Good Monday mornin’ to ya! How are you guys? I hope your weekend was a good one and included the perfect balance of adventure and relaxation. Ours married the two perfectly and we had a decent amount of downtime mixed in with some fun times out and about as well.
Our weekend kicked off with some lovely Friday night laziness that centered around Netflix and cookie dough for dinner.
I made the mistake of making the cookies while our real dinner was roasting in the oven, so by the time our pork was done, I was already full on cookie dough and cookies. In the end, my Friday night dinner ended up looking like one pork chop plus a billion bites of cookie dough and a handful of homemade oatmeal cookies. A winning combination in my book.
Saturday
Saturday began on an active note! Ryan has been really into rowing lately (he got a rowing machine for Christmas), so while he cranked out an interval rowing workout, I made breakfast and played with Chase until we swapped baby playtime responsibilities and I headed off to Burn Boot Camp.
Saturday’s agenda called for a metabolic conditioning workout that had everyone sweating buckets. I shared the workout on the Peanut Butter Fingers Facebook page when I finished so you can see why I was such a sweaty mess:
Holy burpees!
To be honest, I’d rather do burpees any day over bear crawls. Those things are a BEAST and I hate them with a fiery passion.
Once I made it home, Ryan, Chase and Sadie were geared up and ready for a walk around the neighborhood, so I joined them for a two mile walk before taking a much-needed shower.
Annnd the above picture is the best picture we could muster up of me, Chase and Sadie before we headed out. Some of the gorgeous family photos I see of moms and babies on Instagram leave me baffled because 99 percent of our pictures with Chase are a blur of crazy.
Solo baby pictures are much easier… for now at least!
I have a feeling that once our little guy is able to crawl and walk, I’ll be singing a different tune.
Our plans for Saturday included a day-date to The Cheesecake Factory at South Park Mall since that restaurant served as the location of our first date 12 years ago at the Mall at Millennia in Orlando! Apparently we didn’t time everything out very well or The Cheesecake Factory in Charlotte is just ALWAYS slammed, but when we arrived there was a 45-minute wait for a table. What!? I mean we love The Cheesecake Factory as much as the next person, but we don’t love it enough to wait 45 minutes for a table with a 6-month-old baby in tow, so we ordered two pieces of cheesecake to go and shuffled around our plans for the day.
Before we left the mall, we spent a little time shopping and popped into Nordstrom because I wanted to see if they had the Ju-Ju-Be diaper bag backpack I’ve been eyeing. They had the very one I wanted (in the right print – The Queen of the Nile – and everything) and since I had a Nordstrom gift card leftover from the holidays, I used it toward the backpack and can’t wait to put that bad boy to use.
We’re hoping to fly to Tampa to celebrate my friend Leah’s son’s first birthday next month and I think it will come in handy!
After a few more pit stops around the mall, our stomachs needed food. We thought about grabbing food at another restaurant in the mall, but when Ryan suggested barbeque, my mouth started watering. He suggested a tiny place he visited a while ago with some coworkers and since hole-in-the-wall restaurants often make the best barbeque, I was more than game. I actually had a serious barbeque aversion in the final months of my pregnancy, so I’m glad it finally sounds appealing to me again!
Ryan used Yelp to locate the restaurant again but quickly realized that what was once a tiny hole-in-the-wall barbeque spot apparently expanded and opened up a new location which was actually quite nice!
(That picture is my new favorite. I love my boys!)
We arrived at Bobbee-O’s barbeque ready to eat our hands and ordered his and hers barbeque pulled pork and baked beans, plus a side of cabbage for me because I LOVE cabbage. (I realize this probably makes me a weirdo, but I think my love for cabbage stems from the corned beef and cabbage dinner my mom would make every St. Patrick’s Day when I was growing up.)
In the end our 12 year “dateiversary” wasn’t fancy but it was incredibly delicious and it felt like us. Plus, Chase seemed to enjoy himself which made our lunch a lot of fun!
By the time we made it home, it was close to 4 p.m. and Chase was more than ready for a nap and I was more than ready to change into my sweatpants and slippers and dive into the cheesecake we brought home with us.
Ryan and I always order the banana cream cheesecake but this year we added a slice of red velvet cheesecake to the mix and I think I have a new favorite.
In the words of Uncle Jesse, “Haaaaave mercy.”
The rest of our Saturday night was low key and we were in bed by 10 p.m. Party time!
Sunday
Sunday morning began with a hot cup of coffee, Greek yogurt pancakes (<—I haven’t made these in forever and forgot that they are the JAM) and meal planning!
I’ve had a few requests to share some of our weekly dinner meal plans on the blog from time to time, so here’s a rundown of the meals we’re planning to make this week:
- Monday – N/A because we’re going to the Bulls/Hornets game and plan to eat out
- Tuesday – Butternut Squash Vegetarian Chili (Planning to adapt this a bit and make it in the crock pot)
- Wednesday – Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Ground Turkey Bolognese
- Thursday – Blackberry Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Asparagus and Sweet Potatoes
- Friday – Kale and Sausage Breakfast Casserole (Planned this one just in case we decided to go out for dinner since it would be a great weekend morning breakfast, too!)
