It happened again.

On Friday, I spotted a box of cake mix sitting on the kitchen counter. Remember when I told you about Peter’s [not so] passive way of getting me to bake him a cake?

Reeeeal subtle .

Except this was the box I saw on the counter…

Me: Did you buy this cake mix [containing trans fat!]?

Peter: Yeah, I’ve been craving cake. I need to eat cake. Every. single. day.

Dear God, why didn’t you let me inherit Peter’s metabolism? I got his wide feet, rough hands and big honkin’ nose. You couldn’t have thrown in his speedy metabolism too?

Me: Do you want me to bake you a cake tonight?

Peter: Suuuuure, when you get a chance. Only if you have time. (Code for: Uh yeah, why else would I put a box on the counter?)

Me: Okay! Will do. (Code for: Uh yeah, as long as I get a slice too!)

So at 11 PM, we had the mouthwatering aroma of melted butter, flour and sugar wafting throughout the house. I used the leftover TJ’s Golden Yellow Cake Mix from Peter’s birthday.

No trans fat in this one! Sorry, Dough Boy.

Instead of water, I used almond milk. I also folded in ~1 cup of walnuts, which was an excellent last minute decision.

Peter promptly devoured 1/4 of the cake, Mmmmmmmmmmming through every single bite. He said he could easily demolish 1/2 of it…or even the whole thing. This was at midnight!

God, are you there? There’s still time to change up my DNA. Just a little metabolism boost. I won’t tell anyone, pinky promise.

I enjoyed a slice as well. Gosh, that cake mix is incredible. TJ’s, you rock.

***

So I might have to take back what I said about the effectiveness of my compression tights. I woke up with a set of super sore legs after wearing shorts on my run on Wednesday.

Then I ran 6 miles in 54:19 (avg pace: 9:03 min/mi) in my Spidey tights on Friday and I woke up the next day not nearly as sore. So perhaps they do help decrease soreness? Or perhaps it was the cake filling up my glycogen stores?

I’ll run some more and let you know.

***

Yesterday was a cold, wet and snowy day.

As a result, everyone and their mama was shopping at Costco.

Costco carried these Almond Pops with Blueberries last year, which I loved to death. They suddenly disappeared from shelves before I could snag another bag. Major sad face.

Much to my delight, the cranberry version appeared yesterday. Squeal! These are the bomb. I want to sit and eat the entire bag in one sitting.

Apparently, there’s also a mango version somewhere out there? Ahh must try.

I also loaded up on:

• Mary’s Gone Crackers–on sale this month.
• Basil, Chicken & Mozzarella Meatballs–SO SO good.
• Spring Mix–what I live on
• Gigantic tub of cinnamon—only $2.65. Incredible.
• Gummy vitamins–because I’m 5 years old/love candy/get tummy aches from pill vitamins.

I made the trek to Harris Teeter late last night and was rewarded with discount bananas again! I swiped all 4 bags.

30 bananas for $3.24. Now that’s s deal.

Alrighty, time to go for a freezing cold run. Then watch the Duke vs. Miami basketball game. Then watch the SUPERBOWL! Busy day.

Tell me: Who are you rooting for tonight? Are you going to a fun Superbowl party?

I don’t know what Punxsutawney Phil is gonna decide tomorrow (Groundhog Day!), but I’m pretty sure spring will be arriving early has arrived early. He won’t be able to deny it when he crawls out of his hole and starts sweating bullets!

[Um, tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is in February. It's February. Say what?!]

Yesterday was spent basking in the sun and enjoying the near 70* F weather with kiddo #1 and Camille. We made many many new friends (both toddlers and furry creatures) while walking around the neighborhood and later, at Reston Town Center.

I was borderline sweating in my tissue-thin short sleeve shirt!

Before Tuesday’s faceplant, I was having a pretty good day. While running some errands, I stopped by Whole Foods to finally redeem my Living Social coupon. It’s been burning a whole in my wallet coupon pouch (bahaha I’m 80 years old) since September.

