Is this heaven?

A couple posts ago I wrote about Yogurtland and how I was really looking forward to going only to be disappointed to find out that they hadn't had their grand opening yet. Well, perseverance won out and I made it to Yogurtland this week, twice. I've got 3 words for you - De - Lish - Us! It is fantastic. It's all self serve - you pump your yogurt, choose your toppings, and then weigh and pay. I was slightly embarrassed the first time I went with Charity, Jessica, and her friend Andromeka (sp?). I got to the weigh and pay part and the lady said "just one spoon?". I swear it wasn't that much yogurt. Certainly not enough to make someone believe that I would be sharing it!

So, Choose your size. Your options are huge and OMG! I went with huge.

Pick your flavor - feel free to mix and match. My favorite was vanilla wafers the first time, but the second time I fell in love with the pistachio. I'm hoping the next time they have the peanut butter or double oreo flavors their pamphlet advertises.

Next, choose from toppings galore! They have normal ones like fresh fruit, candy, and crushed cookies, but they also have things like puffed wheat and chocolate covered wheat (which I discovered is not my cup of tea).

Last, weight and pay! It's that easy !

Everybody loves Yogurtland!

Also, this week I had fun volunteering as a timer at an Okinawa Dolphin Swim Team swim meet (sorry no pics). I also taught English.

All of my ladies: Michiko, Chieko, Takako, and Yukiko.

Yesterday Rana had a play date with a puppy that Patti is watching (I'll spare you all the video). Afterwards, Patti and I headed back to American Village:

We had lunch at Freshness Burger. The burger was delicious and it just happens to be next to Yogurtland. Hence the two trips in one week.

I think I'll start using hence more.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Getting back to my roots

Well, as most of you know I'm from the south. Critics scoff and say that Florida isn't the "real" south, but these folks apparently haven't been to the Florida springs on a hot summer day, a Mullet Festival, the Redneck Riviera, or anywhere on the FSU campus. I've been missing the "fixin' tos" and the "y'alls", but luckily Charity threw a Redneck/White Trash Party in honor of our country's independence. I always love dressing up and my friends' costumes were great.

On the left is a redneck vase and some patriotic pigs in a blanket. The middle picture is the white trash pu pu platter, including potato sticks, cracker jacks, pork rinds, and cheesey poofs. The last one is actually a Mormon dish of lime jello and shredded carrots. Aimee, who is Mormon, assures that Mormon food and white trash food have a lot in common.

Me, Aimee, Laura, Charity, and Amy (yes, there are 3 Amys in our group. The one on the right is also married to a Chris).

Robby, Chris, and Chris

Liza and Joey (and I think Zeus coming to check them out).

This picture makes me thankful I have good teeth.

I had a great time like I always do getting together with these great ladies. The only thing that could make it better is if Chris had been in town. Oh well, hopefully less than a month to go.

Hill-O Saturday!

So, like most of my blogs this one is going to be a random assortment of things I did or saw throughout the week. For the last month or so I've been practicing a couple times a week with the swim team. I am really enjoying myself and if I'm not too old and set in my ways I think Coach Mat will be able to help me with my form.

Ready for the 5am practice.

This week I also got to go out to lunch with Charity on Friday. It has been a while since I could make a lunch because of my work schedule so this was a real treat. We went to a noodle place in American Village where you order your food from a vending machine.

The first step in this process is to look at the picture menu and find something that looks good. This place actually had a menu with some English so it wasn't bad, but sometimes I really do go simply by the picture.

Second, insert money into the machine and make your selection (the pictures on the menu coordinate with the buttons).

Next, you take your ticket and hand it to the waitress. She then brings you your drink and you wait for your food.

Lastly, enjoy your delicious spicy noodles!

Before going in to the noodle place (I'm not writing its name because it was in Japanese and from now on will be referred to simply as that noodle place or that yummy noodle place) Charity and I saw this place:

What is Yogurtland you ask?

Good question. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I was dreaming of frozen yogurt goodness throughout lunch, they didn't actually have their grand opening until the next day! Oh, the agony! I did look them up on the internet though and the company started in L.A. and is all natural, fat-free frozen yogurt. I will definitely be going back!

