Surprise Spa Day, Running, Food & A Weekend Getaway!

I am feeling so blessed right now. There is a good reason why this blog post didn’t get written and posted yesterday morning as planned. I got up, made my morning coffee, and sat down on the couch to watch the news and blog. Before I could even log onto my blog, Kyle surprised me with an amazing birthday gift. He told me to get ready because Meighan was going to pick me up for a spa day! That wasn’t the end of the surprise either, he planned a trip to the smokey mountains for us and the pups. Now, I’m sitting here with a cup of coffee, in my cozy pajamas, and looking out at the mountains. The cottage we are staying in is over 100 years old and it’s the perfect spot to write my recap post. I feel so blessed to have incredible friends and family that go above and beyond to make me feel so special. 
Meighan and Kyle had this planned for weeks and I had no idea. When we got to the spa, we had wine and delicious treats waiting for us. We felt so fancy <3
 The little red velvet birthday cheesecake was adorable. We devoured the cheese and fruit within minutes! 
We both had a ninety minute massage and other fun little treatments. It was the most perfect day! If you are looking for a spa in the Charlotte area, Natures Spa was wonderful! They treated us so well and we had the best experience.
 After the spa, we headed to get our nails done! I was way overdue for a manicure. There is a place on Park Road in Charlotte that gives the best thirteen dollar manicures. I highly recommend them! It’s called Decor Nails. I went with a taupe color 🙂
First of all, I cannot believe I have never been to J.T. Posh before. I didn’t mean to make this blog post full of Charlotte suggestions, but I couldn’t help it. Meighan ran into this place when she was visiting the alteration shop next door. It’s a consignment store, but with all designer and high-end brands! I could have browsed for hours in there.

I headed to the Fresh Market for some road trip snacks, coffee for the cottage, and chew toys for the dogs. We took off around 6:00pm! <3 This was a tropical trail mix + party mix blend. Perfect little pick-me-up to go with my cup of coffee.

I’ll blog all about my mountain weekend soon, but it’s time to take this blog recap all the way back to last Wednesday! Meighan and I walked seven miles to grab dinner at Chopt.

My salad had grilled chicken, chickpeas, goat cheese, cucumber, avocado, hard boiled eggs, and a vinaigrette on the side.
Not only did we walk seven miles to dinner, but we walked seven miles back! It was a fourteen mile trip just to get a salad 🙂 We also babbled nonstop, grabbed a latte at the Flying Biscuit (which was surprisingly good), and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather. 
Instead of my usual omelet with oatmeal, I decided to get creative on Thursday morning. I fried up shredded brussels sprouts and spiraled butternut squash. I used a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and sea salt.

I made an egg over easy for the top with three extra egg whites.

This breakfast was so delicious and I loved the oozing yolk mixed in.

After working on Thursday afternoon, I ran to Becca’s so we could go to the gym together. We love doing our strength training and it always feels good after a run because my muscles are loose and warmed up. 
I am so happy that it’s finally getting lighter out at night. This makes fitting in later runs so much easier!

I was excited for Saturday because I had fun plans 🙂

I woke up super early, had my coffee with a Larabar (don’t forget to enter the Larabar giveaway) and headed out to run with Meighan!
It was a beautiful morning for a run and we finished just before it started to rain! 
I ended up writing a post about the benefits of having a workout buddy after this run. I didn’t have any motivation to workout, but Meighan got me off my butt and we finished four miles! I would have never done that alone.

We headed to the mall after our run and back uptown so I could get ready for Aimee’s wedding.

*Aimee’s Bachelorette Weekend post*

Aimee’s ceremony was beautiful. We had an hour before the reception, so Becca and I headed uptown to grab umbrellas.
 My hair was curly and styled before I left the house. Gotta love the unpredictable weather!  It ended up looking like something out of the 80’s! I’m so excited for my hair appointment next week! I’m lightening it up, getting a condition, and some layers! 🙂 
We headed to Ballantyne for Aimee’s reception at 6pm. Her dad gave the most beautiful speech and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

And any wedding serving coffee is my kind of wedding 🙂


Becca’s ring game was on point!

