Hey friends! Matt and I stuck around town this past weekend, and our adventures had one main theme: be outside as much as possible!
I kicked off the outdoorsy-ness on Friday by biking over to Edge Yoga for a noon yoga class with Heather for a nice break in the workday. Our car was getting its oil changed at the shop, so I figured I’d dust off my commuter bike and get there that way instead. Success! Great class and I always forget how much I enjoy biking as my transportation – must do it more often!
As for Friday night, I met back up with Heather, this time with our gentlemen, to kick off the weekend properly with some adult beverages and nachos at Screwtop Wine Bar in Arlington. Matt and I both got stuck working later than we thought we would and missed happy hour, but luckily we made it just as the nachos arrived. Whew – perfect timing! 😉
I had a Greek salad to round out my meal (those nachos are so filling, especially with the pulled pork!) – delicious!
On Saturday morning, I was excited to meet my track buddies for a group run! I always really miss these weekend run dates when we’re out of town, and since I’d been out of town the past 4 weekends in a row it had been way too long since I joined the gang!
Perfect morning for a run – it felt so good to be back out there in my favorite city and chatting away with my running buddies!
We did our favorite big bridge loop, which starts in Georgetown at the waterfront, takes us along the water and then down Hains Point, over the bridge by the tidal basin, and back along the Mt. Vernon Trail to the Key Bridge.
We got faster and faster as we ran, and I ended up finishing out the last few miles of the run with my buddy Sokphal – she always challenges me to push it on pace, which is hard but also a good thing. 🙂
Just over 6 miles, check! Great average overall pace for me for a weekend run, too!
The others went on to run more miles; my friend Paul and I were done, though, so we headed over to the waterfront for stretching and running action shots, of course. He’s a good sport about being my photographer. 🙂
After the run, I drank some chocolate milk in the car (don’t wait too long to refuel, friends!) and headed to the grocery store on the way back for provisions. When I got home, Matt and I made a brunch feast – pancakes (using our new fave Simple Mills mix) + bacon + scrambled eggs. The pancakes had some frozen wild blueberries stirred into the batter which was a delicious addition, and I added some maple syrup to the mix after taking this photo. 🙂
After cleaning up and doing some stuff around the house, Matt and I headed out for our big adventure of the day: a triple date group hike with our friends Kathleen, Zach, Sarah, and Jochem. (The same Sarah whose bachelorette Kathleen and I were at last weekend in Charleston – their wedding is in 3 weeks!)
We met up over at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve; it was packed but luckily they have enough trails that the trails themselves weren’t crowded.
Love these ladies! We had the best time out on the trails, as always. And yes, that’s a makeshift baby carrier made using sweatshirts because they forgot their baby bjorn. We were impressed with how well the makeshift one worked!
After hiking, we tried to hit up a beer garden but it was packed, so instead Matt and I invited everyone back to our place to enjoy our deck! We picked up some beer on the way and luckily Matt and I already had a bunch of crackers and cheese (Cabot, of course!) on hand to throw together a quick spread for everyone to snack on. 🙂 I had a couple of these Southern Tier ginger beers – not super gingery, but really delicious!
After everyone headed out, I whipped up a quick dinner for us – a sheet pan Asian-inspired salmon with veggies that I’ll be sharing the recipe for later this week! It was SO good – and really fast and easy to clean up after since you only use the one pan. Delicious, too – this will definitely be added to the rotation! Normally I’d serve this over rice or quinoa but since we’d just had a bunch of cheese, crackers, and beer, just the salmon and veggies was perfect to round out our evening. 🙂
I was in bed with a book by 9 p.m. – no shame. I love being social all day but after dinner I turn into an introvert and want to read in bed and have quiet time. 🙂 I’m re-reading one of my favorite books, Memoirs of a Geisha. So good – hard to put it down even though I’ve read it many times before!
As for yesterday, Matt and I slept in and had a breakfast of leftover pancakes and fried eggs. I spent the rest of the morning doing some work (I knew I wanted to take Monday afternoon off so needed to get ahead!) before heading out around noon for a bike ride with Matt and our friends Shane, Matt, and Matt’s girlfriend Christine!
We biked from Arlington out to Vienna via the Custis Trail and the W&OD Trail. Once in Vienna, we stopped at the Whole Foods right on the trail for a late lunch! I was in the mood for dinner-ish stuff randomly so I went for chicken, sweet potatoes, and veggies (string beans, roasted beets, and raw red pepper).
Then we biked back! It was beautiful out there – had been way too long since we all went biking together!
We all came back to our place and hung out on the deck for a bit, then after everyone left Matt and I decided BBQ was in order for dinner. Rockland’s BBQ it was! Love this place. I went for 1/4 lb. of their chopped pork with baked beans and a cucumber mint salad. Delicious!
Matt has the day off work today for President’s Day; I’m working a bit this morning but looking forward to a fun late morning/afternoon off. 🙂
Have a great day guys! Anyone else get in some fun outdoorsy adventures this weekend?
p.s. If you’re a fellow RD or health professional looking to grow your business, get more clients, or increase your visibility, I’m participating in a FREE live Q&A panel on March 14 at 4 p.m. EST. Fellow RDs and I will be sharing tips and lessons learned for growing our businesses, both in person and online. It’s completely free and I hope you’ll join us! 🙂 It will be recorded if you can’t make the live event, so please go ahead and sign up even if you aren’t free during that timeframe!
