Last night I hosted a dinner party as part of the third Foodbuzz Project Food Blog challenge. We drank wine. We ate kabobs. We ate way more banana pudding than would be advisable.  But what really made this party so special, you ask?

The fact that it was a virtual dinner party!

Using the holy powers of Skype and Almanzo’s supreme techie skills, we were able to channel in both my mom and dad from Savannah as well as our friends Stephen and Morgan all the way from Austin, Texas. Morgan and I planned it so we’d cook the exact same thing and it was almost like they were there!

(Once upon a time, Almanzo rolled around on their living room floor with a kidney stone and they housed us for almost two weeks–we figured we owed them a great meal…plus, we miss them like crazy!)

And guess what? You’re invited, too! Come on in…

(...)
Read the rest of You’re Invited (134 words)

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Post tags: Dinner, dinner party, dinner with friends, friends, Project Food Blog, videos

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Thanks for all the nice comments about ELR’s new look. Y’all sure know how to make a girl feel good! Don’t get too attached though because this layout is only temporary as we work on designing ELR 2.0, which will be launched in a few months. I had to make a switch to a different design because, well, the one I had been using was as old school as they come and was the same one I started blogging with back in 2007!

I dig change.

Thanks for sticking with me through the mass construction of this site. I promise it will be worth the wait! If not, I’ll just send you some cookies. Mm k?

On another note, it’s time to say goodbye.

Rocky’s headed back to college next week and what do we do when someone moves away?

We throw a par-tayyy!

I left the grilling to the boys and instead spent my afternoon doin’ a little of this:

And this

Mmmm love this.

Recipe to come!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2010. | Permalink | 34 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, cupcakes, friends, party

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Hello!

I can’t believe I’m here!!!!!!!!!!

How weird to say goodbye to Florida and the whole east coast….I’ve lived in Florida for the past 17 years and have been on the east coast my entire life. Incredibly excited for this new adventure out west…. Thanks for coming along with me for the ride!

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to my parents yesterday morning…..here’s my dad and I in front of my new car right before heading to the airport!

My parents are packing up my car to the gills this weekend and then on Monday it’s being shipped off to the west coast. Crazy.

I waited until I was on the plane to eat a banana and then later in my flight I tried this new Amazing Grass bar + a honeycrisp apple:

ohmygosh this bar was soooooo good!!!!!! 12 grams of protein and absolutely delicious. Probably one of the best protein bars I’ve tried and I love the simple, easy to read ingredient list. These were just released at Whole Foods so look for them there….seriously delicious.

One of my friends from yoga made me this amaaaaazing mix tape for my journey. Think iron & wine, bon iver, the national, nico stai, tiny vipers and more. Very “chill” airplane music. He also gave me a book of inspiring life quotations by Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist. This one really hit me this morning as I was reading as my flight was taking off

whenever we need

to make a very important decision,

it is best to trust to impulse, to passion,

because reason usually tries

to remove us from our dream,

saying that the time is not yet right.

reason is afraid of defeat,

but intuition enjoys life and its challenges

Isn’t that awesome? I love this little book because I’m a quotation freak.

I made it to San Francisco right on time, changed my clothes and immediately got together with the fabulous BethT, who actually brought me CHAMPAGNE, chocolates, hummus and carrot sticks!!!

At the airport, I ate a veggie burrito the size of my head……..I was sooooooooo hungry!!!!!!

And then Kath and Tina arrived and we were off!!!! First stop to Beth’s house to drop off my whole life in suitcases and then we headed straight to Healdsburg and Michel Schlumberger!

I can’t believe I work here!!!

We totally got spoiled……right when we got there, us four girls were whisked away to taste some totally delicious Michel Schlumberger wines. I loved them all (and there were many!) and we took a total tour of the estate. Seriously one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been in my whole life. I feel like I’m on vacation and have to remind myself that I actually get to wake up and go here every day for work.

