Life as a working mom is busy.  So when my mother-in-law offered to take the girls for the week, I was part disbelief and part “how can I maximize my time without the kids?”  We dropped of the kids Sunday night and proceeded to go out for sushi.  On Monday, my husband and I both went to work but I was amazed at how quickly I got ready.  So quickly, in fact, that I was able to stop somewhere for coffee before arriving at work (early, at that!).

On Tuesday we both worked again but decided to take Wednesday and Thursday off.  Well, on Monday evening I had ten women over for wine and cheese.  On Tuesday, when my husband arrived home I asked, “Where are you taking me to dinner?”  We meandered through the Pearl and finally ate at a shocking 8 p.m.!  We casually strolled the city streets with no where in mind and no schedule to watch.  It was quite freeing!

On Wednesday, we woke up and went for a run, quickly showered and went to breakfast at Compote (http://compotepdx.com/).  The poached egg stack was delicious.  I noticed these articoke flowers (pictured above) as we left the restaurant.  They were simply amazing and the bees were happily diving into their centers looking for nectar.  We then went to the garden store to pick up a few plants for our new backyard.  We ate lunch and decided to ride bikes down the Esplanade.  We are off to a friend’s Happy Hour later this evening.  All in all, a fun and productive “vacation” day enjoying my husband’s company!