A Casual Saturday on Pearl Street

Hi, friends! Today I’m sharing with you how I spent a casual Saturday on Pearl Street in Boulder last weekend (read: lots of fun shopping and food!). Allen was gone camping and hiking all weekend long, so I was on my own for the most part. And while I’m definitely not a fan of having him away on the weekends (it’s one of the few times we have to spend together since we live an hour apart), it was a nice excuse to take some time for myself and to do things I wouldn’t normally do with him–like shopping and a girls night!

After helping Allen to get all his gear ready and off on the road early Saturday morning, I headed out on a mission to find a candy thermometer. I’ve been pretty lucky in not needing a candy thermometer for all the baking I’ve done up to this point in my life, but I’ve got a s’mores-inspired cupcake I’ve been itching to make that requires one to make the perfect marshmallow cream frosting. As it so happens, I live pretty close to 29th Street Mall, so I walked over to Sur La Table to see if they had one.

I had never been inside Sur La Table and almost instantly wanted 10x different things I saw–including these wooden coasters , this adorable cupcake towel, and this wooden sugar bowl. If you haven’t been in this store yet, I’d definitely recommend taking a peek in. I also fell in love with this fox mug and this fox/raccoon salt & pepper shaker. I mean…how cute?!

At any rate, I was successful in my mission and left with a nice candy thermometer. I also picked up this cactus cookie cutter that was too cute to pass up!

Sur la Table Favorites

Afterwards, I had some time to spare so I walked across the street to Anthropologie. Most of the time, I can’t afford anything there, but I still love looking all the same! I found a couple books I was pretty excited about–The Year of Cozy and Clean Slate Cookbook (love this one too)–as well as some colorful fun kitchen towels and napkins.

As for clothing, I didn’t make any purchases. But I did have a ton of fun trying on all their new fall arrivals! They’re so good! I was really feeling the warm brown tones of the pieces below–this sparkly top (on clearance), this heart print silk blouse, and this cocoon coat. And this vest was seriously the coziest! (It’s the one piece I was considering getting!) I also tried on this poncho sweater and was drooling over this floral studded jacket. Kind of loving this fuzzy sherpa vest too–and especially how Jillian styled it here.

Anthropologie Favorites

After perusing all the pretty things at Anthropologie, I boarded the Hop bus and took it all the way down to Pearl Street. It was the perfect day to grab lunch at the Farmers’ Market and to browse the local produce and flowers. These bright orange sunflowers are my favorite and I’m tempted to get a bouquet of them every time I go.

The tomatoes were looking especially juicy and plump this past weekend. And they, in fact, inspired me to make homemade lasagna for dinner. 😛

The Farmers’ market is only open until 2pm. Luckily I made it in enough time to grab a sandwich from my favorite little organic sandwich shop that has a stand there. I got the turkey with smoked Gouda sandwich and let me tell you….the bread was to-die-for good! I also tried a hibiscus pomegranate lemonade that was quite delightful as well. I found a spot in the grass by the creek and settled down there to eat my lunch. It was the perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon in Boulder.

After I finished lunch, I headed back up to Pearl Street to peruse the shops there. I first ventured into Urban Outfitters and found two new mugs to add to my collection–one of which was this adorable elephant mug with a place for your tea bag! (I also added this rustic mug.)

My original intent on going to Urban Outfitters was to purchase this Good Vibes pillow, which I was successful at getting. I’m so excited they still had one! My plan is to switch out my pink spring/summer pillows for these autumn/winter buffalo check ones in a month or so. I think it will really give my apartment that warm, cozy, rustic cabin vibe I’ve been into lately.

Urban Outfitters Favorites

Next I continued walking down Pearl Street and into Pearl Street Mall. I’ve lived in Boulder for a little over a year now, but actually haven’t done too much exploring on Pearl Street. (Should that be embarrassing? :P) So I let myself wander into and out of stores and took a super casual mindset to the afternoon–letting the wind blow me where it saw fit. Some of the stores I migrated into were Peppercorn (eccentric kitchen store), Boulder Bookstore (super cool “library stacks” vibe), Nature’s Own (unique gem stone/fossil store), Fior di Latte (love this gelato stop!), Into the Wind (amazing kite shop), and Bliss (home decor + trinkets). Luckily/unluckily I had already filled my bags at the Farmers’ Market and other shops, so I had a little more restraint when going into these shops. But sometimes it’s nice just to browse new places with no actual intent to purchase. Window shopping I think they call it. 😉 Do you ever do the same?

P.S. – Even if shopping isn’t your thing, Pearl Street Mall still has a lot of great things to offer–lots of people watching, fun street entertainment, and killer places to eat!

I also found this sign on my walk and really connected with it. 😛

After an hour or two of walking through Pearl Street Mall, I made it to the unofficial end-of-the-line at Box Car Coffee Roasters. I stopped in and got an iced latte for the bus ride home. (It was game weekend, so I knew the traffic would make for a long ride.) As it would be, the bus stop is right outside Box Car which made for an easy transition onto the bus from there. Can’t believe I just started using the bus system religiously–it’s so good!

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Later that evening, I got together with some new girl friends for the first time. It’s just chance that I met one of my friends’ wife last week and totally hit it off (like, instantly!), which doesn’t happen too often. So I was so excited when she invited me to hang out with her and another friend just-for-fun that evening at her place.

We made pumpkin latte milkshakes and talked for hours together. It’s been a while since I’ve felt like I’ve had legitimate girl time…or girl friends for that matter. (Occupational hazard of working in a male-dominated engineering industry I suppose.) But it was seriously one of the best times I’ve had in a long time. I loved just doing…well, nothing! and talking about whatever was on our minds. I’m super excited that we connected and I already can’t wait to get together with them again soon! I think we are planning on doing a hip-hop class together next week. (That should be fun to watch!)

And in case you are wondering, we used this pumpkin latte milkshake recipe! It was really good and tasted a lot like pumpkin pie…if you’re into that kind of thing!

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Good food, fun purchases, and bright new friendships! This Saturday was so much fun and exactly the kind of lazy weekend I needed. Sometimes it’s nice to intersperse adventuring with more casual weekends, don’t you think?

And speaking of adventuring, tomorrow I’ll be recapping a fun hiking adventure I went on with my friend Conor and his mom, so stay tuned!

As for this new kind of shopable post, I had so much fun developing the little scroll bars with my favorite items for you guys. I know it’s something that’s new for me and for this blog, so I hope you enjoyed it too. If you’d like to see more of these posts with shopable images, let me know in the comments below!

What about you? How is your favorite way to spend a casual weekend?

You might also like…shopping and eating in Dallas, TX and visiting the Denver Science Museum (another way I love to spend casual weekends!).