I have mentioned approximately a million times (sometimes obliquely, sometimes straightforwardly) how amazing my mom is. While I don’t need to show her my love with my wallet, it’s nice to be able to say “Mom, I have a decent job, and after all you’ve done for me, I can give you a wonderful Mother’s Day.”

I give presents like a child. When I’m ridiculously excited about giving something, I cannot wait to give it! So, when I went to the Gretchen Rubin book-signing a few weeks ago, I gave my mom a copy of The Happiness Project the next time I saw her. 

My friend Casey had told me that Oprah was coming to town this weekend for a Live Your Best Life weekend, which would culminate in a charity walk. My mom and I love Oprah, and I clearly like organized activity, so I signed us up, only telling my mom after I had signed us up that you had to be there at 7am. Minus the piercing cold wind (hi May, February called, it wants its weather back), the walk was a lot of fun, and my mom was proud of herself for finishing the walk — the first time she had done an organized walk! We ran into Casey and walked and chatted with her the entire time!

[This is going to be long, so click below if you care to read the rest. ;)]

We had planned on going to Penelope for brunch (kind of an inside joke), but the walk was over around 10, and we were starving, so I grabbed us some Dunkin’ Donuts.

We tried Penelope around 1:30, but there was an hour-long wait and we had somewhere to be at 3, so we tried Vezzo across the street. Behold below the SPINACH, FETA, SUNDRIED TOMATO AND BALSAMIC VINAGRETTE SALAD (yes, all my fave ingredients in one salad) and the margherita pizza we split:

THEN! I gave her tickets to see Come Fly With Me. (Little known secret: I am obsessed with Frank Sinatra. Little known secret #2: I cry at the drop of a hat. So, I cried like a baby during the last two songs.)

Finally, we wandered upon Trattora Trecolori for dinner, where I had some salmon and veggies, because I felt as though I was in serious veggie deficit. 

I had a wonderful day with my wonderful mom. I love you 🙂