Gooood morning – happy Monday! 8)

Umm…I went to bed at 8:30 last night! I had gone for a 4 mile run in the B-rutal heat yesterday afternoon, which totally wiped me out. I asked Ben if it was legal to go to bed at 8 and, after raising his eyebrows to the sun still high in the sky, I vowed to make it at least one half hour more. Which I did…barely!

The good news is that I woke up totally refreshed and ready to face the day. My Mom and I went on our morning walk with the sun rising in the East and the storm clouds and lightening chasing us from the West. We made it back just before the clouds opened up and it started pouring!

Afterwards I made myself light and refreshing breakfast: Greek Yogurt Fruit Bowl!

In the mix:

• Raspberry Chobani Yogurt
• Banana
• Blueberries
• Sliced almonds

I have been eating TONS of Chobani Greek Yogurt lately, and here’s why:

1. It’s thick and decadent – a real treat.

2. With 14 grams of protein per serving, it does a great job at keeping me full.

3. I’ve had a ton of coupons, so they’ve been relatively inexpensive!

Have you tried Greek Yogurt? What are your favorite brands/flavors?

I packed the freshness for lunch today.

A HUGE Veggie Salad!

In the mix:

• Mixed greens
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Roma tomato
• Carrot
• Broccoli
• Pickles

Pickles are my secret weapon in this salad. Tons of veggies, while good for the soul, aren’t too terribly flavorful, so the pickles really zest the whole thing up!

I’ve also got some fresh fruit salad, leftover from lunch at my parents house yesterday. Told you – too wiped to even blog!!

Snappy grapes, flavorful blueberries, tropical pineapple, and sweet cantaloupe.

Plus a min-min.

What a haul!

In other news,

It’s August.

I feel like I was just watching the 4th of July fireworks at the capital! It’s bittersweet though, because although the summer is 2/3 over, there is exactly one month between now and the time Ben and I leave for our dream trip to Italy!

We’ve barely planned – just talked about our must see items, which include:

• An Italian soccer match (Ben)
• Trevi Fountain & Spanish Steps (me)
• Mass in Vatican City (Ben)
• Museums & Sistene Chapel (both)
• Gelato (both)
• Pasta (both)
• Colosseum (me)
• 1-day tour of wine country (me)
• Cliff diving in the Amalfi coast (me)
• Aimless wandering (both)

Clearly I’m the high maintenance one in the group.

Really though, our theme for the trip is, we’ll never be able to see all Rome and the Amalfi Coast in 10 days, so we’re not going to try. We’re just trying to pick out our “must see” items and just have fun with the rest of our time in Italy! That will be hard for me (the planner) but hopefully Ben (the non-planner) will be able to reign me in.

Time to get this party started – have a wonderful Monday!!

~~~~~

Are you a vacation planner or do you enjoy flying by the seat of your pants? Where do you get your ideas on what to do while you’re on vacation?

ps, sorry to you RSS readers- I accidentally hit publish instead of preview this morning!