Yesterday around noon, I packed up my car with all the essentials – my runDisney racecation photo book, my scrapbook from our 2010 trip to Disneyland and a change of clothes en route to the first OFFICIAL #VAisforrunDisneylovers meetup with my pals Christine and Katie.

The agenda was as follows:

• 1 PM – Meet up with Christine at Short Pump Town Center at Lululemon
• 3:15 PM – Drive over to Katie’s (since she works on Saturdays, we were meeting just after she got back home)…and COMMENCE HAVING FUN!

Very detailed, right? Well, it was a good thing it wasn’t because traffic had other plans for both me and Christine! Due to lots of traffic congestion, I didn’t arrive in Short Pump til after 1:30 PM and I still had to make my cupcake pitstop for meetup refreshments! At the shopping center near Frostings, I had to circle the lot around three times before finding a spot, purchasing the sweets then getting back on the road to quickly reach Lulu by about 1:45 PM!

No matter! Christine and I met up, browsed around the shopping center, then proceeded on to Katie’s! Hooray!

Once there, I had to do a cupcake ‘show and tell’ so we knew what would be awaiting us on our return from our run: Red Velvet, Lemon Burst, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate chip Cookies and Creme and two Girl Scout cookie varieties: Samoa and Thin Mint! Yum city!! With our appetites sufficiently whetted, we headed out for a 5-ish mile run (Christine is tapering for Shamrock Half next weekend)!

The cool thing about the running path Katie lives near is that it’s really varied! We started the run with a little path, then headed up some steep stairs and over the floodgate wall. The water was moving pretty fast!

On top of the great company, it was also fabulous weather! Right under 60 degrees, sunshine-y and no wind! I found it mildly humorous that I was out in a sleeveless top and a running skirt just three days after our region had received quite a bit of snowfall.

The run took us by more urban scenes, too! Running along the Canal path we passed by lots of people out walking, some neat murals and art on the walls and even some people doing some photoshoots. The vibe was really lighthearted running around that area, so that paired with the flowing conversation, our miles were ticking off effortlessly.

We were just having a blast! Passing by the waterways, Katie shed her expert knowledge on us regarding the fresh water supply and other environmental issues. It is so cool to have such passionate friends!

Before turning around to head back to Katie’s place, we stopped at some signage along the canal area and Katie told us about warnings to not eat the fish from the waterway, due to possible mercury contamination. A few minutes later, we saw a more visual depiction of that:

Yikes! Thanks for the warning

Back at Katie’s, we changed clothes and got right to refueling. Katie was sure to pour me a tall glass of SPACE water

…and I learned about a NEW way to eat cupcakes! Katie explained slicing the cupcake, then sandwiching the icing/frosting creates a more idea cake to icing ratio. MIND BLOWN.

…but I still ate mine the old fashioned way! YUM (disclaimer: I just held it up to take a picture. I am a total weirdo and eat my cupcake with a fork and knife – think THIS)

After our cupcakes, we chatted a bit then decided to head out for dinner. Katie threw out a few ideas before we eventually decided on a place called Comfort, which, aptly named, is a comfort food restaurant that even serves Atlanta-raise Katie’s fave, sweet tea

I went with water when we arrived ^^ but there definitely is something whimsical about serving beverages in mason jars

The dinner menu was large and varied – you could pick any entrees, then two or three of the side dishes, which included Southern faves like mac and cheese, grits, mashed potatoes, fried okra, squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts and more.

The meal was really good and I am really glad that I chose to get the gravy on the side – it definitely wasn’t needed! There is something to be said about just salt and pepper seasoning…mmm!

We chatted for a good while about all kinds of things – running, Disney, traveling, career plans, pets…all that good stuff. In fact, we chatted so much we kept getting our drinks refilled and didn’t think about leaving until the smell of smoke (from the kitchen, not cigarettes) began to nudge us toward carrying on the rest of the convo back at Katie’s place!

So, back at the apartment….Katie tried her key fob on the electronic door entry and for some reason, it was acting wonky – so we walked to the other side and had issues there, too! Katie called the management office, but received only a pager message, we we walked back again. Once there, we ran into another resident who was having similar concerns…after some brainstorming, he resorted to trying to knock on windows, play sounds on the cellphone and more…we were outside for a good while before he disappeared again, then was able to open the door from us from the inside! Yay!

Back inside, we split the Thin Mint cupcake (all that scheming deserved a treat, we decided) and so I had two left (strawberry and lemon) to take home to my hubs. It was nearly 10 PM by then and since Christine and I had hour plus drives home, our meetup drew to a close then and we bid each other farewell.

In all, it was a really fabulous day – from the friends to the weather and the food – and for the first time a long while, I was glad that we lived in VA Thanks, ladies – for a fun-tastic day!

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Do you plan active dates with your friends? Have you ever seen that cupcake eating method? How do you eat your cupcakes?