Oh boy, today has not been great : ( I don’t know why last week was so good and this week is worse! There is this catch 22 with morning sickness – you don’t want to eat but eating makes you feel better. There’s a fine line between eating too little and then getting starving/really sick and eating too much and gaining 50 pounds.

Cycle class was great (exercise really makes me feel good) but after class I started to feel sick. So I made myself a nice balance snack to try to take the edge off before lunch. Cheddar on cornbread crackers and some grapes. It was delicious and helped.

Until noon hit and I realized I was really hungry and nauseous at the same time again!

Animals to the rescue. These taste SO GOOD when I’m feeling ill.

My lunch date had to cancel, so I debating eating at home or going to the bakery. I decided to go in because our internet was being wonky and I need to work on the website some more.

I found the CEO being responsible and paying bills!

I also found a loaf of whole wheat cinnamon swirl pull-apart bread. This is when owning a bakery gets tough!

I had plans for a pimento cheese sandwich, but I just couldn’t stomach the thought of the veggies on top. So I settled on the Almond Butter Banana Crunch, which I rarely get because it doesn’t have veggies!

Real food. 100% whole wheat bread. Could be eating worse things! That’s kind of the theme of this trimester : )

GAH this was good. And I feel better now!

Organic honeycrisp on the side! Apples are my best friends right now.

Hoping the worst is over. And I’m SO glad I can be honest with you all about my strange eating now!

I went for a walk this morning in lieu of a run. Walks are more fun because there is more to do! Read, talk on the phone, listen to podcasts (well I guess you can do that while you run too). I’m hoping to keep running as long as it feels ok, but I have definitely dropped back a little bit on both frequency and distance.

On my walk I listened to a Pregtastic podcast, specifically the one on Exercise Myths. It was uplifting to BE exercising while I listened : ) Anna recommended this just yesterday and I’m so excited to listen to them all! They cover everything from hormones to diapers. And so convenient to just listen.

My lunch date today was with this adorable Stegosaurus!

I went to visit Finn and his mom Holly just after he was born. You didn’t know it then, but I knew I was pregnant, and holding this little one brought tears to my eyes!

Today we met for lunch at Eppies and talked about all things baby. It’s great to have a friend who can share some tips!

I ordered my favorite salad (A SALAD!) – the Santa Monica with cornbread. Sadly I forgot to request chicken on top (I thought it came with it) and missed that, but I’ll make up for it later.

It was a great filling salad regardless!

Holly and I talked for hours and I was able to feed Finn! He is SOOO cute!!

She’s a pro : )

The little guy fell asleep on our way out

But I got one tiny peek-a-boo

Holly brought me a Resee’s for dessert – she said she craved them during pregnancy. I hadn’t thought about it, but on my tongue it sure tasted great!

At the bakery! Time to work.

Today was so fun! It felt like a field trip from my regular blog schedule! Thank you all again for all of your sweet words.

So here’s what was going on behind the scenes all day –

Breakfast

Cereal in da house!

A big base of greek yogurt topped with Morning O’s, grapes, blueberries, chia seeds, Cville Cluster crumbs and WF peanut butter.

And tea on the side. Did you notice all of my dessert teas disappeared? I didn’t run out – tea has just not been appealing. Or at least the kind I was so into before pregnancy. Now I’m into Earl Gray and Lipton and the occasional peppermint – like today. But that’s it. I don’t really have a taste for coffee either, but I’ve had a few (mostly decaf – except when I forgot to declare decaf to the barista!]

After breakfast I worked on post #2 and then headed to Pump Challenge.

Two exciting things happened there:

#1 my friend Lindsey, who happens to be 34 weeks pregnant, said she said me walking around the track before class started and noticed a pregnant belly and then looked at my face and saw it was me! Showing – bloat or not – indeed.

#2 I made a new friend. Hi Lara! She congratulated me on the news – had just read before class!

We did NOT get to hear Rihanna today, but I did do a killer set of chest flies that I imagine will have me sore tomorrow. I’ve been skipping out on abs since my 7.5 week cramping scare, so I left swiftly and came home.

