Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way. – Dr. Seuss
Yay! Spring has arrived. Although it has been a bit cold, it still has beautiful signs of new life everywhere you look. The grass is green, the gardens are popping up, and we have things to do before the official gardening season begins!
In my last blog we wrote about our daughter moving to California. How did we adjust to our empty nest? We kept busy, did some home projects, and went on some vigorous hikes and long walks. We also ate out a lot!
Our guests always ask us where to eat, and what our favorite restaurants are. One of our favorites is Elizabeth’s in Pittsfield, about twenty minutes away. It’s a casual place with an incredible menu. We almost always get the same thing, Eggplant Provencal. We are usually full before the main dish because they serve a huge family style salad, and Berkshire Mountain Bakery Bread! After our dinner at Elizabeths, for about a week or longer, we eat our version of their salad and bread!
A salad for two! After all we have to make up for all of that eating out. And the bread! Berkshire Mountain Bakery is located in Housatonic, about 20 minutes away. It is our very favorite bread, and extremely healthy. Flour, water and salt. That is what real bread is, and it is our favorite. In the photo above, I tried to recreate the hummus the owner brought to our table. It was chunky and very light, with chopped tomatoes. He said it was a staple in his house growing up. Delicious.
Fun is good. Dr. Seuss
Another favorite restaurant we both love, is the Starving Artist Creperie. Just two blocks from our house. We order numerous things off their menu. One of my favorites, when we are on a salad kick, is their Vital Vegan Salad. So we come home and recreate that too. They aren’t open for dinner, and sometimes you just need that salad at dinner! We also love the owner and the staff.
Salad for two again! Wow. I bet you think we live on salad alone – no we do not!
Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas on grilled bread.
This is a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. Pop over to my facebook page for the recipe. Of course, we use Berkshire Mountain Bakery bread for this too. See why we eat so much salad!
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. – Dr. Seuss
We also did some home reno projects. And, after recently becoming addicted to HGTV, Fixer Upper, we felt like Chip and JoAnna Gaines while we were doing it! Here is a peak at some of our projects:
Jeff made this table out of repurposed wood with pipe legs. Very Fixer Upper! And perfect for my kitchen. He was not overly excited about the pipe legs, but then he got a kick out of putting them together.
Our next project was new wallpaper in the dining room hallway. I fell for this last year when we started this re-do the whole house project. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and even though the wall paper in that are was still cute – this had to be done. I’m in love with it. As you all know I am mad, crazy and wild about blue and white. This chinoiserie paper goes perfect with my entire house!
We did some other projects too, and I still have a list, but the highlight of spring so far…is not to be missed!
We went to San Diego to see our girl! She has been gone three full months. She has an adorable apartment, and a new job. She guided us around like she had lived there for much longer. We had the time of our lives! While we were there, we saw our beautiful niece Kate. She drove down from Los Angeles. She is living a very successful, and ambitious life. Her career is in the business world. We loved catching up. We had a hard time leaving these amazing young women.
It’s moments together that change us forever. Dr Seuss
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. Dr. Seuss
Thank you for coming by my blog today ~ I hope you come back soon.
p.s. While were visiting Julia, we went to La Jolla where she is now working in a Gallery. We visited the Legends Gallery, aka The Dr. Seuss Gallery. A highlight of our trip, hence the Dr. Seuss vibe of this post.
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss.