Things that are making my Monday morning a little easier:

John Mayer (I’ve yet to find a scenario that ISN’T made better by JMay), the fresh coat of polish on my nails and the fact that it’s called “Let Me Bayou a Drink,” Huckleberry Roasters coffee, the anticipation of Joey’s birthday on Sunday and thinking back on a good Easter weekend.

I wish Joey and I were consistent “Pizza Friday” people, but we just can’t commit to such things.  I will say, however, that that just makes it extra exciting when a Pizza Friday does pop up!  Like last week, when Friday lunchtime rolled around and I suggested that we swing by Whole Foods and grab a pizza dough.  Mostly just needed to spend $30 on nuts in the bulk section, but hey, grabbing dough seemed like an obvious next step.

When we got the dough home, we threw a cast-iron pizza together real quick and then Joey tapped our newest brew.  It’s a Hefeweizen and we ended up adding a slightly banana-flavored yeast to it.  That might sound strange, but it’s actually really good.  Post-pizza and beer, we started The Empire Strikes Back and seriously, I fell asleep halfway through AGAIN.  Kind of… it’s hard to sleep when Chewbacca keeps making those noises.

Vaguely remember saying “I’ll take my coffee in bed around 7:45 tomorrow” as I bid Joey goodnight and then because he’s amazing and far FAR too nice to me, he actually delivered me coffee in bed the next morning.  If that doesn’t set it up to be a good day, I don’t know what does.  At 8:30, we made our way over to Hannah and Josh’s to help them load up their townhome and move.  Furreal, my arms are sore and all I remember carrying is pillows…

I had an 11:30 Zero Balancing session with my Dad and I felt SO relaxed afterwards.  I texted him later in the day to report that my eye had BARELY twitched since I’d left my appointment.  And then I promptly made another one for this upcoming weekend.  Oh and I guess I was just collecting books from people all day too.  The Red Tent from Hannah’s mom Tracey and The Power of Now from my dad.  The book pile on my nightstand is looking happily abundant right now.

 

After my massage, Joey tried his best to convince me to go watch March Madness with him, but A) I was going to be the only girl/person who doesn’t give a @#%& about March Madness and B) I was trying to remain in the Zen Zone (I just made that up, but it’s got a nice ring to it, huh?), so I let him go and did my own thang.  Meaning I went to the grocery store, started making a cake, hard-boiled some eggs, FINALLY FINALLY hung up clothes that had been in our back room since our trip to Hawaii (ahh!) and basked in the glory of 5:30 PM sunlight. 

And when I made Joey come home Joey finally came home, we dyed Easter eggs!  We haven’t done that in YEARS, but I saw this recipe on Epicurious for naturally-dyed pickled eggs and just had to try it.  You make a base mixture of vinegar, water, sugar and salt then add different things to it to make the different colors.  That picture is what they all looked like the next morning and WHOA, it worked so well!!  I haven’t eaten any yet, but I’m pretty excited for a pickled egg snack later today.

Sunday started with bacon, cheesy eggs and the creamiest avocado and then went on to include putting together an Easter “basket” for my mom, finishing up the cake I started making on Saturday (but more on that later) and going for a run, because the sun was out, the sidewalk was newly paved and the snow was mostly melted.

At 2, we headed over to my parents’ for Easter lunch with my family and Lori.  I think my mom liked her new coffee, nail polish and little Chemex lid.  She made pork tenderloin, roasted cauliflower, asparagus and… STUFFING!!!!!  So it was the least I could do to get her some little gifts 🙂  She filled an Easter basket for Joey and I that included an adult coloring book and a set of chalk pens so my drawing skills are about to get a lot better… maybe.  And my dad gifted me some meditation lessons that I’m SO SO excited to start!  Naturally-dyed Easter eggs, books about spiritual enlightenment, vegan cakes (see below :P) — my inner hippie is really starting to come out lately 🙂

Last, but not least, let me brag about this little cake thing I made.  It’s gluten-free AND vegan and only cost way too much money in nuts, dates, coconut oil and maple syrup to make but it was so worth it because it turned out SO GOOD!  Plus it was super easy and looked like a colorful little dream, perfect for spring celebrating.  It’s basically made of nuts, so let’s not pretend it was any calorically different than an actual cheesecake would have been but still.  I subbed strawberries for pomegranate seeds and it worked like a charm.  Highly recommend this recipe!

I hope you all had a lovely little Easter!