Thomasville is for lovers
Hey hey! Happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much to all of you who left anniversary wishes here on the blog and on Instagram. We appreciate all of your kind words so much.
We had an amazing day celebrating:
he surprised me with the most gorgeous red roses,
and we had a date night! Our friend Ariana is here from San Diego visiting, and she offered to stay with the girls while we enjoying a quick drive up to Thomasville for dinner.
I’ve been trying to convince the Pilot that he needs to go to Thomasville for a while now, and I was excited to show him what the hype was about. He agreed that it’s a pretty awesome little place.
(There are at least 4 restaurants we can’t wait to check out, including the Farmer’s Daughter. Macarons with wine pairings? Sold.)
Even though it’s a smaller town, the downtown area has more to offer than Valdosta -it’s packed with unique local restaurants, fun boutiques, gift shops and bakeries- and we decided to check out Chop House on Brick for dinner.
We started off with onion rings
(they were beer battered; super fluffy and light)
and kimchi eggrolls.
We each ordered prickly pear margaritas,
and chopped salads before our entrees. The chopped salads were worth the drive alone. They had crumbled bleu cheese, cornbread croutons, and fresh, local veggies with pickled onions. By that point, we were both getting kind of full, but still managed to save room for dinner and dessert. 😉
This is the snickers cake which had layers of caramel and peanut butter mousse in between chocolate cake and rich ganache. It was out of control.
It started pouring as soon as we walked out of the restaurant, so we made the drive back to V-town.
Lately, we’re been enjoying showing Ariana around Valdosta -we’ve already had Salty Snapper, Birdie’s, and have a trip planned to Wild Adventures- and I got to snuggle a newborn baby, so good things all around. <3
A friend had a baby just over a week ago, and we set up a Meal Train to surprise her with some meals. I had the hardest time deciding what to make, even though all of my usual staples are here.
I wanted to make something that was family-friendly, since they have two other small kiddos. I didn’t want to take anything too spicy -spicy food always affected P’s stomach when I would eat something spicy and then breastfeed- and it had to be something that could easily be reheated. The answer: sour cream and green chili chicken enchiladas.
The green chilies are mild yet flavorful, and the enchiladas are wrapped in a blanket of creamy sauce and cheese. Basically, you could curl up and live riiiiight here. Kiddos also tend to go crazy over these. I doubled the recipe so we could have some at our house for dinner, and Liv and P both crushed their meals.
This recipe is the most similar to the one I follow; I just season the sauce well with cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a pinch of chili powder. I also use rotisserie chicken instead of cooking my own, and add a little bit of sauce to the chicken before rolling it in the tortillas with cheese.
To go along with it, I cut up a ton of fresh fruit
(fruit was THE BEST when I was exhausted in the newborn days and wanted something healthy.. but didn’t want to chop anything)
chips,
beans,
and chocolate chip cookies. (Phoebe’s grandma’s recipe.)
I took it over to their house and got to catch up for a little while I snuggled sweet baby V. It’s funny because while I love holding other people’s babies, it definitely reminds me that we’re definitely onto the next chapter of life.
What were you up to this weekend? Any fun fitness activities or events? Anyone signed up for fall races? Since I felt the hint of coolness in the air, I feel *almost* inspired to bring back the weekend long run. Eventually. 😉
Hope you have a happy Monday and I’ll see you soon!
xoxo
Gina
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Happy anniversary! Kimchi spring rolls and cornbread croutons sound amazing, sign me up. The air turned cool at night here as well and I’m already dreaming of all things fall.
yesssss. so ready for it!
We have the same blog titles today : ) And that is the most impressive baby meal I’ve ever seen!
great minds 😉 thank you, friend!
That’s such a smart idea to bring a pan of cut-up fruit! Definitely doing that for my next meal drop off!
yes!! a girl did that for us, and we snacked on it all week. it was incredible
Happy Anniversary! I was on vacation last week (which was awesome and relaxing and active all at the same time. I did a ton of yoga) so yesterday was grocery, errands, and meal prep (although not as impressive as your baby meal!). Today is back to the grind.
sounds like a perfect vacation!
That is such a perfect baby meal! Glad you guys had a nice anniversary. I am so beyond jealous of your big celebration plans/going to see Hamilton.
thank you! i’m SO EXCITED <3
Happy (belated) Anniversary! Looks like it was a good one 🙂 After re-reading “the next chapter in life” blog post, I’m curious if you ended up settling on a birth control plan?
we’re still doing FAM after all this time, and i also use the iperiod app to track my cycle. i’ve been doing it for so long now that i know when we need to avoid things or be super careful 😉
I bet my children and husband would love those enchiladas, putting it on the weekly menu now 🙂 I sent a note on the post above as well … just a curious question. My brother lives outside of Savannah and it is amazing down there. Valdosta and Thomasville looks just as fun!
let me know what you think! 🙂 and yes, savannah is AMAZING. i’ve been wanting to go back!
Okay I had to google Thomasville (this California girl has no sense of geography east of the Sierras), and holy moly it looks adorable!! Happy anniversary 🙂
it’s such a cute little place! hope you had a wonderful weekend, too <3
Thomasville favorites:
– The Bookshelf – adorable indie bookstore that hosts lots of authors and community events (going to their dot journaling workshop this week)
– Farmer’s Daughters – yum – have never had their food, but their wines and service are great
– Liam’s – holy cheeseboard (and great selection of drinks and assorted food as well)
– Jonah’s – fresh seafood, amazing hushpuppies (seriously, not like any other I’ve ever had before), cheesy grits, beautiful salads, and great deserts (the peanut butter chocolate pie is very heavy, but worth sharing)
– Grassroots Coffee – adorable spot and always has a fresh-baked gluten-free treat
You should take the family during the holidays they have a great “victorian christmas” event where the main road is closed to traffic and there are vendors and stores stay open late – really fun.
Also, once a month, there is a saturday sidewalk sale, which makes walking around even more fun.
Visit “the big oak” – it’s a huge oak tree right off the main drag – there’s a phone number to call that takes your photo in front of it from a street post – pretty neat.
thank you so much for sending these along!! i’ve had liam’s (LOVED), sweet grass, grassroots, and have visited the bookshelf, but NEED to check out the rest.
thank yoU!
How fun that you got to “get away” briefly. The boyfriend and I were serious bums this weekend. We didn’t feel like doing anything. But you know what? It felt glorious to relax and not have a zillion things to do or rush off to.
i love weekends like that 🙂
What a nice spread you made for your friend! Our group of friends also has a little meal delivery program we do for each other when new babies arrive — but I don’t think anyone has made a presentation that big hahaha. Glad you and the Pilot had a nice anni! Enjoy the rest of your friend’s visit! And THREE CHEERS for cooler weather. I need it!
thank you, friend! pretty soon you’ll be enjoying some baby meals.. and some wine, finally! 🙂
You are such a kind friend to provide so many healthy & delicious goodies for your new mama friends! <3
thank you, lovely! we appreciated it so much when the girls were newborns, so it makes me extra happy to share the love
first of all happy anniversary! Second holy prickly pear Margarita it’s like you are in the southwest still! And that looks like something I want to dig into, yum yum! So nice of you I’m sure your friend appreciates it so much!
thanks, girl- hope you enjoyed the weekend, too!