Give me the beat [girls] and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll, and drift away!

^^ One of my favorite songs!!

Great day today!! The past few Sundays I did a lot of writing, but today I just worked on the household, which I find very relaxing. We had our doula meeting (SO helpful!! So excited!) and then I read some more Ina May and then I actually IRONED MY PILLOW SHAMS after they came out of the dryer! Could that be a subliminal nesting urge?! I also folded the shirts in my closet (if you watched this video, you’d know that is not the norm!) (I was freshly pregnant then!) And organized all of our cloth diapers.

Snack:

The above was eaten at 5pm and took away my appetite until about 7:30 when I really still wasn’t hungry, but started to think about dinner. Rice was in the rice cooker and the menu in my head read: Rice + Beans + Garden a.k.a. rhythm, rhyme and harmony

This delicious mixture materialized in about 10 minutes.

Brown rice topped with a can of pinto beans and frozen PEAS (I love peas!) plus swiss chard from our garden and a sauce made of nutritional yeast. The sauce was simply 1/3 cup yeast, 1/4 cup milk, a generous pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Cashews on top – totally delicious!

I’m starting my Monday behind in my workload but totally organized in the dwelling place.

Not me, the baby! Judging from his little wiggles in there, he liked it!

Sparkling Apple Cider: just like champagne on a Saturday night (plus too much sugar and minus just a wee bit of fun)

Afternoon projects. What could this be!?

Followed by Saturday night relaxed dinner. I was so glad to come home today and know we didn’t have anywhere to be but the porch.

For dinner we made shrimp n grits. Very similar to this memorable recipe!

The grits were perfectly buttery thanks to 2% milk and of course butter. Topped with sauteed shrimp and local bacon, snap peas, tomatoes and bell pepper.

After dinner, we had a good hour of sunshine left and went for a glorious hour-long walk. With the hills here in Cville, this was no stroll! I bet we covered close to 5 miles today between the market walking this AM and tonight’s.

There was only one thing on my mind when we returned. I am so over ice cream – bring me all the popsicles in the world!

Turns out Friday night at childbirth class wasn’t so bad!

Except for the figuring out dinner part. Luckily at 5pm I was ready for a snack, so I made a dinner-sized snack instead.

Cheese n jam n lettuce {from the garden!!!!} sandwich on High Five

Plus a glass of milk

Seems simple, but was pretty filling amount of food. Matt packed a PB&Banana sandwich and ate it during class.

The hospital campus is absolutely gorgeous – views of the mountains and rolling hills!

I’m going to go into detail on things I learned on BERF, but I really enjoyed tonight’s class. I just like talking about all things pregnancy and labor : ) Matt seemed to have a good time too and although we both couldn’t stop cracking jokes during the role playing, I think deep down we really did learn things about how we interact.

I spent most of my “labor” tonight on the ball. I think I’m going to love a ball when the time comes! Sitting on it, draped over it, rolling with it. Probably won’t be smiling so much though…

Did you notice the clothespin on the ear? That was contraction practice. I actually joked with the teacher when the exercise was over: “Whew I’m glad we didn’t have to do ice cubes!”

And what does she bring out not a minute later with a big smile directed at me!?

ICE!!

However, I took on the challenge and actually did pretty well with the ice squeezed in my palm (because of the ball – and Matt’s gentle massage on my back!)

We enjoyed some juicy watermelon during our break while watching the sunset. And I just had a tiny mug of cereal as a bedtime snack.

Tomorrow we practice pushing techniques and talk about some of the interventions and things that can happen if things don’t go swimmingly along. Gulp.

Oh yeaaaaahhhh!!

I was planning to go to a prenatal yoga class tonight, but my computer and I got in a fight and I just wasn’t in the mood come 5:30. So instead Matt and I went on a gorgeous evening walk down our favorite street. It was just as relaxing!

Pre-walk snack – yogurt, strawberry jam and granola

When we got home, we put dinner into the oven. I couldn’t wait to have a big tofu roast!

Twin Oaks Tofu and potatoes went in (coated in EVOO and herbs and salt) at 400* for about 45 minutes

And potatoes and zucchini went in second round with about 20 minutes to go

Topped with greek yogurt and ketchup, this dinner was the best thing I’ve eaten all week!! I had no trouble calling this dinner delicious.

