snaps & snippets & blurbs from saturday

on saturday, elinor and i enjoyed a little mama-daughter time while ben worked from home for the first part of the day. on the menu: a meet-up with miss hallie and her little dude, peyton followed by some strolling and errand running.

the weather was simply glorious which made for an all-around incredible experience. and as you might know, we have been all about the al fresco dining for the last few weeks.

we grabbed a table at our tried and true, true food, and ordered up some tasty dishes. elinor enjoyed an almond butter + banana + apple sandwich with carrot sticks and some fresh fruit. she gobbled up almost every single morsel. she even used two fingers to scoop up the remaining dip...pretty much licked that bowl clean. this girl and her dip, my goodness.

i had a monster vegan wrap with spicy soy chorizo and salsa and avocado. and the beans! and the sweet potato hash! it is embarrassing how quickly i devoured that plate. i blame it on the baby...

um, and speaking of baby...would you look at my baby girl and her wispy baby-fine locks of curly goodness? she was having a majorly fab hair moment and it just needed to be celebrated. isn't she practically edible? too much adorableness.

oh, and speaking of adorableness...would you look at all that? elinor sitting on miss hallie's lap and working it for the camera? and the flirting! she was playing all coy with peyton during brunch and it was too much. not sure that the 7-year-old boy was enjoying the smirks and eye batting from the 2-year-old across the table but the mamas were eating that up.

and just to freak out a bit - that lovely lady and i have known each other since we were her son's age. and there we were, eating a meal with our kids. who are we? when did we grow up? sheesh.

so, yes. it was a delightful morning. after saying our farewells, elinor and i strolled a bit and enjoyed the cool breeze. we window shopped and ran an errand or so and grabbed some juby true juice and a few breakfast muffins to-go. because, there is no way that i would be allowed back in the house without bringing a muffin for ben. those muffins. total crack muffins. addiction level, man. coffee and banana and date and pistachio. all my faves! i keep saying that i am going to make a batch at home, some saturday morning, but that would not be wise. the $3 price tag and built-in portion control at a restaurant are absolutely necessary to keep some kind of barrier between me and those baked goods. my fear of sideways looks from the server when i order a dozen to-go after just eating a full meal is still just enough to deter me from ordering all. the. muffins. so yes, i will not be making these at home. the risk of my eating six or more in one sitting is just too great.

where was i? did i just spend a whole paragraph on muffins? yikes.

anyway...the afternoon was spent napping and resting and getting some stuff done around the house. AND THEN, ben getting into the kitchen to make some fantastic pizza for us to enjoy for dinner.

i give you...this.

ben's magical crust made with his whole wheat sourdough starter plus rye and buckwheat and stout. topped with his homemade red sauce + roasted garlic kale + sautéed cremini mushrooms + caramelized onions + fresh, local mozzarella.

folks, it was such a great dinner. and it was such a great saturday.