Good morning! I am blogging from the comfort of a big fluffy bed in Columbia, South Carolina. I just woke from a nearly 10 hour slumber and feel rested and just better in general.

Why am I in Columbia you might ask? My mom is here on business so since Columbia is only a little over an hour from Charlotte, I decided to come down for a night to visit .

Lunch yesterday was a quinoa bowl with leftovers from the other night. Quinoa with chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese topped with hummus and Greek yogurt over spinach. I ate this after a quick workout…30 minutes on the AMT followed by a quick ab circuit. It was one of those days where the gym didn’t seem appealing but I felt better after I got it done.

I had some afternoon appointments and then hit the road for Columbia. I arrived right around 6:45 and thanks to the awesomeness of Twitter, we had a list of restaurant recommendations to check out for dinner. We are staying in downtown Columbia and are very close to the University of South Carolina. I have actually been pleasantly surprised by the “scene” but it’s no Athens. 😉

We ended up at Mr. Friendly’s New Southern Cafe for dinner. We were brought bread with herb butter once we were seated.

I started with a salad because when I tried to think back to the last time I ate one…I couldn’t remember. Who am I? Mixed greens with candied pecans, blue cheese, mandarin oranges and bacon with balsamic vinaigrette.

For my entree, I selected one of the dinner specials. It was red trout with a Mediterranean twist. It was topped with a mix of olives, artichokes and a roasted red pepper sauce and then served with orzo and veggies. This was good but there was a lot going on with it!

So…you know the intense appreciation that I have for dessert and coffee? I come by those thanks to my mom. I am not even slightly embarrassed to admit that we already had plans to go out for dessert before we even ate dinner.

Someone on Twitter recommended Nonnah’s for their amazing desserts and oh my god, can we take a moment to appreciate the dessert case? I spent a solid 5 minutes in front of it quizzing the servers about the different desserts and cakes (and this wasn’t all…there was much more to choose from!).

We finally ordered coffee and decided to split a piece of Italian Cream Coconut Cake.

It was incredible. Four layers of cake with thick layers of icing between. I kind of want another piece right now for lunch… 😛

Speaking of which, it is time to get myself moving, dressed and packed. Meeting my mom for lunch before I head back to Charlotte for afternoon clients and class.

Have a happy Thursday!