Early Spring Recap

So remember around January 1st I posted about my New Year’s Resolutions? Remember how one of them was to be more consistent with the blog? Oops! I guess life just gets in the way sometimes and you have to roll with the punches. Lately, that means not opening my computer for any purposes besides work and studying. It’s not pretty or fun to think about, but hopefully it will get better soon.

While I have a few minutes, I wanted to share some of my favorite things that have happened over the last couple of months since I posted!

  1. My aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit me! We only got to spend a few hours together, but I loved having them here none the less.

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2. I discovered one of my new favorite places in Massachusetts – Birth Tree Bread Company. Since visiting, I can’t stop thinking and talking about how I would love to open a coffee shop just like this one – homemade pastries, fresh bread, delicious coffee, and craft beer. All of this along with the cozy atmosphere and the farmer’s market downstairs — I am in my element!

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3. Mom, Dave, Ant, and Dan came down for a long weekend in March. We had a great time despite it being one of the last freezing cold weekends that we had. We spent our Saturday night at Maxwell’s Tavern and ended up front row at a country concert. It was a bizarre twist of events, but we had fun being front row at a Drew Baldridge concert.

4. I visited Departed Soles Brewing Co. in Jersey City with a friend from college, her boyfriend, and Dan. It was so great to catch up with her after months apart! The brewery that we went to was such a unique and quirky little place – but the beer that I had was fantastic. She loved it because they have gluten free options, which is nearly unheard of for a brewery. Since we went around Easter, the specialty beer on tap was infused with marshmallow peeps. Now I know that this sounds strange, but it may very well have been the best beer that I have ever tasted. I’m still kicking myself for not buying a case!

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5. My five best guy friends from college came to visit me a few weeks later and we had the best weekend. We started the weekend off with a delicious Italian dinner at Margherita’s Pizza Cafe and it was a fabulous choice. All weekend everyone raved about the meal that they had here – myself included.

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On Saturday we spent the day walking around and exploring NYC. We went up to the observatory deck of One World Trade Center, visited Ground Zero, Wall Street, Central Park, and Trump Tower (or as all the guys kept saying, “White House North”).

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It was a full day of walking but we had a blast. I was so grateful to have them here for the weekend! I always find myself feeling so lucky to have such solid friendships that all started 5 years ago in our college freshman dorm.

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6. Last but not least, Easter weekend! I got into MA around 11 PM Friday night and immediately went to bed. I was exhausted after working all day and traveling all night, but it was more than worth it. On Saturday morning,  I took a ride to Birch Tree Bread Company (surprise, surprise) for iced coffee.  They had a farmer’s market downstairs where I picked up two bouquets of tulips from Fivefork Farms in Upton, MA – one for my mom and one for my grandma. The photos don’t do them justice because they were absolutely breathtaking.

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On Saturday afternoon, my Dad and Peggy stopped by to have an early Easter lunch with Ant and I. They brought us the most fantastic Easter baskets, as always, and I’m mad at myself that I didn’t get a picture of it. I was clearly too busy inhaling as much candy as possible, as fast as possible (LOL). We went down to Brew City on Shrewsbury St. for lunch and had a great time catching up.

After returning from lunch, we decorated cupcakes, easter eggs, and made chocolate covered strawberries with the boys!

Sunday morning we woke up early to have kielbasa, coffee, mimosas, and butter braids and it was the perfect relaxing start to the day before heading off Grammy’s house!

Here are a few of the photos taken from the day…

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That’s pretty much everything that has been going on for the past few months around here. I always find it funny how I can get so bogged down with the little details of my day to day life, yet looking back the weeks are filled with so much happiness. Writing recap posts like this really helps me put into perspective how blessed I truly am. God is so good.

xo,

Jaclyn

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