Lunch

Breakfast kept me full for hours (and I was so busy reading comments!) that I didn’t eat lunch until about 1:30.

Burger time!

It wasn’t until after I finished my No Bull burger that I realized they are lentil based and I liked it! I guess I just can’t have lentil soup right now.

I topped the burger with some leftover pimento cheese from the super bowl and greens – more for photography than for appetite, but I ate them all! Served on a Great Harvest Virginia Potato Bun : )

On the side – fruit! My latest lunch side item. Fruit is delicious.

Grapes + grapefruit. So different, yet so alike.

This afternoon Karen came over with a surprise – two maternity outfits!! She said she got excited after reading my post this morning They are both stylish and cute – a tunic, leggings, a flowy shirt and some cropped khakis. For our San Diego trip in a few weeks! I don’t really need maternity clothes yet, but the pants are sure comfy and the shirts flattering.

Snack

I only did this because I can now Ice cream for a snack!

In all seriousness, there are much worse snack options than Breyers All Natural. With a simple ingredient list, 120 calories per half cup, and protein, fat and sugar amounts that are not unreasonable, I can think of much worse things to eat. Of course I can think of much better too, but that’s not my point Mix this with some milk to up the protein and “dilute” the density of the sugar + cream, and you have yourself a delicious calcium + protein rich snack.

Dinner

Dinner was both tasty and delicious!

I think I’ve mentioned before that I am just not a pasta person. I mean, it’s good, but I have much stronger emotions towards bread and oatmeal than I do pasta. But things have changed! Pasta almost always sounds good to me now – even with veggies involved. And of course with goat cheese!

I found this goat cheese pasta next to the goat cheese in Whole Foods. It had a big “local” tag on it and I found that it is from Silver Spring, Maryland. 6 minutes in a pot and dinner is served!

I added a cup of frozen edamame for more protein in the last 2 minutes of cooking, a nice side of herb salad for greenery (which I ate!) and of course a sprinkling of goat cheese, which melted nicely on top. Black pepper to taste!

The raviolis were great! Very pesto-y!

Note the giant bottle of sparkling water!! And the Izze-esque I had for cocktail hour.

I asked Matt to share his emotions of fatherhood with you all and this was the face he chose. I think there are elements of joy, pride and fear in there!

Or maybe he was just really excited to watch a few episodes of LOST after dinner!!

Because that’s where we’re headed now!

I was quite surprised when Matt seemed as excited as I did about a shopping trip. We actually really considered going down to Short Pump outside of Richmond to hit up some big stores. But 2 hours in the car and increasing hunger after our run had us thinking local.

We decided to make it a date and go out to lunch.

A MILLION options were suggestion: Brixx pizza, The Nook, Bluegrass Bakery brunch, Arch’s, Aromas, Beer Run, Panera, Rev Soup, sushi. Nothing was really calling us in the $$ or the taste departments, so we found ourselves at Bodo’s, where two people can get lunch for under $10.

Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese for me ($2.05! This seems so cheap to me – although I do remember when we used to go to Lu-e-G’s after church every Sunday and get $1 bagels with cream cheese. So fun!) Matt’s was a bacon and egg that we both agreed needed some kind of cheese too [his ordering mistake.]

We also shared the Cleo salad ($3.75!) that was topped with almonds and veg and deliciously refreshing.

Oh – and to put us juuuuust over $10, we shared a raspberry seltzer, which I believe was a fountain drink they assemble there. It wasn’t sweet at all – just like the flavored seltzers you get at the grocer store. What an awesome option!

$10.67. Not bad!

We found ourselves at Pier 1 where we were glad we saved on lunch because we spent on some furniture for our porch! I’ve been looking at these outdoor sectionals that are not only too big but thousands of dollars more than we wanted to spend [with boring cushions.] We ended up choosing a set from Pier 1 from the Santa Barbara line that comes with a loveseat and two really comfy rocking chairs to make a conversation area.

But my favorite part were the colorful outdoor pillows we bought (on sale!) to go on them! Warm weather, come our way soon!

We’ve had good luck with Pier 1 furniture – the table and chairs that we bought for our first apartment’s kitchen, that became our first house’s kitchen table, then Matt’s desk and now our porch set have lasted almost 7 years in great condition.

