I wish I had made extra of these Peanut Butter Banana Flax Muffins I made to bring as part of a meal for someone who just had a baby.

[I used this recipe but instead of 2 cups all purpose flour, I used 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 cup ground flaxseed.]

I wish there were more hours in the day. I had so much to do yesterday that I did not sit down for lunch until 1:30. That also meant I had to eat lunch whilst nursing.

I wish laundry would fold itself. 

I wish my phone screen actually worked.

And I wish my husband didn’t bum phones off friends recycling them at our church.

I wish I was a better mom some days. I don’t believe I am a bad mom, but some days my patience wears a little thin with Makenzie and I hate that.

I wish I could get more creative in the kitchen. I have eaten a version of the following three things way too often recently.

Actually, you know what? A lack of creativity isn’t so bad. Those meals are delicious!

I wish you all knew exactly how much I appreciate each of you. It saddens me that recently I have not had as much time as I would like to read/comment on your blogs. I hope you can recognize my support and care for you regardless.

I wish date nights happened a lot more frequently.

Saturday night was fabulous! And for those wondering about my dress decisions – I ended up borrowing one of my mom’s dresses. Haha!

We ventured to the Buckhead area of Atlanta for dinner at Via, an Italian restaurant we purchased a Groupon to awhile ago. Who says date nights can’t also be frugal nights? I loved getting to try someplace new.

I ordered the spinach salad to start. It came with caramelized onions, hardboiled egg, and pancetta in a balsamic dressing.

It had so much flavor. I loved every bite. Peter even preferred it over his house salad.

We ended up sharing two things for our dinner. A pizza with basil, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, red onions, black olives, and pepperoni.

As well as some goat cheese fritters with strawberries and a balsamic glaze.

I really liked the pizza. It reminded me of some of the pizza I had in Italy. As for the goat cheese? You all know me, right? If you think I loved it, you would be correct. I could have made a meal out of those alone.

After dinner, we started heading home because I didn’t know how Braedon handled taking a bottle from my mom (he can act finicky with bottles of my pumped milk). Luckily, he did great so we decided to stay out a little longer. We checked into seeing a movie and I was thrilled to remember Water For Elephants is now out.

So, we killed some time with an ice cream pit stop before seeing the late showing of the film, which I thought was very well done. I love the story line and think Reese Witherspoon & Robert Pattinson portrayed it well.

I hope we can have date nights more now that Braedon is old enough for others to watch him and Makenzie together more easily. I missed dates! Plus, Peter & I believe they matter so much in a marriage. You have to keep the relationship fun. We also believe in keeping our marriage at the forefront because a solid marriage helps make a solid family in our opinion. Here’s to more in our future! 

• What is your perfect date? I actually adore dinner & a movie dates.

I hope you all had fabulous weekends! Mine was superb. Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my special decisions. I will have to get to the date night one in my next post, because in today’s post it’s all about recapping the special holiday. 🙂

Sunday morning, we all got purtied up for church service.

As I expected, going to worship on such a special day had me all emotional. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t tear up at an Easter service. I take that back – I actually tear up in many worship services. What can I say? God’s love never ceases to amaze me.

After church, we went out for brunch with my family.

We had coupons my family wanted to use to save some money. For IHOP. I never really had a problem with IHOP before, but it’s been awhile since I have eaten there. Let’s just say my tastes have changed. I hated it! I ordered the Nutella crepe which came with banana and topped with strawberries according to the menu. This is what I got…

The crepe may have tasted good. I don’t really know because all I tasted was strawberry juice with unnecessary whipped topping. Plus flimsy bacon with cold, dry eggs. Sound delicious? I ate it because it was 12:30 by this point and all I had eaten was a small bowl of cheerios 5 hours earlier. I just know that, from now on, I will go with my gut to pay the extra $10 for brunch at The Flying Biscuit. At least I had time with family!

An early dinner with Peter’s family made up for it all though. We did the normal Italian thing there with a large get together and copious amounts of pasta, salad, and sweets. I had some ravioli, garlic bread, half a spicy sausage, and some salad for my meal.

Then, we let things digest for awhile with lots of chatting, goofing around, and preparing for fun with the kiddies. More egg hunts! M has certainly caught on and was on a mission to fill her basket.

The day finally finished off with sweet treats. I ended up making the triple layer cookies & cream bars per Peter’s request and they seemed to be a hit again. I nabbed one for my plate, along with a vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting (courtesy of my sis-in-law), and a small bite of lemon cake.

I was actually happy that I didn’t overstuff myself with the sweets, which I can easily do on special occasions. I know I would have if sweets were what I had given up for Lent!Speaking of which, I wanted to finally share some things with you all.

For Lent, I gave up some of my morning “me time” and viewing blogging as more than a hobby. What does that mean? For starters, instead of waking up around 6 am to type up a morning blog post for the day, I traded in the blog writing for time in prayer or to read my Bible and devotional. That meant only having time during naps to prep posts…which in turn meant me dropping to posting typically only once per day instead of twice per day like often before.

During Lent I also gave up checking any and all blog stats. Page views, subscribers, ad revenue, etc. I had come to a place where I no longer cared about “building my blog” and I wanted to make certain my actions reflected that. My view of blog success had changed – because I admit to getting caught in the appeal of growing my readership - and I took the 40 days of Lent to solidify that change in perspective. To me, blog success has nothing to do with popularity and page views. Blog success for me is the following:

• having the opportunity to share my passions
• creating mutually beneficial relationships with readers/bloggers
• perhaps motivate someone in the process – to care for their health, grow closer in their relationship with God & Jesus, take on pregnancy with a fun approach, adopt a more positive daily attitude, etc

The past 40 days confirmed for me even more that while my path does involve blogging and sharing my story (from overcoming binging to my faith to motherhood to my weight loss), it is no longer my GOAL. My goal is to ever grow closer to the God who loves me. My goal is to have the strongest relationship I can with all my loved ones.

My goal is to live a healthy, fun-filled life. My goal is to inspire others to health and hopefully one day pursue something along the lines of personal training. Instead of trying to one day reach the point to blog for some income, I hope to continue living my life and fit blogging in where it will. The money it brings can simply add to my life – you know…funding things like races and blog conferences and dinners out. 😉

I guess what I’m trying to share is that Lent means so much more to me than going 40 days without something. It means sacrificing something so you can learn and grow during that time. I know I did. I hope, with or without Lent, you have strived to learn and grow personally too. And that you always strive for the most fulfilling life possible – whatever that may be to you!

• Heavy: What’s something important you have learned recently?
• Light: What was the best thing you ate this weekend?