On Fridays there’s live music outside so after our tour we just sat, ate some delicious cheese and drank MORE wine!

Loved these cheeses……it was pretty much heaven on earth and everyone was so nice!

And, I got reunited with my Murphy-Goode friends!!!!!!!! It’s just so crazy to be back. Feels like just yesterday we were all meeting for the first time in July.

It’s so funny because now five of us live here out of the original top ten. Slowly but surely we are all trickling back in….I guess Sonoma does that to you; once it gets under you skin you never want to leave! I’m still pinching myself……I CAN’T BELIEVE I LIVE HERE!

As for dinner, we ate at Zin, which was totally fabulous. I love the whole concept of this restaurant—-everything on the menu is seasonal and all the produce is grown on the restaurant’s farm! Since everything looks so good, we just decided to order every one of the appetizers (hehe), split two more bottles of vino and I ordered a bowl of the butternut squash apple soup.

Everything was SO GOOD! I was so busy enjoying it all and catching up with friends that I really didn’t shoot as many food pictures as I should have….bad food blogger! Those little rolls are “figs in a blanket”, basically figs wrapped up in puff pastry……melted in my mouth.

And my soup, with lemon creme fraiche and bacon. This was divine. Y’all will have to refer to Kath and Tina’s blogs for more food pictures…they were much better at photo taking last night…!

At about 10:15 after all this delicious food and wine, we started to crash. Fast. What a whirlwind day!! The alarm this morning went off at 5:50 and we raced to get ready, head back to SF and make it to BlogHer Food 09 on time. Grabbed some quick breakfast at the hotel before jumping back in the car.

Banana, yogurt, hard boiled egg and peanut butter toast. I should have drank more water….feeling very dehydrated right now!

Finally……BlogHer Food 09!!!!!!!!

This is my first BlogHer conference and I am super impressed so far…..everything is so nice (obviously, since it’s at the St.Regis!) and I’m about to listen to my first session on developing your visual voice. Later, I’m attending a session on photography that I’m really excited about as well! Fun!

I ate a big plate of fresh fruit first thing:

Got to jet for the time being….laptop is about to die! Full BlogHer recap later!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 40 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Breakfast, dessert, Dinner, dinner out, friends, Lunch, musings, Snack, traveling, wine

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Hey y’all!!!

Sorry for being gone for so long but the past 24 hours has been SO busy and I haven’t gotten a chance to even crack open my laptop. I had SUCH a wonderful time though with my girlfriends at Deeper Still. Beth Moore was absolutely fantastic and so were Priscilla and Kay. It was awesome because each of the three of us felt like we got something very particular and special out of a certain talk that seemed just destined for our ears this weekend. I’m so thankful for my friends and for getting to attend such a positive event!

Of course we ate some awesome food as well!

There was a plethora of coffee:

Yesterday’s dinner was at Dandelion.…one of my very favorite Orlando veggie places that I used to frequent when I lived there. Naturally though, I got lost and Caitlin had to talk me through downtown Orlando! When we finally got there, I had a bowl of the veggie chili and one of these summer rolls—

The summer rolls are stuffed with all sorts of shredded veggies and served with some sort of almond butter ginger dipping sauce. Delicious!

Another awesome perk of the little trip was that, unknowingly, we scored a suite at The Sheraton! Sarah apparently had points or something and since all three of us girls were crashing in one room, it was so nice to have a little more space. I actually slept better last night than I’ve slept in a really long time. Maybe I just needed to get out of town??!

This morning we woke up and immediately headed to Panera to grab some breakfast that was cheaper than the hotel’s before the conference started again. I got my old school college favorite—a toasted whole grain bagel with low fat cream cheese. And hazelnut coffee. So good.

We say: Eat your bagels!!

There were 10,600 women attending the conference. It was INSANE! And a major estrogen fest. I’m in need of a sports bar or college football or something….haha

And look, Anne, I FOUND JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!

