After our fabu farmers market trip, hubby and I did a little shopping (unsuccessfully) for furniture.

We decided to hit up a new sandwich joint in town – Which WIch.

The ordering style was unique – select a bag for the sandwich group you want, mark the sandwich and all the toppings you want and add your name at the bottom.

They make your sandwich to order and promptly have it ready for you on the other end of the counter.

I really liked the concept and the people there were really nice. I hope they do well.

Hubby and I took our sammies to go.

I got the black bean patty on wheat with provolone, lettuce, avocado and bell pepper, plus salt and pepper.

It was really good! I LOVED how the bread got nice and crunchy since they toasted it.

I really like my sammie but hubby loved his! He kept raving about it. Guess we’ll be back.

Then I was off for National Dance Day celebrations!

I started with a 1-hour hip hop class to learn the Nappy Tab dance (the one I mentioned before). I must say, while I feel comfortable in zumba classes now, I feel so awkward in hip hop classes! I have a hard time remembering all the steps!! As class was beginning, I stood there, feeling a lot like I did in my first zumba class, worried if I was going to make an a$$ out of myself. “They’re all gonna laugh at me!” was my fear. But, I used what I’ve learned in zumba to let loose and enjoy class and that is – dance classes are best enjoyed when you don’t think so much about what other people are going to think about you. Remember to just let loose…and by that I mean really, let loose – let your arms and legs move freely, don’t hold back because you won’t be able to get into the dance as much. Focus on learning the steps, not on what people are going to think about how you do them. HAVE FUN! That’s why you’re there, isn’t it? And if this still doesn’t help, just think…in 20 years, is anyone going to remember that you messed up a couple steps in some hip hop (or zumba) class one time? No. They’re not. So there…let loose people!

Anywho, after the hip hop class, I also did a 1 hour master dance class. Phew! That’s 2 hours of dancing folks and it was freakin fantastic!

I was definitely in need of nourishment post class and just had some Vega Whole Health Optimizer mixed with water. Oh and I had a LOT of water, too! Jeez I sweat a lot today! Great workouts and great fun = the need for major hydration.

Phew! Tired but HAPPY!

Took a trip to visit the new Lululemon store in town and munched on a banana.

I picked up groceries for a little bloggie brunch get-together I’m having tomorrow (can’t wait!) and for dinner tonight. I used this mixed vegetable container from TJ’s in a red sauce for that ravioli we picked up this morning.

Served with Whole Grain Goodness toast with a dab o real butter.

I’m off to hang out with some friends tonight.

Cheers!

Did anyone else celebrate National Dance Day? I’m tellin ya…a dance in your living room would be super fun!

Years ago, I used to like eating unhealthy stuff for breakfast all the time. It seemed like breakfast was when they had the good stuff: chocolate croissants, sticky buns and other delectable sweets. But not just the sweet stuff – Bagels with cream cheese, egg sandwiches.

At some point, I realized that my indulgent breakfasts, while decidedly delicious to eat, were typically not that filling and would often leave me sluggish. So, I cut back on them – a little at first and then more and more. At some point, I fell in love with healthy breakfasts like oatmeal and Power Toast – breakfasts that filled me with healthful food and gave me plenty of energy.

And while I love my healthy breakfasts and truly prefer them over the more indulgent ones, sometimes you just want something a little over the top. Breakfast was pretty indulgent today. Hubby picked up a GH cinnamon roll and I made us fried eggs. I forgot how HUGE that cinnamon roll is! I stuffed myself trying to finish it. Bad idea. The cinnamon roll wasn’t such a bad idea…eating more than I was comfortable with was. Oops. Next time I’ll save some for a snack later.

Lunch = leftover chicken noodle soup and Whole Grain Goodness toast.

And I had some Power Toast for an afternoon snack.

Great Harvest Whole Grain Goodness with:

• Barney Butter
• chia seeds
• hemp seeds
• cacao nibs

Organic cherries, too!

***

Guess who came to zumba with me tonight?!

Check out all my bloggie friends: Irene, (me), Katie, Jen, Jen, and Brittney.

We all had a fantastic hour of zumba tonight – the firs time trying zumba for most of these girls. How did they do? They danced like rock stars, of course!

