Nothing is more relaxing than driving through the countryside after a busy week in the city! Eric and I love visiting cities on vacation, but we both agree we will never live in one again. Too much love for the countryside, rolling hills, and peace and quiet.
Let me rewind back to this morning!
We walked to breakfast, which turned into brunch when we discovered they were out of oatmeal at Kramer’s!
I munched on an apple on the walk there to curb my post-run hunger:
I ordered a 1oz. Wheatgrass shot to start…
Eric got his beloved Sundried Goodness of Green sandwich!
I tried the Falafel wrap.
Oh MAN this was some good falafel!!! So spicy and crispy. Perfection.
Along with onion, tomato, lettuce, and salsa (a sub for the non-vegan dressing). Yum, yum, and yum!
If you are ever at Kramer’s I highly recommend the falafel!
And a banana for dessert:
Back at the hotel, we packed healthy snacks for our flight home.
I packed an apple, Liberate Glo Bar, Mary’s Sticks + Twigs (from swag bag) and a side of LOVE! ;)
I was not a fan of these sticks and Twigs! I ate them anyways as I was hungry but I would not buy them again. Quite bland. Maybe their other flavours are better?
A great nutritional profile though…much better than the pretzels they were handing out on the plane! You can’t argue with 5 grams of protein, 5 grams of fibre and all natural whole grains.
Mmmm!
I finally finished Eat Pray Love. Now I can see the movie!!! I hope it is good, but I’m not sure the movie can live up to the movie in my own mind. ;) Has anyone seen it?
We supplemented our snacks with a salad from Sprigs Fresh Salads in the Midway airport.
I got a build your own: Romaine, chickpeas x 2, tomato, cucumber, and green pepper.
I was so excited when I saw that they had chickpeas because I knew they would keep me full while traveling.
Our flight was hassle free and early to boot. No complaints with Southwest at all. We landed in Buffalo and had to find our car and hit the road for home. The border crossing this time going into Canada was super fast. It is so much easier to get into Canada than the US! Luckily they did not confiscate my food. ;)
Although we were good at preparing for lunch, it didn’t occur to us that we would be driving through dinner in rush hour traffic. Whoops. We didn’t have the healthiest dinner tonight, but at least we didn’t starve!
We shared this bag of almonds from the swag bag…
And then this happened. I’m sure you can see where this went…
Yes, I dipped dark chocolate into White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter and I’m not ashamed.
Belly ache ensued.
Swung by our CSA pickup on the way home…perfect timing! Now we have a fridge full of healthy goodies to start off the week right.
MELONS!!!!!!!! This is a first!
Corn on the cob. Very happy about this. My little BBQ Masta will have a field day with those.
Home sweet home!
We had really quick toast and cereal dinners when we got home around 8pm. We were hungry, but not overly so.
I had toasted Ezekiel bread with hummus and tomato paste:
And Nature’s Path Spelt Cereal with Almond Milk.
And that’s a wrap!
I think a successful vacation is one that leaves you appreciating your normal, daily life. They are great while they last, but I have never been on a vacation where I did not think ‘I am so happy to be home’ when it was all said and done. There is no place like home. One thing is for sure, I am so excited to be able to cook my own food again. While I did have some amazing eats while away, I truly miss preparing meals in the kitchen. Vegan Overnight Oats are the first thing on my list!
I have anxious thoughts swirling through my mind about getting caught up on 1 week’s worth of Bakery orders, but I won’t worry about the future.
Right now, I have the rest of the evening to enjoy.
Oh you didn’t like the sticks and twigs? I had mine on the plane too and loved them :p
Btw – I had my first Glo Bar today – LOVED IT!!! You are very talented :)
It looks so beautiful where you live.
Home Sweet Home – you can’t beat it!!
It looks really lovely where you live and your CSA’s look amazing.
It’s nice to come home, isn’t it? Even if one has had a perfect trip. I personally enjoy hummus sammie homecomings, too.
Miss you already, friend.
I just finished the book and LOVED it but I heard the movie is definitely not as good. :( Oh well, Roberts still looks beautiful in the previews and I think she will play the part wonderfully. Glad you guys made it home safe! ;)
Welcome home!!! Glad you have an amazing stay there and flight back home. :) Oh, and I might have to steal your dark chocolate in the WCW! I have some white chocolate round here somewhere..I bet it’d be soooo much better dipped in Dark Chocolate Dreams! haha :D
I watched the movie yesterday and loved it! Definitely a perfect choice for a girl’s night out.
I love home and vacations definitely do the same to me. Make me appreciate my structured life. There’s nothing so great as a good home life.
I do love a good vacation though and that’s a fact!
I saw the movie last weekend with my best friend Kerri. We both read the book last year. We enjoyed the movie, but it was missing so much of the book. Obviously you can’t make the entire book into a movie because it would be way too long, but… I was slightly disappointed that some parts were skipped. However I will say that for the next few days I just dreamed about Javier Bardem calling me ‘darling’. Ahhh…so nice! After the movie Kerri and I sat outside and talked for 2 hours about what we want for our lives. It was a great conversation.
Glad you had such a fun-filled trip!!! :)
Those pretzels look like a great vehicle for hummus or nut butters though! That would certainly help with their plain-ness!
Good luck getting caught up on your bakery orders! At least you don’t have the Farmer’s Market to worry about anymore!
I saw the movie the other night. I was sorely disappointed. SO MUCH was left out that I feel like it wouldn’t have made sense to anyone unless they read the book. I was really really bored the entire two hours and so was my sister and boyfriend. But that’s just me…
on another note, I LOVE peanut butter and co.’s products. So decadent.
Hey Angela…
I saw the movie – it was good but as a huge fan of the book, it just wasnt’ the same. worth seeing but they had to leave lots out and one of the best parts of the book for me is Liz’s internal diaglouge which just doesn’t translate as well in the movie.
seeing those beautiful places on the big screen is worth it though!!
glad you had a great trip!!
I just saw the movie-very long!
I actually didn’t read the book before, so I thought the movie was okay. If I had read the book, I think I’d be disappointed. :(
I love visiting the city, but when it comes to buying a house I want peace and quiet and a nice backyard. My husband is a country boy at heart, too.
I love to travel but there’s something about the comforts of home that make me breathe a sigh of relief when I return from a trip! I saw “Eat Pray Love” last weekend and absolutely LOVED it, but I haven’t read the book and I’m not sure how that would have affected my experience. I am, however, inspired to read the book now- the message really hit home and I love the way in which it was delivered- plus the scenery and Javier Bardem are gorgeous :) heehee
I’ve read the book and seen the movie…Books are ALWAYS better than the movies but I think the movie was really cute and the scenery and soundtrack are great. I almost cried like three times during the India part.
Plus there are cute boys in the movie!! James Franco, the cute Italian guy, and Javier Bardem..yumma :-)
Can’t wait to try that White Chocolate Peanut Butter. I have had the dark chocolate and it was so GOOD! Nice find! It was fun to follow your trip to Chicago. I will probably be there over Labor Day and can’t wait to try Karyn’s!
wanted to order some glo bars and the shipping was almost as much as the 10 bars!!!!!!!! Disappointing:(
Gorgeous countryside!
It is a lovely contrast to all the Chicago photos :)