Pumpkin in July

Hey friends!

We survived another weekend and if you were me, it would be just barely.  You see, I had a particularly tough personal training session on Saturday morning and somehow didn’t refuel enough throughout the day.  Then I indulged in a few glasses of wine over several hours at a going away/engagement party and, well, I ended up feeling like crap Sunday!  I couldn’t even make it to my 9a spin class.  Argh.  But I did manage to eek out 25  min of high intensity on the elliptical along with some ab work.  Somethin’ is better than nothin’ right?

The mother’s group I hosted on Friday was lovely!  I wish I would have taken a pic of the spread, but suffice it to say the chocolate fudge donuts went over quite well

Best part of the weekend?  My bestie is in Cali for the week to visit her family and show off tater tot!  She, her hubby and the tot spent last night with us and will spend Friday night with us.  And it also just happened to be A’s birthday a couple weeks ago so per her request, I made a pumpkin cake!

I followed this recipe for Pumpkin Dump Cake with only minor mods: no nuts, an added dash (or two) of cinnamon, and dark chocolate chips instead of toffee (bestie loves dark chocolate).  And I used ~4 full graham crackers to get the 1 cup coarsely chopped.  My cake took about 53 min at 350 deg.  Check it out:

Pumpkin in July was a huge hit!

Oh and I wanted to say thank you for the supportive comments on my last post about mother’s guilt.   It is a dialogue I’d like to probe into more and perhaps find some solutions to alleviate this guilt many of us are experiencing.

What can you eat despite the season?  Pumpkin is an obvious one for me as is froyo in December

And that was a good weekend

…to which you may say, what weekend is not a good weekend?  Well, frankly, some are just better than others and this one was a good one!

On Friday, Auntie CC, Bean and I went to Rootstock in Los Gatos for an afternoon of vino and apps.  It was rather glorious and sadly there are no photos (living in the moment, people).  We needed to have our own fun since Zach was at the US Open up in SF (a Father’s Day gift to himself methinks).

Saturday morning after 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by abs, we did a 4 mile walk with a stop for iced lattes and bagels at the halfway point.  Despite the heat, it was lovely to walk to breakfast.

Upon our return we thought it would be a great time to finally get Bean in the pool:

Like with every new venture, he smiled through it   Next time maybe I’ll get in..ha!

Saturday evening was spent celebrating a friend’s Birthday (Happy Bday Kate!).  The Bay Area was a balmy 95 degrees!  We all seem to melt around here once things get above 85.  Even bean had a sweaty upper lip.  Poor guy.

Sunday was my personal training session and once again my PT thought it appropriate to make me to do step jumps and burpees.  Blech.  Anything to do with jumping/bouncing is not my idea of fun. 

Before my workout, I gave bean gave Zach his gifts.  He even sported a new hat for himself in honor of his daddy:

Future golfer – what do you think?

Following the workout, Zach, Bean and I headed to Peets for some iced lattes to kick off the day.  He didn’t have many requests for celebrating other than these two items:

That would be Zach’s fave dessert: applecrisp.  My guess is that it will be gone by this evening.

And of course Pinkberry – please do not assume mine is on the left.  Zach is ridiculous and gets a large mango/original mix with berries and oreos.  I went the PBJ-esque route with PB/strawberry and cap’n crunch and granola (in  a more appropriately sized small).

Despite it being Dad’s day, I was able to sneak out and get a new mani:

Mint (gel) mani and yellow jeans – why hello Summer!

And that my friends is what made a better-than-average weekend!

What makes it a good weekend for you?

Whose froyo sounded better?  Kidding..sort of…I know you think mine sounds better right?

Happiest Father’s Day to all the “dads” in my life: Zach, Dad/Grandpa, Gregorio/Grandpa G, Gary/Poppy.  Much love! 

And Happy Birthday (last Thursday) to my Bestie Boo Andrea!

Nails, training, solids, and off-Fridays

Hey there!

Welcome back from the weekend!

Working backwards, here is my weekend in review:

Sunday night I had baking plans, but they were thwarted by lack of ingredients.  As a result, Zach will have to experience the silence treatment from one of his coworkers until I can provide the goods (Sandra, I’m talking to you! )

I got my typical Sunday mani/pedi.  Usually I try to go 3 weeks between, but meh, I was feeling like some nail-pampering:

I’m pretty sure I did this exact nail combo only 2 mani/pedis ago.  Clearly I need to branch out.  I also think I’m addicted to gel nail polish.  Nearly 3 weeks chip free?  Yes please. 

Sunday morning I had my personal training session.  I love that someone is pushing me beyond my limits and also expanding my repertoire of exercises I can do on my own once my sessions end.  And fyi, I hate burpees, but can fully understand their effectiveness. 

Saturday, Zach and I gave Bean solids for the first time.  The pictures below tell a pretty good story of how it went:

Judging by the amount of rice cereal on Bean, I can’t be certain how much he actually swallowed.  Our plan is to try again today (since Sunday got away from us) and hopefully introduce some more flavor (vegetables) later this week.

Saturday morning, we did our typical trek to the coffee shop and grocery store with baby and dog in tow.  Odd how such simple things can bring so much joy

Other than those fun filled events, I spent my Friday taking care of errands and meeting a friend for drinks at Joya – nothing says an enjoyable afternoon like a glass (or 2) of champy!

What simple things are bringing you joy?

What’s a good second food for Bean (after rice cereal)?