the first half

Posted: October 23, 2010 at 5:47 pm

We have yet another fun-filled weekend. I like keeping posts short and sweet, both for your reading pleasure and my writing sanity, so I figure splitting the weekend up would work well. It’s only Saturday afternoon, but we have already lived up the day.

This morning, I slept in until 7:00 and then we stayed in bed together until 8:00. Makenzie snuggled her teddy bear and Peter gave me a back and leg rub to help with the perpetual sciatic pain that plagues me this pregnancy. As you can imagine, it felt GLORIOUS!

We rolled out of bed at 8 to head out for a special breakfast I have been craving. Not a balanced breakfast at all, but one I knew I wanted this fall. A featured fall donut from Dutch Monkey! This local donut shop knows how to make donuts to perfection.

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They literally are the only donuts I desire now. They are handmade daily with fresh ingredients. Who cares if that still includes sugar, oil, and butter? Or whatever makes up donuts. It’s been months since I’ve had one of their special creations. It was time. I had one pumpkin donut and shared a mocha iced.

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After my donut for breakfast, we headed to a local walking trail for a quick walk. I wanted to go for an hour but that wasn’t possible since we got a later start. Peter was on call for his work this week and of course an emergency would occur right before leaving, which put us an hour behind schedule. A curse plagues him. It never fails that a call will come in just as we’re about to do something special. C’est la vie, right?

We still managed a brief walk of about 2 miles. It still felt good. It still was beautiful.

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Before getting on with our day, we had to hit up the store for a few things for the fall party we have today. I had to make something sweet to bring. I’m the designated sweets person, which I love. I made some Halloween bark that I saw on Lee’s blog about a week ago. Super easy and very festive.

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I spread candy corn, crumbled Halloween sandwich cookies, and pretzels in a pan, then poured melted chocolate over them (dark + orange dyed white). I let it harden, then broke it into chunks for a little fall treat. Now, time to continue more fall fun! Have a great rest of the day/night. 🙂

  • Favorite type of chocolate? Dark!!
  • Best part of your Saturday?
  • Don’t forget to ASK ME ANYTHING for the Q + A series of November.

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42 Comments to “the first half”
  1. Jason and I are under a blanket, watching movies and chilling. The pup is in here too.

    I was up early before the rain started, and went for a run outside.

    I just ate a piece of dark chocolate… my favorite 😀

  2. Natalie says:

    My favorite is also dark…but not too dark 🙂

    I’m about to go out for date night, so I think that will be the best part of my Saturday…although I had a pretty awesome workout this morning!

    Your Halloween bark looks so very festive.

  3. Lisa says:

    Sounds like such a fun Saturday! That donut looks so so good and so does that pumpkin bark! That would be dangerous in my house. It would be gone in a day!

  4. Krista says:

    sounds like a great start to the weekend. Just dropping by to see how things are going for you. Just a few more weeks and i’ll be rockin the suit you sold me again!! can’t wait!! thank you again!

  5. Nicole says:

    A massage to start your day? Score!!
    Dark chocolate for me.
    Best part of my Saturday? Picking up my packet for tomorrow’s Army 10 miler.
    I hope the rest of your weekend is as great as its beginning!!

  6. Ela says:

    SO good that you underscore that the walk was still good and beautiful, even if not as long as you’d have preferred.

    Glad you had some family time, and a massage – sounds like just what you need.

    Favorite chocolate: at least 90% cocoa! Extra dark! Best thing about Saturday – our little lay- in this morning too!

    love
    Ela

  7. Ah, what a wonderful way to start your day!
    I, too, love dark chocolate. Love, love, love it.

  8. Camille says:

    That bark is so adorable AND delicious looking!
    I looove white chocolate! But hand me any chocolate and I will eat it 🙂

  9. My favorite type of chocolate is by far dark also! Glad you still got to appreciate the outdoors with a nice 2 mile walk. It was gorgeous today!

  10. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tina Reale, Tina Reale. Tina Reale said: the first half: We have yet another fun-filled weekend. I like keeping posts short and sweet, both for your readin… http://bit.ly/9ABAjr […]

  11. Cynthia says:

    I love dark chocolate! Too bad I can’t eat much because I will get a migraine. 🙁

    favorite part of today? Our power went out and we had no TV or Internet for a couple of hours. Sad, I know. But my husband and I were kind of forced to spend time together and reconnect. It was really, really nice.

  12. I’m a total donut junkie. If I had to eat only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be donuts! P.S. The pic of M peeking in the window is soooo adorable!

    Love the Halloween bark. Such a cute idea!

    Favorite type of chocolate? No surprise here that I’m the same as you… dark! Trader Joe’s has some amazing dairy-free dark chocolate. Yum!

    Best part of my Saturday: getting most of my Xmas shopping done at Fleet Farm Toy Land for under $100!