Boo Boo Update

I was afraid to go to bed thinking I’d wake up feeling all the bones/joints/tendons/muscles that broke my fall (namely, my knee). Surprisingly, I wasn’t in too much pain. My knee was a bit swollen, but nothing Advil and some ice couldn’t fix.

Back to the grub…

Since I was using the coupon and since I rarely shop at Whole Foods anymore, I wanted to get some things I could only find at Whole Foods and/or obscure things I’ve wanted to get for ages.

From left to right:

Brown rice syrup. Not obscure and can be found at most grocery stores, but I need it for baking.

Quinoa flakes. FINALLY! I turned down so many recipes last week since I didn’t have it. I need a change up from oats, too. It’s high in complete protein. By the way, does this box not look like it’s from The Brady Brunch era?

*Side note: Can you imagine in 20 years, people will be referring to shows like Modern Family as OLD shows?

Chickpeas. To further fuel my hummus addiction.

Justins Chocolate Almond Butter. It should be hazelnut butter!!! So both flavors were on sale for $7.99. But the original price of the almond butter was $14.99 and the original price of the hazelnut butter was $9.99. Since I’ve been educated at the Peter’s School of Bargain Shopping, I just had to get the almond. You know, since it’s the better discount. BUT I think I actually do like hazelnut better. Rats. I’ll survive .

Follow your heart, not the father’s voice in your head!

Multi-Green Kombucha. It’s been a few months since I’ve had a bottle of the good stuff. Maybe this was the reason for my super speedy run?

Mom’s in the Raw Granola Bars. Total hippie food, I know. They were on clearance though and you know I can’t resist a nutty seedy bar. I’ve been wanting to try this for over a year, at least!

I ate one as a pre-run snack on Tuesday. I didn’t know how my stomach would handle it and whether or not it would give me cramps, but my stomach was perfectly fine.

All the various grains and seeds gave it a super crunchy texture. It took some serious chewing effort. I loved it.

More grub…

Garden of Life Raw Protein Powder. I’ve been dying to try this. I might get a tub if I like it enough. There’s a $5 coupon in the current issue of The Whole Deal.

Halvah. I fell deeply in love with halvah in Turkey! I’ve missed it so much.

Vanilla Almond Chunks of Energy (from the bulk bin). I’ve been buying the Chocolate Almond Chip ones from Wegman’s (slightly obsessed) and this was a nice change.

And then at checkout, I accidentally swiped my credit card too early before the lady could enter in the coupon code and she said I would have to come back and use it the next time.

Um, FALSE!!! I am not paying for all of this at full price thankyouverymuch. Money does not grow on trees, lady!

I don’t know when I’ll be back at a Whole Foods either. Though probably sooner than later because there are some awesome coupons in The Whole Deal this time around.

*Edited to add: I had to go to customer service to return everything and then re-check out again using the coupon. It all worked out. Phew!

Chobani Yogurt Giveaway

I’ve been dying to try these brand new flavors! I received this box of Chobani yogurt the other day from the company. Can you say weee weee weeeeee?

Passion Fruit, Blood Orange and Apple Cinnamon. Pinch me.

I wasted NO time opening the box. I was so excited that I accidentally pierced the top of one with my knife. No biggie, the foil was 2 seconds away from being ripped open anyways…

Having to choose a favorite flavor would be like having to choose a favorite child. But, if I had to, I’d choose Passion Fruit. ONLY because it’s 2% and I just can’t get over how lusciously creamy it is.

2% is just unbeatable, no matter what flavor it is.

It’s not nice to talk about Greek yogurt and not share, so here’s your chance to win the same shipment of 12 Chobani yogurts. Chobani has graciously offered to send one lucky reader a case of the new flavors.

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post about anything you want! Favorite recent snack find? Favorite flavor yogurt? What you think the groundhog is gonna predict?

2. Tweet about this giveaway “I want to win a case of the new @Chobani flavors via @LiveLaughTweet http://bit.ly/yeMs16 ”

*Be sure to leave a separate comment saying you tweeted, so I can count the entry!