(Anne and I have this humorous ongoing joke about “finding Journey” since when at a bar in Tampa last month the band claimed they didn’t know “Don’t Stop Believing” and we were crushed beyond belief. What band doesn’t know Journey??!)

Oh y’all know how much I would love to go back and see AC DC and Journey in concert on Wednesday night. That would be incredible. And crazy. Anne, road trip?! hahaha

To save some $$, us girls packed our lunches and sat outside at the lake during a break to eat. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat and another fruit strip!

And a few hours later I totally ripped into my bar while Beth was teaching on stage.

+ a Vitamin water!

We decided to scoot out before the panel Q&A because, well, Orlando traffic is totally insane and especially when there are almost 11,000 women trying to get out of a parking garage at once. No thanks. We were SO happy we left a little early and were able to get home quickly.

My mom had dinner waiting for me!

Salad with goddess dressing and homemade tomato basil proscuitto lasagna from a reallyyyy old school Cooking Light issue! I actually went back for seconds because the lasagna was THAT good! Also, I had a small glass of Cabernet. It was lovely.

***

Currently watching some college football with my daddy. I’m just itching to go to a game this season but sadly I don’t think it’s in the cards. I LOVE college football games!

See you in the morning!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dinner, Faith, friends, girls night, Lunch, traveling

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Hello!

How’s your Sunday going?! Mine has been filled with friends and I couldn’t be happier. Church was great this morning…an incredibly powerful message this morning—the podcast should be around Wednesday from that and when it is I will link it here so y’all can have a listen as well! I just love Brian, our pastor, because he is so relatable and down to earth.

I snacked on this bar from my purse midway through the morning—

I haven’t had one of these in forever but had one stashed at the way bottom of my purse for “emergency situations” such as when church goes from 10 am- 1pm. hahaha

Lunch was easy. My mom is out of town right now but before she left she made some awesome pulled chicken in the slow cooker for my dad and I to eat while she was away. I honestly don’t even know what this was or where the recipe came from but when she comes home I’ll make a point to ask..it was good! I filled up an Ezekiel wrap with it + hot sauce!

An apple for dessert!

And then I spent the afternoon outside at the park with some great women from Created. It poured at first but then the sun came out a little and we got a nice walk in!

April’s dog JUMPED OFF THE DOCK!!!!!!! She was about to jump in after him but I was able to shimmy down and grab him out of the water. Poor wet Cosmo!!! I do have to admit though, we all laughed our butts off.

I ate this yummy bar—

And then later, grabbed some pizza with a friend for dinner!

Greek salad to start—

Followed by two slices of veggie pizza perfection!! I haven’t had pizza in FOREVER and boy, was it ever delicious tonight!

So good.

So our neighbor is a HUGE USC fan (I know, gross right?! hehe). He had a big party at his house for the game tonight and all those boys were hootin and hollerin all night long about the big win since they know we are OSU fans over here. So today, the doorbell rings and our neighbor’s girlfriend stands there with a big plate of homemade buckeyes for us!!!!!!!

How’s that for good sportsmanship….or a peace treaty!!!! Y’all, I wish I could tell you how to make these but sadly I have no idea. They are, however, the most amazing thing EVER….chocolate peanut butter to the EXTREME. I had a very large “bite” out of one when I got home from pizza.

***

What are you looking forward to this week? I can’t wait to go to Deeper Still on Friday with Sarah and Jessica!!!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 53 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, dessert, dinner out, friends, Lunch, Snack

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Hello!

Hope your afternoon was great. I chugged down two of these (Amazing Grass Berry SuperFood)—

And one of these (nonfat pumpkin spice latte)—-

And snacked on these—-

While I baked THESE!

These really aren’t good for you at all and I don’t even remember the last time I baked old fashioned brownies like this…. but heck, they are absolutely delicious! Perfect for tailgating, parties and picnics

Double Chocolate Walnut Brownies

1/2 cup flour

4 eggs

4 ounces unsweetened bakers chocolate

1.5 cups walnuts

2 cups sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

2 sticks butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Melt the chocolate and butter together on low heat. Remove from heat and add the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well to thoroughly combine (I use a whisk for this). Fold in the flour, salt, walnuts and chocolate chips gently. Don’t overmix. Spread batter into a prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.

