Happiness is . . . SUNSHINE!!!

Ok, so happiness is ALSO finding a pencil, two kinds of ice cream, having a sister, etc, etc . . .but it is--right at this moment--golden, blissful, blindingly reflective (off of the snow) Syracuse sunshine.  Jess and I have yearning, ACHING for sunshine these past few weeks - I'm tempted to even go so far as to say it may have something to do with some sneaky feelings of being overwhelmed and gloomy lately!  Or it could also be that I'm PREGNANT  - aren't there a couple hormones that tend to act up during pregnancy?  Hmmm?  Just a few?

That top picture is of Jesse basking in the sunlight - he's actually laughing because just a moment before he was making a face much more akin to a rapture-like gratefulness, kinda like my face here:  (tho my face does appear almost tearful~!)

To celebrate the Un-Syracuse-Like-Weather, we went over to the Regional Market this morning.  Only a fraction of the vendors stick it out the whole year through - and it's amazing how much more reasonable the crowds are when it's 25 degrees out - and you mostly find a lot of cheeses, wines, preserved foods (jams, honeys, pickled items, maple syrup), grass-fed beef and pork, ALL things we still love.  And there is a decent showing of produce, enough that we really should be purchasing more of our weekly "essentials" at the market.  Oh!  And there's at least one pasta guy there as well - which brings me to our next photo, an artfully arranged showing of some of our purchases today.  The two kinds of pasta are tomato cracked pepper and lemon parsley - can you guess which is which?
And seeeeeeds!!  We have big plans for our flower beds this spring/summer.  We're hoping that gardening can be a project that I can continue to help out with while pregnant and then with baby (with plenty of bonnets and other shading materials!).  And big plans means perennials and some container foods/herbs, but it also means EASY ANNUALS.  And I've definitely come to appreciate the fun and fresh factor of annual flowers after enjoying Mama Margaret's zinnias and cosmos last year.

We also had brunch for the first time at a place on the Northside called Sugar Pearl Cafe - but I'll save that for another post :)  All in all, we had a really nice Saturday morning in Syracuse.  We're hoping to get a little better acquainted with all that Syracuse has to offer in the way of food (it is yummy), community (there are several!), and kid-friendly spots and activities.  We're looking forward to the CSA-CNY growing and eating season starting up again - and the nice folks from Grindstone Farms that come with it :)  We'll be POD leaders again this year - we may even have electricity out in the garage this year so come Fall, people wont' have to be picking out their produce in the dark!  FANCY.