I will randomly choose a winner Sunday evening (2/5/2012). Good luck!

A warm + windy run to ring in the New Year (just like last year!).

Time: 1:04

Distance: 7.0 miles

Avg Pace: 9:13 min/mi

How’s that for starting 2012 on the right FEET?

I definitely had a soy sauce hangover from my New Year’s Eve sushi dinner. I woke up parched and puffy-eyed. I couldn’t wait to get the sodium out of my system…and get it out I did! I swear I could smell soy sauce exuding from my body the whole time. Yum.

I ran one speed interval. Yeah, just one. I want to start incorporating some speed work into my runs instead of just going out for whatever distance I feel like (my current running non-plan).

So I ran for 60 seconds at 7:45 min/mile and…then…yeah. That was not to be repeated. Next time maybe I’ll run 2. Hey, I’m easing into it . Got any speed work tips/tricks/plans/advice to share?

***

My parents hosted a New Year’s Eve party and I missed out on some seriously good food. Luckily, there were lotsa leftovers for me.

I had seconds thirds fourths of Peter’s lamb curry! My gosh, this is good. Perhaps my favorite thing out of Peter’s Kitchen in 2011 (or ever!).

Peter was worried there wouldn’t’ be enough shrimp to go around, so he prepared A LOT. Too much (okay, there’s no such thing). So we’ve got enough shrimp in our fridge to feed an army. Or just one hungry Allie for a week .

Can we talk about my new obsession that is stuffed grape leaves?

I got these from Trader Joe’s the other day and they are all gone incredible! Just like the ones I had in Turkey.

I need to consult my Mediterranean cookbook and figure out how to make these myself.

And some leftover smoked salmon, sushi and bacon wrapped shrimp. I’m going to be eating well this week!

Starting 2012 off on the right foot requires plenty of coffee, almonds and chocolate. Apparently I was seeing double at the grocery store last week.

• The TJ’s Pound Plus chocolate bars are the best value in all of the land–$4.99. I was skeptical about the taste (there IS such thing as bad chocolate), but these are amazing. AH-MAZE-ING! So rich and creamy.
• Wegman’s is having a major sale on Cocoa Roast almonds until Feb. 4th and their holiday coffees are on sale, too. Stock up!
• I ate a can of generic pumpkin and it was terrible compared to Libby’s. I seriously couldn’t believe my tastebuds. Libby’s is definitely worth the extra 40 cents.

2 things before I go…

1. Yesterday’s high—59* F. Tomorrow’s high—29* F. Really?!

2.The Bachelor season premiere is tonight (Ben F!!!). I haven’t been watching ANY TV lately, but I think that’s about to change. Darn you, ABC!

I’ve finally gotten in the holiday spirit. It wasn’t the calendar striking December 1st. It wasn’t the blaring of Christmas tunes. It wasn’t the arrival of winter-like weather. It wasn’t even seeing front yards adorned with Christmas lights and holiday figurines.

Nope.

I walked into Trader Joe’s.

(For first time in what felt like forever, too. Boy do I miss living a short 10 min. walk away!)

My goodness, they are decked out for the holidays. Peppermint this…sea salt chocolate caramel that…gingerbread this…eggnog that. That place might as well be the North Pole.

Right then and there…while skipping through the aisles, it finally hit me. The holidays are here!

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!

It’s one thing to read about all their products in writing, and another thing to see them in person.

I dug deep and exercised some self control. I walked away with (among other staples obvs)…

I need a pound of chocolate. Yessiree.

I mean, why keep buying regular-sized bars when they disappear so quickly? I’ve got big plans to make chocolate bark this holiday season. Now that will surely get me in the holiday spirit.

And this Cookie Butter! As you can see, I promptly made a big ol’ dent in the jar. It tastes like Biscoff spread and it is positively fabulous. Sunflower seed butter got the boot this morning at breakfast.

A brussels stalk to balance out all that sugary goodness…

Running Apparel Update

It’s 40* F right now and I’m about to head out for my run. I’m getting frostbite just thinking about it.

