Boston 2018 || Touristy Adventures

There is nothing more iconic to Boston than baseball and beer.  While we were there this summer we definitely had to check both out.  We went to a Red Sox game one of the nights.  It was so much fun.  Even more so that the Red Sox lost!

We took a brewery tour of Sam Adams as well.  We learned all about the gigantic production of Sam Adams beer sold almost everywhere.  There brewery in Boston is actually smaller than I was expecting.  They do a lot of small batches and funky beers at this brewery.  We love breweries and funky beer.  It seems like the Charlotte beer scene is huge so it was a cool experience to see beer in a different place.

We also had a chance to explore china town and eat at the best dumpling place, a recommendation curtesy of friends which was so delicious.

We stayed in the North End of Boston full of Italian food and bakeries. I just loved walking home every evening and smelling all the delicious food!

There was so much to do and see and EAT in Boston.  I would highly recommend a trip there.  Such a fun, beautiful, delicious city!

Birthday Brunch

Location: 300 East

Why is it that when a restaurant is featured on a food network show, that restaurant is instantly cooler? Back in February my family and I celebrated my Birthday by going out to brunch.  We decided on a local restaurant close to me called 300 East.  While looking up the menu before hand I found that it was featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and instantly was more excited to go.  I mean a local restaurant on TV?! How cool is that?!

The brunch was delicious as was the chocolate brownie [pictured above] Even more so than great food, I love getting together with loved ones for special occasions and celebrating.  My love language is definitely brunch and quality time so this was a perfect way to spend my birthday!

What is your favorite birthday tradition?  

Date Night Italian Style

Mike and I love to cook together.  It's actually how we met.  He was a cook in the restaurant I waited tables at through grad school. So naturally our passion for food and cooking has made for some wonderful date nights at home; creating meals together and breaking bread. I also have a slight obsession with Italy.  It's my dream to go visit there and just eat pasta and drink wine every single day.  Kind of like Eat, Pray, Love but only the eat part.

For my birthday, Mike got me, as a present, a cooking class.  I have always wanted to take a cooking class - to learn something new in the kitchen in a place where they actually have space and equipment to try a new technique.

Once he told me this was my present I got to researching which class I wanted to take.  We decided on Sur la Table because they have such a wide variety of classes.  There is another place where cooking classes are offered in Charlotte I am dying to take but Chef Alyssa's Kitchen is sold out months in advance.

On the menu for our cooking class: caesar salad, homemade pasta with meatballs, and vanilla gelato with espresso. During these classes you can bring your own wine to drink so of course we accompanied our meal with a delicious red blend.

We had so much fun learning how to make all of the components to our meal.  The fresh pasta was my absolute favorite. I have never had homemade pasta before, let alone attempted to make it, now I don't think I will ever eat pasta from a box again it was that delicious.

During the class we made various pieces to the menu at various times, it didn't even make sense until the very end when a delicious meal came together.  The kitchen staff had everything portioned out for us before hand.  We worked with another couple as a group.  It was very easy because we barely had to prep or even clean up our mess ourselves.  I definitely could get used to cooking this way. haha.

I had so much fun at this class and would definitely look into doing something like this again.  I don't know if I would go back to Sur la Table because it is pretty pricey and basic.  Like I said before, my next class will be with Chef Alyssa to support a local business!

Sur la Table details: 
Location: for Charlotte; Southpark Mall
Budget: 60$ a person.
Time: 3.5 hours
Recommendations: If you love food, learning new things, meeting new people, and don't mind spending a little bit of money this is for you.  This was a special occasion because it was my birthday gift - we can't afford to have date night like this all the time. Try something new and go for it! Their calendar has so many classes and options for any type of diet.

What is a food you love to eat and would like to learn how to make it homemade? 

What I Learned Doing the Look for Love | Tone It Up Challenge

all tone it up photos taken from toneitup.com

Yall, I did it.  I completed my first Tone It Up Challenge. I cannot even begin to articulate what these past 6 weeks have meant to me.  FYI this is definitely not a sponsored post I just love this plan, these trainers, and the transformation I have had within.

But in order to truly understand my why for joining Tone It Up we have to go back in time. Like to high school... I have always been an athlete.  Swim practice 6 days a week was my norm.  With all of that practice, I never really thought about what I was eating.  We weren't really educated on nutrition either.  Carbing up is a common phrase in the swim world.  And not healthy carbs I'm talking full on mac and cheese binges before meets was a regular occurrence.  I also didn't have the best relationship with food either.  I would come home from school and as my pre-workout / after school snack I would eat everything and anything in the cabinet [sorry Mom!] I had no real sense of portion sizing.

Then I left for college, I still swam for my school, so going to practice daily was my working out, plus swim meets on weekends.  Again, I felt like I was good because I swam so much and that burns a ton of calories.  Being in college comes with it's own challenges. No parent to yell at me when the whole bag of chex mix is gone or to tell me I can't go to a fast food place with my friends because it's past curfew.  Add in drinking and I was wrecking my insides slowly without actually realizing it.  Because, you see, this whole time I was blissfully thinking I was okay because I swim. I used swimming as an excuse to truly eat whatever I felt like.

