The Perfect Sunday

Do you ever have one of those weekends where when it comes to an end you feel completely satisfied with how you used your time? Our family had one of those days yesterday.

We all woke up early and refreshed. We had already attended mass the night before so right away, Brian took the time to delight me with a homemade latte with our espresso maker and milk frother. We don't use these two gadgets nearly enough. The latte turned out perfect! And I'm picky so I can say that.

After a simple breakfast we decided to head to one of our favorite neighborhoods in St. Paul for a "special treat," as we refer to it to William. This particular time a "special treat" turned out to be a cinnamon swirl from Bread & Chocolate.

Hot Mama, a cute little maternity boutique, was just around the corner so I decided to stop in to see what they had. Normally I walk into these types of boutiques just to look because they are way out of my budget. But because I was already having such a fabulous day the universe decided to send me a cute pair of designer maternity jeans IN MY SIZE that were marked down more than 70%. That NEVER happens to me. Want to see them? Check them out here.

And then, as if I couldn't get any luckier in finding hot deals, I heard the sales lady tell someone she "couldn't believe the Peanut Shells were getting marked down so low." My ear perked up. I've been looking to buy a Peanut Shell before the baby arrives for months. Now here it was in the perfect pattern and size for just $19 -- a huge bargain. Don't know what a Peanut Shell is? Click here to see the one I bought!

I also want to give a shoutout to Hot Mama for being so family-friendly. William sat quietly in the play area the entire time we were there and snacked on the biggest jar of animal crackers I've ever seen. They sure do know how to please a mom!

After making my lucky purchases Brian and I headed over to an open house of a home that caught our fancy on a real estate website. Our ultimate goal is to move from Woodbury back to St. Paul but we know that it would be darn near impossible to sell our home in this current market. So until things pick up, here we sit just waiting and looking. When I saw this kitchen pictured on the website...

...I knew I had to take a looksee. But thankfully the house didn't turn out to be a big tease. The spare bedrooms were much too small, it was located on a busy street and, worst of all, it had a massive deck which left no room for a backyard. All of those are deal-breakers for our family who plans to have a whole buncha kids.

Back in Woodbury it was naptime. Brian and I took advantage of the uninterrupted time and the beautiful weather to clean out our winter-stricken car. Salt? Gone. Mud? Gone. Dusty dash? Gone. Finger prints? All gone. I asked Brian if it would be too weird if we slept in the car last night just so that we could soak up all the clean wonderfulness. He said it would.

We capped off the night with breakfast for dinner. Brian made his one and only specialty. Eggs. But eggs with onions, green peppers, mushrooms and cheese, mind you. It was delish.

See now wasn't that a wonderful way to spend a Sunday? I need to remind myself that getting up early and getting ready isn't a wasteful way to spend a weekend. Too many times I find myself lounging on the couch past noon and when the day's over I'm sad I've let the weekend slip away so easily. Spending a Sunday the way we did makes it a lot easier to tackle a Monday.