Last night we were lucky enough to be invited to try out the new PDQ restaurant on 4th Street in St. Pete before it opens to the public on Sunday. I got invitations for six people and my BFF Val and her daughter Jillian met us there.

The place was hopping and all of the staff seemed very excited and welcoming.

We stood in a line of about 10 or 15 people, but it moved really quickly.

The boys were very excited to check out the cool Coke machines with 100 soda variations.

Chad got kind of cut off in that one, so here’s a better one (where he’s doing that funny thing with his eyebrow):

I ordered the grilled turkey sandwich this time and loved it. It has a great seasoning mix on the turkey and I love the slice of cranberry sauce. I also had one chicken tender (amazingly juicy and delicious) and fries.

I have to say that the fries were a little overly salty, but that didn’t stop me from eating most of them. Hopefully they’ll get the salt to fry ratio worked out before Sunday.

I got to see my friend Jeff, the PR/marketing guy for PDQ again, as well as the President of PDQ, both of whom I had met when they invited me to visit their south Tampa location. I also got to meet the Operating Partner for the St. Pete location last night. We’re going to be invading them with the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers for a meet-up soon, so I appreciated getting to talk to them last night.

Mostly I was glad to get a chance to hang out with Val, who I don’t see enough these days even though she lives right across the street from me. Apparently having a teenager (who just got her learner’s permit to drive…yikes! Jillian drove them to PDQ last night!) means even more constant running around than having younger kids.

I also saw several other friends there and the whole restaurant was filled with a very fun buzz of excitement. The boys thought the hand-washing station was really cool.

Thanks for inviting us PDQ! I’m happy to have my children be walking billboards for you.

Chad left for his Thursday night pool league straight from PDQ and the boys and I headed home. Once they were in bed I cozied up to my boyfriend, TweetDeck, to watch the vice presidential debates.

Twitter is wonderful. It was a highly entertaining evening.

This morning I hit snooze too many times, so I ended up having to drive Mack to school instead of walk. Today was his school picture day and he requested spiky hair for his photo.

Our crazy awesome PTA president, Linda, was out in the dark in the school parking lot collecting money for the PTA’s spare change drive.

She’s the best PTA president ever.

Once I got home I had a pretty big breakfast because I had some big workout plans for the morning.

After Cal got off to the bus stop with our car pool, I headed out on my bike.

It was an amazingly beautiful morning. Low humidity, cool breeze on the bike. Perfect. Yay for cold fronts in October! Obviously it wasn’t “cold” given my shorts and tank top, but a cold front in October in Florida just means a respite from the stifling heat and humidity. We’ll take it.

I biked four miles to North Shore Pool. My punch card is full!

I racked Snowflake on the rack inside the gated aquatics center area. I don’t know why I have always used the rack outside of the pool area before and have never used this one.

My IRunMommies friends Kelly and Christie (also of Karna Fitness fame) met me there and we had a good time chatting a little in between laps. Christie is a swimming superstar so she gave us some good coaching tips as well.

Thanks for the motivation guys! I did 2500 yards in about an hour and ten minutes. All the chatting slowed me down, but it was worth it. So much more fun with friends.

Afterwards I laid out by the pool for a few minutes to dry off. This is a new swimsuit that I just got.

I wanted one with wider straps and my other fitness swim suits were starting to get a little threadbare. I also have a TYR fitness suit on order. I am getting geared up for the TriRock Clearwater Triathlon! Please excuse my arm pit. I would also ask you to excuse my less than model-perfect body, but I won’t. This body carried me through eight miles on a bike and 1.42 miles in the water this morning, so I think it’s pretty awesome. If you don’t, you can suck it.

Wow, what a great morning. I biked home slowly because I was pretty spent and because it was so gorgeous outside.

Once I got home I threw together lunch with some odds and ends.

I had some leftover brown rice in the fridge so I stir-fried that with some chopped fresh spinach and a splash of Newman’s Own lite balsamic vinaigrette. Then I threw in some ham (Boars Head tavern ham was on sale at Publix this week), some kalamata olives, and Trader Joe’s fat free feta cheese. This was actually quite delicious.

Now I need to go shower and get dressed in my 80’s style garb.

I’m posting a little early today because I’m heading out with my girlfriends to see Loverboy, Journey, and Pat Benatar tonight! We’re getting an early start this afternoon and tailgating. I also need to get my supplies together.

Okay, supplies are ready.

Lots of fun stuff planned for the weekend, including a 25 mile bike ride with my friend Theresa (of Active Eggplant) and the Trek Bicycle Store of St. Pete tomorrow morning to support breast cancer awareness. Sounds like a good way to burn off a hangover, right?

Have a great weekend! Cya.