Yesterday we spent the morning enjoying baked goods and coffee from Wildflour Bakery and then we went grocery shopping to pick up food for the week. I can’t fully express how much I love being able to shop at Trader Joes and Whole Foods- wish we had both at home!
After grocery shopping we headed back to the house an but E down for a nap and then we enjoyed lunch out on the deck. Once E woke and ate we put her in the Ergo and headed out for a walk.
The evenoing was spent getting baby down, watching the Yankees and heading to bed early. I was lucky E only woke three times to nurse and we both got a good nights sleep.
Today Neil has to work so E and I got out for a walk around town and have otherwise been lounging around the house. We may go out tonight but we will see, I do know I am thinking Indian takeout sounds good for dinner though.
Last Wednesday I was talking with my parents about their upcoming vacation, asking where they were going and what their plans were. At the time all they knew for sure is that they would be heading to Rhode Island/Massachusetts on Friday and after that they thought they might go to Maine for the week, however they weren’t sure because they couldn’t seem to find any where to stay at a reasonable price. We got to talking and I suggested they try another area maybe western New York (Ithaca area). All this vacation talk got me wishing that we could get away and then my mom said “well it’s too bad that Neil couldn’t word remotely and then we could rent a place for a week.”…that got me thinking well what if he COULD work remotely or take a few vacation days? I immediately called Neil and asked him if could work remotely. He said he couldn’t see why not but he would check with his boss and let me know.
Well Neil got the okay and that is when we started our search for a place to rent, which proved to be a challenge considering we were looking for a place to rent starting Saturday and it was oh Thursday when we started our search. Well our first thought was to head towards Ithaca but after searching for awhile we found that there really weren’t many places available to rent so we decided to expand our search to basically all of New England (VT excluded). We looked at coastal Maine, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and parts of New Hampshire and Connecticut. We found a few places in Maine but weren’t completely sold on them because of the internet access for Neil to work remotely and because of the distance (because of the bebe). Well finally my mom received a call from a property owner in Rhode Island. We checked out the space online and decided to take it.
On Saturday we headed out first to breakfast with friends, then to visit my Grandma (her first time meeting Edie) and then finally we made the trek to Rhode Island. It wasn’t so bad either- Edie fussed for the first 10 minutes and then three more when wanted to eat. A trip that should have taken around 4 hours and 45 minutes took approximately 7 hours which included one coffee stop, one gas stop and three stops to nurse- not so bad if I do say so myself! Once we arrived I was so happy to see this:
Our bed for the week.
Today we are all feeling pretty tired out after a busy Saturday but I am hoping that after a (hopefully) good nights sleep we will all be more rested and have a great week. Now I will leave you with a tour of our accommodations for the week.
Also any suggestions for things to do, sites to see and vegan friendly places to eat?
oh and just for fun here is Edie upon our arrival to Rhode Island:
This summer we are sticking close to home since we now have a baby and Neil took a large chunk of vacation as paternity leave. This is new for us as most summers we fill our time with various short getaways. Since we won’t be getting away this summer I thought I’d take a moment to reminisce about my favorite summer getaways.
Portland, ME
Head out and visit the lighthouses in the evening and watch the sunset and then stop into Silly’s to enjoy some tasty buffalo fries with spicy vegan dip or try one of these vegan friendly restaurants.
Pick up breakfast and lunch at Whole Foods and then take a day trip up to Freeport to do a little shopping at L.L. Bean and the outlets.
Call Allagash Brewery and make a reservation to do one of their tours and sample their tasty brews.
Run the Old Pork 5k or Half Marathon and then celebrate at Novare Res Beir Cafe where they have an extensive beer menu. Not a beer fan? Then stop into Local 188 and try one of their amazing cocktails (okay so I haven’t had an alcoholic one but the virgin versions were amazing).
Head down to the Fore River Sanctuary Trail and go for a walk or a run through the beautiful, well groomed trails.
