the bakery at cakes & ale

i finally got to sink my teeth into some of david sweeny's food. matilda and i met some of my best friends for an impromptu lunch at the bakery at cakes and ale where david is currently serving up some of the best lunch in the city. after hearing a steady flow of rave reviews of dynamic dish (sweeny's former home which i sadly didn't get a chance to visit before it closed), i couldn't wait to try his food. i ended up getting the corn chowder and one of the best salads i've ever had. seriously. there was also a gluten-free grain bowl on the menu which was spicy and delicious. the atmosphere of the bakery is polished but laid-back and i love a menu with only a few items. makes it much easier on my indecisive brain. the pastry case was also inviting. i must say. a truly lovely spot to meet friends or a loved one for lunch.

simple pleasures

speaking of simplicity, these are some recent simple pleasures that i have been LOVING:

1. date night. we went to the chicken and the egg which felt completely out of body. we are so not spoiled when it comes to dining out in marietta, so this place was the jam! we tried several cocktails including the debutant ball (as shown above). they were all the bomb. i would go there just for drinks, but lucky for us the food was good too. i had the burger but look forward to trying their cobb salad. the banana pudding was also pretty tasty. hello bananas that have been soaked in bourbon. yeah, i'm down with you. we finished our date night with this epic ending. tear. so great. i literally fist pumped (bumped?) at the end.

2. shelling pistachios. who knew that the simple act of shelling would make me feel totally at peace. matilda was tearin' the house up, but i didn't care. just sat there shelling. i made this for dinner. i loved it. didn't get a huge round of applause from the carnivore.

3. standing on the hot porch barefoot, drinking ice water with lemon. so simple yet totally refreshing. working in retail, my feet take a beating. this always feels so good.

4. supporting the handmade community. i went to this fun event thrown by west elm + my girl ginny. i bought the most amazing handprinted fabric from the nicest girl.

5. the most wonderful pleasure i've been experiencing recently is my morning coffee, outdoors with this book and my heavenly father. really can't say enough about it.

6. hanging with the cutest little girl i know. tantrums and all. recently everything is "or something." "mama, is your hair wet or something" "mama, is that guinness or something." crack me up. i got her the raddest sweater ever from h+m. i might have swung in there post etsy event. whoops!

7. yoga. went to the most amazing mixed anusara class. i'm still sore! it felt ridiculously good.

hope your weekend is full of simple pleasures. what are yours? talking about them makes me happy. i have grilling out fajitas to look forward to, some much needed family time, church and soaking up the last bits of summer goodness. who am i kidding? we have at least two more months...

birthdays! partay!

yesterday my entire family went to eat at this little columbian restaurant on the square. my dad was there too but i was too distracted by matilda acting crazy to get a good picture of him. we ate a lot of fried food: plaintains, yukka, pork rinds. so. good. we were celebrating jake's birthday. i'm so happy to have him home. he's been away for months working on organic farms in montana. i love my brother so much. baby bro.

for dinner i had the half roasted chicken which was slow cooked and then flash fried. shut up. i have to say though that my favorite parts of the meal were the chickpea salad and the lentil soup. divinity. then because it was jake's birthday they sent over some cheesecake from their sister bakery next store. can't.even.talk.about.it. go there now.


after talking to matt about his juice fast, i'm thinking i need to get on that train. we were both so inspired by this movie. can you believe that a year ago today sam and i embarked on changing our lives by eating organic, healthy food (99% of the time)? i'm going to do a victory post specifically dedicated to that if i can get a chance this week. busy, busy.


for now i will leave you with what i allow matilda to do in restaurants to keep her happy:




and a very happy birthday to my mama! yes, their birthdays are a day apart. lots of celebrating this week...

blue moon pizza

when it comes to vacation meals, sam and i don't really hold back. one of our favorite things in the world is pizza. i have been dying to try blue moon pizza for months after my friend paul recommended it. so freaking good. the bbq chicken pizza left me craving more. seriously. the server said we'd have leftovers... not so much.

plus they bring out "kid dough" for small people right when you sit down. not that matilda liked it, but it was a nice distraction for five seconds. i'll let you in on a little something. if we want to have dinner out...

cinderella comes too.
what's your guilty pleasure? have a relaxing, sun on your face, time to read a book, eat too much pizza, kind of weekend.