What's your favorite day?

My favorite days are those (often on weekends or holidays) where something gently forces you to wake up before 11 10 a.m., so you have the whole day before you but very little planned. The entire day/world seems to be saying, "Bienvenidos, mi amiga." I must acknowledge the golden ticket to these days and hence why they are so rare: you also must have no responsibilities challenging you to duel. No laundry, dishes, dirty house, homework, errands or thank you letters to write (or at least you must be willing to silence their quiet whispers for your attention, and let's be honest, I'm actually pretty good at not listening them... have you seen my house?)

A few weeks ago Tony and I went strawberry picking and it might have been one of my favorite days ever. We were coming back from Smith Mountain Lake and we had nothing to get back to on Sunday evening. So we headed north on 29 to Seaman’s Orchard. We got a little lost thanks to Siri but 45 minutes later we arrived. When it’s a beautiful, warm, sunny day and you’re riding in a convertible on back country roads with the landscape of the Blue Ridge on every side you don’t really care that Siri took you down a creepy, one lane, gravel road path that led to a dead end.

Once we were back on the actual route to the farm the darndest thing happened. We’re sitting at a red light and Tony says, “I think that’s Solomon Tat behind us.” We start to speculate on the odds, what he’s doing in the middle of nowhere on 29 at noon on a random Sunday and where he’s headed. He passes us and Tony looks over again, “I really think that’s him.” The car pulls in front of us and the liscence plate says something like “CAVS45” Tony exclaims, “That’s totally him, CAVS45, his number was 45.”

Since we’re in a convertible I raise my hands and start waving like a bafoon. Solomon waves back. So I proceed to do the UVA cheer, "U – V – A, Go Hoos Go" (arms above your head like YMCA). Solomon responds with the fist pump of “Wah-hoo-wah, wah-hoo-wah! Uni-v, Virginia! Hoo-rah-ray, hoo-rah-ray, ray, ray--UVA!" It was sooo freakin’ awesome!

After a whole lot of getting lost and a stop at an antique store (where we picked up a Christmas present for Tony's parents... sorry you still have to wait 7 more months) we finally made it to the strawberries! It was so worth getting lost and a friendly hello along the way from our newest friend Solomon.

The day continued with a late lunch at Blue Mountain Brewery, then to Flying Fox Vineyard for a little wine tasting, then back home to put those strawberries to good use and make some of this!

Neither Tony nor I like strawberry ice cream, but ohhh man. You make HOMEMADE strawberry ice cream and I will tear that up! If you're looking for a recipe, I definitely recommend this one.

So that is my favorite day.