After meal planning and baby playtime, Chase was ready for a morning nap, so I used his naptime to sneak in a quick yoga flow I found on Grokker. (I signed up for a free two-weeks thanks Janae’s recommendation!)
I did the 20-minute Yin Yoga for Your Hips since my hips could always use a little extra love and attention. It felt fabulous and Chase managed to stay asleep the whole time so it was an all-around win.
Right around 11 a.m., after an early lunch, we made it out of the house and drove up to Lake Norman State Park for some hiking. Sadie was psyched to be out and ran around sniffing everything in her path for five miles.
Now we’re back at home and I’m catching up on some work before we head out to a friend’s house for a Super Bowl party this evening! (I almost always type up my Monday morning posts on Sundays.) Goooo Panthers!
Hope you all have a lovely Monday and that your weekend was a good one!
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Those cheesecakes are making my mouth water! I haven’t heard of Bobbee-O’s, but sometimes non fancy dates are the best ones! Happy Anniversary!
Pulled pork is my ultimate weakness. Pork of any kind. I’ve been with my husband for 14 years and the man HATES pork. I somewhat blame this on his mom who buys the “sketchy blackened” pork at the grocery store and serves it up with turnip. Who wants that? But pork can be made into wondrous things and I so wish I could convince him to eat it!! Or oatmeal cookies. That sounds like dinner too. Happy Anniversary.
Cookies for dinner is always a great idea! I made brownie batter my dinner on Thursday night and I have no regrets 🙂
Your Monday morning weekend update posts are ALWAYS my favorite. Thanks for sharing, Julie!! I can totally relate to not wanting to wait 45 minutes with a baby, lol. Timing is so much different with a little one! We have a bag of frozen blackberries in the fridge calling my name, so it looks like my husband and I are going to have to try the blackberry glazed tenderloin recipe this week, too. Have a great Monday!
Looks like the perfect weekend! I love rowing too! I wish I had access to one right now because it’s such a great workout!
Oh wow that cheesecake, both of them look incredible!!! HUGE slices 🙂 Happy Date Anniversary to you guys!
What a fun and yummy weekend! And that backpack is really cute!
I love your outfit! Perfect combination of cute and comfortable. Sounds like a really fun weekend, and I’ll have to check out Grokker!
Sounds great! Last week my husband and I split a salted caramel cheesecake slice from Cheesecake Factory. It was awesome!
I love that Ryan has started rowing! I’m a rowing coach in Boston, so the more people who discover the sport, the happier I am! What sort of workouts has he been doing?
That is so cool that you’re a coach! Ryan’s friend Ben is really into it and inspired him to start and he’s loving it! He’s following a plan Ben recommended to him (I think it’s called The Pete Plan?) and uses the Concept rowing app to track everything and log his times.
I ONLY make cookies for the cookie dough 🙂 I really love date-avisaries I think they are just as important as wedding anniversaries so congratulations for being together 12 years! Nice well rounded meal plan, looking forward to seeing more!
I love your outfit! It looks so cute and put together but so simple. I haven’t mastered that look yet. Cookie dough and cheesecake balanced out with burpees and walking/hiking-sounds like my kind of weekend!
Thank you!! Leggings all day every day! 😉
Congrats on 12 years together, what an awesome milestone to celebrate! 🙂 Haha having a toddler now, I can definitely say that solo baby pictures are a lot easier when they aren’t moving. But then they turn into little hams and will willingly pose for the camera at some point, just on their own terms I suppose. Have a great start to your week Julie!
Good call on taking the cheesecake to go! Sounds like it worked out with the bbq too.
You are gonna love that diaper bag! My friends has one and raves about it and she has twins! Traveling with a backpack is a must and will make flights so much easier! My daughter is out of the diaper bag stage so I typically throw everything I need in my purse but when we fly I still use a trusty backpack!
Happy 12 years!!
Both pictures of you and chase and Ryan and chase are so cute!!
Really starting to enjoy yoga!!
Congrats on celebrating 12 years together! Cheesecake Factory is one of my favorite restaurants, but I definitely can relate about the wait times, they always seem to be crowded.
I completely agree about burpees and bearcrawls. I always burpees and bosus are least favorite things, and my trainer once had me do bosu burpees which I told her was literally my worst nightmare come to life. I actually can’t do bear crawls because I get really dizzy and end up falling over, ha!
LOVE your cheesecake-aversary (and 12-year) tradition!! So fun!! Happy celebrating!!
I love weekend re-caps! They are always such fun. It looks like you guys had some great weather this weekend and took advantage of it. Love the cookie dinner too 🙂
Cant wait to hear what you think of the diaper backpack! Since you mentioned it the other day I’ve been considering it as my main diaper bag (due in May!) since having your hands/shoulders free seems quite useful, but since its more expensive than some other traditional style bags I waiver on taking the plunge! Maybe I can add it to my push present wish list lol!
