Today was a much-needed day of r&r. No trains, buses, museums, or century-old churches. Just chillaxin.

It was a big day however – after sleeping quite late, I was honored to attend the opening of the hottest new yoga studio in town – my living room:

Just me, the mat, and Lisa from YogaDownload. It’s GOOD to be back.

By the way, if you haven’t heard of YogaDownload, it’s a website with TONS of different yoga classes you can download to your computer. They have both audio and video classes and all different levels and schools of yoga. The prices are great, and they also have many free 20-minute classes which are perfect for the morning. They also have a podcast with many of their 20-minute classes. If you have never ever done yoga before, I would hesitate to recommend it, just because in the beginning you really want some teacher supervision, but if you’re a all familiar these classes are great. Any mood you’re in, they have a class for. Check it out!

Yoga felt amazing – MAN have I missed it! Thank goodness for UK Amazon & my dad who ordered it for me. It’s even a pretty color!

Time to show off some NaturaSi loot! (That’s the name of Italy’s Whole Foods. A dangerous discovery but oh so fun!)

Peach-mango yogurt. Taste-amazing. The price…not so amazing.

Organic pear. I think he was lying down in submission. He knew his fate.

Stark apple. I’ve never had this kind before, but it was great! Not mealy at all. Just like classic apple juice.

And finally…

ALMOND MILK!

Oh goodness, have I missed almond milk! It took my coffee to a whole new level. Of course, today I went to the regular grocery store and there it was, laughing at me. I don’t know if I’d never noticed it before or if it’s new…well, at least I know I won’t have to trek to NaturaSi when I run out!

I could eat breakfast foods for 3 meals a day. So many options! Oats for lunch it was:

Carby, dark, and handsome: cocoa powder + almond milk, topped with berry jam. De-lish.

About now, I had a fight with my camera. Every time I clicked to take a picture, the camera turned off. My cameras enjoy finking out on me on big trips, so I probably should have seen that coming. But, it was nothing a fresh pair of batteries couldn’t fix. Left me a little nervous though. My roommate was laughing at me, because I have the tendency to yell at inanimate objects when they fail me. “You have ONE JOB. Take pictures. You are a camera. How hard can THAT be?” Yeah…living with me is, um, well…entertaining, at least.

After some more, er, doing absolutely nothing productive, my roomie and I went to the grocery store/bakery to grab some necessities. It was COLD today.  Hi, Mother Nature, it’s March. March means spring. Get it together, woman. I’m glad we didn’t try to go to Fiesole today; I’m sure in the hills it would have been bitter. More on that later.

Came back and made dinner, and I must say, it was quite awesome.

Homemade bean burger with arugula and sauteed spinach-tomatoes-garlic. Perfect!

The burger recipe comes from this genius, whose blog was the beginning of my food-blog addiction. She’s got a great philosophy and is always a pleasure to read! I want mine to be just like her’s when my blog grows up:)

It’s super easy and the possibilities for different creations are endless. Tonight I used my cannellini beans and added sage, garlic, fresh basil and tomato. Threw it on the skillet, flipped it once, and added some pecorino on top to melt (totally took this to the next level!). I heated up some garlic and olive oil in a pan and added lots of sage with spinach and tomatoes. Thrown together with some fresh arugula, this was great! Super fresh and light. Don’t forget the bread!

Finished it off with a mocktail:

Tropical fruit juice + sparkling water. In a wine glass that I promptly broke and shattered all over the floor…the sad part is there wasn’t even any alcohol involved. I’m just that good.

I got a hankering for some gelato, so we braved the chill and wandered out to get our fix! We tried 2 places that have been recommended…but both were closed. 9 o’clock on a Saturday night seemed a little early, but whatever. We prevailed on our walk home:

Dark chocolate + coffee mousse. It looks good right? Well, it tasted better. The coffee mousse was light and fluffy, and the chocolate was super dark, just the way I like it. My name is Gillian, and I’m addicted to gelato.

Promptly came back and did…homework more nothing. Except eat a bit too much peanut butter. Some things will never change.

It has been a blissfully unproductive day. Tomorrow I’m *planning* to go to Fiesole with my roommate, which is a little hill town overlooking Florence with some beautiful Etruscan ruins and views of Firenze. Wish us luck!

~Namaste~