Getting Back on the Wagon

Happy Hump Day!

How are you all today?  Thanks for all the love on Amanda and Tony's wedding post!  It was such a beautiful wedding and I was so happy to celebrate with them!

Ahhhh, celebrating.  After 2 solid weeks of non-stop fun (starting with a fabulous beach trip, Deb's birthday, Miami trip, and then Amanda's wedding week!) I am feeling the effects.  I haven't been eating as well, letting the sugar monster rage, sleeping less, and enjoying some cocktails and champagne.

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So now it's time to put the ice cream down and head back to my usual healthy lifestyle.  While the prospect of skipping my favorite treat for a few weeks is making my heart hurt, I'm excited to have my energy back!

It's crazy how much food effects my mood, speed, and overall well-being.  After the junk food coma I've been living in for the past weeks, I've noticed that I'm a lot sleepier, slower with my running speed, and just feeling kind of blah.  

To get back on the wagon, I decided to hit the ground running even though I'm exhausted and still adjusting to life after the parties!  So when my friend Lindsay asked if I wanted to go to rooftop yoga in Philly, I jumped on the chance!  I knew that the day after the wedding I wouldn't feel like running 12 miles, but yoga would feel amazing!  

Look at that view!

We headed into the city for the Katie Gould led class.  The class was awesome!  It takes place on the roof of the now closed Bok Technical School in South Philly.  The school has been restored and still features classrooms that still resemble the school in its prime.  They still have the original signs that say Boys' Gymnasium and Girls' Gymnasium.  They have blown up yearbook pictures as decor and the whole thing just screams city cool.

The class was the perfect combination of challenging, relaxing, and restorative.  The Bok School has also become part of the Philly pop up bar scene so after the class, we headed across the hall to the bar.  Still detoxing from the wedding fun, I opted for a coconut and jackfruit popsicle (their popsicle guy wasn't there yet so I settled for a water) and Linds had a mimosa.  We hung out on the rooftop, caught up on girl talk, and took in the view. It was just what I needed.  For more information the link is here!

Monday was Bachelorette Finale!!  Who was happy with her choice?  I didn't think JoJo got the best crop of guys, but I do agree with her choice.  I think Jordan was best suited for her.  

We hosted our usual finale party with some of the ladies that participated in the Bachelorette Bracket. We decided to make it an ice cream party, so everyone brought either an ice cream or a topping to share.  

Our ladies!

Nom Nom Nom

I had a coconut milk cookie dough ice cream base with marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, hot fudge, a gummy worm, a few gummy bears, peanut M&Ms, regular M&Ms, brownies, and mini Twix Bars.  Baby steps getting on that wagon ;)

Tuesday was a full on wagon day!  Starting with this salad beauty!  I picked up a kale, carrots, sunflower seed, and cabbage salad that I mixed with pear Jersey tomatoes, and baked chicken.  Twas delicious!  Also, PLUMCOTS ARE BACK!  So.Excited!

I'm trying to get my self back on the wagon because I have a race in 5.5 weeks and I want my usual energy and mood back to where it is supposed to be!  It's healthy and normal to enjoy life, but then we have to reel it in and get back to normal.  I'm trying to allow myself the ability to find balance in living a fun life full of friends, outings, and delicious food, but also keeping my workouts and majority of eating healthy.  I'm also trying to find balance in not making myself feel guilty and beating myself up for falling off the wagon.  Does anyone else struggle with this?  That feeling of guilt if you don't eat perfectly healthy?

Have a Happy Hump Day!  I'll see you all later :)

Amanda and Tony's Wedding

Going to the Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married!

Saturday July 30th, one of my oldest and best friends got married!  I could not be more excited or happy for her!  She deserves all of the happiness and love in the world because she is not only drop dead gorgeous on the outside, she is equally beautiful on the inside.  Tony is a lucky man!

