Girl’s Weekend

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week and a half now but just haven’t gotten around to it. Working 40 hours a week plus 12 hours of commuting certainly takes a lot out of me. Most nights by the time that I get home, the last thing that I want to do is sit down in front of yet another computer screen. Regardless, I’m trying my best to keep up with this!

Last weekend I went down to West Hartford for a girl’s weekend. Most of us hadn’t seen each other since graduation, so we were super excited to be reunited! On Friday night, we want to Bar Taco at Blue Back Square.

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It was such a cute and fun place for dinner and drinks. The food was good, but not my favorite as it was a little too spicy for me. If you love spicy Mexican food though, this is the place for you.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 7AM to attend a free “Morning Yoga in the Streets” event. I loved every second of it.

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Most of the yoga studios in the area participated and there were tons and tons of people there. The class was very fast paced and quite challenging, especially considering all of the different skill levels there. Since taking this class, I’ve been wanting to get back into practicing yoga more regularly.

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Once we finished up, we headed out to brunch (my favorite part of any weekend) at the Pond House Cafe. The dining room that we ate in was located right in the middle of a big garden, with a beautiful patio that you could eat out on. They also had a huge banquet hall where they host weddings and other large events. Unfortunately, I left my phone at home and so I couldn’t take any pictures.

On top of the cute atmosphere, the food was phenomenal. I had a green apple, brie, and spinach omelet with a side of corn bread. All of the ingredients were fresh and very tasty! This was the type of place that I could imagine bringing my family for breakfast after church on Sundays. 🙂

After brunch we headed down to the Farmington River to go tubing, which was perfect because it was HOT all weekend.

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We spent about 3 hours relaxing and floating down the river, all while catching up and snacking on cut up watermelon. I had a great day and would love to do this again sometime soon.

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On Saturday night, we headed up to Worcester to pick up one of our friends who flew in from California for the weekend and spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with her.

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There’s nothing better than laughing with your best girlfriends. I already can’t wait to see them again!

Sunday morning, Emily and I stopped for a bagel and coffee before our drive back home. It was my first time having Bruegger’s Bagels and I fell in love.

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge bagel person, and these certainly lived up to their reputation. I already can’t wait for my next visit to the area so I can have another one ;).

xo,

Jaclyn

Sunday Night Fun

I love everything about the city of Melbourne. If this was a place in the United States, I would move here in a heartbeat. The city is so clean, beautiful, and full of art. Instead of profane graffiti all over alley walls, there are detailed murals everywhere. There are also street performers everywhere and they are so talented!! The tram system (though annoying at times) is also very efficient and environmentally friendly.

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Last night we walked down to the waterfront in hopes of finding live music and an outdoor dinner.

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We came across a restaurant called “World” that was more than I could have imagined. It was right on the river and there was an extremely talented woman singing. Unfortunately, my meal was absolutely disgusting because I accidentally ordered the spiciest pizza on the menu. It tasted like I was just eating a bottle of chili peppers. Regardless- I would go back again just for the atmosphere.

After we finished eating we walked down the boardwalk a bit. There were performers about every five feet! There were jugglers, bagpipers, singers, and artists all along the boardwalk. There was this phenomenal duet performing…

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and most impressively, there was this artist!

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I could not create a drawing like that if my life depended on it.

I wish my whole family and my best friends were here so that they could see everything because this blog is not doing it justice at all. I hope to be back here someday with them.

Also, sorry for the bad quality pictures! The group never wants to stop so I have to take them on the go…

xo,

Jaclyn

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Today was a very lazy day for me! I wrote an essay, read an entire book, baked cookies, took a nap, and watched the new Footloose movie with my college dance team.

I wanted to pop in quickly to share a delicious recipe that I tried out today for our movie night – Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies. I chose this recipe because it included all ingredients that I had on hand, and it took me less than 30 minutes to make 36 cookies! What more could you ask for?  It took even less time than that for all of my teammates to devour them. 🙂

If you love peanut butter and you love easy recipes like I do – then this is definitely for you!

Vegan PB Cookies

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Combine all of the listed ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until a dough forms. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Press down on each ball with a fork in order to create the criss-cross design – you could also just flatten the cookies with your hand if preferred. Bake for approximately 7 minutes before removing from the oven and allowing to cool. These take a bit longer than regular cookies to completely cool, so wait a few extra minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

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While these may not be the prettiest looking cookies, they are definitely delicious.

Enjoy!

xo,

Jaclyn