Oh and my number one must do in Portland, ME is to schedule a foot soak at Soakology <– favorite thing ever.
New Haven, CT
My first to-do in New Haven is to make a reservation at Miya’s Sushi – trust me you need a reservation this place is always packed when we go there.
Stroll around the Yale Campus and stop into Blue State Coffee for a tasty beverage or snack.
Head to Claire’s Cornercopia for vegan pancakes (service here is lacking but the pancakes are tasty).
We always make a stop into Ikea because it’s the closest one to us.
Stop into Edge of The Woods Market and pick up a vegan baked good (I recommend the cupcakes and danishes) and while you’re there pick yourself up a jar of Biscoff Spread <–speaking of Biscoff anyone want to send me a jar?
If you are a beer lover head to Brü Rm. at BAR for a beer and if you’re hungry pizza.
Backpacking on The Long Trail
Pick a part of the trail to hike and either leave one car at each end or arrange a pickup.
Make sure you pack a good amount of food but nothing too heavy; my favorites are crackers, oatmeal, Backpackers Pantry pouches and of course a few cans of beer.
Don’t forget to pack extra socks, something warm to wear at night and all the other essentials (see here).
Camp in a lean-to at Underhill State Park a small Vermont state park (one of my favorites) and then take a morning hike on Mount Mansfield.
Camp at Little River State Park in Waterbury, VT. This is one of Neil and my favorite state parks because it has great hiking and nature paths, kayaking and canoeing and a beach area for relaxing and swimming. Tip: the best site (in my opinion) is site number 21 so make sure you reserve it ahead of time!
Where are your favorite summer getaways? I can’t wait for camping and summer getaways with Edith next year.
How is it Monday already? We had such a busy weekend that I could use another day just to sit around and do nothing!
Friday we had our midwife appointment in the morning and then headed off to our designated jobs before meeting back up for dinner at American Flatbread. After dinner we headed to Neil’s Studio 54 themed work party for a short time but ended up leaving after being evacuated from the party tent due to severe thunderstorms. We managed to get a little bit of socializing in and a session in the photo booth but unfortunately a certain soaking wet pregnant lady did not want to stand around the safety shelter and wait for the storm to pass so we didn’t end up returning to the party and missed The Village People (yes the REAL Village People), oh well!
Saturday we woke up early and made our way down to the farmers market where we made our first stop at the juice bar, which is new this summer and is our new addiction. We decided to go with two different juices to share, the minty lemonade and the strawberry rhubarb, both of which were really delicious. We also picked up a load of veggies for the week including garlic scapes, greens, strawberries, herbs and radishes.
After the market it was time to head home and get ready for our baby shower!
After the shower we headed home to re-open all of our gifts and get them somewhat organized in the nursery. After that we decided to have a date night out at Babies’R’Us and dinner.
Sunday we headed out to another market which wasn’t great but we did end up seeing our juice bar friends again and this time I ordered up a Green Energy and Neil a Runners Remedy. After the market we picked up a few groceries and headed home for lunch before walking down to the beach, where we spent most of the early afternoon.
After spending a few hours at the beach we walked home and decided to use our free passes to the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center. We decided to pay the extra and visit the special Our Body exhibit that is going on until September. Our friends raved about it and it was pretty amazing.
After ECHO we weren’t ready to head home yet so we stopped down by the waterfront to sit and have a drink and a snack before heading home to relax on the couch and eat strawberry-rhubarb crisp.
After our busy morning in Freeport we settled in for a nap before heading out to Soakology. Soakology is a foot sanctuary and teahouse in Portland that Neil and I came across a few years ago and absolutely loved our experience there and have been dying to go back since. Last year we couldn’t fit it into our visit but we made sure to call ahead and make appointments this year.
