Happy Monday all! Can you guys believe that tomorrow is September? Ugh. Time goes too fast. Way too fast. I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. Mine was great, filled with a lot of my favorite things.

On Friday night Michael and I headed into Center City to go out for a birthday celebration. It was lots of fun and a great start to the weekend. On Saturday morning, being the crazy people that we are, we decided to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to drive to the beach. We wanted to spend ALL day there and had to be early just in case we hit traffic, you know? Rest assured, there is zero traffic from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, NJ on a Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. We got to Brigantine Beach around 7:30, waited for the CVS to open at 8 to get sunscreen, and we were on the beach by 8:15 and stayed until 6. It was PERFECT. Not a cloud in the sky :)

Brigantine Beach is an awesome location if you're anywhere near the Jersey area. It doesn't get too crowded, the sand is super soft, it really looks like a Florida beach AND there's a bar right on the beach. It's pretty perfect!

The full day of sun knocked me out and I got a solid 10 hours of sleep on Saturday night. Woke up Sunday morning ready to tackle my 8 mile run!

My run on Sunday was definitely harder than my 7 miler last weekend, but I keep surprising myself. I seriously thought when I started training for this half marathon that anything more than 5 miles is just going to feel like death, but to be honest, the long runs are my favorite. I think it's mostly because I can sleep in, eat a good breakfast and enjoy the morning. The slow and steady pace is leisurely and although I sweat like a pig, it's just refreshing to run along the river and zone out in my music. I think I'm starting to experience these runner highs.

Next weekend I am going to taper off and do either a 6 or 7 mile run and then the week after I will do 9. I still have a solid 8 weeks before the race, but I am glad I started training earlier because it's giving me confidence that I'll be able to finish the race without dying. Typing about it also helps :)

Now I'm off to work (currently on the train)! I was quite absent from the blog last week so this week I plan to come back strong - I've got a couple recipes on the menu, a workout and ooohh a video! Stay tuned...

XO Rach

What would you like to see more of on this blog? I'm all ears (eyes)!

Happy Monday! How was everyone's weekend? Mine was spent in Ocean City, MD with Michael and some of his family. I was really excited since I had not been before and I was seriously craving some beach time. It's been too long! We arrived on Friday just in time for the beautiful sunset. On Saturday we woke up late, had some eggs and bacon and headed out to the beach around noon. We didn't leave until 7. It was perfect! I don't think I really moved from my beach chair that whole time and that's exactly what I wanted to do. Because Saturday consisted mainly of sitting, I woke up earlier on Sunday morning to get in a run before going to the beach once more. I ended up doing 5 flat, sweaty miles. After refueling with some breakfast, we all headed back down to the beach again for a few hours.

Michael and I wanted to hit the road around 6, so we went for an early dinner at the Crab Bag. It was really fun and really messy. I kind of wish I could eat on a big paper table cloth with my hands all the time. Lady like?

Another highlight of the weekend: finishing this 1,000 piece puzzle. I've decided that I really enjoy puzzles and need to buy some for my apartment. They definitely increase concentration and alertness. I'm all for games that are good for the brain! We've been playing Bananagrams at work when we can't focus and it really does help!

Another random thought - how cute is this romper? I got it from Loft for half off! It's super comfortable and I love that it can easily be dressed up. Find it here.

- Rach

What's your favorite weekend getaway? 

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