Thank you all so much for the congrats on my 15K race yesterday! I had a blast! Both during the run…and after too, of course. How could I not when it involved eating? And coffee. Can’t forget the coffee.

After the race, Lee and I wanted to have more time to hang out together, so we hit up J. Christopher’s for brunch.

I had never been to J. Christopher’s before, even though it has quite a few locations around the Atlanta area. It had a fun, laid-back atmosphere perfect for some post-race dining.

It also had a menu with quite a few delicious sounding options. I couldn’t make up my mind between two particular choices –  an omelet or pancakes. Luckily, I subbed out the muffin struck up a deal with the waitress and managed to get the best of both worlds.

I ordered the Billy Goat omelet, which featured a combination of goat cheese, roasted red peppers, and mushrooms. And oh how I appreciated an omelet that didn’t come out loaded down in grease!

Then had a large, delicious pumpkin pancake on the side. It could have had a bit more pumpkin flavor, but you better believe I still happily ate that sucker up!

I mean c’mon! Does that not sound like the perfect meal for me? Or what? Goat cheese and pumpkin?! I was clearly a happy Tina.

Speaking of happy Tina, time for one of my favorite parts of the week! Enjoy, friends!

FFF Features of the Week

I never expect you all to keep up with every post I write, so each week I play catch up with my favorites. Find the posts that I enjoyed writing the most, that sparked the most discussion, or that had the most cuteness…as well as one of my favorite blogs for you to check out. Have a great night!

Featured Personal Post: Body After Baby Month 9

Stuffed With Emptiness Post: “I’ve Tried To Love You, But I Can’t”

Featured Workout Post: Review of Insanity

source

I still die.

Featured Recipe Post: Pumpkin Hot Chocolate

And it is sooooo easy!!!

Featured Positive Post: Can Self-Love Ever Have Negative Side Effects?

Featured Fun Post: Seven! Seven!! SEVEN!!

Fun Facts Friday really is fun. And apparently I’m not the only one who burns grilled cheese sandwiches.

Featured Cuteness Post: Makenzie’s WIAW

A day in the life of Makenzie and what my toddler likes to eat.

Featured Reading: Clare @ Fitting It All In

I think her tagline about sums it up. She works super hard and is a very busy lady, but never fails to inspire with her balanced lifestyle. And being a good friend in the blogging world.

• What meal combo would be the best of both worlds for you?

After all the craziness of last week, I feel good that this week has gone relatively smoothly so far. Nothing too insane. Well, besides this morning’s workout. Ha! I still don’t know how I survived it. <--- There’s that exaggeration we talked about.

Good thing I did survive, though. I had a stellar day today! Once I caught my breath this morning, I dropped Makenzie off at school and came home HANGRY and ready for some breakfast. I made myself shower first, then dug into another bowl of pumpkin oats. This time topped with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter that the lovely Janetha got me hooked on  last year.

For the record, I just bought three more cans of pumpkin. I will have pumpkin oats for breakfast for many days into the foreseeable future. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

Count your lucky stars I’m not a food blogger. Things would get very old around here fast. Besides having another repeat breakfast of pumpkin oats, I also had a repeat lunch.

More English muffin pizzas!!! Best way to use up leftover crushed tomatoes. And you know Makenzie loves them. She told you so herself in her guest WIAW post!

Makenzie opted for apple slices again, but I was feeling a little spice. I went with half a cucumber sliced up and a couple large handfuls of baby carrots to dip in salsa. I adore salsa.

Both of those meals fueled me right through my prime work times and I knocked out a good bit of things I needed to get done. I hope this productive streak lasts!

After work time came play time. An afternoon play date with my friend Ann and her two kids – a friend for Makenzie and a friend for Braedon.

I love play dates and think it’s so important to connect with other moms. Not only does it give the kids social interaction, but it gives you the chance to “talk shop” with someone who understands. Who else would I turn to to discuss overnight potty training woes? Ann helped me feel better about giving up on trying to overnight train Makenzie. We gave it a shot, but it wasn’t worth the stress.

Don’t worry. We also have lives of our own too. We spent a lot of time chatting away about adult things…including her recent trip to Chicago to support her husband in the Chicago Marathon! It makes me want to run it. Mostly because I really, really want to go to Chicago. Maybe I should just book a trip and scratch that whole running 26.2 miles part? Either way, I loved hearing about her trip!

Thanks for the fun afternoon, Ann!

By this point dinner time quickly approached. We had planned on honoring another meat craving of Peter’s with meatloaf, but I forgot to get the ground beef out of the freezer. Oops! So I went with a baked sweet potato, more roasted green beans, and a Morningstar Farms garden veggie burger.

I stole an idea from Courtney and rubbed the sweet potato with a little bit of butter and some Garlic Gold from my Healthy Living Summit sample.

Ohhhh…what a good idea.

If I wasn’t such a cheapskate I would order some for myself in a heartbeat. But I am a cheapskate, so I just savored tonight’s dinner. Just like I plan to savor an early bed time. T minus 2 hours and counting. Later gators!

• Where do you turn to “talk shop” about things like work, motherhood, etc? I would say Peter and good friends, including you all!
• Do you ever forget key things for dinner prep like taking something out of the freezer or picking up something at the store?