The (almost) Perfect Saturday

Fall is my favorite season.  As soon as mornings have that brisk chill, leaves become crunchy under my feet, Starbucks brings back  their seasonal drinks, and weekends are dominated by football games, I'm in a perpetual good mood.

This Saturday was one of those days for me.

Josh's birthday was last Wednesday but obviously a long-distance relationship means we didn't get to see each other.  Instead, I went down to Lafayette (Indiana) for the weekend for some belated birthday celebrating and just general seeing each other.  Unfortunately, with all the weddings (two this month!) he can't keep taking off work on Saturdays, which means he had to work while I was in town.

His house is way in the middle of nowhere and his job is near Purdue's campus, so we had to leave around 8 am so I could drop him off at work.  I looked super attractive (ha) in my workout clothes.  I drove over to campus and parked at the parking garage across from my old sorority, grabbed my keys and phone, and hit the pavement.  So this is what campus is like at 9 am on a Saturday.  I always wondered who those crazy people were out running... Now I guess I know!

The southeast side of the stadium, where I ran stairs

I ended up running an hour and going almost 4 miles, including running some stairs at the stadium and the biggest hills around campus.  That was Saturday, today is Tuesday, and my calves are still killing me!  After my run, I snapped a quick pic of my old house and headed to Starbucks for some breakfast.  Now, I've been hearing all these posts on Facebook and Twitter about the Pumpkin Spice latte finally arriving-- but that's not my drink of choice.  For me, it's all about the nonfat iced salted caramel mocha. Oh. My. Gosh. I probably drank these three times a week last year when I was on the road.

Nonfat iced salted caramel mocha. Pure perfection.

I had a $10 off coupon for Old Navy so after my turkey bacon & egg white sandwich, I drove out to the mall to see what I could pick up for fall!  I drove with the windows down, because it was absolutely the perfect temperature out.  It was magnificent.  At noon I met up with my sorority little sis for lunch-- she's been in Australia studying abroad (her boyfriend lives there) for the past 7 months and is back for a year!  It was so fun to see her again, catch up on news, and reminisce about our favorite (and not-so-favorite) college memories.  Oh, and don't worry-- I got cleaned up & changed after my run!

When I picked Josh up from work, we went to a local sports bar for an afternoon of college football.  Josh got lucky and his Florida Gators pulled out a win, but my Boilermakers didn't fare so well against the Irish.  I wasn't in a very good mood after that...

BUT all things considered, it was about as perfect as a Saturday could be.  Cloudless sky, brisk weather, exercise, friends, and football.  Wonderful.