Hi!  This weekend was really really good and I guess the best way to explain it is by saying I have THREE canker sores in my mouth and still managed to be in a good mood.  It’s probably because I got to see the new Quentin Tarantino on Friday, celebrate Mom’s birthday on Saturday and somehow manage to fit in family time, chore time and yoga time on Sunday.  The best!

Guys, I’ve had Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood written down as a movie to anticipate for like two years and it’s finally here!  We bought tickets to see it in 35mm (as Quentin intended) at the Sie on Friday, but first, spicy chicken at Q House!  Ugh, so good.

As for the movie, I LOVED it and the more I think about it, the more in love I am.  Our theater was packed and we were all laughing together through the whole thing.  I’m not here to debate Brad vs. Leo because they are both EXCELLENT but I would like to watch the scene of Leo yelling at himself in his trailer on loop, please.  Also, Margot Robbie gives such a non-showy but intimately beautiful performance that I found so compelling.

Saturday started with breakfast at Hoja!  Turns out they have a little patio out back that is shady and quiet and just a lovely place to spend some time.  Um I did not make it through that gargantuan (see what I did there?) burrito but I tried my best.  Afterward, I briefly contemplated going to the grocery but decided to do some backyard clean up by way of making a bigger mess instead.  Our tomato bush is trimmed, our strawberries have been thinned out, the weeds in our flower bed are pulled and I finally spread out the bag of red bark we bought like a month ago.  Plus I had granola baking inside!

At 2, I walked over to Base Coat for a pedicure, but the real event of the day was my mom’s birthday dinner!  We got her an Apple Watch and my favorite moment of the entire day was when we told her she could talk to it and she whispered “I love you!” to it, HA HA!!  We had a tapas spread at The Med before walking the Pearl Street Mall and whoa, I think it’d been years since I’d done either of those things.  We had perfect weather for a stroll.  We all headed back to my parents’ afterward for cake/sorbet and to play with the Apple Watch.

P.S. Please know my dad had also seen Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood earlier that day and I don’t think the three that hadn’t seen it appreciated constant references by the three of us who had 🙂

We had Sunday morning family breakfast plans but when I woke up Joey was already awake and making coffee plans for us.  (Side Note: I could get used to this thing where Joey wakes up before me and has already thought up a fun thing for us to do!) We hit up Downpours and though it was a million degrees inside the coffee shop, they also had a shady backyard patio area, where we drank our iced coffee and ordered our groceries online.

We celebrated July birthdays at Cathy & Todd’s with a breakfast burrito bar and what a genius idea that was!  I maybe had a headache over my left eye (from my ONE glass of sangria, seriously??) but we got to sit out on the deck and visit with everyone for a couple of hours and it felt so nice.

Back at home we tag-teamed salads (this one but with this dressing) for lunches this week and I finally got around to cleaning our bathroom and still had time to make it to Sunday yoga for the first time in three weeks!!!  Came home and took some glamour shots of our garden and deck.  Our backyard, just like our kitchen/fridge, is always in flux and I’m learning to be okay with it being messy at times because I know it’ll be back in order eventually.  By Sunday is was all spic-and-span!

Dinner was Loaded Summer Chili Fries and I was blown away by how good and simple and fresh they tasted.  Truly a wonderful recipe ♥  Eaten in the backyard and I just want to remember how happy I felt in that summer moment.  We headed inside to watch Big Brother afterward and I pretty much hate everyone except Tommy.  Please tell me how your weekend was.  It was the last one of July, you know!