weekend by the numbers

It's kind of killing me that we're already at the 17th day of July. It feels like my summer doesn't start until after I get back from my work conference, but the calendar says summer is half over already. To focus on the good things about the summer numbers though, here are some good ones from this weekend:

1st 

time wear of my cute new stripey bikini

5

generations present for Saturday taco dinner at the extended family cottage

7 

types of toppings chosen by Hendrik on our family fro-yo date to celebrate Peter's birthday

8 

packages in Thursday/Friday's fun mail days, mostly thanks to my impulsive Prime Day spree...

10 

toes freshly pedicured in a favorite summer color

18ish

hours kid-free for date night + bike riding thanks to babysitter extraordinaire Cousin Emily

24

new markers (thanks, Prime Day!) prompting me to finally crack open the fun YHL coloring book

42 

books read in 2017 after finishing Windfall at the beach

70 

miles ridden in the Holland Hundred event for Team Hoekman

78 

degrees and sunny... I LOVE SUMMER

650

cheese balls won by Hendrik when he guessed closest to the number at a church picnic (seriously!)

How was your weekend?

life lately: the last 10 photos on my phone

As always with the summer: things have been busy, and it's flying by! Why does that happen so much more than with less favorite seasons? (Ahem, winter...). So, a fun little summer life update by way of the last 10 photos on my phone seems in order.

1. After our 40-mile cycling race on Saturday. Peter and I had so much fun! And were actually feeling like we could have done a bunch more miles - hence the big smiles.

2. I made a strawberry pie for Father's Day. It is June, after all!

3. Fell in love with some out-of-budget calacatta marble when looking for kitchen counter options - of course. Good thing I also love the more budget-friendly carrara marble too...

4. Waging the battle against accumulating piles and piles of Hendrik's artwork (and balancing it with my love of the cuteness and his love of keeping all. the. things.) by snapping photos to make an album.

5. He pretty much refuses to nap these days, so when he finally does succumb to the summer fun exhaustion, I usually find him in funny/adorable positions.

6. Family Bean selfie fail in Chicago from our super fun weekend.

7. Screenshot proof of my Queen of the Mountain fastest rider status on a Strava (cycling app) segment.

8. Packing considerations for my work trip to Dubai (stay tuned for more on that!).

9. Mirror selfie I had to snap and send to my best friend as a "see how cool and trendy I am!" photo before we headed to the Avett Brothers concert. First public appearance with my new hair curling skills...

10. Pure joy on the Frog Hopper with Uncle Dirk and Miss Hillary. I think our day in a theme park week was seriously the most fun Hendrik has ever had in his life.


What have you been up to lately?

weekend-ing

As we were enjoying our Saturday morning (after sleeping in until past 8 - yay, Hendrik!), we thought it felt like forever since we'd done this - counting up how many weeks it had been since all three of us were home together on a Saturday morning, we realized it was before Thanksgiving! (Lots of work obligations for Peter and some travel in the meantime.) A little recap of all the weekend do-ings:

Friday night after Hendrik went to bed we did some TGIF-ing: Peter did a frozen yogurt run, and then we enjoyed our treats while watching several episodes of our new favorite on Netflix, Parks & Rec.

Saturday we started with some family snuggling in bed - we so rarely do this since Peter is almost always gone before the rest of us are up, and Hendrik just thought it was the most fun thing to climb around in our bed, find daddy under the covers, and give us hugs for a while before breakfast.

Then we did a family visit to the gym where Hendrik played his heart out in kid's club, Peter hit up the weight room, and I did some pedaling on a stationary bike... so nice to be easing back into these activities after my injury - hopefully real spinning class soon!

The evening's fun was some double dating with friends. Finally got to try Salazar, where dinner was as amazing as hoped. Check that off the list!

Sunday Peter had a moonlighting shift at the VA hospital in the afternoon, so after we said goodbye to him Hendrik and I did some grocery shopping, strolling (such a treat to have milder temperatures this weekend!), dance partying (new guilty pleasure: the Annie movie soundtrack, especially Hard Knock Life and Sia's rendition of Never Fully Dressed - cannot help but get happy and toe-tapping to those), and playing. Oh and I utilized naptime for some enjoyable reading!

