My Vegan Monday

Eating is getting a little funny now, in the third trimester. My appetite vacillates between being ready to eat my hand off and not being able to fathom eating, ever again. My insides are just so compressed it gets uncomfortable. And then there’s the occasional heartburn, and the constant consideration of nutrition and pull of indulgence. I’m all over the place.

This past weekend, we had wonderful brick oven pizza with honey and truffle oil. Went to the farmer’s market and bought fresh corn, tomatoes, squash, peaches and a little basil plant, which we’ll hopefully manage to keep alive. Out of that bounty came a summer squash frittata, a peach upside-down cake, and a beautiful tomato-corn salad, found in Molly Wizenberg's Delancey, that my *husband* made. (Still think it’s funny to say that).

We had organized a picnic in the park on Saturday and friends brought Ample Hills ice cream and since we were immediately rained out of the park and wound up back at our apartment, we inherited both pints of ice cream. Dommage. I think I can count on one hand the number of days I have not had ice cream in the past three months. It’s one place I’m definitely giving myself a ‘pregnancy pass,’ figuring if nothing else, the calcium is good for her little bones.

I’m also trying to up the omega 3, iron and protein intake this last trimester. I’m having salmon a couple times a week, started adding walnuts to my yogurt and oatmeal, eating lots of eggs, avocado, fresh fruit, hummus and chickpeas… it all sounds so pious but there are lots of sweets in there, too. As for today…

Morning

Coffee with almond milk (I’ve maintained ½ cup of coffee, just a little caffeine, all pregnancy)

Overnight oats with dates, walnuts and banana – sooo delicious

Afternoon

Veggie burrito, no cheese – sounded good at the time but made me feel not so great all day

But good enough to have a little bit of a Mast Brothers chocolate bar

And some almonds

Evening

Rounded up the rest of our tomatoes, corn and eggplant from the farmer’s market to make an orzo salad

Ginger Ale - trying to conquer that stomach ache

Sunday Play

It was a lovely weekend that kicked off with woodfire pizza in Chester, CT and ended with a stroll through Prospect Park, where everything from kickball to wiffleball, softball to soccer, chase and catch, were being played.

In between was my cousin’s Sweet 16 birthday party, which included catered burgers and fries, a chocolate fountain, DJ and dancing and tons of people. Wow. It also included summer staples/Connecticut must-haves: lobster rolls and DQ.

Do you remember your sixteenth birthday? What was your celebration like? What were you primarily concerned with? What did you think you’d be when you were “an adult”?

Snapshot from Paris

A beautiful reminder from my previous chapter. Happy days.

Summer atop the Met

Summer, summer, summer. The most glorious season of them all. This summer has been especially sublime. It rained on the Fourth of July, but otherwise it's been pitch-perfect: Warm, sunny days. Late sunsets and fireflies, which I can see outside my apartment windows. Lots of opportunities to eat ice cream.

As the weeks count down to having a baby (Three months away! And I'm at the point where I look at my belly and find it hard to believe that it can still grow and stretch for three more months. It's becoming uncomfortable, sometimes painful. But everything is still going really well, all healthy and normal, so no complaints.), Andrew and I are ticking things off our 'pre-baby-bucket-list.' Dinners, plays, travels, concerts, hikes... stuff we know will be more difficult to do. 

Last night, we met at the Met's rooftop terrace, which I had never in my 13 years of living in New York (well, 11, minus the two in Paris) been to. It was awesome!

Such views.

Such a beautiful evening, with dramatic lighting. I remember evenings in Paris with these kind of spellbinding bolts of light from above.

We grabbed a spot on the astroturf and admired the fashions, enjoyed the setting sun, and had a drink before part two of our delicious night: dinner at Alimentari e Vineri, a longtime favorite.

Nothing has really changed in our relationship. Sometimes I still call Andrew "my boyfriend" out of habit. And when I say "husband" or think of him that way, it just makes me smile. It's so funny: I have a husband. 

Whatever I call him, I just look at him and smile: so handsome and charming and wonderful and easy to be around.

My Vegan Monday

Back to life, back to reality. The wedding: three weeks, history. The honeymoon: caught on film. Fourth of July: over. 

This Monday morning marked a return to routine, and though a slightly bitter pill to swallow, it's not so bad. Summer is my favorite season and we have lots of time ahead. Weeks and weeks of warm weather, fresh fruits and vegetables, and activities both sporty and lazy. Besides, I'm a Type A personality: I like me some discipline and organization. I've also now crossed the six-month mark in pregnancy so eating and nutrition is something I think about all the time. A return to Vegan Mondays, along with everything else, is a good thing.

Morning
Coffee with almond milk
Kashi Go Lean cereal with almond milk and blueberries
Half a Kind bar
Banana

Afternoon
Whole Foods salad bar
Some dark chocolate
A juicy red plum, my current obsession

Evening
Glass of Cotes du Rhone
Pea soup
Crackers and hummus

What summer dishes are you feasting on??

And then there was the honeymoon

We talked about Santorini, Corisca and Mallorca. We dreamed about Cape Town, Tahiti and Fiji. In the end, balancing time and money and other practicalities of being five months pregnant on a honeymoon, we landed on St. Bart’s. As the saying goes, pas mal.

We split our time between two resorts, largely lounging by the pool and lazing on the beach. We read, napped, watched World Cup and reminisced about the wedding.

We did make it out and about on the island a little bit. We had dinner at Eden Rock and Le Sereno. 

Hit Saline and St. Jean beaches. 

Watched the sunset in Gustavia.

We didn’t drop big bucks to go shopping or see Mick or George or any other celebs (though I think this guy is just as handsome...)

But is there anything better than be half-naked for a week, not caring about anything except when your next meal is and when you might squeeze in a game of tennis??