A Family Holidate

So...as I mentioned yesterday evening in my quick post, we the had most unexpectedly lovely evening out as a family. One that we all enjoyed so much, the hubby and I were joking that we came home feeling like we’d been on vacation, ha.

All for the simple luxury of a (safe, socially-distanced, outdoors) meal away from home. Such a rarity for us these days—for pandemic and hubby food restriction reasons—that it’s like a unicorn sighting.

But...before I share pics from our family holidate, please enjoy this shot of my little Rudolph, here:

Okay, back to our evening out.

So...they hubby has been pretty dang busy with work the last couple of weeks, but, thankfully, he’s working about 90% from home. So when he happened to wrap up some major projects just as I was grabbing the girlies from school, we decided to make the most of our time and go on an excursion.

It was mostly a selfish excursion for me, myself and I, as I was wanted to go to West Elm to grab a couple throw pillows I loved that were sold out online. And it just so happens that this local, delicious restaurant that we love is just around the corner and we’ve only ever dined outdoors there, as they have the best rock-strewn patio that’s glorious.

So after the hubby perused the menu online to verify there would be just a single thing he’d be able to eat there, we went for it.

The pillow excursion was succession (with only one other customer in store, woohoo). And then we arrived for an early dinner outside in a table so far away from anyone, and had the most delicious meal that was such a treat. Because I. Did. Not. Have. To. Cooke. It. 

Hands down best tomato basil soup I’ve ever had.









Love this silly girl.









And I die for this six layer strawberry cake—and I say that as a devoted chocolate lover.



The most accurate description is that this cake is so dense, it’s almost like a brownie consistency, with the most decadent icing and jam-like layers. Deep sigh. We destroyed it.

And I really can’t emphasis enough how nice it was to spend some family time playing and talking as the sun went down and the lights came on.

And it didn’t hurt that it was seventy degrees outside. Perfection.





So...to sum it up in case it’s not obvious (yet): such a treat to have a rare and successful restaurant outing, as that’s just not part of our lives right now.

And major bonus—the hubby let me make his gluten free (now dairy free, too) cookies for him once we got home, since he didn’t get to eat the strawberry cake, and he ate the cookies and survived. MAJOR deal.

Okay, now.

Moving on to today, when we woke to Leaf and his toilet paper strewn all over the downstairs floor and up the stairs to the landing. ;)







And apparently, Leaf is aware of how much the kiddos love potty humor. Literally.



He’s such a mischievous elf, but we love him.

And we also love the puzzle we finished together after the girlies were home from school. Little Man and I started it last week but didn’t have time to work on it the last couple of days. 







Look! We did it. 300 pieces for this one. :)



And then, once the celebratory pics were taken, we packed the puzzle away and it finally freed up my dining table so I could winterize it at last. Including these fun little light-up glass, ombre trees I got:



It looks so enchanting—especially at night—that we had our lovely—if I do say so myself—beef tenderloin dinner in there tonight. 





Pictures don’t even really do it justice, but it’s a beautiful, festive vibe, now. I’m grateful to have a dining room we actually spend a decent bit of time in.





Okay...an extra-early 5:45 a.m. wake-up call already has me weeping, so off I go.

Happy Hump Day, peeps.

I’m sooooo. ready for Friday.

Stay healthy, stay sane.