Summer List

Almost a month ago now J & I put together a list of things we'd like to do before the end of summer. And seriously, where has the time gone? I can't believe we put this list together at the beginning of July!

We've had a lot of commitments this year and cannot believe it's basically August already. And like I mentioned here, we know we're not going to be living in the city forever. So we've decided to make sure we see/do/eat everything/everywhere we want to before that fateful day.

And yes, I realize we'll certainly be able to go out in the city even after we move. But making lists is fun so just go with it. :)

Here's our list so far:

• ICA - The Institute of Contemporary Art - we originally planned to visit this museum on 7/15 but then found out that Thursday nights you can get in free! So we've decided to reschedule this visit.
• Dirty Dancing - Movies by Moonlight at the Boston Harbor Hotel - there are a few places in the city that offer outdoor movies for free. Dirty Dancing was a staple in my household growing up and it's crazy to think that J has never seen it!
• Shakespeare on the Common
• MFA - Museum of Fine Arts - I haven't been here since high school and I can't believe it. Time to get over there and appreciate the awesome exhibits they have.
• Dinner at the Raw Bar at the Salty Dog - completed 7/13! This was the first raw bar we went to in the city ages ago. At least 4 years ago, maybe more. And we hadn't been back since. It brought back some great memories.
• Bike the charles/bike in the city - Hubway - Boston and New Balance partnered to provide bikes throughout the city. You can get a bike at one location and leave it at another. Can't wait to try it!
• Dinner at Sullivan's at Castle Island - we've lived here 2+ years and I've still never eaten here.....
• Drinks at Top of the Hub - also haven't been here yet! Crazy, I know...
• Dinner at Tangierino - a must before our trip!
• And J doesn't know this yet, he will if he reads this...but I bought a Groupon recently for massages so at some point this summer we'll be getting ourselves a 60 minute massage each! 

So, we've got our work cut out for us. But I think we'll succeed! We've already decided we'll wait and get to the MFA this fall.

Our weekends in August are filling up quickly! Wedding, wedding, Fantasy football draft for J (omg, I can't wait for this to be over and the constant conversations related to draft picks to be done), and lastly a very much needed trip for just the two of us!

Family pictures

Family pictures by talkative-tlc featuring a lace blouse

Lace blouse
$63 - forevernew.com.au

7 For All Mankind skinny leg jeans
stylebop.com

Sperry Top-Sider leather boat shoes
bloomingdales.com

Leather shoulder bag
$305 - whistles.co.uk

Stacking bangle
$18 - diva.net.au

Gucci brown shades
$360 - psyche.co.uk

Into the Sun - Coastal Beach Cottage- Seagull Over Aqua, Turquoise...
etsy.com

Fun Fact Friday

It's been a while since I did one of these!

Just a few fun facts to start off the weekend. (And because I don't have many new photos to share...)

1. The Olympics "officially" start tonight!!!!! I use the term officially lightly since they've technically already started (wtf?!) and I came across womens synchronized diving the other night. What's your favorite sport to watch? Mine is easily women's gymnastics.

2. Tonight I went wedding dress shopping with two close friends followed by dinner & drinks. It was so great to catch up. When we said goodbye, I loved that I only needed to walk a couple blocks to the bus stop to get me home. And as much as I loved that, it oddly made me sad tonight... Knowing that at some point, I will not be living in the city anymore. It won't happen tomorrow, but it will happen in the next couple years. Lately, it has really hit home just how much I love where we currently live - and how much I take for granted being able to walk to the grocery store, post office, bank, coffee shop, bar, etc. 

On a happier note, when I got home I had some pretty great news in the mail....which totally caught me by surprise...

3. I am officially a CPA!!! Even though I passed the exams 3 years ago, I still needed to finish my masters degree. And working full-time definitely delayed that process.... (and thank you MacBook for your easy editing tools. I left the Tracey L. C so you can see that I am not lying in my blog name, the initials really are TLC. And yes, you can be jealous.)

4. This weekend I NEED to go pick up my car. You see, I dropped it off for service last weekend with the intentions of picking it up....and then I just did NOT feel like going to get it. Parking is a nightmare Sunday nights, so why bother? I've been carless for a week and haven't even minded. Definitely something to think about.... honestly, who am I kidding, I can't imagine really being carless but it has been nice not to worry about what side of the street my car is parked on for street cleaning days. Since it's so old that there's no car payment on it, it doesn't really matter. If I was paying for it, that'd be another story.

5. J's birthday is next Sunday. Yikes! Gotta finish up the birthday shopping this weekend. I think there's another big event next Sunday but it seems to be slipping my mind right now. ;)

6. I think I'd like to go golfing this weekend if there's time. I gotta go test out the new golf outfit! I'm really hoping I play as well as I did last time we played because I had so much fun. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll hate the sport again. I am not good at just enjoying myself when I'm not playing a sport well. Who is really? 

7. I tried really hard not to spend $$ on dinners this week on nights we were home. It always amazes me what we're able to cook up when there is "nothing to eat in the house." Tuesday night was a late dinner since I decided to go running but was still delicious nevertheless! Oatmeal with coconut flakes, almond butter, dry roasted peanuts, chocolate chips, and almond milk. Guess it was more like dinner/dessert in one but no biggie. I certainly didn't mind! 

Wednesday was quinoa in veg. stock with onion, garlic, frozen spinach, green beans, tomato paste, and parmesan cheese. So good! Dessert of dry oats rolled in almond butter and coconut flakes, chocolate chips, more coconut flakes, peanut butter, and almond milk. And to think we had nothing to eat?!! 

