And now...

I'd like to interrupt my slow-as-molasses blogging about my trip to California for the 411 on my week. 

Let's begin with Monday. I woke up at 5am, turned on my side to see what time it was and all of the sudden felt that weird sensation of post-nasal drip. Or so I thought. Turns out, for the first time in I don't know how many years, I had a bloody nose. I was out of my bed and in the bathroom in a flat 0.89 seconds. So after successfully sticking tissue up my nose, pinching my nose, and praying it would stop so I could go back to bed, I hopped into bed, propped my pillows so I was sitting up and tried to fall asleep. Well, I did, kind of. My alarm went off and again I turned over to shut it off and the blood came gushing out. Sick. And on a Monday!!! FOR. THE. LOVE. For the entire day, I had the urge to sneeze and was afraid I would spew blood everywhere. A little later in the day my nose starting leaking again. I thought I was going to have to hole myself up in my office but thankfully it stopped. Embarrassing...

I have somehow tumbled off of the running bandwagon and it's really been frustrating for me. Except I ran an 8:36 pace for my 10K Turkey Trot, and that's after slacking on consistent running so that made me feel a little better. I'm just really lacking in motivation. Well, I was. Yesterday I went and got some new running kicks. It was VERY exciting! I went to a local running store with my friend Amy and got fitted for running shoes. First let me just tell you, Amy is awesome. She is a legit runner, my mentor in many ways, and patiently helps me try to get better. She also brought me a yuuuummy salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks and it was about 157% better than the one I got when we went to Charleston. What a great way to begin the day! Back to the running shoes; I was so giddy. Like a 4 year old. I tried on a few different pairs and finally chose these new beauties: 

My first pair of REAL running shoes: New Balance Barringer 890. Ahhhhhhhh so cool! 

I've never had New Balance shoes before so this is doubly exciting!

So, I took them for a spin yesterday and it was amazing. They are so light. I felt like I was running on squishy, comfy, wonderfulness. Bliss I tell you, bliss! I didn't look at the clock when I left so I have no idea how fast I was, but I ran 4.5 miles and it felt great. So, looks like I'm climbing back onto the wagon. I'm hoping to break my half marathon PR in February. We'll see. Running in the cold is a little intimidating for me, but I'm excited. And let's face the facts for 3.5 seconds: I live in South Carolina and it's not exactly that cold here. Though, I am acclimating...wimp. 

Last night I went to my first Barre class and it was interesting. It was a mix of aerobics and ballet. I liked it and I feel a bit sore today, but I'm not sure it's for me. We'll see. I have a 3-class pass so we'll see. 

But the best news of the day is...it's Friday. And that means Froyo Friday at Orange Leaf so I'll be having froyo for lunch for $5!!!! YES. YES! YES! YES! And then I'm going to yoga with one of my yogi friends. AND Amy, who is on her way to the Bahamas for a 4 day cruise, has left her beloved Garmin watch for me to use while she is gone. I am SO excited to use it!!!! 

And now I am watching the show finale of Boy Meets World on TV (I have today off) and it makes me a little teary-eyed! Did you know they are doing a spin-off called Girl Meets World about Cory and Topanga's daughter?!?! I hope it's to par with Boy Meets World. Those are some big shoes to fill. 

Oh and P.S.: For those of you who have been sharing my frustrations about the stupid photo limit had some difficulties uploading pictures because you've reached your quota, I think I figured it out, or at least a way around it. When you try to upload pictures, there is the "From Picasa Web Album" option. Well, I just uploaded pictures I wanted to post to a new album on Picasa's website and it allowed me to upload them to my blog using that option instead of the usual "Upload" and then choosing pictures from my computer. Give it a try!

Why Hello.

I'm wearing a sweater.

I'm WEARING a sweater.

I'm wearing A SWEATER!!!!!!