Thank you ladies for coming to class with me! I hope to see you there again soon!

Oh and random note, a lady in class was wearing some sort of calorie counter and said she burned like 850 calories in class tonight! Whoa! Michelle is giving me her old heart rate monitor so I’m going to be doing my own experimenting with calorie burning. Can’t wait to see what the number is!

Post class it was time for a protein shake – Vega Whole Health Optimizer.

Yay zumba! I always feel like a million bucks after class.

Post class hubby and I headed out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant – 1900 Mexican Grill. It’s probably our favorite Mexican restaurant in town because the food is good, the drinks are awesome (especially the dirty margarita), and the owner is sooo nice. I love to support his local business.

The weather was too gorgeous to not eat outside.

I started with a dirty margarita – made with tamarind!

We started with some cheese dip (starting to prefer guac over cheese dip…who am I?) and chips and salsa.

We shared a combo – beef burrito, chicken enchilada, and rice and beans.

My portion – I barely finished.

Post dinner, went over to hubby’s bacherlor-friends’ apartment to chill out. We ended up watching a lot of Terminator Salvation before heading home. I’m pooped but I have a big day of dancing tomorrow!

What are you up to this weekend?

I can hardly believe I actually did yoga this morning at 6:30am! I usually don’t even wake up that early!

Yoga was one of the best decision’s I made all day. I’d forgotten how yoga puts me in the THE BEST mood for the REST of the day. Even a Monday work day couldn’t take the happiness away. I was so cheerful and smiley all day! lol

Yoga with friends = best part of day (except for maybe zumba which may tie) – so glad I went!

Saying “see you later” (you guys know I don’t like “goodbyes”) to Kath who’s moving this week = worst part of day. I hate farewells, and I’m going to miss my friend! Hopefully, she visits us again soon!

I celebrated Starbucks Monday and got a spinach feta wrap and grande vanilla soy latte.

My last fancy green tea in my desk. Guess it’s time to re-stock.

Lunch was leftover Lemony Lentil Soup and a piece of GH Whole Grain Goodness.

PS I had lots of leftovers of that soup! I stored 2 medium sized containers in the fridge for lunch this week. The rest are going in the freezer to be meals when I need a quick, convenient, but healthful meal at a later time.

Plus vegan chocolate cat cookies leftover from the vegan homemade ice cream I made this past weekend (and boy are there a TON left!).

Larabar in Cherry Pie was my pre-workout snack of choice.

***

Post work I decided a second workout for the day was in order – ZUMBA! Yes, I pushed my way through a fun-filled hour of zumba the same day I already did an hour of yoga. I’m not normally a fan of multiple workouts in one day since I like to give my body plenty of rest, but what can I say….I really wanted to zumba and my body felt up to it. Guess I was just owning my strength.

***

Post zumba I had a date with some friends.

These friends: L back to R: Michelle, Jessie, Katie, Kelly, Jen, Jen, Brittney, me.

We met up at Dandelion Market thanks to a Groupon we all purchased to try the restaurant out. We paid $10 for $20 gift certificates! Score! Click here to check out Groupon for yourself – it’s all over the country.

Loved their table water pitchers.

I tried the Blue Point Toasted Lager. The beer was served a little warm but the flavor was really nice.

Michelle and I split 3 tapas:

Aged Cheddar + Ale Fondue.

Stuffed zucchini.

Flat bread with caramelized onions and truffle oil.

We chatted and snacked and chatted some more.

I love my food blogger dinners!

Apple crisp. The topping was a puff pastry like topping, not so much a crisp. Perhaps the menu had a different name and I’m remembering it wrong, but it was a lovely, hearty dessert. I ended up saving some for hubby to try later.

Btw, if you check out Dandelion Market, be sure to ask for Rick – he’s very nice and will take great care of you!

Back home, it was treat time for Bailey.

Gimme five!

Booyah!

Nom nom nom time for Bailey.

Remember to tell me your strength story!

Hiyas from the Chic house!

My basil plants are finally growing back after being attached by slugs. I managed to harvest both some green and purple basil leaves. Woohoo!

