Is it freezing cold where you live? It’s great to have an extended weekend (shout out to President’s Day!), but when the weather is at record lows, it makes things a little bit miserable! I think the groundhog lied to us in the Northeast!
I’m participating in the Weekly Wrap hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippi Piddlin! It’s a great way to get to know other bloggers. I’m sure many of us will be sharing a recap of our Valentine’s Day!
[bctt tweet=”How was your Valentine’s Day? Time for the #weeklywrap! “]
Valentine’s Celebrations
Bret and I have been lucky the past couple of years that Valentine’s Day has fallen around the weekend. Last Friday marked the 4 year anniversary of our very first date. Time flies!
We usually go out of town for the weekend but this year we kept it local. We went to dinner at a great place in Center City called Bud & Marilyn’s. We had their famous cheese curds to start (they were fantastic), I got the meatloaf, and Bret had the fish fry. We ended the meal with a giant cake for dessert. The food was excellent!
After dinner, I encouraged Bret to go to Winterfest where he could ice skate for the very first time. Thankfully, he was on board! I actually haven’t hit the ice since I was in high school, so I’ve been dying to go for a long time. I was a little rusty at first, but I was able to help Bret tackle the ice. He improved pretty quickly, so hopefully we’ll be able to go back!
Winterfest is great because they have arcade games (we love Skee-Ball), lodging areas to hang out, fire pits, and plenty of food and beverages to buy. It was the perfect way to end our date.
ZOOMA Run Love Challenge
Bret and I faced the cold and windy weather so that I could tackle the ZOOMA Run Love 10K on Saturday morning. I’ll be sharing my full race recap tomorrow, but spoiler alert – I didn’t finish in under an hour. It was rough at points, but as always, Bret helped pushed me through.
On another note, Bret and I were featured in an article on Girls Gone Sporty! I am a GGS Ambassador and was happy to contribute to a piece on “Swolemates”, couples who work out together. I’d love if you would check it out!
First Few Days of Lent: Checking In
I’m happy to share that I am still going strong these first few days of Lent – I haven’t had a drop of alcohol! But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few challenges…
Wednesday night we went out to eat after house hunting in our prospective neighborhood. The place is a brewery. I have never eaten there without having a beer, and I was going to just drink water, but my meal felt incomplete. I ended up getting a root beer to go with the flatbread.
For Friday’s Valentine festivities, I already knew that Bud & Marilyn’s serve mocktails, so I eagerly selected the Couple Skate – it was tasty and gave the “effect” of having an alcoholic drink, but it was extremely sweet. At Winterfest, I had a hot apple cider sans booze.
My main concern with this challenge is that I’ve been replacing alcohol with sugary drinks that lack substance – not exactly the greatest substitution. I can’t forget everything I learned from the 21 day reset! Moving forward, I will have to do better research on healthier alternatives to alcohol when I go out. I appreciate any suggestions!
Survey for Run With No Regrets
Thanks to everyone who has filled out the reader survey for Run With No Regrets. I’m just trying to get a good enough sample size so that I can really dig in and see what people are looking for to make the blog a better place. If you still haven’t taken it, it’s not too late. I really appreciate your honest feedback. If it sucks to hang out here, I want to know!
How was your past week? Did you do anything special for Valentine’s Day?
I gave up alcohol many years ago and I’ve never missed it (I wasn’t a really big drinker, anyway).
I’d much, much rather eat my calories.
Oh my, that cake looks delish!
Yes, eating calories are much better than drinking them, haha! It’ll be interesting to see how I feel about drinking by the time Easter rolls around!
I’m not kidding —–> I stared at that piece of cake for a solid minute . Looks like a great weekend!
LOL, Tiffany – I saw the cake in a Yelp review and I had to get it!
That sounds like an awesome weekend! I love ice skating even though I’m terrible at it. I’m also super jealous of your cake!
