Pizza! Pizza!

I’m happy to say that last night I enjoyed yet another Banana Whip topped with granola & strawberries.  Mmm…Mmm.

This morning I woke up before work and went on a nice, enjoyable run in the beautiful weather!!  I ran down to the point of the island, about 5.2 miles.  I got home, showered, and went off to work.  After I signed into work & stuff, I came back home and made myself a Green Monster!  One of the kids I work with came back to my house with me and watched me make it…needless to say, he thought it was disgusting.  Don’t knock it until you try it!!!  Today’s mix made a lot! 🙂

So delicious!!

After work, I went to Vinyasas yoga with tina!  So much fun!  I absolutely loved it.  My hip has been bothering me, and we did some awesome deep stretching for hips! yay!

We came home and made some dinner!  We made an awesome salad with a pizza I saw Bobby Flay making on Grill It!

We made one of my favorite salads…a base of baby spinach, chopped golden delicious apples, candied pecans, feta cheese, & lightly dressed with a mix of olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, salt and pepper!  I thought I took a picture, but I completely forgot!  I did take a picture of my homemade candied pecans though!

The pizza was quite interesting.  It’s not your typical pizza.  I made whole wheat pizza dough, grilled it…

topped it with homemade hummus…

grilled veggies (eggplant, squash, scallions, red bell pepper) & goat cheese….

After topping the pizza, I wrapped it up in tin foil and threw it back on the grill for a few minutes.  The final result…

Very, very yummy!!

I am still reading My Sister’s Keeper…I can’t wait to do more reading tonight!  Tomorrow is my last day of work before having Wed, Thur, & Fri off! woo hoo!! I NEED to get to the beach…I have yet to go all summer since I was away!  Tomorrow night my cousin is coming over for dinner as well.  I’m excited!  I want to run before work tomorrow…a nice beach run would be fun, I’ll have to see if the tide is good…it should be.  Maybe Tina will come with me?? haha.

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It’s about time.

Well, it’s been a couple of days since my last update!  Sorry, I have been busy and lazy!  Work has been going well for the past couple of days…it just stinks having to work both days on the weekend.  I have yet to get to the beach yet and these past two days have been absolutely beautiful.  My next day off is on Wednesday, so let’s hope the weather stays nice!!

This past Friday night, we had my three cousins (Rob, Nick, & Matt) and my grandmom over for dinner.  It has been YEARS since we have all got together.  It was such a nice time and there was good food to enjoy!  The spread included grilled BBQ chicken…

sweet corn on the cob…

string beans & carrots…

& last but not least, GUACAMOLE!!!! We served this with a yellow corn, blue corn, & black bean baked tortilla chips!!

Yum.  I just LOVE guacamole.  I eat so, so much of it whenever it’s around.  I’ve been making it a lot lately.  So addicting…SO TASTY!!

Here is a pic from the night with the Granny & her grandkids…

After everyone left, my sisters and I went out for some ice cream.  By ice cream, I mean I got BANANA WHIP!!  Straight up Frozen Banana through a juicer.  Of course I topped it with Reese Peanut Butter Cups.  Best topping ever.  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had banana whip since I have been away…it was so good to get it again!

Saturday morning, Christina and I woke up early before work to get in an 8 mile run over the Ocean City bridge.  We thought we timed it out perfectly, but it turned out we cut it a little TOO close.  As we got back and were chugging water, Christina pointed out that it was 8:30…& we have to be at work at 8:30!  So we quickly jumped in the shower and got over to work by 8:40…we’re speedy. haha.  Thank god we are complete slackers on the job, because after we signed in and before we hit the streets to give out tickets, we went home to make a delicious breakfast of oatmeal…

Last night, Christina & I went to the movies to see The Proposal.  I actually liked this movie…it was funny and enjoyable to watch…I really love Ryan Reynolds!  For dinner, we defrosted some of the soup Christina made last week…Roasted Veggie & Lentil Soup.  She got the recipe from Jenna over at Eatliverun.  We had it with a Big toasted Multigrain roll.  So good!! I really enjoyed the thickness of this soup!!!  I will hopefully get a chance to try making this recipe on my own sometime soon.