I know I say this every year, but I’m optimistic about running outside this winter. That is, until it snows (I have a feeling the treadmill and I will become good friends come February).

I wore this on Wednesday for my 6.5 mile run. I found this top in my closet that a blog reader Christina sent me last year (she was injured and had no use for it).

It was too cold to wear my smelly lucky shirt, so I wore this pink pullover with a tank underneath. It was the perfect combo.

Now I need a 2nd pair of tights. Right now I have this one pair from Forever 21 (of ALL places!). These tights were $15.80 and I wish I had gotten 10 pairs…because I wear them on uhh every single run? Heh.

I love them. They stay put and to be honest, they’ve lasted a lot longer than I ever expected (an entire year + counting!). I usually get things from Forever 21 assuming they won’t last more than a few washes.

You all left some great suggestions for running tights in the comments section, which I will check out—thanks!

***

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta run and then bake a cake ‘cuz…

It’s Peter’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POPS!!

Just wait ’til you see the gift I got him . Oh and I’ll let you know if Cookie Butter makes for good running fuel…see ya!

Tell me: Your favorite holiday treats/snacks/desserts.

1. Days until the big day!

13. Hours I slept the night I returned from Turkey. Gloooorious!

98. Percentage I am over my cold. Hip hip hooray! All thanks to…

6. Speedy miles run in the rain.

Running is my magic weapon against illness. Some say you shouldn’t workout when you’re sick because it’ll make your symptoms worse, but for some reason I can always count on a run to blast my sickness away. I know, it makes no sense.

3:08 AM. Time I woke up this morning. So jet lagged. I suppose this puts me in a good position for Black Friday shopping? It allowed me to make a [teeny] dent in the…

800. Unread blog posts in my Google Reader (I never hit mark all as read…they will all be read eventually!). 8 down, 792 to go!

And gave me some time to work on editing the…

3,003. Number of photos I took in 11 days.

76. Minutes it took to back up all my Turkey photos on my external hard drive.

0. Gigabytes of space left on my laptop.

5. Duke basketball games missed while abroad! I finally watched my first game of the season last night against Michigan. Finals of the Maui Invitational tonight vs. Kansas (the rents’ alma mater!)…if I can stay awake.

3. Cups of coffee consumed this morning. Remember? I woke up at 3 AM.

A match made in heaven.

I feel like I renewed my vows with coffee while in Turkey. You see, we were already in love, but now our relationship is stronger than ever.

I got a little excited about non-dairy milk at the store yesterday. Just a little.

The holiday marketing wizards got me…

At least I’m aware it’s happening, right?

98. Comment # of the Lollihop Box Giveaway winner. Congrats, Dana! Email me with your mailing address, please.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Tell me: What dish[es] are you making for Thanksgiving dinner this year?

Grocery shopping is one of my favorite ways to get to know a country/region. It’s thrilling to see the different foods/ingredients the locals eat and cook with on a daily basis. Remember the food markets/grocery stores I explored in Hong Kong?

For the past 10 days, I’ve browsed every food store I’ve stumbled upon, from gas station mini marts to the Turkish equivalent of Super Walmart. The grocery stores here actually remind me of those I shopped at in Mexico. There’s always a massive cheese department, unrefrigerated eggs and cartons of milk, nutrition information for 100g portions, and a bounty of interesting produce.

Overall most of the produce is cheaper in Turkey than the US. However, we noticed that bananas are much pricier (~$3.75/kg). I haven’t eaten a single banana here, which is downright crazy! Our guide told us they cut down all the banana trees a few years ago to build hotels. They have to import bananas now. How tragic!

I found these green figs today at a fruit stand that I just had to try. They were soft, juicy and tasted just like purple figs.

It comes at no surprise that the yogurt sections are massive.

So are the tubs. 3,000 gram tubs of yogurt are the norm. I’m willing to bet these don’t last long in a Turkish household.

Cheese, cheese everywhere.