FINALLY.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up and it was 57 degrees. I flung my covers over and exclaimed, "It's chilly!!!!" and then I did a happy dance. My dog once again has proof that I'm a goofball (most some of the time). Granted it was still 72 degrees in my apartment but the breeze coming through my room was chilly and I was BURSTING with happiness. Literally. Grinning from ear to ear. I practically skipped out the door when I took Scotty out. I had on a jacket and it was chilly, gloomy, overcast with threats of rain looming in the air. PERFECT. PERFECT! I had the day off today and I just love this weather (every once in a while. Let's not get crazy).  

You see, it was a whopping 84 degrees and humid on Saturday. 

SICK. 

Be gone summer, be gone. Out! Scoot! Shoo! You're time is over. Buh-bye. See you in 2013.

Before I continue about my day, my half marathon is in 13 days. Whoa baby. So Saturday was my long run. My peak run. I was scheduled to run 10 but I ran... 

ELEVEN MILES. 

I've never ran that many miles in one time in my life. Well, maybe during high school 2-a-day basketball practices in the beginning of the season but that doesn't count. 

I was really surprised I did it and that I did it in under 2 hours. The last mile was a killer and it was so hot. I started at 9am and I kept running east so the sun was beating on me, sweat was getting into my eyes and in my ears so my earbuds kept popping out (so annoying), and I got lost a few times despite having previously mapped and studied my route. I ran down one of the main roads and through a bunch of winding neighborhoods I hadn't been through before and I couldn't remember which roads I had mapped so I kept asking if I was supposed to go up this road or down or turn left. Oh boy. My quads were cramping the last 1/2 mile and my calves were talking to me but it was a blast. It felt so good! I wouldn't say I loved or that I really love running but I love how I feel the last bit of a run and how I feel afterward. I'm beginning to love it. Totally worth it. I'm pumped for my half marathon. I'm running a 10K Turkey Trot Thanksgiving Day and have my eyes on another half in February. My goal is a full marathon next year because then I'll run 26 miles and will be 26 years old. Cool huh? Yeah, yeah, well one race at a time. Let's hope I survive this half marathon first. 

So random bits and the latest and greatest. 

-I saw "Hotel Transylvania" on Saturday. OHMYGOSH so cute! I loved it! I might buy it when it comes out of DVD. I'd recommend it. Cute, funny, sweet story. The last song of the movie had me in fits of giggles. Go see it. 

-I'm contemplating going back to school to get my Master's degree...as a Physician's Assistant. I'm a little nervous to "let the cat out of the bag" but I'm serious about it and have started shadowing one the physicians I work with and his PA. I LOVE it. Seriously, I think I found my calling in life. Don't get me wrong. I like and enjoy being a dietitian but I LOVE working with the doctor and his PA. Basically I revert back to my 5-year old self and can't get enough of the stuff they tell me. I shadowed them for about 5 hours last week and left their office absolutely elated and giddy. I got to shadow again for a few hours today and I just love it. I can't wait to know as much as they do. Plus I have tremendous respect and admiration for this physician and his PA. I hope to be like them. The doctor doesn't suffer from "God Syndrome" and he's totally down to earth and nice, but authoritative and blimey brilliant. He knows so much!!! I'm hoping to start applying to places next fall. I hope I get accepted somewhere and get to make this happen. You have no idea. I am madly in love with this plan. I am thrilled with the idea, the mere thought of it. Fingers (and toes and eyes and knees and, stars, and, and whatever else can cross!!!) crossed it happens!

-I'm going to be baking like a madwoman tomorrow (because I also have tomorrow off...muahahah gotta love having personal and vacation days leftover to use!) because...I CAN. I love baking. It's a stress reliever and it makes me really happy. Last week I made salted caramel cupcakes with a caramel buttercream frosting for some of the nurses I work with who had a bake sale for a breast cancer walk on Saturday. They were actually really good. I was nervous they wouldn't turn out, especially since my friend Amy and I made the caramel ourselves and I've never down it before (scary!!!). The caramel didn't come out perfectly but it worked perfectly and tasted good. I made extras for the nurses to have so Friday we went over to one of the nurse's houses to decorate all of the cupcakes and the cupcakes were a smashing success. I was so relieved. Maybe someday I'll open a bakery. I think that would be really fun. Actually I've decided to send out some fall packages...because I can. And who doesn't like receiving a little parcel in the mail? Especially filled with some fall goodies???

