Our Day Date in London…

was the perfect remedy for a couple who had barely seen each other in two weeks and were in need of some alone time to reconnect and just, have some fun!

Last Saturday, after taking a 7 hr long flight home with an 8 month old, Geo and I spent the morning sleeping, unpacking and eagerly awaiting the arrival of our babysitter, Jenny. I had made the decision earlier in the week that having Jenny come would be a nice way for us to rest, eat out, take a breather and I was right – it allowed us to do all of the above. We had Jenny for 4 hours and spent the first hour sleeping… pure bliss. We then headed out for a mini adventure.

First stop, a photo with my two new besties:

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Next we headed to London’s South Bank in search of a good place to eat. Along the way we couldn’t help but take a few pics like this one:

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We then came across a restaurant called Bill’s, a small chain in London. It was cosy, warm and had a great menu. I ordered a Mint Iced Tea and had NO regrets (might have been the best part of the meal!). Here’s a peak of our visit there:

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I got the veggie platter and between the falafel and spicy hummus I was in heaven.

After indulging in a late lunch we headed to the highlight of the day date, the Clink Prison Museum! Dun dun dunnnn. It was spooky, grotesque and basically everything you’d expect it to be. Next date we’re heading to the National Portrait Museum, probably a little more worthwhile :p

We made a couple friends though! (the sort of friends nightmares are made of… creepy.)

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When we were finally done with the museum we headed back home feeling refreshed, reconnected and just excited to see Miss Lucy. But of course we had to stop to take in the Thames one more time. It’s amazing to me how busy it always it. I wouldn’t say it’s the most beautiful river I’ve ever seen but there’s something magical about all the commotion that seems to take place on it – always moving, always different, always with a backdrop of London. We will certainly miss it.

Geo asked me to pose, so naturally I gave the best Kardashian look I had… #Fail #HowDoIDoPoutyLips?

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Grateful: For this little pipsqueak who finds amusement, wonder and happiness in just about everything (especially my phone!). I hope she holds onto this for a long long time (the wonder, not my phone!).

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Right Around the Corner…

from us is the cutest, coziest little coffee shop. Verde and Company is the perfect spot to stop in for a coffee, or in my case, a late-afternoon hot chocolate 🙂

Their hot chocolate is voted best in London for a reason – it is truly delish! Dark, creamy and sweet; just what you need after a long day with a baby who is jet-lagged :p Lucy enjoyed her teeny little baby sip so much that she wouldn’t stop grabbing at it! Like mother like daughter. #ChocolateDoesTheBodyGood

Grateful: For our construction worker friends who are always around to help me lift the stroller into our apartment complex, give us a friendly wave as we walk by and/or come chat with us during those witching hours that we so often spent sitting on our front stoop watching the people walk by 🙂

A few things…

Our weekend consisted of sleeping, cooking, painting, work and me having a slight emotional breakdown Saturday morning… (what a nice way to start off the weekend, right?!  Poor Geo). All in all it was a really nice weekend, one that went by far too quickly! Here’s a quick snippet of it:

I woke up this morning knowing we just had to go out to breakfast and indulge, so that is exactly what we did. Sam’s on the harbor sure knows how to make a blueberry pancake –  yum.

Next up is me FINALLY getting around to making this “No Bake Peanut Butter Pie” that I bought all the ingredients to LAST week. Once I finally did make it, and it literally took 15 minutes to do, I couldn’t believe I’d put it off for so long. It was pretty delish. If I were to do it again though I may not freeze it… the filling was so delicious when it was light and fluffy. Not sure I enjoyed it as much frozen.

The biggest project of the weekend was painting our bedroom. While Geo was working I got everything situated, was feeling good about it and then made the big mistake of sitting on our bed to read a Facebook message… next thing I know the struggle to get up was VERY real. Eventually I did get up and we made some real headway today. Go us 🙂

I’m very exited about the short work week ahead – if anyone has any “must try” Thanksgiving dessert recipes, I’d love to hear them! I’m in need of a little something to bring to my family’s house.

Have a wonderful night!

Are We “Glowing” Yet?!

I’ve been introducing more vegan styled meals into our diet not because I want to necessarily go full-blown vegan (I’m too in love with ice cream!) but because we just don’t eat enough veggies, grains and/or fruits. I figure that having some solid, all natural recipes up my sleeve will help solve this problems and so far it’s been super easy to do because of the cookbook Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon. What’s great about vegan meals is that many of the snacks, dessert, breakfast recipes use the same products but in different ways. You have to build up a supply of the more random items, for me they were: brown rice flour, agave nectar, chia seeds, ground flax seeds and things along those lines. Once you have those ingredients it’s very simple to whip up something like, Chia Seed Doughnuts that were really good – even Geo thought so, and he can be a tough audience!

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Chia seeds, oat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple syrup and soy milk. It literally takes 5 minutes to prepare and then you stick them in the oven.

Or a Green Monster Smoothie, which is how we’ve been starting our mornings the past couple days.

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One frozen banana, kale, peanut butter, soy milk, 2 ice cubes, vanilla extract and flax seeds. DELISH.

I’ve also made a number of her dinner meals and desserts, the avocado cream pasta is one of my faves! Off to make a batch of doughnuts for my MIL 🙂