beast + bottle | denver, colorado

Whilst on my ever enchanting grand adventure, I made a stop in Denver for some majorly overdue quality time with my best gal, Hannah. We always have a blast together and this visit, of course, was no different. We also always eat really well while we're together. 

It's of utmost importance to surround yourself with people who appreciate the same things as you. We appreciate food. (...and Jesus, and nature, and good conversation, and adventures, and exploring, but those are ALLLLL separate stories in and of themselves... all for another day... or post, whichever comes first!)

One of the many amazing stops we made was at beast + bottle. Hannah had been wanting to try it out and we were in the area already so I could get some fun postcards.

Hannah being beautiful while my bloody mary takes the edge off the exceptionally warm day!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. When I left home, it was chilly and wet. Naturally, that's then how I packed... In all honesty, most of my time in Denver, it was freakin' hot. 

Someday I'll learn.

I hope.

Every once in a while, I get these weird cravings. They mostly come in the form of bacon, buffalo chicken dip, lentils, and maple donuts (not at the same time, but those are the top four culprits) -- this was one of those difficult days where I was just really craving a good bloody mary... 

...and bacon. 

Preferably together.

I sometimes find myself a little hesitant to branch out and try things that are unfamiliar and different... especially if it's something I'm paying for and there's a sure, tried and true version out there I could opt for instead. I decided to be brave (thanks to the wonderful waitress' coaxing and incredible description of their options) and tried the mesquite bourbon bloody mary. I'm not typically a bourbon girl, but this was delicious. Seriously, when you next are in Denver and visit beast + bottle, this is something you'll write home about. So good.

This summer was kind of interesting at home, notably mild. My dad has an incredible green thumb and typically grows TONS of big, bright red tomatoes right off their deck, but this summer was so slow to warm up that there were quite a few that stayed green all summer until, finally, it did end up freezing. :( 

Part of me was hoping they wouldn't ever turn and I had really good intentions of frying those lovely green tomaters, but alas, never got around to it... thankfully it was an option at beast + bottle too! Their homemade goat ranch was out of this world! 

Fried pickles and in-house goat milk ranch dressing, of course.

Breakfast perfection, don't mess.

My most favored breakfast go-to is always the classic: eggs, bacon, and toast (and hashbrowns, if I'm lucky!) This is one of those things that when you know it's good, you just don't mess with it. Leading up to my departure, I had so many breakfasts and dinners with dear friends for good-bye's sake, that I don't think a day went by that I didn't have bacon. Denver was no different. I hadn't had any this day and I needed my bacon fix. Delicious, local, homegrown, happy eggs, bacon, and sourdough bread. Easy to mess up, but so worth it when you get it right. :)

Go to beast + bottle, you won't regret it.

Nostalgia

‎"nostalgia - it's delicate, but potent. teddy told me that in greek, 'nostalgia' literally means 'the pain from an old wound'. it's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. this device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel, it's called the carousel. it lets us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved. " - don draper

Isla Mujeres

Welp, we made it! After a long day of uneventful travel, my friend Tina, her family, and I have all made it safely to the island of Isla Mujeres.

It. is. BEAUTIFUL.

I just have to share one happening with you before I forget (as I forgot to pack my journal, you may be seeing a lot of updates!)

We're renting a house for the week and just returned from the grocery store/supermarcado for some staples. While we were there, we stood in the bakery section debating between their Bimbo/Wonder packaged bread OR fresh baked bread from the bakery section... Haha. It didn't take long before our decision was unianimous.

While taking it all in, looking at all the different pastries and such, we saw an employee of the store accidentally drop a loaf of bread on the floor... look up to see if anyone had caught him... MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH US... give that silly little five-year-old guilty grin, brush it off on his uniform.... and, get this, PUT IT BACK ON THE SHELF. Oh my goodness. It was SO comical. I couldn't help but crack up. I know I shouldn't have encouraged him, but the way he pulled it off was histerical!

That wasn't even the best part! I felt like we should have Bob Saget alongside us to commentate the events. Right after witnessing this old man act as if he was four-years-old, a two... maybe three-year-old little Mexican girl with beautiful black piggy tails and a striped top, waltzed her way through Tina, Dani, Glenda, and myself to check out the pastries for herself. She made three trips looking, smelling, and, yes, you guessed it, dipping her finger in the frosting of the pastries. Tina was the first to catch it. When she had all of our attention, she made her selection and got a good finger-full of sugar-laden yumminess and licked it off like only an adorable toddler can do. She really made great use of her time, because by the time she'd consumed a decent amount of sweetness, her mom realized she was missing. Ah. It was priceless.