She Likes Purple

Washington, DC: Part One

Our DC trip snuck up on us (as you might remember, we quickly went from a June Alaskan trip to an April DC one), and as we rode the shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal at DFW, I snapped a picture of us that kind of hiliariously summed up our preparedness for the trip.

We look so confused! And tired! Are we...going on vacation or are we going into a stressful work meeting? No one can be sure.

Anyway, the flight itself was thankfully uneventful. We got into DC, grabbed a Super Shuttle, and finally arrived at our hotel. (Quick travel math: Dulles arrival + Super Shuttle ride + Dupont Circle hotel = A MILLION TOTAL TRAVELING HOURS.) We booked our hotel room at the Topaz Hotel through Kristin, a blog friend who does travel advising, and when I mentioned to a few people that it was a Kimpton property, they told me you could request a goldfish be delivered to your room. 

A goldfish! 

I was quite excited by this because I think what our travels have really been missing is pets. I did have a brief panicked moment right before I got to the counter to request the goldfish because what if my friends had steered me wrong? What if they DIDN'T offer free goldfish and I requested one and things got awkward?

Thankfully, there was no issue and Spike (what I named him) was delivered to our room without incident.

(From top to bottom, left to right: Mike and me at Good Stuff Eatery, us in front of the beautiful Capitol building; Spike, our fish!; the Library of Congress)

After we welcomed Spike to our room, we headed out for another Spike. Spike's Good Stuff Eatery! The burgers and fries were just so-so, sadly, but the milkshakes. Guys, THE MILKSHAKES ARE GAME CHANGERS. 

Mike and I split a mini-toasted marshmallow shake and then went back two more times on our trip to enjoy our own, non-mini-sized ones.  

(MINI IS TOO SMALL)

After dinner, we walked around the mall, catching our breath at every turn. To see this place come alive in front of us, a place we see in movies and in pictures and in textbooks was just incredible, I nearly cried a dozen times. Maybe it was the history major in me, or the eternal sap, or both, but what a breathtaking part of our country. I felt really lucky to be there.

We stopped in the Air & Space Museum before it closed that day and then we headed back to our hotel room. 

We made it back that night to enjoy the complimentary happy hour in our hotel lobby (ANOTHER reason to only stay at Kimpton properties from now until forever), and I requested one glass of wine to enjoy in the lobby and one to enjoy in our hotel room. Yes, I requested two glasses in one hour's time, and I was a little hesitant to do this. Was that...overstepping the complimentary happy hour boundaries? When I went up to ask for the second glass, I said, "I'd like to take this glass to our room. Is that...can I...IS THAT ALLOWED? SHOULD I PAY FOR THE SECOND GLASS." The happy hour bartender got a glimpse into why I rarely drank in high school. I am very much a rule follower and I have a deep fear of authority. I didn't want to break any rules! HAPPY HOUR RULES! LIKE THERE IS SUCH A THING!

Anyway, I think I took a long bath and then crawled into bed at 7:30pm that night, where we watched a movie, ordered room service dessert, and remembered why vacations are so lovely. 

(When I told Mike that a book, a bed, and a glass of wine is basically my favorite scenario, he said, "You know, you could read and drink wine in bed at home ANY TIME YOU WANT." I hate when he makes so much sense. STOP MAKING SENSE, MIKE.)

The next day, we slept in and met Caitlin (!!) for lunch at Sweetgreen, which was absolutely delicious. Texas, go ahead and open a handful of these. We also got a tour of Caitlin's office. She works at National Geographic and Mike suggested I apply. If he thought my commute NOW makes me bitchy!

(Us, at National Geographic! This was just the hallway. We're very bad at choosing photo backgrounds.) 

After lunch, we headed back to the mall and walked around a lot. We had dinner reservations, so I told Mike that the one thing I absolutely had to do before dinner was see the White House. 

Guys.