Our day started early.  I got up at 4:30 to get a run in (It was a futile attempt at exercising because even though this is a healthy lifestyle blog, the past week I have been anything but healthy.  Oh well, sometimes you gotta live!) and then it was time for a quick shower before heading to Amanda mom's house for wedding central!

Nom Nom Nom

My hair and make up time was 8 am.  When I got there, Amanda Atoori was already working on transforming us from regular ladies into bridesmaids.  I went in with a few pictures of the hairstyle I wanted for Amanda's Big Day.  Since our dresses were one shoulder and it was a hot and humid Jersey July day, I opted for an up do.  Amanda and her assistant Patty were amazing!  They were super fun and listened to our hair and makeup requests.  I literally showed up at my ugliest and they shapeshifted me into a glamorous bridsemaid.  Kudos to them!  Everyone's hair and makeup looked fantastic.  One thing that always peeves me is when people get their makeup done and then look NOTHING like themselves!  Amanda made sure that we all looked like ourselves...just the most beautiful versions of ourselves.  Check out her FB page for more information!  She's awesome!

While we were all getting our hair and makeup done, we snacked on the yummy spread Amanda's mom laid out for us.  We had mimosas, donuts, bagels, fruit, cashews, and candies.

Mimosas! 

Meg and me in our Bridesmaid Robes

MOH Monica and me getting ready!

The whole morning was full of laughter, champagne, giggles, friends, and had a completely chill vibe.  

We jammed to Pandora's Bachelorette Party station and somehow the upbeat jams calmed us down and helped set the vibe.  

Once we were beautified, we started getting our dresses on.  

Back of my hair

Around 11 the photographer and videographer arrived and we began getting pictures taken.  We helped Amanda get into her dress (she looked stunning!) and then we rolled out in the limo.

Amanda made a CD to play on our way to the church and we all sang along to Going To The Chapel.  It was such a fun, light, special time with our bestie before she began a Mrs.  

Once we arrived at the church, we immediately lined up and then the ceremony started.  Amanda looked beautiful and was completely calm.  We all said that our tears depended on whether or not Tony cried.  If he cried we were all going to lose it.  He joked that he was biting his tongue to keep from crying and then he was like, "If I kept biting my tongue I wouldn't have a tongue left!"  We all laughed.  Amanda and Tony looked so in love and the whole day radiated with a joy.  

The Newlyweds!

<3

Next we all got pictures at the church and then headed to the Collingswood Ballroom for the reception.

The Bridal Party

The reception was fantastic!  It was so beautiful and full of love!  The cocktail hour was amazing.  Tony and Amanda picked apps that incorporated their heritages and their homes.  They had Maryland Crab cakes (an ode to their new home), Tomato and Mozzarella salad (an ode to Amanda's Italian heritage and they used Jersey tomatoes an ode to their home state), a Portuguese crab claw (an ode to Tony's heritage) chicken satay, shrimp cocktail shooters, stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped scallops,  and pasta.  Everything was so so so good!  They had a Mint To Be Mojito as their signature drink and twas daaaaalish!

The Ballroom with an A&T

Amanda and Tony shared a Spotlight Dance.  I'd never seen one before their wedding.  Basically, the couple come out before the introduction of the bridal party for their first dance.  

Amanda and Tony danced to Train's Marry Me.  There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

How beautiful?!  

Once we were introduced it was time to eat (salmon and veggies for me) and then party our booties off!  

In true Tony and Amanda fashion, it was one hell of a party!  I don't think anyone sat down through the entire reception.  It truly was one of the best weddings I have ever been to.  

Monica gave her MOH speech and it was perfect!  A great blend of sisterly advice, love, and memories.  Tony's best man gave his speech and included stories about the two of them moving to America and learning English together.  Amanda's dad's speech was so heartfelt.  

Next came my favorite part of any wedding:  THE CAKE!

Don't they just look so happy?

Could it be any more beautiful?

