Mochi Tops The Top

Confession: I had frozen yogurt again today.

More Mochi

I hit up Mochi for some soft serve after lunch with Ryan in Orlando this afternoon, and then hit it up again in Gainesville after dinner with my mom and sister. Both times were equally delicious, though I was hoping the red velvet cake soft serve flavor would be available. Maybe tomorrow??? 😉

My mom picked me up in Orlando after work and we hit the road for the University of Florida to kick off a weekend of girly fun! 

By the time we arrived in Gainesville, we were hungry! After swinging by my sister’s sorority house and scooping her up, we headed out to dinner at The Top, an eclectic restaurant in downtown Gainesville.

The Top

My Sister and Mama Outside The Top

All three of us opted for the portobello mushroom burger served on a pretzel roll.

Portobello Burger on a Pretzel Bun

My mom and I thought the burger was really tasty, but my sister wasn’t so sure.

I loved the pretzel bun, though the bottom of the roll was a bit soggy. Our dinner was decent, but our trip to Mochi for frozen yogurt definitely topped The Top.

Tomorrow should be a fun and very full day. My sister’s sorority is hosting a Parisian brunch at 11 a.m. and a pottery painting party in the afternoon. I love being crafty, so I can’t wait!

Rainbow Sprinkles Make Life Better

Just like every other Friday, I got to enjoy some wonderful company at lunchtime today!

Since Ryan’s works a 9/80 schedule (9-hour days, 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off), I always look forward to our every-other-Friday lunch dates.

I know you know exactly where we went…

I ❤ Jimmy John's

Sandwich Champ

Jimmy John’s!!!

As always, I got an unwich (turkey with lots of veggies, vinegar, olive oil, and dijon mustard) and Ryan opted for the Gargantuan on wheat bread, which I naturally had several bites of as well.

Turkey Unwich

Turkey + Veggies

Gargantuan

After demolishing our sandwiches, we were in the mood for some sweets!

We headed to Mochi (my second time in two days…), for soft serve with sprinkles.

Sprinkles Make Life Better

I think rainbow sprinkles make life better. How can you not be happy digging into ice cream with sprinkles!?

The weather was so nice out and we seemed to plow through our lunch and soft serve pretty quickly, so we took some extra time to walk a couple blocks to the New York Deli downtown.

Neither of us had ever been and I was in the mood for a cookie (Cookie Friday, anyone!?) and figured they’d have some good ones!

When I went to pay for our cookies (chocolate chip for me, white chocolate macadamia nut for Ryan) the nice man at the counter didn’t accept my money! I was shocked and thanked him several times.

Free cookies! What a nice Friday treat.

We enjoyed our cookies outside by a pretty fountain.

Cookie Friday!

Weekend Plans

I am so excited for this weekend!

Right after work my mom is picking me up and we’re heading to Gainesville to visit my sister at the University of Florida for her sorority’s mother/daughter/sister/aunt/any woman in your family weekend. Yay for girly fun!

Other plans include:

Friday:

• Mother/daughter dinner out in Gainesville

Saturday:

• Sister’s sorority brunch
• Pottery painting
• Drive back to Orlando
• Dinner out in Orlando

Sunday:

• Church
• Look at bridesmaid dresses
• Visit Something Blue Bridal to meet the designer of my wedding dress!!!!!!!

Can you tell I’m especially excited for the last one!?

I can’t wait to actually meet the many who designed my wedding dress in person! My dress was designed by James Clifford (who also designs dresses under the name Jim Hjelm) and he’s coming to the boutique where I bought my dress on Sunday. Fun!

Real Man Shake

Breakfast this morning was served in one of Ryan’s massive protein shake cups. 

I felt like I was drinking a real man shake. 😉 

Green Monster Man Shake

Ryan drinks several protein shakes a day out of these cups. He gets them for free when he buys exorbitant amounts of protein online, so we have about a billion of them. 

Apparently I added an entire bush-worth of spinach to my green monster smoothie today because it was ginormous, as Buddy the Elf would say. 

"Have you seen Julie's green monster? It's ginormous!"

Into the mix went:

• Tons o’ spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• Almond Breeze almond milk
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 tsp. Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Green Goodness

It was thick, filling and, of course, terribly unattractive and green. 

I know I’ve said it before, but I love the way I feel after downing one of these bad boys. Cheesy as it sounds, they make me feel alive! It’s probably all in my head, but I’ll take it! 😀 

I'm Alive!

Workout

Today’s BodyPump class was emptyyy. Apparently no one was feelin’ the gym today, because there were less than half the amount of people who are normally there in class this morning. 

I actually missed the energy of a packed class! I like the “we’re all in this together” feeling I usually get during such an early morning group exercise class and I missed it a bit today. Still, the instructor did a great job, as always, and I got a good workout. Success! 

After Pumpin’ it up, I did 25 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical while reading about the latest celebrity trash. I think those celebrity gossip magazines are great gym reading material because they’re basically like picture books! Since it can be hard to read while working out, they’re a perfect fit. 

Do you like celebrity gossip magazines? 

I used to try and hide it, but who am I kidding? I love that stuff. Do I care that Carrie Underwood is engaged. Yes, I do. 🙂