How was your weekend?

weekend: mommy & me time

It was a mommy & me kind of weekend around here, with our nanny taking the day off on Friday and Peter working on Saturday and Sunday. We did our usual fun stuff around the house like reading books, going for walks, rolling around on the floor, eating homemade popsicles, and nap time (aka mommy free time!) but we also planned a couple of fun outings around town:

Friday morning we started out with story/song time at the Blue Manatee. I can't believe I haven't gone in there before - such an adorable kids' bookstore, and it even has this cute little cafe attached. The story time was short and sweet, and Hendrik was just as mesmerized by all the other kids as he was by the guitar playing Miss Sarah. We decided to pick out a book on our way out - he adores these touch & feel ones and did not want to let go of it when I took it off the shelf and showed it to him.

I'm so glad I put this on the list of 30 things to do before we move away from Cincinnati because now we know how great the Blue Manatee is! We'll be back for browsing and for story time I'm sure.

We also took a trip over to Ted's Toy Store, our little local shop, because they had a silhouette artist in for the day. I wish I could have gotten a photo of this in action - Hendrik sat on my lap, and the assistant lady stood in front of us and entertained him with toys so he would keep looking straight ahead, and the artist sat next to us on the floor with paper and scissors and just started snipping away. And in about 3 minutes, he had a pile of scraps on the floor and handed me this silhouette! Seriously impressive how he cut it freehand like that, and seriously break-my-heart adorable how it turned out.

So fun that Hendrik's starting to get to the age we can do outings geared toward him, instead of just having him tag along on ours (though he does enjoy those too). Did you do anything new around town this weekend?

around town lately

Despite it being a fairly stormy weekend with jungle-level humidity, we got out and about enough to accomplish our main goals: kiddie pool and a double date with Katie and her husband to Bouquet for some really great food, wine, and company. I can't believe how long it's taken us to finally get down to Covington to try a restaurant - we get in our heads that it's far away, but even though it's on the other side of the river from downtown Cincinnati, it turns out to actually be slightly more convenient for driving/parking, so it really doesn't take much longer to get there.

Luckily we have my 30 before June 30 list of things to do before moving away from Cincinnati, plus Katie and her husband as Covington locals, to finally get our rears in gear on this. They were right that you really couldn't go wrong with anything on the Bouquet menu, and I was very pleased that they're in the know about the must-get, house-made ice creams. The restaurant and friendly staff were perfect for a long, comfortable, and enjoyable dining experience, and this little area of Covington is so cute - they talked up some other great places, so we'll need to get back!

Everything on the menu sounded so interesting. My selections: sweet potato flatbread (with barbacoa, red onions, tomatillos, queso fresco, apples, radish, sauce molé) - yum, I want to attempt recreating this at home. Then the crab cake (with English peas, cashews, house bacon, celery, smoked pepper purée, citrus basil emulsion) - also very good - and pretty! And my excellent ice cream choices: cinnamon & chocolate. Plus there was a very nice bottle of South African pinotage that was surprisingly reasonably priced too (bonus!).

We've been up to some other fun stuff around town lately too: Earlier last week Hendrik & I had an ice cream date with Allison to try an ice cream place in cute downtown Montgomery - an area that's actually quite close to our house but we don't get over to very often. And then there was our visit to Eli's for some more of that crazy good BBQ with friends to celebrate Peter's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Love that a picnic table, BYOB kind of place is also perfect for BYO birthday cake!

Hendrik's a fan of Eli's now too - gobbled up that mac & cheese Peter shared with him (and it is really good). Actually it shouldn't be too surprising he enjoys the food as he was exposed several times in utero - including just 2 days before birth. Actually though ice cream is probably the last thing he experienced before making his entrance into the world as I had some before bed and then woke up a few hours later in labor... I'm sure he's going to love that equally as much, but sweets are the one thing I don't yet let him taste (he's just a baby - he doesn't need to know about  ice cream yet when he's willing to do things like eat peas for breakfast) so he had to settle for his favorite snack of puffits while Allison and I enjoyed our yummy flurries.

a weekend in dresses

I'm going to say that a weekend that can be summed up by way of which dresses I wore is a good weekend... Friday our nanny took the day off, so that meant my weekend started a bit early too with a Henk & mommy day. We went to the gym, hung out, and went to the mall for a little shopping (momma got some birthday coupons!). It was a dreary morning but turned into the most beautiful, sunny pleasant temperature afternoon, and a striped dress/denim jacket combo was perfect.

Saturday we had a relaxed day and then in the evening had the residency graduation event for the ENT department - I can't believe a year from now Peter's going to be one of the program graduates! It's fun to have an excuse to get dressed up and have an occasion to wear my nicest dresses... I really love this scalloped eyelet dress I found on super clearance, and it will be great for the gala event at my upcoming work conference too.

