This past weekend was faaaaantastic.
On Friday I luxxe-ed it up with my bestie, Jess, visiting from NYC. I adore Caffe Luxxe, and Jess and I have identical tastes in everything (with the most important relevant being food), so obviously I had to share the pretty soy latte art with her.
This is hers before she ruined it.
And here she is while ruining it. 😉 Love this girl.
I got a cafe au lait with soy milk, which I messed up very slightly by adding two packets of raw sugar (still going strong with operation no fake sweeteners). We chatted as we sipped our coffee, and then went window shopping up Montana Ave. Back in our college days Jess worked at lucy so it was (literally) a stroll down memory lane.
Unfortunately, shortly thereafter she had to say adieu to LA, leaving me to get my things together for a San Diego weekend getaway.
Couples retreat!! Pre-commute meal(s) included several bowls (too many) of cereal.
I have a cereal problem, and it involves the inability to stop after one or two bowls.
Sometimes three…
I also believe very strongly in mixing as many different kinds of cereal in the same bowl as possible. This is a 365 brand mix of waffle squares and oat and honey clusters. And bananas.
In the early afternoon we carpooled down to SD, hitting traffic on the way (of course).
But we still arrived in time to get in plenty of poolside lounging.
Have you heard of leisure diving?
It’s the new craze. At least it was for our weekend. Here’s the series of photos…
The goal is to assume as leisurely a pose as you can, mid-air, and capture it on film. With a little editing, here’s what you get…
Sipping some beer, legs crossed, shades on, no big deal.
We brainstormed several future leisure dives, which require more planning to execute to perfection (think: throwing a tv in the air and having the person jumping be sprawled out with a newspaper & remote control). But that’s for another weekend.
For dinner we BBQ-ed. I pulled cheese off a Costco pizza and added my own hummus on top (yes, I travel with hummus at all times).
Kyle doing the slicing.
The post-dinner jacuzzi and wine really knocked me out and I slept like a baby through the night.
The next day started with coffee, poolside lounging, and…more leisure diving. 🙂
Then we were off to get lunch.
Destination: Pizza Port
Rather than go for another cheese-less pizza, I opted for the Port Salad (minus the feta).
Tres fantastique!
The butternut squash and roasted bell peppers were a nice touch. The portabella mushrooms were a bit over marinated, but I didn’t mind. It just meant I only had to use half the balsamic vinaigrette that they gave me.
I didn’t even realize the huge slice of garlic pizza bread wedged under the salad until half way through. Holy dough! Pizza port makes some damn soft pizza dough. So fluffy and delicious.
I did major damage to the entire bowl, but pretty soon I noticed the expanding effects of the dough in my tum. Whoa.
Others noted the same thing with the fancy shmancy pizzas. This is the pesto pizza with feta and artichokes. FYI, this is home-made pesto. And they brew their own beers. Impressive.
The boys played some games, but we had to jet shortly after the food was gone…we couldn’t risk missing the main event.
Del Mar!
Just a nice afternoon of betting on the horse races. I’m not sure there’s a PC word for white-trash, so I’m going to avoid saying much more about the kind of crowd present, but I think it’s safe to say the “classy” San Diego folk were at another engagement.
My luck was MIA for the day. Not that I had any actual technique or logic behind my picks. I only barely got the correct terminology down before we went to the window where you place your bets. Exacta box with 2 and 8. How professional does that sound? Too bad it was a losing hand.
Out of the 6 races we bet on, we only won one of the bets. Not a great average.
We stayed up close to the track for some of the races, but went up into the stands for others. The view from afar was better for seeing them jockeying to get to the head of the group, but it was kinda exciting to be really up close, even if it only lasted a split second.
Pink shirt wins! [See? I told you my bets had no rhyme or reason]
We hit the road in the early evening, stopping for Starbucks on the way. It took us a few hours, thanks to the random 405/I-5 traffic, and we pulled into the gas station in Venice on fumes.
Here’s Kyle scrubbing some residual blood off my window. Why is there blood on the outside of the car, you ask? That’s a good question. We live in a safe neighborhood I swear!
And here he is after realizing I was taking photos of him. Seriously, though. We alternate which car gets the garage and which gets street parking, and last week Kyle found the CRV’s passenger side door covered in mysterious red drops. He took photos and I have to say, it’s creepily very blood-like in appearance. No idea.
Blood stains gone, we hit up WF for dinner. It was almost 8 pm at this point, so we were starving.
Lentil & turnip garam masala, quinoa salad, veggies, gardein chik’n. And who knows what else. So random.