This morning I was craving oatmeal again, so I made ANOTHER concoction…

Just love my oats & fruit!  Today we’ll be having our fellow ticket officers over for some lunch.  I just wish I could hit up the beach today!  Tonight I think we are meeting one of Christina’s friends on the ocean city boardwalk for dinner at Bashful Banana.  So excited…I love that place & they have banana whip! 🙂

See you all later.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Dad’s Birthday.

The Green Monster has made it’s comeback!  Yesterday I made one during the day and I made one for breakfast this morning!

Oh how I have missed thee!

Last night my mom made dinner for my papa for his birthday!  She made some Filet Mignon, Baked Macaroni and Cheese (my grandmom’s specialty recipe!), and string beans & carrots.

Plus tons more of the Baked Macaroni!  Such a nice, comforting dinner!  It’s been a while since I’ve had steak…and I enjoyed it thoroughly!! 

For dessert my mom made Strawberry Shortcake.  I had WAY too much cake.  This was about 1/4 of the amount of cake that I had:

It was delicious, but I think I ate a little too much cake! oops!

Now I am “at work”…taking a break with a cup of tea & some pretzels!  I better get back out on the roads to give out some tickets.  Tonight my grandmom & cousins are coming over for dinner.  The menu for tonight is BBQ chicken, Corn on the cob, & guacamole and tortilla chips!!! Very excited!  See you later and have a greattt day!

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Cheesy…

Well yesterday was my first day back on the job.  My sister and I are parking violations officers down by the beach for the summer.  We aren’t jerks so it’s a pretty awesome job.  We get paid good bucks to walk around and slack off and hand out some tickets…not too shabby!!  Plus we get to spend the summer outside!  Awesome.  I’ll take it.  It was good to be back at work…I need to start making some money.  There are two new girls doing it this summer as well…they are cool and it was nice to meet them.

Before work, I went on a run!  Yes, finally!!!  First real run back in the states!  I went on a 5.2 mile run down to the point of the island and back.  I was so surprised.  My legs felt so fresh and I felt like I was flying!  One glance down at my Garmin and I was running 6:53 splits in the middle of the run and ended up averaging a 6:55 for that mile.  Jeeze…what got into me!  I did force myself to slow it down a bit after that because I knew I’d be tired.  I think I averaged about a 7:13 for the entire run.  So fulfilling !  After my run, I was pretty rushed to shower and eat before work.  As I was running out the door, I went to grab my ticket books and noticed all FIVE of them were GONE!  In their place, were my sisters ticket books all thrown around!  hmm…that could only mean one thing…she touched them!  So I quickly asked her and at first “she had no idea”.  Then she admitted she threw a bunch of ticket books away that she thought were old.  Genius!!!! So now I had to go to city hall and the lieutenant on my first day back to deal with all of that.  Fun.  I was really mad at the time since I was already running late, etc. and did not not feel like dealing with unnecessary problems.  But now I am pretty much over it.

Last night, my sister and I went to Bikram Yoga at a new studio down the road from us.  It is pretty close, so we decided to walk over.  I just LOVE bikram.  I felt like I KNEW what I was doing.  I think that was the best I have ever done in a Bikram class yet.  I was very happy.  It felt AWESOME and I was sweating up a storm.  So hot in the room!  I can’t wait to go back.  So glad that Todd got me unlimited yoga for 3 months!!!  What a perfect gift.  Thanks, Todd!! 🙂

 After class, the walk back was so enjoyable…chatting with tina in the cooler air!  It’s a nice release to walk after a Bikram class.  

Christina made us dinner last night.  She wanted to show off her cooking skills to me to prove that she can cook…even though I know she can!! 🙂  She prepared dinner before we went to Bikram and I had the idea to set the oven on an automated timer to cook our meal!  It worked out PERFECT.  It was great, I was able to pick what time I wanted the oven to turn on, the temperature I wanted the oven on, and how long I wanted it to cook!  As we walked in the door, the dinner was just about ready for us!

She made us some DELICIOUS Veggie Lasagna!!!  I never have made this before and was impressed how tasty it was!!  Pasta, cheese, sauce, & veggies…can’t go wrong!

