Weekend Recap

So this is from a few weekends ago and the garden beds are thriving from so much rain! I love tracking the weekly growth! We got a new Buddha to watch over the veggies. :)

This year's first jalapeno! Reminds me of my favorite cheesy joke: "Why are peppers so nosy? Because they are always jalapeno business" LOL.

Although Townes has always been the sweetest dog, he's become way more attached lately. He follows me everywhere and just wants to lay with me...it's lovely!

On Friday night, we went to Iberian Pig with the in-law's. The food wasn't very vegetarian-friendly, but the cheese plate was great.

For dessert, ice cream! 

The new normal is taking Townes to play in the creek with the weather being in the high 90's in ATL. He loves this log and playing with his ball. 

On Saturday night, we cooked dinner (aka a feast) for Victor and Anna. We made vegan crab cakes (from Whole Foods and they are amazing), grilled asparagus, sweet potato, and cheese grits. It was nice having cheese grits the next morning with breakfast too!

Like the rest of the world, we went and saw "Jurassic World" on IMAX and it was awesome! I had low expectations, but really enjoyed it. Crazy that it had the highest-grossing weekend globally ever.

On Sunday, I headed to Los Angeles for the E3 conference. I stayed at The Standard Hotel downtown. It was very trendy, but the rooms were almost too trendy (aka not-practical). 

My friend, Lily, picked me up and took me to Good Times At Davey Waynes. It's a bar that you access in a vintage shop and you have to enter through a refrigerator door. 

Afterwards, we had an awesome dinner at Bar Ama - we shared brussel sprouts, sweet potato, a veggie tostada, and some chips with queso. 

We ended the night at Salt&Straw for ice cream. Lily went with the seasonal street food flavors and I went with the classics since it was my first time there. 

LA sure does has some great food and people :) It's always so nice to see such a friendly face when you are away from home...Thanks Lily!

How was your weekend?
xo

Weekend Recap

Hey hey! 

And we're back to another Monday!

This weekend was a good mixture of down time and then social commitments (which is always nice).

Friday night, we made this awesome potato, carrot, and leek soup from Blue Apron. My best friend Kelly sent me a free week's subscription for 3 meals. The big box arrived on Thursday with 3 set recipes and all of the necessary ingredients. I'll be honest, 2 of the 3 meals weren't my favorite, but it was nice to try new recipes and get out of my comfort zone. This soup with a french baguette was by far the fan favorite. If you're looking to try new recipes or cook in more, I'd definitely recommend Blue Apron. Ironically, Kelly also made this exact same Blue Apron meal on Friday night too (great minds)!

We ended the night watching the movie "Unbroken" about Louis Zamperini. I enjoyed it, but it's always so hard to watch war movies and see the ways people dehumanize others during wartime...anyways, that's for another post! :)

On Friday night, when I was leaving the gym, a HUGE storm ripped through Decatur (it even hailed!) and caused a lot of damage. Our yard was all messed up and a few trees fell in the neighborhood. One road was totally blocked off (as seen above) and one tree broke part of the wooden path trail in our neighborhood!

After a long walk, Townes was exhausted and decided that this pavement was the best spot to lay down on in the park. Silly pup.

The rest of Saturday was spent doing yard work (thumbs up for home-ownership) and cleaning up around the house and then on Saturday night, I went shopping with a friend and got a few things at H&M and Express. I hadn't been to a mall like that in years (which is probably a good thing) but it was fun. 

On Sunday, my best friend from high school, Melanie, and her boyfriend, Ryan, came into town from Oakland, CA. Our dear friends Jen and Daniel also came out to lunch. We all went to Krog Street Market to grab some lunch. I finally tried the falafel laffa wrap (say that 3x fast :D) at Yalla. It was super tasty, but huge! It's definitely enough for 2 people.

 YUM.

After lunch, we headed to Ladybird for some drinks alone the Beltline before heading home. It was so nice to hang out with great friends (old and new) and catch up! If only Melanie and Ryan lived closer *wink wink*!

I can never get enough of this lady! She's only 45 minutes away, but it's too far too...

The ladies ♥ My heart was so full!

On Sunday night, we celebrated my sweet niece, Brittany's, 21st birthday! Man, makes me feel old! We celebrated at the restaurant where she works, Eclipse di Luna. They had great tapas and had a whole side of the menu dedicated to vegetarian tapas so that was greatly appreciated! Hopefully she had a great birthday since she was surrounded by so much love. Her smile and energy is so contagious! I'm so lucky to be her aunt (and that she lives closer to me now)! Love you, Brit!

The whole gang (minus Jackie, who was missed greatly)!

 Another ladies shot :)

 The birthday girl and me! ♥

 

Thumbs up to a solid weekend! Now back to the grind with rain slated on the forecast all week...

How was your weekend?

♥

Weekend Recap: Easter Edition

 Hey y'all!

This past weekend was a whirlwind...although most weekends are these days!

On Friday, I had back-to-back calls for work and then went to Zumba to dance off some of the work week's stress. As soon as I got home, I hurried to get showered for dinner with our wonderful neighbors, Marge + Russ. Thankfully we just had to walk across the street to join them. 

We had the best time and they made a great veggie lasagna (with no noodles and lots of eggplant and swiss chard) with a nice salad. For dessert, we had panna cotta with homemade raspberry sauce. They sure know how to host! We ended up staying from 7 PM - 11:45 PM! Lots of cordials may have been involved. :) 

On Saturday morning, we did the standard neighborhood walk down to the old waterworks and enjoyed some of the new graffiti. I really enjoyed the sunshine, as always! Poor Townes had his teeth cleaned last week and they ended up having to pull 2 teeth due to an infection and they found a tumor on his leg and have sent the sample to UGA...hopefully it's benign! His mouth was so swollen.

 Afterwards, we headed to Tribble Mill Park to meet up with J's folks and sister (who is in town from Florida). We went on a nice hike around the park, but sadly had to keep Townes out of the water because of the stitches on his leg and we have to make sure it doesn't get infected. Poor guy!

 After the park, we headed to a local farm-to-table restaurant called Graft and had the best meal! 

They were super accommodating with allowing us to bring Townes and the food and service was top-notch. The restaurant is in an old house with a great patio and amazing interior. They even had corn-hole to play and a fire pit. 

We all shared this awesome cheese plate (it wouldn't be the south without pimento cheese, am I right?) and then I had a great veggie plate and J had a veggie pasta. They even do tours of the local Darby Farm where they get a lot of their produce and meats.

We all shared the dessert plate at the end. The chocolate bread pudding was incredible! Overall, it was a great meal and dining experience - I would totally go back!

On Easter Sunday, we headed to my cousin's house to see my mom's side of the family. As always, we didn't get enough time to see everyone since we had to hustle to J's family's Easter, but I am so thankful for the time we had. The sunshine, great family, good food, and setting was really nice.

I am so grateful for my mom and my sister. Aren't they the cutest?

We had a lot of fun exploring the property and old barn. Apparently there are ponds on the property, but we didn't go too far since we were on a limited time clock. 

 Then we headed back to Tribble Mill to the Oak Pavillion and got to spend time with the other side of the family. It's always so much driving on the holidays, but at least the weather cooperated!

 Then we headed back to Tribble Mill (yes...again) to the Oak Pavilion and got to spend time with the other side of the family. It's always so much driving on the holidays, but at least the weather cooperated! It was so nice being able to see everyone and catch up. Not a bad view from the pavilion, right?

We even got a group cousin shot at the park, but sadly we were missing a few! There's always next year.

Hope you all had a peaceful weekend and had lots of great food and egg hunts! :)

xo