And then on Sunday, we of course had to go out to our favorite place for a Father's Day breakfast. A dress with cardigan for a beautifully cool morning (matching the blues my  boys were dressed in too!) was perfect for our lovely outing.

And in the evening, a father's day fiesta! Hendrik and I got Peter this Frontera Grill guacamole starter (we love all of Rick Bayless' other Frontera mixes, especially the key lime cilantro and the classic fajita skillet sauce), along with some Maker's Mark for mixing up a yummy whiskey sour - so we made it an event, complete with shrimp tacos (and the aforementioned key lime cilantro sauce). No dress to show with this one - I was still in my sweaty gym clothes for cooking/eating, I admit - but it was still a tasty and fun celebration!

If you're interested in the outfits, here's some Monday shopping from weekend wear...

Also: perfect timing! Heidi and Andi are co-hosting dresses week this week. Clearly I love dresses for summer, so I'm linking up and looking forward to seeing all the other dressed up ladies. Sharing on What I Wore and Style Sessions as well.

weekend: Pigcasso

The big event around Cincinnati this weekend was the Flying Pig race, and after a two-year hiatus from half marathon running I made my triumphant return - cutting nearly 10 minutes off my time from the same race 2 years ago! People say you get faster after having a baby, and I guess it worked that way out in my case. (Last year at this time I was about 16 weeks pregnant, so I just did the first leg of the marathon relay instead - and so in honor of how he rode along in utero for that much of the race last year, I had "Henk's mom" written on my bib this year so he could come along on top of my belly this time...)

I had hoped to take at least 2.5 minutes off, maybe 5, from last time, but all my training really paid off. Getting to start up front with the fast people did too - my early miles (before the big hills kicked in) were really speedy, and I didn't have to dodge large crowds (this race had 12,000+ participants, plus the 3,000+ marathoners). The last few miles were tough, but I managed to keep up my pace, and I'm really excited about that finish line result. Now the pain of keeping a steady pace up the hills and all-out running those final three tenths of a mile feels totally worth it. The post-race prizes of peanut butter cup Blizzard and fun cookout with other runner friends doesn't hurt either.

The Flying Pig theme for this year was Pigcasso, with fun Picasso-inspired artwork for the shirts/posters - and the rest of the weekend around here was Pigcasso theme-worthy too, I'd say, starting with the visit to the paint section at Home Depot and subsequent bathroom painting (thanks, honey!). There was also a family portrait session with Jacqueline on Saturday morning (followed by brunch, which is what I use to bribe Peter with). Isn't Henkie's outfit adorable? And then some beautifying our yard; Peter got lots of weeding and other good stuff done out there, and I put in some annuals during nap time.

All in all, despite the perma-butterflies in my stomach until I finally was able to start actually running that race, it was a great weekend. Though my sore legs could use another one...

Monday funday

Hope your weekend was nice. Around here, Gigi & Poppy came to town for a Sunday/Monday visit, so we've been busy playing, walking, loving on Henkie, and enjoying brunch & dinner out with an extremely well-behaved little companion.

So that's all for now, since we're busy with Monday's fun... but I'll see you back tomorrow with an outfit in a new favorite color combo. And in the meantime if you want some reading go check out the engagement stories left in the comments of Friday's post - they were so fun to hear about!

weekend + 14 in 2014 update

From a childhood in Michigan, I have memory of very few Easter Sundays that were suitable for actually wearing an Easter dress - but the weekend was perfect for it around here this year, and I was quite pleased to get to pull out my favorite dress again (which was stored in the back of the closet all last spring/summer while I was pregnant) for church. The 70s and sunshine were also perfect for wearing a dress on date night at Metropole, for going on family walks, for reading in the sun (I am LOVING Longbourn), and for getting in my 12-mile run.

Some scenes from date night and Easter morning:

Metropole made the #1 spot on this year's Cincinnati Magazine top-10 new restaurants list; while we'd already been meaning to try it, this made it a must-do, of course. And we enjoyed it a lot - it's in the cool 21c Hotel, and it's really fun to go and wander through their art galleries before/after the meal. There's art (and giant penguin sculptures that visit tables) to look at in the dining area too, and I'd say the food is mighty nice to look upon as well.

