This past week included a little bit of everything.  From a 60-degree Sunday (in Charlotte) to a Wednesday snow storm, and a full-on MAD weekend in Charlottesville.  I’ve been all over the place.

In Charlotte, when my life is a little more spread out, and time spent in transit is about 10 times that of even the busiest days in Charlottesville, my meal preparation (and sanity) really suffers.  The last two weeks were exponentially more challenging thanks to my mid-month move and the slow but steady approach I took to getting settled in.  In my past lives I’ve been the stay-up-all-night to finish organizing person, but these last couple years I have changed gears.  Adding extra anxiety to the loads I carry is not something I’m interested in.

I know this transition is temporary, and pretty soon I will be all settled, but it still wore on me enough to  make even my 4.5 hour drive to Charlottesville feel like sweet relief.

On Wednesday morning before I left Charlotte I crammed in a quick pre-road interval (my favorite, ‘Crowd Pleaser’) at MADabolic CLT.  It was everything I needed (and a little more) after having taken Tuesday off due to impending doom snow.  I made it to Charlottesville just in time to watch the packed 5:30pm class  (filled with some of my favorite people) rock out the same interval.

By Thursday morning I was up and rolling with work (my ‘real’ job) but thanks to the amazing mobility of Charlottesville, was able to get in a great long run and make a pre-birthday dinner to celebrate Dar with her wing woman, Margaret.

 I love, love, love green salads with berries, nuts, and avocado, so it made a valiant return to the menu.  Toss it in some balsamic and olive oil (maybe add some salt?) and I could eat it all week long.  So, obviously, we had this salad, paired with some of my other favorite grilled items: cauliflower and chicken.

And of course, no birthday is a birthday these days without a celebratory cupcake. Or four.

Not to say that the cupcakes marked the beginning of the end for my clean eating this weekend….but, they were the beginning of the end.

Friday was entirely consumed by two things: work, and Dar’s birthday party.  Even Bug and Tank got dressed up in their Friday best — but those heart stopping photos deserve a post of their own, free from food and fitness.

This weekend I hit up MADabolic Cville both mornings, which left me feeling detoxed and actually quite sore.  Saturday was a welcomed afternoon of nothing, including but not (quite) limited to a trip to Whole Foods to refresh the fridge.  Sunday, post-sweat, I took some time to get myself set for the week before heading across the way to watch the Super Bowl.  As anti-climactic as the game was, it was awesome to wrap up a Sunday with such an awesome group of neighbors and friends.

So in the end, despite the chaos of travel and weather, I managed to find my bearings by the end of the week thanks to just a few short days with great friends.