Hi guys! I hope you’re checking in today after a fun and relaxing weekend! Ryan and I had a good one over here and enjoyed some (bundled up!) time outside with Sadie, a brunch with friends on Sunday, couch time with Homeland and more. But Saturday’s fun was a highlight for sure since it took us Uptown on a lovely day date!
Lunch
Our day date first took us to lunch at Luna’s Living Kitchen.
I’ve been here once before with my friend Ashley and knew Ryan would like it a lot! Luna’s specializes in raw vegan cuisine and I just love how bright and airy it is inside.
The restaurant was pretty busy when we arrived, so Ryan and I grabbed two seats at the bar and ordered drinks while perusing the menu. I opted for a Lenny Boy ginger kombucha that was, hands down, the best kombucha I’ve had to date!
The ginger flavor was fantastic and it reminded me a lot of ginger beer. It was smooth and delicious and after checking out their website, I discovered it is sold at a number of grocery stores near me. I cannot wait to pick some up soon!
For my entrée, I listened to our waiter’s recommendation and selected the Fire & Brimstone quinoa-millet veggie burger with sunflower seed hummus, guacamole onion and cucumber.
Plus a side of the marinated beets and carrots!
It was delicious and I left feeling satisfied but not overly stuffed. A win!
After lunch, we walked across the parking lot and spent some time browsing around Atherton Market, a “community hub” that offers lots of goodies from local chefs, farmers and artisans.
It reminded me of an indoor farmer’s market, but with more specialty items and less emphasis on produce. I left with a small bag of granola to eat in the car on our way to the the Mint Museum Uptown!
Mint Museum
The museum houses the famous Craft + Design collection, as well as collections of American, contemporary and European art. I worked in the public relations and marketing department at the Orlando Museum of Art when I graduated from college and art museums hold a soft spot in my heart, so I was really looking forward to browsing the galleries and taking everything in!
There are five stories in the museum, so Ryan and I headed up to the fifth floor to begin. We immediately stumbled upon the Moment Mile photography display that was so, so cool.
On November 1, 2014, 139 photographers gathered in Uptown Charlotte in predetermined spots on a mile-long stretch of Tryon Street and simultaneously clicked their cameras at 6:15 p.m. Then, at 6:20 p.m., they turned around and took another photograph on the opposite side of the street.
All of the photographs were then stitched together to make two 100-foot long prints to catch a single moment in the heart of Charlotte. It was really, really neat! Some photographers got amazing shots (the one of the Charlotte Ballet was incredible, as there was clearly a class going on and ballerinas were perfectly posed in the windows) and others were funny (people clearly jumping to be in the picture) while most were simply beautiful images of Uptown Charlotte.
When Ryan and I visit museums, we like to play little games like “which painting would you pick if you got to choose one from this room,” etc. It makes the experience a little more interactive and fun. Yes, we are apparently five years old. Haha!
Ryan liked this goofy giraffe painting from the children’s art display! (I think it was painted by a student in 6th grade. Pretty impressive, right!?)
Oh hey, I know them…
The museum is definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in the Charlotte area and we really enjoyed our time exploring the galleries.
On our way home, we decided to conclude our day date with a sweet treat and picked up two cupcakes from Maddy Fatty’s.
The local cupcake shop was actually featured on a past episode of Cupcake Wars and their cupcakes are incredibly light and fluffy. Ryan and I shared the salted caramel and buttercream-stuffed chocolate cupcake and gave both rave reviews. Yum!
It was a great way to end a fun day date in Charlotte!
Question of the Morning
- Share one highlight from your weekend below!
- What is your favorite cupcake flavor?
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Cupcake flavor; give me something chocolate! Overall I had a very low key weekend.
Atherton Market reminds me of East End Market in Winter Park. If you haven’t checked it out, then I highly recommend making a stop the next time you are in Orlando! https://www.eastendmkt.com/
Oh wow! What a fun day! I don’t think my husband and I have ever done a day date. On the list! Luna’s looks amazing!
I love chocolate and caramel or a raspberry cupcake. Yum! What a fun day out with Ryan. I am absolutely drooling over your lunch!
I had a relaxing weekend at home for once with the hubs. We finally saw Gone Girl and it was nice to watch it from our comfy couch with the cold temps.
