Sleep till my eyes open.

Step outside and take in the day.

Make oatmeal for two while the early riser sleeps

Gobble it down.

This fabulous bowl was Coach’s Oats made with whipped banana, milk, chia seeds, vanilla, pinch salt and topped with Jam According to Daniel (the end of my jar!) and Wild Squirrel Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter plus local granola. It was a fabulous bowl!

Enjoyed with a mug of coffee!

The salad is ready to eat!

For two years now I’ve been telling myself I’d get up early and go to the City Market for breakfast. Because we have to be at childbirth class at 9am, today was the perfect day! Matt and I were up at 6:30, showered and enjoying breakfast there by 8! Also got in 2 nice miles of walking!

I found wonderful whole wheat strawberry muffins at Belle Haven Bakery

Which I ate most of but shared with Matt

Coffee from Shenandoah Joe’s, of course

Matt had an egg sandwich from Babes In The Wood

And finally, a donut from the Baker’s Palette. The smells wafting from their booth every week are absolutely mesmerizing!

We bought Steadfast Farm cherries, Jam!!!, sausage to take to the beach from The Rock Barn and a loaf of whole grain bread from this awesome bakery!!

Happy Weekend!

Top of the morning to you! It’s not a typical Friday around here. There will be no Fridays After Five this evening (sadness).

Because we’ll be spending our Friday at the hospital! For two days of childbirth classes! I have no idea what to expect, but I’m looking forward to learning more. I have only heard good things about our hospital (which is only 6 months old) and I have yet to see the inside. It’s so strange to think that pregnancy is one of the few times you KNOW you’re going to be a patient in a hospital.

Strawberry-Cottage Cheese Whipped Banana Oatmeal this morning. Topped with strawberry-lavender jam (I’m almost out already!), Reginald’s Cashew Nilla butter and granola.

Served with a cup of caramel tea (by Adagio) and a dash of sunshine.

Theme song of the morning is the Brady Bunch’s Sunshine Day! I’m speaking at Karen’s Rotary club mid-day and have a few calls scheduled, hopefully to do while sitting on the porch. I keep seeing walkers go by our house down the street! I want to join them.

Breakfast was overnight oats made with a bunch of local VA strawberries, plus a new granola and sunflower butter.

I picked this up at yesterday’s market. I could have made it myself, but it’s always good to support those who put time into making things to sell (why I love Etsy so much!)

Crunch away! I’ve been low on granola for ages and it’s my favorite sprinkled topping.

Chestnut tea is back! It’s by Adagio and was a fall favorite!

One week till the beach!!!

I went to bed thinking happy thoughts about a big bowl of cold, crunchy cereal last night.

So this morning’s breakfast assembly was a no brainer: WF Honey Bunches, half a banana, chia seeds, raisins, and creamy milk.

Plus two giant glasses of H2O – soooo thirsty in the mornings!

Have a happy day!

Except for one!!

A big puddle of drippy Wild Squirrel Chocolate Sunflower Butter!

The squirrels sent us a few sample packets of new flavors at the bakery, and I couldn’t wait to try out this flavor since I love sunflowers. Believe it or not, that puddle is only about 1 tbsp (half the packet) because Matt had the other half (I do think I got the drippier half )

He was home for breakfast after a run this morning! Hats off to the chef.

Whipped banana oatmeal with cottage cheese, sunflower butter and coconut!

Gone way too fast

May showers bring…June greenery!

I put some in my pocket for our next rainy day!

to rain and the end of a long, fun weekend.

to a sunny forecast and a beach trip on the horizon.

to a fridge that is low on fresh foods.

to a delicious breakfast anyways.

I filled my bowl with Siggi’s Drinkable yogurt, a whole sliced banana, Whole Foods Honey Bunches, chia seeds and sunflower butter generously drizzled on top.

Pumpkin Spice tea to pretend it’s fall

Anyone have a pocket full of sunshine?

A pancake celebration from the inside out!

I left the sleeping father to get his rest and baby and I made pancakes for breakfast!

Kodiak cakes smothered in 2 kinds of peanut butter and 1 kind of Crunchy Biscoff, seared bananas and 2 kinds of sprinkles (rainbow + chia!)

After enjoying the ‘cakes, I laid on my porch couch and felt all kinds of baby movements in there. Best Mother’s Day gift a woman could ask for! He must have loved those sprinkles…

Happy M Day to my mom, mom-in-law and grandmom!

A gorgeous, gorgeous morning, but another one that requires a fleece zipped up to the neck!

[Photo taken yesterday via Instagram!]

Not the best day for a cold bowl of yogurt either, but I wanted a quick protein-friendly breakfast because I’m headed to the farmer’s market where I’m bound to enjoy some carbs – along with hopefully a hot beverage!

So I checked fruit + protein + fat off my breakfast to-do list and left the energizing and filling whole grains TBD. This is hard to do!!!

The new dollop on top is CashewNilla butter by Reginald’s here in Virginia! They sent me three mini jars of their best sellers to taste as a possible OpenSky sale (so Virginia can share with the rest of the country : ) ) Expectations were exceeded!!!! I’m not a big cashew butter (or really anything other than almond, peanut and sunflower butters) eater, but the vanilla bean in this guy was AWESOME!

Enjoyed with Jam According To Daniel, banana, raspberries, chia seeds and plain greek yogurt.

Happy Weekend!

Want to know something strange? Oats in a jar isn’t as good to me as it used to be. It’s more when I get to the bottom with the nut butter – even though it’s only about 1-2 tbsp there, it’s just too much. I even left some in the jar this morning. I’ve found also that even though I’m back to eating vegetables much like I used to, they just don’t taste as delicious as they once did. Certain ones I still find just a wee bit unappealing. Surprisingly grilled asparagus is one of my current favorites! Salad lettuce and carrots are lower on the list.

The top half is good though…strange!

This morning’s mix was hot whipped banana oatmeal with cottage cheese, raspberries and Strawberry Jam on top. I am going through my Jam According to Daniel so fast! Note when I make hot OIAJ I always let it cool for a few minutes before pouring into a plastic jar.

Hot tea on the side.

Dayplanner: Friday, 2 evening events, sun!