Happy Monday friends!
This week was a bit of a rough one. I had migraines almost every day, so I don’t have a super interesting week to report on, but it ended on a very high note on Saturday & Sunday so I figured it was still worth the share.
Monday. I woke up this morning with a pretty bad migraine. I’ve suffered from migraines since I was in the 2nd grade, but this past year I have really gotten a handle on them. Now, I typically only have them around that time of the month (which was the case this week), or on the occasion that I didn’t eat enough throughout the day, I will get one in the evening.
Breakfast was just a Chobani Complete because I didn’t feel like making anything.
Mia, Mae, and I had a very slow day. I worked between my office and the patio. That’s my favorite part about spring and working from home; working outside in the sunshine.
On my lunch break, I dropped Andrew off at the airport and then got back to work. As the day progressed, my migraine got worse so I decided to skip the gym. I changed into pajamas and hung out with the girlies. For dinner, I used the sauce I had made on Sunday and made myself a light version of chicken parm with spaghetti.
Tuesday. I woke up on Tuesday with what I call a “migraine hangover”. Which is exactly what it sounds like, a hangover from a migraine I had the day before. My migraine will be gone, but I will feel exhausted and foggy.
I kept breakfast pretty straightforward with a protein smoothie and spent the morning writing up the weekly diary. I used a smoothie pack from Costco, which is a wonderful smoothie starter. All I added was a chobani yogurt drink, ice, water, a scoop of vanilla protein, and a spoonful of mixed nut butter.
Once the diary was finished it was time to hop online for work. After work, I headed to the gym. My sister met me there. We started with a 10-minute steady-state cardio session on the stair master, we hit chest & shoulders, and ended with 20 minutes of cycling.
After the gym, my sister came over and we watched the new episode of The Kardashians. I SWORE I wasn’t going to get sucked into their new show, but here I am, sucked in. We ordered Viva Chicken for dinner and I got the Quinoa Stuffed Avocado with all-white meat chicken. It’s one of my healthier go-to’s when ordering out and I love it.
Wednesday. This morning I decided to film a morning vlog so that took up most of my morning before getting online for work.
Lately, I’ve been really obsessed with making what I am calling “Asian Pickles”. Its just cucumbers soaked overnight in Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce/Liquid Aminos, & Crunchy Chili Onion from Trader Joe’s. I’ve been throwing them on my rice and chicken bowls for dinner and they’re the tastiest thing. I made some on my lunch break to have for dinner for the rest of the week and then hung out with the girls on the patio.
Mid-afternoon I had a craving for something sweet, so I grabbed a Diana’s Banana Baby. Its just a banana dipped in dark chocolate and frozen. Very yummy. 😋
I recently discovered these Waterless Shampoo Wipes from Nootie for Mia and Mae. We wipe their feet off with them when they come in from being outside. It makes them smell absolutely amazing.
After work, I headed to the airport to pick up Andrew. I try to drop him off and pick him up from the airport whenever I can. It might seem silly, since he could obviously just uber, but I really enjoy doing it. Acts of Service is one of his love languages so I know its one way I can show him love. Plus, I’m usually eager to see him after he’s been gone. He was exhausted from his trip so we spent the evening on the couch relaxing and catching each other up on our weeks.
Thursday. Thursday morning was uneventful. I slept in, ate a quick breakfast and then hopped online for work.
On my lunch, I decided to run over to Trader Joe’s. I haven’t been in a few months so I wanted to restock on some of our staples and also pick up a few fun things. I grabbed flowers, some produce, seasonings, and these Dark Chocolate Drizzled Plantain Chips 😋😋
For lunch, I made the yummiest salad with arugula, goat cheese, a rice medley, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I threw chicken meatballs that I had made on top as the protein. I topped it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. It’s my latest salad obsession.
Friday. Friday morning I actually arranged the flowers that I picked up at Trader Joe’s on Thursday. I did a mix of white hydrangeas and orange/coral carnations. I love mixing white hydrangeas with bright smaller flowers. Usually, spray roses are my go-to, but I just could not get over how bright and vibrant these little carnations were.