It was a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and bling (of course)!  Amanda and Tony also decided to bless the guests with a dessert buffet!  #Blessyouandthankyouverymuch

The buffet featured chocolate mousse with raspberries, cannolis, mini key lime pies, mini creme brûlées, mini cheesecakes, pink chocolate covered strawberries, and a groom's cake.  

An ode to Officer Tony!

I had a chocolate martini with my dessert!

The thing of dreams

Shelly and I ended up cutting the line to get a slice of the groom's cake.

**You can do that if you're a bridesmaid, didja know?**

The rest of the night was spent on the dance floor with my friends.

THE Miami Trio

The beautiful bride!

The bouquet toss

The garter toss!  (They used Pony from Magic Mike and then Tony tossed it to the Cops theme song)

The Miami Girls

Besties since 3rd grade

The happy couple and their frequent houseguest 

Amanda and Tony's wedding was amazing!  They did such a great job planning it and incorporating all of their families and cultures.  It was quite the whirlwind and I'm really sad it's over!  I am so happy for both of you and can't wait to see what the future holds for you both!  You're amazing together.  Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day <3  Love you both!

xoxo,

e

Amanda and Tony's Rehearsal

In case you haven't realized yet...you're getting multiple posts today!

I'm trying to capture all of the fun wedding festivities while they're still fresh in my mind.  

Friday July 29th was Amanda and Tony's rehearsal.  We joked the entire time that they have had the fastest engagement ever!  Even though they've been engaged since April 2015, the time has flown by. Amanda seriously has been the best, most chill, easy going bride.  

Amanda and I have been friends since 3rd grade.  We have a funny how we became friends story.  In 3rd grade Amanda moved to our town, but we were in different classes.  Our brothers were in the same kindergarten class and became fast friends.  Our moms arranged a playdate for them and Amanda's mom said that she also had a daughter who was in 3rd grade and my mom decided I should have a playdate with Amanda.  Amanda and I begrudgingly agreed to play together and have been best friends ever since.  Amanda had the coolest Barbie accessory of 1998...the Barbie Mall!  I guess sometimes moms do know what they're doing after all.

We've cheered together, lived life together, and have always had each other's backs.  

Homecoming 2008!

Friday morning started with mani pedis at Akoi Salon in Voorhees.  

Amanda's sister booked the appointments and picked up some champagne for us.  I made fruit kebobs  for us to share and snack on.  The kebobs were easy to eat with our wet nails.  

Bride Tribe

After nails, we went home to get ready for the rehearsal.  Everything at the church went really well.  

We headed over to La Terranza in Cherry Hill for dinner.  Amanda and Tony made a great speech and then passed out our gifts.  We got earrings, bracelets, and clutches for the Big Day!  Amanda also gave us a Lorac lip gloss and a bottle of wine.  I knew I always liked that girl!

When dinner was over, we all headed home to rest up for the next day!  I kept thinking, I can't believe Amanda is getting married!  Like really married!  Not 3rd grade married...but really married!  I'm so happy to call you one of my best friends and wish you and Tony the best life together!

xoxo,

e 

Welcome To Miami

Happy Tuesday!

Please hit play!  **It adds a little something extra**

So I'm a little late on my posts, but here is my Miami Bachelorette Trip Review!

If you are a frequent reader (Thank YOU) then you know I went to Miami for Amanda's Bachelorette Party!

Miami was a whirlwind!  Our flight left Saturday morning at 6:50.  We met up with the guys in Tony's bachelor party for a quick hello.

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...P.S. I did sleep on the plane and gave my Nap Anywhere Reputation a huge boost!

When we got to the airport we quickly signed her card and presented her with her itinerary!  

Pink and sparkly!  Just like our bride!

The Miami Girls!

We all wore our Bridesmaids tank tops to rep our squad.  **Fun Fact** If you wear said tank top, you will get free things.  At 5:12 am, someone bought me my SMARTWater.  SCORE!

