Hey, hey, hey! I’m back from our travels. How was everyone’s weekend? I hope fabulous. I look forward to being back to normal blogging and being able to visit you all. I also look forward to being back home with my darling girl and my kitchen. I have no problem eating a few heavier meals over a vacation, but it never fails to leave me craving the best stuff afterwards. Onto the rest of my recap, shall we?

I left you with the wedding rehearsal, but no recap of the wedding. Let me remedy that. The ceremony filled the room with love. The emotion expressed on the bride’s and groom’s faces spoke volumes. And the worship included within the ceremony displayed the firm foundation of their relationship. I love watching weddings and feeling like my own becomes reaffirmed.

Here are a few of my favorite shots of the wedding. Aren’t my friends just glowing with love? 🙂

Look at those smiles!!!! I’m incredibly happy for them. Seeing my close friend marry a woman perfectly suited for him brings me so much joy. I had tears in my eyes when I saw his face as she walked down the aisle. They will no doubt enjoy a long life of love together. Love them both!

After the beautiful ceremony, we had a brief break back in the hotel room before heading to the reception. The reception venue overlooked a small lake and boasted amazing decor. It somewhat reminded me of our rehearsal venue, except at a lake instead of the mountains.

After the cocktail hour, we moved to the main hall for a seated dinner, toasts, and then dancing. The meal started with a Caesar salad and a roll with an asparagus garlic spread.

Then, the main course came out. Filet with potatoes and veggies. They simply brought out the meal without asking how people wanted their meat cooked. Pink does NOT suit me.

I tried to force it down, but around 2/3 of the way through I made a mad dash for the restroom instead. From there the night was downhill. Shortly afterwards, the cutting of the cake came.

I needed food because I had nothing in my stomach at this point and had a slice as soon as possible. I ended up feeling worse and getting a headache from having just sugar in my stomach. It tasted fabulous, but not so sure it was worth it.

I had to leave not too long after that. I felt so terrible! I wanted to be there to celebrate with them as long as possible. We headed back to the hotel by 10 and I immediately crashed. I’m happy I got to see the first dance, cutting of the cake, visit with them, and enjoy some other good company though.

Fortunately I woke up feeling better on Sunday. I took my time getting out of bed and getting ready to be sure. Then, knowing I still felt up to it, we headed out towards downtown Philly after another complimentary hotel breakfast. The trip started off a little rocky thanks to some bad directions, but we found our way. We started off in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Of course, we had to complete the obligatory Rocky climb. I didn’t pose like all the other people though. Haha!

After checking out the views from the steps for a bit, we went around back of the museum to visit the Azalea Gardens and Boathouse Row. What a nice area!

Then we decided to head down Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards 18th street to visit Rittenhouse Square and have lunch. It wasn’t too long of a walk, but it worked up my appetite. We had to search for a place to eat because apparently 1:00 on a Sunday equates to brunch around that area. Everywhere was serving eggs, eggs, and more eggs, I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast so the only decent looking option in the area was a pizza place.

A very good pizza place at that. We decided to share a medium spinach, mushroom, and onion on whole wheat. I liked that the the veggies stole the show. There was very little cheese and sauce, which tasted perfect with such flavorful toppings.

Lunch took longer than expected, so once we finished we had to take a quick walk through Rittenhouse Square and start heading back to the car to leave in time to get to visit Peter’s friends for the night. That didn’t stop us from taking a pit stop for some fro-yo. I have eyed all your fro-yo visits for some time and knew I needed a taste of my own. I picked up a mix of vanilla and watermelon flavors with some strawberries, blueberries, and a few M&Ms on top. Soooooo good!

It topped off our quick Philly day trip perfectly. Then we headed into West Chester to finish out the night visiting some friends we haven’t seen since our wedding. I don’t know them as well since it is a friend Peter used to work with, but I really enjoyed the company. I wish we had had more time to visit them. The few hours we did have to share a dinner with them in their home, play with their daughter, and sit and chat were wonderful though. And that about wraps it up. I really missed Makenzie, but this vacation felt more special without her. I joked that we could almost call it our “babymoon” vacation to get away and have fun before having the next baby. We had a great time…

• What was the best part of your weekend?
• What is the longest road trip you’ve taken? Was it worth it?

Are you looking for some weekend updates? Find them below:

• Recap of Food Festival
• Thoughts on True Friendship
• I also got the next principle in the Intuitive Eating series up over the weekend. Check it out!

Since I know I like to take the time to skim through things I missed over the weekend (and I secretly hope you do too), I will leave you with an easy reading post this morning. A recipe adapted from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies (adapted from Deceptively Delicious’ Chocolate Chip Cookies)

• 1c firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4c soft butter or margarine spread (I used Brummel & Brown with Yogurt)
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 15oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 12 oz white chocolate chips
• 3/4c macadamia nuts
• 2 cups flour (I used a mix of all purpose and whole wheat pastry flours)
• 1/2 c old fashioned oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and margarine together with a large spoon until smooth.

3. Beat in the two egg whites.

4. Use a food chopper to chop/grind the chickpeas until even consistency. Add the chickpeas, white chocolate chips, and nuts to the sugar/margarine combination and mix well.

5. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt and mix until a thick dough forms.

6. Drop the dough by the spoonful on the baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Be sure they are spread evenly about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes until a golden brown.

7. Cool and then either eat or store in an airtight container.

How were they? GREAT! When they first came out of the oven they were gooey and delicious. I’m actually sad that suddenly the next day they grossed me out and I couldn’t stomach them. That’s no fault of their own. Purely the joys of pregnancy and sudden food aversions. Peter is still eating them up though and I have to find another sweet treat for the week.

• What is the best “healthified” dessert you have ever made?
• White chocolate, dark chocolate, or milk chocolate? Bring me any and I will eat it!