When your best friends from childhood come to visit for a long weekend, you do all the tourist things, eat all the food and drink all the beer. My best friends Hailey, Elizabeth and Melissa came to visit me in Philly this past weekend and it couldn’t have been a better weekend. The weather was PERFECT and I was able to show them literally almost every Philly neighborhood. I didn’t think we would fit as much in but we did a lot!

 They all got here Thursday night and on Friday morning we started our adventures in Rittenhouse Square. 

After Rittenhouse Square, we headed down to Reading Terminal Market for a delicious lunch and 4^th Street Famous Cookies (so damn good).

 After a large lunch, we walked up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to run up the Rocky Stairs  lay in the sun at the top of the Rocky Steps before I made them all take my 4:30 spin class.

After a quick recharge in the sun, we made our way to Body Cycle Studio for my class! You know true friends when they take your cycle class on vacation… 

Caught in action...

On Friday night we started at Independence Beer Garden (Hallelujah so happy it’s back open!!), danced at Fado and ended Ubering to Big Ass Slices for some Big Ass Slices of pizza. No pics here because pizza was our priority. Let’s just say my early Saturday morning at work was quite a challenge.

On Saturday when I got off of work, we roamed around the Italian Market for some Philly Cheesesteaks from Geno’s and some cannolis. A true Philly meal. After that we head over to Old City, Society Hill and Race Street Pier. We were totally exhausted after Saturday so we head back to my neighborhood to finish off the night with margaritas and Mexican food at a cute little place near my apartment.

On Sunday we were citied out so we went on a little hike through the Wissahickon Trail…

It was a good ass weekend!! I already miss my girls and I’m so happy they could all make it up to visit :)

XO - Rach

How was your weekend? 

What's your favorite city to visit?

Happy Friday! Sitting writing this post in the Philly airport. I keep realizing things that I love so much about this city and one of the best perks is that not only are there direct flights literally all the time back home to Ft. Myers (makes it easy to catch a plane after work Friday), but the train to get to the airport is the best thing ever. I caught a 3:30 train by a station near work (so easy to get to) and it took me right to my terminal for a whopping $6.50. It took me all of 3 minutes to get from the train and through security. Next time I know to leave later! It's the little things. But really, this in comparison to how expensive it was to get to the airport in NYC last summer is insane. I LOVE IT HERE.

Anyway, I'm going home for a quick weekend to see my sister graduate from Fort Myers High School. I'm excited to go home and see the fam and friends.

This week went by pretty quickly thanks to Memorial Day. Unfortunately there was a bug going around the office, and what seems like all of Philadelphia. I was up all night last night with a fever but luckily shook it off in time to make it to work today.

This week I tried some fun classes with my class pass. On Tuesday night I did a CrossFit class at CrossFit University City. It kicked my butt. We did a 32 minute workout. Every 4 minutes we had to complete a 250 meter run or row (I only rowed twice), 5 power cleans and 10 shoulder to overheads for 8 rounds. My triceps are still so sore from this workout, which I can't really figure out but at least I know they were working hard!

And Wednesday night I did another cycle class at Body Cycle Studio, which was AMAZING. The instructor was so fun to listen to and her playlist was on point. I need to get teaching again!!

Thursday I felt like POOP so I got home from work and passed out and today I am still not feeling great so I'm sitting at the airport drinking orange juice. Next week I'm going to try a couple barre classes, another RowZone class and possibly another cycle or CrossFit class. Loving the variety!

Next weekend when I finally have a free-ish weekend I hope to do some cooking and/or baking. I haven't been taking pictures of any fun meals I've made because I literally haven't made anything exciting. This whole week I pretty much ate the same thing every day. With my new job and a new city, it's easy to spend a little too much money on stupid stuff, so I'm really trying my best to not spend money on things that I don't need. Like, I don't absolutely need fancy juices or chia seeds or expensive coffee drinks or Ben and Jerry's (failing at this one). I could buy two dozen eggs for the price of one Starbucks latte, so those things really add up! Hellloooo adult life. I've been eating a lot of eggs, oatmeal, chicken, lettuce, bacon, apples and TUNA. So much tuna because it's so cheap.

Okay, time to board. Talk soon!

-Rach

Happy Friday everyone! Today should be nice and productive. I did a cycle class this morning, going to get a haircut, working on my group project, going to work and then finally going home later to chill.

How was everyone's week? Yesterday was my last day at my semester-long internship, and we had an intern appreciation breakfast. I had two full plates. I had taught an early morning interval training class and worked out so I was pretty starving!

After that, I finished out my work there, headed to work at the gym before calling it a day. Last night I met a friend and we went to a Gainesville staple - Satchel's Pizza. If you've never been, it is this quirky, off the wall little place with knick knacks every where. There is even an old VW bus that you can eat inside. The pizza is great!

These past couple weeks I've been super relaxed about eating whatever I want just because I have been eating out a lot. I usually don't at all, but I have been trying to fit in my favorite things in Gainesville before I leave - including all the great restaurants. For a smallish town, Gainesville has a lot of really good food! The semester is coming to an end and I feel like I just need to enjoy myself before the real adult life begins. Once I graduate, I will be getting back on the healthy train. Sometimes you just need a little break, ya know?

Anyway, here is a workout based off of the interval training class I taught yesterday! It's really quick and sweaty. As always, rest as needed and take time to cool down!

And with that, have a wonderful Friday!

- Rach