Yay for laid back Saturdays!!! :)

For the first time in quite a while, as this weekend approached, I realized that I didn't really have any plans for Friday or Saturday. Since that's not typical for me, I almost panicked...I mean, weekends have so much potential for fun or productive things, who wants to waste a perfectly great weekend without any plans?!  So, being the spontaneous person that I am, I tried to plan an impromptu trip to D.C./Georgetown...after all, Georgetown Cupcake is now offering their seasonal flavors: pumpkin spice and caramel apple! That fact by itself is enough cause for a trip to D.C.! Not to mention the fact that Georgetown is one of my favorite places to visit and it has been far too long since the last time I was there last February. But alas, none of my Richmond friends were up for the impromptu trip, and since it obviously wouldn't be much fun alone, my spontaneous plan failed. So I was back to the drawing board..

As Friday afternoon rolled around, I decided that I needed to go to the gym after work, no excuses accepted. While I love having a busy social life and wouldn't have it any other way, it often cuts into my gym time. This week was no exception, as my evenings consisted of Halloween festivities, baking pumpkin cupcakes for an office party, small group Bible study/potluck, a movie at the Byrd Theatre, and Sweet Frog, among other things. So, thank goodness for not having any plans on Friday, since it definitely needed to be gym night! And boy did it feel good when my workout was finished!

Today was one of those wonderful, lazy Saturdays where I woke up around 7:15, thought for a split second that I had overslept and was going to be late for work, only to realize that it was Saturday and I didn't have anything going on that would force me to get up out of my cozy bed at that early hour. I finally got up around 9:00ish, did some laundry (so it wasn't a totally lazy day, haha), pulled out my scrapbooking stuff (which now looks like it exploded all over my living room) and finished a few pages. It was a beautiful day outside and I was excited to meet my wonderful friend Christine for brunch (okay, so I did end up making some plans on Friday evening after all, lol). So, I took a nice stroll through the neighborhood and met up with her at one of my fave local spots, DeLux, where we spent an hour and a half enjoying some tasty food and catching up on each other's lives since we last got together.

After that, I made my third trip to the grocery store this week (I should really try to do a better job of planning everything I'm going to need for the week, but just like the rest of my life, I tend to spontaneously decide to make things on the spur of the moment, so it's hard to plan for those moments until they happen. Hehe). My friend Mary's birthday was Friday, but we are celebrating tomorrow so I made her an eclair cake this afternoon, which should be a nice surprise, assuming she doesn't happen to read this post before then, but I think I'm safe. Haha. Then, after more scrapbooking, I tried out a new recipe that was shared with me on Tuesday after I tasted the most amazing macaroni & cheese at our office Halloween potluck, and I decided that I needed to learn to make it for myself. It turns out, the recipe came from a Ukrop's cookbook (which obviously explains why it was so delicious), so I will refrain from posting the recipe here, but I will share a few pics.

My favorite ingredient! Did I mention this mac & cheese has a bit of a kick to it? :)

Ready to go in the oven!

Voila! Piping hot from the oven

After eating 2 helpings for dinner, I can confidently say that this is by far the best baked mac & cheese that I have ever made, and I will definitely be using the Ukrop's recipe from now on! Yay for finding stellar recipes that you know you will rely on again and again!  What's even better is that, in my usual fashion, I swapped out the full fat ingredients and replaced them with fat free or reduced fat versions, yet it still came out super creamy, cheesy, and full of flavor. Delicious and healthified...it's a win-win! :)

Juliana's Crockpot Vegetarian Chili is on the menu for Monday night...I can't remember if I posted my recipe on here last winter after I entered it in the office chili cookoff or not, so I will go browse through my archives and if I don't see it, I will post it at some point during the week.

Hope you are all having an awesome weekend! :)