After lunch I was supposed to go biking with Patti and Dennis, but it started to pouring so we played Settlers - the best board game ever!

Dennis was kind enough to take pictures of us in our matching raincoats. No, I did not realize we'd be twinsies when I purchased Rana's jacket!

Saturday was the day for my Weekend Warriors workout! The instructor, Jeff, is very good at coming up with different locations and different exercises so the workouts are never boring. Today we met back on Foster and got another great workout.

This is Jeff and some of his torture devices.

Here's the workout. Basically, we would do our maximum effort in 2 exercises 2 times and then we'd run a hill repeat (hence the name for this post). We had to do this 6 times. On the first hill I repeat I thought to myself 'I don't know if I'll be able to run all 6 times', but I did and I finished second coming in 5-10 seconds behind some guy.

Here's the hill. The yellow cone was our turn around point. Do you see the yellow cone? No? Me either, it was a long hill!

The workout was great, but the grass on the field was quite long (come on Marines - get it together). This was my view during the ab work and a lot of the warm-up. It really wasn't bad except it led to this:

Nice, red, itchy rash, but it went away when I showered.

Later that day Rana and I went to the beach with Dennis and Patti. They're watching her for me next week when I go to Okuma with work. The way the spoil her she might not want to come home!

We also went to a place Patti and Dennis discovered, the Dog Run and Cafe.

This was a great, quirky place where you can take your dog to play. I'm not sure of all the services they offer because there was very little English spoken, but it was fun and would be even better if more dogs were there.

There was a agility course for the dogs.

And fresh mango juice for the people.

It was a great Friday and Saturday leading into a party Saturday night, but that will have to be another blog because I'm heading out snorkeling with some friends from work. Happy Independence Day everyone!

Super Sunday

Last Sunday, I had a fantastic, relaxing day. I started off with a run with my partner Tiffany - our last run together until she gets back from Illinois in August. We went for a five miler down at the seawall.

So, we started at the Starbucks across from Camp Lester.

And made our way to American Village.

We wound our way around to the seawall. I always enjoy the graffiti art. We also saw a group of young locals passed out on the sidewalk surrounded by Saki and wine bottles. I definitely should have stopped for a picture!

We ran along the seawall and through Araha Beach. I loved this little old man on the bike. I tried to discreetly get a picture of people wearing sweat suits, a towel around their neck, and a huge visor, but none came out. I was sweating up a storm in a tank top and shorts; I don't know how they wear so much clothing.

Our turn around point is the stained glass bridge. My legs were still sore from the week before so we made a quick pit stop so I could stretch.

The stop was just long enough for us to see a cute lab.

No, this picture isn't meant to be of the picnic tables. I know it's hard to see, but behind the picnic area there is a group of older Japanese people doing Tai Chi.

My awesome partner Tiffany and me after our run. Boy was it humid that day! We definitely deserved our iced tea and coffee from Starbucks!

After the run, walking Rana, and cleaning up my friends Patti and Dennis took me out to lunch.

This is one of the nicest couples I've ever met. Not only do they check on me while Chris is gone, but when Patti knows that I'm working a long day she comes over and takes Rana home with her so Rana doesn't have to be trapped in her kennel all day.

We went to a place near Camp Foster - Cactus Eatrip. They serve homemade bagels.

It's a cool, funky little cafe that plays live music in the evenings.

Plus, the food is delicious! I think it's the best bagel I've ever eaten. You know it's good if I forgot to take a picture until I was halfway through the sandwich!

Dennis got a little dessert with his - I just liked the presentation.

I know, I know. Most of you are sick of posts on Rana, but this cracks me up. Maybe I've been living alone for too long and am easily amused.

And for the last bit of randomness, here's what we did in art at the Youth Center today.

I forgot it was Wednesday so had to come up with something fast. We did pom pom and pipe cleaner art. I thought my caterpillar turned out cute and the kids had a blast making anything from squirrels to fish to bunnies. They were very creative and I finally had to kick them out of the art area when it was 10 minutes until quitting time.