{The Myrtles}

The Myrtles Plantation is one of the south's most haunted homes, found in St. Francisville, Louisiana.

The plantation is home to at least 10 ghosts, who often make appearances during the night and DAY...according to our tour guide. With a constant rotation of guests booking overnights at this haunted residence, there are countless stories of footsteps, door slams, bed imprints and more.

As soon as you cross over onto the plantation's land, something in the air shifts. The moss covered creepy trees provide so much shade coverage it was a few degrees cooler, per my incredibly accurate internal thermometer. I'm also open to the possibility that it had nothing to do with the shade, instead,  ghosts were following us around and fanning cool air in our direction as we strolled across the grounds.

We had an incredibly spirited tour guide, who worked in a ton of history and scary stories that are usually reserved for the night tour. Which I'm sorry, but people are dumb for taking. He claims all of the ghosts are friendly, but did let us know that a few people have been startled when the woman who was hung from a tree appears in her bedroom...swinging. Rope and all.

This mirror is one of the houses oddities. It's impossible to clean, even though they've had it stripped and re-mirrored several times. The black film returns, as do the drips. Also, that gray blurry thing in the mirror? Is it dirt...or a reflection. Preeeetty sure that wasn't there when I took the photo. Chills.

The hanging woman died here. 

So sad, it's no wonder she's not ready to move on. I would totally be pissed.

...

{Stuft: A Burger Bar}

The new "build your own" concept is something very intriguing to me. The kind you hand select exotic ingredients off a piece of paper, building your perfect entree from the plate up. Not to be confused with a buffet. Because it's clearly completely different and much more snobby foodie friendly. (Buffets, psh!)

I've now ventured out to try two build your own burger places, Indulge in Scottsdale, and Stuft in Fort Collins, Colorado. Devin & Darren recommended we check out this restaurant on a sunny weekend day while I was visiting the cute town and I gladly agreed after a couple hours of vigorous window shopping. I'm almost positive they had to drag me out of the rainbow Le Creuset section of my favorite shop in Old Town, The Cupboard, likely kicking & screaming since I still hadn't had my full hour perusing the cookbook section. The injustice.

Then again, a loud stomach grumble is the fastest way to kick my speed walking into high gear. So off to Stuft we ventured. The interesting thing about this restaurant, you can either pick one of the staff suggestions & locals favorite combos, or come up with your own. You can give your original burger combo its own name, and if it's delicious enough to wow the employee judges, it might even get added to the list one day.

After all the creative thinking I could muster, I named mine "The Katherine". Mixed Greens, melted pepperjack, sauteed mushrooms & onions, guacamole, with BBQ and Mustard on the side. Oh, and on a brioche bun. Lordy.

I would attempt to remember what Dev & Dar ordered, although I'm fairly sure I didn't even notice when their food got delivered. I was already on my way to being completely stuft. Ha! Anywho, you should check it out because the photos don't even do it justice. It was fantastic!

...

{Fort Collins Brewery}

In my last brewery tour post, I mentioned our first stop was for lunch and beer tasting. The location was Fort Collins Brewery & its restaurant, Gravity Ten Twenty.

Curious where the name came from? The Gravity website states that "Specific Gravity in brewing is a measure of dissolved sugar in our wort. Typically this number is around 1.020 which also happens to be the address of the restaurant!" Which means absolutely nothing to me. But might make sense to you?

The airplane death offering of peanuts wasn't going to suffice, and I was pretty hungry by the time we got to the restaurant! The restaurant's menu had lots to choose from, and I'm still needing to go back to try the polenta fries (I loooove polenta. Weird, I know.)

Craft beer is not something I consider myself an expert on, or even a novice for that matter. I did, however, get to try a beer that was 'on nitro'. Which again, means nothing to me, but might mean something to you! I did notice that it was much creamier then the rest (can beer be creamy? I'm embarrassing myself.)

Next time I go back to Colorado, I'm making the promise to myself to stop being such a beer noob. I can order an IPA, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Next time I will be better!

Dev & I split the mushroom sandwich, which was delicious, but in desperate need of some cheese, and a healthy drizzle of mustard. We each got a side of grilled veggies, and the group split the sweet potato fries.

Considering I was expecting the usual bar food (pretzels, brats & wings), this was a pretty healthy meal! More room for beer of course.

{Odell Brewing Co.}

Beer typically isn't my drink of choice, but when you're in Colorado, especially Fort Collins, this type of thinking goes right out the window. Drinking good beer seems to be engrained in the culture of this quaint town, and I'm certainly not one to argue with tradition.