Yum!!  It was VERY messy to serve…maybe we should have let it sit a little before cutting into it?  It got very liquidy.  Either way…the flavor was great!  Here is a picture of my first messy serving.  I did go back for a second piece and had about 7 pieces of bread!  Multigrain Baguette…can’t go wrong…so YUMMMMY!

It was very delicious!!! I ended the night with a cup of green tea and some dark chocolate I bought in Paris.  Last night, I was mad that I did not buy more…I should have stocked up so much on this stuff!!!!!  I also did some more reading.  I just started My Sister’s Keeper yesterday.  I’m already on page 100 and something!  It is such a good book that you just can’t put down!!!  On my vacation, I finished the other book I was reading by Jennifer Weiner…Certain Girls.  I have read a few books by her and would recommend that author to you…her books are hard to put down!

Well, now I am off to make some breakfast…not sure what it is I am craving.  Then I have to head back home for a dentist appointment…I have a cavity to get filled.  I REALLY dislike the dentist!  After that, I am going running with my sis and shopping for my dad’s birthday present.  Tonight, my mom is making my dad dinner for his birthday.  His birthday is not until July 2nd but we are celebrating a bit early because they will be away in PARIS!!!!  They decided last week that they are going to Paris…are they crazy!!!!  My dad finally has some time off so they figured it would be perfect.  They have never been…and man, they are missing out!  I am SO GLAD that they get to go to Paris.  They will have such a wonderful time together!!!

Tomorrow night, my sister and I are having my Grandmom and 3 cousins over for dinner.  I’m excited to see everyone!  Should be a fun time…we just got to think of what to make!

Have a good day!!!

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Back in the States.

I got home from my vacation to Italy & Paris yesterday evening.  I had such a great time.  I can’t believe what I have been missing out on for the past 22 years.  I had such a great, great time.  I wish I was going back tomorrow!  The good news for you is that I took tons of pictures…and LOTS of food pictures.  I will link you to my shutterfly album in case you are interested in checking them out!  We wined and dined every day.  We also did a lot of walking.  If you have never been to Paris…go as soon as you can, it is so worth it. 

Here is a link to the pictures.  I did not design the site yet, I just wanted to get the pictures up ASAP!!

We stayed in the Piedmont region of Italy called Serralunga D’Alba.  It is wine country there.  It’s so beautiful and there are so many hills.  The views were unreal.  We stayed at a beautiful vineyard owned by Sergio & Elaina.  Every morning, Elaina prepared breakfast for Todd’s family and I.  Breakfast included yogurt, granola-like cereal, cheeses, meats, homemade cake/pie, thick-pureed juice mixtures, homemade jams, basket of italian breads, peaches, tea, coffee, & other miscellaneous items.  It was so nice & delicious!

I was also able to run a couple of times in Italy.  I really took it easy and enjoyed my surroundings.  It’s not every day you get to run through the hills of a small town in Italy.  This is a perfect place for training on hills!  It’ll kill ya!  I was also able to run in Paris.  Not so hilly, but SO nice.  As I was running under the Eiffel Tower, I thought how lucky I was.  Really, I thought that I must have been dreaming.  What a great way to start my day.  ahhh….crazy.

Well, since I had gone about 12 days without oatmeal, I of course made oatmeal this morning!  This mix contained jersey strawberries, blueberries, peaches, banana, milk, honey, & cinnamon.  

I also had a little bowl of mini-wheats!  It was great to have oats again, but I actually LOVED going without them for some time!!!  Jersey strawberries are great, but I must say I had THE best strawberries EVER in Paris.  They had such a deep red color to them and they were SO sweet. There was a fruit market right around the corner from our hotel, so I conveniently stopped by there every day for fruit!!!  I also had amazing raspberries & grapes! The raspberries were huge.

I stopped by Whole Foods today and I got an AMAZING veggie soup.  The chunks of veggies were HUGE!!! Especially the carrots, squash, and potatoes.  Definitely a winner soup.  Can’t wait to get it again.

