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It has been quite a while since my husband and I had a relaxing weekend to ourselves at home. For the last few weeks, we have been all over the place - from a long weekend in Chicago to a ski weekend at Boyne to a long weekend in Naples - and we are off again this weekend, to pay Detroit and our front row Pistons tickets a visit.
Traveling is a blast. But being home is, too. I tend to underrate the value of relaxation. [And having the time to actually put up some proper, recipe including blog posts will be nice...]
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| "It's hard to save bacon." |
We kicked off the weekend with some seriously happy hearts, because we somehow managed to not eat all the bacon I made for lunch on Friday. If you have ever made a huge pan of bacon with your s/o and tried to not eat it all, you might know that it is a feat, indeed. We have now coined a catch phrase to reference things that are so awesome they are hard to let go of: "It's hard to save bacon."
For example...
Person A - Man, I don't want this trip to end!
Person B - It's hard to save bacon...
Anyway... we ended Friday night with the ever relaxing "watch a movie" ritual. We rented Gravity, which we still had not seen, and I thought it was... entertaining. I kept cheering for Shondra Bullet. Because that's how John Travolta would say her name. It's the little things...
Saturday, we hit the gym nice and early and stopped for a relaxing brunch at DeBoer's afterward. There was no changing in between, so I ate brunch as Workout Barbie.
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| So that's what my feet look like out of boots! |
We headed home, showered, and got ready to head to Grand Rapids. We are looking at real estate all over the place, and we wanted to check out a few places there. We didn't love anything we saw, but there are still a few contenders. Most of all, I was just thrilled to be leaving the house in shoes other than boots... thank you, Spring! Please stay.
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| Hey there handsome |
After our appointments, we drove around Grand Rapids for a while and eventually stopped at Downtown Market. Our local meat shop recommended that we stop there, so I had already scoped it out online and was prepared to drop some serious cash on organic and grass fed ingredients.
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| Get in my belly |
I was pretty impressed with some of the products, like this Jalapeno & Kaffir Lime Raspberry Preserves. I am currently abstaining from added sugar and any kind of bread I could even put this on, so I did not make a purchase... but if I were not under those rules, I would have grabbed it without hesitation.
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| Would it offend you if I called you easy? |
There is also a stall that has a lot of pre-made, ready-to-cook meals. It's kind of a neat concept, that you could go there, browse their options, and grab something that you can just pop into the oven to cook. No cutting, no making sauce, no mess to clean up.
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| Spices from the Spice Merchants |
Another of my favorite stalls was spice merchants. I grabbed some Saugatuck Steak Rub (for the center cut sirloin we bought), as well as some caribbean jerk (for shrimp!).
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| Gross to me, amaze to my dad. |
Also featured: An oyster bar. Dad, you would be loving this place...
On our way out of the market, we each got a smoothie from the juice station, and we drove back home to - you guessed it - relax for a while. We caught up on Modern Family and eventually decided to venture back into the world in favor of an arcade.
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| The couple that shoots pirates together... ugh, what rhymes with pirates?! |
We played a few games at the arcade, which were really a lot more fun than I imagined. But, my favorite part of the night?
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| The only picture I snapped during laser tag that actually turned out. |
LASER TAG!!!!!! I have not been in ages, and I forgot how fun it is. It is also a little bit of a workout if you get into it - between sprinting, ducking, squatting, and such. It was a great 30 minutes and I am already begging my husband to take me back.
Sunday morning, we slept in and eventually got up to make breakfast. We barely made it to church, and then stopped at the grocery on the way home.
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| Looks gross, tastes wonderful |
I relaxed in a hot tub for quite a while and consumed a peanut butter and jelly smoothie (protein powder, coconut milk, frozen raspberries, pb2, 1/3 frozen banana, a few drops of liquid stevia). I added a handful of spinach, which accounts for the brownish flavor above.
And then some detox water (cucumber, mint, lemon)...
And we eventually got it together enough to make dinner. Center cut sirloin with avocado, jalapeno, and garlic chutney, and a side of coconut oil sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, and onions.
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| You're tasty and I love you |
Overall, it was a good and relaxing weekend (and perhaps the last one we'll have for a while). I woke up this morning feeling extremely rested, and even opted to turn a morning walk into a sprint session with the pup.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
- How do you relax?
- What is your favorite way to spend a weekend?
