>Everybodys workin for the weekend

>Hiii loves,

How art thou? Hope your having a dandy Friday afternoon. My morning started early…was in Scienceland before 8am! Nuts, I know. It’s a pretty lax day in the lab, I have two experiments running so not too much craziness–which is nice. I always feel so frazzled rushing around like a crazy scientist on Friday. I try to be like that only Monday – Thursday 😉

Yesterday wasn’t one of my best days. I was home sick with a badddd migraine. I took some ibuprofen and made breakfast in an attempt to rid the monster:

^Microwaved egg puff: 1/4 cup egg whites, spinach, pepper, dash sea salt

Delish as it was — twas no help. If you are unfortunate like me to suffer from migraines you will sympathize with my need to sleep the day away. I HATE days like these. But at least this guy was around to cuddle:

Fortunately my migraine only lasted til about 4pm, so I was able to enjoy some of the day. I started with a Green Monster:

^Frozen strawberries, blueberries, nanner, spinach, 1 tsp flax seed oil, almond milk, stevia, dash sea salt

After digesting, I set out for a 7 mile walk/run. I’d say it was 30%/70%. I decided to go easy on myself considering the chance the migraine monster could creep back any second. I snapped some pics of cute-sy Georgetown:

^Pic doesn’t do justice

And my favorite path alongside the Potomac River:

Feeling MUCH better, I spent the rest of the night relaxing with some snacks:


^Strawberry banana smoothie : Frozen strawberries, frozen nanner, scoop vanilla SunWarrior protein, 1 tsp flax seed oil, stevia, h20

^Diced Honeycrisp apple w/ cinnamon + mesquite

^Baked sweet potatoes : EVOO, sea salt, pepper, organic ketchup

And watching REAL HOUSEWIVES (PS. Who else is pumped for NEW JERSEY to start next week???) and tasting a little vino the Manfriend brought home:

^Yum.yum.yum.yum ❤

This morning I woke staaaaavin’ and whipped up my fav chia/oats creation:
^Oats, chia seeds, 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein, 1/2 smashed nanner, raisins, cinnamon, stevia, dash sea salt and a blog of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl PB

[Insert 5 hours of experiments]

Grabbed lunch from Cosi:

^Was OK. Not the best salad but it’ll do: Spring mix, chicken, grapes, carrots, cucumbers, FF balsamic vinaigrette

[Insert 4 more hours of Experimentland + a few handfulls of trail mix]

And that leads me to the present. I’m about to run home (it’s supposed to rain all weekend so I gotta take advantage of the sun, yo) then meet the sis and some friends for MEXICAN and MARGARITAS!

Happy Friday!!! Have a great weekend!!!!

xx,

Laur

QUESTIONS:

Have you taken a BodyPump class? If so, how many times per week do you typically take the class?

and

What are you most looking froward to this weekend???

I leave you with a pic of Ryan I snapped at CVS today for y’all. Don’t get me wrong I’m TEAM REESE all the way….but the man is looking GOOD!

>Race fail, R&R success

>Hiiii,

How was your weekend??? Mine was splendid. The weather in DC was absolutely amazing:

^Sunshine!

^Crystal clear blue skies

Saturday we made it down to the Cherry Blossom Festival. I feel pretty bad for those out-of-towners because the blossoms peaked last weekend and were pretty non-existent this weekend. Fortunately for me however, I already saw them 🙂

It was a nice day nonetheless, we did a lot of walking around some perdy places:

Then ventured to the waterfront for some drinks in the sunshine:

^Outdoor seating (8 bars and restaurants) that face Potomac River

^Nick’s Riverside Grille. Those bartenders make killer drinks.

^Obviously I went for the margarita (tequila, splash triple sec, splash OJ, juice from 4-5 lime wedges)

^LOVE the waterfront. Can you believe this place is a 5 min walk from my apartment? Cause I still can’t!

After loungin’ in the sun all day, I went for a 5 mile run, lounged some more then put on my party dress and headed out to continue Kelsey’s bday celebration!

Check out ma shoes:

^Not super new, but I love em like they are! Bosssssaaay.

^Birrrrfday celebration clearly calls for champagne and strawberries, right?

