Yeah, it was a really rough and busy day at the office

My friend Katherine and I met up at the beach near our houses today for a little sunbathing (with sunscreen)! It was awesome.

It was fun to see Katherine! She’s Aussie and I love her accent We had gorgeous weather – not too hot, not too cold… juuuuust right

I freakin love the beach. The sun makes me so happy! Plus, it makes me giggle to run up to a big group of birds and scare them. Teeheeee!  

I also got to wear my fun new purple polka dot bikini that I bought yesterday because I’m an idiot and didn’t remember to pack one. Yes, I came to Florida for spring break and didn’t pack a swimsuit. Fail.

What’s your favorite beach? I pretty much love any beach, but the most amazing I’ve ever been to was probably Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands in Australia when I was studying abroad. The sand was so pristine and white that it squeaked when you walked on it!

My dad had to head out on a work trip this morning, so my mom and I are on our own for the rest of the week! We’re going out to dinner tonight and hoping to find one of the Oscar movies on TV I haven’t seen any of the ones that were nominated except for Avatar!! Then it’s early to bed because tomorrow I’m going to DISNEY with Megan and Katy!!! I’m SO excited… I’ve never been to Disney before! Weird, right??

(Totally sporting my new belt today! heh)

My dad and I had the best run ever this morning!! I am SO excited to have finally gotten in a solid long training run. We did 8 miles in 1:07!

It was one of those perfect running days. The weather is GORGEOUS, the course was flat (and along the beautiful water), I wasn’t bundled up like a snowman and dodging ice, piles of snow, branches, cars, etc., and my legs felt great. I love when running just… clicks I seriously felt like I could have run way longer!

Here are our stats!

• Mile 1: 8:42
• Mile 2: 8:24
• Mile 3: 8:19
• Mile 4: 8:40
• Mile 5: 8:39
• Mile 6: 8:44
• Mile 7: 8:36
• Mile 8: 7:47 (!!)

YAY! As you can see we started to seriously pick it up the last mile, ending in an all-out sprint

I feel so much stronger than I did in the fall when I was training for the Army Ten Miler. I think all the strength training, hill running, and stretching has really paid off! In the Army Ten Miler, I maintained exactly a 9 min mile pace the whole time and finished in 1:30:01. As long as my knee holds up okay I’m on the right track to beat that time at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in a month! We’ll see… fingers crossed

After our run, my mom, dad and I headed to downtown Tampa for brunch. We sat right out on the water and it was so beautiful!

There were all sorts of people out tooling around in their boats. I think I need a friend with a boat!

Although this one might be a bit over the top

After brunch, we walked along the docks for awhile in the sunshine, deciding which boats we would like to buy when we’re millionaires

I’m thinking this one, heh. Or maybe a super fast one. I like fast boats.

And now I’m sitting in my backyard on a blanket and blogging! Nothing makes me happier than being outside on a beautiful day

Have a great night! I hope it’s nice where you are, too! I hear D.C. has been gorgeous this weekend as well (bout damn time)!

The Disney Princess Half Marathon is tomorrow morning, so a ton of bloggers are in town. We all met up for lunch at Pizza Fusion in Orlando!

It was soooo delicious. I ordered the “Farmer’s Market,” which I got topped with goat cheese, tomato sauce, spinach, roasted artichoke hearts, zucchini, and portobello mushrooms. It was AMAZING. They even had an option for a multi-grain crust! Clearly all of us got that

I destroyed the entire thing

It was super fun seeing everyone and talking about blogs, running, and food. Here I am with Caitlin and Katy!

It was GORGEOUS out, so after lunch I headed with a smaller contingent to get frozen yogurt! Obviously

We went to a place called Menchies, which is amazing because you get to create your own yogurt masterpiece!! They have a huge wall of different flavors of frozen yogurt and toppings and you can mix and match to your heart’s content

Here’s Meghann in action:

I got plain tart yogurt with some chocolate and vanilla swirl yogurt mixed in, topped with lots of fresh fruit

YUM!

After the yogurt-gasm, Meghann, her sister Kelly, and I headed to the MALL! Meghann has a beautiful 2010 Chevy Traverse for the month as part of a blogger promotion here in Orlando. How cool is that?!

The three of us had a blast tearing up the mall. It was great seeing Meghann again (we became friends when I was living in Tampa this summer) and super fun to meet Kelly!

This picture pretty much sums up our outing. Lol!

I got sucked into Anthropologie and bought this cute belt! I’m thinking it will look fun over a black dress or shirt… it’s one of those higher up at your actual waist belts

Aaaaand a new pair of shoes, which were on sale for $29! I was excited because I can never find shoes like this that don’t absolutely smush my toes or kill my heels. Yay!

After shopping, we headed to Whole Foods for a quick dinner before I hit the road. I love their prepared food bar… soooo good. I always get a thousand little bites of random things

And now I’m back safe and sound in Tampa with the fam! Tomorrow morning I’ll be doing my 8 mile training run of the weekend – I’m excited because the forecast looks gorgeous and my dad is going to run it with me

Time for bed… it’s been a busy day! Good night!

It’s shaping up to be a beautiful day

My mom and I went for a lovely, sunshine-y stroll this morning along the water.

Ahhh… I missed this!! I just love the smell of the fresh, salty air.

Can you spy downtown Tampa?

Palm trees are awesome

I just fueled up with my favorite breakfast (sorry, oatmeal) – Kashi Heart to Heart and Honey Sunshine cereal with fresh berries and banana! Yummmmmm.

And now I’m driving over to Orlando for the day! I’m meeting up with a bunch of blogger friends for lunch and then Meghann and I have a fun play date planned!

Have a great Saturday