West Coast Love

This morning I was wide awake at 5:00am with no hopes of going back to sleep no matter how much I tossed and turned. Technically it was 8:00am Florida time and I had actually slept in. I gave up trying to sleep and discovered the sun was due to rise at 6:15am. After some e-mail checking I pulled on the running gear then headed out the door.

I had so many people recommending this the bike path that ran along the beach that I knew I had to give it a try. It felt so great to run along the water, all the anxieties I had about the conference or guilt faded away with each step I took.

My original intention was to run 5 miles with 2.5 in and back, but before I knew it my Garmin was beeping for 3 miles. I could have and would have gone further if I didn’t have to be showered and ready to meet my co-workers for breakfast at 8:00. I happily completed 6 miles, the run along the beach was in my opinion the perfect way to start the day.

We have become buddy with the concierge the past couple of day, constantly asking for new recommendations for places to eat. This morning she recommended a hole in the wall diner called Long Beach Cafe that was in walking distance of the hotel.

I was craving lots of fresh fruit with cereal and yogurt, but the menu only had greasy diner offerings. I had my doubts on what to order, I did not want to over do it like the day before. I finally decided to order the Vegetable Omlette. I asked for Egg Whites Only, No Cheese, Fresh Fruit instead of potatoes and Wheat Toast with no Butter.

I was pleasantly surprised with what I ordered. I ate about 75% of the Omlette which was mostly veggies with little egg white and all of the fruit. I also had one of the slice of Wheat Toast with Strawberry Jam.

I think my co-workers are starting to find it amusing how I order my food with so many changes. It seriously takes me 5 minutes longer to order then anyone else. lol

My breakfast was very filling and I thought was going to hold me over all day, but after doing plenty of manual labor setting up for our conference my metabolism kicked in high gear and I was in need of a snack around 11:00.

I had this juicy Pear and it was wonderful.

A lot of our team was arriving today for our registration Welcome Reception this evening, so we had a good crowd for lunch. 8 of us walked around the corner to a fabulous greek restaurant called George’s Greek Cafe.

It was the cutest restaurant and the owner greeted us all with a great big hug out front.

My supervisor ordered us a plate of Hummus and Olive dip to share. I had one Pita Wedge with a mix of the dips smeared on top.

I really wanted something as light as possible for lunch. I ordered the Lentil Vegetable Soup combo with a Greek Salad sans Dressing.

I ate about 75% of this. It was light, refreshing and very tasty! Thankfully I somehow managed to turn down Baklava as well.

The rest of the afternoon was CRAZY with last minute preparations to kick off our conference. Our lap tops arrived late, the hotel had lost reservations for one of our attendees and I had to do a quick minute change before greeting our clients. But once the reception began and our clients started signing in it felt great to see everything fall in place.

Our clients grabbed the nametags I had designed and laid out, took the itenirary I had printed specifically for them, flipped through the packet I had restuffed 3 times to make sure all the correct information was there and were provided with the giveaway bag I had spent months coordinating with a local museum to make sure they went home with a little piece of Long Beach.

It was also nice to finally put a face with a name for alot of clients.

With all the stress I just had to enjoy a glass of wine while monitoring the registration table.

I also managed to snag a couple of appetizers being passed around.

Unfortunately the reception went much longer then intended and we had not completed our uploads with the lap tops so when I was hoping to be done by 6:00 this evening, it actually ended up being more like 8:00 opppsss. Usually I would not be one to complain, but poor Caroline had arrived to wisk me away for dinner at 6:00 and ended up waiting close to 2 hours on me. SORRY CAROLINE!!! She is such a trooper though and had no complaint when I was finally ready to leave.

We immediately hopped in the car and got to gabbing about life, food and blogs. Technically we had never met before, but it felt like we had known each other for years!

So many people had reccomended Open Sesame while I was in Long Beach so we got a bite to eat there.

I started with some FABULOUS Hot Morroccan Tea.

The Mint Leaf really made this drink. I was so fresh and warm. I loved it!!

For my meal I ordered the Vegetarian Combo which included Hummus, Baba Ghannouj, Tabouleh, Grape Leaf and two Faafafel Patties.

Another great meal. It sounds and looks like a lot, but everything was so light I was able to eat a good amount without feeling stuffed.

Caroline and I had huge plans to explore Trader Joes, which I was really excited about, but they were sadly closed and unwilling to let us inside. Trust me we tried to beg the guy!

We showed up at 9:03pm. Booo!!! Oh well I am determined to try again later this week. As God as my witness I will explore a Trader’s Joe while I am in So Cal.

We took our sorrows next door and indulged in some Soft Serve at the the Golden Spoon.

This was another place many had raved about and I was dying to try.

I had a small mix of Cake Batter, Chocolate Mocha, & Peanut Butter with Heath Bar Pieces and Cheesecake Bites on top.

The small was HUGE!!! Some how I managed to eat close to all of it and I have to stay my belly was full to the point of painful after that. Luckily I digest Ice Cream very quickly and the discomfort didn’t last very long.

We managed to have the girl behind the counter take a picture of us.

It was so great meeting you Caroline!!!! I can’t wait to meet up again.

Even though I didn’t get a full on Trader Joes experience, Caroline had gave me a taste of Trader Joes with a TJ bag full of goodies.

I am actually listening to the CD as I type, there are some great songs on here. I can’t wait to que up the playlist on my next run.

So yeah I am exhausted now. It has seriously been non-stop since I landed and I know tomorrow is going to be just as crazy! Much love to all my lovelies on the East Coast!

Peace!