The Mr.’s Birthday, Long Walks + Longing for Italy

the perfect gloomy backdrop for a morning spent in the kitchen

Saturday / Today was a big kitchen day. Tomorrow is Ryan’s birthday, and so I wanted to make sure to get as much of the cooking done today so that tomorrow we could just relax and celebrate together. It’s a little bit harder to surprise Ryan this year (since normally I do most of my shopping and cooking while he is at work), but I’ve made sure that he isn’t sneaking any peaks! Smells are unavoidable, but hopefully they won’t give anything away.

Sunday / And today was the day, the hubby’s birthday. We had a wonderful day celebrating together, quarantine or not. We ate, we drank, we churched, we walked, we biked. . . Even though we are limited in what we can or can’t do right now, we made the most of every moment, and it really was the perfect day celebrating the most special person to me.

Monday / We purposely avoid Coronado on the weekends. There tends to be far more people out walking and running, and so we avoid it. But by the time Monday morning rolls around, we are both excitedly awaiting our return. We’ve been making more of a point to walk different parts of the Island to keep things interesting (and to stay away from other people who are out exercising), and today’s route brought us by the loveliest little cottage with the most extraordinary rose garden. Anyone else read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a child? Yep, this was basically my childhood imagination brought to life.

Tuesday / Although I do work most days of the week, Tuesdays tend to be one of my longer and bigger work days. For whatever reason I have designated Tuesdays for bigger chunks of writing, and time spent working on future projects. And that was exactly how today went. I didn’t get out very much, but since I can’t. . .well, that’s just perfect. I was happy to finish up all of the things that I had earmarked for today, including my Easy Peasy Chicken Soup post.

Wednesday / Today’s lunch was yesterday’s dinner, and I’m pretty sure that we were both happy about that. Last night we did our best pantry shopping possible (since we’re a bit low on options and are holding out to do one big shop), and we whipped together some tacos to celebrate both Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo. We made some citrus braised pulled chicken with some quick marinated red onions, and guacamole. The recipes definitely could use a little bit of tweaking, but we were more than happy to give it another go today.

Thursday / I took Ryan on a new walking route today that I had discovered a few weeks ago while driving around Coronado. And although walking along the beach is still our favorite route in all of San Diego by a long shot, walking the inside of the Island along the Bay was a really nice change of pace. Especially on this gloomy and foggy morning. The marina felt like the perfect backdrop for the beginning of a crime novel or a movie about a haunted ship.

Friday / In different ways, I find myself being reminded almost daily that I would have most likely already been in Italy by now, awaiting Ryan’s arrival. Sigh. No matter what it is, when you get used to something, change can be hard. And although we are beyond happy to stay home right now (and completely realize that it is still very necessary), I can’t help but feel that longing feeling. So it was grilled pizza for dinner tonight. A simple cherry tomato pizza in honor of our most favorite little pizza spot, Gusta, in Florence. Fingers crossed that things will continue to change for the better, as I’m still dreaming that we might be able to get away this Summer. Yep, definitely still dreaming over here.