That is until Ellen showed up with this gorgeous dozen of mini cupcakes from our local sweet shop, Sweet Haus!

The three of us did a taste test of all the flavors. This was great buttercream! My favs were the strawberry, pistachio (which surprised me!) and Oreo : )

And now I’m off to enjoy the baby cupcake happy kicks! I actually made a video of my stomach moving around last night – crazy movements! It’s a little too personal to blog since I’m lying in bed in my PJs, but I’ll do one that’s more public-appropriate in time!

What more could you ask for on a hot [almost summer] day?

Pantheon Popsicle made from VA strawberries! I also bought (and ate) some of the real deal at the Wednesday night market this evening.

Nothin’ like berries to spoil a dinner! (Isn’t that what happened in The Sound Of Music when they went blueberry picking?!)

We had a super easy assembly line dinner on the menu

Sliders filled with leftover beef short rib and BBQ sauce (Bone Suckin’!)

And salads that were just eh to me. I miss my tastebuds. The only part of this mixed greens, red pepper, tomato, sunflower seed, date and cottage cheese salad that I really enjoyed was the cottage cheese. Go figure.

Romantic sunset meal

If tonight is like most nights, despite how full I feel right now, I’m sure I’ll be ready for a snack in an hour or two. I’ve been choosing fruit like watermelon…or more strawberries (!!) rather than sweets. ‘Cause fruit is plenty sweet.

Matt and I had the honor of attending a garden + music festival at Buford Middle School this evening and slicing bread as one of the food donors of the event.

Our neighbor (and friend!) Kate along with the City Schoolyard Garden Director, Linda, put together the whole festival for the fun of celebrating dirt and music together.

We brought Honey + Dakota

To go along with the lovely spread of food donated by other restaurants

There were so many vegetables available!!

All to be enjoyed in the presence of the garden while listening to some good music!

The festival was also celebrating that the superintendent just OKed a school garden for all of Cville’s elementary schools with some private funding! [Correct me if I’m wrong…] Buford’s garden is two-years strong and was recently visited by the famous Alice Waters!

I enjoyed a plate of salad, kale salad, wheatberry salad and a drumstick of fried chicken.

While we listened to local artists perform on the main stage from bales of hay

The music line-up included local artists, students and the famous Dar Williams!

Blue Ridge Music Together students
Anne O’Brien with Liz Varon and Charlie O’Brien
Rich Goodling
Don’t Tell Darlings
Adrienne Young
Jan Smith and Jeff Vogelsang

I was sad not to have gotten a Carpe Donut, but I did cheer with glee when I saw these mini cupcakes!

The gorgeous weather faded when this happened:

And things moved inside.

Matt and I tag-teamed the slicing and the event ended with a fabulous “This Land Is Your Land” sing along!

KERF + BERF are blending into one! After an afternoon of writing, it’s hard not to start my KERF posts with my weeks of pregnancy : )

Usually the food is a giveaway which blog I’m writing for : ) This was a banana, milk, yogurt and peanut butter smoothie topped with Oh’s!

This evening Hillary brought over dinner and a movie! Just like the ole LOST days. Matt and I helped assemble these great tostadas!

Layers of crunchy tostada chips with refried beans, chicken seasoned with taco sauce, melty cheese and jalapenos.

Baked at 350* for 15 minutes!

We ate them with a knife and fork, and they were delicious!

Matt made an avocado crema with 1 avocado, about 1/3 cup greek yogurt, Southwest seasoning, lemon juice and salt. This was SO GOOD – the best of quac and sour cream in one! Served over a “salad.”

Over dinner we watched “No Woman No Cry,” a documentary by Every Mother Counts and Christy Turlington Burns. The film follows the stories of high-risk pregnancies in other parts of the world – where hospital care is scarce. I will have a post on BERF about it soon – it was a good eye-opening film.

When Hillary offers to bring dinner, I make sure our fridge is stocked with her favorite – Jeni’s Ice Cream!!! Salted Caramel is always EVEN BETTER than I remember!! It should totally be renamed “Toasted Marshmallow” because it’s 100% roasty sugary good.