Congratulations on 12 years!!
I love the leggings you’re wearing! Where are they from?
What a great weekend! Sorry the wait was so long at the Cheesecake Factory. I’ve had good luck getting in there just before lunch time on the weekdays. 🙂
I’m obsessed with that diaper bag! So cute.
Cookies for dinner is always a good decision. 😉 I’m always impressed with how much you fit into a weekend!
That was a well rounded post ma’am. – I am not a blogger but read them all.the.time. 🙂 Thanks for the dinner, outfit, and work out inspirations. That pretty much nailed the things I usually look for online. LOL Adorable baby Chase pics were a bonus! Have an awesome day.
Happy (date) anniversary! I loooooove cabbage, but am not a fan of it when it’s part of corned beef and cabbage. I’m a weirdo! Sauerkraut is one of my favorite ways to enjoy cabbage. 🙂
Both the barbecue and cheesecake pics look delicious! This weekend was a busy one so I’m excited for the next 2 weekends to be pretty relaxing. Also.. that pic of Chase and Ryan is so freakin’ adorable!
I think I need some yin yoga for my hips. Sounds so good!!
Love those cookies! They look like some lactation cookies that I make. Have you tried any of those, they are the best if you ever think you are losing some supply!
I love pulled pork. A definite weakness of mine <3 And those cookies look so good too… I think maybe I am really hungry right now, lol!
Oh man I really dislike rowing. Props to Ryan!
I also know where I need to get my next dessert fix. I love the cheesecake there and haven’t been in so long!
You look wonderful. Like other posters here I love your outfit too–especially the sweater/jacket you’re wearing? Where is it from–any links to share : )
It was actually in my latest LeTote delivery, but I’ll check the brand and get back to you!!
thanks Julie!
Looks like a fantastic, busy weekend – full of fun! We celebrated out meetiversary this weekend, too. (The anniversary of the day we met… we’re getting married later this year, so I’ll keep celebrating!) Steak and brussel sprouts with a good bottle of wine we’ve been saving for a special occasion. Yummin!
And don’t forget to mention the Super Bowl. GO, GO BRONCOS! 😉
Congrats on your upcoming wedding!! Exciting!
The red velvet cheesecake is awesome!!
Sara | Lipstick, Lattes & Lunges
I am with you on the family photo thing! I also don’t understand how new moms possibly EVER have time to DO their hair and makeup?! I’m going to look like a hot, pale mess forever I think. AH!
Oh man, me too! I do my hair and make up all of maybe 2x a week and typically that’s only on the weekends!
Happy 12 Years together! That picture of Ryan and Chase is so cute. I think I’d move to the South for the BBQ alone 🙂 And isn’t the red velvet cheesecake awesome?!
I have done the accidentally full on cookie dough thing sooo many times, lolol!
What a fun weekend!! That workout looks INTENSE. I feel the same way about bear crawls, I would rather do pretty much anything else 😛
I hope you share how the vegetarian chili turns out- sounds like a good one!
I think I agree on everything you just wrote! I too LOVE rowing like Ryan and have been looking for a used machine. And “put together” baby posts on Instagram? No one has time to try that many times, right? And now that I am going on baby #3, I am thinking I am resorting to the mommy backpack– probably should have done that a LONG time ago! I need more hands!
Julie, You look AMMMMAZING!!!!! Congrats on your date-a-versary. That is so wonderful! And those cookies look amazing. Maybe you can share the recipe soon. 😉 xox
Congratulations on the 12 years!!! I hear ya on getting good pictures with the kiddos. Usually at least one of my two boys is always blurry from wiggling or one is not looking at the camera. Hehe I hope you love that diaper bag! It’s one of my favorites! I alternate between that bag for longer outings and my hobo be for lighter outings – although our baby girl is due in a couple of weeks so I’ll be packing more and using it daily for the next year or so :). Lots of people have made packing videos on YouTube with the BFF diaper bag just to give you some ideas on ways to pack it (if you need it)
Sounds like a fun yet productive weekend. The pulled pork looks great. Carolina BBQ is good, but Texas BBQ is still the best (I live in Texas so I may be biased).
That backpack looks awesome! You’ll have to tell me how you like it. 🙂
Happy Anniversary to you guys!! Looks like you had such a nice weekend!! Chase is such a cute little guy!!
Your hair is getting so dark!
Your family is simply beautiful; I love seeing pics of you and your boys! I’m seriously craving some Cheesecake Factory cheesecake now.
Hi Julie, curious if Ryan has a Concept 2 rower? DH really wants one. He has a couple of friends with Concept 2s and they say they are life- changing.
Looks like a lovely weekend! Glad to see Ryan found a workout that’s easy on his knees ☺ congrats on 12 years!!!
Please share that chili recipe if it’s good in the crockpot!
That sounds like a perfect weekend!
I love/hate burpees with pushups & bear crawls because they’re so dang hard. We do both of those a ton in the class it coach (Les Mills’ GRIT) and it’s always a fun time. 😉
Chase is just so adorable!