Instead of peanut butter, Turkish stores sell countless brands of hazelnut butter. It ain’t just Nutella, folks!

Cocoa hazelnut butter, just hazelnut butter, and swirl! Looking back at this photo, I can’t believe I didn’t realize the swirl jar was 6.95 Turkish lira! I missed my chance…shucks.

Booze booze booze. I learned from our guide that there are 7,000 different types of grapes in Turkey (11,000 in the world). We got to try a few local wines during our trip.

Turkey is a country of chocoholics!

Most of the chocolate bars contain either pistachios or hazelnuts. As a hazelnut fanatic, this makes me very happy.

Our suitcases are filled to the brim with chocolate bars. We bought countless chocolate bars with various nuts and these 3 gems I must tell you about…

• Chocolate covered chestnuts (not whole chestnuts, but a chestnut paste): It sounds funky, but if you like chestnuts, you would love this.
• Chocolate covered hazelnut brittle: We also got pistachio brittle and almond brittle covered in dark, milk and white chocolate.
• Chocolate covered hazelnuts: I wish they had these all over the US too!

Turkey has a bunch of interesting snacks that are oh so delicious!

On day 2, I found this hazelnut brittle bar (left) and was instantly smitten. The ingredients list was simple: hazelnuts, sugar and glucose. This is #1 on my to-make list of Turkish foods.

The middle bar was made of carrots, glucose, orange, coconut, hazelnuts, apricots and sugar. Like a sweet carrot cake Larabar.

Every grocery store, mart, and gas station sells bags of roasted nuts, chickpeas, corn, pumpkin seeds and dried fruit.

They also sell them in bulk bins by the kilogram, which we think taste better/fresher (it may just be psychological). We bought some roasted corn, hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios to snack on throughout our trip.

Clearly, I’ve been able to maintain my sky high consumption rate of nuts on this trip .

There are usually several different types of roasted chickpeas for sale. Sweet (covered in a white candy shell), salted, yellow and white. The sweet ones are my favorite. Are you surprised?

I tried carob pods for the first time on this trip. I’ve had carob chips before, but never the actual pod. The carob pods were hard, tough and difficult to chew…but sweet! The texture was sort of like chewy tree bark.

I mean, we’ve all tried tree bark at last once in our lives right? No? Just me?

Though I haven’t been able to try most of the Turkish Delight here due to my stinky pistachio allergy, I’ve fallen madly in love with halva.

Halva is made with sugar and sesame seed paste. The texture reminds me of meringues—soft and crumbly. It literally melts in your mouth!

Though I can’t bring home fresh figs, pomegranates and persimmons with me, I do have my suitcase filled to the brim with chocolate bars and a long list of foods/snacks I want to recreate at home!

I hope you enjoyed grocery shopping with me in Turkey. Tomorrow is our last full day here. Sad face. This has been such an incredible trip. You’d think after 10 days I’d be ready to go home and sleep in my own bed, but I’m not!

Ahhh I love traveling.

Tell me: Your favorite foreign foods/snacks.

I lived on digestives when I studied abroad in London. I miss those dearly.

I ran 8 miles this morning!! The last time I ran 8 miles was almost exactly 1 year ago. This year, however, I ran it 8 minutes faster.

When reading about other people’s long runs, it’s easy to assume those miles happen effortlessly. Well, it might be like that for some people, but it’s definitely not like that for me.

Sure, some miles are easier and pass by faster than other miles, but every run is still a challenge. Sometimes it’s more challenging physically, and other times it’s more challenging mentally. Regardless, it’s never effortless!

The first half of this morning’s run was killer!

Miles 1-3: Okay, 7 miles is not going to happen. I’ll be lucky if I finish 4. My legs felt like led and they were a bit achy (like growing pains…weird). I was NOT feeling it.

Miles 4-5: My legs feel a lot better. Let’s keep going at least until 5.

I finished my normal 5.5 mile loop and then embarked on another 2 mile loop to run past a waterfall in my neighborhood that I stumbled across last week!