-I'm going to a matinee movie tomorrow to see "Frankenweenie." I love going to the movies by myself, so, I am. I'm wicked excited about it. I heard the movie was cute and it's Halloween time (fall/Halloween is probably my favorite time of year. Just a smidge above Christmas. Just a smidge!). 

-Some friends and I are going to see "Pitch Perfect" on Wednesday. We've been counting down the weeks until this movie opened! Yes I know it was released on Friday but our schedules worked better to see it this week. I am REALLY excited to see this!!!! I love a capella. 

-My pal Amy and I spontaneously got frozen yogurt (shocker!) for dinner tonight. She called me coming home from crossfit and of course I said yes. I'm pretty much a regular at Orange Leaf now. It's almost embarrassing...not really though. They have new flavors: oatmeal cookie and caramel apple. I topped it with granola, chocolate covered rains, and some chopped almonds. DELISH! Then we chatted for about an hour. Amy is HILARIOUS! Oh my gosh. Gut bustin' laughter every time we are together. I love it. We worked together on Friday and it was just the two of us and people should videotape the two of us together because it is one comic experience. Oh good grief. It's a miracle we got any work down. Anyway, on my way home, the radio station I was listening to played "Baby, Baby" by Amy Grant. I jammed out to it. I grew up listening to Amy Grant, Barbara Streisand, Vince Gill, Shania Twain (*cough* people with real talent *cough*). I like Amy Grant. So I listened to a few of her classic hits when I got home. Good times! IF I still could play music on my blog (*angry look*), I'd have it on my playlist for you to listen to. It's catchy. I like 90s music. I have her Christmas albums and boy oh boy I can't wait to get those playin! But hey now, let's bask in fall first ok?

-I want these, wicked badly:

This is Scotty's current favorite hangout:

Under my bed.

Time for bed. I will be snuggling up in my bed with the window open enjoying the chilly breeze!!!

My day in pictures and stories

This post may be all over the place because that's kind of how my mind and my day has been today.

For starters I'm pleased to tell you the cookies I mentioned from the last post actually came out pretty well. Just don't eat them fresh out of the oven (which I don't like doing anyways. Hot cookies? Yuck.). I substituted half the butter with Greek yogurt (one of my favorite substitutions) and the peanut butter with PB2. The PB2 isn't as sweet as regular peanut butter so the cookies, therefore, weren't as sweet as I've known them to be. It's not bad, just different. I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of regular smooth peanut butter to the last 2-3 batches and those ones tasted better. Anyway, the staff liked them a lot. And they were healthier. And soft. And moist. Yum. Score!

Now yesterday I came home from work and fell asleep for about 50 minutes and woke up to my neighbor's obnoxious chihuahua barking. And not just freaking out barking but he would bark three times and pause for 2 minutes and bark three times. I wanted to kill him because a) it was annoying as ever and b) caused my dog to whine, whimper, growl, and bark as he ran around my apartment in frustration. Grrr......So I walked outside to make sure everything was ok and I think my neighbor and his girl were arguing. Ooooh a little drama next door! (Maybe?) After about 40 minutes the stupid dog stopped. I was NOT happy. And I think I got overheated when I was napping so I felt sick. Sad day. And I really wanted bread but I didn't have any, at least none that I wanted. I wanted french bread. 

So. I showered, felt better, and then made some bread. 3 hours later (@ 11:45pm), voila!, I had bread.

YUM. French bread=a very happy Gabe

Next.

When I was in college my roommate Emily (hi Emily!) had this great conditioner that made her hair look and smell AH-mazing: Matrix Sleek and Shine. So I tried it and I loved it and then for whatever reason I decided to move on to a different brand. I think I'm always looking for the brand that makes me hair look, smell, and feel amazing. Well, years later after being unsatisfied with most of the products I've tried, I one day had the brilliant idea to go back to this brand because so far, it's been the best. Well, this stuff is hard to find. 

No matter.

Amazon has everything AND I got shampoo and conditioner for the price of one. Score! 

