Curious George

I was in the mood for cold cereal this morning. I made a bowl of 1 C Barbara's PB Puffins cereal with 1/2 C skim milk. I added 1/2 of a sliced banana and blueberries (I was ecstatic to find blueberries in the refrigerator. They are one of my favorite fruits, and I haven't had them in forever.) and sprinkled granola on top.

After breakfast, I studied for the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and then went to the gym with my mom. I did the elliptical for 30 minutes, did the bike for 20 minutes, and cooled down with some stretching and ab work. I rehydrated with a Sobe Life Water. I love that they are naturally sweetened, and I drink one every day. My ipod playlist featured music from Florence + the Machine, Kings of Leon, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Mumford & Sons. My dad suggested that we go to a new Italian restaurant that he tried last week called Pianeta 3 for lunch. I am currently taking my second Italian class right now and am fascinated with Italian words. Pianeta means planet in Italian. I hadn't had any coffee yet, so I ordered some at lunch.

I ordered a slice of pizza and a side salad for lunch.

The salad came with a side of sun-dried tomato vinaigrette!

The pizza had a base of basil pesto and had mozzarella and feta cheese on top. The pizza was also covered with a variety of veggies, including artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, and arugula. I enjoyed getting to try out a new restaurant, and I will definitely be back! After lunch, my parents wanted to take me out for a Valentine's treat, so we went to Dreamcake's for a cupcake.

My parents shared a Sea Salt and Caramel Mocha cupcake and a mini Chocolate cupcake. Per recommendation, I ordered a Curious George cupcake, which is banana cake with peanut butter icing. I have never had a cupcake like this before, and I loved the combination of flavors.

I am a big advocate of the Operation Beautiful Movement, so I loved seeing this written on the outside of an ice cream shop window today.

I am not sure if it was linked to Operation Beautiful, but it still made me happy. After eating cupcakes, I headed back to Tuscaloosa. I went straight to Chloe's Cup, a quaint little coffee shop that serves organic and fair trade coffee and teas and homemade soups and sandwiches. They have a great atmosphere, and there is usually a pretty eclectic crowd. Can you see why I love it so much? I have been studying all afternoon and catching up on some other schoolwork. I have been wanting to try the food at Chloe's Cup, so I stopped for a dinner break. I got half of a chicken salad sandwich and black bean soup. I can honestly say this was the best black bean soup I've ever had. It was very hearty and filling! I'm a tough critic of chicken salad, and I really liked this recipe. The sandwich was served on whole-wheat bread.

This weekend hasn't been too eventful for me, but I have a pretty stressful week ahead with taking the GRE on Tuesday. This is my last chance to take it before applying to graduate school, and I really want to do well on it. Hope you all have a fun Saturday night!