This is our last weekend for a little while with close to no plans. It sure has been nice to relax. But I'm ready for the next few big weekends. They involve A LOT of family and friends and I cannot wait. More details to come, don't you worry. :)

But for now, have a fabulous weekend friends!

Recent Eats

Thank you pinterest & google for some fabulous new recipes.

After a month of too much take-out, dinners out, weddings, barbeque's, etc we needed to reign in our eating habits.

First, thank you pinterest for a super easy, healthy, and just down right delicious cheese steak recipe. Did you ever think you'd see the words cheesesteak and healthy in the same sentence? Maybe I should disclaimer this to say *healthy in my book.

I already mentioned this recipe (here) but here are a few more photos to make you drool. And hopefully, get you to give this a shot.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

This second internet find actually came out of sheer laziness. Ha! It was hot here in Boston on Saturday. And while J and I were hanging out during the afternoon, I decided I really didn't feel like turning on the oven or standing over the stove top that night to cook up the chicken we had. So I turned to Google. We have a slow cooker that I picked up at Walmart way back before we got married. And I have to say, for the $15 I bought it for, this thing was a STEAL! May not be as fancy schmancy as the ones available everywhere else but hey, it gets the job done.

So, where was I? Right. Google. I wanted buffalo chicken bad. Real bad. We had chicken, and we had hot sauce. Done deal. So I threw out a search for buffalo chicken in a slow cooker. Thank you Google for putting a healthier option first!

Gina/Skinnytaste.com, you win. This was fantastic.

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We made a few small changes to this recipes and it worked out great. We didn't have chicken stock, but did have low-sodium vegetable stock. Worked perfectly. We also added a few pinches of cayenne pepper to give it a little kick. Can't go wrong with spicy over here.

And J was in the mood for Sriracha so we mixed 50/50 Frank's hot sauce and Sriracha for the marinade. And used a little extra Sriracha on top for a kick.

I think I've totally sold J on lettuce wraps.

Let me know if you give these a try. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

Day to Night

Well, let's see. It all started with this lovely photo found on everyone's favorite website, pinterest....

original source

According to pinterest, I pinned this photo 49 weeks ago....oops. Apparently it only took my 48 weeks to realize I already owned all the pieces to put this outfit together. Here's how I wore it to work:

Ok, so the hair was put up upon arriving home, but still....

And I realized this was a great day to night outfit I should wear on a Friday when J & I have dinner plans. During the day I wore my hair down and flat sandals. And for night? Throw on some wedges, hair up, add some fun lipgloss, and you're good to go.

Blazer: Zara (via eBay)

Dress: Ann Taylor LOFT (at least 3 years ago now...)

Necklace: J.Crew Bubble Necklace (via eBay)

Flat Sandals: Jack Rogers (via Nordstrom)

Wedges: Bucco (via Hautelook)

Current Lipgloss of Choice: Clinique Chubbystick in Chunky Cherry (Macys)

A Week in Pictures

A few pictures of what we've been up to lately...

Received my first Birchbox thanks to my lovely sister

Date night at the raw bar we visited years ago and loved.

A fro-yo place opened up 2 blocks from us.....this is deadly!

A nightcap with my Mr. :)

Philly cheese steak filled peppers thanks to this awesome blog!

 A red sox game with college roommates, husbands, fiances

Even though July is our month-off from weddings, we've kept ourselves busy. I finally made my way on to the golf course after a 2 year hiatus (in which I played once 2 years ago...) and LOVED it. I told J I just need some golf clothes now and I'm good to go.  Gotta look the part, right?! :)

Have a great weekend! Have any plans you'd care to share?

Doggy Days

With no recent trips out of the state/country, you lovely folks get to see our trip to a new park! Ironically, it happens to be the park closest to our condo yet we've always walked farther to the more specific dog parks.

In the 2+ years since J and I have lived in our condo, I have never ventured to this park! Shame on me, as you'll see momentarily it has amazing views of the city.

Should we not laugh when Tuck is exhausted from hardly running around? Oopsie

 Crazy tongue

 What a view!

My boys <3

Just Can't Get Enough

One last post about Meg & Dan's wedding. Like I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post (here), I made sure to take some detailed shots of the venue.

Meg & Dan held their wedding reception at the The Red Lion Inn. If you're looking for the rustic/chic look, this is totally the place.

I mean, an oversized barn filled with ginormous crystal chandeliers? Be still my beating heart.

First Glimpse

The Salon where the ladies got ready, and the cocktail hour was held

Chandeliers in the salon

Gorgeous pool. Doors behind it lead to the Reception area

 Imagine walking in to this?!

A quick glimpse of the cocktail hour details during setup

 Tables had pictures of Dan & Meg at that age. So cute! (Sorry, silly salt in the way!) Also...note the vases. Meg got crafty and stained them to have a seaglass look to them, so neat!

Delicious food! Salad surprised me with sundried tomatoes (yum!) and you could cut the filet with a butter knife. mmmm mm

Lastly, the Red Lion Inn has 14 rooms that the bridal party and parents were able to rent. This was such a nice bonus. 

The best man and maid of honor were given larger suites so I lucked out being married to the best man. :) Our room had 2 balconies, jacuzzi, king size bed, and plenty of room! The groomsmen used our room to get ready and eat lunch in while us ladies took over the salon and then the bridal suite to get Meg ready.

I'm not sure I've mentioned this enough, this day went by way too fast. It was such a fun day filled with a beautiful group of people. And in a be-a-utiful venue too! Congrats again you two lovebirds!