And they arrived today. Good thing because when I washed my hair last night, I was sad. My conditioner is almost gone and I don't like my shampoo and my hair needs some TLC. 

Next. I checked my mail today and almost threw this out. 

What's this?. Another frozen yogurt place near me that I have a 50% coupon to and just have to go try?  Well darn... 

Then I went to yoga. I love Fridays because it's my yoga day and I think it's a swell way to end the work week. I had a really hard time concentrating tonight. I couldn't focus on anything, I found myself forgetting to breathe properly, and my quads are aching and I don't know why. It was a great practice but geez it was hard mentally. You see I was thinking about Clary and Drew and Noah today and how I can't wait to see them hopefully in the near future. And....

I met with my manager today because I've decided we need to revamp our patient menu and include more gluten free stuff so I pitched a few ideas to her. I'm excited. She's letting my take the reins on this. BUT she decided to take the time to go over my goals since our annual reviews are coming up (....).  Apparently she thought I hadn't met one of my goals, which technically was ok (according to her) since I can still play the "I'm-a-new-dietitian" card (muahahah). The goal is to do an activity each month with the rehab patients I work with on one of the floors. Little did she know I had completed my goal. Apparently I am supposed to tell her every month when I do this. I couldn't tell if she was surprised that I had done it and not mentioned anything to her or if she was slightly annoyed that I had done it and not mentioned anything to her. I didn't realize I was supposed to make a big deal out of it. Once again my independent nature works against me. Curses.

So that whole incident was playing through my mind. I don't know if I feel embarrassed, sheepish, or stupid. Either way, I did what I was asked so lesson learned. Be more vocal. (Still feel stupid).

So after yoga I decided to hit up World Market to browse and pick up some Ghiradelli chocolate chips because I am sick and tired of having to use low quality chocolate chips in my baking!!! NO MORE. Two bags of 36oz. Ghiradelli chocolate chips later and I am a happy woman. And so is my chocolate chip jar. 

As I was browsing I stumbled upon a few things I just had to have: 

*The Republic of Tea's Apple Cider Tea

*Zhen'as Gypsy Tea's Firelight Chai Herbal Red Tea (which I am sipping on now with a dash of milk and 2 packets of sweetener. Its' goooooood)

*THE BEST chocolate chips (one bag 60% cacao and one bag semi-sweet. Hallelujah!)

*Ginger

*Maple leaf cookie cutter

If you couldn't tell...

I am SO ready for fall.

I have decided that I have created a fall challenge for myself: make a fall-themed meal and dessert every weekend. Bring on the pumpkin, butternut squash, and apples (Macintosh please!!!), among other delicious things. 

Jeepers I can't wait for fall. Too bad tomorrow it's supposed to be 91. Gross.

And tomorrow is September 1st. My birth month. Let the month long celebrating begin!!!!

(The month long celebration idea started in college with my dear friend Shawna who celebrates her birthday the entire month. Brilliant! So I have adopted this practice and let me tell you, I am a fan). 

3 Day Weekend

I've been anticipating this weekend. I'm in need of a vacation, but that won't be until the beginning of August, though it's for another wedding and I'm actually in this wedding so I'm not sure I would entirely call that a vacation, but it should be fun. I'll take an extended weekend though. My colleague and I have had a rough couple of months being short-staffed. The workload ebbs and flows but lately it's been flowing generously and basically we're getting burnt out. You know the feeling right? Every day around 2pm when we still have 6 patients to see and all of our notes to type up and our blood sugar dips, we just become crazy. Mostly it's amusing, sometimes we have vent sessions, and usually we talk about how much frozen yogurt we want.


Friday Scotty got me up at 5:45am. I can't get too upset with him because it is technically  a weekday and usually I get up at 6am so we can go for a nice leisurely walk in the mornings. I took him and out and then went back to bed and woke up at 9am. Lovely. I had big plans for my Friday. And it involved some...shopping. Dun. Dun. Dun.
First, I went to Old Navy to get some shorts that my mom and friend Jen raved about. I admit I was very skeptical. Old Navy and I had a good thing going a few years ago and then all of the sudden the quality and fit of their clothing took a hard nosedive and I haven't been impressed, or a customer, since. But I am in need of good shorts so I thought why not? I went, I saw, I tried on. They fit. Oh my gosh and they are cute. And comfy! And on sale! Sweet! I bought sunshine yellow and khaki/beige. They did not have orchid (below) or aquamarine in my size so...I ordered them online. I'm pretty excited.

