We are officially in that kind of gross and sloppy weather situation that follows a fun, big snow – it’s now just wet and patchy and a bit icy out there.
Before the snow started melting, Matt, Riese, and I made a sweet snowman though – check him out! He’s Steelers-themed since we are in Pittsburgh area right now. 🙂
We did a little more sledding with Riese, too. She loves it so much! We are supposed to get some more snow this week so I’m hoping we can do more sledding.
This is the first year she has been old enough to really play in the snow with us and it’s so fun. While we were sledding the other day she looked at me and said: “Mommy, I love sledding with you. I’m going to think of this tonight in my bed.” Cue heart melting! We’ve had a lot of tough moments this year like everyone, so spots of pure joy like that mean even more.
We also got out yesterday afternoon and did a snowy playground visit + a little jaunt in the woods around the playground. We had been cooped up inside for too long and needed some fresh air!
Food this weekend was all over the map! We had a yummy brunch one day with sourdough blueberry pancakes (homemade by my father-in-law), bacon, scrambled eggs, and fruit:
And on Friday night we did a belated birthday dinner for my mother-in-law, whose birthday was earlier in the week.
She wanted tilapia, so my father-in-law made a yummy baked tilapia, and I made our old fave Vegan Cranberry Quinoa Salad to have on the side.
I used red quinoa instead of white, but otherwise followed the recipe, which was actually served at our wedding back in 2012!
It was so popular I asked our caterers if I could share the recipe on the blog, and it has been a family favorite ever since! Super easy to make and so good.
We had the fish and the quinoa salad with some grilled asparagus topped with a little fresh shaved parmesan cheese. Dessert was some cookies, ice cream, and pastries that I forgot to get a picture of!
We had fish last night, too – a seared salmon with a mushroom farro that was actually a Blue Apron (<- affiliate link) meal. I was having a bit of an off-night in terms of pregnancy nausea so I wasn’t super feeling this, but the others enjoyed it!
I’m mostly feeling good nausea-wise now at almost 18 weeks but sometimes it’s still a little hit or miss and foods that I normally like are a little off-putting.
The other food highlight from the weekend was some takeout! We got burgers, fries, and kale salad from Sewickley Tavern on Saturday night and it hit the spot.
As for fitness this weekend, I got in a training session with my brother-in-law Drew:
And I finally made virtual yoga happen!! I’m proud of myself!
I was in a really good routine of going once or twice a week to outdoor yoga classes this fall, but now that it’s too cold and everything is online it just hasn’t been happening and I really feel a difference in my body – it’s so tight and stiff. Especially after lots of snow playing and sledding!
Big thank you to blog reader Kiersten for recommending Harlow’s Earth prenatal yoga videos on YouTube – they have week-by-week prenatal yoga which is brilliant because what I want for yoga at 17 weeks pregnant is definitely not the same as what I want/am capable of at 37 weeks, and I feel like most prenatal yoga classes/videos are all geared towards the later phases (rightly so, it has to be appropriate for anyone, of course). It is nice to not worry about modifying anything!
I also appreciate that the videos are only 20 minutes, which is kind of perfect to make myself actually do it. I did the 17 week video this morning and enjoyed it so much I did the 15 week video, too, which did a lot with stretching out the hips and was much needed by me this a.m.
I will leave you with some fun furry friend photos! Someone on Instagram said they missed seeing Zara (our cat) and Freyja (our dog), so here are some cute pics of them this week.
Isn’t this one of Freyja amazing?! New favorite photo. She is living the dream at my parent’s house with all the attention and approximately 500 walks per day.
Zara is staying with them while we are gone, too, and has perfected her “creeper” look where she sits perfectly still and stares at you until you pay attention to her. Half the time I won’t even know she’s doing it and then ACK! There she is, just watching and waiting. Lol!
Have a nice day, my friends! I’ll be back on Wednesday with some cozy winter meal recipe inspiration, and then I’ll be taking Friday off for the holiday, so will see you back here with another lifestyle update on next Monday.
Until then – happy holidays and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! Please stay safe and healthy out there. <3
If you’re looking for some cookies to make this week, be sure to try my all-time Christmas fave, these Chewy Chocolate Cherry Cookies. And for Christmas morning, try my Sausage Egg Casserole or my Veggie Egg Casserole with Smoked Salmon. Both keep well as leftovers, too!