So then I graduated college and got my first teaching job.  I moved back home with my parents and in order to find something to replace swimming I joined a gym and got hooked on zumba and yoga classes.  I was on a super strict budget now #teacherprobs so I had to figure out how to really meal plan.  I started losing weight I think based on the fact that I wasn't going out to eat all the time to save money.  I also pack my lunch for school every day because a lunch break is not a thing in schools #anotherteacherprob so by default I was eating slightly healthier. Yet, I still didn't really eat properly but it was in this time period that I realized I wanted to feel healthier and needed to make some changes in my life.

A few years later I moved back to the mountains for grad school.  Grad school, specifically a counseling program is 2 years of intensive self care and therapy, it was here that I found a passion for nutrition.  I got really into reading articles about food and what it does to your body.  The connection between food and mood was absolutely fascinating to me.  I also stumbled upon Tone It Up and starting following their workout schedule they post every week.  The more and more I researched I kept coming back to Tone It Up and knew they advertised a nutrition plan.  I have been a silent observer in the community presence online as well.  I was blown away by peoples testimonies.  They did a huge black Friday sale one year so I made the purchase and became a full blown member.

I read through the nutrition plan and loved their guidelines.  The science behind their recipes and nutrition plan really peaked my interest.  The more I educated myself the more I realized they are right.  Health is truly about what you put into your body.  You should fuel your body with fuel that takes care of it and is going to create the best version of yourself because you love your body. 

Still, I wasn't fully committed.  I tried a few challenges and always seemed to fade.  I observed the community still but didn't participate [social media is sometimes a difficult thing for me] Then I did Whole30.  I stuck with it for the whole 30 days. I fueled my body with clean food that is good for me.  I never felt better.  I actually liked what I saw in the mirror.  I was making the best choices for myself. Whole 30 completely changed my relationship with food.  I listened to my body and what it needed.  I stopped eating when I was full.  It was so encouraging to be proud of myself for actually accomplishing something too.  But, whole30 for me, wasn't sustainable.  I wanted to add back in foods to my diet that I knew from my research was still good for me but not allowed on whole30.

So life after whole30 left me searching for what to do with myself nutrition wise.  I read back through the whole tone it up nutrition plan again and this time it clicked.  I was committed.  I started truly eating based on their guidelines and rules. It's all about eating the right foods at the right times but also giving yourself permission to have some treats.  I began just simply asking myself the question is this tone it up approved or not? See, I was good at whole 30 because I am a rule follower.  So this little question helps me and my relationship with food tremendously.

This past January Tone It Up released their look for love new years challenge.  I wanted to follow along and stick it out; the whole six weeks.  I did. I didn't follow their plan to the t but I learned that sometimes that's okay as long as you still eat approved foods.  I learned that working out doesn't always have to be a crazy 2 hour long swim practice, sometimes you just need to listen to your body and maybe all it needs is a simple walk with the dog [that counts!] I learned that progress isn't always the number on the scale, it's how you feel, it's in the small choices that you make every day to push you toward your goals.  I learned that you can find love within.  Love yourself first because that's what matters.

I still have some personal goals that I set for myself.  My health journey is far from over.  But I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.  Now I have started over for round 2 of the look for love plan, because the meals are just that good yall.  I truly feel better about myself following their plan.  And yes I still have my indulgences but the plan really taught me to make better decisions and to get back on track quicker instead of wallowing in self hate which turns into more than one bad choice.

So thank you Tone It Up.  I am still learning, but you have taught me oh so much and I can't wait to see what comes next for me. I'm thinking another race? Maybe yoga certified? Who knows the sky is truly the limit. Karena and Katrina I am so grateful that you are my trainers.

Have you ever tried a health journey or plan that completely changed your relationship with food and self? 

Peru Trip 2015 | Cuisine & Christmas Celebrations

The first three posts of the Peru Trip 2015 Series are here:

Tacna: Part One
Tacna: Part Two 
Arica, Chile 

The next segment of our trip was full of exploration and celebration.  The tradition for the JVC's living in the house has been to celebrate the roommates who are leaving with a big party and then to welcome the new friends to Tacna with another.  All of the host families are involved and welcomed as well.  We had a lovely mass for the two roommates whose time in Peru was ending.  Then around Christmas there was another celebration - their kind of last hoorah with the community but then us the families who were visiting got a special taste of Tacna.

The weather was so lovely so my dad and I spent some time together wandering around the city.  I wanted some last minute shots because I knew we were leaving to head on more adventures around the country soon.

My sister arranged for us to go to a fun restaurant with some of her friends.  She had the restaurant cook us all sorts of traditional Peruvian cuisine.  I wish I remembered all of the names right now - but it's been a year.  The one I do know for sure we ate was cuy [guinea pig] !! It traditionally is served as a whole animal but in order to get us to actually eat it Emily had them prepare it fried so we couldn't tell what it was.  I thought it was very good, very chewy but I just couldn't get over the fact that I was eating a cute little guinea pig! And I peaked in the kitchen and saw them before cooked.  I know we are so distant from our food source in this day and age - things like that make me eat more veggies.  I like looking at a garden but not animals.

Christmas was very fun for us.  We got to go to a lovely mass, had dinner at Emily's host family's house, then celebrated at midnight with fireworks and the whole city.  It was so wonderful being welcomed in by so many people who love my sister and are there for her while she is so far away from home.  Language barrier aside I felt the love among all the people we interacted with.  They had nothing but positive affirmations to say about my sister and our family.

The day after Christmas we were on a plane heading to the Andes mountains!

Stay tuned for the next part of the trip: we head to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.