We saw the freaking White House, and I had to AGAIN stop myself from tearing up. The White House! (I'm like the most cliche tourist there ever was.) President Obama was sadly out of town this day, which explains why he didn't come out and invite us in for dinner. 

Two little boys were standing beside us as we snapped pictures, and one said to the other, "What do you think is INSIDE there?" The other, "Probably a really big tennis court." 

From there we walked to dinner at Zaytinya with Mike's uncle, aunt, and cousin. (Seems like we had JUST eaten lunch, I know, but I swear there were MILES of walking between lunch and dinner. So many miles. We were so tired and hungry by the time dinner rolled around.)

Dinner was fantastic, and I recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a meal in DC. Favorite dishes: hummus, the crispy Brussel sprouts (OMG, these were amazing), and the crab cakes.

When we got back to the hotel, we headed next door for a drink at the Tabard Inn where we saw Janet Napolitano, although we only KNEW it was her after asking the waitress who the Secret Service dudes were with. Still, DC, you are so charming with all your politicians, just having drinks in the same bar as us. In Dallas, I've seen David Archuleta and Jake Pavelka. NOT THE SAME.

(At Tabard Inn, cocktails and flash photography)

The next day we headed out of town, and Mike had no idea where we were going. I TOTALLY surprised him. That's part two, my friends. Check back sometime in August for that recap.

Best Eats in Southern California

I think I said I'd round-up where we ate in California, when we were vacationing there a couple weeks ago. Whether or not you care about restaurants you may never try yourself, I'll still throw this post up. If only to live vicariously through my three-weeks-ago former self.

When we got off the plane, it was only 8am, but we'd been up for something like five hours already, so we were ready to EAT. We flew into LAX, even though we were staying in Orange County, so we decided to go in the completely opposite direction (it was 8am! we had all the time in the world!) and head to Hollywood for breakfast.

We ate at Joan's on Third. I had a delicious omelet (though you can ONLY get three things in your omelets there, no budging, which made me pout) and the rest of the table had pancakes, which I sampled (yum!). I also had the strongest cup of coffee of my life because, again, UP FOR FIVE HOURS AT 8AM.

We dined outside! Because California sure knows how to do weather even if it really doesn't know how to do inexpensive anything.

Hours and hours later, I headed down to Laguna (dragging Natalie along with me) to visit with some of my favorite bloggers. Rebecca suggested Nick's, and we had this lovely table right by the street, with a breeze coming in. I had already eaten a big meal, so I got the fried deviled eggs (they were....interesting) and a delicious farmer's market cocktail. It was filled with fresh berries and was just so refreshing. A few ladies got burgers that looked mouth-watering.

The next morning, we found Off the Vine, a breakfast place that was Zagat-rated. It was off the beaten path (a little bit) but INCREDIBLE. I still can't believe I didn't give in and get the peanut butter and chocolate French toast! Intsead, I opted for a mimosa (yay vacation!) and the chili verde quiche. It was TO DIE FOR. So good! I'd go back in a heartbeat, if I could.

I would like a mimosa right noooooow.

After some time at the beach later that afternoon, we were driving along the PCH and decided to stop for dinner somewhere nearby. I turned to Mike and said, "What do you feel like?" He answered with pizza, so I grabbed my phone, typed pizza into Google Maps and we were two minutes away from a pizza joint. We risked it and stopped into Gina's Pizza. It was good! (I love love love it when that happens.)

The next morning, we planned a beach day, so we met up with friends at Mutt Lynch's for brunch. We left so full, I could have napped right on the beach. It was insanely crowded, but on a non-Labor Day day, I'd recommend stopping here before your own day at the beach.