Nite!

Matt and I had Karen over for dinner tonight. But dear Matt now has two mothers to pamper so he put on a special dinner for the both of us!

Complete with cards + gifts!

Karen brought over cheese + crackers to have for cocktail hour…

…and the two of them sipped wine while the son helped his mother with a technical issue on her computer

I enjoyed a mocktail. I have to say I’m getting a little tired of sweet drinks. Sweet drinks and cheese do not complement one another! Although most of my mocktails are just a splash of juice and mostly sparkling water, I’m missing the lovely contrast that wine + beer offer to food.

Matt’s gift to me was a trio of cute baby shirts for our little guy!!!

I have to say I think I enjoyed the thought of him baby clothes shopping by himself almost as much as opening the real present. So sweet!! I love the styles he picked!

And then we feasted

Matt made short ribs – from Free Union Grass Farm that he picked up at the farmer’s market – in the crock pot all day. I know he added carrots + celery plus a homemade BBQ sauce made from ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, Liquid Smoke and red pepper flakes. They pretty much cooked all day long! Tender and fall-off-the-bone good. I only got about 2/3 of the way through my portion before I ran out of room!

Because I was busy typewritering my corn on the cob!

And eating my green beans.

Deliciousness!

My first mom is dining with her other daughter tonight. We have already exchanged blog comments and G-chats today. Modern mother-daughter Mother’s Day communication! Perhaps a Skype later on! We both had malfunctions in our traditional gifts – I sent her gift to my house instead of hers and hers is somewhere in USPS’s possession!

I spent the afternoon writing, doing laundry and taking care of general household tasks, so I am NOW going to read on the porch for the rest of the evening!!

The weekend isn’t over yet, but boy have we had a great one filled with tons of fun social events!!

I chilled out a bit this afternoon, made a salad for our picnic, and snacked on some toast with banana + PB.

Before we headed to a park for a birthday picnic for Ms. Faith!

Potlucks are the BEST!!

We had so many delicious foods! Most (all?) of them very healthy as well!

Such a simple concept to hang out with good food and friends in a public park, but something we overlook way too much!

Francis brought an authentic Polaroid camera – what fun!

And she was also responsible for this incredible vegan avocado chocolate birthday cake!

Which is really exciting because she posted the recipe on her blog here!!! It was a fabulous cake. It tasted healthy but also totally delicious, and the frosting was awesome!

Happy Birrrrrrth-day to Fa-ith!

After the picnic, we all headed downtown for a Tom Tom Festival concert.

I was shocked to find that the baby started kicking and moving like crazy! I think he could really hear/feel the loud music. The only question is: were the kicks because he loved it or hated it!? A lot of my friends got to feel them!

The music was GREAT! Future Birds played followed by J Roddy Walston & The Business. Matt is now obsessed. It’s rare that we both like a band so much. Sadly we did not stay for the whole show because he has been up since 4:30 and I’m …pregnant and tired : ) But what we did hear was fab.

Lullaby, goodnight!

Fridays are all about families. Playing with our family of friends and people watching downtown.

And sadly, saying goodbye to Sara and Juan : ( Sara has a few more weeks left, but Juan departs for California on Thursday. It’s always so sad to have friends move on.

We met them downtown along with Hilary for some music and popcorn (thanks to Juan for sharing!)

Carpe Donut’s lemonade was no where to be found, so I had water as my cocktail : (

We stumbled upon lots of friends –

Little T was just lovin’ the music tonight!

I also found Lynsie and baby D playing in the crowd and Matt and I got some practicing in!! He is getting to be so cute and so alert at 6 weeks old!!

Eventually we walked to Beer Run for dinner – Sara and Juan had to say goodbye! We didn’t have the best night of our lives there (service..) but we did share a huge plate of nachos

And I had a few bites of my Verdura Rustica Plate (grilled radicchio, zucchini, portabello, eggplant and tomato with mozzarella over brown rice with a basil sauce!). Delicious, but my stomach was just out.of.room. though!!

Saturday starts soon, so I must drift to sleep to prepare!