Weekend Recap

Well hello, happy Monday! It's has been a while. We recently returned from our trip to Europe and I'm in the process of prepping some great posts. Here is a shot from our last day. Paris, what more can I say.

I also thought it might be helpful to write about my process when planning a trip; a lot goes into it. I know I rely heavily on websites, blogs, social media, etc., when planning vacations, so I thought I would add my two cents.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!

KMH

To Europe We Go

Image source: Alexadra Gibbs.

Planning a trip is a lot of work. Planning a trip to Europe is incredibly time consuming and exhausting. It is all going to be totally worth it though. I cannot wait. We will be visiting Barcelona, Capri, Rome, and Paris. Neither of us have been to any of these places.

We are incredibly detailed and want to maximize our time no matter where we are visiting. All while leaving time to wander and fly by the seat of our pants (in an organized fashion, obviously). ;)

Between starting a new job and finalizing last minute plans on this trip, I have been quite absent (and busy) lately. I hope to have a number of pictures to share upon our return.

Until then, have a great couple of weeks!

xx,

KMH

Health and Fitness Friday!

For the month of August (and now September) I signed up for ClassPass. For those of you that don't know, I like to try new fitness routines as often as possible. You have to keep things interesting.

Here's how ClassPass works. You sign-up and pay $99 per month. You can attend up to 10 classes in 30 days, but now more than 3 of the same class. Since I typically buy, a 10 pack of Barry's Bootcamp classes for $320 and a 5 pack of FlyWheel classes for $165, this is a great deal since these classes are offered through ClassPass. Expensive otherwise, I know! 

In addition to attending my normal classes, I have been able to try a few new ones a long the way.

First on the list was Warrior Fitness Bootcamp. The workout is a drill instructor led class that consists of various workouts and an obstacle course. It. Is. Intense. No one told me that I would be running 20+ flights of stairs by the end. I highly recommend it though. Even though the instructors can be a bit scary, they are nice, but don't take it easy on you just because it's your first time.

I have been twice now and plan on returning in the coming weeks. Yes, I did complete the obstacle course (minus the rope, I have NEVER been able to climb one...not even in gym class). I was surprisingly good at the monkey bars though. Go figure.

I highly recommend trying ClassPass if it's offered in your city. I will warn you though, their interface needs a serious makeover, but their customer service team is very nice.

I will be reviewing the other classes I have tried in the coming weeks.

What do you do to continuously challenge yourself?

Have a great weekend!

xx,

KMH

End of Week Recap

Hello there! It has been almost two months since I last posted. What can I say, life has been a bit hectic lately.

Rather than picking things up next week, I thought I would provide an end of week recap. I am feeling inspired lately, I just hope I have the time to start blogging again.

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Earlier this week, Jaime and I celebrated our two year anniversary!  I cannot believe it has been two years since our wedding. Also, this February marks our seven year dating anniversary. Where does the time go?!

Since our anniversary falls on Labor Day weekend, we were lucky enough to have a few days off to relax and celebrate.  

Neither of us had to work on Friday, so we  kicked-off the weekend early and headed to dinner on Thursday (very rare for us). It was also partially to celebrate my new job. (Additional details coming in a later post.)

We headed to Mary's Fishcamp. A restaurant so close to our apartment, it's crazy we haven't been there yet. It is a quaint little spot on our favorite street in New York. Not only was the food delicious, the service was great! It is pleasantly surprising when you find a fun neighborhood restaurant where the servers are so friendly.

Before ordering their signature lobster roll (the picture didn't turn out, sorry), we ordered fried oysters.  I don't know if it was the dipping sauce or that they were fried, but these were the best fried oysters I've had.

Friday, we decided to head to Long Branch Beach for the day. It was a little further than we typically like to go, but definitely worth it. It was a quaint little town with a great beach.

Even the train ride there had a great view!

We decided to have lunch at Avenue since it was on the beach and had great views! 

This is how I would like to kick-off every weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect.

I didn't even ask him to pose for this shot. He generally doesn't like looking at the camera anyway though.  :)

It was a perfect day to wear my Baldwin Denim KC hat.

If that wasn't enough, we knocked another restaurant off our list and headed to Carbone for our anniversary dinner. This place had a very old New York vibe. You felt as if you were in Goodfellas. Even our waiter seemed to be playing a part.

Sorry, I didn't take many shots of the food since we were stuffing our faces.  However, I did get this shot of Jaime dishing up our Ribeye. We were stuffed at this point, but loved every minute of it.