On Friday after work, Andrew and I finished unloading stones from our rollover project from last weekend. Then we went to Home Depot to pick up another order of Mulch. It was almost 8 o’clock by the time we got back from Home Depot so we made a quick rice and chicken dinner and called it a night.
Saturday. was busy!! We woke up around 7 and immediately got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed outside. We had 35 bags of mulch to spread and a lot of stones to place. 😅 Once we got all of the mulch unloaded, we knocked it out pretty quickly. We had Mia & Mae outside with us and we just took it a section at a time. We finished up around 11. We were pretty proud of ourselves and super excited that we have knocked out almost everything we wanted to do to the yard this summer and it’s only MAY. Being in our backyard is a pure delight for us right now. The weather has been perfect, our trees in the backyard are blooming, and the birds are constantly chirping. I will probably say this all spring and summer, but I sneak out there as often as I can to decompress and just relax. Being outside in the sunshine is so therapeutic for me, especially when combatting a hectic workweek or a stressful wedding planning week.
We brought the girls inside, and showered. Andrew had a haircut appointment that I tagged along for so that we could immediately head over to Cabarrus Brewing in Concord to meet our friends, my sister, and my parents. There was a huge vendor event being hosted at the brewery and there were a ton of different vendors set up and food trucks. It was a fun afternoon enjoying the weather, a good cold beer (that tasted like an orange creamsicle 10/10), and some yummy dumplings from a local food truck, Dumpling Girls.
After the brewery, Andrew and I were wiped out. I had another migriane and Andrew’s allergies were acting up pretty badly. So we had a lazy evening in, hanging on the patio with the girls and then we rented the new Spiderman movie.
Sunday. We had a 1 o’clock flight to Pensacola to catch and hadn’t started packing. We woke up early and got our stuff all packed and set up Mia & Mae so that they were ready for my sister to spend the week with them.
Around 11, we left for the airport. Our uber driver was the coolest. We had a ton of fun chatting with him and learning about his life. He owned a pretty successful commercial floor polishing company for over 40 years and had just recently sold it to a bigger national company. It was intriguing listening to him talk about how he built the company from nothing and how he had told the national company that the deal was off if they couldn’t guarantee that all of his employees would have jobs for the next 3 years after the sale.
Once we got to the airport and through TSA we decided to try out the American Express Centurion Lounge at the airport. The food and atmosphere were great and it was a fun start to our trip to Florida. I tried to keep it pretty light at the buffet and grabbed some roasted veggies, potatoes, a farro salad, and a piece of pork.
I brought Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequest to read on the plane. I bought it a few years ago, but never read it (I am guilty of doing this very very often 🙈) I’m absolutely loving it and think I needed to read it more than anything in this busy season of life. I’m about half way through, but have already gotten so much out of it. Its filled with endless nuggets about life, juggling the busy, rebuilding your life in seasons of heartbreak, and creating a simpler way of living. I will report back again when I’ve finished it, but so far 10/10.
We arrived in Pensacola just before 2, rented a car, and then headed to our hotel. We quickly got changed into bathingsuits and went for a walk on the beach. I think the ocean and the mountains are where I feel closest to God. Whenever I’m closest to some of the most wonderful and magnificent things He created, that’s where I feel Him most and I always leave feeling refreshed and renewed in some way.
Physically getting onto the beach is always the first thing I want to do when I get to a beach town. I don’t necessarily need to be in the water or laying in the sand, I just need to be standing in the sand where the waves roll in and out, looking out into the forever blue horizon, and breathing in the salty air.
Andrew and I both adore being near the ocean so we try to soak up as much oceanfront-time as we can. We always fall into deep conversations or reminisce on family vacations of our childhoods or talk about family vacations we want to take with our future family.
After our walk on the beach, we decided to go to the pool until dinner. We spent the rest of the evening poolside and playing cornhole. I almost won our cornhole game. It was probably the best I’ve ever played. 😊
For dinner we went to a spot in Pensacola called Crabs. We were both exhausted and stuffed from the day so we headed back to the hotel after dinner and went to bed early so we were refreshed for Monday.
I hope you enjoyed this weekly diary! I hope you all have the best week!
Love always,
