My family just left boo hoo hoo . I had a stupendous weekend and I didn’t want it to end! It’s such a different feeling spending time with people who love and care about you. I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the insanity that is FINALS now. Actually, I would say I’m more petrified and anxious than rejuvenated but I’m trying to stay positive here!

My brother and I started our days by getting in a workout. I woke up still full from my rich meal last night at the WaDuke. I did a quick 40 min. Elliptical and 20 min. StairMill (it kicked my butt as always).

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After showering and getting ready, we headed to the Nasher Art Museum Cafe. The Nasher Art Museum is in the center of Duke’s campus and inside is a cute and modern cafe that uses local ingredients.

**Bonus: it accepts Food Point$!!!

The menu is small but there are a wide range of options. Today’s menu included brunch items too.

My Daddy-o started off with a Lhasa Beer (Tibetan). What a lovely shirt–I wonder who picked it out for him?

Cool ‘n’ refreshing. Isn’t the picture of the little goat so cute?

Bread roll. It wasn’t anything special so I had about half to tide me over.

I ordered the Sprouts and Avocado Sandwich with red onion, cucumber and Havarti cheese on whole wheat bread.

It came with a side of fruit. I wanted to try their quinoa side dish but I figured I had enough grains already with the bread.

My Momma ordered the special–Eggs Benedict with lump crab meat and spiralized cucumbers served with home fries.

I had a taste of the crab and home fries.

My dad and brother both ordered the Local scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, capers, red onion, dill creme fraiche and home fries.

We were very happy with our meals!

Next we popped over to Chapel Hill, NC (~20 min. away) to visit the other school. None of my family members had visited Chapel Hill before.

Within 2 min. of parking the car my dad and I went straight to Starbucks Coffee for a pick-me-up. Can you believe Duke doesn’t have a Starbucks on campus? Crazy, huh? What a money maker that would be.

I got a Venti Iced Cafe Americano (half caf) and my dad got a venti hot coffee. I slurped that down so fast!

I’ll say it…UNC has a beautiful campus. I often wonder if I would have liked UNC better.

We stopped by Sugarland Bakery (where I’m shadowing) to say a quick hello.

Next, we headed to Great Harvest Bread Co. to try some samples but it was CLOSED!!!

We also hit up the beautiful Whole Foods Market in Chapel Hill. This one is about twice the size of the WF in Durham.

I got an Artichoke Stuffed Portobello Mushroom and a small cup of a Grain Salad.

The stuffing included artichoke hearts, eggs, parmesan cheese, crab meat, and onions.

The salad had brown rice, quinoa, wild rice, butternut squash, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, olive oil and other ingredients I forgot.

We also hit up Trader Joe’s and Costco to pick up some snax and essentials.

One thing I got was a big bag of grain sweetened carob chips and a chocolate covered cherry slipped in too . Mmm.

I’m not sure what dinner’s gonna be but I gotta hit publish and get cracking on my work!

Goodbye family, Hello sKoOL

I hit up the Fab Four today: Target, Trader Joe’s, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods. They are all within a 1 mile radius from my parents’ condo! I spent a lot of time buying very little–just browsing around mainly.

For breakfast, I tried remaking my Multigrain Butternut Squash Banana Pancakes sans b-nut squash and banana. T’was a bad idea because the pancakes really needed some squash/pumpkin for moisture. As a result, they turned out a little dry.

Oh well, the toppings made up for it! Chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut flakes and almond butter drizzle. With a side of maple syrup.

YAHHHMM!!

While shopping, I sipped on a half caf coffee from Starbucks w/ 3 pumps of Pumpkin Spice Syrup—Mmmmm! This is officially my favorite hot bevvy. (repeat photo)

I spotted THIS at Target!!!

They’re forgetting the most important part: EAT!!!!

When I came back I had a Stonyfield Pumpkin Pie yogurt that I got at Harris Teeter using my coupon from HLS! It was double the value because coupons under 99 cents get doubled at HT.

50 cents–> $1 off! Cha-ching!

I liked it! I’d heard mixed reviews around the blogworld so I didn’t know what to expect. It had a pleasant pumpkiny flavor. Definitely different from my pumpkin mixed into yogurt creation though.

I snacked on 1/2 a bagel w/ almond butter before hitting the tennis court for ~ 1 hour with my Momma. No photo!

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I stopped by Whole Foods to get dinner since my parents went out with their friends. Parents OUT. Allie AT HOME. Ya gotta love this picture.

I got some veggies from the salad bar (I’ve been lacking some leafy greens since coming home).

• Seafood including shrimp, scallops, and calamari
• 3 cubes of tofu

I like putting grain salads into little sample dishes so they don’t get lost in the box of salad. That way I can actually taste them!

• Butternut Fregola Salad
• Hazelnut Wild Rice Salad
• Multigrain Tabouleh Salad

All eaten on top of my salad!

I also had some butter pecan ice cream x2….perhaps 3 There’s a reason why I use a small dish!

Off to…

• Watch the American Music Awards
• Pretend to do homework
• And then watch My Sister’s Keeper (FINALLY) w/ my Momma ($1 from the Red Box!!).