virginia is for blends

I’m recapping this whole Virginia trip backwards.  So sue me.

Seriously, try that.  You’d get like 8 guitars, a crappy mower and my Precious Moment’s collection.  That’s all we own.

(fyi – the P.M. collection isn’t growing – PLEASE, oh PLEASE don’t send me that for the birthday.  I’m turning 30, not 9.)

Anyways, I want to give more time and thought to the Polyface post than I have at the moment.  So I’ll tell you about the second half of the trip first. 

That requires no thought….only JOY and THANKFULNESS when I think about how much thought Sarah put in to making my family feel welcome!

TUESDAY, JULY 10th

So after we left Polyface (with cow and chicken poop ALL over our legs and shoes), we drove 50 miles to Charlottesville, VA.  This town – AH!  It reminded me a lot of Chapel Hill and with the campus intertwined to the city, made me miss my college years.  We were starving (and sunburnt), but quickly found a Panera Bread for lunch.  I didn’t bring my phone in to take a picture, so imagine that you’re looking at their Summer Salad with chicken, strawberries, mandarin oranges, blueberries and pineapple.  Love Panera!

After lunch, we checked in to our hotel and CRASHED.  Naps for everyone! 

We couldn’t sleep that long – we had a fancy blogger dinner to attend at The Local.

When it comes to party planning, Sarah is the cat’s pajamas and the bee’s knees.  (What weird phrases – if you know the origins, comment below!  And yes, I know you probably aren’t supposed to use them together, but she’s both). 

Aside from her foodie blog, she also co-founded VirginiaBloggers.com, which is how she got all of these amazing bloggers together for our welcome party!

In attendance – L to R: Kristin, Lauren, Jessica, Katy, Me, Brittany, Alex, Sarah (and of course, Henry & Clara)

At everyone’s place setting, there were goodie bags that Sarah put together! 

I’m a BLEND!

A special thanks to Feast, The Spice Diva, Nutty Butter and the Great Harvest Bread Company!!

Even Henry and Clara were gifted with a goodie bag!  (This particular thought to detail is why I love Sarah so much.  Thank you, Sarah, for thinking of my little ones.)

You better believe that those Snackimals were attacked as soon as we sat down. 

The food at The Local was AMAZING!  I ordered their crab cake, which was super moist and stuffed with HUGE pieces of crab.  Licked the plate clean!

Asian flavored Crab Cake with Wasabi Aioli, Caramelized Soy Sauce and Edamame Succotash

I loved getting to know all these bloggers and have real life conversations with them.  That’s WHY I started Blend Retreat – the FELLOWSHIP!  This community makes me so happy – I’ve always felt very welcomed.  After dinner and saying our goodbyes, the kids, Katy and I went to get fro-yo and then headed back to the hotel.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11th

We slept in.  Until 9am.  That’s late for us. 

Katy and I got ourselves and the kids ready, strapped them into the double stroller and headed out to the CVille campus for a walk.  We worked up quite a good sweat (I made her do some pushups and stair runs) and we needed food!  Enter Bodo’s Bagels – which again, I didn’t photograph.  Pretend there’s a plate of egg whites, cheese, a bagel.  Oh, and iced coffee.  Pretend that.

I may have shopped a little too.

Back to the hotel for a quick shower, we packed up the car with all our crap and headed to lunch at Feast, where we met up with Kath and Sarah.

To learn more about Feast, just go read Sarah or Kath’s recaps.  I honestly didn’t take any pictures because I’m not a foodie and rare jams and jellies don’t get me steamy.  BUT, I’d use these descriptive words (that aren’t really words): markety, Europeany, and awesomy.  Actually that last one’s a word.

My lunch: Mixed greens topped with Feast! hummus, Feast! olive and artichoke tapenade, cucumbers, roasted red peppers, French feta, Feast! balsamic vinaigrette.

 Katy’s lunch: Feast! Cheese Platter

After lunch, we headed to the Great Harvest Bread Company to pick up our free loaf and cookies (thanks, Kath), then hit the road back to North Carolina.

Thank you, Sarah, for all you did to make this a wonderful trip. You are a true blessing!

And that’s how you do a recap (which I think are the hardest posts to write for some reason – why is that?!!?).  I’ll do the Polyface Tour Recap next week sometime. 

Maybe.

(P.S.  This little blog takes a big step on Sunday.  Be here to sing it a song!)

QUESTION:  Where did you go on your last trip?  Do you like reading posts that say “And then I did…and then I did…and then I did”?  <-ME? Meh, not really.  Maybe THAT’S why I don’t love writing them!

splendid…lindsay