My First Appointment at Skin Pharm, A Fun Weekend, and Recharging When You’re Drained

Hi friends! Happy Tuesday (almost Wednesday)I don’t know why I can’t get these weekly recaps out on Monday, but here we are on a Tuesday again, oh well! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I missed last week’s weekly diary so I’m very excited to get this one written. I really missed it. The recap for last week would have been all about how we helped my parents move out of my childhood home and how hard it was to say goodbye to it. Instead of writing a weekly diary about all the tears, I decided just to write my final goodbye to the house.

Overall this was a really lowkey week, outside of work, which I desperately needed.

Monday. I had my first appointment at Skin Pharm after work on Monday. We are officially 5 months out from the wedding so I thought it would be a good time to start exploring the world of Botox and Dysport. If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that, after a long battle with hormonal acne that plagued my adolescence, I am highly skincare motivated. For the past 2 years I have been getting seasonal facials and recently started getting dermaplaning done at Skin Dot Calm in Huntersville. I’ve seen a huge improvement in the texture of my skin since I started regularly seeing an esthetician. I have some other skincare treatments that I’m trying in the next couple of months to help my skin look its best on our wedding day, including a hydrafacial at Circadian Rejuvenation in Charlotte. I am trying out a few new facials and treatments now while we are 5 months out so I can see how my skin reacts. Then I will build myself a plan for the 2 months leading up to the wedding. I originally went into Skin Pharm planning on getting Botox for the first time, but my nurse practitioner actually recommended Dysport over Botox. I was a little nervous, but it barely hurt at all, just little pinches, and the Dysport has already settled and looks really natural.

I brought my mom and sister to my appointment with me for emotional support and afterward, we swung by Kung Fu Tea for Boba. I grabbed the Chai Milk Strike and my mom and sister both got the Oreo Milk Strike. The Oreo Milk Strike is like a milkshake, I highly recommend it. I opted for a lower calorie option (#weddingprep lol), but the Chai was still very yummy too.

Tuesday & Wednesday. Work has been busy. Very busy. So much so that I was struggling to come up for air Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday I spent the entire morning in meetings and then after lunch, I had a quick hour and then more meetings to round the day off. The light at the end of the tunnel was an Amazon package waiting for me at the end on our front porch that evening. I ordered these super cute clips for my hair off of Amazon and I’m obsessed with them. They’re not as bulky as the other clips I have and I like that they are gold & silver so they match my jewelry.

Mostly Wednesday was more of the same; quick breakfast, work, work, quick lunch, work, work, gym. I slacked on taking photos throughout the day and of course, I’m beating myself up about it now.

I did 30 minutes of stairs at the gym to clear my head after the long workday.

Thursday. I don’t always spring out of bed. Actually, quite the opposite. I’m not by any stretch of the imagination, a morning person or an early morning spring-out-of-bed-er. It’s something I’ve been working really hard on for the past several months and each day I seem to naturally wake up a bit earlier. On Thursday, for some reason, though I sprung out of bed and happily embraced the extra hours of daylight. I headed out for a run before it started to rain. I don’t usually do my cardio in the morning, or outside, but I thought it would be good to get it out of the way so my gym session could end a little earlier that evening. When I got back from my run I took some time to deadhead my petunias, carnations, and lilies, which is just what it sounds like, removing the deadheads or dead blooms from your plants. It allows room for the new blooms to come in and also makes your plants look 1000% better.

After work, I went to Home Depot to pick up a few new flowers. I wanted to add some cape jasmine gardenias to our yard. I have been so much more into gardening this year than I was last spring and summer. I am planning on planting bulbs this fall to hopefully enjoy some more unique blooms next year. I like to think our garden is off to a whimsical start; so far we have Lillies, Carnations, Petunias, Peonies, Hydrangeas and Gardenias. If you’re interested in a full garden tour, let me know!

Friday. I needed a weekend focused on resting and recharging. It had been a long two weeks and I felt drained. When I’m feeling drained my reflex is to just curl up in a ball and sleep forever, but that never really solves the entire issue. When I’m drained, I’m not just physically tired. I’m emotionally and spiritually exhausted as well and I need emotional and spiritual recharges just as much as I need sleep.

Friday evening I made plans to hang out with an old friend. We spent the evening sitting on my couch and catching up. It is nice to have friends like that. Where you can be undone and yourself, in your pajamas on a Friday night taking turns spilling life updates and laughing.

Saturday. Andrew and I slept in a little and then made our way to Summit to grab coffees. I got one of their seasonal cold brews, Blue Skies. It had a blueberry and honeysuckle cold foam. I would highly recommend it. While we were there, we saw that a PlantHouse had opened in the same shopping center so we decided to stroll through and look around. They had some absolutely stunning pots and planters. The store is half a plant shop and half a classroom for workshops. I am quickly running out of well-lit spots in our house to place plants, so I had to exercise some serious self-control and not bring any plants home.

Once I forcibly removed myself from the fiddles, I had some errands to run, and then Andrew and I met at the gym. Saturday’s always mean a big gym day so that we can justify our Saturday cheat meal. I hit a heavy glute & hamstring focused leg day and then we headed home to get ready for a night of bowling with some friends.

Sunday. On Sunday, I continued my weekend of activities that bring me joy; planting flowers, laying by the pool, a slow Sunday evening making a yummy dinner, and enjoying time with Andrew and our girlies. I woke up ready to get my gardenias into the bed. I decided to put two in the backyard and keep one in a pot on the front porch for now.

I took these photos of the girls the week before, but look how pretty they look. I had to share.

For dinner, we decided to make tacos on the grill and I got so excited about it that I rushed us to the grocery store to pick up everything we needed. Making tacos on the grill during the summer is a whole love language for me. Andrew and I coordinate between the kitchen and patio; I make the fresh guacamole and salsas inside while Andrew cooks up our protein and toasts the tortillas outside on the grill. It’s a clumsy dance of chopping veggies, tossing tortillas, and exchanging cold plates for hot ones over the threshold of our backdoor.