Much thanks for the vacation suggestions. You guys are awesome! We definitely have lots more research to do before we make a decision on anything. You know I’ll keep you posted!

I started my day with an ashtanga practice. My body felt great and I haven’t had any pain in my back in days. I even did backbends with no soreness after. I think I can safely say that my back has healed! It just goes to show the power of rest and listening to your body. It’s hard for me to do sometimes but it paid off in the end.

Breakfast at my desk after yoga.

Overnight oats – in today’s mix: oats, plain greek yogurt, almond milk, chia seeds, dried cranberries, blueberries, bananas and cinnamon. Crofter’s and almond butter on top.

I came home for lunch and assembled a sampling of foods.

Half of an organic pink lady apple, Trader Joe’s low-sodium tomato soup, Trader Joe’s multi-grain chips and a sandwich with avocado, sprouts, tomato, spinach and cheddar on whole wheat. Two things on this plate were gross – both of the Trader Joe’s items. I usually like their store brand but the chips tasted like cardboard (seriously) and the soup was pretty tasteless too. Good thing my open-faced sandwiches never let me down! 😉

Let’s get to the interesting part of my day. Mid-afternoon I saw Tweet from the Marine Corps Marathon that there were only 800 spots left for this year’s race.

I haven’t discussed this on my blog but I have a major marathon itch right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% happy that I am going through yoga teacher training and wouldn’t give that up for anything but I am looking forward to training for some type of fall race. I haven’t decided what that is going to be yet but this Tweet brought back a flood of wonderful memories and emotions from last year’s Marine Corps Marathon.

The next thing I knew I was on the website and registering for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon.

I filled everything in, including the credit card info, and was ready to hit submit when I thought I should probably run this by my husband first. We had a bit of a heart-to-heart and decided that this is really not the best time for me to commit to running another marathon.

My life is really busy right now and I am the first to admit that I haven’t been spending enough time at home with Brandon and Sullie. I think I need to re-evaluate my time after I’m done with yoga teacher training and then make a decision about a fall marathon.

I have to say that I’m more than a little sad that I won’t be running Marine Corps again this year but there are so many other fall races that I can sign up for after I have a better grasp on my schedule.

I taught BodyPump after work today and then came home to make a delicious feast with Brandon. We continued with our ethnic dinners this week and went with an island-themed dinner tonight (inspired by our vacation planning!).

I came across this recipe for Un(Fried) Coconut Shrimp when I was reading Coastal Living a couple weeks ago and Brandon requested that we have it soon.

I made two sauces to go with the shrimp – mango mustard and honey mustard.

Brandon picked out a plantain when we were at the store a few days ago and was in charge of making fried plantains. They were SO good. I made a pot of black beans with onion, habanero pepper and garlic. This was such a fun and delicious dinner!

Happy Friday! What does everyone have going on this weekend?