a perfect sunday

Today just might end up being the perfect Sunday.


This photo was not taken from today - but does quite a good job at representing the weather, plus I think it is a fantastic photo.

The sun is shining (okay...it is a little cold and windy, but the sun, the SUN is out!).

And Nic and I had just the right amount of activities planned in the morning leaving the rest of the afternoon free to do yard work, bake, clean, whatever:

Breakfast at Fair Grounds Coffee House in Iowa City:


Gluten free espresso chocolate chip biscotti and coffee


Banana bread waffle - simple but oh so delicious


Grilled tempeh - ummm...not such a fan


Nic's vegan breakfast burrito and latte


I was proud of him for taking a chance on ordering this, but we both declared we are not tofu or tempeh people...

Spectated and cheered on a friend at the Old Capitol Criterium:









Warmed up with some more coffee and scones at the Java House:


I love that they brew each cup of coffee as you order it! I've never seen these brew stations until this morning.


Cranberry citrus scone - stole a few bites from Nic, but it was a little too buttery for me


I absolutely love Iowa City!


I think we are both going to become full time students and move here - Maddie, will you still claim us as family if we become Hawkeyes??

Made a quick trip to Target and snagged some good deals on clothes and had an extremely difficult time picking out a 1st communion card for our friend's son. We ended up going with a fun 'congratulations' card instead of a religious card.

Had lunch at said friend's house.

And now the rest of the afternoon is free!! Yipppeee! I think I am going to spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen whipping up some fun creations.

Happy Sunday!

coffee and cupcake runner

I am absolutely loving my long runs lately.  Today's 18 miler left me with a feeling of great confidence that the Fargo Marathon will be a breeze.

Ha. We'll see if that happens!

Maybe these long runs have felt amazing because I am purposely making sure I do start out too fast and keep my pace at a moderate level instead of trying to run at marathon pace.

Here are the stats from today's run:

mile 1 - 8:50
mile 2 - 9:10
mile 3 - 9:23
mile 4 - 9:24
mile 5 - 9:23
mile 6 - 9:14
mile 7 - 10:36 (ate two dates)
mile 8 - 9:20
mile 9 - 9:10
mile 10 - 9:15
mile 11 - 9:21
mile 12 - 10:50 (ate one Gu)
mile 13 - 9:09 <------quick break at the dog park to say hello to Maia and Nic!
mile 14 - 9:20
mile 15 - 8:55
mile 16 - 10:49 (ate one Gu)
mile 17 - 9:15
mile 18 - 9:08
icing - 8:38 pace

Total distance - 18.35 miles
Total time - 2:53:37
Average pace - 9:28

Highlights from today's run - At mile 14 I was running on a trail behind someone's house and a bunch of people were outside drinking/BBQing. An older guy was running in place on the path waiting for me to pass and ran with me for a few steps.  I told him I had 4 miles left and he waved me off.  He thought he was pretty hilarious.

I circled back by the house at mile 16 and he did it again, this time with a kid at his side. The whole group thought they were pretty entertaining. I let him know I only had two miles left. "Of how many?" he asked. 18. He fell to the ground and yelled out "You go girl!" as I left him in my dust.

Nic and I promptly prepared lunch when I got home and were discussing work. I randomly got a craving for a cupcake and iced coffee and searched for vegan bakeries in Iowa City. Voila. Within 10 minutes we were in the car heading north.

Okay...so we needed to go to Petco to pick up some food for the pets, but it maybe could have waited until tomorrow.

I really wanted a cupcake and iced coffee.

Like really.

18 miles deserves a cupcake + coffee.

Hey - whatever motivates you, right? (Even if it is chicken nuggets...)

Fair Grounds Coffee House did not disappoint.  They had a nice variety of vegan bakery items and a full  vegetarian/vegan menu. I was glued to the bakery case trying to decide what kind of cupcake I was going to get, so did not spend too much time looking through the options for breakfast, lunch and dinner.



I only had one thing on my mind.

Nic and I both picked out a cupcake and shared bites of each.

For him:



A carrot cake cupcake with vegan cream cheese frosting. YUM. This was our favorite of the two.

For her:



Peanut butter chocolate cupcake. Another winner - and it totally scored bonus points for having two layers of frosting!



We also got a hazelnut latte to share.



We already have plans to head up to Fair Grounds again next Sunday to enjoy a feast of cupcakes, coffee and maybe some real food after my 20 miler.

We came home a few hours later and I immediately got to work on dinner. Pizza.  Pretty epic pizza. Alas, we have an early wake up call tomorrow - so I will have to share it with you later.

We are heading up to Minnesota to have Easter lunch with my dad's family. I whipped up dessert to bring along.  Let's hope they are all willing to sample a huge kitchen experiment...

Here's a sneak peak:



Happy Easter!