Anything red velvet and I’m sold, but chocolate is always a winnerin my book too.
What a fun weekend! I can’t believe a 6th grader made that…I can barely draw a straight stick figure!
This weekend I got to check out a coffee shop just south of Nashville call the Frothy Monkey. The location in Franklin, TN is in a old house. I love the atmosphere. With my head phones in & a HOT turtle espresso I was able to get a lot of work done. Ooooo cupcakes… I am a sucker for a Whole Foods Carrot cupcake occasionally. My favorite part is the cream cheese frosting. Now I will probably have to pick one up this week.
How fun! I love day dates. I got a lot of projects done since it was a low key weekend at home. I also was doing some studying for my training cerification – my test is coming up soon. Have a great Monday!
I love any type of cupcake as long as it has sprinkles on it!
ha! agreed!! 🙂
What a fun weekend! I love art museums! Josh and I went to our local one this weekend to see the traveling Andy Warhol exhibit. It was a lot of fun!
I love that giraffe painting too 🙂 how cute!
Your lunch looks so good! I got to spend time with my grandparents over the weekend AND eat chik-fil-a for the first time in 6 months (I’m home in Texas from Australia). Overall, a great weekend!
Looks like so much fun and those cupcakes look delicious! I love just regular ol’ chocolate cupcakes!
I love that idea of the moment photograph! How unique!!!
Our weekend in west Michigan was fantastic! Our temps rose and the sun came out, so we could break out and have some winter fun. Yesterday our family grabbed our pups and went on a hike. We had a golden retriever, a pug/lap mix, a lab/pit pup and a tiny wiener dog (that acted 5 ft tall) on our hike and it was SO much fun watching the doggie friends run up and down the snowy sand dunes along Lake Michigan. Afterwards, the hubbs and I took our pup out to the beach on the big lake. Two weeks ago we were sitting in sand listening to waves and now it’s solid ice and icebergs! CRAZY what happens with fast temp drops! Such a fun weekend! 🙂
What a fun weekend! I could spend entire DAYS wandering around museums, but my husband would really rather not. So it’s usually something I save to enjoy with my girl friends.
BEST cupcake flavor is strawberry with cream cheese, which is exactly whatmy wedding cake was! 🙂
What a fun day date! You guys are too cute.
Favorite cupcake flavor would have to be red velvet with cream cheese or buttercream frosting!
I LOVE Luna’s. My fiancé splits his time between Charlotte and DC (where I live) so anytime I come down to visit him we go to Luna’s at least once 🙂 Actually heading down there tomorrow for a couple days. Have you been to Fern yet? SO good for brunch!
no! i’ve heard great things about it though… we’ll have to make a trip!
You definitely have to check out the Lenny Boy Taproom in South End. They have all of their flavors on tap in addition to some ales.
Looks like a perfect day to me! Luna’s Kitchen is my type of place and finishing off with cupcakes us always a good idea. I love that picture collage too. You make Charlotte look like such a fun place to live!
That mile of pictures idea is SO COOL!! And I like how you guys pick which painting you’d take home if you could… I want to play that next time we’re at a museum! hah 🙂
what a fun date day! that collard wrap looks beautiful.
Julie if you liked the Lenny Boy kombucha, you need to take a trip to their taproom in South End! I went a few months ago and it was awesome. I think Ryan would like it too because they also brew their own kombucha beer. I wrote a blog post about it after I visited if you want to check it out!
http://lauravirginia.me/2014/10/29/local-charlotte-kombucha-at-lennyboy-brewing-co/
thanks so much for sharing, laura!! hoping to go soon!!
I definitely need to look for a raw restaurant, I’ve always wanted to go to one! And if I ever find a Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcake, that would be my favorite 🙂
The cupcake name cracked me up! Fatty’s is a bold choice to put in cupcake shop name, haha
I love art galleries but my husband isn’t the biggest fan. Looks like you guys had such a good time!
anything with pb!! what a fun weekend!! you both look like you had a blast. I love what you got at the vegan place!
What a fun weekend! Friday was my birthday and my hubby brought home cupcakes for us to share too! I chose pink champagne and coconut cream pie from a local cupcake bakery. They were both delicious!
