Meeting up with Kath in a few minutes for this weekend’s long run, and her first go at DOUBLE DIGITS!  Fuel was the obvious – PB&J sandwich, this time open faced!

Since we are doing double digits, I thought I’d enjoy double sandwiches. 

Blackberry preserves on the left, apricot preserves on the right – best of both worlds.

Kath is coming over for a yummy post-race lunch -  back this afternoon with a long run recap!  Happy WEEKEND!  :)

My first official day of spring break was SUPER productive!  So productive, in fact, that I didn’t even get to show you all the fun stuff I did!  Sorry to leave you hanging – I’ll start at the beginning.

Slept in until 6:30am, which was a rare treat for me!  Sick, right?  I had planned to sleep a little longer, but Casey had an early class and called up that he was going to go ahead and make some oatmeal.  I immediately BOUNCED out of bed and down the steps to make it myself.  I seem to be a bit of an oatmeal control freak :/

Today’s delicious mixture – steel cut oats topped with PB2 icing (always), TJ’s blackberry preserves, slivered almonds, and pomegranate seeds, mmmmmm.

I worked on some computer stuff and scrubbed the kitchen, and then headed out for a bit.  I had a meeting uptown, and then a quick work shift at Blynk, before heading back home for lunch.  I sampled the soup at work, so I wasn’t terribly hungry when I got home – made a simple salad of leftover veggies and spinach.  Check out the wrinkly tomatoes – definitely on their last leg!

Best part of spring break = eating at home on my desk!  With my dogs and husband right next to me – love it.

The cleaning party continued, and of course we ended up making a bigger mess in the process of getting organized.  We took everything off both desks, wiped them clean, and reorganized.  They look SO much better!

Before I knew it, it was time to shower and change and get ready for BIRTHDAY dinner out with friends!  I got the chance to wear my new fabulous black cardigan and awesome scarf – birthday gifts from Mary Ann!  For some reason the scarf makes me feel like a ballerina!

Our evening started off with a BANG.  Quite literally.  Not more than a few blocks from our house, I slammed into the back of the car in front of me – WHOOPS.  I seriously don’t even know what happened.  It all seemed very fast – I reached down for my chap stick, and Casey started yelling “stop, stop!” and the next thing I knew I was slamming on my brakes and hitting the car in front of me.  I have NEVER been in a car accident!  I was in total shock.

We pulled into the Food Lion parking lot, and I was so rattled I didn’t even get out of the car.  Casey talked to the guy who was very nice and understanding.  By some sort of birthday miracle, there was NO damage to the other car, and I only broke our license plate.  I don’t even know how that was possible, because the impact felt pretty substantial.  Just minutes before we were discussing which car we should take, and in looking back, if we had taken our SUV it would have been a completely different outcome.  Thank you to the birthday gods, for teaching me to slow down and pay more attention.

WHEW.  After that, I made Casey drive to the restaurant, while I cried a little and tried to calm down.  By the time we got to Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, I had put it behind me.  We walked in to see the whole gang waiting in the bar, and within just a few minutes we were seated at our giant table.  I had heard rave reviews about their black bean burger, so I already knew what I was getting…

My bowl – mixed salad of romaine and spinach, with mushrooms, red peppers, avocado, kalamata olives, orange segments, crispy wontons, mozzarella chunks, and a black bean burger!  SO AMAZING!

With a greek lemon vinaigrette on the side that I thought was gross (tasted like straight oil!), so I stole Casey’s orange honey mustard instead.

Casey got the regular black bean burger on a bun, and he was nice enough to let me steal some of his sweet potato fries…

Afterwards the whole group headed to Tasty Yo, Charlotte’s version of my hometown favorite – Yagoot!  I got a blueberry and original swirl with DELICIOUS applesauce topping – yum!  Yagoot needs to get some applesauce – seriously.  Kath and I devoured ours and discussed plans for tomorrow’s long run…

And as if that wasn’t ENOUGH food, there’s more!  Michelle was nice enough to bring me these vegan cupcakes from Earth Fare for my birthday – thank you, Michelle!!  One chocolate and one vanilla – but how will I choose?

Actually, I let Casey choose, and I saved mine for tomorrow.  I’ve hit my food and sugar limit for the day, and I will be reaaaaaaaally happy when I get back from my long run tomorrow and there is a delicious vegan cupcake waiting for me!

Speaking of the long run, it’s time to go rest up.  Thanks to everyone who came out to dinner tonight – so much fun to have a group to hang out with here in Charlotte :)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..