For dinner, I made a copy cat off of a salad that I had in Paris.  I used a 50/50 mix of baby spinach and spring mix as the bed of the salad.  Then I cooked up some cubes of chicken with a southwestern style seasoning.  I also made some homemade tomato salsa and topped it on the salad.  Along with the salad, I also mixed in blue & yellow corn tortilla chips and a half of an avocado.  SO GOOD!!! love the flavors.  You gotta try it.

I am feeling kind of tired…not used to the time change quite yet!  I am just sipping on some tea for the night and maybe having a snack a little later.  First day of work tomorrow…joy!!!  I’m going to wake up early and get in a short run.  Gotta get back in the flow of things!  

Sorry this was a short post, I’ll be sure to talk about my vacation more later.  If you have any questions about my vacation, please ask!  I’d love to share!  I already miss the Tiramisu gelato that I got a few times 😦

As a side note, my boyfriend got me an unlimited pass for yoga for 3 months for my birthday.  The yoga studio is just about a 1/2 mile away.  I AM PSYCHED!  I will be going tomorrow night for my first time.  Bikram Yoga.  SO EXCITED!! 🙂

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QUICK!

 

This will be a super quick post, I’m walking out the door to the airport!!!

Yesterday, my sister and I picked a TON of strawberries…about 15 pounds!!! wow!  I froze some so I can eat them when I get back!!

Last night, I made Guacamole (my favorite) with Rachael Ray’s SALSA STOUP!!  SO delicious!!

Salsa Stoup with a dollop of Guac!

I ended my Birthday at a new Frozen Yogurt place in Philly…Sweet Endings.

SO GOOD! I got a twist with Reese’s Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt and Tart frozen yogurt.  I topped it with Granola (it was mashed up nature’s valley bar) and Oreo crumbs!!!! Loved it!

Sorry for the quick post…but I’m outta here!!!! so excited!! I will have lots to share when I get back!! See you on Sunday, June 21st!!!

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Birthday!

Wooooo today’s my BIRTHDAY!!!!  I’m the big 22 today! 🙂

I started my day with a mini cherry pie Lara Bar.  mmm. mmm.  Following that, I set out on a  6 mile run.  It was very hot & humid out but I survived!  I also did a short 1/2 mile cooldown.  

When I got back from my run, I went to the store for a couple of things and I picked up some delicious grapes!

I have already eaten most of these!  I love grapes. I also made myself a delicious and nutritious GREEN MONSTER!!!!

Ahhhh so good!!!  My green monster was made with:

• 1 frozen banana
• tons of spinach
• 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• big scoop of naturally more peanut butter
• ice

I am going to be quite busy today considering I have not even started to pack for Europe!  I also need to go to the bank & do laundry.  Sometime today I am going strawberry picking with my sister too!  It’s such a fun thing to do.

We have some ripe avocados so I will probably be making some guacamole later today…I was thinking I would make a mexican salad or maybe fajitas for dinner?  I’m not quite sure…does anyone have any dinner ideas that would go with guacamole? 

Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Milan, Italy.  I am going with Todd, his parents, and his brother-Evan.  We are staying at a vineyard in the Piedmont region.  I am so excited to see what Europe is like since I have never been!  We are staying there for about 5 days and then we are traveling over to Paris.  Everyone that I talk to says that I will fall in love with Paris.  It’s so exciting to actually be able to go to Paris instead of just seeing it on T.V. or in the movies. I am looking forward to all of the amazing food & wine that I will be having.  If anyone has been to Paris and has any suggestions for me, I’d love to hear!  I also have a question for anyone that has been to Paris.  Did you run while you were in Paris?  I hear that lots of people run by the Seine River…but I am a little skeptical about running alone in a different country.  I’m not too sure if it is safe.  So if it is not safe to run alone, I will have to take it easy with running while I’m there and pick it back up when I return to America.  

I’m also not sure how much blogging I’ll be able to do while I am away.  I will return from my vacation on Sunday, June 21st, so I may not be blogging until then.  I am going to have SO MUCH to share with everyone!!!!

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Birthday Dinner.

This afternoon, I made a light lunch as I was not too hungry.  I had a Chobani Plain yogurt topped with fresh blueberries, cinnamon, and honey.  So GOOD.  I just love yogurt, especially nice thick & creamy Greek yogurt.  On the side, I toasted a piece of Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread which I spread with Naturally More peanut butter & topped with sliced bananas.  

