The last two days have been filled with a lot of “instead of.”

Let me explain…

Instead of running my planned 5 miles last night, I grocery shopped, baked, cooked dinner and updated Bakin’ and Eggs.

I was so tired yesterday and my muscles (especially my hips) were aching. It took a cup of Yogi Green Tea Kombucha and Yerba Mate to get me through the afternoon at work. I had ZERO desire to run and knew my body needed a break. Enter peach cobbler, a beer, eggplant parmesan and updating Bakin’ and Eggs with Blueberry Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Dinner was a healthy spin on an old favorite. Instead of cooking the eggplant parmesan in a bunch of oil, I baked it in the oven. Works like a charm.

Um…and then instead of being healthy I had a generous serving of peach cobbler with ice cream but I warned y’all that I’m a dessert girl. They’re here to stay. And none of this vegan or healthy baking in my house – if you’re going to bake, you gotta break out the butter.

I set my alarm for 6 a.m. this morning for my second attempt at my easy 5-miler. Instead of getting up to run, I slept until 7:20. And I don’t regret it one single bit. I haven’t had a rest day since July 10 and although I still didn’t have a technical full day off today, I had 36 hours of rest between BodyPump yesterday morning and yoga tonight. I just really needed it. There was no way I could run this morning.

Continuing with our cheesy “instead of” theme…breakfast this morning was oats in a jar instead of oats in a Tupperware. Much more exciting in a jar. Take my word for it.

This oatmeal combo featured fresh blueberries, bananas and dried cranberries. Perfection.

I had an appointment with the fabulous Ariana for a brow wax at Varji & Varji during lunch today. For my Charlotte-area readers, Ariana is amazing with brows. I highly recommend her. I always walk out feeling like a new woman! 😉

So instead of going home for/packing lunch I splurged and hit up the salad bar at Earth Fare (conveniently located within walking distance of Varji). I took my salad back to my desk.

I won’t even begin to list out all of the toppings that went on this. I went a little salad bar happy!

I planned on an ashtanga class tonight. Right before I left for yoga Brandon told me that our neighborhood association had a summer party going on and some of our friends were walking down to it. Instead of abandoning my yoga plans, I stayed on path and survived my fourth ashtanga class. Thankfully, I was able to practice with two other amazing ladies and had a lot of fun. Tonight was the first time I made it through the entire primary sequence!!! Felt awesome. I have a very long journey ahead of me with ashtanga but I am really enjoying learning about a new style of yoga and challenging my body in new ways.

I promise to post highly embarrassing/entertaining photos of some of my ashtanga akwardness soon. Trust me, you will laugh.

We had a super late dinner tonight (almost 10 p.m.) by the time I got home from yoga, showered and Brandon grilled the chicken. I MUST turn in soon because I MUST knock out this run that I’ve been putting off for two days tomorrow morning. I have fun yoga plans tomorrow night and y’all know I’m not going to miss out on that to run! 😉

Congratulations to my yoga studio – Y2 Yoga for winning Creative Loafing’s Best of Charlotte 2010 Reader’s Choice Award for Best Yoga Venue!!!