Hi, friend! Mid-November is here, and it felt like the right time to share some real-time favorite things from life lately. As always, thank you for stopping by to read today. You can always catch me on Instagram for mostly daily updates.
Life is flying by over here. Between work, sporting events, practices and everyday logistics, we don’t get a lot of time to slow down and appreciate the moment these days. But, Brady’s fall soccer season is winding down, and I’m wrapping up a few projects this week, which is a great thing for our family. It’ll be group fitness, creating content and soaking up the holidays through the rest of the year. Speaking of holidays, we usually have our Christmas decorations up by now, and we’re hoping to do that this weekend. I’m ready for them. Now, let’s chat about my November favorite things …
Wearing the cutest animal print adidas shoes
*Thanks to adidas for the most generous gift cards to purchase gear this year!
A few weeks ago, I saw an Instagram ad about some animal print adidas shoes, and I immediately went to the site to investigate them. Animal print is my favorite pattern, and adidas is my favorite brand of athleisure, so it was a perfect fit. I acted quickly and ordered the shoes and a few more items.
These SL 72 OG style sneakers arrived to me just a couple days later, and they’re even better looking in person. I always read the reviews on the adidas site, and I learned from the reviews that these shoes actually have real hair, it’s not just a pattern on fabric. The orange pop of color contrasts so well to the animal print, and the shape is a little different from a flat sneaker (which I already have a lot of). Although they’re very comfy, the heel did rub me a bit on the first time out. But that often happens with sneakers, and then it subsides.
In my latest adidas order, I also got Brady some new soccer cleats, which he’s been loving and wearing for games and practices. And I got a ton of great sweatshirts for the colder season. I prefer a zip-up sweatshirt most days to wear over my gym clothes, so I don’t mess up my perfectly tight ponytail when I take them off right before teaching classes. I got this denim zip-up, this velour zip-up and even this retro zip-up too. All fit great and are now in my rotation.
You know I’m a big adidas fan, because adidas always has great sales and the gear is reasonably priced. If you’re looking for new sneakers, check out the shoes under $100 on the adidas site. And thanks, adidas, for all the gift cards over the last three years, because I really do love everything I order.
Enjoying a visit from one of my oldest friends
Last weekend, I had a very special visitor. My girlfriend from Florida, Judy, came up to stay with us, and it was an amazing time. During her visit, we figured out we have been friends for 27 years. Oh my goodness, that’s a long time!
Our story started when I sat behind Judy in Spanish class long ago, and next thing you know, we decided to go on a class trip to Mexico together and the rest is history. We haven’t lived in the same city in many years, and although we don’t talk or text every day, we’ve been in each other’s lives in some way for nearly three decades, which is insane.
Judy was a bridesmaid in my wedding to Dave, and I was a part of her wedding ceremony too. She’s someone I’ve always been able to trust — which is why she’s been a part of my inner circle for so long.
Because we didn’t do our usual annual girls trip with a couple other sweet girlfriends this calendar year (after doing Nashville, Charleston and Montreal in three years), Judy decided to come see me for the weekend in Charlotte, and it couldn’t have filled my heart up more than it did. We laughed, we chatted, we shared, and I had the opportunity to show her all around my favorite spots and meet some great people in my life too.
Weekend highlights include:
- Judy Ubering from the airport straight to Life Time to take my LIFT Barbell Strength class and sit on the HydroMassage chairs (a must for visitors)
- Catching up on life and introducing Judy to bacon-wrapped dates at Sixty Vines in our Charlotte FC jerseys (with Brady in tow, of course)
- Soaking up the gorgeous fall colors on a few neighborhood walks (Judy doesn’t get a lot of fall colors in Florida, so she was extra appreciative of them)
- Reminiscing about fun times in our pajamas late at night on the couch (we’ve been on so many trips together over the years, and we have some fun memories)
- Constantly talking about our shared love of our dogs (Rudy was a big Judy fan)
- Laughing about just about everything under the sun (there’s nothing like laughing with an old friend who’s been there since the beginning)
- Playing a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity and secretly judging each other for each card placed down (we invited my neighbors over to hang with us, and we had such a blast that night)
- Planning the next time we’d be able to get together (we’re thinking Savannah or Austin in the spring)
- Finding the good moments of three losing sporting events (I cannot believe we lost all three games that weekend — Charlotte FC, Brady’s soccer team and Panthers — but at least we still had fun at each)
And much, much more! Thank you, Judy!
