A few weeks ago, I joined a few of my blogger friends from Blog and Tweet Boston for dinner at Artu Boston on Prince Street in the North End after work one day. It was fun to stroll through the city after work and especially nice to go by many of the historic places that are scattered around the North End. Most notably, I passed Paul Revere's house just before arriving at Artu.
When I got there, I was taken to a small room setting in the back of the restaurant which had two skylights overhead and was tucked away from the main bar and restaurant area. We enjoyed appetizers, a choice of entrees, drinks and some delicious dessert!
Some of my favorite appetizers were the Seared Scallops entree with Cauliflower, cipollini puree, Grilled Country Bread with Smoked mozzarella, prosciutto, and backyard farms tomato and the Roasted Beets with Pistachio vinaigrette, gorgonzola.
For the main dish, I tried the Fusilli, Sausage, Broccoli Rabe which had Rabe pesto, and pecorino dusted as well. I also tried the Eggplant Rollatini which was delicious!
Here's some pictures to whet your appetite!
NOTE: I was provided with a complimentary meal to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.
The Red Sox are giving you the opportunity to say “Thanks Papi” ahead of David Ortiz’s final regular season home stand at Fenway Park. The team is taking a giant “34” around Boston on Friday (tomorrow) where you can take photos for social media using the hashtag #ThanksPapi. In addition, they are bringing around a giant card where you can sign and write your well wishes.
You can check out the tour around Faneuil Hall and Boston Public Market areas... For exact times be sure to watch Twitter and other Red Sox social media channels for details.
I know I'm going to try and see if I can catch up with the big "34" to take a few photos and sign the big card!
NOTE: I am just posting this for information purposes only as I am part the Red Sox Parents initiative. No compensation was provided and all opinions are my own.
So, this morning, Emily and I ran the Canton Road Race with our friend (and giveaway winner!) Ally. It was a little chilly this morning (45 degrees when we arrived) and we were SO glad that we went on Friday afternoon to pick up our race bibs.
The Canton Road Race, in its 12th year, starts and finishes at the Reebok World Headquarters which is a pretty neat place. I had the pleasure of checking out the campus on Friday afternoon when I picked up our race bibs from the friendly volunteers. It couldn't have been easier!
The 5k started at 9 am and we arrived around 8 am to get ready. I had a banana as my pre-race meal and Emily had toast with PB and cheese. Just enough fuel to get going. I was wearing new running pants along with KTTape underneath to support my knees and leg sleeves to support my calves. Crazy what you have to do to take care of your body...
We warmed up and chatted with our friends before getting in the back of the pack for the start. Once the race started we casually drifted back since we knew that we were just in it to finish it. I cannot believe how strong and dedicated my wife Emily is for training for and completing a 5k just 6 weeks after giving birth to our second child.
The race was a beautiful 3.1 mile run through Canton and nearby Milton on 138 and we were able to go at our own pace. There was a 10k that started 5 minutes after our race and soon the 10k runners had caught up with us and passed us. We just enjoyed going at our own speed. We found the first few inclines to be fine but then were met with quite the steep incline through the Blue Hills area and had to walk quite a ways.
Over the past few months as you know if you've read this blog, I'll admit, I've gotten lazy when it comes to food choices, exercise and taking care of myself so I've put on quite a few points. Now I am energized to start losing weight and hopefully keeping it off. I've found it is increasingly difficult as a parent since you're taking care of the kid/s. But it is certainly important to care for yourself first so you can model good behavior and practice.
As the race finished, we were greeting to the sounds of cheering and the race DJ even announced my name on the speaker as I finished which was pretty cool. I was wearing a GoPro camera to be able to make a video and also capturing it on my iPhone in case the video didn't come out and wouldn't you know it - the DJ saw this and even joked about it. We laughed!
After the race, we went to visit the many sponsors. Some of the highlights were some fresh fruits from Wegmans, Jerky from KRAVEJerky (who even gave you a sample pack if you tweeted a hashtag for them) and TreeTop adventures which is a local obstacle course located in Canton. We hope to be able to try that soon! There were some physical therapy places, norwood hospital and a bank along with Reebok. The coolest part of the event was that you could shop in the Reebok Corporate Store after the race and you would get 50% off the listed price. You can't normally get in there unless you work for the company, so that was pretty cool.
Overall, we had an amazing time and hope to come back next year and get a better time!
