Running, Eating and Celebrating

Get ready – this is going to be a long post. Yesterday was a busy day full of fun and excitement.

I woke up around 8 a.m. and got to work in the kitchen baking oatmeal raisin cookies to take to my run + lunch date with a fun group of girls. I ate a piece of whole wheat toast (with no nut butter!) while I was baking.

I met up with these girls to run a very hot and sweaty five miles.

From left to right…me, Jen, Kath, Emily, Brittney and Kelly.

After running we had quite the lunch spread.

A selection of nut butters and spreads, tempeh, brie, goat cheese, two kinds of Great Harvest bread.

Veggies, hummus, pita chips,  fresh fruit.

Muffins and cookies for dessert.

My plate + a cookie for dessert. Everything was delicious!

I so enjoyed meeting and talking with all of these girls and hopefully have some long run buddies for my upcoming marathon training! 😉

My birthday celebration continued last night with a family get together at my in law’s (what was that, day five of celebrating???).  But it wasn’t all about me – it was a joint birthday party for Brandon and my birthday (his is tomorrow) + we celebrated Father’s day.

Spending time with our nieces is always a big perk of family gatherings.

My father in law got some good Father’s Day cuddles in from the little ones.

The boys manned the grill.

I stayed inside and tried to help feed the girls.

Thankfully, Emerson could feed herself so I just kept her company. I tried to help feed Scarlett (the baby) and ended up with more food on her and on the high chair than in her mouth. Oops!

Dinner was amazing! My mother in law prepared a variety of salads and veggies to go with the grilled chicken and steak.

Lime marinated grilled chicken.

Grilled filets.

Roasted veggies – corn, turnips, beets, squash, broccoli, onions, sweet potatoes and more! This was so good – I had two servings of veggies.

Cucumber salad.

Fruit salad.

Caprese salad.

Orzo salad – this was awesome. I will share the recipe on Bakin’ and Eggs soon.

My plate. Although the grilled chicken and steak looked great I was so in the mood for veggies and all the fresh sides last night. I went back for more roasted vegetables, orzo salad and a few more cucumbers.

Tastiness continued with dessert.

Coconut cream pie.

Chocolate cake. This was very similar to one of the Texas sheet cakes.

My messy (but so good) dessert plate.

We opened presents after dinner.

I received some great gifts but this one I must share with you.

Behold. The Manduka Pro Black Mat. I’ve been wanting this for months but couldn’t justify purchasing it myself. SO EXCITED! These mats are fabulous because they are heavy-duty, thick, grippy and last forever. Cannot wait to get to the yoga studio to try out my new mat.

And I think that about wraps it up! Hope you all had a great weekend! 😀