Kindred

I figured 99 percent of our weekend would be spent on the couch since Ryan is in the beginning stages of recovery from his ACL surgery, but after a physical therapy appointment on Friday afternoon gave us a little more confidence in his mobility, we ended up leaving the house a few times which was a welcomed treat.

Friday Night 

Our friends Will and Alex came in town and spent Friday night at our place so we were excited to be able to go out to dinner with them rather than order takeout to eat at home like we initially figured we’d be doing.

We drove to Davidson to try Kindred, a new family-owned restaurant that focuses on seasonal fare. Though the restaurant has only been open for about two months, we’ve heard great things about it and it always seems to be busy every time we drive by, so I was really looking forward to trying it out!

Our meal began with a small loaf of their milk bread for the four of us to share and it was unreal. It may just be the best pre-dinner bread I’ve ever been served at a restaurant before and we had no problem eating every last bite.

I am now dying to come back for lunch because the sandwiches at Kindred are apparently served on their wonderfully fresh milk bread which sounds beyond fabulous to me.

Since Kindred’s menu features a lot of small plates, we decided to share four appetizers to start, including a cheese plate, fried oysters (my favorite), asparagus salad and duck fat potatoes, all of which were delicious.

For my main meal, I opted for the squid ink pasta with blue crab. The serving size was perfect – not so big that I left feeling overly stuffed, but not so small that I felt like I didn’t have enough food.

Ryan’s gnocchi with bolognese sauce was my favorite of all the entrees our group ordered, however, and that’s definitely what I’ll be ordering during our next visit if it still happens to be on their seasonal menu.

We wrapped up the evening with a pit stop for some frozen yogurt before heading home so Ryan could elevate his knee and ice it before bedtime.

Saturday

Our little foursome got out of the house again on Saturday morning and headed to brunch at the Famous Toastery around 11 a.m.

Will + Alex

We chatted over eggs, pancakes and coffee before driving back to our place and saying goodbye to our wonderful friends who had to head home. It was so, so great to see them even though their visit was a short one.

After Will and Alex left, Ryan and I spent most of the dreary Saturday evening hanging out together on the couch. We went through all of his physical therapy exercises three times each day this weekend (as instructed) and kept the ice machine running which he says is amazing. Thankfully the rainy weather made us feel like we weren’t missing too much by staying inside and watching a bunch of movies on Saturday night and I was also able to get a few hours of work done which made me feel productive!

Sunday

Sunday morning was quite chilly and I began the day with an 8 a.m. Pure Barre class followed by a two-mile walk with Sadie. I then helped Ryan with his physical therapy exercises and worked at the computer on a freelance project for another two hours before driving to Chipotle for lunch.

(I cannot be stopped right now. Chipotle + Julie = Forever!)

Also, can I just say how much I love that so many of you emailed me or left a comment about the fact that Chipotle is now going to deliver!?! Oh happy day! This is such wonderful news and something I’m sure will come in handy after our little guy arrives this summer. The addiction continues…

After lunch, Ryan and I popped in our latest Redbox movie, Into The Woods, which I thought I’d enjoy given my intense love for musicals. Unfortunately I found it rather boring. Neither of us could get into it at all and ended up turning it off about 2/3 of the way through. Oh well! At least I had Rent The Runway (<—affiliate link!) to keep me entertained when my attention started to waver…

I ended up selecting a dress to rent for my friend Krystal’s wedding this weekend. It is scheduled to arrive at my parents’ place on Thursday (we’re spending the night there on Thursday before heading onto Sarasota for the wedding on Friday), so I’m really hoping it works because I don’t have much in the way of a fall-back option right now since my growing baby bump is making it more and more difficult to find a cute dress for the occasion.

I sorted the dresses on the site by selecting “Bump Friendly” options and loved the fact that I could see pictures other pregnant women submitted of themselves in some of the dresses.

I found a woman who was also 6-months pregnant and looked to be a similar size in the dress I ended up ordering, so I hope that means it will work!

Here’s the dress I chose:

I thought the dress looked so feminine and pretty and I hope it will look okay on me when it arrives. (And the reviews said it looks more light pink in person and not “bridal” so that it would be a good choice for a wedding which made me feel better about the light color.) I love the fact that I was able to order two sizes in the dress in case one doesn’t work, so my fingers are crossed.

And now for today… It’s actually my 30th birthday today! I have to work and I’m also hoping to take a BodyPump class at some point, but I hope to check back in with you guys later this afternoon. Have a great Monday!