Thank you all for your great feedback and sweet comments on my post about my new food & fitness philosophy earlier this week. I loved reading all of your thoughts on the body image issue! So far, the “no rules” eating is going great. Though I still have to remind myself of the new philosophy, I haven’t felt guilty for anything I’ve eaten this week, and I feel great!
Smart Food
This week has been so jam-packed with schoolwork, I haven’t had any down-time or time for myself. So I decided to make today a bit of a mini-vacation, filled with food, fitness, and blogging!
I started the morning with a trip to the Farmer’s Market, which is probably my favorite place in Madison . Not much is in season yet, but I did get a few good things. I fully intended to take pictures to show you why I love the Farmer’s Market, but I didn’t want to make the 5-mile walk in the rain with the Rebel. I’ll try again next week!
After dropping my Farmer’s Market purchases off at home, I headed off to Bluephies for brunch and the start of the Monroe St. Chocolate Walk.
To raise money for the local zoo, most of the stores on Monroe St (amazing because it is the home of Orange Tree Imports, Bluephies, Trader Joe’s, and the local library) were giving away chocolate to anyone with a Chocolate Walk ticket, and quite a few had special deals going on in-store for participants as well.
Funny enough, my very first 5K was another benefit for the same zoo!
Giveaways included a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Egg Roll (which I am saving for later), a little sample of chocolate gelato (which I ate half of), and this mini Chocolate Cupcake. Isn’t it so cute?
And… I think I’m all set when it comes to chocolate for awhile now, don’t you? 
I’m super excited about the locally-made truffles that a lot of stores were giving away; they are the ones in the clear plastic bags.
Smart Fitness
Due to the rain, today’s 18 mile bike ride got postponed to another day. But between walking to the Farmer’s Market and the Chocolate Walk, I walked 7.5 miles today…phew! Good thing I was wearing good walking shoes.
My legs were feeling tight by the time I got home, so I did a 30-minutes Sun Salutations class from YogaDownloads, using the new yoga mat that the lovely people at Aurorae sent me. This was my first time doing a Dave Farmer workout, and I loved it. He explains everything really well, and made me laugh throughout the workout.
And I rounded it all out with some weight lifting.
Bicycle Crunches: 2 sets of 15 per side
Bent-over Rows: 2 sets of 10; first set with 15 lb, second set with 25 lb
Overhead Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 10; 15 lb
Chest Press: 1 set of 10; 15 pounds
Lat Pull-Down: 2 sets of 10; unknown weight (machine isn’t marked!)
I am SORE. But in that fabulous “I-just-had-a-fantastic-workout” kind of way.
Smart Life
Not only was today Chocolate Walk day, it was also Library Book Sale day! Since the library was one of the stops for chocolate, I naturally had to check out the sale. I came out with 4 books for a grand old total of $2.00. Sweet!
Off to write a guest post, work on my shop, and do other fun things. Have a happy Saturday night!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
i am jealous. but so glad you had a fun madisonian day!
CAN NOT WAIT FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. (and that time i meant to yell. yell with eagerness. and excitement. and squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.)
Wowza, I would be in chocolate HEAVEN
I love Dave Farmar! I find his podcasts so helpful when I am traveling for work and can’t get to a gym or outside for a run.
Ooh, I’ll have to get his podcasts too!
The chocolate chip cookie egg rolls from Bluphies are sooooooo goooood. Although I can usually only eat a few bites at a time, they are a must for me at Taste of Madison every year.
Yes, I LOVE them! In fact, we are having them in place of wedding cake at our wedding next month!
Brilliant idea!
A chocolate walk is such a neat idea! I love visiting the zoo – the closest one to us is in Omaha but its awesome!
Oh, that sounds like a perfect day!– Complete with book sale, which I would be all over, too
So glad you got a nice relaxing ‘you day’ !