I’m baaaaack. Did you miss me? Things have been quiet around here the last month or so, and I really have no excuse. Except that I was busy; busy with work, busy with play, busy interacting with real humans instead of sitting at my computer (also busy with TV watching, book reading, cat cuddling and quite a bit of beer drinking. Oh, and I’ve taken up running too). Busy is good, except I didn’t like neglecting my blog at all; it felt like I was letting my little space just float in blogosphere limbo. So I’m getting out of the weeds and back to regular posting, I hope. And kicking my comeback from blogosphere limbo with a new series of photo and lifestyle posts. These will be updated weekly or bi-weekly (or really as I see fit when I’m not busy interacting with real humans or my cat) and give you all a look into what’s keeping me busy, what’s going on in life, and of course, what I’m eating (because what’s a food blog without gaining a few pounds?). So here’s what’s been going on with Off the Eaten Path lately (February counts as lately right? How is it already the end of March?).

1. Snow. Isn’t the Thirsty Beaver looking good decked out in white? While I really enjoyed my five day weekend in February, I’m ready for spring!

2. For Valentine’s Day, Pheebs assisted in gift wrapping (men like beer, cats like ribbon). I picked up six packs of Atwater Brewery‘s Vanilla Java Porter (yum!!!) and Grand Circus IPA from Common Market I also got super creative with the card situation; “Beer My Valentine” and “I like you beery much.” I was so proud of myself.

3. I rang in the big 2-7 in February, and had a delightful brunch with a wonderful group of girlfriends at Georges Brasserie in South Park. The stars of birthday brunch were definitely the beignets. So light, so fluffy, so sweet, so delicious. Really the stuff brunch dreams are made of.

4. One of my favorite Charlotte spots, Bistro La Bon (post coming next week!) recently started a Bloody Mary bar on Saturdays. Combining two of my favorite things? Yes, please. Katie Claire and I popped over there a few weeks ago and took advantage of all the fixings–banana peppers, horseradish, pickles, asparagus, you name it (extra spicy for me!); plus had a little brunch on the side.

5. Another weather related post–while February brought us a crippling snow storm, we have had a couple glimpses of spring with 75 degree, sunny days. Emily and I took advantage of one such day in early March and enjoyed the sun on several Plaza Midwood patios. This shot is from The Peculiar Rabbit; if you haven’t been to their roof top bar, please go immediately.

6.  I first started listening to Stephen Kellogg and the S6ers when I was in college and always try to catch SK in a live show when I can (he’s one of my favorite musicians). He swung by Charlotte at the end of January on a solo tour, and I had so much fun seeing him live at The Evening Muse (it was my first time at The Evening Muse, and it’s is such a neat, intimate music venue!). We made a night out in NoDa–had beers at Growlers, dinner at Cabo Fish Taco, and ended the evening jamming with SK.

7. I have to confess that I was never a fan of banana pudding until I moved to Charlotte, and now I can’t get enough. Some friends and I swung by The Diamond a few weeks ago for a midnight snack and I went for the healthiest option–chili cheese fries and banana pudding.

8. Our group of girlfriends celebrated Kate’s birthday with a dinner full of vegetarian delights at Fern. Kate has been a vegetarian for about 8 months now (sorry Kate if that’s inaccurate, just ballparking here) and so we thought it would be the perfect place for us to have a fun celebration. The food was amazing and the decor was pretty sweet, too.

9. Did y’all know you can get an app on your phone to find Girl Scout Cookies?? Yes, this is real life and also amazing. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to scour the app to get in my annual dose of Thin Mints; I scored a few boxes from a coworker’s daughter and buried a few at the back of my freezer so I wouldn’t eat them all at once.

March has also been a whirlwind, but I’m happy to get back on the blogging train. I’m looking forward to sharing new posts, highlighting some of my favorite Charlotte restaurants next week!

*** Also dear readers (Hi, Mom!) I’ve left you a little note would love your comments if you want to leave one! I’ve been toying with the idea of snapshot/recap/life posts for a while. I didn’t do them for a while because I thought it made me self-centered (like really who on the internet wants to see my photos and know what’s going on in my life). But I finally pulled the trigger because I thought they would be fun to write, and fun to share (truth, it is fun!). My next issue? A creative title for this series–because what’s a series without a creative title? So we’re going to go with snapshots for now. Other contenders include: food bites, life lately, this week in photos and maybe some combination of the aforementioned. What do you think? Do you like posts like this? Which one is your favorite title? Do you care at all?