I’d be lying my pants off if I told you I didn’t a) lick the spoon or b) eat massive amounts of “crumbs”

Brownie overload.

Despite eating my body weight in brownie crumbs, I still enjoyed a delicious dinner over at the Created house with my bible study girls this evening. We had delicious chicken, salad and fruit that another girl from church had made and brought over for us—I was so thankful to be a part of it and share a meal and fellowship with these amazing women. It really made my entire day complete. And they LOVED the brownies!!!

Storming outside and I’m ready for my pajamas and bed! Waking up at 5:30 for the big 8 miler.….gahhh wish me luck and pray for my achy left shin! I have strict instructions for my dad to come hunt me down in the car if I don’t return within an hour and a half. Recap in the morning!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dinner, friends, Snack

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Hi guys!

Look who I met today!!

Java! This is Sarah’s new puppy and I fell in love. I can’t wait to get my own someday….so jealous!

Is it just me or does this picture of Sarah look really professional?! Must be the background….or I just rock as a photographer. Obviously its the latter.

Sarah and I had a great time of girl talk/puppy loving. Girlfriends are great. We chatted about puppies, boys, God, wine, food, blogs….I’m so excited to go with her and Jessica to Deeper Still next weekend!!!

This afternoon I snacked on an oikos + cereal—

And made a fantastic dinner!

Totally winged it and made some simple red lentil dal by caramelizing half an onion in olive oil, adding healthy pinches of ginger, cumin seed, garam masala, cayenne pepper, coriander and sea salt and then adding 1/2 cup lentils, 1 can diced tomatoes and 3 cups water. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and it was just maaaarvelous. I made enough for two for yummy leftovers tomorrow!

Served it over a baked sweet potatey with a dollop of plain Oikos and had a salad with goddess dressing on the side.

But…..dessert was even better…………..

Y’all, this is what dreams are made of.

No words. Just love.

***

Loved reading your comments about eating clean! To learn more of my thoughts, check out my latest True/Slant article on the subject.

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 46 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, Dinner, friends, Snack

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Hi!!

Long time no talk but I didn’t get home last night until late and I promptly passed out! Here’s a little recap of the past day!

Yesterday I went to my office, aka Starbucks, and enjoyed another lovely nonfat pumpkin spice latte while writing a True/Slant article on ways to prevent the flu!

For some reason I always am more productive when I work there instead of at my house. I feel like I’m back in college again!

Once home, I dug into a kiwi like it was an apple!

Yes, I do eat the skin of kiwi and I like it! Very fibrous and chewy. Plus, it saves time peeling and slicing.

And then around 6:15, Stacey picked me up for the Created bible study. Guys, I didn’t take pictures of dinner because it seemed like whipping out my camera at such a time was just not appropriate. I hope you can understand! I enjoyed an absolutely delicious meal of homemade chicken tortilla soup with cheddar cheese and those yummy scoops tortilla chips! One of the women also made strawberry shortcake for dessert and it was just wonderful!

The actual study was very…….powerful and REAL. I had a really, really powerful and emotional night and know it was absolutely the right decision that I was there and I plan to go back. Created is a ministry designated to helping these women off the streets, women with addictions, women just getting out of jail, get back on their feet and function again in society, knowing that their true beauty has been “created” in Christ. When they live in the Created house, they have to have been clean for 30 days and want to accept Christ into their hearts to start their lives over. Last night I had the privilege of hanging out with these amazingly strong women and let’s just say it puts a lot of things in perspective. After dinner we studied a passage in Phillipians and talked about different connections we have with people and how this relates back to God. Being in a room with such strong women filled with love is just an empowering experience and totally brought me to my knees.

