Here’s the thing about Healthworks. I’m not really a gym kinda gal but a few years ago I decided to suck it up and go on the hunt for my perfect gym. I was working downtown Boston and knew that Healthworks was around the corner from the office. I went in, went on a tour, fell in love and signed up immediately. So much for the “hunt”. The gym was gorgeous and didn’t smell like a typical gym (or boys, hehe) which is pretty much what sold it. The staff was all friendly, the club was so clean, and the locker rooms had flowers and spelled like a spa. Oh, and they had state of the art equipment and all that important stuff too So that’s my Healthworks story… I love the gym and what they stand for. It’s a judgement free zone and a place where women of all shapes and sizes are encouraged to be their best and be STRONG.

Last night Healthworks hosted one of my favorite blogger meet-ups! We all gathered at the Healthworks location in Back Bay for some light snacks (popchips, my favorite!), mocktails, and a spin class! I’d never taken spin before because it sort of intimidated me! I’d always walk by the dark rooms with music blasting and these ladies just cranking on the bikes! So when Judith, of Healthworks, told me they were thinking of doing spin for the blogger event I thought it was a great idea… It’s always nice to try something for the first time with a group of people you know and can have fun with!

There was a table set up with RIPE, my newest obsession…

… and popchips. An obsession that will last a lifetime.

We all headed to the locker rooms to get ready and put our stuff away before the spin class started. I’m so glad Alicia and Julie were there! Love when blogger friends turn into real friends!

Alicia and I starred and watched Julie fiddle with her key-card for a while before deciding to help her

The Back Bay location is 2 levels of cardio goodness…

We all met in the lobby before heading into the spin studio…

“Before” shot of all of us nice and clean. We refused to take an “after” photo of all of us dripping sweat. Not internet appropriate

Post workout coconut water thanks to Vita Coco!

Healthworks also has a full cafe featuring some healthy wraps, sandwiches, and salads!

And also a work station with some macs set up!

After the workout we all hit the showers to get ready for a night on the town at one of my favorite places to hang out, Alibi at the Liberty Hotel. I realized last night that I’ve actually been to Alibi three times in the past three weeks. Awesome. Quick side story about The Liberty Hotel… it used to be a historical prison and when they remodeled it the architecture and design teams kept a lot of the original parts of the prison in tact… which is why you see all the bars and other prison paraphernalia floating around! And they played on the prison idea by hanging celebrity mug shots all around Alibi, too! It’s fun!

Some more of the ladies who weren’t able to make it to the spin class met us out at the hotel so it was nice to see lots of familiar faces! I think there was close to 20 of us total!

This portion of the evening was sponsored by Double Cross Vodka and RIPE. They mixed their deliciousness to create three refreshing adult beverages for us ladies to try! A Strawberry Collins (which had basil, yum!), a Bloody Mary, and a muddled raspberry drink. Check out Double Cross Vodkas site for some interesting and creative cocktails!

Alicia’s in the clink!

And hello Bill Gates mug-shot!

The men from both RIPE and Double Cross spoke to us about the drinks they created for us, too!

And then there was food! Mozzarella, tomato and basil pizza…

Caprese Salad

Artichoke, prosciutto, and pear pizza

And tuna tartare. Check out all the drinks in the background HA! Thank goodness for cabs and public transportation, sheesh.

Kind of think whatever I burned off in that spin class I quickly gained back by eating and drinking so much… and it was worth every last bite and sip!

Since Sues is away I invited Kate to join in on the fun “Susie the Second” is what she is called in these situations

With the lovely ladies of Healthworks Hannah and Judith. They’re so much fun And I’m gonna assume Judith was the one making me laugh which required us to try the photo again

At the end of the night I dug through my completely awesome Siggis swag bag! In it I found a gift card to Healthworks for a 50 minute massage (YES!), popchips, a City Sports Boston t-shirt (I have a huge crush on City Sports!), Mad Hectic Oatmeal, a NUX sports bra, Siggis coupons, gift certificate valued at $65 for a spray tan at SkinHealth Centers (will be re-gifting this one, hehe), complimentary hair makeover from Rocks, Paper, Scissors Salon, along with some other fun stuff!

If any of you are interested in giving Healthworks a trial run they’re offering We are not Martha readers a special 3-Day Pass! Just click here and fill out your information to receive your pass! They have locations in Chesntnut Hill, Brookline, Boston, Cambridge, and Salem MA. Have fun!

Thanks so much to Judith, Hannah, and everyone else at Healthworks, RIPE, Double Cross Vodka and Alibi for putting on such a terrific event for some very grateful bloggers!

Happy Friday!

[Chels]

Sues and I set up a little bar on the counter with different types of glasses depending on what the girls wanted to drink.

