Where's the Beach?

Rather than go through and detail my recent trip to Long Beach in great detail, I thought it would be much more fun to share the trip in pictures instead with just a little bit about each day. It started off with an early flight out. My sister was on a different flight (airline as well). Thankfully, Cris and I were flying out together. She was a great hand-holder when I had my mini-meltdown as we started moving for take off.  We landed in CA just before 1 pm. It was sunny, decently warm with incredible blue skies. The first order of business was food. We found a place near our hotel called Rock Bottom Brewery . Loved the patio seating, pretty good food, but even better company. Mostly, the first day was just walking and exploring. Sunday morning I set out for an 8-mile run. It was rather gloomy, and upper 50's. For running, that was ideal, but we certainly wanted blue skies for the day. Thankfully there was a running path just out from the hotel that ran along the coast...

Blogger Meet Up One thing on my must-do (and to-enjoy) list for my Chicago trip was to meet Sarah from The Ordinary Vegetarian. I've been following her for quite sometime (before she went vegan even), and couldn't wait to meet her.  We decided to meet at Karyn's Cooked . I was all on board for going back and trying out another dish. If I could, I'd go back every day just to get a sample of everything! Funny story - we were on the same L and standing beside each other for the ride over but didn't realize it because we were smashed in and both fanning with papers, not facing each other.  We started with the hummus. It was really good. Thick, more how I make it. And served with fresh veggies and pita. Sarah went with the Southern Comfort (Beans, greens, rice and cornbread) and I opted for the Steak Wrap (Thinly sliced tofu/seitan steak grilled with onions and peppers, topped with romaine lettuce and chipotle).   She was kind enough to let me try some of...

Interval Running Yesterday I opted to sleep in (7:15 am) rather than get up for a morning run. After being in class, sitting all day, running afterward is really really welcome. So, I save the workout for post-class. I hopped on the treadmill and did 2 miles at an easy cruising pace (for me), a 9:05 minute mile (mm). I then proceeded to intervals: 1 x 4 mins at 8:27 mm, 4 mins at 9:05 mm 1 x 3 mins at 8:27 mm, 1 mins at 9:05 mm 2 x 2 mins at 8:27 mm, 2 mins at 9:05 mm 4 x 1 min at 8:06 mm, 1 min at 9:31 mm This put me a little over 5 miles and it actually flew by rather quickly. Love it how intervals can do that for you. Trader Joe's and Stocks & Blondes I got cleaned up quickly and we made a trek over to Trader Joe's so I could get a few things for lunch for the rest of the week. I am really quite tired of ordering out, and am enjoying just making sandwiches or salads in the room and relaxing for a bit before heading back to class. After the Trader Joe's tr...

Gorgeous Day for Blogger Lunch Date Today was another beautiful, and unseasonably warm day here. It would have been ideal for a run, but today was a much-need, well-deserved rest day for me. At least tomorrow is supposed to be another really nice day. My longer run is scheduled for Sunday, but it's supposed to rain and cool back down. So, I'm switching up my plan and getting in the long run tomorrow on the prettier day. Smart huh ;-) Today I finally had a blogger lunch date! I've only met two other bloggers, but I felt like that was less of a blogger meet-up really because I was meeting Jessica and Jolene for the Cathe Road Trip . I swear it feels like there are no bloggers in Arkansas, or at least not where I live. Anyway, I finally met a local blogger - Jenny @ Vegan and So Forth. We've been trying to schedule this meet-up for some time, but you know how schedules work sometimes. We decided to eat lunch at a place down in the river market - 4 Square Gifts . It...