I hope everybody enjoyed a lazy (or fun-filled) day off work this Labor Day. And if you had to work, well, I hope you had a marvelous Monday to begin your week.

This past weekend was full of fun and family. We took it easy Friday night after my in-laws arrived.

Saturday we drove to Fairhope and had lunch at Panini Pete’s. Once again, I was entirely predictable and ordered the tomato, basil, and mozzarella panino.

The rain stayed away, so we walked around downtown and went to a few shops before driving back home.

After freshening up, we met my parents at Mirko Pasta for a belated birthday dinner for Mark.

This was only our second time there, but it’s easily one of my favorite restaurants. The ingredients are incredibly fresh, and like I mentioned in my review, they make all but two pasta varieties in-house. I love that you get to “build your own” pasta.

This time, I began with a caesar salad (not the best, but decent) and enjoyed the eggplant and herb ravioli with a creamy pesto sauce. Delicious!

Mark raved about his spinach salad and tried the gnocchi (one of the pastas that is imported from Italy) with bolognese. His was quite tasty, too.

We split a tiramisu (which was gigantic) for dessert. It was one of the best I’ve had, although I wish it would’ve had a stronger espresso flavor.

Sunday we took our chances with the weather and drove to Gulf Shores. It looked like quite the storm was brewing, so we ate lunch at Lulu’s (Jimmy Buffet’s sister, Lucy’s, restaurant on the marina).

This was our first time eating there; the atmosphere was a lot of fun, but the food was just ok (you’re paying for the name and the environment, although I am impressed that Lucy sources her seafood sustainably and has environmentally-friendly features like water bottle fountains and a windmill to generate electricity). I had the grilled mahi tacos, while Mark opted for the BLT with a fried green tomato.

Luckily, the weather cleared up, so we spent a few hours down on the public beach. It was overcast, so it stayed nice and cool. The water wasn’t too chilly, though, so I got to swim for a while (and do handstands!) 🙂

For it being the last holiday of the season, it wasn’t very crowded at all. We had no trouble with traffic to or from the beach.

Monday we ate lunch at Heroes before the in-laws drove back home.

I’m not ready to go back to work, but at least it’s only a 4-day week. This afternoon’s yoga class was a really good one, and I hope it sets up the work week nicely.