I love long weekends. I mean, I seriously love them and this weekend was my birthday weekend which made it even better!
Yesterday we visited The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.
This place has beautiful gardens and stunning art pieces. I love to visit!
After the museum, we hit a fave pizza joint of mine, The Luggage Room in Pasadena. It used to be a train station’s luggage room so it’s really kind of neat. Plus, they have the best gluten-free pizza with handmade crust!
Everything was delicious and the day was perfect. We strolled Pasadena and then hit Vroman’s Bookstore, but I didn’t buy anything!
Right Now:
This past week was week two of my healthy eating plan and I’ve lost ten pounds. I’m happy about that and I feel pretty good. Right now I am enjoying my half cup of coffee and then we are off to church.
Right after church, a friend and I are heading to lunch. It will be nice to have a little girl time! And then later, we are going to my MIL’s house for dinner. The middle school group is not meeting tonight so I have the evening off.
This Week:
Monday, Off. Yes!! We are going to BBQ turkey burgers and watch movies all day. I’ll sneak some reading in too. I need to write four reviews. I am so behind!
On Wednesday there is a get acquainted thing for the high school choir, and then I have to pull double duty by going to it and then going across town to drop paperwork off for Peter Pan.
Next Saturday is the big back to school middle school church event and I am hoping there are enough new kids for me to finally be assigned a small group. It’s going to be an 80’s party. Should be fun.
Reading:
Really trying to finish Villa America. It did not start off well and was so slow and now that I’ve gotten to the end of it, it’s almost like reading two different books.
Next up, King’s Finders Keepers. Finally.
Watching:
Not much and I guess Fear the Walking Dead is not on tonight. I really feel like sitting down to a Doris Day marathon, I am in that kind of mood,
Making:
I am not making anything today but will be grilling those turkey burgers tomorrow and grilling up my lunches for the week. Probably fish again. Fish, brown rice and a vegetable seems to be working just fine for me so I will stick to that and just switch up the type of fish and vegetable,
Grateful for:
I really needed a good day yesterday and I am glad the day went off without a hitch. I’ve just been so stressed lately and all of the health stuff really brought me down but I feel refreshed today. It’s just so nice to have the extra day.
What are you doing today? Any road trips in progress? Reading anything good?
Book Chatter 
First of all Happy Birthday to you!! And it looks like you made great choices for celebration. Food looks amazing. And the scenery is perfect.
I had a similar time with VILLA AMERICA. I found it very hard to get into. Actually started it over three times. Part of my problem is that I have read so much about that era in the past few years… But I did end up liking the book.
Glad your healthy eating is going so well.
I just began PURITY by Franzen. Every single book club on earth will be doing it this year. I loved THE CORRECTIONS. And am hoping this one will be more like it was.
I am down to the last 3% of Villa America. Goodness. Took so long to get going. I need to finish this today at lunch so I can move on to something else.
So glad you are feeling better! We are staying put…we traveled last Sunday…and it was exhausting! For some reason most of our trips start out on Sunday and end midweek. This totally makes us not feel the days of the week correctly but it’s fun to travel when others are not…have a great week!
Happy Birthday Ti! So glad to hear that you are feeling better! Those gardens look beautiful….like a Monet painting. I just picked up and started Jonathan Franzen’s Purity too. I liked Freedom very much and I just like how he puts words together. : ) Sounds like you have a very nice and relaxing weekend going…enjoy the rest of it!!
Thank you! I have yet to pick up Purity but I’m sure I will at some point!
Happy Birthday, Ti! Those gardens are just gorgeous and I’m happy to hear you’re feeling better, too. Will be curious to see your final thoughts on Villa America… I liked the author’s last book, but not enough to make me run out and buy her new one.
Thank you for the birthday wishes!!
I have 3% left of Villa America. I have to say that in some ways, it’s like every other book I’ve read about Fitzgerald but in other ways, it’s quite different. It sure took a long time to get going. And since the title of the book is the name of the house… you’d think the house would have a more prominent role in the story.
I’m glad you had a wonderful birthday weekend! I bought Finders Keepers when it first came out and haven’t gotten to it either.
I got sidetracked by my Atlas read along so the King book got pushed to the back, but only because I wanted to pick the perfect time to read it. Now, is that time. Of course, now I want to revisit Mr. Mercedes first and I loaned it out and it has yet to come back.
I’m glad you had a good birthday! The pizza looks delish! And yay for you- losing 10 pounds! I have done really well these two weeks back at work but this weekend I haven’t eaten as well.
We haven’t had any real plans all weekend, which is fine by me. I started watching Madam Secretary and am really enjoying it. I also read The Swans of Fifth Avenue which is scheduled for release in December.
I need to stop weighing myself daily. I tend to do this when I start a new eating plan but I am up 1.5 after my long weekend even after making good choices. I know I will be down again next week so I am just going forth with my planned eating for the week and will try to up my water. Water was never a problem before but it sure is for me now.
Happy birthday, glad you had a wonderful weekend. Great job losing 10 pounds and those gardens look lovely. Hope the rest if thus week goes as well.
Thank you!! I wish I was still at the garden and not at work.
Happy belated birthday.
Many many more.
Thank you!!
What movies are you watching today?
I watched Tootsie, Sweet Home Alabama and Zoolander. I wanted to watch Doris Day but The Girl fell ill over the weekend and sort of owned the TV.
Nice! That pizza looks amazing, Ti 🙂 I used to have a place that did awesome pizzas, but alas, we moved and so far I’m not exactly head over heels with another local joint. They’re just okay. The botanical garden is so beautiful. Ten pounds! Bravo * throws confetti *
Oh, that pizza is so good. I’m sure it’s not all that healthy if you get the regular crust, but the GF crust is just so thin. Barely a crust and when you throw all that greenery on top I can almost pretend it’s a salad. Almost.
Did I miss your birthday?? Sorry if I did – ❤ HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ❤
Not really. I kept it on the down low and only mentioned it one tiny bit 😉
It feels like fall in spirit but the weather is no cooperating! Supposed to be about 103 today. This is in comment to the spooky reads comment prior to this one. I feel like it’s time to be pulling out my pumpkins but at 103 degrees I think not! Not quite there yet.
Happy belated birthday!!!
Glad that you had a great weekend. Just what you need. I hope that trend continues. I have been to Pasadena a few times but haven’t been to that pizza place. It’s on my list – it sounds awesome!
Sounds like a great birthday weekend for you. I spent some time in the woods, read a little, and cleaned the main living area, which was sorely needed. I had other things on the agenda that just didn’t happen. 😦 But overall, long weekends rock.
Happy belated birthday! (Virgos rock!) And congrats on losing 10 lbs. That’s great. We went on a road trip this weekend about 4.5 hrs away into the country and it was gorgeous there. But it was colder and a bit rainy but still it was nice to be in the country. Enjoy your week.
It was blazing hot when we hit the botanical garden but I’ve come to the conclusion that I deal much better with the week if I get outside on the weekend. I need to do that more often.
SO glad you’re feeling refreshed and had a good long weekend! And a good birthday to boot! I have been falling in love with turkey burgers … discovered they make a perfectly fine, fully formed patty all on their own so they’re working with my low-carb life. Those pizzas look so good, btw!
I found this recipe for turkey burgers that I just used as inspiration one day. You saute onions and orange bell peppers, let them cool and then add them to the ground turkey. You add southwestern seasoning and shredded chipotle jack cheese. Mix it all together and grill. They come out soooo yummy and moist.