When we arrived we checked in and chose our foot soaks from a pretty extensive selection. I was told due to pregnancy I could not do any that had rosemary and there was one specific detox one that was not suitable for pregnant woman; I loved how informative and knowledgeable the staff was! Neil decided to go with a rosemary, seaweed and tea tree soak that was described as being good for runners and bikers and I went with the chai and fig soak which sounds as luscious as it was.
While we waited to head downstairs to the soaking room we looked over the tea and treats menu. We both decided to go with iced tea, ginger peach for me and ginger mint for him. We were also a little hungry so we ordered the Mediterranean Plate which had hummus, olives, pita and veggies; it was fantastic!
Unfortunately I couldn’t take any shots of us actually getting our feet soaked or of the downstairs soaking room but I can tell you it was just as amazing as I remember. We were seated in these big comfy chairs that are elevated off the floor and we were given these wonderful warm scented shoulder/neck pads as we slipped our feet into giant bowls of soaking water that had little smooth stones in the bottom to run your feet across. We sat back, relaxed and enjoyed our soak, tea and snack. Honestly, when we first went here we were a little skeptical about just getting the foot soak (you can also get food scrubs, massages, and upper body massages as well) but we were both pleasantly surprised at just how relaxing it was to sit back with your feet in a nice bowl of soaking liquid. Appointments are about an hour long and during that time they come through and offer you more hot water to reheat your soaking liquid. This is one of my “must do in Portland” activities and I hope we are able to do it again soon.
After our relaxing foot soak we decided to head out to Portland Head Lighthouse and Two Lights (two other lighthouses), both of which I hadn’t been to in many years and Neil had never been to. Although the temperature started to get a little cool it was a beautiful night and we took full advantage of it.
After taking over 300 photos and enjoying some time by the water we headed to Silly’s Restaurant for dinner. We had never been to Silly’s, but since it was known for being vegan friendly and for having veggie burgers (what we both were in the mood for) we decided to give it a try.
The menu is huge at Silly’s and although we had gone there on a mission for veggie burgers we ended up having a hard time deciding on what to order. We finally settled on two items to share:
The Zombie burger A veggie burger, vegan mozz, spinach, onion, tomato, spicy sauce, pineapple & jalapenos on griddled garlic bread with fries Buffalo Fries. We decided to swap out the regular fries for buffalo fries (fries tossed with hot sauce) and served with a creamy spicy vegan sauce. The burger was homemade and delicious! We were both also pleasantly surprised that the pineapple was not overpowering (our only concern).
We also shared the ZoomaZoom (vegan) Falafel with spicy vegan spread, spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion and black olives. This was really tasty as well and the perfect companion to the Zombie Burger. While the Zombie Burger and fries was a little heavier the ZoomaZoom was much lighter; the perfect combination for sharing.
After dinner we headed to Whole Foods (again) and I picked up a kiddie sized chocolate sorbet for dessert and Neil got himself a local beer to bring back to the hotel to try. We spent the remainder of the night looking at the photos from our day and relaxing.
Sunday was all about picking up groceries and our favorite goodies from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s before heading home. We stopped in North Conway to do a little more outlet shopping, where I found another maxi dress from Banana Republic on sale from $100 for only $30! Then we had lunch at Moat Mountain before finally heading straight home where we settled in on the couch to relax.
We had the perfect last getaway before the baby’s arrival and I couldn’t be happier.
Our second day in Portland started off as it usually does at Whole Foods where we picked up our favorite make your own parfait. We love to the make your own because we can fill it with as much or as little fruit, soygurt, granola and other goodies that we want. We both tend to be heavy handed on the fruit and light on the soygurt and additions which makes it a great deal at only $3.99.
To go with our parfaits we picked up americanos, decaf for me and regular for him, which were okay.
We also picked up lunch while we were there to eat later on in the day.
After breakfast we headed just north of Portland to Freeport to do a little outlet shopping. We arrived a little early so we headed to the L.L. Bean Flagship Store where we had a little photo session.
