Weekend Review

We had a great weekend here in Santa Monica and hope that everyone else had the same! The weather here was gorgeous; sunny and beautiful! And we took advantage of it!

Saturday we started our day by heading to the Farmer's Market. It's been on our list of things "to do" nearly every weekend, but with bad weather and a lot of traveling over the holidays, we hadn't been for weeks. It was nice to get back to normal and see what was available and fresh. We hadn't really planned ahead to attend, so didn't have more than a few dollars in cash between us, but snapped up some fresh strawberries and a bag of blood oranges; some of the first of the season!

I know, I know, we are super lucky to be able to have these summer fruits "in season" and locally grown nearly year round. We are certainly blessed and enjoying them!

Though we weren't able to buy any, we met a new vendor that is going to be a regular there who is providing locally grown, grass-fed, pastured beef! I am so excited! He always brings ground beef and several steak and roast cuts to the market, but he also sells beef by the quarter, half and whole. This is something that T. and I have been mulling over, so it was fantastic to get the chance to meet him! I hope to buy a bit of beef next week from him to try it out.

We also met an organic poultry farmer who provides organic, pastured chickens, ducks and eggs. The eggs are a bit cheaper than I can even find in the store for cage-free, non-organics per dozen so we'll certainly be planning ahead for next week's "shopping" trip!

After the Farmer's Market we headed to the local children's barber and Lloyd got his second haircut ever! A New Year, a new do! It is shorter than it's ever been cut and he looks like such a little boy now! He's a cutie!

Saturday night Andrea and Blake watched Lloyd while T. and I went out on our anniversary date! We browsed Main Street Santa Monica, poking our heads in several stores, which was fun (something we rarely get to do with Lloyd!) and then headed to dinner at Manchego, a Spanish cafe and tapas bar. We had a great time, fantastic food and just enjoyed being a "couple" again.

Sunday we headed to mass and then went to the beach! It was another gorgeous day, about 72 degrees and sunny, and we couldn't waste it indoors! I even had a chance to wear a "summer" maternity top I didn't anticipate wearing for at least a few more months! Lloyd had a great time in the sand . . .

We headed home for lunch and naps and spent nap time taking down the Christmas tree and decorations. It was nice to get our house back to normal, but it was sad to see it go. Lloyd was so excited this year about Christmas; every morning he went around the house pointing out Christmas lights and the tree to be lit, and was so excited every time it was complete! He also pointed out his pickle ornament to everyone in the room, several times a day, and loved "kissing the mama" in our nativity sets. We had told him that we'd be taking it down today before he napped, and it was certainly easier to remove without him under our feet, but I have to admit that it was sad when we brought him down after the nap and he saw all the changes. We probably should have had him be more involved.

He even looked behind the couch to see if we'd stashed the tree there. So sad.

We ended our sunny, "summer in January" weekend by grilling out hamburgers and enjoying them with some oven fries. YUM!

How was your weekend?