    • Tina says:

      Ohhh…Christmas shopping. I really dislike Christmas shopping. Except for Makenzie. That’s fun! Getting a good chunk of it done this early must feel awesome!

  13. Me-Linh says:

    Woah, Haloween bark?! YUM!!!

    Best part of my saturday was having the Cal Bears beat Arizona State!
    Worst part was it was pouring.

  14. Ohh I’ve seen the Halloween bark before but never made it…looks so good!!

    My dad is a doctor and being on cal = being on house arrest. The second he tries to do anything fun he’s rushing back to the hospital!!

  15. Lee says:

    Did you like the bark? I bet the dark chocolate is really good with the sweet candy corn.

    • Tina says:

      Yea, the dark is much better. And thank you so much for sharing that idea. It was easy and everyone loved it. Can’t wait to see you on Friday! 😀

  16. Sounds like the perfect way to start the day – just relaxing and easing into the day! I’m definitely a white chocolate girl

  17. It looks beautiful there and I am so glad you are enjoying yourself! That bark looks dangerous! I used to be a white chocolate person, but now I am not really a chocolate kinda gal at all. My weakness is really fruits! We roasted marshmallows with friends yesterday and I saw my parents and grandmother in the morning, so while it was action packed, it was a great day for family and friends!

  18. That Halloween Bark looks like such a cute treat! : ) I like the candy corn stuck in it! Have a great rest of your weekend!

  19. I saw a recipe for halloween bark a few days ago — it looks so good and the colors are so cute. I might have to make that for a party we are going to on Saturday.

    I love white chocolate — I mean, I love dark and milk chocolate too, but white is my favorite 🙂

  20. I love when my husband gives me massages. Best part is that they are free! 😉

  21. That candy looks good! I am way into sweets right now, and way into candy corn alllllways.

    My favorite type of chocolate is dark, too! I only like milk chocolate in Reese’s or MnM’s. But I don’t really like chocolate.

    The best part of my Saturday was watching a sketch comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater! My boyfriend’s college buddy has an improv/sketch group based in New York and I was so excited to see them perform!

  22. Between staying in bed until 8, those amazing-looking donuts (!!), and the outdoor walk, that sounds like a lovely way to start the weekend! I love days like that. Our son slept until 7:30 this morning… I couldn’t believe it! An hour extra of snooze time is so rare for us.

    The halloween barks looks amazing as well… what a fun treat for a party!

  23. Ohh, donuts look delicious. What about the lemon blueberry, though?

    I tend not to discriminate with my chocolates – all have their own place. 🙂

  24. LOVE the bark! I bet that was so fun to make! My favorite kind of chocolate is DARK! And my favorite part of Saturday was my 10K race!

  25. Favorite type of chocolate? Dark. Am actually part of an online community that bonded over baby names and dark chocolate m&m’s that came out at the time of the very last Star Wars movie

    Best part of your Saturday? I spent over 30 minutes by myself enjoying a mocha and pastry while perusing gluten free cook books at the Borders. Grandma had the boy!

    I think I am now putting making my own candy corn on the list, and then re-creating your bark. I have to find a good substitute for the corn syrup in my candy corn recipe.

  26. Kathi says:

    You have a wonderful blog Tina and I look forward to catching up with you as much as I can! Very inspirational and positive. So nice to see! Have a great day!!

    • Tina says:

      Thank you so much. 🙂 I hope you had a great day as well and I look forward to hearing more from you. I love getting to know readers.

  27. Leashieloo says:

    Ohh glorious pumpkin doughnuts! I had my fill this weekend as well, they’re too delicious to deny.

    • Tina says:

      I had to have one! That place rotates their donuts out each day and when I saw the pumpkin one listed for a Saturday I knew we had to go. Hope you had an awesome weekend!

  28. Allie says:

    Wow halloween bark?! That sounds amazing 🙂 P.S. your daughter is sooo cute!!

  29. Favorite chocolate: dark
    Favorite part of Saturday: sleeping in for an hour! (oh, and then there was that mcflurry…)

    Hope you’re having a fantastic Sunday 🙂

  30. LindseyAnn says:

    Favorite chocolate: DARK! I used to say “the darker the better”, until an incident on a bus to the Paris airport with some of my French students. Moral: the 99% cacao chocolate is meant for BAKING, not EATING. 70% is just the point of perfection for me! 🙂
    Best part: hockey games/watching Hockey Night in Canada with my boyfriend. (The worst was the 9-1 pounding my college team took 🙁 )

    • Tina says:

      I love dark, but yea…I think 70% is about as dark as I really like it. It’s the point of perfection for me too. 🙂

  31. […] Donut breakfast, walk, and making Halloween candy (“recipe” included) […]

  32. Sara says:

    Jeal-ous. I want some of those donuts! Yum, yum, yum. Nom, nom, nom. MMmmmm. The Halloween Bark looks fab and I LOVE dark chocolate. I really can’t stand plain milk chocolate–at all.

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