I used them in lunch today.

Leftover cooked pasta = pasta salad lunch.

I added chopped spinach, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, basil…

…plus a balsamic vinaigrette.

Plus toasted pine nuts on top. Yum!

Guess what I got today?

My zumba instructor gear! I got my sign in sheets, class cards, and all that fun junk.

My first class starts next Tuesday! Can’t wait!

Lookie what I tried for a pre-workout snack today! A carrot cake Larabar (*)!

The bar looked just like the others and had a similar texture. I liked the chewy bites of what I presumed to be carrots.

I thought the flavor was not quite as spot-on as some others they have. It didn’t quite taste like carrot cake to me. It had a lot of spice and just didn’t remind me as much of the flavor as some others do. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the bar, I just didn’t think it tasted like “carrot cake.”

***

Post work I was so excited to go back to ZUMBA! It had been almost a week. I expected it to be a bit rough since I hadn’t done it in awhile and it was but I pushed through and felt amazing and strong afterwards!

I worked up a real appetite for dinner tonight!

***

We had plans to go out to Brixx with Kath + Matt tonight. We have a lot of events planned with them since it’s their last weekend in town!

I started with a sampler – 420, Starhill Love, spaten, hoppyyum (that’s the best I can remember the names…lol).

Hubby and I split bruschetta over conversation with Kath and Michelle.

Also chatted with Kelly, but I forgot to get photos of everyone tonight!

Hubby and I also split a pizza – 1/2 BBQ Chicken and 1/2 Chicken Caprese on a whole wheat crust.

Both flavors were really good but I still love the BBQ chicken the best.

Post dinner we went in search of dessert.

I got a single scoop of half baked froyo. Woohoo, they actually let me have a kid’s size this time!

Post dinner, I hit up Ben + Jerry’s with Katie, Stew, Rachel, and hubby.

Such fun!

Lookie what else came in today! My business cards!!

The front.

The back. Look familiar? I just ate this cherry almond french toast recently!

You likey?

Remember to check out my OpenSky coupons (click) for discounts on organic body butter, Galaxy Granola and other goodies!

Even though hubby and I were “home”, we decided we didn’t want to end our vacay just yet.

We got dressed up for a date night out.

We went to Fiamma’s to enjoy their restaurant week menu – a 3 course dinner. I’ve dined here a few times before. It’s one of my favorite spots in town because almost everything here is made from scratch, in-house. Gotta love that!

Homemade breads and pesto dip.

The menu was the same color as my dress!

We decided to eat dinner al fresco, even though it was bit on the hot side.

White wine was perfect for our outside meal.

I started with the scallop appetizer over a cauliflower puree.

Sorbet palate cleanser.

The restaurant was packed and our appetizer took a long time to come out. Hubby and I were in no rush (plus thanks to our years waiting tables we are pretty understanding with common restaurant trouble spots) so we didn’t mind the wait. The restaurant apparently felt so bad about our wait, though, that they got us a round of drinks. Just another sign of how great this restaurant is – their customer service is proactive AND effective. Customer service is big to me, so I appreciated the gesture. Thank you Fiamma!

Hubby got the sea bass, which I tasted. It had a great flavor!

I had the taglioloni with shrimp and a cognac sauce.

The dish was quite rich but had a lovely flavor. I could have used some more veggies, but I ended up stealing some of hubby’s.

I ended up not being able to eat most of my pasta, which was a shame because I know Fiamma’s makes theirs from scratch!

I’m hoping hubby will enjoy the pasta for a nice lunch tomorrow.

Hubby got the ricotta cheesecake for his dessert. I had a bite and loved the lightness of this dessert. I mean, it was still a bit rich (it is cheesecake afterall!) but it seemed lighter than traditional cheesecake.

And I had the warm chocolate torte. I normally don’t really like flourless cake type desserts (not sure if this one was flourless, but it reminded me of that style dessert) but this one was DIVINE!

The outside was cake-y and the inside was molten, sweet chocolate. I savored every bite of this dish! Nommmm!

Dinner was the perfect end to our lake vacation!

“Dessert” #2 = catching up on Drop Dead Diva on hulu! Woohoo!