Hi there!

What a weekend…

Friday night I stayed in to grocery shop, clean and pack for Columbus. Such a great idea on my part. I knew I wouldn’t be up to those things on Sunday and I totally wasn’t. It was a movie day for sure!

Saturday morning I got up super early to go get a new drivers license since mine had expired. So weird seeing the difference from age 21 to 25. Once I was back home, I made shakes for Ashley and I using Chocolate Shakeology, ice, almond milk (unsweetened), 1/2 of a banana, and PB2.

All of the girls met at my house and we were on the road by 9:30. Our first stop was Easton for some shopping! We popped in Starbucks for lattes and then started to navigate the huge shopping center!

I was trying very hard to not make any purchases, even putting back the few things I had grabbed in Forever XXI… but then I found a mint trench in NY & CO and simply couldn’t resist. It was $100.00 with 30% off and I looked on my phone for a coupon and found an additional $20 off…seriously, couldn’t beat it and I’m obsessed.

We shopped up an appetite and decided to get some grub at Bar Louie. I hadn’t eaten since my shake, which I had at 9am and it was creeping up on 2:00, so we were all pretty hungry. I ordered the Goat Cheese and Roasted Vegetable Wrap with Black Beans and Rice – same thing I always order there!

After shopping, we made our way to the Hyatt, where we were staying. We relaxed in the room for a bit before starting to get ready for the night!

We also had plenty of drinks for pregaming! Laura bought me two bottles of champagne for my birthday, so we added that to the collection.

We had a blast in the room getting ready, popping bottles and dancing before calling a cab to take us to Big Bang – a dueling piano bar!

Eventually, we made it to a bar called Sway, where we danced the night away! Seriously, such a blast! It was nice because the bar wasn’t crazy packed and eventually, we worked our way into some VIP seats and hung out!

Close to 2:00am, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel where the dance party continued in our room! We ordered some pizza and immediately crashed after that. While I felt rough in the morning, I anticipated being much worse, so I’m thanking the late night food for that!

We made it home around 2:00pm and it was movie and relaxation time! It felt so good to just lounge on the couch with my heating blanket. For dinner, we made one of my favorite appetizers, Goat Cheese with Spicy Marinara on crusty bread and a fresh salad, which my body was thanking me for.

I had one of my birthday cupcakes for dessert while watching the Grammy’s and then passed out as soon as I hit my pillow!

I can’t thank the girls enough for making it such a fabulous day and night! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect birthday! Twenty Five is going to be great!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my weekly workout schedule as well as meals for the week. Today starts the official Slim Down Tone Up for summer! Only a few more hours and I’m off to Turbo! Woohoo!

–Lauren