Washington, DC Adventures Continued

Going back to work today was not easy. I had 82 emails when I logged on this morning and immediately started to get stressed. Instead of letting this stress ruin my evening I went on a great run instead!

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I ran for 46 minutes and covered 4.5 miles which isn’t bad considering I had a few lights between me and the West Side Highway.  Due to the absolutely gorgeous weather this evening I passed more runners, walkers, and boot campers than normal. I felt great when I finished my run even though I don’t normally run in the evening. I think it was the perfect stress release after a long day!

I’m already looking forward to Wednesday night’s run club because I’ll finally be able to keep track of my pace. Yup, you read it right. I finally ordered a Garmin Forerunner 305! I found it on Walmart.com for less than $150 and after a few helpful tweets, decided to take the plunge. Hopefully this will be a worthy investment as I start my marathon training!

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One of the reasons that today was so stressful was due to my exhaustion. Yesterday was an amazing day with some great gals but by the time I crashed at midnight last night I was a tired gal.

Yesterday morning, our lovely hostess treated us to a yogurt and fruit buffet! I loved this cute idea and the wide array of fruits Jacquie featured.

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Blog Pictures 2010 391  Isn’t her kitchen adorable? Look at that heavy duty mixer!Blog Pictures 2010 389  Meghann and I split 1/2 of a scone and enjoyed it in our fruit and yogurt. These were more moist than any scone I’d ever had and reminded me more of a muffin than scone due to the cheese. Blog Pictures 2010 390       The fruit was all fresh from the Farmer’s Market and included apricots, strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries, cherries, kiwi, apples, and bananas!

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We walked from Jacquie’s house all the way to the Dupont Farmer’s Market. Along the way we saw some gorgeous parks, Embassy Row, and beautiful rod iron!

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Three smiling gals loving every second of the Dupont Farmers Market!IMG_8891.JPG

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This dog was smart and found some shade. By the end of our Farmer’s Market explorations we were all drenched! It was soo hot on Sunday!

At 11 we were rescued from the heat by the Blogger Brunch at Scion.

Blog Pictures 2010 417 Blog Pictures 2010 418 I’ve never seen a restaurant that features a FREE fresh fruit bar for diners to enjoy before their meal!Blog Pictures 2010 419       Almost everyone ordered the make your own omelets. I enjoyed egg whites, spinach, tomato, mushrooms, onions, and black bean egg white omelet with dry wheat toast. It was delicious and they did a great job chopping the vegetables finely enough to mix perfectly inside the egg whites. Blog Pictures 2010 421  I had a great time getting to know the DC area bloggers and readers. Who can’t use a few more friends and readers especially in a great city like DC?Blog Pictures 2010 422 After brunch we did lots of this as we headed towards the Lincoln Memorial. We all agreed that a trip to DC without at least one memorial wouldn’t be acceptable. Luckily we were only about 1.5 miles from the memorial. Too bad the sidewalk suddenly ended and we were dodging parking meters. 🙁Blog Pictures 2010 423 Blog Pictures 2010 424 Blog Pictures 2010 425 Blog Pictures 2010 426        Megh ann was elated to see at least one monument during her quick trip!Blog Pictures 2010 428After our monument visit we headed back to Jacquie’s apartment to grab our stuff and head towards the airport and the Bolt Bus. Meghann had an evening flight down to Orlando while I had to catch the Bolt Bus back to NYC. We had a great time together in DC and are so thankful for Jacquie’s hospitality!

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This is never a good thing to see on the highway. The red lights of traffic!

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After 4 hours sitting still on the Bolt Bus I was ecstatic to see this sign!

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Scrumptious Vegan Coconut Macaroons

Yesterday I had the great honor to meet and get to know Meghann and a number of wonderful fellow NYC bloggers through the NYRR Gridiron 4M race and blogger brunch. This was the perfect excuse to use my KitchenAid mixer that we received as a  wedding gift. I assumed that there would be a mixed bag at the brunch in regards to food preferences (vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, etc). Therefore, I decided to experiment with vegan baking and agave. After navigating a few different sites and asking Bo for his opinion I opted for macaroons. I had to alter the recipes a bit as I didn’t have white flour and ran short on vanilla. But, based on the feedback Heather and Dori have posted, I think they were a great success. I hope you enjoy these as much as Bo did! This recipe is super easy to double or even triple as I did for Sunday’s occasion.

Scrumptious Vegan Coconut Macaroons
1 1/2 cups finely shredded UNSWEETENED coconut

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
                                                                                     1/4 cup agave nectar
                                                                                     1/2 cup water
                                                                                      1 tsp Vanilla extract
                                                                                     1/2 tsp Almond extract
Directions
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a large measuring cup, then add to dry and mix well. Use your hands to shape into Tbsp size balls and place on a non-stick cookie sheet or parchment paper with spray. Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes or till golden brown. The cookies will be slightly crispy out of the oven and will soften after cooling. Serves 12 hungry friends:)
Sorry for the short post tonight but i’m vegging in bed with a bad headache and hitting the sack early!

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