meals, miles & more!

what a weekend
meghann, i hope you don’t mind my use of your blog’s name in my title — the alliteration just perfectly captures what i feel like i did all weekend! some serious ground was covered (both by foot + in my trusty VW), fun was had with new friends and old, and the whole experience was punctuated with little bursts of absolutely freaking fabulous food.

case in point:

the first set of miles . . .

shivering pre-race
was followed by a delicious meal:

my curried chicken salad + someone’s side-dish assortment – a great stop for a post-race lunch
miss meals & miles herself, in action!

of course, no post-race meal in charlottesville would be complete for me without a stop at arch‘s.

vanilla frozen yogurt blended with pretzels, bananas, and peanut butter cups
delicious and practically an extra meal in itself! (my heart, however, still holds fast to LoYo. not even a contest!)

wine intermezzo
right, we DID do something besides eat, drink, and gab . . . there was wine, too! our first stop was at blenheim vineyards, where we each got tastings.

apparently, i took this very seriously . . .

photo by meghann
i even took notes!

heather just smiled and tolerated my type A wine tasting tendencies. what lovely company 🙂

the grounds were lovely:

my favorite wine they had was their syrah.

kath was up for one more, and who were we to argue with the birthday girl!? we headed to kluge estate, a picturesque spot nestled in the trees.

i loved the glasses they had for tastings:

and this turned out to be a great place for a group shot.

me, christine, meghann, kath, allie, heather
courtesy of miss allie‘s camera.

saturday’s culinary grand finale
josh (who had headed back to catch some ZZZ’s and a bif of the UVA game met me back at kath’s for a lovely autumn potluck. let me just say that the guests contributing to this potlock really know their way around the kitchen! josh and i contributed some wine, cheese, and jam that we bought at the farmer’s market, but my absolute favorite was right on this plate at the 3:00 position . . .

bacon-wrapped dates!!
i went back for at least 2 more. meghann even had the genius idea to top this sweet and salty treat with goat cheese (!). i will definitely be recreating this for a dinner party at home sometime.

dinner was followed by a lesson/tasting of three different pumpkin beers. kath‘s favorite was the schafly‘s, but i liked the cottonwood.

matt really got into this lecture!
as the hours ticked by, our lovely hostess started uploading her photos to get a jump start on the evening’s posting duties. as a once-a-day blogger, i am in awe of those who log on and recap right after a party! it was fun to see how a professional does it.

just a few more miles
8, to be exact! honestly, i had no NEED to run on sunday. but i relish any chance for a long run with friends — it brings me back to the days siobhan and i hit the tobacco trail on a near-weekly basis (miss you, s!). and i knew i wouldn’t have a chance to hang out with these ladies again in the near future. meghann had 8 miles on her marathon training schedule, so kath and i went along for the ride.

post run, in the sun
as always, we had a wonderful time chatting and the time absolutely whizzed by. my achilles tendons are a bit sore today, but the experience was worth it.

so there you have it: enough BLEND action this weekend to make a smoothie. kath, thank you for putting together a wonderful bday weekend!