I had some mild anxiety driving back to the city yesterday anticipating a busy week after such a restful weekend in Charlottesville. I think I’ve said this 2346 times, but really….I love this place so much. Every time I come back here it’s a weird mixture of sadness, nostalgia, gratefulness and….pure happiness. The familiarity, coziness and slower pace makes my soul feel so freeeeeee.
We got into town late Thursday night to a friend’s house where we were staying and passed out right away.
Friday I woke up a little before 8am and had a few Nutshell client calls. Nick ran out to pick up breakfast bagels from Bodos. My go to –> egg + tomato + spinach + veggie cream cheese on whole wheat. Call me insane, but after eating a lot of New York bagels, I still think Bodos is better.
After wrapping up calls and follow up emails, I went on a run. It’s always fun to see how many things have changed and what is being built. So much always changes! It was also really beautiful and encouraging to see the signs around town promoting unity following the sad events of last month.
After running, I showered and we headed to the downtown mall for lunch and to find a coffee shop to work out of the rest of the day.
Lunch was a salad from the Blue Ridge Country store filled with all kinds of goods. The best part –> the fried brussel sprouts. I sat outside in the sun to eat lunch before I had a 2pm client call.
Then I decided I wanted to get a manicure before settling into Mudhouse to do a bit more blog/business work.
Nick was hanging with a friend in the afternoon – around 4:30 he picked me up and we went back home to change before heading out to happy hour + dinner.
We started in Belmont at the Local for wine + cheese.
And then headed across the street for dinner at Mas (one of my favorites restaurants – tons of delicious tapas using local ingredients.)
We ordered a glass of red and then split seven tapas. We started with babaganoush with bread and an arugula salad. The salad was nothing special but the babaganoush was garlicky and fantastic. Anything on chewy bread is a win.
We also shared a halibut which was clean and simple – tasty but not out of this world. But the papa bravas were insanely good. And so were the bacon wrapped dates (swoooooon, my favorite appetizer ever), roasted artichokes with garlic aioli, and carne asada (also one of my favorites) which is one of the most tender and juicy pieces of steak I’ve ever had.
After dinner we meandered downtown to Whiskey Jar, a fun lively bar, for a cocktail. We ran into a couple friends and by 10:30pm we were exhausted and headed home.
Saturday morning started with coffee + cereal and banana + pb before heading out on a run around grounds. Oh my my my, I forgot how mother loving hilly this place is – SO HILLY. So we ran and walked some of the hills.
Drank this smoothie before hopping in the shower.
And then met my friend Kelli for lunch at Mezah, which is like a mediterranean Chipotle. Really good! I ordered the chicken shawarma bowl with all kinds of veggie toppings, feta, quinoa salad, hummus and this fluffy, yet chewy pita that was fab.
And then we spent the afternoon at Barboursville Vineyards.
We first took the wine tour. I don’t know a lot about wine making, but I find the detailed craft of it so interesting.
Afterward we did a wine tasting on the back patio along with a cheese board. Anything with wine in my mind always involves a cheese board. The Chardonnay was light, crispy, not oaky at all and I loved it. Paired with the goat cheese with olive oil and cracked pepper was creamy, dreamy awesomeness.
Saturday night we spent at a friend’s engagement party. It was so fun to have a casual night catching up with old friends, meeting new friends and celebrating Carolyn and Will.
The bbq + mac were plain dynamite. I had a few glasses of sangria throughout the night + this plate and then went back for more bbq and mac plus a brownie to end the night.
Sunday morning we woke up and got out the door pretty quickly so we could snag a table at the Bluegrass Grill & Bakery before it got insanely busy. Surprisingly, I have never been to Bluegrass before because it’s so busy, but I knew we had to go before we left.
And I was so glad we went! I was hesitant on our waiter’s suggestion of the Normans benedict, but trusted him and quickly realized it was a solid decision. Goat cheese + blueberry jam on an English muffin with chicken sausage and two poached eggs. Plus hash browns with bacon and onion. And we split one of their honey wheat biscuits.
I’ve heard a ton of hype about their biscuits, but I didn’t think they were that awesome. But the egg benedict was AMAZING (I suck at finding adjectives to describe food..). I would have never thought of this combo but will definitely be trying to recreate this at home. I completely overshot my hunger (because hello, the food was so good) and left breakfast overly full. It happens. An hour later my food had digested, I felt better and life moved on. I’ve learned and now know intuitive eating isn’t always about physical hunger and fullness, it’s also about pleasure and experience. This was a meal where I intentionally knew, “yep, totally worth feeling a little overly full to keep tasting this.”
After breakfast we headed to church and then hopped in the car for the six hour drive home.
Snacked on some popcorn, an apple and chocolate (proof that yes, our bodies will digest even if they get a little overly full and it will use that energy, then hunger will strike again :))
We got home around 8pm, ate dinner and got ready for the week before heading to bed early. A great great weekend!