Doing all the fall Charlotte fun things
The pumpkin patch, hay rides, two Halloween parties, fall sports and much more. We’ve been trying to fit in a lot of fun stuff lately.
In addition to that, I’ve changed my work schedule a bit over the last several weeks and I no longer go into Life Time on Wednesdays. I’ve used that time to get outside for neighborhood walks and knock out a lot of my other work. In fact, I’ve walked with a friend each Wedneday for the last month (almost always in my weighted vest), and having that time has been splendid — especially with the gorgeous fall weather we’ve been experiencing. It won’t last long though, because I will be back to Monday-through-Friday in-person teaching once the new year starts (I’m going to add a new program in January, yay), and the beautiful weather won’t be as beautiful coming up soon either.
Here are some recent fall highlights …
Halloween
I’m actually not a huge Halloween fan, but our neighborhood does it so well, it’s hard not to like it now. We went to a Halloween gala the weekend before the holiday, then we went to a huge neighborhood party on the day of the holiday.
Our costumes were “The Nightmare Before Christmas” themed, and we all liked them (store-bought, as usual). We let Brady stay up so late this night, but it helped it was a Friday and he had no school the next day.
The best part of the night might have been sitting on our front steps in the late evening handing out candy all bundled up, after we got home from a party and our own trick or treating.
Hall Family Farm
Hall Family Farm is a place we try to hit once a year for either spring or fall. I took my mom and Brady on a lovely Sunday a few weeks ago, while Dave was on one of many weekend work trips last month.
We did the hay ride, we did the corn maze, and Brady did all the things in the kids area. We had planned to buy pumpkins this day, but they were almost already out, so we had to get them elsewhere. I love Hall Family Farm, and we’ve never not had a good time there.
Celebrating Dave and Brady’s birthdays
Since our last real-time update, we’ve celebrated two birthdays! We had the best birthday party for Brady at Big Air with a bunch of his friends, and he loved it. We had been to a birthday party there before and it was complete pandemonium. However, we held Brady’s party on a Friday evening, and it was a great time to be there. There were hardly any other groups, so the boys in our party never waited in a single line. Brady had an amazing time running around like crazy, and Dave and I were so grateful for the parents who came, along with their kiddos.
Just two weeks later, we had a little family party for Dave’s birthday, and it was really nice. We went to our favorite nearby Italian spot, Zinicola, and had a low-key celebration, which was just what Dave wanted/needed at the time.
A few more recent favorite things …
- Last month’s Taylor Swift barre class I taught with two other instructors is one of my favorite events I’ve been a part of this entire year. The day after the event, my face hurt from smiling!
- Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest title, “Atmosphere,” is one of the best books I’ve read in a couple years. In fact, it made one of the top spots on my list of best Taylor Jenkins Reid books.
- Uncrustables. We can’t seem to stop eating them in our house.
- Last week, Dave and I went out for a rare fancy dinner after an event we attended at the mall. I’d been wanting to try SouthPark’s Steak48 for a while, and it was so darn good. I had the most delicious steak, and the people-watching scene was to-die-for. It’s totally a special-ocassion spot, and I hope to go back one day!
And those are just a few recent life highlights and November favorite things. 🙂
Once again, thanks for coming by to read today. Hope this post was a light little escape from whatever else is going on in your world. xoxo
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Questions of the day
What’s one thing you’re looking forward to through the end of the year?