I was living in Charlotte when the Mint Museum first opened, so I went during it’s opening weekend! It really was a great museum! They had an Ansel Adams exhibit that I LOVED since it was photos of the Sierras where I spent my summer’s growing up. So fun you got to experience it! Looks like a great day date!
no way! i would’ve loved to see that exhibit!
I always play that game in museums..and many furniture stores! 🙂 Definitely helps to keep things fun. Most of the time, I want EVERYTHING though! Any coffee-flavoured cupcake (or anything, really) gets my vote.
ha!! yes, it’s a fun one to play in furniture stores, too! especially expensive furniture stores where I can only afford a pillow. 🙂
Charlotte looks so fun! It’s definitely on my list to explore someday 🙂 I’m taking the GRE on Thursday so this weekend was full of studying and flash cards unfortunately, one thing I don’t miss about college…
good luck to you!!
What a fun day date. Your meal at the vegan spot looks delish. My weekend was full of hanging out with some visiting friends, a wine date with a girlfriend and some group fitness. I think the highlight was dessert on Saturday night! 🙂
Have you been to Lenny Boy’s taproom yet? Definitely check it out! It’s in South End as well and they have their alcoholic and non-alcoholic kombuchas on tap. You can also get growlers to refill!
no! i didn’t even realize that existed until this morning!!! it’s now on our “must visit” list!! their kombucha was seriously amazing!
That veggie burger look so good!I love that it was wrapped in a collard green instead of a real wrap. That’s such a fun idea.
That restaurant looks amazing! We have some great variety here in Chicago, but unfortunately there aren’t as many healthy places right near me as Id like. Im glad that I started to develop a taste for ginger since it is in a LOT of kombucha flavors and since I am now an honorary Indian. I already don’t like cilantro, so that would be awkward if I had an issue with ginger too 🙂
Curious …. if Luna is raw and vegan was the quinoa and millet in hour burger raw and uncooked?
no, it was cooked, don’t worry!! 🙂 the restaurant specialized in raw & vegan cuisine, but not everything on their menu is raw!
good. was imagining the quinoa “cooking” and expanding in your guts.
Salted Caramel ANYTHING wins my heart.. but I usually love a boring ol’ vanilla cupcake with white frosting the most 🙂
This weekend I loved going to church!!
Those cupcakes look amazing. I definitely have used cupcake wars to find good cupcakes in my area. 🙂
I’m a sucker for anything with sprinkles, funfetti, sprinkles on top, you name it. 🙂
I love reading about your Charlotte adventures and restaurant recommendations! I am literally keeping a list of places you mention so I can check them out on my next trip to Charlotte! 🙂
Looks like you had such a fun weekend! I need to start incorporating more day-dates with my husband into my life. 🙂
A highlight of my weekend was trying a craft brewery near my place with my boyfriend that I’d been dying to try. We were already pretty buzzed by the time we got there and our conversation was just hilarious! My favorite cupcake flavor is hands-down, carrot cake. Have a great week!
That long photo at the museum sounds pretty cool. You can’t go wrong with butter cream anything, so I bet that cupcake was delicious!
Luna’s Living Kitchen sounds delicious! As for cupcake flavor? Probably red velvet..mmmmm.
I ran my first trail run in Australia. We started at 4:30 am because of the heat. The end was a swimming pool. It was great. http://www.eatallovertheworld.com
What a fun day!! Weekend day dates are my favorites! I love being out and about and exploring the town with my hubby!
My weekend was super relaxing – it was really nice!
I really like red velvet cupcakes and coconut cupcakes – yum!
I spent the weekend hanging out with my mom to celebrate her birthday. We also ate some cupcakes from a delicious local shop. They have a peanut butter cup cupcake that is AMAZING. I could seriously eat that peanut butter frosting by the spoonful. Dangerous.
I want to visit lunas badly! what did ryan order and did he enjoy it?
Lunas living kitchen looks SO good. Definitely need more places like that around.
Your lunch looks amazing. Luna’s is now on my list. I’ve been eager to try Vedge in Philly since it’s received rave reviews. One day!
I spent some time in Charlotte when my husband was on a project there back in 2011. I enjoyed walking our dogs to the Green and getting pizza at Fuel. Check them out when you return!
Love your posts that highlight NC. I’ve been wanting to move there so badly!
Favorite cupcake flavor would have to be anything with cream cheese or dark chocolate frosting. Yummmm.