Friday after work I hit the road and headed North to Boston. My bus left at 6pm and so I channeled my inner 3rd grader and packed a lunch box. On the menu: leftover homemade pizza and carrot sticks with a lil container of peanut butter. 4 hours is a long time to be on a bus – this girl needs her snacks!

I arrived in beantown shortly after 10pm and  was met by the 3 smiling faces of Anj, Hannah, and Agnes (college housemates from senior year!). After much catching-up and some homemade chili popcorn (must get Anj’s recipe!) we hit the hay. Yes, I’m 25 and still absolutely love sleepovers

The four of us were up early on Saturday and after the obligatory coffee and a bite of bread pudding, Hannah and I hit the road for a run.

Even though I ran 11 miles last weekend, there were small breaks in between the warm-up, race, and cool-down, so I was a tad worried about doing a continuous long run. However, I needn’t have worried – Hannah is magical and the run was the best I’ve had in maybe a year The weather was beautiful – bright sunshine and 60 degrees. We ended up running 9.25 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes. My hamstring/IT band/knee felt amazing! I’m still wearing the pre-wrap on my knee – I’m not sure if it’s actually doing anything, but it kind of feels like a security blanket.

After a fabulous run, Hannah and I returned to an impromptu yoga sesh. Pajamas are a perfect choice for warrior pose!

Check out the giant jar of peanut butter Hannah and I found!

After a pretty basic re-fuel (banana, yogurt, peanut butter) we showered and headed to Cambridge.

After a bit of exploring, we happened upon Darwin’s Cafe. Fair trade coffees, yummy sandwiches, and a case of delicious baked goods.

My sandwich was two pieces of freshly baked whole wheat bread stuffed with hummus, avocado, carrots, sprouts, tomato, granny smith apple, and honey mustard. It was packed full of veggies and I ate every last bite!

After a few more hours of exploring Boston (I love fall weather!!!)….

 we made a pit stop for pumpkin lattes!

Invigorated by caffeine, I was ready for an adventure. Someone special was celebrating a birthday on Saturday and per his request we trekked out to Bob’s Food in Medford, Mass. Back in college Bob’s Foods was THE destination for post-track meet sustenance. This little Italian grocer/sub shop was always on the cool-down route for the Wesleyan track team and returning to Bob’s brought back good memories. This place has a ton of yummy food, but the vegetarian selection was a bit sparse.

I managed to find something veggie though – roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant, and provolone on a roll. Nate and I took our sandwiches to a grassy field on the Tufts campus and made a pic-nic of it. Twas delightful!

Despite ordering the small, my sandwich was bigger than my head. Loved all the roasted red peppers and ooey-gooey provolone!

Nate ordered something involving a lot of turkey and melt-y cheese.

With New England-themed chippers for a side dish.

My tum was full and happy by the end of the pic-nic, but I was still tempted by all the delicious foods that Anj had back at her place. Had to have a little taste of everything!

 Check out these garlic & parsely sweet potato fries:

homemade nachos!

And Individual chocolate souflees:

Unfortunately my camera battery died at this point, but the night concluded with some Shipyard pumpkin ale, wine, and lots of reminscing about our college years

Saturday morning brought another lovely run with Ms. Hannah (5 miles!) and pumpkin pancakes (2 cups pancake mix, 1.5 cups water, .5 cup pure pumpkin). They were perrrrrfect with brown sugar and peanut butter. I’ll have to make these again and photograph!

The rest of Sunday was a glorious mix of long walks, sunshine, raw-organic Kombucha (my first!), and a life goal of mine – ice cream from JP Licks. After missing out on the Healthy Living Summit excursion to JP Licks in August and reading about all the yummy flavors on Tina’s blog, I knew I had to go there someday. I ordered a small cup of 1/2 oatmeal cookie, 1/2 oreo cake batter and it was delicious! So glad I finally got to try it – thanks for the company Hannah

I’m on the bus back to NYC as I write this and am about to dig in to the other half of my red pepper-eggplant-provolone sammie from Bob’s. Hope your weekend was as good as mine!

Question: What food brings you back to college/highschool?

P.S. Decorate an e-cupcake for free and $1 will be donated to children’s cancer research!