Photo from here

Next, I went to the beach. It was a bit overcast yesterday, which is my favorite beach weather because it's hot but the sun isn't beating down on me. It was wonderful. I read for a couple of hours, I swam and floated and dove and body surfed in the water for an hour or so. I am definitely a fan of warm beach water, but not the idea of lurking sharks. I got burned on my legs. Ouch. I am a walking radiator. I have been studiously applying aloe vera lotion to my legs, which feels great, and then Scotty comes along and licks it off (one of his quirks, he loves to lick lotion). Oddly enough, it feels good. True to "good" sunburns, I'm not feeling so great today so I'm thinking it's going to be a very lazy day. 

Then I met up with my pals Jen, Allie, and Marissa and we went shopping at the Tangor Outlets. It was my first time. Let me just tell you, I love a good bargain. Our first store was the Gap Outlet. I walked it, saw a pair of "watermelon sorbet" shorts, tried them on, loved them, and bought them for a whopping $12. Score #1. Next we went to Banana Republic. Now let me just tell you I love lounge wear because basically it's what I live in in the winter. And I'm all about comfort. There was this darling "lounge wear" top on sale, like 70% off!!!, and I put it on and had a big grin appear on my face dreaming of winter, curling up with a mug of hot chocolate to watch a flick or read a book. Bought it. Saved myself $50. Score #2. Gosh I love a good deal. 

After a couple of hours of walking around, we decided to end our successful shopping day with....frozen yogurt!!! Who's surprised, I mean really? We went to Sweet Frogs and marked off another one of our froyo places on our list. 

This place was good. I got cookies 'n cream, choc/PB swirl, and cupcake (basically what I always get). The cookies 'n cream was the best I've had so far. Their choc/PB was not that great. Bust. Their cupcake was really, really good. Their toppings were excellent: good variety (and they had cookie dough!! Yum!!), chopped up nicely, AND they had Nutella topping. +++++ points for that! However, they rank a close #2. I stand by Orange Leaf as my #1 choice.  

Then we headed back to my apartment and watched "The Artist," which I hadn't seen before. I was very impressed. It definitely deserved the awards it received. 

I went to bed around 1:30am and since I took Scotty out late last night I was hoping he would sleep in. Nope. He started doing his obnoxious fake sneezes, which are his way of telling me he wants to go out and trust me...they are AH-nnoying, around 5:30am. I was not a happy camper. I told him we were not going out at 5am and that I needed to sleep. And the sweet little guy that he is, he let me sleep in until 7:30. Thank you Scotty!!!  I'll take it! I contemplated going back to bed when we got back from his walk but it was already 8 so I tidied up a few things and then crawled back into bed and e-mailed, pinterested, facebooked, ordered a new bathing suit, foodgawked (this website is like Pinterest but better and only for recipes. Go check it out now. I'm serious), and (obviously) decided to do a little blogging. Also, my friends and I are throwing a "S'mores party" next week: s'mores bars, s'mores pops, s'mores rice crispy treats, and maybe s'mores cupcakes. Oh HECK yes. 

Photo from here

Photo from here

I'm supposed to go to a BBQ tonight and then hit up a Pelicans game later and maybe get some pizza at this great place called Mellow Mushroom afterward. It's our new "thing" after we go to a Pelicans game. For now, I'll stay in bed and bask in the laziness (and medicinal relief of aloe vera lotion). 

Lazy Saturdays are the best.

