fact and opinion

Definitions:

Fact: something that is true; reality; something that exists

Opinion: a personal view, attitude, or appraisal

Fact: I have spent 31 hours in the car over the last 4 days, and I have driven 1910.23 miles on my road trip to Savannah.

Opinion: That is way too long to be in the car over the course of 4 days.

Fact: The Monteagle grade mountain range is en route to Savannah.





Fact: Mommasita attempted to take a picture with the mountains behind me. Epic fail.





Opinion: The mountains in Tennessee are the most stunning portion of the drive.






Fact: Coffee is a caffeinated beverage.




Opinion: Coffee is most enjoyed after driving from Chicago to Savannah straight through the night.





Fact: I brought all of my daily essential eats with me on my trip.





Opinion: Although this was a HIGHLY reccomended call on my part (especially if you have allergies, food intolerances), oatmeal is most enjoyed at home reading blogs instead of in a hotel lobby.



Fact: This almond milk comes in juice box size.




Opinion: While great for traveling, it was much too sweet for my liking.





Fact: Justin's nut butters come in fun squeeze pack sizes

Opinion: Read the caution statement above - I agree.

Fact: Cashews and raisins are healthful food choices.

Opinion: It is okay to have gone through both of these bags within four days.

Fact: The Old Savannah Cotton Exchange building was completed in 1887 and was designed by William Gibbons Preston

Opinion: I think many pirates fell down these steep paths.

Fact: Bay Street is located along the river and was a marketplace for many merchants in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Opinion: Those cobblestone roads must have hurt riding in a carraige.

Fact: Fiddler's Crabhouse is located along the river on Bay Street in Savannah.

Opinion: It is delicious.

Fact: I ate shrimp on Saturday (::gasp::!! - sidenote: the only reason I am a "vegetarian" is because I refuse to eat factory farmed meat. For more information about factory farmed meat, the book Eating Animals is a great book to read. This shrimp was freshly caught, which I felt much better about.)

Fact: A traditional low country boil includes shrimp and sausage, boiled potatoes, cabbage, and corn.

Opinion: My dinner was better than the original.

Fact: There is a store on Bay Street called The Peanut Shoppe, which is stocked with many different kinds of nuts.

Opinion: If I would have eaten one more "sample", I would have been accused of stealing. This store ROCKS!!

Fact: The sidewalk is made up of oyster shells.

Opinion: The sunset on Saturday night was beautiful, despite the fact there were no fireworks (the newspaper said there was!) that night.

Fact: My trip was short lived in Savannah.

Opinion: People in the south move at a much slower pace than my Chicagoan personality would like to allow.

Fact: We retrieved BIL's (brother in law) children in Savannah.

Opinion: Everything takes 3 times as long with kids in tow.

cutie patooties

Fact: Melissa at For the Love of Health is having a giveaway that ends July 11th!

Opinion: The Lasenza headband and workout socks are by far the cutest things EVER and I really hope I am a winner winner chicken dinner!

Fact: I have not been able to read blogs for the past couple of days.

Opinion: I missed the blog world.

xoxo - time to catch up and then head to bed!!

Question: What is one fact and opinion message from your holiday weekend?

day o' fun

Since we last saw each other, I had the greatest day!!!!

First up, farmers market with madre -

blueberries, peppers, garlic

zucchini, carrots, asparagus, cheese (hiding behind the carrots), more garlic shot

We then went on what we thought would be a short errand trip to the flooring store to get more underlayment for the floor at my house. We ended up going to a flea market (where I saw FMIL and GF (future grandma)), then we went to the flooring store, went to Potbelly's for salads (yum!), and dropped some stuff off at my house. We then went to Starbuck's where I got an excellent iced soy coffee, which I lazily sipped laying outside in the grass reading a book.

Perfection.

Afternoon snack

I stopped by my house again later to check on FH's progress with the floors. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the entire living room was almost done! Needless to say, I was overjoyed! It's starting to look like a real house!

"Take a picture of me standing on our new floor"

jump shot 1 - epic fail.

there we go (by the way, this was like 10 shots later. FH was laughing very hard at me.)

my official "job" - stepping on the planks while he pounded them in place!

Dinner was delicious - zucchini pancakes, broccoli, and sauteed mushrooms. Recipe to follow this post!

mess.

I don't like cleaning messes. I like making them.

Off for some r&r with FH after I post that recipe! Have a great night!

I am apologizing in advance... I have almost no eats pictures today!

This morning I slept in until 7:30 - that is super late for me. The only reason why I even woke up is because the lovely fiance called and woke me up. I was glad though because I hate feeling like my day is wasted. I went to make breakfast - low and behold, my camera was definitely dead. Perfect. You're not missing much though because it was standard peanut butter banana oats.

After my camera charged up, I tended to my "garden"

basil plant on the left - grape tomato plant on the right

Someday I am going to have a real garden instead of having to grow these in planters on the back deck. That is my goal for next summer! I will have to do a lot of reading on gardening though... I have been known to kill plants before.

I decided to go for a run around the new town this morning. I had to bring John to the house to get his other truck, so I figured I would explore around there. It was a great run, but really really hot! I am also used to running on flat surfaces. Our new town is pretty hilly, which made for a hard run. I always love running in new places though. I found a great trail along the canal in the downtown area. I have a feeling a lot of my long runs will be done there in the future.

Speaking of long runs, I really want to run a Disney race in the next year. I am thinking either the half marathon in January or the disney princess half marathon in February - I really want to do one of these, but it will depend on if I can manage to squeeze in a few vacation days during the school year. I think the Disney Princess one would be so much fun! I watched the video on it. I just LOVE Disney World. Have you, or anyone you know, run in a Disney race before? If so, what was their experience?

pre-run picture


4.85 miles later - not such a great pace, just under 10 minutes, but I wasn't used to those hills!

nice and shweaty :)

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing what I do best....

Eating (great restaurant!)

snacking... only eat picture of the day.

and SHOPPING!

I love pottery barn - if my house looks like a pottery barn magazine, I will have reached my goal.

New placemats - which John dubbed as "grandma placemats"

a water pitcher and fruit basket tier!

Would you like to know the most fantastic part of the deal? I didn't have to pay for a thing! Okay, well in reality I did, but with gift cards! I also went into Starbuck's to grab a drink before shopping, and someone picked up the tab! No joke - this has never happened to me before. Two nice gentlemen paid for my drink. Now, whether they were doing it out of the kindness of their hearts or to try and pick me up is another story, but I still got free coffee!

What is your favorite thing to shop for?

Off to go catch up with some blogs and do some laundry - fun night!