Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice relaxing weekend. My dad and sister were in town this weekend! My sister had a break between summer session at UF and Fall session, so they took a road trip through Charleston and West Virginia on the way up to Philadelphia to bring me my car. We definitely ate well this weekend...

Friday night I took my family around the Chestnut Hill area where I live and we ate dinner at Earth Bread & Brewery . It's a funky little place! They brew their own beer and specialize in flatbreads. It also reminds me of home (Gainesville) a little bit because their menus are placed in old quirky story books, like The Top (#1 favorite restaurant of all time.) We started with a cheese plate and I got the house wine.

Side note: the house wine is a blend and they call it 'draft wine,' meaning that it's kept in a bag inside of a big keg. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was delicious. Smooth and easy to drink. I don't think I could tell the difference between bagged wine and a $150 bottle. Unless of course it's Franzia.

The cheese plate was awesome! Honey, homemade jam, a brie and a goat cheese.

We also tried out an amazing black bean curry dip that I'm going to try to recreate at home. For my dinner, I ordered the Summer Smash flatbread because it sounded so interesting. It had pea pesto, yellow squash, mint, lemon, pine nuts, mozzarella and a honey balsamic glaze. It was incredible! The honey balsamic really made it.

After dinner, we took the train back into center city and realized that the Ben & Jerry's shop was right across the street from the hotel my dad and sister were staying at. The Tonight Dough all the way.

Saturday started on a sweaty note - Julia came to my Super Circuits class at Sweat Fitness! We worked up an appetite. To be quite honest, I felt like all we did for the rest of the day Saturday was eat! We had brunch at Continental Diner and then made our way down to the Italian Market after digesting in Rittenhouse Park. Couldn't go to the Italian Market without getting a cannoli!

Once we made our way back toward the hotel (Dad and sister had to catch the airport train at 5:30) we needed a cold beer and another snack. We ended up at Monk's Cafe. Such an AWESOME bar. They have more than 200 beers on their menu and beer battered chicken fingers. Super dark inside though so no pics, but such a great bar in Philly!

I live for the weekends full of good company and good food. There's nothing better!

- Rach

What was the high light of your weekend?

Last Wednesday I turned 22! It was a pretty low key birthday...in comparison to my 21st, that's for sure! The day was well spent though and I enjoyed every minute of it. I started off with an early morning 3 mile run and it felt HARD. On Sunday late afternoon I managed to run 4 and a half miles easy - running is such a challenge for me in that some days I feel great and some days I'm just questioning myself why I even am doing it because my legs feel like two cement blocks. But on the days that I feel great, I am motivated to just keep pushing through! Anyway, I sweat a ridiculous amount and when I got back to the apartment, Michael had pancakes waiting for me (AWWW) so nice.

I decided to actually look a little nice on my birthday...I'm lucky because I really do get to wear whatever I want to work, but birthdays only happen once a year!

When I got to work I was surprised with lots of love! My c0-workers got me a spiralizer, muffin tin and a couple really cozy t-shirts. They already know me so well!

After work I went out with a few of my co-workers and friends to a couple different bars around work for SIPS, which is a city-wide happy hour that only happens on Wednesdays.

Michael picked me up around 8 and surprised me with a dinner at Talula's Garden, a place I've been DYING to go to ever since I moved up here. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately I had had a few drinks, I was very hungry and enjoying the evening so I didn't want to take out my phone to get pictures, but I did snap one of the beautiful garden we ate in. It's right across the street from Washington Square Park and it's a heavenly little spot.

We ordered an incredible cheese plate. I am STILL thinking about it, yet I cannot remember any of the cheeses that were actually on it! For my dinner I ordered the rainbow trout fish which was served over a crispy potato pancake along with roasted asparagus and a lemon cream sauce. I cleaned the plate. Talula's Garden is such a nice dining experience -  I definitely would recommend it to anyone who wants to have a beautiful meal in Philadelphia.

It was a great birthday! It ended with an even better weekend at the beach in Ocean City, MD! Details to come :)

- Rach

Do you have a favorite restaurant for your birthday? 

Good morning! I have a recipe to share with you along with some more weekend pics and a workout. Last night I came home from work and felt inspired to make a quick grab and go snack. I eyeballed a lot of this recipe so these are very rough measurements!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp rolled oats
• Roughly 1 cup almond butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp coconut flakes
• Water - as needed for consistency

Directions:

• Mix everything together besides water
• Add in water until mixture can easily be rolled into balls without falling apart

This is a super easy snack to make to have on hand and perfect for before or after a workout. I ate one after my early morning workout this morning. I tried a new gym only a couple blocks away from our new apartment. I wasn't feeling very creative in making up my own workout so I did this workout from one of my favorite bloggers, Jen at peanutbutterrunner.com. I switched the chest flies to pushups and added in 45 seconds of a cardio exercise after each round (burpees, skaters and jumping jacks.)

When I can get myself out of bed real early, I like to workout before hopping on the train to work because it gives me the freedom to come home and relax after work.

Before I go I wanted to share a couple more photos from last weekend. On Sunday we had brunch at Toast and it was delicious! I ordered the smoked salmon egg toasts. Such a perfect brunch meal. Michael ordered banana french toast and an egg sandwich. His french toast was definitely the best.

I also finally found a winter coat to help me survive when it gets cold...

In all seriousness though this is a SUPER warm down jacket that I got at Burlington for such a good price. And with that I'll leave you with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y3815zqDHQ

- Rach