Will you be my Valentine?

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I hope everyone is out there celebrating with lots of chocolate and wine. Even if you don’t have anyone I still heavily suggest the chocolate and wine. Hell even if its not Valentines Day I still suggest the chocolate and wine.

Last night I made it to Tampa safe and sound after being stuck in MAJOR rush hour traffic in Orlando, I think everyone had the same idea has me to get out of town this weekend. :/

Before I left town I managed to snack on a piece of 9 Grain Publix Bread Toast with Cashew Butter and Strawberries. Yum!

I need a very filling snack as it turns out I didn’t end up eating dinner until after 9:00! Which is my usual bed time.

My friend, Derek, and I ended up going to a cute little spanish restaurant in Downtown Tampa called Spain.

My Sister spent a month last summer in Spain and this menu reminded me of everything she used to talk about. They had a collection of tapas and post of the menu was seafood. She said everything they served her in Spain was seafood (she hates seafood) and covered in mayonnaise. Needless to say she didn’t care for the authentic Spanish food over there. But luckily I like seafood and the place last night had a no mayo policy.

We started with a pitcher of Sangria for the two of us.

Usually I’m not a sweet drink fan, but I was in the mood and enjoyed 2 glasses of Sangria.

Our meals started with a nice simple salad with Feta, Cranberries and Red Onions. And a piece of Garlic Toast on the side.

For the main entree I ordered the Mariscada Ajillo o Salsa Verde: Shrimp, Clams, Mussels and Scallops in a garlic or green sauce. (I meant to ask for the green but got the garlic instead… oh well)

I also had Vegetables on the side. And a some good spoonfuls of Derek’s Black Beans and Rice.

It was really good, but not much to the meal. I had to fill myself up on the black beans and rice.

And of course we had to have dessert.

These great looking margarita glasses filled with fruit and cream kept passing us by all night, so we had to order one. We got the Lemon Trifle which had a lemon cake base with strawberries and ricotta whipped cream on top. OMG YUM!

After dinner we went to this area by the water called Channelside, to a dueling piano bar called Howl at the Moon, in hopes of recreating our memorable experiences with Pat O’Briens.

The bar was great and fun, but definitely not a Pat O’Briens. Now bar could hold a candle to Pat O’Briens. We sat and sang and watched people make idiots of themselves on stage.

Its really amazing how much money people are willing to shed out to the piano singers at this bar. They had a contest of which team ‘owns the bar’

It started with Tenessee fans paying $40 for their name on the board and then $60 for USF, $70 for FSU and somehow it got back up to $160 for USF fans! People are crazy to waste that kind of money for something so useless. And the singers loved it, they must have made $500 in the 15-20 minutes the bar was arguing which school was the best..lol

Also they were selling the space behind the bar where if you paid more then the person before you, you could have whatever message you wanted up there. Again, so much money people were just giving up. The whole time I was thinking how can I do something like this as a fund raiser for TNT. What a way to raise all the funds in one night!

When we got back it was technically Valentines Day already so I was allowed to break into my ‘anti-runners’ chocolate…hehe

Anti-runners is right. This is the good stuff!!

I had a Hazelnut piece right out of the box. Heaven.

This morning I got up early and headed out for a sweaty Valentines Day work out. Derek lives on a sort of main road, and I don’t know the area very well so I decided to play it safe and stick with his apartment’s gym for the treadmill. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but walking through the cloudless 75 degree weather was a bit painful knowing I would be running inside and not outside.

If there is one thing the treadmill is good for, its speedwork, so I did a very sweaty 30 minute run where I played with the intervals of 6.5/ 7.0/ 8.0.. it felt great!

After the treadmill I decided to enjoy the fresh air outside and picked a spot on the grass outside by the pool.

I did:

• 50 Jumping Jacks
• 50 Butt Kicks
• 50 Jump Ropes
• 50 Criss Cross Jumps
• 50 High Knees
• 50 Standing Mountain Climbers
• (Repeated the Above)
• 50 Crunches
• 50 Bicycles
• 50 left crunches
• 50 right crunces
• (repeat)

And to cool down I did some light yoga. I don’t know the names of the positions yet but I know there was some downward dogs and warriors thrown in there.

It ended up being a really great, enjoyable work out.

When I returned there were flowers waiting for me!

What a great Valentine I have! Sometimes a good friend is all you need on Valentines! I got chocolate and flowers… what more could a girl ask for today?

Oh.. yeah food!

I also got breakfast cooked for me as well.

I had 1/2 of an Everything Bagel with Scrambled Eggs on top and a big juicy apple on the side

And since it is Valentines Day I had a piece of the Dark Chocolate Ganache for my breakfast dessert.

I could get used to having a breakfast dessert!

WOW that was a long post! Kudos for you if you actually read the entire thing and if not I totally understand!

I’m off to spend time at a beach house on an island you have to take a ferry to get to. Its going to be a good day.

Have a great Valentines Day everyone!! Don’t forget the chocolate and wine!