Whole30 Failure and a Road Trip

So, remember how I was doing the Whole30?

Yeah...that didn't work out.

It was off to a good start: on day one, I ate a bunch of veggies, some eggs, and drank lots of water. I drank my coffee black, too, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. All in all, I went to bed the first night feeling super virtuous and healthy. This Whole30 business was no big deal.

By 11:00 the next morning, though, I was HANGRY. The struggle with being a pescatarian on the Whole30 is that your protein is either eggs or fish. I was pretty much over eggs (having eaten them for breakfast almost every day before starting the Whole30), and we all know that seafood is not exactly a budget option. Since I have basically no income at the moment, I was missing out on my protein, which is SO not the point of the Whole30. Still, I was determined not to be a quitter on only Day 2.

But that night, I went out with some friends to a local brewery. I ordered a water (ignoring the incredulous look from the bartender), and tried very hard not to be jealous of my friends, each of whom had a craft beer in hand. This feat was made far more difficult by the fact that the smell of beer a-brewing less than 20 feet from where I was standing. The straw that broke this camel's back, though, was a pizza commercial on the bar's TV. Game over. I ordered a taproom blend and toasted my failure before our little group headed to our favorite beer and pizza place.

In hindsight, who the heck starts the Whole30 three days before the Superbowl anyway?

I put the Whole30 experiment in my rearview mirror (for now) and focused on my upcoming job interview.

That's right. I'm making moves towards employment. #adulting

In between substituting as a preschool teacher and masquerading as my sister so that I could use her gym membership, I purchased my first pantsuit and dusted off my lesson plans, hoping to be somewhat prepared and presentable by Friday at 10:30am.

When I was waiting in the hallway for my name to be called, the HR lady asked me point-blank if it was my first interview, because I looked so nervous. I--feeling rather stupid--confessed that it was. But you know what's great about the education industry? Everyone genuinely wants to see everyone succeed. The HR lady and my interviewer were both incredibly nice, and made me feel as comfortable as I possibly could, given that it was my first real interview.

So with a huge sigh of relief, I hopped in the car after my interview and made a beeline for North Carolina. Evan and I were headed to visit my bestest friend in the whole wide world, whom I hadn't seen since before I left for Europe. Nothing eventful happened on the five-and-a-half-hour drive down, aside from some quality Snapchatting.

Classic.

We arrived in Greensboro just in time to walk in the freakishly springlike weather to dinner at the local Filling Station, where I had a pretty darn tasty veggie burger, made with garbanzo beans, spinach, sprouts, and some sort of yogurt sauce. As per usual, I forgot to take a picture before I started eating. But I did get a picture with my bestie, and that's what really counts.

For dessert, we hit up that finest of Southern establishments, Cook Out, for some of their famous shakes. Mine was a mint-Oreo concoction that was well up to the challenge of satiating my sweet tooth. There may have been some hushpuppies involved as well.

We kicked off our Saturday with a trip to the local bakery for some coffee (iced!) and muffins. I had a pumpkin-chocolate chip one, which satisfied my craving for all the pumpkin-y things I'd missed by spending the autumn in Europe.

In the afternoon, Syd and I went for a hike at the nearby lake, to take advantage of the completely un-February-like weather. After several hours of enjoying the sunshine, we were pretty hungry, so we headed to a farm-to-table pizza place. After we all shared the rosemary-olive oil french fries and sweet potato fries, I ordered the Avalanche, a margherita pizza that was drizzled with truffle oil (though apparently my palate isn't sophisticated enough to detect that sort of thing).

I may be a Whole30 failure, but at least I had a salad. 

I have to say, it was all pretty darn tasty. As was the cheesecake we had for dessert from Greensboro's famous Alex's Cheesecakes. (Kahlua and espresso flavored, with a mochaccino on the side, but I once again forgot to document it with a picture. Par for the course.)

Sunday morning brought us lazy hours of drinking coffee, plus some crafty vibes.

We managed to keep Rue out of the paint until the very end. 

We also wandered around downtown Greensboro, checking out a bookstore/coffee shop and a pretty nifty vintage shop, where I scored these sweet socks: 

My new favorites!

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. 

Time to start planning the next adventure!

Plus, you know, write about Cardiff and Ireland and all that. *sigh* Someday I'll do it.