I recently did Whole 30 and stocked up on approved pantry items such as oils, nut butters and condiments.

It's not every year, but I'm definitely starting to try to create an annual tradition of hosting a Holiday Brunch! December can become so busy, so I find that one of the few times you can get everyone together on a weekend is to host a brunch, rather than a dinner or cocktail party. Yesterday I hosted a Secret Santa filled with food, games, presents and laughter! 

My Mom always hosts Thanksgiving, when extended family comes over for a hearty meal filled with laughter, wine, and sometimes games. The day itself if always so fun and I typically take the Friday after Thanksgiving off for some R&R (and shopping, let's be real). 

It's here! Twice a year Seattle Restaurant Week takes over the food scene to bring us some of the best meals in Seattle for only $33/dinner! It's an unofficial holiday among my family, as we always pick places to try or our tried and true favorites to visit.

Happy Spring! Even if the weather in Seattle doesn't always align with the seasons, we can still hope for warmth and enjoy some ice cream!

Frankie & Jo's is a new spot on Capitol Hill that's been blowing up in the Seattle social media scene. Their palm wall paper has been the main driver of this I would guess. 

One day I'll get into my Instagram location deep dives here on the blog. Until then, let's just say I've seen Bar Melusine countless times from bloggers around Seattle. 

Bright, turquoise and French, there's not much more one could ask for aesthetically out of a restaurant. My friend Neha and I headed to Capitol Hill after work one day for a quick bite. Having seen Bar Melusine, I knew we had to check it out for ourselves. We ordered a cheese plate and sat back, recapping our day at work.

Weekends call for brunch! My aunt recently moved back to Seattle from Bahrain where she was living for the past few years. Since returning, it's given me an additional brunch-mate, which I'm ecstatic about! 

Saturday morning, we headed to The Fat Hen in Ballard. With only a few tables, there's always a mob of patrons waiting out front. Luckily, The Fat Hen is across the street from a quaint coffee shop and bakery - Honore Artisan Bakery, making the wait go by quickly with a great cup of coffee. I didn't get one, but there was a ham and cheese croissant at Honore that looked so fluffy and delicious! That's on my list for next time. 

I rarely get over to Kirkland, but when I do it's typically around a Bassline mash-up class. My friend and I headed for an early Saturday class then to Healthy Bonez's new permanent location in Totem Lake. 

Bassline opened a new location on Pike St in Capitol Hill, but they don't offer mash-up, so I still head to Kirkland for that. It's a unique mix of spin and other cardio with music videos playing which makes the killer workout fun. 

I've lived in Seattle the majority of my life, but somehow had never done an Underground Tour. My dad gave me a book about the history of Seattle's topography for Christmas, and it inspired my cousin and I to finally take the tour to learn more about our city!

If you have no idea what an Underground Tour is, I don't blame you. I had heard about it and had an idea of what it was... but let me share what I learned. 

I love a good juice, so when I first saw that Pressed Juicery was 1 | coming to Seattle and 2 | has freezes (frozen juices with toppings aka healthy froyo), I couldn't wait to try it! 

My cousin and I went downtown for some window shopping a few weekends ago, and had to pick up freezes despite it being barely 40*F outside. We headed to Westlake Center and found the little shop tucked in the back. Half of the back wall was juice-filled refrigerators and the other half looked like a froyo shop wall, housing the freezes. My cousin opted for the fruit flavored base. 

I've been wanting to try Saint Helens Cafe in Ravenna for a while, so off we went! It's on Montlake just East of University Village. When you walk in, there's this adorable seating area that's pictured above. Upstairs is the restaurant, which is pretty tight quarters, but beautifully designed!

Brian and I sat down, I ordered an iced coffee with almond milk and Brian ordered a beer. Hey - it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

I bought something off Instagram! I love trying subscription boxes and the new delivery start-ups, so I was a total sucker when I saw an ad for Daily Harvest on Instagram in early December. 

Brian and I were doing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box that delivered organic, local vegetables to us every week, so I thought this would be a great addition to my daily routine, where I could have a smoothie in the morning, and veggies throughout the day. The moral of this, is that I generally try to avoid going to the grocery store as much as possible. 

I love waking up to an Açaí bowl! This morning I took a 10:30 CorePower Yoga Sculpt class (in my new Lululemon workout gear!) with one of my good friends, Marissa. If I'm going to a workout class where I know I'll need a ton of energy, I always make sure to eat about two hours before. 

Once I was awake, I headed downstairs to make a pot of coffee and started on my bowl! The ingredients list is below! Today I used an Açaí puree packet from Trader Joes. I also really like the Sambazon packs, and find that they're sweeter than these TJ ones. In my blender, I added half of a banana, this puree pack, a hand-full of mixes frozen berries from Costco, and almond milk. My blender isn't the strongest, so I always have to add in almond milk as it blends to make sure everything gets broken down. And that's it! So easy! I pour the base into a bowl and head to the fun part - toppings!