We also went to Kohl’s where I bought some new underwear ($1 a piece – can’t beat that!) and finally to Bed, Bath and Beyond where I put some coupons to the test and bought some new curtains for our master bedroom. They’re very similar to the white ones we had, but the white ones just looked yellowed to me next to the white IKEA closet and freshly painted trim. I really like the richness these bring to the room! [And I do wish they were 4” longer to swipe the floor, but our windows are an odd height and we’re not going to re-drill the rods, so I have to just live with it.]

And finallllllly we moved this little desk downstairs to act as a office supplies station. I really like it positioned here – it gives the stark white basement some charm.

Off to do some food prep!!

After a morning power walk to Great Harvest and a taste of a Raspberry Chocolate Scuffin (heavenly!), I realized I was running out of time – had to shower and eat lunch before 12:20!

Luckily I had leftover fiesta cups to quickly heat up

Along with an amazingly juicy grapefruit!

Unfortunately this was consumed very quickly so I could get out the door to pick up Sara and head over to Thomas Jefferson’s house!

My friend Natasha works at Monticello and gave me a complimentary pair of tickets to a Taste of Chocolate event at the site. Our day had 3 parts: history, cooking and wine. And of course all three involved wine!

History was first and was led by a representative from the historic division of MARS/M&Ms. We learned all about chocolate’s history and production. It goes from fruity beans to fermentation. Then the beans are dried and then finally roasted when you can crack them open and find the nibs inside. The nibs are then ground into cacoa butter and powder which form a paste. Very interesting!

There is a whole line of American Heritage Chocolate that is flavored and spiced like it would have been when people first started consuming cacao beans. The American Heritage line comes in bars, sticks and drinkable mix and it all has a rich dark chocolate flavor with the essence of banana, likely from flavors like anise, red pepper, nutmeg, orange and cinnamon that were used to make it palatable. I found the same flavor to carry through all the forms – drinkable, bar, baked.

The first taste we got was in the form of drinking chocolate, much like Jefferson might have consumed. The spices were very apparent and this was incredible. I had a second mini cup!

Part I was a cooking demo by the head chef of Brookville Restaurant.

He made a chocolate mousse out of the Heritage blend for us and we tasted a brownie and Brookville’s famous Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies just for fun. All three were incredible!

Finally we arrived at the wine tasting!

We were graced with the presence of the famous Gabriele Rausse himself! He gave us a talk on wine and a bit of the history of his story and Jefferson’s. I absolutely loved listening to his Italian accent, and he made some hilarious jokes as well.

Each of the three wines were paired with the MARS Pure Dark line – Sea Salt, Raspberry Acai and Chipotle Cinnamon. All were wonderful, obviously!

The wines paired well – Gabriele Rausse Merlot, White Hall Petit Verdot and the Barboursville Malvavaxia Passito, a dessert wine.

When our chocolate daze concluded, Sara and I walked up to Monticello and back. I love going there – it makes me feel like Cville is so important : )

Afterwards we went to Whole Foods, which was slammed, and stocked up on groceries and Super Bowl foods. And tonight Matt and I are going to a birthday party for our neighbor! Going to have a healthy snack now before I go.

Not that dark chocolate isn’t full of antioxidants though : )

Body Pump – ! [Missed you Katherine!]

Errands downtown – !

Healthy lunch – !

Back in the day, I used to make salmon or tuna salad ALL the time. It was one of my favorite lunches to pack in my lunchbox when I toted lunch to school and work everyday. Something that might have looked like this or this. Kashi crackers were always involved.

Today’s salad was a spin on the old classic with a few extra mix-ins for fun:

• 1/3 can of salmon (it was a huge can)
• 1/4 cup brown rice
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 big squirt mustard
• 1 carrot, chopped and half a green pepper, chopped
• Red pepper flakes
• Pinch salt
• ~1/2 tsp dried dill

Served with chips + crackers for dipping

=Bite sized!

I was going to add an orange but I was too hungry and wanted to sit and eat and then too full! So perhaps I will have that for a snack in a bit.

Happy Friday!

=6!