Upon arrival to Fort Collins, we dropped my bags at Devin's apartment and headed straight for lunch and the first stop on our brewery tour. Next up was the famous Odell Brewing Co. which I had sampled and really enjoyed during the Arizona Strong Beer Festival. My beer snob friends loved Odell's beer too, so I knew it must be good.

The brewery is a massive 45,000 square feet, and anyone who visits has the option of signing up for a tour to see where all the fantastic beer is made. I'm more of a taster than a watcher, so we skipped this step and dove right in and ordered a few flights. Devin and I are not the most beer adventurous, so we went for the traditional classics. Her boyfriend Darren and Mom tried the seasonal flight, and her Dad stuck to his favorite.

Pretty much all of them were very "beery". The 90 Shilling was awesome. Considering this is one of Odell's first and most popular beers, I feel like I've joined the rankings of the beerlite, a beer connoisseur if you will. To prove that point, I bought a few glasses with this logo on the front, ignoring the fact that I didn't even try it. I just loved the owls!

If I was cool enough, I would have bought this sweet cooler to tote around all of my craft beers and micro brews.

I'm just not on that level yet.

{Searsucker}

I've never walked into a restaurant and felt more like I had walked directly into my dream home. I wanted to eat there and live there all at the same time. Searsucker is a must-visit for all San Diego travelers, and after finding the 850+ reviews in Yelp, apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way.

My wandering eyes kept finding design treats all over the restaurant. I'm a lover of exposed lightbulbs, and there were plenty near our table to keep me preoccupied. The marble tabletops were beautiful, and I loved the rough wood and rope. Basically, I plan on copying everything for my apartment.

As brunch aficionados, Bianca & I scoured the menu for breakfast treats, only pausing to order mimosas. We had to stop our waiter more than once to get the scoop on mystery menu items like the "one foot in the grave" or the "mcpuffin in the morning". In the end we settled on one sweet order, and one savory, with the idea to split between the two of us.

{bourbon brown butter french toast}

{chive turkey - blackberry jam, ricotta-herb, radish, sprouts on sourdough}

The food was tasty, but I certainly didn't doubt that it would be. Honestly, the french toast wasn't my favorite...BUT before you go not ordering it the next time you visit - I don't actually like french toast. I'm still contemplating why my brain lapsed and I forgot that little tidbit while we ordered. The turkey sandwich had just the right amount of sweet to balance out the flavorful radishes, and the sourdough was soft perfection.  I'd definitely order it again.

{Walk on the Ocean}

Hands down my favorite John Mayer song, ever.

I couldn't help but hum quietly as we strolled a long the beach. 

Coronado Island is crazy beautiful! 

Clear skies, sand in your toes, beach volleyball and happy hour at the hotel del. 

Living here sounds like a dream.

{Renew}

This, was glorious.

Closing your eyes, tipping your head back & breathing in the ocean air.

Waves crashing in front of you and the lightest breeze on your cheek.

It has an amazingly cleansing effect on the soul.

{Retreat}

I work very well under pressure. I don't necessarily like being extremely busy, but I function so much better in those types of conditions. Unfortunately, this makes me pretty susceptible to reaching burn out levels. With work, blogging, friends and what little time I set aside to just be alone, I'm sensing my bubble of calm is about to burst. So I'm escaping for the weekend.

To a beautiful place with wonderful friends, for girl time, for margaritas, for beach walks, ocean air and late nights. I'm leaving the computer at home, trying to stay off the usual pile of social networks (except instagram of course!) and can only hope to return completely refreshed.

Have a lovely Friday & weekend, friends!

{A Cactus in Seattle}

Which is actually a not-so-creative play on words for Cactus, the restaurant, one of my must visit destinations on a trip to the beautiful northwest. Thankfully, my mom enjoys a trip to this restaurant as much as I do, which makes it a tradition I look forward to every time I fly home.

We stopped in for lunch on an overcast day, after circling forever for a parking spot (damn you Kirkland!). Thankfully we were seated right away since the hunger was in full force and I'm sure I had a crazy look in my eye. Chips and salsa for the table could not have come more quickly, and were warm! Mmm nom.

My one request while home for vacation was that we didn't eat any mexican food, considering the saturation of mexican restaurants in my neighborhood. I do live in Phoenix after all. BUT I gave myself a little wiggle room since Cactus is a mixture of mexican, southwestern and spanish cuisine...which is completely different. Plus look at the menu! Couldn't pass it up.

{Carnitas Yucatecas}

{seafood enchiladas}

The entrees, which we split, were ridiculously good. Good enough to eat multiple times a week, good. I also highly recommend the butternut squash enchiladas, tortilla soup, navajo bread, or any of the salads.