a surprise latte.

hubz and the boy brought me my favorite ginger latte from dose yesterday.

you know what i found out? It's just as tasty in a to-go cup.

i love the hand-painted embellishments.

my boy's an artist.

secret valentine wish.

i love the linzer heart cookies from provence breads and cafe, and secretly am hoping to get some for valentine's day.

true story: this was the one thing i demanded to eat after having the boy via c-section.

those mean nurses make you wait two days to eat after surgery, and all i could do was dream about those sugar encrusted heart-shaped morsels squeezed together with raspberry jam.

i sent hubz and twinnie to get me a boxful, which I ate at around 2 in the morning in the hospital bed, as soon as the nurses gave the go ahead.

every time i eat them i think about my little boy -- my love -- coming into the world.

what is your favorite valentine treat?

bits of my weekend vol. 36

friday night was girls night out.

a new blouse and scarf were in order (thank you blush!)

and of course, heels.

so i finally busted out these bad boys.

i bought them last september and they've been crying in my closet ever since.

"wear us! take us out someplace nice!" we're begging you! seriously. we can't breathe."

these girls have been my lifeline. you've heard me mention them before: kelly the michigander (left) and texas-tough sheryl (right).

a.k.a., ryan's mom and winston's mom.

we rocked it out at p.m. nashville, even if we never did catch a glimpse of owner/executive chef arnold myint.

arnold, where were you? seriously.

off taping another episode of top chef? that's no excuse, mister.

the sushi was amazing.

and we laughed.

a lot.

we really should do this more often.

then it was back to the world of "what cool things can i do with my boy this weekend?"

and we found a doozy:

the chinese new year celebration at the downtown nashville public library.

two words: AWE. SOME.

the boy was captivated by the dancers. he became obsessed with getting one of those lanterns to take home.

this was the bowl dance. she balanced three bowls on her head throughout the whole dance.

i can barely get across my kitchen without breaking something.

pretty amazing.

the teachers were lovely.

and though the boy didn't get a lantern he got a traditional red envelope with a chinese coin in it.

nice.

and the food knocked us out. the sweet bun was terrific. it had almond paste inside.

and the entire event was free.

i [heart] the nashville downtown public library.

what did you do this weekend?

grilled cheeserie, i think i'm gonna love you.

i adore the idea of food trucks, don't you?

lots of cities have them, and now nashville does too.

the coolest one i've seen to date (though i haven't tried the food yet) is the grilled cheeserie.

they have grilled cheese sandwiches using fresh locally-made cheeses, not to mention soups, tots, and salted caramel pudding .... mmmmm.

you have to follow them on facebook or twitter to see where the truck will be parked each day, and what their melt of the moment is.

well, go on. i'll see you there!

bits of my weekend vol. 34

saturday morning we went to nashville's downtown public library for the anansi the spider puppet show.

the boy's buddy winston came along.

they immediately found about 50 books they wanted to check out.

the kids section is amazing.

other best friend ryan met us there and the three musketeers could barely contain their joy.

they love the story of anansi the trickster – there's something in the character they relate to, i guess.

the puppets were amazing and it was a terrific show.

a wonderful free event for kids (minus the $2.50 i spent on parking).

well, almost free.

i threw down $30 on various snacks at the fantastic provence breads.

what can i say? i couldn't leave without feeding them snacks.

oh, and i can't resist their coffee.

here's ryan's little bro jack.

what a cutie.

and here's the french fruit tart the boy enjoyed. and by enjoyed i mean he ate the fruit off the top.

sunday we went to loud church and the boy wanted to pose in his dinosaur tie. that's chip-chip, his hamster, he's holding.

here he is jumping for joy after a nice lunch at red robin.

later we had a fire drill due to a burst water pipe.

the boy does not like the screeching alarms.

other than that, we slept ...

watched football ... and cried over the bears ...

and the frogs danced.

how was your weekend?

bits of my weekend vol. 33

on saturday morning, we drove to nashville's gorgeous downtown public library to see the tichenor marionette show of anansi the spider.

when we arrived, we found out we'd gotten our dates wrong: it was instead going to be a production of the singing tortoise by the nashville ballet.

well, we couldn't miss that.

so while we waited for the show to start, we noshed at the library's euro-cafe, provence breads.

the dancing goats coffee there is legendary.

well, at least in my mind.

so are their confections, including real french macarons.

it was the boy's first visit to this branch, so he wanted to try out the computer games.

and we checked out a small red grooms exhibit.

the ballet was beautiful.

what a lovely way to spend a saturday morning.

afterward we got to see the masks up close and meet the dancers.

after that, we felt so inspired, we went home and made macaroni art.

how was your weekend?

PS be sure to take part in service opportunities today in honor of MLK day!

bits of my weekend vol. 32

a quiet weekend it was. we baked bug cakes using our williams sonoma bug cake pan.

they're supposed to look like this.

despite the fact that the icing looked quite a bit like velveeta cheese dip, they actually turned out pretty yummy.

on sunday, we dressed up.

boy do we like dressing up.

and we went on a sushi adventure.

ken's sushi is our favorite.

sometime i'll snap a photo of ken so you can see who i'm talking about.

or just stop by his restaurant on division. he's always there.

we played with legos. the entire 1,700 piece set is now assembled.

and oh yes, did i mention: we woke up to this.

snow!

good thing we recently bought the boy a new coat - extra warm, yet lightweight.

hurray for snow! the boy took the day off of school to go sledding with daddy.

have a wonderful week!

froggy-palooza, friday vanities and best latte ever.

we bought two more frogs.

and a larger aquarium that hopefully is kitty-proof.

hopefully there will be no more frog-acides in our near future.

however, millie remains very, very interested in the frogs.

bad kitty! bad!

{{deep sigh}}

and now, in completely unrelated news, i've discovered a latte that is mind blowing.

no, really. trust me on this.

go to dose on murphy road in nashville now - run, don't walk - and get the ginger latte.

it will rock your world. i guarantee it.

and look how pretty.

and now, last but not least, let's clear out the vanity plates file so we can start fresh in the new year. here goes.

joy, love and peace to you in the new year!