Hi guys! As I type this on Sunday night (working ahead so I can enjoy the Monday holiday with Matt and Riese), I have a lentil bolognese with spaghetti squash cooking for dinner in the Instant Pot!
I’ll be sharing the recipe with you on Wednesday, so stay tuned.
ALSO: the 6 quart Instant Pot I have is on sale on Amazon right now for $69… just FYI if you’ve been considering buying one!
Apparently we’ve been all about the Italian food lately – our Valentine’s Day dinner was also Italian-themed!
My mom kindly babysat for us so we could enjoy a date night. We kicked things off with an Orange Theory workout, then got cleaned up…
(Sidenote: I recently got my first Stitch Fix (<- $25 off affiliate link) since pre-baby, and my stylist NAILED IT. I kept everything! Including the fun lace top I’m wearing above.)
… And then we enjoyed dinner at Il Radicchio in Arlington – one of our favorite local spots. It’s so cute and cozy!
I had a really good dish with pulled chicken, fire roasted kale (like kale chips!), and tortellini in a rich broth. It was so delicious.
Plus red wine and an unpictured salad to start!
On Friday, I was so happy it was one of my mommy days with Riese because the weather was AMAZING! So warm.
In the afternoon, Riese and I headed up to Rock Creek Park in DC to take a nice walk with my friend Karen.
We played at the playground for a bit, too – had to take advantage of the weather!
Matt and I had a friend and her little one over for happy hour on Friday evening, and then had a cozy night in with a Blue Apron chicken and farro dish that was delish.
Saturday morning started with the usual – back to back training sessions at home with Paul from Capital Energy Training.
Please note Zara’s efforts to demolish our workout mats… sigh.
I had one of my Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos (<- recipes and storage details) from the freezer post-workout, and then a bit later for lunch I had a salmon sandwich.
It had hummus, feta, arugula, and salmon with some lemon juice drizzled on. Good combo!
Riese had a mini deconstructed version: hummus toast + salmon + string beans.
She took a few bites of the salmon and string beans but mostly just ate the toast. :)
Saturday afternoon’s adventure was a family walk.
This photo… ahhh, so sweet.
Riese isn’t walking fully on her own yet (well, taking some steps here and there), but is really into walking holding our hands. I hope she never lets go. <3
On Saturday night, Matt and I took Riese out on the town – we hit up one of our faves, Screwtop wine bar, for wine + nachos with a group of friends.
Their nachos are soooo good you guys. And so are their wine flights! Plus a salad for some balance. :)
I tried their sparkling red wine flight and loved the one on the left in particular.
Riese got to try some nachos, too – unsurprisingly she loved them. ;)
Riese and I headed home and left Matt to enjoy the rest of the night with his buddies; once I got Riese to bed, I spent the rest of the night here:
It was quite lovely.
ALSO: for my readers who are around my age… I discovered that the entire Dawson’s Creek series is on Hulu!!
I’m so excited about this and started rewatching it from the very beginning last night. So nostalgic!
I was exactly the same age as them when it aired and feel like I grew up with them… such a good show.
Anyway! Sunday morning started with a run date:
Great to catch up with my buddy Sokphal, and to enjoy the sunny morning.
We ran over to the monuments – apparently on Friday at the Lincoln Memorial they were actually filming for a future episode of The Handmaid’s Tale!
I was hoping they might still be filming… no dice. Oh well!
3 miles, done!
I’m debating if I want to try to start running more frequently again vs. just the once per week (or less) I’ve been doing recently.
Maybe once spring hits I’ll get the itch to train for a race – I miss it but at the same time it has been nice to have a breather after so many years of training for race after race!
Post-run make-ahead breakfast burrito – this time I went for one with chicken instead of egg. Yum.
For lunch on Sunday, we ate at Naked Lunch and then went grocery shopping next door afterward. Riese loves sitting in the grocery cart like a big girl! (Although after about 15 minutes she’s over it and ready to get out.)
I had my usual kale caesar salad with parmesan roasted hearts of palm on top. Delicious and super garlicky.
The rest of the day was spent doing some errands and stuff around the house.
I hope you guys had great weekends – I’ll be back on Wednesday with the lentil bolognese recipe!
Hi Anne, I hope you’ll consider switching your blog back so that the entire post (rather than a preview) appears on Feedly! I loved reading your blogs each day, but clicking through is not always an option for me. Thanks for considering!
I agree!
I will consider this – thank you for your feedback and for reading my blog!
I agree! :)
Me too!
+1
Yes please!!
The layers in your hair in that first pic with you and Matt- gorgeous! How do you ask your hair dresser to trim your hair? Long layers?
Thank you! Yes, long layers. :)
Question from a local: when you go to Rock Creek, where do you park? I haven’t found an ideal to park but I want to be better about taking advantage of such an awesome area.
I usually park near where my friend lives, which is in the neighborhoods between Cleveland Park and Woodley Park. You can access the Klingle Valley Trail from that area and the street parking is pretty easy usually! I agree it’s kind of annoying to figure out where to park for Rock Creek!
That is really helpful! I have also wondered this and haven’t had much luck in the past.
What a nice weekend, Anne! Loved the photo of Matt holding the new walker’s hand while she had a stick in the other!
Hi Anne, little Riese is the cutest. I asked you a few weeks ago if she had words yet. At almost 15 months she should have at least 3 words-Mama, Dada, and one other word. I want to encourage you to reach out to early intervention for an evaluation if you aren’t hearing any words yet. Many pediatricians give a wait and see approach, but as a speech pathologist this is so frustrating because we miss such valuable time where we could be providing intervention. Early intervention is a lot of parent coaching on how best to provide a language rich environment and how to elicit language in our little ones. I know this is unsolicited advice which is often viewed as critical and unnecessary, but I would hate for a child to fall further behind and not say something. She may not even qualify, but I just had to say something.
Hmm this seems unnecessary for this type of forum. Has Anne asked for help, is this post even about Riese’s development? (And this, coming from a mom of 3 kids that went through EI…) let’s stop the mommy shaming
My intention was not to mom shame. I think Anne is a fantastic mom. She mentioned Riese wasn’t yet independently walking, so yes it was about her development. Like I said, she may not even qualify and be right on track, it’s impossible to tell via the internet.
No worries – thanks! I appreciate your concern, and you sharing this in a respectful and kind manner. :)
Thanks for sharing this, Lisa! So, she is making sounds that sound like “mama”, “daddy”, “up”, and a few others – hard to tell if they are legit words? I’ll talk to a friend who is an SLP and see what she thinks. :)
anything that is a sound she makes consistently to refer to something/someone is considered a “word”, even if it’s not a “real” word. (it can include animal sounds, for example)
That’s good to know! Thanks!!
Then it sounds like she has at least three words! Even if they don’t sound like the target word, as long as she is using the same sounds every time they represent a meaning.
I’ll have to pay more attention, but it sounds like we are good in that case! Thanks!
Haha my cats do the same thing to my mats! I miss seeing Zara on the blog ;) ! Freyja looks so content on the couch with you- adorable!
I’ll have to snap a few pics of Zara for my longtime Zara fans! Stay tuned ;)
dawson’s creek forever!!! i know what my weekend will now entail…
thanks for sharing the important stuff ;) team pacey!
Team Pacey for life!!! Haha. Hope you enjoyed your Dawson’s Creek weekend ;)