The flight there was easy and relaxing.  Once we landed, the car picked us up and we picked up some champagne to toast our bride.  Next, we checked into our hotel and left our luggage at the desk.  The HANGRY MONSTER had officially taken over and we went down to Ocean Drive and grabbed some Mexican food.  The owner brought over some complimentary and cheekily named shots for us.  He also took 20% off our bill.  Is it wrong if I wear the Bridesmaids tank just for the discount?!   I kid...I kid...maybe...

Lunch Bunch

After lunch, we returned to the hotel and moved our stuff into the room.  We decorated the room with Bachelorette Party signs and banners.  We showered, primped, and toasted our bride with our champs.  

Sashes on!

We went to dinner at Cecconi's at the SoHo House.  Gorgeous does not even begin to describe this restaurant.  For my Sex and the City fellow fans, this is the hotel where Samantha pretends to be Annabelle Bronstein to use the pool.  And after viewing the pool...I understand what she did :)

The food was amazing!  It was all handmade Italian food (a nod to Amanda's heritage) and was so.stinking.delicious!

The restaurant was an open air restaurant with beautiful tea lights hanging from the trees.  

After dinner, we headed over to the Liv Pre-Party at Señor Frogs.  We hung out and danced for a bit before the limo picked us up and we headed over to Liv.  

We never met a step and repeat that we didn't love

Look at that photobomber! 

Doesn't he look like Scott Disick? 

The club was really fun, but the guest DJ was kind of strange.  He was from Norway and he had really solid EDM jams, but it's a little hard to dance to them.  To accompany his set, he brought dancers and they were very...unique!  The club was packed and we had to dance very vertically lol  No big arms or moves allowed.

When we finally returned to the hotel around 3 am, we went right to bed.

On Sunday, Amanda and my high school friend drove in from Orlando to spend the day with our Bride Tribe.

Caitlyn is an amazing pastry chef and brought us some Bachelorette Party cookies!  We devoured them and relied on them to provide us with some much needed energy.

How cute are the baggies the cookies came in?

A champagne flute, a diamond ring, and a calendar with July 30th marked on it!

Cait, her girlfriend, and our Bride Tribe (Meg, Candis, Amanda, and I) headed out to do some shopping on Collins Ave.  We stopped in Dash Miami and Amanda got a candle.  We then headed to a Cuban diner for lunch.  

Bride Tribe!

The lunch was everything I wanted:  chicken, Spanish sauce, and plantains!  

After lunch, we headed to Miami Beach for a beach trip.  The water was amazing!  It was crystal clear and soooooo warm!  

Quick shopping trip!

Sunday Dinner

After the beach, we headed back to the hotel, bid adieu to Cait and her girlfriend, and then got ready for dinner.  We went to A Fish Called Avalon.  We decided to split some entrees and apps between us all.  This was probably my favorite dinner.  Not only was the food amazing (Hello Watermelon BBQ Sauce), but at one point I looked around the table and noticed all of us just laughing, smiling, and enjoying our friendship...it was a beautiful moment.

After dinner, we headed to Nikki Beach to have a beach party.  It was a really cool place, full of palm trees, cabanas, and beach bars.  They also had a pizza bar!  Yep, you can create a personalized pizza at a poolside bar!  

Girls by a changing Teepee

After Nikki Beach we walked down Ocean Drive and stopped in to some bars.  We danced, sang, and carried on celebrating Amanda's last single girl weekend!  

We returned to the hotel around 3:30 am and played some silly Bachelorette party games.  We drifted off around 4:30 am and then were rudely woken up at 8 am...by the alarm clock!  We were all exhausted as we prepped for brunch with the boys.  

We met up at Fontainebleau's restaurant Vida.  It was a great place for brunch.  I got smoked salmon, grapefruit, and a much needed green juice.  We needed a quick detox from the party fun.  We all laughed and exchanged stories from the weekend.  

