Saturday Morning Pancakes

Last week I asked some of the girls at work for recommendations on places to take my mom while she was in town. Several people recommended that we check out  The Old Spanish Sugar Mill Grill and Griddle House so on Saturday morning we woke up extra early to beat the morning rush.

The restaurant features tables with electric griddles built in where customers get to make their own pancakes! I guess I didn't do a good job of explaining this to the crew because when we sat down Jon said "We have to make our own breakfast?!" Haha!

After we stuffed our bellies full with the amazing all-you-can-eat pancakes we headed outside to enjoy the natural spring and tour the area. Being from Indiana, I had never seen a spring before so I wasn't sure what to expect. Apparently the springs are a constant 72 degrees year round, make a perfect swimming hole in the cooler months, and are home to several manatees! While we were there we found out that you can rent kayaks so we are planning a day trip to do that very soon!

It was definitely a fun morning and Jon and I are already planning trips back to the spring very soon!

Question of the Day

Have you ever been to a DIY restaurant? Have you ever been to a natural spring? 

All Moved In

I have officially been a Floridian for one week! Woo! 

Moving to a new state in an entirely different part of the country has made it hard to have any free time these past few weeks but I am finally able to sit down, relax, and do absolutely nothing. And it feels so good. 

On top of going to work and making sure we remember to eat dinner, unpacking boxes, putting furniture together, and making countless trips to the store has been our daily routine for the past week. We are still waiting for our couch and a few other things to arrive and then the house will finally be complete! I can't wait to show pictures once everything is finally put together! 

My dad drove 15 hours yesterday to bring the last load of my stuff to me. Isn't he the greatest? We went to a local seafood restaurant and we both enjoyed the alligator dinner. It was delicious! They even had an awesome fresh seafood market you could shop from.

After we ate, we headed to the store to get a few more things and then my dad was off! He wasn't able to stay and visit very long but I'm sure he will be back for a longer stay soon. I can't wait for more visitors to come down! If anyone needs a Florida getaway, just let me know ;) 

Puerto Vallarta

How was everyone's weekend? On Saturday I squeezed in a 2 mile run even though it was supposed to be my long run day. As soon as I finish this blog post I am heading out the door and doing my long run today. I already have my running shoes on and everything, I'm just waiting for my iPod to charge up!

The highlight of my weekend was probably lunch on Saturday. Jancee and I were craving Mexican so we headed to a local Mexican restaurant called Puerto Vallarta. I could honestly eat Mexican food and chips and salsa every day so a craving for Mexican is not rare for me. I don't normally get the chance to satisfy my craving for Mexican while at school so I took full advantage of having an opportunity to go out and eat some.

We started off with chips and salsa. Their salsa is so good that I ate two bowls of it before we got our food!

One of the reasons that I love Puerto is because their food actually tastes authentic. Jancee and I both had a hard time choosing what to order and when it came down to it we both ordered practically the same exact thing. She got the Fajita Quesadilla with Steak and I chose the Fajita Quesadilla with Chicken.

A large quesadilla was filled with chicken, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, cheese, and mushrooms and served with lettuce, sour cream, and tomato on the side. It was definitely delicious and hit the spot!

 

Sunday was spent doing next to nothing with my favorite boy and his roommates. We watched the NASCAR race that was on TV (most boring thing of my life). I would rather watch people than cars go in circles around a track!

 

If you haven't done so already, head on over and enter to win the Goodbelly giveaway! I'm choosing a winner tomorrow!


Do you have a favorite Mexican restaurant? Is there any food that you are constantly craving?

Better Than Nothing

This weekend consisted of some quality time at home with family. Alex and I headed home from school on Friday afternoon to celebrate my cousin, Rema's, birthday with some family. Rema turned 21 on Friday and wanted a relaxed celebration so we did just that.

We arrived to their house around 7pm and spent our time talking with family we hadn't seen in awhile. We also enjoyed birthday cake and a few pieces of various Middle Eastern sweets. Rema's parents went overseas for a couple of weeks for a wedding and brought back some goodies for us to enjoy. I completely forgot to snap a couple of pictures of the desserts!

One of my cousin's had a baby 3 weeks ago so I made sure to get in lots of cuddling with her!

