DOUBLE WHAMMY!!

Did anyone ever watch that show? I used to LOVE the Game Show Network and this was definitely one of my faves! Anywho....I'm back to tell you about Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 10th
Today was another overcast day, but felt more like a day at the beach than Tuesday. After a good breakfast for some running fuel, Jenni and I went on a long run. I haven't done a long run like this in a while, but like I said...there's just something about the beach. We ran a warm 8 miles and after grabbing some water at Starbucks walked an additional 2 miles. It felt good to get 10 miles in! It did confirm that I don't need to be running the Bearathon because my knee was a bit sore afterwards, but a rare run like this felt wonderful.

The sun was out off and on throughout the day, so we were able to spend the majority of the day on the balcony reading. The balcony was a lot warmer than the beach because the wind didn't reach that high. Surprisingly, I still got a lot of sun on my face. I was also able to take my computer out and talk to Ben for a lot of the day. What a fabulous surprise!!

After the long run I was pretty tired so I got about a 30 minute nap in before I started getting ready for dinner. There were a couple of other Tri Delt groups that went to Destin, so we decided to all meet up in Sandestin at Hammerheads for dinner. It was quite the group....

And this isn't even everybody.

It was actually a pretty quiet night at Hammerheads when we got there, but like I said we tended to create our own fun this trip. We were definitely the loudest group there and the first on the dance floor. There was a band on the deck and we requested lots of songs. Most importantly, we requested Texas Country!! We had a TON of fun dancing off dinner and ended up bringing pretty much the whole restaurant out on the dance floor!

Good food, Good fun w/ Good people!

After Hammerheads we ventured over to Fat Tuesdays, but it was a whole lot different than we thought it would be. The internet made it sound like it was some big, fun place, but it was definitely not big and there were about 5 other people there. It didn't take long before we left and headed to the kareoke bar. It ended up being $5 a piece, but after some whining and begging, they let us in. Woo hoo!! We immediately signed Julianne up to sing Baracuda. We went through a number of fun songs and also a number of pretty terrible ones. After 2 or so hours we started getting a little irritated that Julianne STILL had not gotten called. As we were walking out the door they called her name and we SPRINTED back in! 

We all decided to help her out a bit! I also found out this trip that I tend to close one eye a WHOLE lot! 

We went out with a bang and after this performance all headed home. I would say the day was a great success! 

Today

Could today have been any more beautiful?!?! I do NOT think so! I have aerobic running on MWF, so I started the day off with a high intensity interval run. I was dripping sweat when I got off the treadmill. Holy Moly this was a great workout. Start off with a warm up and then switch from hard to moderate for 20 minutes. I did one minute at each and then ended with a nice cool down before I moved on to strength training. I've actually been stretching too after my workouts and it feels great. I never used to stretch and I was getting pretty annoyed at how inflexible I had become. 

Today, between my run and my next class I tried my first green monster and it was delicious. A handful of spinach, half a banana, a few ice cubes, and chocolate protein powder is unexpectedly delicious! I've been absolutely exhausted lately, so after class I came home and took a 30 minute power nap. I am not a nap taker at all, but this felt amazing. I woke up and had totally drooled. Guess I needed the rest. 

After getting a whole lot of work done and being interviewed (weird) at Common Grounds, I stopped by the house for a quick Kashi bar before a conference call. I am newly obsessed with the chocolate pretzel Kashi bars. There are a perfect blend of sweet and salty. Then, I enjoyed more of the outdoors by taking about an hour walk with Chelsi. We decided to continue our Spring Break walks in Waco! After that walk, I just couldn't get enough of the sunshine, so I walked to the grocery store down the street to grab a couple extras I needed for dinner. I've seen a lot of blogs posting dinners of cottage cheese, black beans and salsa so I decided I'd give it a try. Verdict....DELICIOUS!! 

OK, so enough beating around the bush...I have made a very important discovery today. Gum is officially the cause of my stomach issues. I had stopped chewing it for about 3 weeks with only the occasional piece. Over the past 2 days I have been studying a whole lot and have used gum to help me focus. NOT a good idea...my stomach has been feeling weird all day. Tomorrow will begin NO GUM NATALIE for good. I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing...