Hi friends!
I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. My long weekend was a great one, and here were some of its highlights:
I kicked off my weekend with a walk along the beach with my little family. I had planned on getting an at-home workout in afterwards, but wound up not feeling like it at all. Most of the time when I’m feeling this way I just push through an exercise session, but once in a blue moon I just skip it – especially when I’ve worked out every other day that week as was the case on Friday night.
Instead of working out I baked banana bread, read blogs, made white broccoli pizza and watched a movie…..and it was fabulous.
Saturday morning I met up with a few other women for a hike at Torrey Pines State Beach. It was a perfect day weather-wise, and the views aren’t too shabby, as you can see below!
I hadn’t been to Torrey Pines in awhile because it’s a bit of a drive from my house, and more importantly, because the park doesn’t allow dogs. Hiker traffic is heavy, which I usually steer away from on trails, but it’s so gorgeous walking along the coast, so I was glad that I got the chance to spend the morning there.
My weekend also included a waterfall hike with my hubby and pup (full recap on that to come!)….
…post-hike acai sorbet bowls…
…and some yoga practice:
And then there was one other major highlight from my long weekend: my indulgent Saturday date night with my hubby. We hadn’t been out for a date night alone in quite awhile, and it was a fun treat!
We spent the evening in Carlsbad, a nearby cute beach town that I hang out in often. First we headed to the beach to catch the sunset. 
Then we stopped into Witch Creek Winery to do a wine tasting.
The tasting room has been there for 20 years and has some fun touches to it, like this ‘Endangered Wines’ board:
Overall, I wasn’t crazy about the wine itself, except I did like their port and their cabernet. Regardless, I never have a bad time wine tasting and it was a fun way to kick off our date. 
Next we walked over to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Gregorio’s, where the alcohol kept flowing. They had some fun cocktails on their menu, including this cranberry mule: 
When we got to the restaurant we were starving, so A and I split their spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer. Mmm, it was the highlight of the meal!
For our entrees, A and I both went the carbolicious route and ordered pasta dishes. Mine was a house specialty: fusilli with vodka sauce with tomato chunks. 
It was more alfredo-ish than vodka sauce-like, which made it a little too heavy for me, but the dish definitely hit the spot for my pasta craving. My hubby had a bolognese angel hair dish: 
Afterwards, we walked over to a coffee shop, where A had a cup of caffeination, while I enjoyed hot chocolate as my dessert – since there must always be dessert on date night in my book. 🙂
A also taught me how to play chess over our night caps, which I had never played before. It’s a pretty complicated game to try to strategically play when you’re first learning and have had a few drinks! But it was fun nonetheless, as was our date night in its entirety.
So tell me… When was your last date night? What was the last awesome appetizer you had? What workouts did you do over the weekend?
Awww, it looks like you had such a nice date night! Your hiking pictures are beyond beautiful. I’m so jealous!
THANKS! Yes, it was a fun night for sure!
It’s funny to see all these Italian dishes that you could never get in Italy! We don’t eat pasta dishes drowning in cheese ehehehe it would be too heavy for me too. We don’t even have that spinach artichoke dip, Alfredo and Mac and Cheese. I guess technically these dishes falls into the category “Italian-American food”.
I am definitely loving the acai bowl and envying the weather and the scenery you can enjoy. You are so lucky! Where I am now (Denmark) it’s always dark , snowy and extra cold, I cannot even go out for a walk 🙁
Ha! Probably, although when I studied abroad in Sicily, I definitely ate many cheesy pasta dishes. Where in Italy are you from?
Oh my goodness! I need those hiking views in my life! So gorgeous! And that banana bread looks amazing!
That is my FAVORITE banana bread recipe… it is so tasty and I love surprising loved ones with a loaf of it from time to time!
Sounds like a fun date night!! I love wineries – it’s been awhile since we went to one (not many in Kansas!!).
Chess is not my thing- my boys like to play but I just don’t enjoy it.
Visiting wineries is one of my favorite pastimes 🙂 They’re usually so pretty and peaceful, and I love trying new wines. Plus, pretty much every person you come across at a winery is in a good mood!
Your hiking photos are just gorgeous! It’s been so gray and cold here!
It’s amazing how much more time you have when you don’t workout! I’d never give it up though!
I had a great appetizer on Saturday night. We went out to dinner with my parents (and the baby!) and we had this awesome ricotta with mint, chili and some other stuff I don’t remember. It was delicious!
I <3 ricotta!
Well lady, soon enough you'll be in the sunshine!! Australia's hot & sunny right about now 🙂 🙂 🙂
Nicole, are you sure you’re not in Australia with that weather right now! 😉
Fun looking weekend- But that pasta….WOW. I hope your other half finished it off!
Haha oh yea, I barely ate half of it & my hubby had the rest for lunch the next day!
That looks like a lovely date night! I’d say our last date night was for my birthday in September. We went to this fabulous Italian restaurant and it was amazing. Yum.
Let’s see…I did PiYo over the weekend. I love those workouts!
Nice, I tried PiYo at a blogger event last year and it was fun!