Baking and biking and growing

In the past weeks, our weekends have retreated into a pattern. Saturday mornings involve waking up late, cozying up on the couch watching DIY Network transform cringe-worthy bathrooms (albiet usually nicer than our own) into little private oases of tile and excess, and dreaming about a house of our own someday. I laze the morning away wrapped in blankets while Jared cooks pancake masterpieces in the kitchen. 

And in the afternoons, we bake. This week Jared cooked up a recipe combining two of his all-time favorite foods--bread and peanut butter. He found this recipe for peanut butter bread here, and though it didn't turn out exactly as hoped, he was pretty happy with the results.

For anyone out there who enjoys photos of food (*ahem Katie*) here's a picture of the bread:

And then we had a special treat on Sunday--homemade strawberry shortcake. 

The strawberries were early and not quite perfect, and the biscuits were a bit too healthy, but all in all it made me miss summer :)

Fortunately, this Sunday was a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver. I took this picture as proof:

On Sunday, Jared and I headed downtown Vancouver with our friends Jared and Elise to bike around and see the beautiful cherry trees in blossom. It was beautiful, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that more than just trees were blooming--there were daffodils and tulips and some little blue forget-me-nots that made me smile and wish I had a garden plot. 

It was a pretty beautiful day. I'm not that much of a big city girl, but something about Vancouver really is spectacular--in one glance you get city skyline, ocean and mountains. And, of course, odd statues:

We biked for a while, weaving through tourists and locals and dogs. And for a couple minutes we stopped to just put our faces in the sun. 

It was a lovely little spring getaway. And this morning, as I drove to work in rain and slush and even a little sloppy snow, I was glad to have soaked in that sun. 

Rumor has it, folks back in Michigan are experiencing some similar spring let-downs :)

Oh, and one more point of pride from this weekend:

I have created life. Ok, not so much :) But I have planted a tiny little window-sill herb garden, and this weekend I was overjoyed to see the first little sprinkles of basil shoot up. Since Saturday, they've grown a little bit taller every day, and have grown into a special itty-bitty place in my heart. Traditionally, I'm not so gifted with keeping plants alive...but these will be different. They will thrive. 

Hopefully :)