A boy and his dog. These days, he can only fall asleep at night if Harley’s on the bed to “protect” him. ♥


I think Sunday is my favorite day of all. Sunday is my all-day Waits day, and Sunday night is movie night at my beau’s house, and so Sunday is always filled with my very favorite people and all sorts of marvelous things. And this particular Sunday was packed particularly full, and I’m so glad I captured it all.

♥ ♥ ♥

It starts with black tea. Always.




So my long-time readers know that I’m a die-hard stevia fan, BUT, that I only like one brand, and all the others taste awful to me. You know, that tinny bitter awful stevia aftertaste. So when Pyure Organic Stevia recently contacted me offering samples, this is exactly what I said to them:

Thanks for contacting me. I would love to try out your stevia, but I feel the need to let you know something before you send it. I have only ever liked one brand of Stevia, and I use it religiously. So yes, I am a stevia user, BUT, I dislike most brands I’ve tried. With that in mind, if you’d still like to send me a sample, I would love to give it a shot. Here is my policy on free products/samples:

“If you would like to donate to my endeavors or send me your product to review, well I think you are simply super. I would be more than happy to accept your gift. However, I do not accept payment for product plugging. I may or may not review any product I receive, and my review will always reflect my honest assessment of a product’s value.”

They decided to send it anyway, and I’m so glad they did, because this is my new favorite stevia! It’s even more mellow than my old stand-by, and I love that it’s organic. So yes, great stuff, and consider me converted!

So Damian drops Waits off early on Sundays, and after some initial cuddle and play time, the kiddo informed me that he was “a little bit hungry.” This became a theme throughout the day . . .

Anyways, green smoothie!




This one had banana, raspberries, curly kale, almond milk, zinc and K2 (wondering why? read here), and a bit of protein powder. He had most and I drank the remains.




After some mid-morning art on the floor, I thought it best that we get out of the house before cabin fever set in. It’s not cold here yet, but I know it’s coming. And since Waits goes to what is essentially an outdoor school (the first half of the day is always outdoors, pretty much no matter the weather, but also keep in mind that this is southern California), I wanted to stock up on children’s winter gear.

I proposed that we walk over to our favorite secondhand children’s store, which isn’t so far away. But Waits surprised me by asking for a ride in the Ergo. Hmm. Okay!




We tromped over to our little neighborhood resale boutique only to find that it was closed until noon on Sundays. Boo! It was 10:30 and Waits had been so looking forward to seeing the toys, that I just decided to head up the road to another children’s store. This one was mostly new stuff, though they do keep a small rack of used clothing. So we hit up that store and then for good measure, we trekked up even farther and hit another one as well. We don’t really buy firsthand toys, but I like to watch him and see what he’s drawn to, so I know what to keep an eye out for in the thrift shops.

By the time we left that last one it was creeping up on 11:30, and with nary but some smoothie remains in my tummy, I was HUNGRY! And I was feeling so relaxed and having such a great day with Waits, that I decided to do something bold.




I remember so vividly reading this post on my friend Joanna’s blog a few years ago. Waits was just coming up on 18 months old, and spirited as the day is long, and it was truly difficult for me to imagine having an experience like that with him. I mean, we don’t even attempt restaurants, ’cause it’s just not worth the stress and chaos (Damian and I used to try, but invariably one of us would end up eating alone while the other played out front with Waits).

But for some reason this past Sunday, I decided that we would go on a mommy-baby date. And so we Ergoed it over to my favorite Mexican restaurant, and I asked Waits what he wanted and he chose a bean and cheese burrito, please replace cheese with corn, and I chose a roasted veggie salad, please replace steak with black beans, and we sat and had a whole meal just eating and chatting and enjoying the company. Our meal was peaceful and calm and I enjoyed it so much I could barely stand it, because in my mind all I could think is “OH DEAR! My baby’s all grown up!” And it was just like Joanna said, that strange combination of relief and grief. *sigh*

On the way home we swung by that first and favorite secondhand store, and picked up an awesome snow suit, a thermal shirt, and a few flannels. Success!




Waits ate almost his entire burrito at lunch, but as soon as we got home he proclaimed himself “just a little bit hungry,” and asked for a blueberry-flavored coconut yogurt and a glass of oat milk.

I had another mug of black tea, with stevia and unsweetened almond milk.




After a bit of quiet time, we headed out into the yard. We had important work to do! The flowerbed needed prepping in order to over-winter:





And we had a bunch of starts to transplant:

Winter greens in wine boxes, to take up to the preschool.

A snack:




By then it was getting late, and I was itching to get to the store to pick up a few things for dinner. But Waits really wanted to go for a trike ride, and Harley definitely wanted a walk. So the two of them convinced me . . .




My pack.

After a lovely evening stroll around the block, I packed us up into the car and we popped over to Whole Foods to grab a few things. As soon as we got there Waits informed me of his status: “just a little hungry”. Luckily that was easy to remedy, since we were in a grocery store and all.




He had this chia squeeze pouch and then immediately gobbled down a blueberry Larabar. See? Growing! Back home I munched on this mini bag of lentil chips from our vegan cuts snack box.

From there we were off to my man’s pad. Sunday night is his “early” night and he gets home around 7:15, so on Sunday night Waits and I cook dinner at his house, and then once he gets home we all hang out and watch a movie. It’s become a little ritual and such a wonderful way to end the weekend.

We usually do homemade pizza, but this week he had requested a baked pasta dish. And I was happy to oblige!




Prepping my very favorite gluten-free tempeh – Tofurky’s organic 5-grain cake. And do you know this trick? If you use your cheese grater to grate the tempeh, it comes out in much the same texture as ground meat!

Just brown it with onions and spices int he skillet:




Add marinara:




And layer:



And layer:

Tempeh ragù, brown rice noodles, vegan mozzarella, fresh spinach, black olives, repeat.

My honey was home and in comfy clothes by 7:30. Movie night!




Pasta bake with a super awesome side salad of mixed greens from my CSA, shredded carrot, crimini mushrooms, black olives, red bell peppers, and green onions in a vegan bleu cheese. Yup yup.


We put a food-catcher blankie under Waits, haha. But you parents get it, right?!

And because he is 3 1/2, and maybe because our lunch date was just too easy, Waits tasted this dish and insisted it wasn’t for him. A pasta fail??! That’s a first ’round these parts, but I may have been pushing it with the tempeh.

Good ol’ kidney beans never let me down. With olive oil and nooch, and he was a happy camper.




We watched Ice Age. It was pretty much perfect.




I heart Sundays!

♥