Busy Saturday

Wow, it has been one productive day. It all began this morning at 6am. I woke up 10 min before I had my alarm set to go off, so I jumped out of bed and got myself ready for a nice long Saturday run.

I usually don't run my long distance runs first thing in the mornings, but lately, I've been feeling rather gross and sluggish when I try and do them after breakfast. But my body has become quite accustomed to working out first thing in the morning over the past few months, so I figured I would give it a shot. Running is truly about trial and error, and it takes many screw ups to finally reach that point where you know how your body works best.

To my delight, the 8 mile run was splendid. (***I made sure I had something in my tummy, so before I ran, I snacked on 1/2 a banana with peanut butter, deemed the best pre workout snack!) I finally reached my new PR! 8.02 in 1hr and 10 min. I impressed myself. :)

After my run, I wasted no time and headed straight for the shower. (Ew, was I sweaty and gross) I was starving for breakfast and had only one thing in mind, oats of course! Today, I finally branched out of the normal pumpkin oats and decided on applesauce oats. First, I sauteed 1/2 of an apple in a skillet with a little cinnamon and brown sugar. Then I added some walnuts to the hot pan so they could toast a bit.

I then cooked....

1/2 cup oats

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup applesauce

sprinkle of raisins

Stirred in the apples and walnuts towards the end and topped with a drizzle of Cin. Raisin PB and a spoonful of Pear Butter.

This was very good, but I have to admit, pumpkin oats will always be my favorite.

After breakfast, I knocked off a few chores from my list-cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, dusted, laundry. My dad arrive around 10am with is mini rototiller and he and Toly went to town on my garden. They prepped the ground and made a beautiful little patch of dirt, all ready for some gorgeous veggies to be planted.

11:30am I was off to my last ZUMBA class. Class was fun and I did really enjoy it over the past few months, but I don't think I will be signing up for the next spring sessions. To be honest, the instructor kind of weirds me out and I don't really understand her moves half the time so I end up just doing my own thing. I could be doing this at home!

When I got home, I was crazy hungry again (it's been one of those weeks where my appetite has been rather large). I got to working on lunch which was easy because we had leftover pizza from last night. I was really craving a salad so I threw in the leftover veggies (squash and eggplant) onto some romaine and added avocado, sun dried tomatoes, olives, and snap peas. Tossed with some balsamic of course. This lunch totally hit the spot and finally made me nice and full.

While catching up on blogs, I discovered that Lesley from http://www.lesleylivinglife.com/ tagged me. I love these blog games.

8 Things I'm looking forward to:

~Our California trip this week

~Growing my own veggies and herbs this summer

~My TJ's trip with my dad

~Open toed shoes

~WARM WEATHER

~Running more outdoors

~My best friend going into labor any second!

~Biking and hiking this spring/summer

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

~Worked

~Went to the grocery store

~Level 3 of 30 Day Shred

~Made homemade pizza

~Ate peach frozen yogurt

~Blogged

~Walked Sammy

~Got a great night's sleep

8 Things I Wish I Could Do/Want to Do:

~Bake (I stink at baking)

~Work from home

~Compete in a Triathlon

~Run a full marathon (not just a 1/2) someday maybe!

~Spend more time writing

~Spend more time with family

~Spend more time with friends

~Start biking more

We spent the rest of the day packing and getting set for our California trip. Toly leaves tomorrow morning (6am flight, blah!) and I will be meeting him on Wednesday. He is taking the suitcase, so we both had to pack and make sure everything was in order. He did leave me a cute little list of things not to forget (turn off the heat, take out the trash, make sure everything is off...etc.) He's so cute! :)

Since he has a big day tomorrow, I wanted to make him a very special "going away" dinner. His absolute favorite meal, Grilled Salmon (my secret recipe), baked potatoes, and corn & peas. This is probably the closest meal we come to with eating almost the same thing, only I had a sweet potato and grilled asparagus. And considering this was a special dinner, some sweet wine was a must.

Also, his favorite, a sweet Cherry wine from a local vineyard here in PA. Okay, I have to admit, I am AWFUL at opening a bottle of wine! Look at the new style of drinking wine we've invented. Apparently wine tastes better when the cork is in the bottle! :) Don't ask me how I managed to do this.

Now it's time to spend a few hours with my man before we are apart for a few days. I will miss him but it will be well worth the wait, when I am able to greet him in sunny CA!

Happy weekend everyone!

(PS- I won't be able to blog for a few days because he is taking the camera, and really, who wants to read a blog with no pictures, right?)