As I was pulling my toast out of the toaster, a piece of it broke off! 😦  Not to worry, I quickly shoved it down my throat! 🙂

I finished off the rest of the banana with Naturally More peanut butter…just can’t get enough of that stuff.

I also poured a little Raisin Bran in a cup with some milk since I kept going to the raisin bran box and snacking on it.

Yum.  That cereal is just so good!  I can never get enough.  In the early evening, I did a little Shred–Level 2.  It’s such a quick 20 minute workout.  It felt good to do and although painful at times, I feel like I am getting better!  

Tonight my family went out for my 22nd birthday at Seasons 52.  We had a great time and it was good to be out with my lovely family!  The food was great and they give you the perfect amount.  I did not leave feeling STUFFED like I normally would feel.

We started off with 2 flatbreads.  One flatbread we ordered was the Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread with fresh basil, roasted garlic essence, and melted Parmesan cheese.

The flatbread was very thin and crispy–very light to eat.  The second flatbread that we ordered was the Garlic Chicken Flatbread with balsamic red onions, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella cheese.

Yum.  These were so delicious.  I don’t know which one I liked better…both were equally delicious!  We also ordered Grilled Sesame Chicken skewers with teriyaki glaze, roasted Hawaiian pineapple, and tropical fruit salsa.

I only had a bite of one of these chicken skewers with a piece of grilled pineapple & some fruit salsa.  I especially enjoyed the fruit salsa & grilled pineapple!

For my entree, I ordered the Cedar Plank Atlantic Salmon.  This was served with whole-roasted sweet carrots, fresh asparagus, and red bliss potatoes.

This was an AWESOME entree.  So glad I chose the Salmon!  It has been a while since I’ve had salmon too!  It was so tasty on the wood, it gave the fish such a great taste.  The side veggies it was served with are also some of my favorites.  I enjoyed every bite and would definitely order this again.  Perfect.

The restaurant does dessert a little differently than most restaurants.  They have little glasses of different kinds of pies/cakes/desserts instead of a big slice of cake, etc.  They call them mini indulgences.  Even though I love my dessert, it was nice to end my dinner on a light note.  I ordered the fresh fruit and a cup of green tea.

I just love my fruit!  With dinner, I also enjoyed some Shiraz.

My family got me some very nice gifts as well!  My Mom and Dad got me some nice running apparel that will definitely come in handy!  I am so excited about it!  They also gave me spending money for Europe…something I will need for sure.

My parents gave me a sweet under armour tank top, under armour running shorts, Nike capri spandex, and a Nike FITDRY shirt.  I have never seen these Nike FITDRY shirts…it is different than their typical DRYFIT apparel.  It is MUCH softer!!  That’s a bunch of sweet clothing that will go to great use.

My older sister, Danielle, also got me a couple of really nice gifts.

She got me a cool Nike t-shirt that says “Fly Nike” on it.  It’s a real cute shirt and comfortable material…I can always use shirts like this!  She also got me a really nice bible-like cookbook…Bon Appetit.  This thing is HUGE.  There are tons of recipes in it so I will definitely be exploring that tonight before I go to bed!

My little sister, Christina, got me a really funny card.  There is a cute picture on it and it says, “Don’t you start, because then I’ll start and you’ll make that face and I’ll make that snorting noise and then we’ll both be in trouble and I didn’t even start it!”  She said that the card reminded her of me as soon as she saw it.  I couldn’t agree more.  When we were little we were always making each other laugh till we couldn’t stop, which sometimes got us into trouble!  She wrote me a really nice message inside the card too and is treating me to a nice manicure & pedicure sometime soon! 

We really had a fun night & I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family!  Seasons 52 was a great restaurant and they will be switching from their Spring menu to their Summer menu pretty soon.  I am interested to see the different menu options that they will have!  I’m sure I’ll be back sampling all of them!