Around noon, when the skies cleared up and the sun came out and the world was irresistible, I went out for a run! I traveled just over 3 miles and had/have the intention of doing 3 more on the walk two and from the bakery! I love it when I can split my time between walking and running to meet a sixer goal.

I walked down in time for a late lunch and to have some of our special sandwich!!!

Smoked salmon + Dill Cream Cheese + Veg on Potato Sourdough.

This was incredible!!

Pikal and honeycrisp on the side

I had the latest Chocolate Brownie Bread to taste test after eating the healthy components of my meal

Comes in teacakes and heart shapes! Tastes like devil’s food chocolate – heavenly!

But the debate is up which is more delicious – CBB or the Chocolate Bliss cookie, which is like a sticky brownie cookie. It’s a toss up!

‘Tis the month of chocolate love.

I stepped out on the porch today – freshly showered after a hard cycle class – and realized it was warmer outside than it was inside. I think our heat is set on 68 – and my computer says it’s 70 out there, so it’s no wonder! It’s especially pleasant when the sun is shining, which is less and less as the clock ticks. I am going to LIVE on this porch this spring and summer!

For lunch I made an egg + cheese sandwich on Dakota. This was outstanding!!

I think it was my extra sharp cheddar.

Have you ever had a kumquat?

I’ve heard about them and seen them, but I’d never tried one until I found them front and center at the grocery store last week. The first one I ate, I peeled. Because the peel just didn’t seem edible. It wasn’t that great. Then they sat on my counter for 5 days. Today I decided to incorporate them into lunch and I had a gut feeling I wasn’t supposed to peel them. After a quick Google search, I found that you are supposed to eat the skin.

Excited about a new flavor – hopefully sweet and succulent – I put a whole one in my mouth.

My gosh – burst of BITTER + SOUR! It definitely tasted like I was eating a mini orange, skin and all. It kind of grew on me for a bit, but I couldn’t finish the bowl. They weren’t all that different from those Warheads I used to eat in the 90s. Perhaps this batch was just off!?

A bit of veg on the side – carrots + Wild Squirrel PB.

We planned this porch for computers – outlets on both sides! I’m all set up and blogging outdoors. Hoping to work for a few hours and hoping the chill stays off the air.

Please share your kumquat experiences!!

Spring might not be here for a few more weeks, but today I am pretending it is April.

Not only is it a gorgeous day, but I walked to the bakery in SHORT SLEEVES!

Matt is on a field trip today, so I’m big boss for the day. It’s kind of scary to think that I’m running the biz by myself. But I’m not really alone – the crew is awesome!

I snacked on a slice of our brand new whole wheat Very Berry bread [cranberries, dried blueberries, golden raisins] and then had a sandwich for lunch at 1:30.

A killer Jenny-made pimento cheese with cucumber, tomato, lettuce and plum chutney on Cville Crunch.

It was incredible. My new favorite sandwich of ours!

Honest Tea on the side.

I have quite a bit of ordering to do, and then I am headed out into the sunshine! Dinner plans with Karen!

There is something SO energizing about my Monday AM Body Pump class. Perhaps the fact that it’s packed or that Chris plays awesome music. Or perhaps Chris’s overall enthusiasm! Anyways, I had a great time today! (My shoulders did not, however!)

We have been on a month+ kick of Rihanna’s “We Found Love” as our lunge track. Chris plays it twice – once for each leg – and we do both static and moving lunges. I love that track so much I’d do each leg a second time just for fun! Whenever I hear that song in my car, my quads get excited.

After Pump, I showered and put together this awesome brown rice + egg scramble. I actually LOVE brown rice but never make it because it’s such a pain. Not anymore!

Into a pot: about 1/3 a cup each of frozen corn + peas, about 1 cup leftover brown rice and 2 tbsp of water. Allow to heat + soften.

Whisk up an egg -

And dump it in along with a few cherry tomatoes (or whatever veggies you want!) and a pinch of salt.

Scramble.

Dump in some Mmmm Sauce!

Top with a few crunchy p-nuts. And plain yogurt. Because I put that stuff on ev.ree.thang.

This was so good!

Headed out and about!