Weekend Snapshots

Happy Monday, friends! I am currently in LA for work, but I thought you’d like to see how the man and I closed one hell of a week: with food and fun, of course. And an oil change? Just, watch.

Gourmet Picnic

When Friday rolled around, the man and I knew we were starving but we had quite the difficult time figuring out what exactly we wanted to eat for dinner. [Enter that “What do you want!?” “It isn’t that simple!” scene from The Notebook.]

Eventually, we realized we wanted a dinner of “little things,” like crackers, cheese, and grapes. So we decided our dinner theme would be Gourmet Picnic. We headed to Whole Foods and procured:

• brie, gouda, and goat cheeses
• whole wheat crackers
• fig spread
• delicious organic dill pickle spears
• crisp red grapes
• artichoke hearts
• …and Whole Foods Oreo-wannabe cookies

We also went to Joy Wine & Spirits on 6th Ave and got a barbera wine that mimicked the one Nick ordered on our anniversary dinner at Barolo Grill. It was delicious!

I’m not really sure how I don’t have a photo of the Oreo-wannabe cookies. Perhaps because we inhaled them all in record speed…

Nonetheless, the night was amazing and all of our food fantasies were fulfilled.

Adventures in Waiting

The next day we decided that both of our cars were due for oil changes, and since I wasn’t quite cleared for running just yet, we decided to spend a few hours logging miles by walking and exploring while waiting for the routine maintenance to be completed. We did all the things and it was so much fun.

Goodwill Finds

We went Goodwill hunting (heh) at the Broadway store and Nick scored the above $9 Atlas pasta maker for our Italian-night endeavors (since we broke his old one!).

I also found a cute Ann Taylor Loft dress for $9. Score! (Sorry, no picture just yet.)

After walking Broadway and sorting through racks and racks of the items at Goodwill, we were ready for a snack. Thankfully we’d packed some leftover grapes, cheese, and bread from our Gourmet Picnic. I snapped this adorable photo of Nick, mid-bread-enjoyment.

We enjoyed the view for a moment before heading back to my apartment to drop off our loot.

Rosebud Cafe

On our walk back, we decided that we needed to just sample a little something from Rosebud Cafe, a cute coffee shop two blocks from my place.

A cappuccino will do, thank you! Yum. We split this beauty and then finally made it back to my place (with a nice impromptu conversation with a neighborhood kitty-cat, like ya do when you’re a crazy cat person).

Fun side note: Nick surprised me with this lovely and thoughtful gift that morning. In the Company of Women, compiled by Design*Sponge creator Grace Bonney (whom we recently featured in Colorado Homes & Lifestyles), picks the brains of amazing female stylemakers and aims to truly empower and inspire.

Nick somehow read my mind and knew I’d love it. (What he didn’t realize is that Design*Sponge was the first home design website that made me long to work with similar content.) Sweet man.

Illegal Pete’s

Anyway, after dropping stuff off and gearing back up, we walked up and down the streets of Wash Park, talking and enjoying the neighborhood. Eventually we worked up an appetite and decided to hit up some grub at Illegal Pete’s.

We split the Baja beer-battered fish “tacos” (minus the tortillas) in a bowl with rice and chips on the side. It was divine.

By the time we were done savoring our meal and soaking in the sunshine, our cars were ready for pick-up. We walked back to get them and headed home so that I could start doing laundry and packing for LA.

All in all, we walked just over 5.5 miles and logged just under 12,000 steps. Not too shabby for a “no workout” day!

A “Leftover” Pizza

For dinner, we decided to throw together an easy pizza that incorporated some of our leftover Gourmet Picnic ingredients.

We paired it with a salad of arugula, heirloom tomato, and avocado deliciousness. Sorry for the terrible photo. I was hungry!

That’s a wrap.

How was your weekend?