Oh, and I don't know what they do to their corn, but it was amazing!!  If you go and it's on the menu you, order it. You will not be disappointed. I could have just eaten that alone.

All in all, it was a fantastic anniversary weekend! Exactly what I needed in preparation for the crazy weeks to come.

Happy anniversary to my husband! It has been an amazing two years.

I hope everyone had a great summer!

xx,

KMH

Weekend Roundup: Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend!  There were some serious thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday evening.  

It didn't keep us from venturing out for an impromptu date night at Jeffery's Grocery.  This is a restaurant that 's extremely close to our apartment and we had yet to visit.  While the food was good, the service was average and the hostess was incredibly rude.  That can ruin an experience.

The weather put a slight damper on our Fourth of July plans, but that didn't stop us from venturing over to our friend's place in Jersey City for a delicious homemade dinner and fireworks.

(Steak salad recipe coming soon.)

Yum!

Even though we didn't make it to the pool on Friday, we were determined to sit outside most of the day Saturday.  Mission accomplished.

It felt so good to be outside almost all day.

We were craving a Nebraska favorite, Valentino's Pizza, on Saturday night.  I know, very random.  For those of you that don't know, Valentino's is a pizza chain in the Midwest, more specifically Nebraska.  We are probably one of the best pizza cities in the world and this is what I crave.  Why does no one offer hamburger as a topping?!

(This pizza recipe coming soon as well.)

Overall, it was a very successful long weekend.  Now, back to the grind before a bachelorette/bridal shower this weekend.

Have a great week!

xx,

KMH

Weekend Recap!

What a great weekend!  We decided to celebrate my birthday on Friday night.  I hate when your birthday falls on a Monday.  You can't go out and celebrate as you normally would.

Since I knew we were doing dinner and drinks on Friday, I was smart enough to cancel my Barry's class for Saturday morning.  Thank goodness.  Saturday morning/early afternoon was spent sitting on the couch doing nothing.  I take that back, I did get up to go get a 60 minute massage.  Then came back and continued doing nothing.  This is very rare.

Anyway, this year's birthday dinner was spent at Gramercy Tavern.  The setting is slight more classic than restaurants we typically go to, but it was super cozy.  Especially on a rainy Saturday night.

There was a more casual bar area upfront that we'll definitely be trying sometime in the near future.  It seemed like a great place to grab a drink and a small bite.

We opted for the traditional pre-fixed menu which included some amazing dishes.

After dinner we dropped by ABC Kitchen for a quick nightcap.  

Needless to say, we're getting old and headed home after one additional drink.  This place is a lot bigger inside than I thought it would be.

Most restaurants that offer a pre-fixed menu give you something to go such as chocolates or macaroons.  Gramercy Tavern took it one step further and provided us with a oat muffin which ended up tasting like coffee cake.  It was delightful.  Even more delightful since I didn't have to cook breakfast on Saturday morning.

After a full-day of recuperating, we had a friend's housewarming party Saturday evening.  Great time, with great friends in what I must say is a gorgeous apartment.

Definitely was a slow starting Sunday as well.  We both had a little too much fun.

On our walk over though, I did get this amazing shot of the sunset.  It was a perfect Saturday night.

We have a short week ahead, thank goodness!  It is officially wedding season.  :)

xx,

KMH

Nearing 30!

Holy crap, I'm 29!  Or, as my mother has reminded me, "365 days away from being 30!"  That is a direct quote, by the way.  Oh, Nance!

Getting older doesn't bother me.  However, it does remind me how short life is and how fast the days go by (way too fast!).  It also freaks me out that I remember when my parent's turned 30.  How is this possible?!?

You learn and change so much in your 20's.  My late 20's were definitely better than the early 20's.  Why?  I think it's because you begin to find yourself and become more confident in the person you are or are becoming.  While I think that as you get older you continue to have some self-doubt, it definitely continues to diminish with each year.

There are also countless books and articles that tell you what you should have accomplished by the time you're 30.  I have checked some things off that list, but there is still so much more I want to do.  I have a number of things I want to cram into this year.

I feel incredibly lucky to have done the things I've done and be where I am at this age.  Not to mention I have an amazing husband and two incredibly active and attractive parents that make getting a little older look easy.  Fingers cross I age as gracefully.

Cheers to 29!

xx,

KMH 

P.S. - Stay tuned for this past weekend's recap tomorrow.