I made a quick video of the run... Hope you enjoy it!
Here are some pictures from the day:
NOTE: We were provided with complimentary bibs to run the 5k and gave one additional bib away through a giveaway Congrats to the winner, Ally. No other compensation was provided. We had an amazing time and as always, all opinions are our own.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and the New England Revolution and Major League Soccer are helping to “Kick Childhood Cancer” with their month-long initiative. Every sports team has their signature piece of sports memorabilia, and for soccer fans it’s their scarves, so get your #ScarvesUp during “Scarftember” to help raise money for the Children’s Oncology Group for childhood cancer research.
For every post on Twitter and Instagram using #ScarvesUp with a photo of any Revs scarf (or other MLS team) in the month of September, Major League Soccer will donate $1 to the Children’s Oncology Group, and one post will win a $250 gift card to MLSstore.com!
NOTE: I received a Revs scarf to take a photo with for Scarftember. No other compensation was provided.
So, I'm back to trying to eat healthier and live a better life. What better way to do it than train for a 5k? When did I decide to start training for said 5k? A week ago...
In any event, I've done a few 5k's in my life and a very wise person once told me "finish times over finish lines" which is a mantra I tell myself when I'm ready to turn around and head towards the car.
So, I'm super excited about doing a 5k along with a kids fun run with my daughter this coming Sunday 9/25 at Reebok's world HQ in Canton, MA. You can join us in the fun for the 12th annual Canton Road Race, benefitting the Canton Association of Business and Industry Charitable Fund, Inc (CABI), a nonprofit organization. CABI distributes 100% of the proceeds to local beneficiaries such as the Canton Food Pantry and Massachusetts Hospital School, and also toward scholarships awarded to students at Canton High and Blue Hills Regional Schools. It's really a great way to support the local community.
This year, race options include a 5k, a new 10k course and a Kid's One-Mile Fun Run or Wheelchair Race. Since the course begins and ends at the Reebok HQ, you'll be able to shop the Reebok Corporate Store on race day and receive a 50% discount on your entire purchase!
I'm also excited to say that I've been given a complimentary entry to give away to one of my lucky readers. This one is going to have to go fast since the race is on Sunday, so the deadline to enter is 12:00 AM on 9/21 - a quick day turnaround! Tell your friends!
I'm also excited to be running wearing KT Tape as an official KTTape Ambassador, which will keep my muscles in shape ;) You can get 15% off your KTTape order with my special code at https://www.kttape.com/store/: PARENTALIDEAS15
NOTE: I was provided with a free entry to the 5k for myself and a lucky reader as well as an entry to the Kids Fun Run for my daughter. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.
I received the AYL SoundFit Plus Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker from Amazon.com recently and tested it out. This is a perfect speaker to use for outdoor parties if you want some great background music. It's totally wireless and self-enclosed so it is waterproof so you can have your music source (phone, computer, whatever) in the house and then the speaker outside exposed to the elements.
It also has applicability in an office setting if you need a speaker for a presentation or a speakerphone for a conference call (yes there is a built-in microphone) this is a great accessory!
NOTE: I was provided this AYL speaker complimentary to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.
I had the chance to review the AYL Wireless Bluetooth Headphones model AX8 recently from Amazon.com and found that these headphones are great for general use. I tried them while running, talking on the phone, walking around town and general use while connected to my iPhone 6s plus and found that they are pretty great for $30 Bluetooth headphones instead of dropping $200 for Powerbeats Wireless earbuds. Admittedly they weren't as comfortable as the Powerbeats or JayBird headphones, but then again, for the price you can't really argue with it.
While the fit may certainly be a personal preference choice, I happened to think that they are pretty great and would recommend them if you're looking for a reasonably priced pair of wireless earbuds to go running with or to use at the gym. The microphone is set up a few inches off of the earbud which can be a little annoying but most of the people I called didn't seem to mind.
NOTE: I was provided with a pair of the AYL Wireless headphones to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided and as always, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links to amazon. If you click on the link I get a very small percentage of the purchase. Thanks!
recently from Amazon.com and found that these headphones are great for general use. I tried them while running, talking on the phone, walking around town and general use while connected to my iPhone 6s plus and found that they are pretty great for $30 Bluetooth headphones instead of dropping $200 for 
Wireless earbuds. Admittedly they weren't as comfortable as the