Afterwards, Stacey and I went out for a glass of wine to chat more. I had a lovely glass of California pinot noir…my fave!

And then this morning………………..da da da DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I RAN 7 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I totally took this picture just to remind myself that I actually did it!)

To start: I really did NOT want to run this morning. I didn’t fall asleep until around midnight and when the alarm went off at 5:30 I reallyyyyy wanted to turn it off and roll back over. So I did. For 30 minutes. I finally arose at 6:00, had a slice of Ezekiel bread with almond butter, preserves and half a banana, and got to taping up my feet. I just want to say that my blisters really have healed! As we all know, blisters mean we have to toughen up and callous our skin so the rubbing of shoes doesn’t affect us anymore. The blisters on my heels were really okay….the one on my sole of my foot sort of hurt but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. The doctor gave me this AWESOME product last week and it totally saved my life!

I wish I could tell you where to buy these reusable gelly pads but I think you can only get them from a doctor. They are amazing! I had to cut them and cover them with moleskin and medical tape (so they wouldn’t shift around), but they really did save my life. I only had to stop once and do a little emergency band-aid surgery at my half-way point and apply another blister pad to the sole of my foot. Note to self: always take band-aids with you on long runs!

I think I finished in pretty good time considering I did stop and sit down on the side of the road at one point to fix my blister pads. I also walked a few times. My shins started aching near the end and when I got home I immediately stretched and iced like it was my job. I actually got really hungry around mile 6 and wished I would have brought a shot block or something but I just sipped my gatorade and pressed onward. Next time!

And then I ATE!!

This is a pineapple Chobani with 1/2 cup Almond Ezekiel cereal, 1/4 cup Udi’s granola, goji berries and blueberries. I INHALED it.

I’m still a little behind in my training because I had to take the past two weeks off really due to blisters but I think I’m going to be okay. This coming up week I’m going to do HILLS and then have an 8 mile run planned for next Saturday. I can’t believe my race is next month!!!!!

On the agenda today is college football with my dad!!!! My two favorite teams are playing—Ohio State and BAMA!!!! I love Saturdays in the fall for this specific reason. Nothing better than relaxing on the couch in jeans and a t-shirt and watching college football. Okay…so I’m secretly a guy….except instead of nachos and dips, I prefer raw almonds and green smoothies.

Time for a snack!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 63 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Breakfast, cardio, dessert, Dinner, Exercise, friends, musings, out, Snack, starbucks

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Holy moly! So sorry for keeping y’all waiting but I’ve seriously been racing around on my feet all day long!! How did your Wednesday go??!

This morning I discovered a new love in my life:

Okay, obviously I know I love pears but this BRIE!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness…..no words! I found these baby bries at Costco yesterday and they are so perfect in every way. I love that they are perfectly portioned (each baby brie is only 70 calories) and they are so, so soft…almost spreadable. Seriously, I am gushing right now about cheese and that’s okay. Trust me. You will thank me later!

After my lovely snack I hit the studio for a 90 minute power vinyasa class. Jen is on vacation so Annie, the owner of the studio, took her place. I love Annie but dang…she really works you! Think SUPER long long poses and tons of core work. My tummy will thank me tomorrow, I’m sure, but today I could definitely feel the burn. Rather than a million sun salutations, we instead worked on 10 minute (well not really but you get the picture) crescent moon poses and deep, deep lunges and arm balances. My muscles were screaming at me!

I had to eat lunch in the car while I ran errands!

May I present an AB&J on Ezekiel bread and grapes. It tasted good but went right though me and not even five minutes later I was starving again. Its totally been one of those bottomless pit days….I just can’t seem to get full no matter what and feel like I’ve eaten everything in sight! You better hide your food!

Not even an hour later: watermelon and chobani!

Surprisingly LOVED the pineapple chobani. Its weird—I love pineapple but don’t really like pineapple flavored foods so I was shocked that I loved this so much. And the watermelon was incredibly sweet…..multiply what you see here by like…..four. haha

I got to meet Jessica for a quick dinner at Panera before bible study tonight! Love this girl!