We loved our first course of the burnt carrot salad (with avocado, pickled onion, feta & pumpkin seeds) and the beet salad (with blueberry, ramps, & goat cheese) and the wine, but we weren't super wowed by the entrees. Not as much as at the other top new restaurants we've been to anyway (Boca and Sotto). Perhaps it was a matter of execution that evening, but based on that course, we would say Boca should have gotten the top ranking... In any case we had a great time and definitely plan to go back and try some of their amazing-sounding cocktails on the rooftop deck. And if they'd serve me some of those crazy good fries I had along with a drink, I'd be a happy girl.

With our Metropole visit we concluded #5 on my 14 in 2014 list (new restaurants Boca, 50 West, Metropole - I'm sure we'll get to more though!), so I thought an update of where else I am on the rest of the list was in order:

Still in progress are 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 14. Of note from those: (1) master bathroom demolition begins today! So this one better be crossed off the list by next month's update; (3) just under 2 weeks away from the race, and I did a 12-mile training run on Saturday, so I think I'm ready to go; (13) last month's recipe was the tasty one-pot Thai dish my mom introduced me to.

Aside from the restaurants, I also deemed #11 (meet with a financial planner) cross off-able, thanks to Peter. He had enough of a phone chat with one that we've got a plan, at least through the end of residency, so we know we don't need to further involve a planner at the moment. Easy enough!

weekend: the return of warm

Ooh does it feel good to come out of that winter. It's cliche to write about it, but I know everyone agrees: all weekend my Instagram feed was full of people picnicking at parks and brunching al fresco and attending baseball games and other such happy things.

My little family's gorgeous 70+ degree weekend was suitably full of good weather stuff too: Thursday night grilling followed by a weekend with lots of bare baby toes; sunny, short-sleeved walks with Peter, Ginger, & Henkie; a great 10-mile run on part of the Flying Pig race course with Sarah's running group (and a zillion other pigs-in-training); and a fun BBQ and BYOB dinner on the lawn at Eli's.

Some snaps from our evening at Eli's - and it turned into an "evening" even though we tried to get there early. Everyone else in Cincinnati thought it was a great idea too! Luckily Henk mostly slept while we waited in line to order, because there was plenty more waiting to do after ordering... But we also had some nice company (and beer) to pass the time with, and that pulled pork sandwich and "dirty" mac & cheese were worth my hungry wait. (Also, thank you, 10.5 hilly miles of calorie burning.)

What fun stuff did you do with your spring weekend?

weekend highlights: Boca & baby

Monday morning, and there's more snow, more frigid temperatures, and more emails in my inboxes... so let's talk about weekend highlights instead, shall we? First of all: Boca. It was our anniversary date destination last year, and we thought it was amazing, so when they moved to their new location this summer we knew we had to do a repeat anniversary date on our next one in order to check it out - and even more so after all the rave menu reviews we've heard.

An excellent decision. We thought the food was amazing last year, but we might have liked it even more this time... For appetizers we had the famous brussels sprouts and a beet & goat cheese salad; loved them both. I went with two tasting-sized dishes for the entree in order to try more things, since it was hard to choose: crispy gnocchi (with truffles and a divine cheese sauce) and the sea bass (with such a good white wine sauce and yummy bits of bacon, and which actually I thought was a pretty decent size for a tasting portion). Peter had the short ribs, which were perfectly fall-y apart-y and delicious. And all went quite nicely with the bottle of red our waiter came up with (love getting those professional recommendations on wine - they always turn out so well).

We had almost as much fun checking out the building and the decor as we had trying the food. So much gorgeous furniture and lighting and bathroom wallpaper to take in (they're all separate one-unit bathrooms, and they all have different decor, I discovered, after the wallpaper in mine was different from what I expected after seeing Lauren's Instagram). The atmosphere was great, and now we're scheming of when we can find another big occasion to get back there. Our 30th birthdays this summer, perhaps?

Also highlighting my weekend, as usual: this cutie. He amused us with his sweet noises and smiles, his enjoyment of Friday night bath time, and his adorable new outfits that he's just starting to fit into... plus he gave us a couple of monster-length naps that were great for getting things done, and his snuggles were the perfect ending to our anniversary date evening, along with some takeout Graeter's ice cream and some Olympics.

Honorable mentions also go to:

• Wine tasting at Whole Foods with Lauren & Liz on Friday ($5 for tastings of wine/food pairings, plus Hendrik was perfectly behaved in his stroller - I'd do this event again!).
• Getting to spinning class twice thanks to Peter on helpful daddy duty.
• NBC having live Olympics coverage on their NBC sports channel, so we could have it on all weekend and not have to wait for primetime to start...

Let's stave off Monday longer: what were your highlights?