Yes, I’ve been living here for over a year and just discovered this oasis…

Mile 5: Well, that was anticlimactic. I got to see the waterfall for like 0.5 seconds. I would’ve stopped to admire it, but the Po Po was sitting right there and I always get super awkward/anxious around them.

Mile 6: I’m hitting a wall, but I want t keep going ’til 7.

Mile 7: Can I run 8? Why didn’t I bring gummy bears with me?!

Mile 8: I’m going to need to take a loooooong ice bath after this…

I attacked the gummy bears the moment I walked in the door. Next time, they’re coming WITH me!

My appetite was virtually non-existent after my run, but I managed to eat a bowl of oatmeal and a fried egg salad. Then I ate my weight in granola and almonds.

I can always count on granola and almonds to get enough calories in my body!

Before picking up Peter from the airport (he went back to Hong Kong for my grandmother’s funeral), my mom and I headed to Costco to pick up a 6 lbs of almonds!

My addiction lives on…

We also picked up a bag of seafood medley and organic, cage free eggs

I got this super hott fleece facemask for running in the winter!!

I’m going to look like a creepy burglar, but at least my face/head will be warm! I’ll take a photo for you the first day I have to wear it .

My mom got these gourmet peanuts. They’re from Williamsburg, VA and they’re famous! Boo for being allergic to peanuts.

We had some more time to kill before Peter’s flight landed, so we headed to World Market to browse around.

I was immediately reminded of why I love that place so much. I need a napkin bar in my house.

For dinner, I made an epic bowl of soup with the seafood medley we bought. Incredible!! It took me about 10 minutes to whip together too.

It deserves it’s own recipe post though…and photos taken in daylight.

Peter brought back presents from Hong Kong…mostly food, of course. He brought back a couple loaves of the bread I fell SO in love with in Hong Kong, which I ate with my favorite chocolate bar.

Life is good.

Alright, it’s time for me to get ready for the week ahead…and ice my legs. Have a great night!

Meow!

I had a dream last night that I slept in until 11:38 AM. I realized it was just a dream when I woke up and saw 6:15 AM on my clock…and then I couldn’t fall back asleep. Yep, this is still happening every single morning no matter how sleep deprived I am. Yep, I’m permanently old.

I stocked up on some of my favorite cheap and convenient canned goods at Trader Joe’s yesterday. Apparently, I eat like a cat…

Allie cat, Allie cat, what are they feeding you?

Canned [Wild Alaskan] salmon!

I used it to make a salmon salad with avocado and broccoli on the side.

I simply rinsed the broccoli and popped it in the microwave for 90 seconds. Sprinkled some salt + pepper and viola!

While standing in a crowded TJ’s aisle yesterday, I [accidentally] yelped, “FIG BUTTER?! No way!” Apparently, it was rather audible because everyone around me turned and looked to see what it was I found.

Awkward.

But, for real, look what I found!

Mmmmm!

It’s been a pretty laid back day over here. I went to Costco with the ‘rents and then we came home and played tennis. It was grand.

Now I’m watching Modern Family!

My old college roommate, Christina, let me borrow her Season 1 DVDs (I know I know, I’m way behind the times). I never got a chance to start watching the show when I was in school, so I’m playing major catch up now.

This show is HI-larious!

I love Manny!! What a little cutie pie.

I’m off to eat dinner and then watch the Emmy’s. Have a great night, y’all.

When blogging is your job…

Human interaction is mostly online (primarily here).

Work attire usually ends up being PJs and gym clothes. And by “usually” I mean, “always.”

Your office is in the kitchen, on the couch or at a desk.

Your to do list looks something like this.

While your schedule is relatively flexible, it also means you’re sometimes still working at 11 PM and you probably work holidays and weekends.

Meetings = conferences and blogger meet ups.

I had a “meeting” today with Ryan. We first met online when she contacted me about hosting a ticket giveaway for the Take Back Your Health Conference next month. She soon discovered I was local and asked to meet up for lunch!

