It’s a Sunday, and Sunday at home means sleeping in. We’ve been traveling so much lately, so slowly waking up in our quiet apartment and staying in bed as long as we please feels like the best kind of indulgence.

I stretch and head out to water the garden. There’s something so peaceful about beginning my days watching water fall onto plants, with the city waking up below me. Starting the day with an exhale makes my small corner of the world feel a little bit more balanced. And having more time to spare on a Sunday makes it all the more peaceful.

Yesterday we went to our local farmers market and stocked up on so much local goodness. Today’s breakfast, fresh from the market: homemade sourdough slathered with strawberry jam from Kuhn Orchards. Plus coffee, of course. Strong black coffee is how I start every morning. This Sunday, there’s the newspaper for me and the World Cup for him.

My husband is getting wound up about the game, but I’m still in peaceful morning mode. Back out to the patio I go, then! I heard it’s going to be blistering hot today, but up here, life feels pretty perfect.

We’re having lunch with one of our favorite DC couples, so reading the paper and watching soccer rolls right into our date in Barrack’s Row, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the District.

Because our husbands have been traveling for work, we’ve had two dates in a row with only three of us. Today, though, our foursome is back! I  have too much fun to remember to take a picture of our group, or our food, but you’d better believe I snapped a photo of this beauty. Behold, the Bacon Bloody Mary!

The midday alcohol order is to help steel my nerves. See, T and I are house-hunting. Sort of. We hope to be buyers in the next year, so for now we’re attending Open Houses and learning as much as we can about the local market. We’re also doing some falling in love and falling into despair along the way. I mean, have you seen DC real estate prices? Go take a look. You might need a Bacon Bloody Mary yourself once you see the prices. So over lunch, our fun group catches up and we tell stories and talk real estate. I describe a fantasy listing just a block away, made for wishful thinking and lottery tickets. Nole and her husband decide to tag along. My fantasy kitchen a block away looks like this:

Up on the roof deck (!!!), we begin doing some math. What about co-housing? Surely the four of us could afford to live here! Hmmm…. maybe not. Hey, that couple down in the backyard looks kind of cool… think they’d want to join our commune?

Nole and A. realize this Open House thing is kind of fun. Just like that, we have companions for the next five Open Houses! Over the next couple of places, we find a living room that Nole and I really like, try not to scoff at the realtor who tells us we could dig a basement underneath the house, and talk about that elusive price/location sweet spot. We are also sweating, because it is 100 degrees of blazing heat outside, and we’re pounding the pavement in that heat to see as many houses as possible. Only, wait… aren’t we heading toward….where it’s shady… and where there are refreshments?! Salvation in the form of Eastern Market! Look at this blueberry bonanza:

None of us can resist these peaches. The cold peach juice on our parched tongues! Yep, it’s getting dramatic. But 100 degrees is dramatic, too!

My favorite plant guy is at Eastern Market every Sunday. I’ve been having trouble with one of my basil plants, and since my last basil plant from him is now a basil tree, I pick up one more. Also: free whoopie pie with purchase!

Waters and smoothies in hand, we’re back to the grind. If only every “grind” involved gorgeous homes and pretty streets!

Not every Open House is the stuff of daydreams, though. Nole calls this one a “skeezy college rental” while making an adorable wrinkled nose face. This should’ve been the tip-off:

But then just like that: a place we all love. There are big rooms, handsome windows, and tall ceilings. With an inviting pitcher of ice water on the counter, a mudroom ready for a photogenic lineup of Hunter Wellies, and a great backyard, we might just stay a while:

Only, it’s 4 p.m. and Open Houses are done for the day. We part ways with our fun companions and head back to the car. Thank goodness there’s some occasional shade, because in case you’ve forgotten, it is 100 degrees outside.

This is what we get for being too wrapped up in our lazy morning to have enough time to take the Metro: a blazing hot car that’s been parked in the sun for hours. It’s no wonder I look like this:

The ride perks me up, though. You know, I hope I’m never jaded living here. Seeing sights like this open up in front of you… it’s almost enough to forget how hot you are. Or be able to stave off that nap you’re about to take to recover from the heat.

Post-nap, it’s dinner time! We are stocked to the gills with farmers market goodness, so we get to cooking. I work on dressing a summer orzo salad, while T. starts grating cucumbers for tzatziki.

I go out to pick basil for the salad and feel good about my decision to put one of my basil plants out to pasture for the new one. The sad plant flowered when we were away on vacation and it was downhill from there. Check out the difference in leaf size between my struggling plant and one of my happy ones. (I sacrificed this big “happy” leaf since it was wind-whipped from the a storm earlier, hence the hole.)

I’m so excited to cook the farm-raised lamb we bought yesterday at the market. It’s been marinating since last night in a mixture of Greek goodness. On to the grill it goes… my stomach is growling!

While T. works the grill I make a blackberry cobbler. I rarely bake, so this is rare for me … but I can’t stop thinking about my sister’s cobbler we had at the beach last weekend.  When I saw blackberries at the market yesterday, I pounced. I decide to make it in a pie plate that I’ve never used, even though we received it as a registry gift almost two years ago. I told you I rarely bake!

Dinner is ready… and I want to eat on the patio. Even though the weather was miserable today, it’s so nice and breezy up here tonight. We don’t have a true dining table out there yet, but we make do on our little coffee table. And wow, is dinner good!

Soooo full… but not too full for blackberry cobbler!

Sunday comes to a close with bowls of yummy dessert, a little blogging, and a little ‘True Blood.’ Not a bad way to cap off a great day!

Thanks for following along, everyone – I hope you’ve enjoyed my Sunday full of quiet little adventures!