Frozen Yogurt Tour, & Friends and Our Shenanigans

When I was in high school, my pre-calculus teacher Mr. Mac went on a doughnut tour with some of his pals and somehow, though how exactly escapes me, it was related to pre-calculus. Obviously he was a cool teacher. I'm on a similar mission this summer with my friend Jen, though our goal is to visit every frozen yogurt/ice cream joint in Myrtle Beach. We've made good progress. I'm delighted to tell you Jen and I are kindred spirits in our love for frozen yogurt. We could eat frozen yogurt every day if only our self-restraint didn't exist. Anytime I call or text her to see if she wants to get some froyo with me, she readily agrees. LOVE IT. It's one of the many facets of our friendship that I treasure. So far we've tried the Barking Fish, Orange Leaf, Tutti Frutti, TCBY, Coldstone, and Anything Froz. Our final spot is Sweet Frogz...coming next week. Our reigning champ so far is....ORANGE LEAF!!!!

They offer 14 flavors (including wedding cake, coconut, and white chocolate), have an excellent array of toppings, cool spoons (shovels and they are orange! +15 cool points), and a great ambiance in their store. Anything Froz is my 2nd (they have the best chocolate/PB swirl. It REALLY tastes like Reeses PB cups), though I've heard Sweet Frogz is very good. That remains to be tried and tested. We went to Tutti Frutti today and their cupcake flavor was excellent AND they have salted caramel pretzel which was really good too. I think they are my 3rd. Anyway, frozen yogurt brings me such joy. My all-time favorite place is in Boston by Fenway Park. Yummmmmmmm.......

I have made some awesome friends this summer: Jen, Marissa, and Allie. Sadly they are only here for the summer but I love them and we are definitely making the most of our summer! They are SO much fun. Last night Jen and I met up with Marissa and Allie and 2 of their friends visiting and hung out on the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk. It was packed with tourists, food places galore, tacky tourist shops (i.e. The Gay Dolphin...this place went on FOR FOREVER!!! Floors and floors and floors of every possible knick knack, tourist trap you can imagine), cheesy shows, and lots of fun. 

We had dinner at the Landshark right on the ocean and right beneath the Sky Wheel. It was soooo much fun. Afterward we spontaneously decided to go see the new Spiderman movie. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go see it STAT if you haven't already. It was GREAT. 


On tap this month:
-Tomorrow Allie, Jen, and Marissa are coming over and we are watching Zorro and eating bruschetta (using basil from my plant), pretzels (I'm taking Jen how to make them), and popcorn. We love our carbs and men in masks. Scotty should enjoy the company too!
-Beach days! Beach days! I have next Friday off and fully intend on heading to the beach. Freckles, freckles, freckles! (Since I do not tan...)
-Putt-putt aka miniature golf, Sweet Frogz, Tangor Outlets, sushi, new Batman movie (midnight showing??), Wilmington and lighthouses, more Pelicans games, more Mellow Mushroom pizza, beach days, and whatever else we decide! 


In other news...I am not a patient person and my impatience is starting to rear its ugly head again. *agitated sigh* And I was going to run 7 miles tonight buuuuut I got 4 hours of sleep and fell asleep in my work out clothes on my bed next to Scotty. Bliss. I don't feel bad. Naps are wonderful. 

The Best Saturday... and other things

This past Saturday was one of the best ever: sleeping in (kind of), farmer's market, beach, frozen yogurt, minor league baseball game, and pizza at 10:30 at night. Great, great day.


Having Scotty here is wonderful. I am, happily, forced to get to bed at a reasonable hour (around 10pm) because I know I have to take him out around 6am. We go for a little jaunt around the neighborhood and he does his thing and then I have a nice leisurely morning to get ready and get to work. I like it. I think mornings are my favorite part of the day. Early mornings, before most people are up. However, Scotty doesn't share my desire to sleep in on the weekends so up at 6am sharp we were on Saturday morning. I went back to bed but it takes me forever to fall back asleep. I did manage to get in at least another hour though. Yay! I met my friends Allie, Marissa, and Jen at a farmer's market where I got some blueberries and tomatoes. Yum! I like tomatoes from farmer's markets much better than the store because they seem to last longer. At least that has been my experience. 


