A little one week break slipped easily into a two week pause. After a week of beach time with my mom, I realized I didn’t have too much to share on the cooking and shopping front. But, we’re back and ready to roll! I did list a few of our favorite places from 30A below instead of a full recap (that mostly involved walking, shopping, eating and beaching). This weekend, we got to visit RJ’s brother and sister-and-law and their kiddos in Massachusetts for a very fall weekend — down to apple picking in an orchard near their house! So much fun to be with them after waaaay too long. Now, we’re here for about a month with no big plans except for Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin on Saturday. I’m excited to get back into a routine, kick off soup season in the kitchen and enjoy a few weeks of cool and crisp weather in Nashville. Truly the best time of the year here!
SHOPPING
I placed a big order from Gap before the beach, and I’ve already worn this “Big Shirt” oxford and horseshoe jeans quite a few times. Great pieces for fall.
I’m eyeing this black cotton skirt from Madewell right now. I think it would be easy to slip on for work with a tee and cardigan. And speaking of work, I just ordered this dress with some Anthropologie credit that I know will be a staple for fall and winter. (While I was searching for that one to share here, I found my most-worn dress is back and in black now! I have it in white and wear it at least once per week. Doesn’t wrinkle, fits great. Really recommend this one!!)
This foundation is game-changing. I saw Grace post about it at some point, and I absolutely love it. It goes on so smoothly, and the coverage is what I like for a night out (not day/work) or as concealer. Side note: if you haven’t been color matched at Sephora, I really recommend it. They save your match to your account, and it automatically matches your colors when you’re shopping for foundations, concealers, etc. online. I’ve found it to be incredibly accurate!
EATING
Now that I’m dipping back into TikTok (and sort of Instagram but I’m torn and may delete it altogether), I’ve seen all of the dense bean salad content. It inspired me to throw one together this week for lunches. Greek-inspired, I made a red wine vinaigrette with red wine vinegar, honey, olive oil, S&P and tossed it with two cans of cannellini beans, chopped red onion, roasted red pepper, fresh dill, diced feta, and diced cucumber. I eat it with some tzatziki and pita chips on the side. (Intended to add olives but forgot.) Easy to toss together a bowl and have lunches for the week.
And per usual, we’ve been cooking more from What to Cook. Two recent winners (seen below) are the steak salad and cheesy rice and beans. The latter would be great in tortillas as tacos, but we loved it with a few toppings straight from the bowl. We wished we’d had some ripe avocado, but ours were too green.
We had these Topo Chico Sabores at the beach. Have you guys tried them? My mom loves the lime with mint, but the tangerine and ginger are my new fave! They’re really refreshing, and the flavor is just subtle enough.
30A RECS
Our favorite meal of the trip was hands-down at Gallion’s, situated on the corner of Rosemary Beach’s shopping area. The parmesan-crusted snapper was unreal, and I plan to (attempt to) recreate it soon. Our most frequented spots were Fonville Press (for breakfast or lunch — big fans of the avocado toast and salads) and George’s (fish sandwich, crab and sesame salad, etc.). We also had a really great dinner on the rooftop at Pescado as the sun was going down. For breakfast, we went to Scratch in Watercolor for the first time, and it quickly rose to the top of our list. Really fantastic biscuits and biscuit sandwiches. We went twice and considered bringing some home. And always, NEAT is one of my favorite bars ever. It’s tiny and quaint with the best cocktails — I love their classic margarita plus a few bites.
We found this particular week to be incredibly sleepy and quiet. It was easy to walk in to restaurants, drive on 30A, etc. I think it was the sweet spot between school starting back and people having just traveled for Labor Day. RJ and I went at the beginning of March for our first anniversary and found it was nice then, too! Mild weather, fewer crowds.
READING
I finished a few books over the last few weeks, though sadly my streak has slowed some. The Paradise Problem was a really cute beach read. The trope is a little obvious — a fake relationship for a family wedding — but the other plot points kept the pages turning quickly. I really enjoyed it and gave it a rare five stars on Goodreads! On a darker note, The Soulmate was suspenseful and quick (started and finished on the flights to and from Massachusetts), a murder/thriller of sorts that kept me entertained until the last page.
That’s all for this week! Glad to be back. See you next!
xx, Annie
Gallion's is my new fav in 30a, too!! So good.