The night was so much fun!! So much that I failed to take any pics except these two:

^Cuties (Michael and Andrea)

^Andrea, Kels (sistah), and the pup

The night was a blasssst but when I got home I wasn’t feeling so hot. Had nothing to do with the drinks (I was actually a good girl!) I think the Mexican upset my stomach. Unfortunately I was up so late with a bad stomach ache that I chose not to run the Cherry Blossom 10-miler 😦

I made up the 10 miles later in the day, so it’s allll good. Although I heard it’s a gorgeous race..

Instead of waking at 6:30am for the race, I slept in and the Manfriend had had breakfast together:

^Egg whites and spinach on Ezekiel bread for me

And tuna (don’t ask, he wanted it):

^Tuna, light mayo, dill, diced kosher dill pickles, pepper, dash sea salt, Ezekiel bread

Grabbed some sbucks:

^Iced unsweetened Passion Tea. So refreshing.

And headed to lounge in the park (Dupont Circle):

We basked in the sun (well I did, heh) while Seth worked on some sketches:

The best part of the day was listening to the music of the nearby dancers:

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

^How cool is that???

For dinner we went to my favorite salad restaurant, Chop’t. This place is SO GOOD!

Toppings galore:

Chop chop:

^Pretty sure my Chopper Man felt like a celeb when I snapped this pic, ha!

Finished product:

^Spring mix, arugula, roasted turkey, avocado, roasted artichokes, tomatoes, black beans, cranberries, sunflower seeds, balsamic vinegar and whole wheat pita. mmm mmmm.

Well kids, I’m off to bed. Have a fantastic Monday!!!

QUESTION: What was the BEST part of your weekend? Try new food? Get some R&R?? I think I got a little too much! ha

xx,

Lauren

>Childhood memories and the celebration continues

>Hey heyyy,

Happy Friiiiiday!! Whooop! I’m extra excited for this weekend because we’re continuing Kelsey’s bday celebration!!!

Aaaaaand its the final season of the Cherry Blossom festival. This year I was fortunate enough to be selected for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler lottery!! So excited!!

Sooo a little rewind…Thursday night I took Kels out for her bday. We chose (and I gladly approved) MEXICAN! You know I lurrrve my margaritas 😉

^Pure. Deliciousness.

Check out the swirls:

^REAL margaritas (aka fresh strawberries and lime juice— no sugary crappp)

Dinner was scarfed in 0.22 seconds, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. But I assure you it was fantastic. If you live near DC seriously check out this place…Or their sister restaurant.

I purchased Kels a gift certificate to Sephora and bought a bunch of random goodies that we used to have from our childhood. Here’s a blast from the past:

^Remember these???

And remember looking like this? haha

^Yummmmm.

Here are some more normal eats from last last couple of days:

^Toasted Ezekiel, slice tofu, tomato, lettuce, and 1/2 with red pepper hummus and other 1/2 with Goddess Dressing

^Toasted Ezekiel bread with egg salad (3 eggs whites, 1 .5 yolks, light mayo, paprika, pepper, dash sea salt

^Best. Larabar. Ever. Tastes like a coconut donut.

^Chia oats: 1/4 cup oats, 1 T chia seeds, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 2 T egg whites, 1 tsp Better N’ Butter, cinnamon, stevia, dash sea salt

^Experimentland salad bar: Romaine, spring mix, egg whites, tuna, tomatoes, chic peas, broccoli, mushrooms, onion, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, balsamic vinegar

^Lots-o-Caffeination: Coffee, soy, cinnamon…It’s been that kind of week.

And behold the best picture of all….The MANFRIEND is making a SPIRALIZED dinner! Maybe my eats are rubbing off on him a little bit??? 😉

^hehehe

It’s been so nice out lately (mid 80’s!) that I’ve been running outside a lot 🙂 I snapped a pic of one of my favorite areas in MD to run though.

Flower tunnel:

^Pic doesn’t do much justice, but I swear it’s beauuuutiful.

Well I’m gonna head back to Experimentland. Have a great weekend and try not to end up like this! 😉

QUESTION: What foods/candies/drinks remind you of your childhood???

xx,
Lauren