Hey guys! As I mentioned, yesterday was my birthday! I treated myself to the day off from work for the occasion, and per tradition in our household when it’s your birthday, the morning kicked off with breakfast in bed! Thank you, Matt! :)
I checked in on emails quickly and then closed my laptop for the day and had a fun birthday adventure with my mom – we had plans to head out to the Virginia countryside for lunch and a little shopping. 🙂 Our first stop (well, after getting my free Starbucks birthday drink on the way!) was lunch at a super cute spot called The Ashby Inn.
The Ashby Inn is a bed and breakfast in Paris, VA, about an hour or so outside of the DC area. We thought it would make a fun and relaxing lunch spot for our girl’s day out! It was nice enough to eat out on their shaded patio – perfect.
Our view from the table was lovely:
We started with some appetizers – I had a really yummy and beautifully presented butternut squash and coconut soup. It came with tower of diced cucumber, pickled onion, radish, and microgreens in a bowl, and then they slowly poured the soup around it right at the table. Fun!
Unfortunately before we got our main course, the power at the Inn (and in the whole surrounding small town) went out – random on such a nice day! We waited for a bit but they weren’t sure when it would come back on, so we asked if they could throw together something easy/cold for us for lunch. We ended up with this pretty cheese/meat plate – luckily all their cheese was pasteurized, and really delicious, too! Cheese is one of the baby’s favorite foods. 😉
We’ll have to come back another time for the main event – I had my eye on their burger!
For dessert they surprised me with some birthday truffles. 🙂
Despite the power issues, we had a lovely lunch – I would highly recommend this place if you are looking to have a nice meal (or stay somewhere) in the VA countryside!
After lunch, my mom and I headed to Middleburg, which is a really cute town nearby that has a couple streets of cute walkable shops.
We wandered around, bought some adorable baby clothes (couldn’t resist!), and my mom bought me a pretty scarf and a new book for my birthday, too! For those who read Pillars of the Earth and World Without End (two of my all-time fave books), did you know that Ken Follett just came out with a third book in the series?! I didn’t until my mom told me when we were browsing the bookstore! It’s called A Column of Fire. I’m so excited to read it!
We made it back to the DC area in time for me to hit up my 5:30 prenatal pilates class, and then Matt picked me up and we headed to Sushi Rock per my request for a birthday dinner! We started with the steamed kobe dumplings (mmmm):
And then we shared some edamame and two cooked sushi rolls – an eel roll and a tempura shrimp roll. Such a fun date night. 🙂
Matt gave me a gift certificate for some prenatal massages for my birthday – yessss! I’m OBSESSED with massages with now… feels even more amazing than usual. I’m thinking I should schedule my first one for next week!
Matt and I have another fun adventure coming up – this weekend we are treating ourselves to a combination birthday trip for me/mini-babymoon for both of us and heading to a new-to-us B&B in the VA countryside. This will likely be our last trip away together for quite awhile, so we are going to soak up the sleeping in and quality time while we can! It’s near great hiking, too, which you know we love. 🙂
I was up early this morning to get in a fun workout with my buddy Chelsea at Bodymass Gym in Arlington via ClassPass (<- affiliate link for $40 off). Looooove that place – such a great workout, and I’m able to modify things as necessary to be pregnancy appropriate.
Now it’s time to wrap up work, pack, and hit the road by late afternoon. Have a great weekend guys and see you back here Monday!