On Saturday Alex, my step-dad, my brother, and I all went out to lunch together. We went to a restaurant called the Tilted Kilt. The waitresses there wore plaid mini skirts and their tops covered close to nothing so the boys were all googly-eyed the entire meal. The restaurant was like a pub and had some fun Irish sayings on the wall. I ordered a chicken wrap that had a spicy dressing which gave it a nice kick. I was pretty impressed with the food there but it was a little awkward having a half-naked waitress bring it to the table. Once again, I ate the food too quickly to even think about taking a picture. I'm sorry my picture-taking skills were lacking this weekend!

Because Friday we spent the day traveling and I ended up forgetting my running shoes back at school, I didn't get my long run in while I was at home. Today I hadn't drank too much water and think I had one too many pieces of candy while I was home over the weekend so I knew going into it that my run today wasn't going to be good. After a mile and a half I was feeling sick so I stopped. I didn't even try to keep going and told myself that 1.5 miles was better than doing nothing.

When you are really busy how do you fit in a long run? They take up so much time but I know they are important! Also, if you are feeling sick do you push through it or stop running?

Roommate Bonding

* This giveaway is now closed *

I feel like I hardly have any time to fit in blogging lately with this new job because before it I was always writing my posts at night. Now I am trying to do everything when I get off work at 9:30 so it feels pretty hectic. I think that if I do them earlier in the day I won't feel as rushed at night with studying and blogging so we will give it a run for it's money this week.


On Saturday Jancee and I went to the mall and then to AT&T so she could get a new sim card for her phone. At the mall we spotted a few great deals at GAP. Alex's sister told me they were going out of business and everything was 50% off! I couldn't let this deal slide by so we went in and checked it out.

I picked up a running jacket, sunglasses, and some socks for me and because I couldn't walk out of there without something for Alex, I got him a plaid long sleeve shirt. As soon as I got in the car I immediately put on the new sunglasses I bought.

After all of the shopping we did, we were pretty hungry. If you follow me on Twitter you probably already know what we ended up picking up... Pita Pit! This was my first time going to this amazing little restaurant. Jancee recently got a job there and has been talking about it a lot so I had to try it.

I got the Gyro, which is seasoned beef strips, and I added green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and their Tzatziki sauce. The sauce was good and this combo was delicious. I will definitely be going there often to try out more combinations. Since it was my first time I was afraid to go crazy with the combos but I am sure next time I will change it up!

It was definitely a fun day with Jancee! Even though we live in the same tiny little box of a room together, we hardly get to do anything together very much with our busy schedules so it was much needed.

I actually wore the jacket I bought at GAP on my run today and it was super comfortable. It didn't bounce around even with heavy things (ie. keys, ID) in my pockets, kept me warm, and it even has thumb holes! My run today was my first official run of my half-marathon training! I will post my full training schedule soon.

It was nice outside and in the high 40s so I took advantage of it and ran 3 miles outside. I'm pretty sure that it is supposed to drop down into the 20s by the end of the week. It felt good to be outside but it was super windy and I felt that no matter which direction that I ran in that I was running into the wind.

Giveaway

It seems like it's been awhile since I've had a giveaway on the blog so I think it's time for one! I still have some awesome stuff to giveaway as part as my New Years Resolutions Blog Giveaway!

This week's giveaway is from Chobani. One lucky reader will win a variety box of Chobani yogurt!

If you have never had Chobani Greek Yogurt then you are definitely missing out! They have several different delicious flavors, low-fat options, dessert flavors, and fun squeeze tubs that are perfect if you are on-the-go. Chobani yogurt can also replace sour cream, butter, oil, and a number of other ingredients in your cooking to make it healthier. Check out some of these awesome recipes by clicking here and see how you can make your cooking a bit healthier with Chobani.

How to enter

Mandatory: Check out Chobani's website and comment telling me which flavor you would like best.
Optional: Like my Facebook page and leave a comment saying you did.
Optional: Tweet about the giveaway and make sure to include @trufflesntread and @nothingbutgood in the tweet! Comment below saying that you did

I will choose a winner on Thursday! Good luck and have a great week :)

The New Late Night Option

It's the weekend! Who's excited? I know I am!