Then we headed to the beach. Now, let me just tell you it has been BLIMEY hot here. In the 90s + humidity so the heat index is in the 100s. It's suffocating. If I'm outside for longer that 2 minutes I start sweating. Gross. No one likes the feeling of sweat trickling down your back from just standing. Sick. I was unsure how long I would last at the beach, especially since I heard that the water around these parts feels like bath water. Nasty. Well, I met my pals there and we raced into the water.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah refreshing!!!!

Basically perfection. It was cool enough to refresh us but warm enough for us to bob, swim, bodysurf, and play in for a couple of hours. Despite copious amounts of SPF 50, I got burned. AND. Ooooohmylantus the amount of freckles that popped up on my face was incredible. I bet by the end of the summer (because I'll be back at the beach soon), my face will look like one giant freckle. I took my sunglasses off in the car and looked at my face and gasped. I haven't had this many freckles on my face since high school (when I actually had time to go to the beach more than once). Rock on! This was also my first time at the beach all summer. Pathetic I know but I blame working for several weekends in a row and rain on the weekends I had off. 

To cool off, because once we were 50 feet away from the water the temperature rose about 10 degrees, we headed to a new frozen yogurt place that opened up on Saturday: Orange Leaf (hello 14 flavors of goodness AND amazing toppings! HECK YES!). Let me tell you, this is the 3rd best frozen yogurt place I have been to in my life (1st is this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahmazing place in San Diego and 2nd is this awesome place in Boston down by Fenway. I can't remember the name but I could take you there by memory). I had wedding cake, coconut, white chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter. I know. I know. A crazy mixture of flavors, but it was ooooooooooh sooooo good! Topped with chocolate chips and KitKats. I was one VERY happy girl. I will be a regular here. I went today after work...for dinner...BLISS!

Photo from here

While we were at the beach, some guy advertising for the minor league team the Pelicans came and gave us 4 free tickets to that evening's game. We decided to head home and shower and then we'd head to the game. I headed to Wal-Mart to get some groceries and necessities (including cherries on sale! SCORE!) and then Jen came over to meet Scotty and we met up with Allie and Marissa for the game. It was A BLAST. I can't wait to go again. We munched on Red Vines, Twizzlers, and sunflower seeds but after 4 hours we were starving so we headed to this great pizza joint called Mellow Mushroom and got a really good pizza: Cosmic Karma which is basically pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, some feta. Oh yum! Yum! Yum! 

Then Jen drove me home and she put the top down on her convertible. Basically the best day ever.

Next. Let's talk about Scotty! He's had a lot of firsts in the past week. I gave him his first bath on Sunday. He took it like a trooper. He's not really a fan of baths but he never whines, just stands there irritated and a little apprehensive but he's squeaky clean, his coat is shiny and he smells good. He even let me trim off some of the knots he had in his coat and brush him! Scotty met some of my neighbors (older women) who oooohed and aaaaahed and cooed over how handsome and precious he is. He loved it. I don't think my neighbor with the chihuahua likes Scotty much buuuuut...I don't care. Scotty's better (I'm biased, I realize, but Scotty really is cooler. Just ask the neighborhood animals. They'll tell ya). Two nights ago Scotty woke me up at 2am. He does the sneezing thing over and over again to a) either get your attention or b) because he wants to go out. Because Scotty has not had an accident in the apartment (*fingers crossed it stays that way*) and not wanting to break the streak, I took him out...an outing that lasted for 20 minutes. Then I couldn't get back to sleep for about an hour. I was a little peeved when my alarm went off at 6am and Scotty wanted to go out again. He tried getting me to take him out at 2am again last night but that is one habit I am NOT supporting. Never in the 4 years that I have been around that pooch has he needed to go out at 2am. Not happening. Nipping that attempt in the bud. Nice try though.

And in other news...I am comfortably running 4-5 miles almost daily. I was going to run 7 miles last Saturday but the day's festivities dismissed that. I was going to try to run the 7 on Monday but my shoulders are burned and the thought of having a sports bra rub my burnt skin didn't appeal. AT ALL. I'll try again this weekend. My goal is to be able to run 9 miles but the end of the month. I got this. 

Now I must get to bed. 6am gets here faster than you think!