Trick or Treat

I spent the last weekend of my training hiatus in Philly with Bart, Lulu and Mav visiting my sister and her family for Halloween.  My weekend was mostly filled with treats.

I had a blast hanging out with my nieces, Kate and Emily and seeing them all worked up for Halloween.  Kate, with her recently pierced ears, dressed as a cowgirl.  Emily's costume was an adorable pink and white horse.  Saturday morning, Kristen and I dropped Emmie off at ballet and enjoyed a quiet hour of conversation at the local coffee shop.  When we got back home, we played with Emmie's pop bead jewelry set that I had gotten for her for her birthday and then carved pumpkins.  (Kate and mine was the best I think).  Bart and John came back from the farmer's market with a treat for me - two loaves of freshly made gluten free bread (which I needed since I had left my homemade pumpkin bread sitting on the counter in Richmond).

Bart and I then headed off to "downtown" Bryn Mawr by foot - a short run there, a tour of the local bike, tennis and running stores and then a short run back made a bit more awkward by our purchases.   Saturday night we met a bunch of Kristen and John's friends and had a blast at their club playing paddle outside in the crisp fall air and getting to know their friends at the party that Kristen had organized just for us!  Of course, we stayed up way to late, drank a bit of vino and ate too many goodies.

Sunday morning brought beautiful weather.  John, all four dogs and I walked through the Bryn Mawr campus and then let the dogs romp around a bit more back at home.  Then we all headed to their club for the annual Halloween party -- complete with costume contests for the kids, a DJ, kids oriented food, a haunted house and hayride.  

Post party, we loaded up the car and headed home.  The dogs slept the whole time, wiped out in the backseat from all of the playtime with their dog cousins.   And, we made fairly good time getting back.  About 20 minutes out, we called for the last treat of the weekend - pizza from Stuzzi.  Stuzzi has become our favorite pizza place due to the fact that they make yummy personal sized gluten free pizza.  When we arrived, however, the trick was on me.  Bart went in to get the pizzas and the dogs and I waited in the car.  About 5 or 10 minutes later, while I was getting impatient, my phone rang.  It was Stuzzi.  "I'm sorry ma'am, but we just ran out of GF pizza dough."  My reply - "Did my husband ask you to call me?"  Stuzzi -"No"  Me - "Well he's been in the restaurant for about 10 minutes waiting on our pizza."  Stuzzi "Oh, I think I see him.  Would you like pasta instead (implied - and wait even longer while we cook it for you?")  Me - "No just forget my pizza."  Sulk.  So we left Stuzzi with one regular pizza for Bart and me, in a bad mood, irritated and frustrated, wondering what I could find in our bare cupboards for dinner.

I don't whine much about having to eat GF, mainly because I feel so much better and I know that it is a direct result of my GF eating but sometime, it can be a real pain.  There are definitely occasions like this weekend, when I wish I could eat the yummy looking Halloween sugar cookies with the orange and black icing that everyone was chowing down on or just be able to go into a restaurant and order whatever I want off the menu.  But, the reality is, I can't.  So, like last night, I need to just move on, try and make the best out of it (I made myself an artichoke burger with tomato sauce and a slice of cheese on it to satisfy my Italian craving) and celebrate the treats I do have in life.