Although I feel like my past four posts or so have been about our weekends, I can’t help but share another one with you as this past weekend was simply perfect.

It started out like all of the perfect weekends start: with a trip to the Old Town Farmers Market.

Since Matt and I both ran early in the morning before the market, we planned to stop and relax for awhile at Grape + Bean, a local wine & coffee shop that we’ve walked past numerous times but for some reason or another have never actually stopped to grab a drink. Shame on us – we will now be making up for lost time! It is just lovely.

As were the tulips (my one of my favorite flowers!) outside of our corner 7/11 slash condo building/former Izzo “birdcage” :)

We stopped to grab iced teas before heading into the city to walk around the National Zoo as it was a gorgeous, breezy 70 degree day.

But once we got to the Zoo, we realized that there were more wild animals outside of the cages than in them. Aka – springtime is high tide for tourists, and I saw more rat tails, belly shirts and snotty kids (in both senses of the term) than I’d like to remember. We walked around for about a half an hour when we realized we needed to go somewhere more our speed:

The bar. We headed down the street to Open City, who was obviously waiting for us to arrive because it saved the perfect two-seater by the window for us. I also discovered that they serve breakfast all day – and that you can get pancakes and french toast by the cake/slice. I’ll take one of each kind please, thank you!

Alas, we went with the hummus & house made flatbread, mainly because it went better with my Chocolate City  (a great local DC brewing company) Copperhouse Ale. YUM.

On Sunday morning, Matt had his long 17-mile run (17.miles.sheesh!) so I decided to surprise him with the one of his favorite meals: huevos rancheros.

For not really having any idea what I was doing (and since I like to make things complicated and take ideas from five different recipes), it turned out to be delicious! I threw together a quick queen of the night salsa and refried bean spread and topped the eggs with shredded monterey jack cheese, light sour cream & a fresh squeeze of lime. I can’t believe I was able to snap a picture before Matt devoured it in three bites.

Since I am obviously such a good wife, I totally deserved a trip to Wegmans. And no, the huevos rancheros wasn’t used as bait to get Matt to take me there.  Honest.*

After spending another paycheck on Wegmans-brand everything (I have a slight problem), we  came home and decided a picnic was in order. Especially because we bought our favorite Bully Hill wines! We also bought three tubs of Chiavetta’s marinade, a Buffalo staple. We threw some chicken in the crockpot and doused it with one tub of it before we headed out the door.

(notice the suprise tootsie roll I snatched from the front desk of our apartment the last time we had a picnic. It paired with the wine deliciously.)

I think this is Matt’s “seriously, stop taking so many pictures and live your life!” face. I still don’t get what he means when he says that…

Rosé in Styrofoam cups. Keepin’ it classy.

So excited to put this dress to good use, as my low-back-style wedding dress kept me from wearing anything the could warrant tan lines last year. Not that having a huge tan triangle is a good look for me this year, either, but I was willing to risk it for the sake of an 80-degree April afternoon by the water.

When we arrived back at our apartment after an afternoon in the sun, we scarfed down our  slow-cooked Chiavetta’s chicken with fresh corn on the cob that I bought from the farmers market Saturday morning. Then, we blasted Sublime/Jack Johnson and cleaned up our apartment to get ready for the week ahead.

But then I decided to break out my paintbrushes and in turn, made an absolute mess of our just-cleaned kitchen table. I’m really good at doing that!

The weekend ended with the 753rd viewing of “Just Go With It.”   It just gets better every time.

I hope everyone had a weekend filled with their favorite things. It always  baffles me when I ask someone how their weekend was and they just shrug, wrinkle their nose and and say,” eh, it was okay.” Okay? JUST okay?  The weekend grants you two whole days to do whatever the heck makes you happy.   So get out there and be happy –  enjoy the sunshine, eat too many pancakes, curl up with a great book, stroll around farmers markets or antique shops, take joy in the little things, make a mess in your kitchen, spend all your money at Wegmans and drink cold wine on a blanket outside because Sunday picnics don’t apply to open container laws. Scouts honor.*

How do you spend your weekly 48 hours of unscheduled free time?

*i am not a certified liar. although i pretend to be from time to time.