I also love Panera. I’ve had an aversion to it for the past four years because I went on Panera overload my freshman year of college, but I’m just getting back to it now and its better than ever. In the tiny town of Elon there were two things: walmart and Panera. You can guess where we had all our meals!! I wouldn’t even want to try to count all the asiago cheese bagels that were consumed during my 18th year.

Tonight I had half a mediterranean veggie sandwich and a cup of tomato soup—

I actually told them no bread on the side but they gave it to me anyways so you know I ate it!!!! I have no self control in the bread category. Seriously…Jenna is a bottomless pit today…especially for CARBS!

Bible study: awesome as usual. We had eight wonderful women there tonight and talked about prayer and faith for almost two solid hours. It was a joy!

Lucky for me (or unlucky?), my church is right next door to a frozen yogurt shop….I just had to stop……

This is a swirl of strawberry cheesecake and cake batter with, obviously, rainbow sprinkles. I love sprinkles! Yes, I know I am five years old. Sheesh! For some reason my sweet tooth has just been out of control lately. I’m blaming hormones…as usual.

Time to catch up on emails and bathe myself! See you in the morning for a giveaway!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, Dinner, Exercise, friends, Lunch, Snack, yoga

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Hey hey!

Sorry I’m a little late in posting but as you all know by now, Wednesdays are my busy days….really because my favorite yoga class is smack dab in the middle of the day and everything else is centered around that!

Speaking of yoga, guess what the UPS man brought to ME today??!

A new mat! And this awesome all natural mat spray!!!

It was like Christmas, not gonna lie. The kind people at The Bolder Mat Company sent me a new eco-friendly mat and spray to review on the blog and I am very thankful. It came just in time for me to tote to my noon power vinyasa class and I looooved the pretty color. It made me happy

Here are some things I loved about this mat:

• really pretty color and design
• light and easy to carry (my other mat is SUPER heavy)
• great for traveling

I didn’t like:

• I kept sliding all over the mat because it wasn’t incredibly “sticky” and power yoga = sweaty Jenna

That’s really all! I have a yogi toes mat cover that I religiously use every class on top of my mat so I don’t slide around and you would definitely need that (or something!) if you use this mat. Actually, I had to step out in the middle of class to grab a big towel to cover the mat so I could get grounded! Regardless, I will definitely use this, especially when I travel. I loved the design! The mat spray also was very nice…I have to admit y’all—I don’t disinfect as much as I probably should. Gross, I know. I loved this spray because it was all natural, cruelty-free and smelled pretty. A keeper!

Before class I snacked on this lovely new bar from my sweet Summit swag bag—

I really liked it! It was crunchy, soft and chewy at at the same time and reminded me of a blueberry muffin. I looked at the ingredients and saw it had chia seeds in it! How cool! These bars are made by Pro Bar but unlike Pro Bar, they only have about 160 calories in them, making for a lighter snack option.

When I got home from yoga at 1:45, of course I was almost gnawing my arm off from hunger. That’s definitely the down side of these noon classes….lunch! I dug into my mac & cheese leftovers and had a few random pieces of chicken lunch meat on the side. Plus a big peach. Mmmm

I still felt a little hangry though, so an hour later I made popcorn and had the other half of my grapefruit from this morning

A bunch of you have asked about my new bible study that I’m doing! I’m meeting a group of six awesome women every other Wednesday night to chat and study prayer. We are using this book as a guide:

IT WAS SO GOOD! I rarely eat lasagna, just because its never been my favorite, but this was stellar. I inhaled it. Enough said.

But still had room for a teeny tiny bit (okay a little more than that!) of ice cream when I got home….

Bath time!!!

© Jenna for Eat, Live, Run, 2009. | Permalink | 59 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dessert, dinner out, Exercise, friends, Lunch, musings, Snack, yoga

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