Otherwise known as “the answers to yesterday’s wordless post” but hey, that just sounds a little boring, don’tcha think?

After Emilia taught me the ways of power yoga via a Nikki Wong podcast (which was more of a workout than I thought it was gonna be…I was actually starting to sweat at one point! I totally take back everything I ever thought/said about yoga being an easy workout!), she whipped us each up a big glass of some fresh juice!

Carrot, apple, ginger, cilantro, a little spinach with a side of creepy smile!

And since I’ve been home, I’ve seriously been scoping out Amazon.com for a juicer of my own!

Any suggestions? Preferably under $100?

After juicing, we quickly got ready and were out the door in less than an hour to make it to Acai Cafe for acai bowls!

Essentially, an acai bowl is a thick smoothie blended with frozen acai pulp and fresh juice with optional add-ins like protein powder, flax, or maca and then topped with granola and fresh fruit.

I ordered the Amazon Bowl (7th one down) and added avocado while Emilia went with the Da Silva (1st one).

Being the bargain-hunting foodies that we are, we brought along our own protein powder + chia seeds and the baristas had no problem taking them and adding them to our bowls.

Mine was definitely tasty, but I have to say Emilia made the best choice…the spices included in her bowl were out of this world! I later found out that they sell the frozen acai pulp at Whole Foods so I can’t wait to get some on my next trip to Nashville and recreate it for myself!

After breakfast, we made our way to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and spent hours screaming our heads off on roller coasters, walking along the beach, and laughing at all the typical fair fare:

Seriously, those doughnuts were the size of my face!

As tempting as the chocolate covered bacon was, I had my heart set on a different treat…

If you guessed that I indulged in deep fried Oreos, you were right on the money!

Unfortunately, I think my expectations were a little too high…the cookie was a bit soggy and the batter simply tasted like a funnel cake (which I’m not a huge fan of), but I’m still glad I got to try them…next on the list, deep fried PB&J! 😉

After walking along the beach…

Stopping to listen to a boardwalk musician…

Spotting a sea lion over the pier…

And getting our picture taken next to a HUGE pelican (yes, he is real and yes, we know he could’ve pecked our eyes out!)…

We made our way into downtown Santa Cruz for some shopping and fun!

I forgot to mention yesterday, that we also enjoyed a little “appetizer” before dinner….shots of balsamic vinegar from The True Olive Connection!

I seriously think I tried EVERY single vinegar they carried! And I WAS kicking myself for not buying the espresso flavor but then I looked at their website and noticed that I can get it online! Woo hoo!

And the perfect ending to a fun-filled day in Santa Cruz…dinner at the blogger-made-famous Cafe Gratitude, “an organic vegan restaurant that specializes in raw and uncooked cuisine” (taken from website).

There were so many delicious sounding dishes to choose from! After about 15 minutes of deliberating, we finally decided to split the “I Am Fulfilled” Salad with the fig balsamic dressing (as if we hadn’t had our fill of balsamic already!)

For our entrees, I ordered the “I Am Hearty”

“Deep-dish pizza with sun-dried tomato marinara, pesto, olive tapenade, Brazil nut Parmesan and ricotta cheese on our live onion sunflower pizza crust”

And Emilia decided on the “I Am Elated”

“Enchilada in a live spinach tortilla with a sprouted seed filling, topped with spicy mole, cashew sour cream and scallions. Served with spicy Mexican coleslaw”

I could NOT get over the amazing flavors of both of these dishes! I could pick out each flavor from the layers of my “pizza: and Emilia’s “enchilada” was a little pocket of spicy goodness!

I was amazed at how the vegan ricotta and sour cream tasted too…you could definitely win a dairy-lover over to the “dark side” with those additions!

If you ever find yourself in California, I definitely recommend going to Cafe Gratitude! It was everything I thought it would be and more!

So there you have it…my fun and food filled day in Santa Cruz!

What looks the best to you?