Afterwards, we headed outside to sip water by the beautiful pool.  

Next stop?  The airport.  I've never seen a more crowded airport!  It didn't help that the Northeast was experiencing huge storms and therefore delays.  We made it to Atlanta where our connector was supposed to depart about 30 mins after we landed, but we ended up having to wait around for 2 hours!  We decided to go wander the airport (my favorite airport BTW) and ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings for some last minute vacation desserts and drinks.  While we were walking back to the gate, we saw Jessie James Decker and Eric Decker!  

Amanda and I LOVE her!  We used to watch her E! show in college all the time!  She was so sweet and agreed to take a picture with us.  

It should be unfair to look that cute in the airport with 2 small kids.

The flight home was long!  Not only did we trolley around the runway for 40 minutes before we even took off, we had to circle in the air for another 20 minutes before we landed.  Every plane going to the Northeast was delayed, and therefore was trying to land at the same time in Philly.  Once we landed, we got our luggage and then began the waiting game.  With the DNC in town, I had to wait for an hour for my parents to drive the usually 5 minute drive from the cell phone lot to pick me up.  Then, it took another hour to drive the usual 20 minute drive home because I-95 was rerouted for security purposes.  

Miami was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed every minute of it! I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday!  Who is watching Bachelorette tonight?!

XOXO,

e

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Weekend Recap

Hey Friends,

Happy FriYAY!

This weekend was a whirlwind and that's why I needed Monday to recuperate a little.  How were your weekends?

Friday was a blast from the past night for me.  Cara (if you're new to the bloggy, she was my college roommate for 3/5 years at TCNJ) and I met up in Princeton (our Home Away From Home during our college years) for dinner.  We attended TCNJ before the wonder that is of College Town.  We went to Tandoori Bite for dinner.  I was craving Indian food and since Cara had never had it before, I decided we needed to remedy that situation ASAP.  The restaurant was...meh.  It was good don't get me wrong, but I'm used to GREAT Indian food.  We started with  and it was delicious!    is basically a latka with chana masala on top.  We got it mild, but they can customize it to your spicy desires.  We then split some naan chips with a green tomatillo salsa-esque dip and a sweet teriyaki-esque dip.  Very delicious!  For dinner we both went vegan and I got Baigran Bartha (creature of habit) and Cara got a spicy cauliflower dish.  Both were yummy and came with roti.  AMAZING roti!

After dinner we wandered campus and reminisced about all of our fun trips to visit the fountain and Woody Woo.  We don't get to see each other that often (#grownupproblems) but when we do we pick up right where we left off.


Saturday was a pretty typical Saturday.  I started it at the gym with Zumba, taught Total Body Blast, and then took Pilates.  After I made the rounds at Wegman's for Sample Saturday (raise a (petite whole grain) toast in the air for the out of this world Wegman's Smokey Blue Cheese!  After, I came home and began getting ready for the Erin and Caitlyn's Future Husband's Concert aka Cole Swoondell Swindell and Florida Georgia Line concert.



Cait, Kate, and I headed into Camden to meet up with Cait's brother for a little tailgate.  My hair was a casualty of the humidity and on and off rain.  FGL puts on an amazing show!  They bring so much energy to every performance.

Country Trio 

Cait and I have decided that Cole Swindell should be our husband.  We decided not to be selfish and share him.  We're caring like that ;)  Cole's an amazing song writer on top of being a great performer. He genuinely looks humbled when he steps out on stage.  He always has a huge ear to ear grin on his face and genuinely has a good time when he's rocking out.  He also happens to have written my favorite song, Get Me Some of That performed by Thomas Rhett.  He always does a cover of it during his shows and I always dance unabashedly.

Yogi Fraaaands!

Sunday was the big day!  I went skydiving.  It's something I've always wanted to do and I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to do it!  Dylan and some of his friends wanted to go and luckily they let me bum along.  It was insane!  It's crazy because I wasn't super nervous about jumping out of a plane, I was more excited.

