What I Learned (and did) On My Summer Vacation

Okay, so this post is a little tardy, but I still feel like I've got to make the effort. I had a summer that seemed to fly by. Busy at work, didn't even get to take my full vacation, but I squeezed a lot in there.

What I Learned:
That I absolutely love being a mom to an amazing little boy.
That said little boy LOVES the beach and would throw himself in the ocean given half a chance.
That I love salads with chicken more than anything.
That yoga daily has done more for my body than all those hours spent at the gym.
That yoga + walking + eating healthier has started to make me look like pre-cancer me again.
That it is possible to reclaim one's abs after a c-section.
That sometimes the best things in life are free.
That my son is a daredevil and will go on any carnival/amusement park ride I will let him on.

What I Did:
Played about a half dozen weddings with the Prima Quartet - the best looking and sounding string quartet on Long Island.
Got to hang out with Merry Berry, who I miss terribly.
Took Luke to a few carnivals and stuck him on a few fire engines, boats and merry-go-rounds.
Met Annie and Ahmed and Ismaeel at Adventureland where we put the boys on rides together.
Went one night to see Stealin' Dan which rocked out for over 2 hours and was easily the best concert I've ever seen. And it was free. I have to expound here - the concert was at the Sayville Marina beach - which is on the body of water between the south shore of LI and Fire Island. It was an incredibly muggy night and it was delicious to be by the ocean breeze. No one wanted to go with me, so I went all by myself. Which was fine, because I could sit anywhere I wanted, no one talked to me and I sang out loud to all the songs. They were awesome. Steely Dan is a top notch band which used some of the all-time best studio musicians. Stealin' Dan didn't disappoint. They actually played Aja. They played all my favorites. (Except for Deacon Blues) They played for 2 hours. I was in heaven. Since I couldn't justify spending $80 for Steely Dan tickets, this was a good compromise.

So, all in all it was a good summer. We made it through with not too many bumps and bruises and had some fun.

Inspiration Strikes

It could be that I was inspired by the beautiful, spring-like weather. It could be that I was inspired by my good-hair-day. (Which was made possible by the new L'Oreal EverPure Moisture Conditioner) Or most likely I was inspired by Molly Wizenberg's book, "A Homemade Life" (go buy it - now) which waxes poetic about cooking in Paris, cooking in Seattle and making salads and homemade dressing. But I had inspiration to build a salad for dinner. One with lots of veggies and homemade dressing. One with poached chicken. I thought a lot about this salad. So much so, that I told Tommy I had to make it for dinner and I'd make him anything he wanted. (He's not really a salad type of guy.) He said, "I could go for a salad with chicken." "Huh? You want a salad? Okay." So he took Lucas home from our outing so I could hit the supermarket and buy what I needed. I felt so European and Parisian shopping for that evening's dinner right then and there. I purveyed the produce section. This is what my amazing, delicious salad contained:

• Arugula from Trader Joe's that I've also been layering on sandwiches
• Radishes that were still on their greens
• Endive
• Goat cheese - I forgot just how much I love goat cheese
• Toasted pine nuts that I happened to have in the pantry
• Poached chicken breast
• Avocado
• Homemade salad dressing which was so simple - dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil (courtesy of Molly's book)

It was delicious. It was filling. It even made the non-veggie Tommy exclaim "This is delicious!" It even looked a smidge like this:

Ahhhhh....spring time. I can't wait to hit the roadside stands and try more veggie salads.