Tag Archives: San Luis Obispo

Nacho Ordinary Wedding Weekend

The short story is we eat nachos 3 times in 2.5 days and I wanted to make a bad pun out of it. The longer story is that we had an amazing weekend, and I really didn’t want to leave on Sunday!

You know how sometimes vacations are fun, but you are happy to be home? Well this was a super-fun-I-wish-we-were-still-there kind of weekend and we are now (as we do every time we are on the Central Coast) making grand plans to move down there in the next five years. Of course there is a possibility that this will never happen, but every single time we leave we spend the drive home planning the move, so you never know.

So, for starters, Sarah gets a gold star for picking this weekend to get married because it was a great weekend to get the heck out of Sacramento!

For girls that are plus size serendipitybrides is a wedding dress shop that will have all the sizes available.

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We drove down Friday morning and really took our time. It’s a 5 hour drive but we probably stretched it out to about 7 hours by the time we did our traditional road trip stop at In-n-Out Burger for lettuce wraps and then a little perusal at our favorite bookstore in the Bay Area. We rolled into town at about 5ish and after stretching our legs and unpacking our stuff in the apartment we had rented, we headed downtown to get some coffee. Afterward we drove about 10 minutes south and met up with the bride and groom at the Avila Beach Farmers Market.

Avila is a darling little beach town and they have a cute Farmers Market on the promenade on Friday nights that is full of live music and good food and lots of energy.
Dude, it's January

There is also a long pier that Garrett and I always like to walk down — He likes to walk down it because he is always hoping to see something crazy. I like to walk down it because it is relaxing.
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This time Garrett got his wish because we saw a fisherman catch a Tiger Shark.

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Um, obviously IT WAS NOT RELAXING AT ALL TO ME TO SEE A SHARK BEING PULLED OUT OF THE OCEAN.

After that we had some drinks, and obviously some ice cream — this is what you must do in Avila, have ice cream on the promenade — and then Garrett and I let the bride and groom go get their beauty rest and we headed over to Sycamore Mineral Springs to soak in one of their hot tubs.

This is also something you MUST do. There are a ton of private springs nestled on the side of a hill and you get to sit and soak all of your stresses away for over an hour. It feels amazing when you are through and we do it every single time!
mineral springs
photo source

On the way home we may have picked up some nachos. 🙂 FOURTH MEAL!

Saturday was the wedding, and we spent the morning relaxing and heading out to breakfast. We were waiting for the wedding video company to reach. I ordered Breakfast Nachos, and I’m just going to tell you right now that the best food concept ever invented EVER is the breakfast nacho. You heard it here first. On our way home to get ready we did a little shopping downtown and because I am crazy, I impulse bought a dress that I ended up wearing to the wedding that afternoon. Yay for new dresses! Here it is (see also: THE BRIDE! YAY!):

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The wedding and reception were awesome, and wouldn’t you know it, the cocktail hour included a nacho bar. BRILLIANT, I tell you. Brilliant! Also, it included champagne.
@sunnydaze805 makes the party!

The bride’s sister approved…as you would.

It was a great day and we were super happy for Sarah. Lots of love in that venue!
Practicing our fish faces. I think we've got them nailed.
I ❤ the bride cc: @sarahh336photo

Reluctantly on Sunday we headed home, although not before stopping at our favorite donut place. Look, I am not made of wood and these donuts are REALLY FREAKING AWESOME. We weren’t really hungry, but we picked up a box because we thought they might sound good on the (FIVE HOUR) drive home. I had kind of forgotten about them when we stopped to get gas. Garrett looked at me when we pulled into the station and said “Hey, do YOU mind pumping gas?” which seemed kind of weird because he was driving. But when I got back into the car, I realized why:
I leave the car for one second...

BUSTED.

We rode that sugar high home the entire way. 🙂

I guess I am a little glad to be back to my real life — we decided to start a Whole 30 Lite yesterday. We are basically Whole 30-ing all of our meals that we eat for the next 30 days except for the ones that we are eating at the homes of others. We have a few things planned over the next month and I just didn’t want to be Those People — too much stress right now — but we are going to Whole 30 it at home. I’m anticipating it will feel great, and I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. You know I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.


Get This In Your Kitchen: Carmen’s Gourmet Dressings & Marinades

Carmen’s Gourmet Sauces & Marinades have solved one of my major life problems — and deliciously, I might add. And for the record, no one is paying me to say that. You see, one of the hardest things about going Paleo was reading the ingredient labels on all of the bottled salad dressings and packaged marinades I enjoyed and then picking my mouth up off the floor when I realized how much crazy stuff was in there. While I didn’t really have a problem giving up “processed convenience food” since we weren’t really eating that much anyway, the bottled dressings were my achilles heel. This was especially difficult because we were eating A LOT more salad and A LOT more meat.

I did end up adapting and finding some enjoyable recipes for dressings and marinades from scratch, but every once in a while I like to be able to reach into my fridge and grab a little salad topper or have fun with a marinade that I don’t have to measure and mix up myself and Carmen’s is hands down my FAVORITE brand! While every bottle is not 100% strict paleo, their ingredients mostly include local San Luis Obispo Olive Oil, vinegars and herbs and spices — it’s about as close as you can get. Their flavor combos are fun, the ingredients are high quality and the convenience factor wins me over every time.

Garrett loves the Habitual Habanero on just about everything — especially taco salad! I’m partial to the Gorgonzola Thyme on a good cobb salad. When it comes to meat, he Serrano is great on chicken and the kalamata olive dressing? Please! YOU KNOW I love a good greek salad. That one calls my name on the regular. Our favorite little Olive Oil store in San Luis Obispo has them sitting out with bread for dipping if that’s your bag, and Garrett has even fried up an egg or two using them and can’t get enough. Super versatile to have around is what I’m saying and while they aren’t your typical $3.99 bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch, you get what you pay for in quality without fillers.

We stocked up this last weekend when we were on the central coast, but lucky you — you can purchase them online. It’s a fun little treat for your palate! And if you want some creative inspiration their website has all sorts of fun recipes.

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So now that I’ve told you my favorite convenience salad dressings/marinade I want you to tell me your favorite ones from scratch. You know you have a good recipe waiting to be shared, don’t you? I need all the help I can get.

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