One more day in America then it’s off to Italy!  I will write more about my trip tomorrow since this has been a pretty long post.  Tomorrow’s plans include a run, PACKING!, strawberry picking, dinner with Todd?  (I’ll probably be making it for myself on my birthday…haha and it will probably include some GUACAMOLE since I have some nice ripe avocados!).  I also need to run some errands for the vacation…to the bank and such.  

woo hoo…30 minutes until it is officially my birthday! celebrate!

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Stormy.

MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! 

Last night before I fell asleep,  I watched Fever Pitch with my sister.  I love that movie, it makes me laugh every time.  While watching the movie, I snacked on a Blueberry Chobani. Chobani’s plain & vanilla flavors are definitely my top 2 favorites.  Blueberry flavor comes in 3rd and strawberry comes in 4th.  I really enjoyed this flavor, very tasty!!! I still have yet to try the peach flavor.  I enjoyed it with some frozen blueberries on top. So tasty.

This morning when I woke up, the sky was dark and it looked like a storm was headed our way.  An hour or so later, we were hit with heavy, heavy rains and lightening.  Not good weather at all.  I made myself a bowl of oats this morning.

This bowl contained:

• Oatmeal
• 1 Banana
• Frozen Cherries, blueberries, raspberries, & strawberries
• Skim milk
• cinnamon
• Drizzle of honey

On the side, I had a chopped up Granny Smith apple with Naturally More peanut butter.

Yum. Yum. Yum.

This morning, I had a meeting about my summer work.  I give out parking tickets in my town.  It’s an easy job and I get paid good cash!  I also get to spend my day outside!  Don’t worry, I am a nice parking officer!

I snacked on another one of my mini cherry pie Lara Bars this morning.  Those things are so awesome, I love them.  I’m about to go make something for lunch…not quite sure what.

Since my running plans got pushed out of the way due to the storm, I’m not quite sure what will be happening exercise-wise.  Maybe I will do some shred!

Tonight, my family is going out to dinner for my birthday.  We are trying out this new place, Seasons 52.  I am really excited!  I’ve been wanting to check this restaurant out & a few things on the menu really appeal to me.  

I leave for Europe in 2 days!!!

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Good Day.

This morning felt good relaxing for a bit before getting my day started.  I began the day with a bowl of oatmeal.

This bowl consisted of a banana, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, milk, cinnamon, and honey.  I also added some Naturally More Peanut Butter.  Along with breakfast I also had some delicious watermelon!

The weather cooperated and it actually ended clearing up a bit for my bike ride.  I had a great ride and went about 24 miles.  I biked over the bridge to Ocean City and rode to the end of the island.  I really enjoyed the ride.  Now that summer is here I hope to do more biking.  When I returned home, I showered and made myself a Green Monster.

This monster included:

• 1 Frozen banana
• 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 big scoop of Naturally More Peanut Butter
• Ice
• Lots and Lots of Spinach

These things really are addicting.  You have to make one if you have never given them a shot!  I also had a Cherry Pie Lara Bar.  I wasn’t too hungry and this Green Monster filled me right up!

My sister and I then went shopping around the outlets in Atlantic City.  I bought a nice shirt from J.Crew which I am excited about.  After walking around for a bit, we went to the bulk candy store and each got a little bag of candy.  We also got a cup of tea at Starbucks and sat down a while to chat.  It actually turned out to be a really fun time.

On the way home, we stopped at the store to pick up some veggies for dinner.  We decided to make whole wheat pasta with broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and eggplant in my homemade tomato sauce topped with creamy goat cheese.

So awesome.  We also bought these multi-grain rolls from a local bakery in Atlantic City, Formica Bros.  They were SO good!

This meal was awesome!  I love adding goat cheese to pasta.  It made the sauce more creamy and tasty!  Love it.

Not sure what’s planned for the rest of the night.  Probably just hanging around and reading or watching a movie.  I’m going to need a little treat though, I can already feel myself getting hungry!  Maybe I’ll ask my sister to go out for some banana whip or ice cream….:-)

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting for work and then I think my sister and I are doing an easy run on the boardwalk.  

Oh yea…MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 2 DAYS!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

and in other news…I am going to Italy and Paris on THURSDAY with my boyfriend, Todd, and his family!  I have never been to Europe before, so you can imagine how excited I am!

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