Celebratory Weekend

Whew!  I am completely wiped out!  Can a weekend be anymore fun?

All the excitement started Saturday afternoon when my brothers and one of their girlfriend's, D, showed up to have some mountain fun with me before my weekday birthday (always a bummer I think).  We had plans of a hike and some apple picking between the two days but because of horrible traffic for them getting out there, we had to improvise a bit.  We decided to hit up one of the many apple farms where I live and were quite disappointed when the first one we went to was not a U-pick farm.

We really wanted to pick our own apples so we headed off to another apple farm, only to find out it was closed and then hit one last one, only to find out we were 20 minutes too late.  Such a bummer!  So instead, we headed downtown to see the last 1/2 hour of the craft fair going on.  There wasn't too much that caught my eye, except for a woman who worked with rocks, gems and wire wrapping and I couldn't resist getting a pair of earrings.  I'll share what they look like the first time I wear them!

We had grand plans for dinner so we picked up a few things before heading back to my place and getting started on the cooking!  I knew I wanted bruschetta as an appetizer, and for the main course decided on pizza since I had some dough at home.  My brother also wanted guacamole so we lucked out when avocados were on sale for 2/$1 and stocked up!

We all chipped in doing the cutting, dicing, mashing, baking and everything to come up with some great (oniony and garlicy)eats!

Bruschetta with Toasted Multi-Grain Baguette Pieces

Guacamole with Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips

Mixed Vegetable and Spinach Salad

Whole Wheat Pizza with Vegetables, Basil and Mozzarella

The whole lot:

I had a bit of everything, but multiply the guacamole and chips times two (taste testing beforehand) along with one more piece of bruschetta with toast (more taste testing!).

I had the urge to go to the downtown fro-yo place for dessert but decided that buying lactose free ice cream from the store was cheaper and we could stay at home!  I had all sorts of great toppings to boot, so who needs fro-yo that rips of your wallet!

But I got a nice surprise when my guests busted out a mini boston cream pie with crazy sparkling candles!

The night ended with a few more chips, grapes and "The Ugly Truth".  I was a party pooper and crashed at 11.45 while the rest of them stayed up to finish the movie.

I must have been ubber tired because I totally crashed and didn't wake up until 7am!  Ok, 7am isn't that late, but for me it certainly is!  I felt nicely rested but with an unsettled stomach from all the goodies the night before...so since everyone else was still soundly asleep and would be for a mile, I laced up my shoes and headed out for a run.

[[ Now let me elaborate.  Ever since the OR 1/2 marathon I have had a hard time with running.  I have had absolutely no inclination to run and just have felt exhausted and burnt out.  This doesn't happen often, but I really hate that it does.  It has been frustrating the past two weeks, trying to eat sensibly (which btw has been coming to me easier, ie actually listening to my body and not letting the anxiety make me believe I was hungry) and not feel like my body was going to change after all the long runs and constant exercise I had been doing the past few months.  I'm still having a hard time with some of my clothes not fitting so it doesn't help the situation, but it's getting easier.  Looking back though, I'm seeing a trend with these epiphanies and them coming more often, closer together and lasting longer without falling off the bandwagon...so it's a start, right?  Yes, yes ma'am it is! ]]

Anyhow, the weather is cooling down here in the mountains so I was a bit skeptical about wearing a running tank and even though I was a bit chilled the first few miles I felt good after that when the sun started to heat up and I was warming up!  I didn't know how much I would be able to run since my belly was a bit off and I didn't eat anything before I left, but I ended up doing a nice 6.1 miles around town with a steady pace of 9.06 ending with 56 minutes.

I cleaned up and the rest of my party finally started waking up for us to start on breakfast!  I already had it planned out for us to have French Toast with my favorite TJ's Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread so I got started while they worked on the fruit for toppings!

In the midst of making the french toast I was hungry, but probably more thirsty, and polished off quite a bit of cantaloupe.  So I stuck to a small portion of french toast, pb and fruit for my main course.

And then, we were off TO PICK APPLES!!!  I have been waiting for this for months as I LOVE PICKING APPLES!  I did this almost every year as a kid with my family where we would head up into the mountains to pick apples, raspberries, other fruits/vegetables and press our own CIDER!  Sadly the farm we went to and none of the others in town let you press your own, but alas, the stuff still tastes great!

We took the mile plus walk down the road to the apple farm and started on our shenanigans!  We were told the two varieties to pick were Jonathan and Golden Delicious and at first I was disappointed, thinking I hated golden delicious apples because they're normally too soft and bland.  But goodness gracious, these were wonderful!!  They were so crispy and sweet I wanted to eat an entire tree!  And the Jonathans?  Oh my goodness...I want to start growing my own apples!  The grocery store holds nothing against these babies, obviously!  I think I might drown in apples the next few months they're in season.

My brother felt like after he wiped the apple of it's dirt, he was the witch from Snow White with how naturally shiny the beauty was.  I couldn't' have agreed more.

Did you really think we would leave with just a few apples?  Don't play with me, we brought home that whole bucket!  It was probably around 15lbs...to 20!  And it was only $20!!!

That one's for mom, she wants a Christmas photo...even though she hasn't sent one out in years...hehehehe!

We headed over to the house on the property where they have some other things like apple butter, pumpkin butter and freshly pressed cider!  You know we didn't leave without some!

And of course I had to eat an apple.  That beauty was soooo good.

We walked back home to bask in leftovers from yesterday (I had a the leftover salad and some chips, plus a piece or two of bruschetta) and get last minute baked goods from in town for them to take home.

All in all it was a great weekend with my brothers and D!  I mean, what more could I ask for than good food and company!

Next weekend will bring along the same fun times though, as my parents are coming up and we're going to do some more apple picking!  There are around a dozen farms around so I have some exploring to do!

Hope you all had a good weekend!  Details!?  Tell tell!