Weekend Recap!

This weekend was a fun couple of days! Friday night started with dinner out with friends at Blue Dragon. I've been once and really have wanted to go back, so I was glad when everyone agreed with my suggestion! Weight loss wise, this was probably not the best decision. The menu is made up of mostly plates to share, so that's what we did. Some of the dishes we ordered:

Whipped Edamame Hummus with Spiced Pita Chips.

Duck Confit Rillettes with Scallion Pancakes.

Garlic-Sake Clams with Udon Noodles.

Pork Belly Baos with Serrano Pickles.

Garlic-Chile Braised Octopus.

Chinese Broccoli with Crushed Chile Flake.

Mom's Salt and Pepper Shrimp.

Pork and Scallion Wontons.

The clams & noodles and the pork belly bao were my favorite dishes of the night. Blue Dragon is such a cool spot and I'm glad it's in my neighborhood! I will definitely be returning again.

After dinner we went back to our friend's place in the South End and hung out with some wine and the fireplace. Such a nice, relaxing night!

On Saturday I was up on the early side because we had to head to CT for my friend Maja's bridal shower! I still can't believe my friends are beginning to get married. This summer I have both my first friend from high school's wedding and my first friend from college's wedding in the same weekend!

The ride to CT was really long, but I'm so glad we made the trip. Maja was really happy to see us and it was great to catch up with friends!

We drove back to Boston that night and got home around 10. We were all pretty exhausted from the drive and I fell asleep on the early side.

The next day was St. Paddy's day (well, today is really)! One of my life goals is to exercise on the morning of holidays (which I've successfully done on recent Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Years). Every year on St. Paddy's I forget that there is a 5k that starts literally 1 minute from my apartment, so this year I made sure to sign up, and convinced TKO to join me! We arrived for the race around 10:30, got our numbers, and waited inside until the last minute because it was freezing out. I started off really slow because my legs were stiff from standing outside in the cold before the start, but I quickly warmed up. I really enjoyed this race. It's a quick back and forth down East Broadway (the main road in Southie) and there were tons of runners and spectators. 

Hard to tell, but there is a sea of green runners in front of me

The road is wide so I didn't feel cramped, and although it was hilly, I really didn't mind it! My game plan was to walk when I needed up the hills, but to really let myself go and fly down them. I did exactly what I planned, and was shocked when I looked at my phone and finished at 35:30! That's nearly 5 minutes faster than the last 5k I did in December!! I was (and still am) so happy about this time. I finally have proof that my hard work the past few months is paying off! Even better, my knee didn't hurt at all. Woo woo!!

These photos were taken from the window of my apartment building! Thank you Hayley for capturing the moment :)

The rest of St. Paddy's Day was spent watching the parade and hanging out with friends.

I totally crashed around 6 pm and spent the rest of the night watching TV with Tom. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday night!