Before I get started with last night's adventures I want to point out that today is Alex and I's 10 month anniversary! I can't believe we have only been dating that long because it seems like it has been way longer. Needless to say I am incredibly happy with this man and have enjoyed every moment with him!

Last night's dinner was delicious so I figured I would share it on the blog today. I had a wheat wrap with turkey, red peppers, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, and of course avocado! I am loving avocado lately and have been putting it on everything.

After work I headed over to Alex's house to hang out. Earlier this week a new bakery opened up in "The Village," the little area off of campus that has shops, bars, and restaurants.

The new place that opened up is called Insomnia Cookies and they had a coupon floating around Facebook this week to announce their grand opening last Sunday and to offer us a free cookie! We hopped in the car and headed over to use up our coupons and it seemed like everyone else on campus had the same idea because the bakery was packed with people. They had a "Free Cookie Line" for people who weren't buying but just grabbing their free cookie so we were in and out of there in less than 5 minutes. Alex and I both got the Double Chocolate Chip cookie and it was super warm and gooey.

After we grabbed our cookies we headed over to his sister's house to visit for a little bit. When we got to their house we saw that they a box of cookies and brownies delivered to them a few minutes before we got there! The brownies were realllly good and I would highly recommend those if you ever pass by one of these little shops.

The neat thing about Insomnia Cookies is that they deliver until 3am. There is another late night pizza company near campus that delivers pizzas until some crazy time like 4 or 5am on the weekends too so I think they are up against some pretty sweet competition! 


Have you ever had Insomnia Cookies before? What do you think of the idea of having fresh cookies delivered to you at 3am?

A Yummy Lunch Date

Yesterday Alex and I went to Noodles & Company for a fun lunch date. When choosing where to go for lunch I was going to pick one of our favorite Mexican restaurants but then decided it would be fun to go somewhere he has never been especially because I think everyone should try Noodles & Company! This used to be the only Noodles & Co. that I was able to go to because there wasn't one in my hometown but they recently opened one so my mom and I are super excited!

I snapped this photo as we were driving away. I am still getting used to the "take pictures of everything for the blog" thing. When we were in line waiting to order I told Alex that he couldn't dig into his food until I took a picture of it and he was fine with it and didn't think I was too crazy :)

 
Noodles & Company has several different dishes from around the world. They have a variety of noodles, soups, sandwiches, and salads that are either American, Mediterranean, or Asian.  I chose the Japanese Pan Noodles with a Cucumber Tomato salad on the side and Alex ordered the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese.

The Japanese Pan Noodles are made up of caramelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, broccoli, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, Asian sprouts, black sesame and cilantro. It is somewhat spicy and fills you up. Good thing I had Alex there to help me finish it!

Alex ordered the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese with chicken and it came in a huge bowl. The mac & cheese is their number one seller and I definitely talked it up on the way there which probably led him to his decision on what to order. They make it with a blend of cheddar and jack cheeses, cream, and macaroni and then grate more fresh cheese on the top. When it came to the table it was still really warm so the cheese melted right in when he stirred it up.

It was one delicious lunch date!

Don't forget, if you haven't already entered in the 5th giveaway of the New Years Resolutions Blog Giveaway then enter today! A winner will be chosen on Tuesday!


Have you ever tried Noodles & Company? If so, what is your favorite thing there?

I Caved

Happy Wednesday everyone! Over the past week I have been doing training for my new job and today I officially passed the test and can now actually work when I go to work instead of stand there and watch the other guy do the job, which is extremely boring.

I have also been craving guacamole the last few days and there is only one place to get it on campus - Taco Bell. I try not to eat much fast food but the guacamole was seriously calling my name so I went with it. I tried really really hard to resist my temptations but I just couldn't. I met Alex there for lunch but I didn't want any of their burritos because I usually feel like crap afterwards so I tried a new menu item, the Cantina Burrito.

(Photo Source)

The burrito was stuffed full with premium Latin rice, black beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, roasted corn & pepper salsa and a creamy cilantro dressing. It was huge, filling, and tasty! I thought that it tasted like Chipotle. I opted for the veggie burrito but you can get chicken or steak put in if you want.

