Labor Day Weekend Recap

Happy Labor Day everybody!! Can you believe it is September already?  The summer flew by for me but it has been a really great one.  Filled with lots of friends, family, travel, good food, and major accomplishments.  I hope that you all had a great Labor Day weekend relaxing and enjoying some of the beautiful weather we experienced.

I started the weekend with a much needed relaxing night at home on the couch on Friday.  Saturday morning I was up early to head home to Rhode Island for the evening to spend some time with my little [the word "little" used loosely] and mom.  J just moved into a great apartment on Federal Hill and I had a ton of fun exploring his neighborhood, enjoying some great food and drink, and just hanging out and having fun.

For a first apartment, I've got to admit, he has a great place.  Complete with an amazing balcony!

His place is right by Federal Hill which made it an easy walk to eat at Cassarino's and then pick up some pastries around the corner.  And can you believe those portions?  Believe it not, my mom and I split our meal.  What you see in front of the two of us is technically a 1/2 portion each.  Wow!

 

After dinner & dessert we walked to a bar called Congress Tavern and tried their fall special drink called a "Pumpkin Chuck" -- half Shipyard Pumpkin beer and half Woodchuck Cider, rimmed with caramel and cinnamon & sugar.  It was delicious!

After drinks we walked towards the river to check out Providence's signature, WaterFire.   I hadn't been to a WaterFire in ages and forgot how beautiful and enchanting it can be.  Too bad I was with my mom and brother and not on a romantic date :)

Despite being pretty exhausted, I managed to get a second wind and experience Providence nightlife as my brother sees it.  Complete with a pedicab ride, which was one of the more frightening experiences of my adult life...

After a great weekend at home hanging out with my brother and exploring Providence, I headed back to Albany on Sunday for a fun-filled, last-minute planned, summery day in Saratoga with one of my good friends.  I put in a few (unsuccessful) last bets at the race track, ate at Circus Cafe on Broadway, and then headed over to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to see Jason Mraz in concert!  We bought lawn seats, where we watched most of the show, but for the end were able to move up to the very front row!  In front of us was only the group of people that were seated in the "pit."  We had an amazing view and an incredible experience seeing Jason finish the show and Christina Perri coming out at the end to close the encore.

I capped off the Labor Day weekend with a relaxing day at Grafton Park hanging by the water and soaking in some final rays of sunshine for the summer!!  For dinner, I cooked up what I've been eating a lot of lately... a spinach & (fat free) cheese omelet -- made with 1 egg yolk & 3 whites.  Topped with a cut up tomato and some salsa on the side.  And I ate it in a location you can find me in a lot lately -- sitting out on my front porch :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend and summer.  I'll certainly miss the warm sunshine but looking forward to all the fun that Fall brings.  Those Pumpkin Chucks weren't too bad :)

I want to close this post with a very special congratulations to two of my best friends who each got engaged this past week.  I can't believe how grown up we're all getting but I honestly could not be happier for my two friends and their respective new fiances.  I hope these guys know how lucky they are :)