! Hope you all had as much fun (and maybe more rest) than I did!

xoxoxo
Emma

TACOPOCALYPSE IS HERE

Run for cover!

JK...but I am about to make you pretty upset you missed it. So maybe I should hide?

It had all my favorite things...tacos, rosé, cold brew, doughnuts, good beer, and lots more on a perfectly summery day. It was a good thing Elly had a time constraint, otherwise I could have eaten probably 4x what I should have! Regardless of that, we definitely lived our best lives for the hour we were there.

Fried cauliflower tacos from Compliments Food Co. were a hit with both of us-I definitely plan to recreate these for a Taco Tuesday!

Bon Me didn't disappoint with a tofu taco (and some meat one for Elly, ha)! Of course I had to add some sriracha, but that is no reflection on a lack of flavor-it was delicious.

There was a beer/bar tent set up with a good selection of brews, but I had to try out the wine in a can. It was a tough choice between rosé and sparkling, but I had to go pink here. Also excellent!

Elly and I, being who we are, had to make a stop at both Blackbird Doughnuts and the fun sign on our way out. Cold brew coconut for her, chocolate old-fashioned for me. Always so yummy!

Please, if you know of any taco-themed events-send them my way! I clearly have a slight obsession...

xoxoxo
Emma

Can't stop won't stop...socializing?

I usually like to take a significant part of my weekend to recharge solo-I'm an extroverted introvert so I definitely require a fair amount of "me time". However, there were just too many fun things to do this weekend, apparently! Michelle and I had a good laugh at how much we were both socializing (and together)!

Friday night we went out for her roommate's birthday, starting at Jacob Wirth and continuing on to Highball Lounge. I love a good piano bar, but was a little weirded out by how bright it was in JW, ha. Highball was not exactly my speed-I literally had to use the flashlight on my phone to read the drink menu-but we had a good time regardless. We didn't manage any photos (of course-we never do when we get dressed up!) before we headed on our way to snack food. I had to take a screenshot, though, of my Yelp search from that night. Michelle hadn't gotten any donuts to celebrate the holiday, so of course we had to find them for her. Thankfully, I remembered that Doughboy is open 24/7!

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Providence for PVDFest and to see Wonder Woman with Dad. I'll be doing a full post just about the movie later, but suffice to say it was great! Dad even got his own poster, ha.

PVDFest was pretty cool, though unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to spend there. We mostly walked through and ended up going to dinner at AS220, where we feasted! Tofu binh mi, veggie burger, chicken tacos, chips & guac, fries, and Mexican street corn...oh boy.

Michelle and I did find room in our second stomachs for ice cream sandwiches from Tricycle Ice Cream. I've been wanting to check them out, so I was pretty excited to come across them at PVDFest! They were sold out of a few by the time we got there, but the strawberry ice cream with vanilla shortbread and the chocolate ice cream with pretzel shortbread were pretty fantastic.

We rounded out our weekend with some fitness on Sunday-Bar Method and Recycle Studio teamed up to do a 30/30 BikerBar event: 30 minutes of barre and 30 minutes of spin followed by rose! My kind of people for sure. I haven't done a spin class in years-and have only done one or two before with Hannah. Man was that tough...but I can see why people love it. If only I could afford both memberships!

We decided to finish our bourgie/healthy Sunday with lunch at Dig Inn. I love that place for a quick and pretty healthy meal. With adding a bonus side, it's plenty for two meals-so I'm even happier about the leftovers! Though it would be awesome to get the same amount of tofu as they give chicken...two slices is not quite enough for me, ha.

Hope you all had as fun a weekend as I did! Now, to recharge during the week? No idea how this is going to go... ;)

xoxoxo
Emma

It's Donut Day!

chocolate banana-and balloons!

You may have gathered that I like donuts...like, really like them. I think it's the fluffy yet chewy texture and creative flavor combinations that have been showing up more and more-plus, New England is just really into them! If you need a recommendation of where to celebrate for Providence, Boston, or Greensboro, look no further...

lemon-raspberry-coconut and chocolate-peanut-coconut

I'll get Greensboro out of the way first-I've only had donuts once there, but they were awesome. Duck Donuts is a design-your-own, freshly baked model that reminded me of how good cake donuts can be when done right!

I have had some pretty fantastic donuts in Boston. At the Union Square Farmer's Market, I picked up a lemon honey one from Mariposa Bakery-I love how they throw the donut hole on top!

sea salted bourbon caramel, maple bacon, vietnamese coffee, and brown butter hazelnut crunch

Union Square Donuts might be the best known, and they definitely have some delicious flavors. The brown butter hazelnut crunch was particularly excellent.

Blackbird Doughnuts is my go-to, possibly because they are too conveniently located between barre and work...I have yet to try the ice cream sandwich or cake, but they are happening at some point!

For classic flavors, a much better deal, and 24/7 service, Doughboy Donuts and Deli is awesome. I am also a fan of all their different iced coffee flavors!

And of course when in Providence, you know my weakness is PVDonuts!

There's definitely more places on my list to try...Knead, Allie's, and Kane's all come to mind!

Who wants to go on a donut date?? 

xoxoxo

Emma