Tag Archives: Vacation

Take Me Back Tuesday – Boston

A big part of me will always be in Boston.  The day I graduated from college (the University of Massachusetts, Amherst) I decided to pack up my apartment and move to Beantown!  I spent the past four years there from 2009 to 2013.

I started my career in Boston, had what I call my “first adult relationship” in Boston, started practicing and found my love of yoga in Boston, and navigated the ups and downs of my early 20’s in Boston.  It’s been quite the transitional year moving back to Connecticut.  While I know it was the right choice there are just some things about Boston that I will always miss!

10 Things I Miss About Boston

Running along the Charles River

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Fenway Park – The fans, the sunsets, the beer, and the singing.

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The T – Never thought I would say that! But I miss being able to hop on the train to go to the store or dinner, and all of the “interesting” people you encounter.

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Newbury Street – What a beautiful street lined with brownstones and has great shopping, food, and people watching.

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The North End / Waterfront – My first company was in this neighborhood.  The North End is the “Little Italy” of Boston with fantastic restaurants and some great Italian American culture.  It also sits right next to the waterfront which is just a beatiful place bustling with tourists.

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Running around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir – I lived close to the reservoir most of my years in Boston.  It was about a mile and a half around, a perfect place to run, and had some great sunsets.

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The Skyline 

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Hip Hop Yoga – My very first yoga class was at Sweat & Soul yoga to try out Hip Hop yoga.  It’s not what you think it is!  It’s just vinyasa flow to loud music and so, so much fun!  This picture was at a hip hop yoga event near Copley Square hosted by Lululemon.

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The Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, & Patriots and all of their crazy fans.  

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The Boston Common & Public Garden

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I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend four years of my life in one of the best cities in the world!

Take Me Back Tuesday – Aruba!

If you take a look through my passport you might find an Aruba stamp on every page.  My parents have had a time share there for about 10 years now so I have been quite a few times.  It is an absolutely beautiful island!  The locals are friendly, there are a ton of activities to do, and beautiful places to see.  Aruba has something for everyone from families to couples to friends!  I have always gone during the month of January which has always had perfect weather.  Although I hear it’s pretty much perfect year round.

Accommodation

The La Cabana

The La Cabana is an awesome resort off of the hi-rise strip and right across from the beach.  I haven’t been there in a few years but my parents said that they have been doing a ton of renovations recently so it just keeps getting better and better!

Pool

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Pool Bar

They have great happy hours with live music!

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My Favorite Things To Do

Kukoo Kunuku (Pronounced koo-koo koo-noo-koo)!

This has always been one of my favorite things to do in Aruba.  This crazy and fun school bus picks you up at your hotel.  You first stop for a champagne toast at sunset up on a hill.  It’s gorgeous!  Then they take you to a local residence to have dinner.  The night really gets started with stops at three different local bars around the island.  It’s a blast!

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The Jolly Pirate Snorkeling Tour

This snorkeling tour is so much more than that!  The snorkeling is really cool and takes you around a ship-wreck but on top of that you get open bar, snacks, and the chance to jump off the rope swing!  Or hop on the “captains” back and flip into the water.  You also get to see an amazing sunset!

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The Tattoo Booze Cruise

This one is for the party people!  I went on this with my friend when we were about 20 years old.  It goes out at night and is a lot of fun with a ton of music and dancing.  They also have a 3 story enclosed water slide that empties into the Caribbean sea….can’t believe I did that!

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Four Wheeling to the other side of the island

There are a bunch of different companies that do these tours.  I’ve done a couple but they all pretty much go to the other side of the island to show you some gorgeous uninhabited beached and cliffs.

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Restaurants / Bars

  • The Sopranos Piano Bar – A super fun and intimate piano bar.  You can stand right next to the piano and request songs!
  • The Flying Fishbone Restaurant – An absolutely gorgeous sunset with tables are in the sand right on the water.  Great for a special night!
  • Texas de Brazil – A Brazilian Steakhouse.  You just can’t go wrong at a Brazilian Steakhouse.