How was yours? Share in the comments or link back to a blog post if you wrote one 🙂
Mmm, Mezeh sounds like it’d be my favorite place if I ever got to try it!
It was fab!
Looks like such a fun time! I have 3 tests this week, so I spent most of my weekend studying…but I did find an awesome coffee shop within walking distance of my apartment, so it wasn’t totally lame.
Having great coffee shops to study at makes all the difference when you have to hunker down so I’m glad you found one!
Yay for your roadtrip snacks! Absolutely love how you guys appreciate cheese plates and wine as much as we do. We had one last night!
THE BEST
So fun reading about your time in Cville! My husband and I just moved here (Charlottesville) from Indianapolis (your other stomping grounds!) in June, so I always look forward to your visits home or here.
I got Norman’s benedict at Bluegrass Grill and will also attest to its awesomeness! Out of curiosity, which church do/did you attend here? We’ve found one we like so far but are curious about others in the area.
Thanks!
Oh what a small world! Maybe we will bop into each other next time – that would be fun! 🙂
I was at Portico when I lived there, but we went to Trinity on Sunday – they are very different from each other! Back then Portico was a good fit, but now I think I’d end up somewhere similar to Trinity. Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you so much, that definitely helps! It would be a blast to run into you sometime 🙂 I’ll keep an eye out!
I love how busy, yet leisurely your weekend looks! Seems like it was the perfect mix of activity, visiting with friends and soaking up every tasty bite of new foods. Awesome!
It was so restful! I wish I was back today ha!
Hi Robyn!
Your weekend sounds wonderful! Thank you for sharing that you occasionally overshoot your hunger and IT IS OK!! Waiting it out can be difficult but so worth it.
I hope you have a fantastic week!
xoxo,
Julie
I hope it makes others realize that no way is this a perfect eating journey and that is OKAY!
xo
Your feelings about going back to Charlottesville are exactly how I feel when I return to my high school town. It’s sometimes hard to reconcile feeling so at home in one place but knowing that you are in a different season of life and are where you’re meant to be in a different city/town. I wish there was a word to describe that emotion!
I so feel you!
I can totally relate to feeling anxious about the start of a busy week, especially after such a restful weekend. Your weekend looks amazing and makes me want to move to Charlottesville! I just found out yesterday that our church is doing a church plant there, sooo… 😉
maybe it’s the place 🙂
Love this post Robyn! Your weekend recaps are some of my favorite internet reads! Our weekend was super good! My husband and I ran our first, full marathon together. It was such a great experience and a blessing to finish together. My parents and sisters were there cheering us on, while they watched our little guy. It was truly one the best weekends yet. I only wish I could repeat it.
Here’s the link to my blog post about it, in case you want all the details! 😉
http://www.luluruns.com/marathon-weekend-recap-this-will-probably-be-a-long-one/
Hi Robyn,
I love seeing blog posts like this because it makes me see how I can eat a lot and still live intuitively. I hope that as I heal my metabolism, I will finally be able to eat a lot and still stay a healthy weight 🙂
With that, I have two questions
1. As a college student, whenever I drink a lot of alcohol, I always drunk eat WAYYYY too much. Like, a full bag of pita chips… do you consider this a binge? Is this part of my disordered eating? Also, how do you avoid this?
2. In college, I came in this year wanting to lose weight. I started to eat way less than usual, because in my mind, it would make up for all the drinking and drunk eating that I do. After finding out about your blog, I realized how wrong this is. I am nervous to start eating more because I am not very skinny to begin with, so I do not want to gain weight. However, I know this is not maintainable. Thank you for your positivity and amazing blog,
Alexa
Hi Alexa! Thank you for your comment. I know you’re not alone in your concerns so know that 🙂
Since I’m not well informed on your entire situation email me and we can go from there!
I really want to visit Charlottesville! Especially to check out the local vineyards! Loved your thoughts on moving on with life after overshooting hunger at brunch. I know my old self would have beaten myself up for eating too much and then try to compensate the rest of the day.
Your weekend sounds wonderful, as does the food! What did you think of the Vega protein smoothie? My weekend was wonderful, restful, and reflective and involved lots of delicious food, and I actually did do a recap on my blog if you want to check it out 🙂
http://www.laughingmyabsoff.com/weekend-singing-reflecting-connecting/
That’s the link 🙂
I don’t get out to Charlottesville as much as I should considering it’s so close to Richmond! There are so many lovely restaurants there! Glad you had a good weekend!
OMG this post! *heart eyed emoji* i lived in Charlottesville for about 3 years and lately have reallllly considered moving back. i thought when i left that was that, was over it, felt sort of out of the norm being single and later 20s, but now being gone for years, i truly appreciate how amazing that city is! you hit all my favorite spots, too! loved reading this recap…made my heart happy seeing the familiar pics and places. might have to book a trip out there 🙂
We vacationed to Charlottesville for the first time in the spring and I had the exact same thing at Bluegrass! SO good. I recreated it at home too and it worked out so well 🙂