How was your weekend? Any leisure diving? Fancy coffee? Blood on your car?
wow – is that the same Jessica Reid of recent Wall Street Journal fame?! And hey – it’s not nice to say that your dad is on crack in public.
haha…i was seriously hoping you wouldnt see that! love youuuuu 🙂
Wowww the leisure diving is entirely goofy and AWESOME! Looks like a fun weekend. No blood on my car, but I did have a HUGE WF meal!
We went to San Diego too! Too funny. We love Pizza Port. Love, love,love it. We didn’t stop by this time but I wished we had! I’ve heard that some of their locations have gluten-free pizza crust! (Not the Carlsbad one that we usually go to though. Boo!)
Leisure diving looks hilarious!!!
I love Del Mar! We used to have a trackside table every Saturday during racing season before Skylar and it was always a ball. There are all walks of life who go to the track. It’s great people watching. And great drink drinking there 🙂
And you were in San Diego and didn’t even say hi??! Would have loved to have seen you!
i was in del mar this past weekend too! and i live in chicago, so that’s kind of a random coincidence. we didn’t go to the track, instead preferring to lounge by the pool all day!
cereal mixing, pretty coffee, pool splashing? This is the most perfect post ever. Aside from the blood spatter – that makes me think of Dexter and it scares me a lot.
haha I may have to try some leisure diving before we close the pool…now if only i’d have a tv to spare…
I love latte art, I seriously considered spending a summer being a barista to try and master it!
9 hours to Sacto and back for me this weekend…and I can honestly say that is the FIRST picture I have ever seen of Kyle holding a gun…kind of like the kid in Christmas story…”you’ll shoot your freaking eye out”…..
That pizza with pesto looks really delicious! ANd I love latte art, coffee should look nice before I ruin it 🙂
Leisure diving seems like fun, I think I´ll give it a try since I am looking for some new workout activities :))
ahhh love latte art!!
and i’m the exact same way about cereal – no shame. as many types of cereals as possible, and multiple bowls!!
Hahaha! Leisure diving looks hilarious! 😀 So so funny, that made me laugh out loud when I saw it 😛 Hmmm…blood on your car, on the other hand, is creepy! Your weekend sounds amazing! We had a nice chilled out on at home, but it was lovely…sometimes lazy leisurely ones are just what you need. Also we did lots of trip-planning – we’re off to Norway, New York and Colorado in September…excited! 😀 xyx
i just had pizza port for the first time last week- obsessed. i had the same salad- just thought it was okay tho. I went to the one in OB tho, so who knows…
Love Luxxe! Always a treat to grab a coffee (or 10) while I’m in LA. But with soy, it’s almost the price of a meal 😉
And…what IS IT about cereal?!
it IS the price of a meal. so expensive! definitely a “treat” kinda of outing.
for a pizza place, it was way better than what i would normally expect. i was just happy to get some greens and veggies, too.
when are you in NYC?? we are going in sept, too!
haha….welllll, i dont think id consider it a workout really. but maybe the laughing while watching is an ab workout 🙂
yikes. 9 hours!?! so sorry. he was soooo funny shooting that thing. kinda scary how into it he was though. i made a mental note to keep him away from the grossman boys when they are shooting… 😉
i know! but we were technically in carlsbad not SD, and i know how busy you are. i thought of you though!
whoa, how funny! ive heard good things about the GF pizza at hostaria del piccolo in santa monica btw. its on my short list of places to try.
ohhh my gosh! that relaxed mid air thing is hilarious! i am laughing so hard right now. it’s perfect.
so.. i am coming to LA in october. i have no idea where that is in relation to you, but i would love to see you.
Pizza under a salad? Now that is a great invention! lol. 🙂 My weekend was awesome! Little sleep was involved though because I had a bachelorette party to go to on Saturday afternoon/night. I’m feeling it now!!
No way!! Too cool!! 😀 We’re there late September – the 24th to the 28th…how about you guys? 🙂 xyx
im in santa monica. when are you coming? and where are you staying? we are meeting up, non-negotiable.
oh shoot. we are gone by then. we are going the 9-12th
sad face 🙁 xyx
i am staying with deb in pacific palisades! i will be there the first weekend in october. yes, meeting up, for sure.
YES!!! i am right next to the palisades!! (deb must be a major baller living there!)
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why yes, jeff, it is THAT same jessica reid. however, you will notice that i look dramatically different when i don’t have professional hair and makeup done, which is probably why you didn’t recognize me.
elise!!! i miss you! i can’t wait for you to come to nyc!
🙂 me either!!! you should see my restaurant list for when im there. the airline might have to charge me extra for my return flight…