Workout

After classes I hit the gym for some weight lifting. I focused on arms and legs. I didn't have a workout made up ahead of time, I just went with it but am pretty happy with how I felt afterwards.

Giveaway winner

Now it's time to announce the winner of the Artisana Nut Butters giveaway!

Congrats to Keri! Please email me at trufflesntreadmills [at] aol [dot] com with your shipping information and let me know which butter you would like to try!


Also, I still have not heard from the Healthy Bites Giveaway winner, Heather! Heather if you could please email me by the end of the week that would be great.


Do you ever give into fast food restaurants?

Possibilities

 Today we woke up early (9am!) and headed to Auburn with my mom, her friend, and my sister to do a little bit of window shopping and to eat lunch. We went to an antique shop and a general store before stopping by my favorite shop of the day, Possibilities.

It was such a cute little shop. Don't you just love their "Open" sign?

They had some furniture, tables, picture frames, jewelry, chalk boards, signs, and little knick-knacks.

They had so many different and fun clocks that really caught my eye. I debated buying one but had no idea where I would put it. They wouldn't fit anywhere in my room at school so I figured I would have to stash it away in my closet until I have a place of my own. 

My mom came here awhile ago to do some Christmas shopping and actually bought me a chalkboard similar to the ones here.

My sister actually ended up buying this watch for 10 bucks!

After doing some shopping we were getting hungry. We went to a nearby restaurant called Auburn's House of Pancakes and Restaurant.

I ordered the Chicken Fajita Wrap. It was really good and stuffed with fajita chicken, mozerella cheese, peppers and onions. I was stuffed and couldn't even finish it all.

My mom and sister saw a deer in the addition last night and ever since then they think they are deer or something! We had some fun taking pictures in the restaurant.

When we got back I decided to go outside and run a quick mile. It was cold outside and the wind was super chilly. I also forgot some of my warmer running clothes at school so I didn't want to stay out in the cold for too long.

Notice something new in the above picture?! I bought a Garmin Forerunner 10 with my Christmas money and absolutely love it. I am so happy with it. I used it the other day when I walked my dogs just to test it out so today was my first time actually running with it. I love that it has a lot of different fun options, like telling you if you are on pace, counts your calories, and has a run/walk option. It's fun to download the run information to the computer and see all of your results too.


Do you have a Garmin watch? What are your thoughts on them? I love mine so far!

Winter Break Project

Today began with a run. I wanted to run about 5 miles but it started sprinkling during the run so I decided it was best to cut the run short. I went to the YMCA and ran on the trails that surround the Y and ended up running 3.5 miles. The trails included lots of torturous hills that made for a good workout.

When I got back home the house smelled delicious. My mom and her friend were busy in the kitchen doing their annual Christmas baking. They used to make several different kinds of cookies but now make homemade cinnamon rolls to give to their friends and co-workers. They even made a few extra batches, which made for a great dessert after dinner. You can click here to see the entire recipe.

(Photo courtesy of Michelle D.)

For lunch we decided to get carry-out from a local sushi restaurant called Koto. We decided to get the California rolls, chicken fried rice, clear soup, and green salads with ginger dressing. The soup (not pictured) is one of my favorite soups, the ginger dressing is delicious, and the rice and sushi are to die for. This lunch definitely hit the spot.

Later in the day I saw this sitting in my room..

A basket of old race and high school t-shirts. Before I left for school this year I got them all together, picked out some of my favorites, and planned to make one of those t-shirt quilts out of them. I told myself the other day that I wanted to get this quilt done while I was on break and had a bunch of free time so what better time to start than now?

Most people don't really know that I have a crafty side but I have done almost everything from quilting, sewing, glass making, jewelry making, sketching, scrap booking, painting, drawing, card making, knitting... you name it and I have probably done it. I just don't use my artistic abilities as much as I could so most people don't know that I have this lovely trait, which I got from my mom. I even made one of my Prom dresses a few years back.

So with all of my t-shirts cut up and laying in a pile (once again), I need to go to Joann Fabric's and buy some fabric and stabilizer and this quilting project will be under way!


What do you do with all of your old t-shirts?