We spent the morning wondering around Freeport getting our shop on. Unfortunately I wasn’t that successful, seems it is just going to get harder from here on out to find pregnancy friendly clothes. However, I did find a dress that I really like, which you will see in my next post. Neil lucked out and he found a bunch of items at the J.Crew Outlet to update his summer wardrobe. We stopped for a lunch break between stores and enjoyed our goodies from Whole Foods.
After shopping we headed back to the hotel for a nap before going for an amazing foot soak, sightseeing and to dinner.
This past weekend Neil and I headed out for our last getaway before the baby arrives. For the past 3 years we have gone to Portland Maine for our anniversary but since this year Neil is running the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon and I’ll be 34 weeks pregnant we decided to make our trip a month early. Initially we had planned to stay Saturday night but then decided to head to Maine after work on Friday night, but then we woke up Friday morning and decided to take a spontaneous vacation day from work and we headed out early- best decision ever.
We got on the road and made it to Concord New Hampshire just around lunch time so we decided to stop into Cafe Indigo a vegan bakery and cafe. Neil and I decided to share two different items and a cookie- it is a bakery after all. We shared the Veggie Cakes Cafe Indigo‘s version of crab cakes with tartar sauce, cornbread and slaw (my choice) and a Falafel Burger on a whole wheat bun with a lemon tahini sauce, slaw and blue corn chips (Neil’s choice). I thought the Veggie Cakes were really tasty and the tartar sauce was delicious, I have to say though the tempeh crab cakes from Vegan Brunch are closer to what I imagine Crab Cakes to taste like. Neil really liked the falafel burger but I wasn’t a huge fan of it, I thought it would have been better in a wrap than on a roll and it was a little dry. We both enjoyed the cornbread and the slaw but we didn’t really touch the blue corn chips. The best part of the meal was the ginger cookie- AMAZING.
Next stop on our journey was to Whole Foods to pick up an iced coffee for Neil and an Arnold Palmer for me before making it to the 3pm brewery tour at Allagash. There is really nothing more depressing than watching a group of people sample a (four) wonderful brews and having to stand there and watch it all happen. Neil enjoyed the samples and then we took a walking tour of the brewery. Since I couldn’t partake we picked up a bottle of Allagash Old HLT, a sour cherry beer, to share later this summer. Although I couldn’t enjoy the samples it was one of the best tours that we have been on and would recommend it to everyone. Tip: you can call ahead to be put on the list for the tour as I imagine they fill up fast!
After the tour we checked into our hotel and then I decided that it was time to take a nap before dinner. We walked downtown from our hotel (rather up a giant hill) to Green Elephant, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant in Portland. I have been a number of times and Neil has been once before and we have always enjoyed it. We lucked out and arrived just moments before the dinner rush, although it is worth the wait.
We started off with the Fresh Rolls-Lettuce, carrots, avocado, rice vermicelli, and mint wrapped in rice paper, served with peanut sauce, they were wonderful. For our entrees Neil ordered the Crispy Breaded Soy Filet stir-fried Chinese broccoli, Chinese broccoli carrots and thai bird chili in a brown sauce. I stole a few bites (of course) and I have to say that this is now one of my favorite dishes I have had at Green Elephant.
For my entree I couldn’t decided on what I wanted (too many choices) so I decided to get a soup and an appetizer. I ordered the Fragrant Coconut Soup with tofu & baby bella Mushroom, cherry tomatoes, onion, scallion, and cilantro and Roti Canai an Indian style pancake. with vegetable curry dip. This was my first time having the soup and it was so tasty, I didn’t love the tomatoes in it but otherwise it was great. The roti is an old favorite of mine and it was just as food as I remembered.
After dinner we decided to stop into Local 188 for an after dinner mock-cocktail and brew. Neil ordered a local microbrew (I can’t remember the name) and I had a virgin Basil Lemonade, which was amazing and I have to replicate it at home!
After drinks we headed back to the hotel to rest up for a busy Saturday. Stay tuned!
