This year, we headed up to the Finger Lakes Region of New York. The Finger Lakes is known for it’s gorges, waterfalls and wine. Gorgeous scenery and delicious wine, what more could I ask for?

After a five hour drive, we arrived at our hotel, quickly changed and headed to Ithaca for some dinner. Our first stop was the Ithaca Brewery. Of all of the breweries that we have visited so far, this was my absolute fav. There was a beautiful backyard set up with picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, where you could lounge to your hearts content. We grabbed some beers and enjoyed the warmth of the setting sun. I got a seasonal flight and loved all of the beer, especially the pumpkin. Tommy got their Peach Wheat, which was delicious.

We hit the hay pretty early on the first night because we had to be up by 6 the next morning to hike the Gorges at Watkins Glen Park. We read online that if you get to the park around 7, you will have the place to yourself and can take some gorgeous pictures. When we got to the park around 7:15, there were only two other cars in the lot, and on our hike up, only two pairs passed us.

The hike was breathtaking. The calm and quiet really made it even more beautiful. We were alone with nature and were really able to enjoy and take it all in. We took the Gorge Trail all the way up and the Indian Trail back down. By the time we got back down, the place was filled with other hikers. I was so happy that we got our butts up early because the trail is pretty narrow and got crowded really fast.

We also visited Six Mile Winery. We got to have our wine tasting with the winery owner, and he was a total sweetheart. As much as I like wine, I don’t know much about it. He took the time to explain pairing, the proper way to taste wine and basically let us try every wine the winery produces for only $3 each. The Finger Lakes are famous for their Riesling, which just happens to be my favorite wine. We left with four bottles of wine – two red and two white!

Overall, my birthday weekend was an absolute blast. I fell in love with the Finger Lakes, and I know we will be going back, hopefully next fall. The area is absolutely beautiful and if you add the changing leaves, it will be even more breathtaking, if that is possible. The wineglass half is starting to look pretty good for next year!

What was the last weekend getaway you took? Favorite hiking spot? Favorite wine?

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We bought some gigantic beers and dug into some German food – knockwurst with sauteed onions, German potato salad and a HUGE pretzel with spicy mustard.

On Sunday, we did some shopping at the outlets and stopped for lunch at Chipotle. I got my usual burrito bowl with chicken, brown rice, and all the veggies they have to offer. Oh yea, and guac!

Monday’s dinner was a surprise thanks to my mama. She found the recipe in Rachel Ray’s Everyday magazine and it was pretty darn amazing. Sausage and kale over linguine with some kind of butter based sauce. YUM!

For breakfast, I tried something new and I am in love. Spaghetti squash egg bowl anyone? I threw in some kale for some extra greens.

I’ve been on a fruit salad kick lately. This was fruit salad 2 out 3 so far this week. I say so far because I know there will be more in my future.

What have you been craving lately?

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I cooked up the quinoa the way I would make my regular oats. Two parts milk to one part quinoa. I added in cinnamon, apple and dried blueberries to make an incredible breakfast. The only down side is that this takes a bit of time to cook, and isn’t weekday friendly.

Luckily, this Veggie Tofu Scramble is very weekday friendly and this is why I’ve been enjoying it every morning this week.

Spinach, green peppers, tomatoes, tofu with a bit of sriracha and garlic salt scrambled together on a hot, hot skillet. If this doesn’t make you smile for the rest of the day, I don’t know what will.

Oh wait, yes I do! How about some Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna.

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to reach through the screen and grab it. It was incredible!

But what’s a good dinner without a good drink, right? We picked up this lemon juice beer from the Beer Boutique, a new beer store that opened recently in Brooklyn.

White Aphro is a Belgian style Wit Ale made with lemon peel, ginger & lavender and tasted amazing.

The Beer Boutique has this crazy contraption in which they can put on-tap beer into plastic bottles that will keep for up to 6 weeks. The machine first fills the bottle with CO2 so that the beer stays carbonated and it shakes it while pouring it into the bottle. According there are only 5 machines like this in the world!

And no day is complete without dessert. Be it healthy like the watermelon I enjoyed on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

..or indulgent like the Coldstone Ice Cream Munchkin and I shared yesterday.

And since calorie-less ice cream is yet to be invented, I turn to fitness to keep myself in check!

My favorite way to burn calories is through running. If you would’ve told me two years ago that I’d be running a 10k in a few months, I would’ve laughed in your face. Until a few months ago, the extent of my running experience consisted of being a sprinter on my high school track team. Those long legs came in handy!

When I first started running for distance, it was an incredibly difficult transition for me. I started out way too fast, burned out way too quickly and ended up walking home disappointed and discouraged. I believe that this is why I wasn’t successful in my running last year and never got to race.

This year, something just clicked. I stopped running on the track which made me feel like a hamster in a wheel and I just took it at my own pace and had a good time with it. I listen to music and dance along with it while I run run on the street. I set mini-goals for myself like I want to get to the park and get a drink at the water fountain before turning around to go home. Lemme tell you, getting to said park is now a breeze, but it felt nearly impossible when I was starting out.

I am planning on running three races this year. Two of them are more for fun and one is my ‘serious’ race. I am doing the NYC Color Run on August 25th (keep an eye out on the Fitfluential blog for my recap!), the Down and Dirty Mud Run 5k and the Rock and Roll Brooklyn 10k in October. Since these are my first races ever, I’m going in with a goal of just finishing. Once I see how I do in these, I think I will be able to step up the training and work on speed, but for now I’m happy being the tortise in the race. Slow and steady wins anyway, right?

So long story short…I love to run!

What’s the best thing you ate this week? What’s you favorite way to burn off those eats?

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