Thanks, Kristen! I’m not great but I used to be able to skate backwards and do some fun stuff…it’s been so long!
ooh definitely need to watch those sugary drinks for sure! Have a great week. I am done with this snow!!
I didn’t realize we were getting more snow, it seems like it never ends!
That piece of cake looks so tall (and yummy!). My sweet Valentine treat was a cannoli at our favorite Italian restaurant. My husband and I ice skated on our honeymoon, many moons ago. I think it’s a wonderful idea for date night. I love Skee Ball too! How wonderful to be featured in the GGS article. It was a very good picture of the both of you as well! Our weather has moderated so it will not be freezing here this week. Congrats for pushing through on your very cold Zooma run. Thanks for linking with us Janelle!
The cake was pretty good, but we were so full we couldn’t finish it! Cannolis are delicious, I hope you two had a nice time for Valentine’s Day. And thanks for the compliment 🙂
Hmm. The only sort of non-sugary alcohol alternatives I can think of would be unsweetened iced tea or a soda & lime or something to that effect. Not a fan of the latter, but it could work if you’re into that sort of thing.
& congrats on being featured in the Swolemates article! I love going running or hiking with my BF!
Thanks a lot, Jessie! Hmm…unsweetened iced tea may need to be an option…
happy anniversary-so random but my boyfriend and I had our official 4-year anniversary on Friday as well! We started dating before that but still-how funny we have the same anniversary!
Small world! Happy anniversary to you too!
Sounds like you had a great Valentine’s Day.
I am having a similar challenge. I gave up soda for lent. I am trying to make sure I don’t replace it with sugary drinks. Especially since I was drinking mostly diet soda.
Thanks, Arlett. I’m usually good with just water but sometimes I crave a little bit of flavor. Good luck to staying off the soda!
Looks like a fun weekend! I find drinks with a little fizz – like sparking water with lemon – a good alternative to alcohol without the sugar. Have a great week!
Thanks for the tip, Michelle!
I actually considered giving up alcohol for lent. But I really do enjoy my glass or 2 of wine with dinner. Sigh..
Hey, I do not blame you one bit!
It is not cold at all where I live. At least not today! It was 68! I don’t envy you at all. I hate cold weather! Your cake looks so good! Winterfest sounds like so much fun! I love skee ball too! Sounds like you had a great weekend!
I am definitely jealous of you and your warm weather! Thanks, it was a really nice time 🙂
My favorite non-alcoholic beverage is sparkling water with a twist of lime. You can splurge on the big, fancy bottle which will still be less than a drink! 😉
Ooh that sounds like a good option! I’m already realizing how much money I’m saving but not buying drinks with my dinner!
That cake looks amazing! Nice job with not having alcohol, but I sure its tough when you go to certain places! I ended up giving up coffee which is REALLY hard.
Ooh I bet coffee had to be SO tough to give up! The drinking is challenging because my boyfriend drinks, and sometimes I get tempted to try his..but I’m still staying strong!
I love center city. That was my old stomping ground. Most of the restaurants I used to go to are not there any more. Its sounds like you had a nice Valentines weekend.
Thanks, Nicole! Yes, Center City is constantly changing when it comes to dining. The good news though is that there a lot of healthy restaurants to choose from!
I had no doubt you could keep your commitment of no alcohol Janelle but its great to post the status to keep you accountable! That cake does look wonderful and so very yummy! Oh wow I’ve only ice skated only a few times in my entire life. I grew up roller skating but it’s is much different. Glad you had a great time! Thank you for joining us again this week!
Thanks so much, Tricia, I appreciate the kind words. The funny thing is that I’m a TERRIBLE roller skater…I really suck at it, haha! It was great to be on the ice again.
Happy Anniversary Janelle! The cake looks great. I personally don’t drink alcohol, I never really liked it, and I gave up sugary drinks few years ago. I replaced my need for soda with seltzer water or lemon water/maple syrup, feels so much better!
Thanks so much, Ilka! Lemon water with maple syrup? I’ve never heard of that, it sounds very interesting!