She was going to be in my neck of the woods today, so I let her choose where to have our meeting. She chose Wegmans.

A girl after my own heart!

I also got a 5 mile walk and some groceries out of it. My mom’s car is in the shop, so she drove my car to work. Thus, I traveled by foot (so yes, work attire was still gym clothes for me!).

I listened to my favorite country songs along the way (via Pandora on my phone) and the miles flew by!

Speaking of which, I realized I left out a few of my favorite favorite country songs this morning (there are too many!). Perhaps I’ll start another list and make it a weekly post…?

I digress.

Meeting food included brown rice salmon sushi.

I also wanted to try the curry tofu from the hot bar. I only got a little bit because I wasn’t sure if it was made with anything I was allergic to and no one could tell me for sure.

There’s only one way to find out, right? <–bad Allie!

It was amazing and I survived without a scratch. Phew!

Ryan and I talked for over 2 1/2 hours about everything under the sun. Meeting topics included my past, her past, her health coaching business, the conference, my life path, and so much more.

What a sweetheart!

***

Afterwards, I picked up a few things to weigh me down on my walk home. I WOULD get a giant carton of almond milk for a 2.5 mile walk home.

• Brown Rice Flour will be for a baking project
• Hummus was free (coupon)
• Almond Milk was severely discounted (doubled coupon!)
• Puffins were on sale

Oh and I was handed a sample of their new cheesecake while shopping. I am not one to refuse cheesecake!

As soon as I got home, I ate a huge bowl of Multigrain Puffins (the best flavor!) and made yet another large dent in the honey goat gouda cheese.

Who remembers the Princess Leia bowl?!

After a couple refills (ohh Puffins), I decided to revert back to my college student days and eat a bowl of cereal for dinner.

But not without a big ol’ peach! It looks small in 2D, but I assure you it was the size of a softball.

Perfect combo.

Time to watch MY Andy Roddick play some quality tennis at the US Open!

Have a fabulous night, y’all.

As you already know, I’m an I-must-bring-my-camera-everywhere-I-go-just-in-case photographer. However, one place I will not take my camera is trail running, which is what I did this morning with Will.

Well, it could hardly pass for trail running. We only actually ran 1.6 miles. I loved running the WaDuke trail when I was down at school, but that was relaxing (nothing like this hazardous trail!). It’s a miracle I didn’t get injured. Rocks, tree stumps, roots, horse crap, eeps!

I’ll stick to running on asphalt, thanks. I mean, really, I fall down even when I’m running on asphalt!

So back to camera talk…

I took photos with my phone today instead. I don’t love the camera on my phone, but I found this awesome [free] app for Android phones called Color Touch.

(Yes, I have the E! Online app. I read it everyday before bed. Judge me.)

It lets you put filters on your photos after you take them so they look better. My favorite effects are ‘Old Magazine’ and ‘Lomo.’

I love it!

So after our short jaunt around the woods, we went to Cosi for breakfast. I got steel cut oats (with ONE strawberry!). The steel cut oats were cooked with brown sugar and super creamy.

It was yet another reminder that I need to make steel cut oats for myself more often.

After getting Will a haircut (oh thank goodness), we parted ways and I went over to Trader Joe’s before heading home.

Reunited with my favorite muffins in the whole wide world!

Along with “Benjamin Button,” my mom also calls me “little mouse.” For good reason…

I have yet to make it home from TJ’s without breaking into mango slices on the way. Oh and I had to get this bottle of wine for obvious reasons…

I FINALLY got this honey goat gouda cheese. Last week when I was there, I spotted it and decided I had to have it. I put it down to take a photo of the display and COMPLETELY forgot to actually put it in my basket.

I know, I’m 80 years old.

Needless to say I’ve been feeling deprived of cheese all week.

Seriously, this photo was taken last week…

Alrighty, it’s time to tackle my email inbox and continue pinning dream destinations on Pinterest. I quickly went from overwhelmed and confused to overwhelmingly obsessed…

Obsessed.

If you need a Pinterest invite, just ASK!