Slowly but surely I’m finding the groove, back in to my normal routine.  But no worries – this will only be thrown off again in two weeks when we leave for Mexico – but let’s cross that bridge when we get there! 

Saturday, I had a 2 hour date at the gym – so before I left I made sure to brew a strong cup of coffee, and grab a snack so that I didn’t pass out in class!

I did a muscle conditioning class (it kicks my butt- I LOVE IT), followed up by a spin class.  While I knew I had lunch plans – I still ate as soon as I got home because I was starving!

Quick Pinto Bean & Laughing Cow wrap to tide me over:

with just a “touch” of hot sauce!

At 12:30 – I headed out for lunch with my “dinner girls” – down to La Dolce Vita in Cleveland’s Little Italy.

It was an unseasonably warm day (70 degrees!) so both the weather and the company were delightful!   That being said – I figured “Why not!” – and ordered a class of B.V. Merlot:

For my meal – I decided to split a pizza with Kristin – so I ordered their Lentil Soup as an appetizer:

The soup was very hot, and I discovered little tube shaped noodles at the bottom!

Our meal – was their TOMATO QUATRO FORMAGGI (aka – Four Cheese pizza)

Don’t be fooled – these are 3 tiny pieces of pizza – they are on an appetizer plate.  The combo of the four cheeses was nice, although I wished there could have been more sauce.

To finish everything off – a complimentary fruit plate! (we all went straight for the blackberries!)

While the day and the company were beautiful – the food was just average.  And I say “average” because I could NOT believe how expensive the bill was for the quality/amount of food we got.      It was great to have an afternoon out with the girls, but I don’t think I’ll be going back to La Dolce Vita any time soon.

After we were done eating – we hit up some of the unique bakeries/pastry shops that Little Italy had to offer.   I fell in love with just about everything I saw at the last place we stopped, Presti’s!   The had gorgeous desserts on display:

Amazing looking artisan bread:

Gelato!!!

and a nice bright contemporary decor!

I didn’t end up getting anything there (you know I have a salty tooth) – but next time I have a sweet craving – I think I might just need to drive 20 minutes to hit up Presti’s!

Once we got home, I kept running around – I walked the dog, ran errands, did some work on my laptop, walked the dog again, did laundry, and washed the car!  By the time Mike got home (he spent the WHOLE DAY in the law library ), we were both exhausted so when he suggest fast food for dinner – it wasn’t hard to twist my arm! 

My gourmet dinner – Roast beef and curly fries:

Followed by a late night appetizer of pinto bean nachos:

and “dessert” – Stonyfield Vanilla yogurt & frozen blueberries:

I’m not sure what it’s been this week, but I’ve been insatiably hungry.  If I had to take one guess – it would be that my eating has been so out of whack, and I’ve been eating a lot of “crap”, and I’m pretty sure “crap” doesn’t fill you up like delicious healthy meals.

The good news?  I went and bought $49 worth of delicious healthy groceries at the store today – and I’m READY TO GO this week!

Hope you had a great weekend!