We were sent two bottles of all natural RIPE cocktail mixer. One was a sour mix and the other was a margarita mix. The RIPE was a huge hit… lots of “mmm’ing”, “ahh’ing” and “I think I’m going to have another”. From RIPE’s website:

“We’re serious about freshness and committed to providing the very best natural-tasting products, hands down! In fact we purposely design our cocktail mixers to be as simple as possible to let the natural flavors of the ingredients do what they do. You will never find anything anything phony in our mixers. No artificial colors, flavorings, additives, high-fructose corn syrup, GMO’s, stabilizers, preservatives, sticks, rocks, starfish… you get the point, nothing but pure, natural ingredients from mama nature.” hehe, mama nature, I love that Also, quite please to report back that we didn’t notice any sticks, rocks, or starfish in our RIPE

We mixed the RIPE with the Cruzan rum we were sent. The two flavors of Cruzan we used were pineapple and coconut; we actually only ended up using the pineapple… we’ll have to save the coconut for another party All of the drinks were a HUGE hit… “huge” meaning everything was gone by the end of the night!

Our pizzas from Uppercrust obviously did not disappoint! We ordered a large MGH which is feta, spinach, and broccoli (we got half of it with pepperoni!), then a half pepperoni pizza and the other half Buffalo Chicken! DELICIOUS. We’ve always loved Uppercrust!

Erin and Sues at the “bar” mixing some drinks!

Have you guys ever played Times Up?! It’s SUCH a fun game! Everyone gets into teams of two. The same set of cards with famous names is used for three rounds. Some of the famous names are obvious while others are out there! In each round one member of the team attempts to get their teammate to guess as many names as possible in 30 seconds. In the first round you can give almost any clue (without saying the name, obviously), in the second round you can only use one word to describe the famous person, and in the third round no words are allowed at all only sounds and gestures. It’s hilarious and it was so much fun to play with these girls since we’ve all known each other our whole lives…

Sues reading the directions… Nina thinking about how she’s going to attempt to win

Me with Kate

Libby giving clues in the third round where words aren’t allowed! She was too funny!

We also ordered a beautiful batch of cupcakes from MixBakery. Kelly, the owner of Mix, helped me select a creative variety of flavors. We got the Peanut Butter, Red Velvet, Banana with Peanut Butter frosting, and Carrot Cake, which was my favorite… check out the baby carrot on top, hehe!

I couldn’t help myself and tossed into the order 6 mini Vanilla/Vanilla Pretty Preppy cupcakes. GAH… how pretty!? Just in time for Spring

The birthday girls blowing out their candles!

Happy Birthday to Katie and Erin! We’re so lucky and blessed to have had you ladies in our lives since we were wee little children Here’s to many more years! We love you!

What’s your favorite game to play at a party? Any other game suggestions for our next girls night?

[Chels and Sues]

I finally settled on a Beija cocktail with black raspberry and lime, two of my favorite things. First, we put the fruit in the bottom of a glass and muddled it (with a special Beija-branded muddler), then filled the glass with ice and added 2 oz. of Beija and a little bit of sugar. We put the shaker over the glass so it fit tightly and shook like crazy until everything was nicely mixed. We took the shaker off the glass (this was another challenge for me… you need to put some muscle in!) and added just a little bit of soda water. And voila!

(Black raspberry and lime)

(Strawberry)

(Cucumber and Honey)

Can I just say this was one of the best, most refreshing cocktails I’ve ever had. And I am not a big rum drinker! Though we were simply in Sara’s courtyard, you could have fooled me and told me I was on an island somewhere sitting on the beach (well, almost). Later that afternoon, I tried a Beija cocktail with cucumbers and honey and, oh my goodness, who would have thought that combination could be so amazing?

Later that evening we decided to take the party to Alibi, one of our favorite bars in Boston. We obviously ordered our drinks with Beija and observed how the bartenders made them… cause you know… we’re experts now

To read more about Beija and it’s founders, check out this article which was featured in the March 8th, 2008 Boston Globe.

[Sues and Chels]

I’m a big tea drinker. Well, if I could I’d drink coffee all day long, but I know tea is better for me so I try to stick to that after my morning coffee. I’ve also been trying to cut down on my caffeine intake because God knows I already don’t get enough sleep. So I try to drink decaf after 8 p.m., which is when I get a majority of my work done.

I’m also a big fan of grapefruit and loved the idea of making my own tea from it. Making tea is something I never even considered before, and while this isn’t your traditional tea, it was totally easy. Martha’s ended up looking a lot prettier than mine, but what did I really expect?

You’ll need two ruby red grapefruits. Squeeze all the juice out of them, which should give you two cups.

You’ll also need honey, whole allspice, and cinnamon sticks. Combine the juice and other ingredients with 1/2 cup of water and boil in a pot over high heat. Strain the mixture and serve with a cinnamon stick!

Mine wasn’t as pinky as I would have liked, but it tasted really good. The tartness of the grapefruit juice mixed with the sweetness from the honey made it perfectly refreshing. Caffeine free and full of vitamin C!

[Sues]