You really can’t go wrong in Aruba.  It’s an awesome place to get away to a beautiful place, relax, and have some fun!

Take Me Back Tuesday – San Francisco Part Two

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Well it’s only been one full week since I’ve been back from my mini vacation to the West Coast and I already feel like it’s been forever!  Isn’t it funny how that happens?  The more I’ve gotten to digest the trip the more I want to go back – it was such a nice, relaxing, yet fun time! Here is the continuation of the fun stuff we did!

Day 3

Embarcadero, a NY Bar in San Francisco

Obviously on Sunday we slept in a bit and got a later start.  We went to brunch in North Beach at a place that had a TV because Andy couldn’t miss the first NFL games of the season.  We then met up with a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in over a year!  It was really nice to see her and catch up over a couple of beers on the waterfront.

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Andy is a huge Giants fan so when we booked this trip I promised him I’d find a good place for us to watch their first game.  I found the only NY Giants bar in San Francisco and so we headed there.  It was called Aces (check out my Yelp Review here).  What an experience!  It was absolutely packed with NY fans.  It took a bit for me to get adjusted to this atmosphere but it ended up being fun!

Day 4

Run, Ferry Building, Mission, Dolores Park, “Sunset” Cruise on the Bay

Monday morning we woke up pretty early with the urge to make our bodies feel a little bit better.  We went for a run to the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero.  It was a little over two miles and seemed really difficult after not exercising much over the first few days.  The route was beautiful though and ended at a pier that had a great view of the Bay Bridge!

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Then we went in to market place in the Ferry Building.  This place is awesome!  They have all little local stands ranging from local olive oils, cheeses, meats, vegetables, chocolate, coffee….basically my heaven!  Especially since they have a ton of free samples – my favorite!  My favorite stand was Alfieri Farms.  They had the most amazing dark chocolate, coffee (or toffee) almond brittle.  I am so sad it’s gone I may just have to have some shipped across country!

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For the afternoon we set out to find a restaurant I had heard about on the news actually.  It’s called Bacon Bacon (check out my Yelp Review here) and they were shut down due to neighbors complaining of the food – how crazy is that?! Who would complain of a Bacon smell?!  Anyways, they are running the café out of a music hall and we were so so excited to find it.  Andy had the bacon grilled cheese that came with bacon jam – it was incredible.  I ordered the LGBT (lettuce, goat cheese, bacon, and tomato) which was also awesome. THEN we got to try their chocolate covered bacon! Heaven in your mouth I tell ya!

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After stuffing our faces we decided to check out a bar I had heard about from a friend called, Zeitgeist (check out my Yelp Review here).  To preface this bar, you should know that this is a very eccentric neighborhood.  I called this our “hippie” day.  Sometimes I secretly wish I was a vagabond hippie 🙂  The bar had a big beer garden outside with a ton of picnic tables, trippy art on the walls, and a “no photos” sign.  I secretly snapped a picture…I’m such a bad ass.

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To continue on our “hippie” theme we headed to Dolores Park.  I had been here one other time and loved it, so wanted to show Andy.  It’s this park at the top of a hill in Mission that gives you a great view of the city…but that’s not the only view.  It is a really fun people watching experience.  There are all different types of people who congregate here but there is one common smell and puff of smoke that everyone has in common!

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To end our last day in the city I thought it would nice to take a “Sunset Cruise” on the bay.  Well I should have remembered that the Bay is very often covered by gigantic clouds!  It happens almost every day at the same time…we just really lucked out the weekend we were there.  Of course when Monday rolled around it was cold and cloudy but the guys on the boat said we would still see a “sunset.”  Well we saw one behind Sausalito which looked something like this.  And yes that is a cloud over Sausalito.

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After Sausalito we headed back in to the fog.  After about another 30 minutes we looked up and realized we were under the Golden Gate!  It was pretty crazy how thick the clouds were but still a cool thing to see.

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And that concludes my San Francisco getaway!  It is by far one of my favorite cities that I have visited to date (okay I might say that about many).  I think our 4 day itinerary was a pretty good one and covered a good area for the short amount of time we were there!

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