Disneyland was the next day and after a full day of searching for Mickey and riding rides and eating mouse-earred ice cream, we just wanted a good, sit-down meal. So we sought out a place Mike really wanted to go to (even though we were exhausted and it was 20 or so minutes away) and I'm SO GLAD WE DID. We went to Slater's 50/50 (here's the review I wrote on Food Lush) and it was FANTASTIC. Best burger ever! We had such a nice final night in California, toasted glasses, grubbed on food (all while Kyle snoozed on the bench, zonked from his day at Disney), and just relaxed a little after such an exhausting day. This place might be our first stop if we ever return.

I felt like we had non-stop restaurant winners on our trip. Good job, California!

September Menu + Workouts!

So, hey! It's September 10th. This is what happens when you take a relaxing, sun-soaked vacation. TIME COMPLETELY FLIES BY. Anyway, I fell out of my work-out routine with gearing up for vacation, being on vacation (check out the very best burger in all the world I ate while in California, for starters), and then returning from vacation, but I'm back at it now.

The recipes I included this month, in case you'd like to make them or pin them are: Cheesy Broccoli Orzo, Vegetarian Taco Salad, Roasted Corn + Tomato Soup, Skinny Mozzarella Sticks, Mexican Inspired Grilled Cheese (I'm going to try to create this recipe myself. LIKE A REAL ADULT OMG), 5-ingredient Coconut Curry, Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls, Healthier Fettuccine Alfredo, Spicy Black Bean Tostados, Stuffed Grilled Peppers (making this one up too).

As you can likely tell, September is a wee bit nuts for me, especially that third week when I'm on both a work trip and a semi-work trip (blogging-related trip) so cooking is a little light and working out might be a little tough. 

Wish me much luck through it!

Forget Fancy, We Have Fast

We had our rehearsal dinner at the Reno In-N-Out Burger. I was sure it was going to be a big ole disaster. We couldn't rent out the entire place -- or at least we couldn't for $20, which is what I offered them -- and we sure as hell couldn't make In-N-Out unpopular on a Friday night, so we got smart and planned our rehearsal dinner for mid-afternoon, during what we hoped would be a lull in the burger crowds.

It worked. We had 40-or-so people in that In-N-Out, and we all sat more-or-less together and the entire thing cost $200. (Natalie even had seconds!)

(Everyone in this picture was with us.)

After dinner, we hit up Reno for drinks and gambling.

It was a pretty fantastic night, that night before our wedding, so last night, the night before our fourth anniversary, we drove about a half hour to the newest craze in North Texas:

The lines were insane and I would have laughed in the face of all that insanity any other night but last night, when I was full of nostalgia (and hunger). We waited about an hour, in a very well-orchestrated line, and we paid $16 for our anniversary dinner.

Kyle even approved.

(He approved right after he covered his arms in stickers. Obviously.)

What to Do in Dallas: Eat at The Commissary

I'm off to see Forks Over Knives tonight, a documentary about a plant-based diet and what consuming animal products means for your health and the environment. So, let me post about this delicious, mouth-watering burger now instead of later because later the thought of this burger might make me a wee bit nauseous and/or socially guilty.

THIS BURGER WAS SO GOOD.

(I ate half at lunch and half the next day for lunch, and it was delicious both sittings, which made me love it all the more.)

This burger is from new gourmet burger joint The Commissary, although the prices don't match the menu, which I love. (This burger was $7, which included the shoestring fries.)

I want to go back and try just about every other burger offering, eventually.

I won't go so far as to say it outranks Twisted Root for me, but it was really close.

Burger Day!

All Friday, Mike and I texted and emailed back and forth with things like It's Burger Day! WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT BURGERS! Although he wasn't nearly as excited as I was, he pretended well.

I kicked off our burger dinner with champagne as everyone should kick off burger dinners.

I only had half a glass but that's because we were on a schedule not because I couldn't have inhaled the whole bottle.

This is the diablo burger from Fred's. It's spicy but not too spicy. You should try it if you're ever in town. I could be biased because I went without meat for 12 (long) weeks but this was so damn delicious.

I only ate (about) half, which might have been more of an accomplishment than the previous 12 weeks.

It was a fun, fun night.