Barre to Brunch | A Sunday at Avalon

When it comes to weekend activities, I would have to say a solid workout followed by food of some kind, ranks at the top of the list for me! I commonly refer to this activity as 'Barre to Brunch.' A couple weekends ago, I had the opportunity to host a couple blogger girlfriends at Avalon! What a way to start a beautiful Sunday morning.

Our first stop of the day was a class at Exhale! Kristen, our awesome instructor, led us through an intense Core Fusion Barre class. I always love to start my day with a great workout, before I indulge in my favorite meal of the week.

After the class, we all did a little "window shopping!" From bkr bottles to eye-catching workout wear, Exhale has you covered.  Exhale also offers several classes besides the Core Fusion Barre, including: Core Fusion Barre + Cardio, Core Fusion Boot Camp, Core Fusion Cardio, Core Fusion Extreme, Core Fusion Sport, Core Fusion Yoga & Core Cycling!

And with locations at Avalon, Inman Park and in Midtown; there is a studio for everyone! I am biased to the Avalon location, because of all the fun things you can do there. You can spend an entire day working out, dining, shopping and even catching the latest flick! 

We decided to make an entire morning/afternoon with our Sunday! Our next "pit" stop was to grab a latte post-barre. 

After our workout, we had a little down time until brunch at Oak Steakhouse. Cynthia (of Darling Down South) recommend we pop into Caffè Antico for lattes. The Caffe provides such a classic European experience and while we didn't have time to dine al fresco on the patio; we did take full advantage of the espresso bar, which serves up Illy macchiatos and lattes throughout the day! Perfect for a midday pick me up!

While we continued to sip on our lattes, the girls and I made our way to our final stop of the afternoon, Oak Steakhouse. I had dined at Oak before for dinner, but never had the opportunity to experience their brunch! 

Based on first impressions (referring to my first brunch experience with Oak), Oak hit it out of the park! Upon our arrival, they had mimosas waiting on us! And shortly after we were seated, our waiter brought out a round of appetizers. Let's just say our jaws hit the floor (and my mouth started to water), when our eyes saw what the chef had prepared. 

To start we nibbled inhaled: a Cinnamon Roll with house-made vanilla icing, Poutine crispy shoestring fries smothered with house made cheese curds and pork gravy & Local Apple Fritter a house-made fried pastry with cinnamon sugar dusting. 

This is why I love brunch. Because you can get array of delectable bites, which can range from "fries" to a cinnamon roll.

Once we had made a sufficient dent in the small plates, we decided we still had room for an entrée. But when it comes to  narrowing it down to one item at brunch, that is never an easy task! That's why I always make sure to grab a couple of girlfriends. Simple logic: More friends = more food. Also, #SharingIsCaring

 It's always a good idea to divide an conquer any menu you should encounter, thus, Cynthia went with the Classic Eggs Benedict an english muffin. country ham. 2 hour poached farm eggs with hollandaise.

Allison (of Peachfully Chic) and I opted for the Grilled Steak & Eggs their CAB bistro steak. scrambled farm eggs. grilled local tomatoes and bearnaise sauce. 

After our 2-hour brunch winded down, we bid our adieus and headed home to enjoy the rest of our Sunday with full hearts and even fuller stomachs. 

Xo,

Kel

Thank you to Emily Salerno for arranging this day at Avalon for me and my blogger friends! And to Holly, Kristen and the staff at Oak Steakhouse. While our class at Exhale was comped and brunch items were comped, all the opinions are my own.