Favorite thing: Avocado toast.

You guys, I really love bread. Like, really-really. I love the honey whole-wheat sandwich bread I grew up on; I love French baguettes; I love big, round, rustic table breads. I also love that bread is a vessel for so many awesome things—bruschetta, deli meat, the custardy coating for French toast and, lately for me, avocado.

Seriously, avocado toast is my new favorite lunch (thank you, Joy the Baker, for turning me onto it!). It's super easy, endlessly customizable and so, so tasty. I sprinkle a couple slices of whatever bread I have on hand—I've been finding really great varieties at Fresh Market (which just so happens to be in the same complex as my Pure Barre classes, luckily for my stomach and sadly for my wallet)—with olive oil, toss the bread into the oven and let it get toasty. While that's happening, I mash up a ripe avocado and sprinkle it with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Then I slather that mixture all over the toasty bread and hope that no one I know is around to judge how fast I devour it.

Avocado toast. You should totally try it.

Favorite thing: Swan paddleboats.

Friends, I have written a lot about my love for the swan paddleboats at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando (see: here and here), and here is another post to add to the books.

You see, the thing about these paddleboats is that they are exactly what you picture when you hear the words "swan paddleboats." They are big, white, plastic, swan-shaped vessels that you lower yourself into and then maneuver around the lake via two sets of pedals. And no matter how many times I see them, they never fail to excite me. "Look at the paddleboats!" I squeal, pointing gleefully to the middle of the lake. "We should totally rent one sometime."

Well, Internet, this weekend we did just that.

I should say that the last time I was in one of these paddleboats I was approximately eight years old. My grandparents were visiting, which means it must have been around Easter, and my whole family went out for lunch at a lakeside restaurant that's now long gone. Afterward, we took a walk around the park, and my grandfather decided to take me out in one of the paddleboats, probably after I begged and pleaded.

The best part of this story, however, is that I insisted I would help paddle, but who are we kidding? I "helped" my grandfather paddle for about two minutes before I got tired and stopped, and I'm fairly certain that I did not put my feet back on those pedals for the whole rest of the 30-minute ride. I'm fairly certain that my grandfather's legs hurt pretty badly the next day, too.

The Lonely Island's "I'm On a Boat" was stuck in my head the ENTIRE time.

This time, I'm happy to report, I did help, but here's a funny story: The guy who rented us the boat was the only one working at the time, and right around the time we walked up, a long-ish line began to form behind us. The swan paddleboat renter guy was so, so nice and accommodating, but he forgot to tell us that the boats move best when you paddle slowly, not like you're participating in some sort of crazy fowl race. So we ended up paddling like maniacs, panting and sweating, for the majority of the ride--thank you, spin class, for strengthening my leg muscles, I really appreciate that--right up until we neared the dock again and the guy called out, "Oh, you guys are supposed to paddle slowly! I think I may have forgotten to tell you that. The boat moves better that way."

Thanks, Mr. Swan Paddleboat Renter Guy. I definitely got my cardio in that day.

Anyway, Jell-O legs aside, the swan paddleboats were just as fun as my eight-year-old self remembered. Plus, it was a perfectly sunny day, the weather wasn't too hot for Florida in mid-June and the water was a gorgeous blue.

And really, sometimes that's all you can ever ask for, anyway: a beautiful afternoon with people you care about in a big, white, swan-shaped boat.