Dylan's friends and me...the crasher

So Sunday rolled around and we all met down at Cross Keys Skydiving.  When we walked in, I think it started to hit us...we were voluntarily jumping out of a perfectly good plane.  We began our adventure by watching a short film about our upcoming adventure.  After filling out a waiver in which I'm pretty sure I legally signed away everything I own, we went over to training.  We suited up (much to my dismay...no lycra spandex suits that resembled Avengers' costumes.  Womp womp womp.) and practiced jumping out of the plane.  We basically laid on a giant spool of thread and held a modified superman position.  They taught us how to read our animeter, how to pull the parachute, and the body positions for landing.  I kept waiting for the nerves to kick in, but they never did.  I just kept getting more and more excited.  I met my tandem skydiving partner, Mike, and he was everything you'd want in a skydiving partner...he was friendly, confident, with a smattering of tattoos and piercings.  If I'm going to be trusting my life with someone, I want them to LOOK like they are a skydiving genius.  Mission Accomplished.

Around 6, they called our group up and we boarded the plane.  The little, rickety, biplane is the scariest part of the whole thing.  We all sat on two benches and our trainers began attaching themselves to us.   They were narrating what they were doing the whole time.  I think that kept my nerves in check.  We started ascending and then one of the trainers was like, "Oh, we forgot to put the door down."  They just laughed and shut the plane door!  Yes, the plane door was open when we were ascending into the sky!  The trainers kept trying to make us nervous by saying out suits weren't on correctly or they were too loose.

Finally, we reached our point of no return.  One by one Dylan and his friends started jumping out of the plane.  It's scary to watch your brother jump out of a plane, because besides the obvious, once you jump you are sucked out of the plane.  YOU CANNOT SEE THEM!  They are there, and then they are gone.  Poof!  Gone!  As they one by one jumped, I kept moving closer and closer to the open door.  Finally, it was my turn.  My partner and I waddled over to the door and I held on to the overhead bar.  I let go, crossed my arms over my heart, and Mike started counting 1, 2, 3.  Then we let go and flew.  We started flipping around and then started the 60 second free fall.  When we were on the ground, the trainer said that the 60 second free fall could feel like a minute, an hour, or a second.  I think it felt more like 5 minutes.  It was windy and loud, but I didn't care or notice.  I just watched in awe and tried to take it all in.  It was amazing!  I thought my animeter said 5 (the cue to pull the parachute) so I reached for the parachute and Mike signaled me to stop.  He pulled the parachute a few seconds later (kinda relieved on that one) and we started floating to the ground.  As we were floating, Mike pointed out Philly and then turned the parachute around to show me A.C.

As we were floating down, Mike told me he was going to loosen the straps on the harness so it would be more comfortable as we glided down.  He's like, "If I had boobs I'd want them to not be squished."  I was like, "I don't really have boobs either."  He laughed.  Another point for Team Itty Bitty Titties!

When we were landing, he told me my landing position.  In training we learned 3 ways to land.  When you land, you have to pull your feet up almost like a tuck jump.  When the instructor tells you, you perform 1 of 3 reactions:
1.) stand-sometimes you just have to stand up when you land
2.) Run-start running in the air and the motion will transfer to the ground
3.) Slide-pretty much fall on your butt and slide

Guess which one I got?

SLIDE!  Yup, I got to slide on my butt in front of everyone.  #Graceful

When we were done, we waited around to watch the video of one of our friends.  Dylan and I didn't buy the video because it was $130.  Honestly, it wasn't worth it for 5 minutes of film.  They do get a lot of pictures of you, but I didn't think that was necessary.

Afterwards, we went to get drinks.  We all decided we could get as fruity a drink as possible because we jumped out of a freaking PLANE!

It was a great experience and I'll never forget it.  I'm really glad I did it and I can't wait to go back.

xoxo,

e