I plopped on the couch with Kyle, the pups and big bowl of popcorn around 10pm! We watched a couple episodes of “The Killing” on Netflix and then went straight to bed.
 
We woke up super early Sunday morning and took the pups for a stroll. 
We decided to grab coffee and breakfast a block over at The Dandelion Market. They have strong coffee 🙂 
I ordered the vegetable omelet with a side of bacon and fruit! 
Delicious 🙂

I met up with Meighan later in the afternoon to go shopping and grab coffee at Dean & Deluca! I had no self control when I saw how delicious their pistachio macaron looked! The drink is just a cappuccino with skim milk.

I headed to the grocery store and picked up some Sunday night dinner ingredients! It was pizza night 🙂
We decided to make some gluten free pizzas, homemade pizza rolls and guacamole! 
We filled Kyle’s pizza rolls with sausage, cheese, sauce, pepperoni, and sautéed bell peppers.
I used the Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix and it was amazing! It tasted almost like Papa John’s pizza crust!  
I love weird combos and for some reason I always make guacamole and vegetables on pizza night or chicken nugget night! My guacamole recipe can be found here.

How about that smorgasbord!?

We stored the leftover pizza in containers in the freezer. It was easy to heat back up in the oven and tasted just as good as the first time we tried it.

Perfect Sunday dinner to go with our favorite show at the moment! 🙂
 
I was so excited when all of my Amazon goodies arrived on Monday morning! I got this cute Granite Computer Case for my computer 🙂
I also got a new coffee pot. I have been using the Bella Linea Collection Coffee Maker for the past five years. I LOVE It and I still have my blue one. Kyle needed one at his place (I’m not a huge fan of the Kuerig) so I gave him mine, and I got a new black one to match my kitchen. I’m slowly retiring all the colorful kitchen gadgets. A new knife set is
next!
These coffee makers are inexpensive and make the best tasting coffee. They also come if fun colors! 
I spent some time putting photos in my new picture frames for the hallway. I still have to paint the hallway (spring project), but I wanted to put something up to add character.
I am going to buy more of these beach wood frames and add a couple other beach shots from the summer.

Getting somewhere 🙂

I love random dinner nights 🙂 I cooked up shredded brussels sprouts, kale and peas. I added olive oil, gluten free soy sauce, parmesan, and garlic powder.

I baked up some gluten free chicken nuggets for the side. Leo always making am appearance in my food pics!

Becca came over on Monday for our Bachelor night. All I can say is….”DEAR LAWRD CORINNE”

I love waking up to this backyard view, my coffee and the pups!
I took the boys for a super long walk so they would be tired while I power cleaned the house. When I power clean, I mean serious business. I scrub every inch of the house until it’s sparkling. It’s therapeutic for me. 
After my power cleaning session, I made these delicious peanut butter gluten free oatmeal cookies with chocolate chunks! You can find the recipe here!

Meighan came over on Tuesday night for dinner and paint night.
 My salad had jalapeño havarti cheese, avocado, asian green blend, tomatoes, cucumber, roast beef, and smoked turkey. Meighan also brought sushi over! 
We were out shopping on Sunday for a piece of art to go above her bead. She wanted something floral that would match her room, but we couldn’t find anything. When we did find something, it was way too expensive. We decided to just making something together instead. 
We both worked on flowers and decided to go with the flow!
 I was so proud of he final piece.
 
I was up early with the pups on Wednesday morning. I made an omelet with five egg whites and two yokes after our walk. 
I also made a skinny chai tea latte to go with my breakfast. 1 shot of espresso, 1/4 cup almond milk, & skinny chai tea blend.

I had a random lunch on Wednesday afternoon! cucumbers with cream cheese and roast beef, almonds, crackers, sushi, and an egg!
It was 75 degrees out, so I took the boys over to my parents house so they could run around in the backyard! 
I called it an early night with my pop-up box of popcorn and Netflix!

I spent Thursday morning blogging about my cookies 😉  
Lunch: turkey, cucumbers, cheese, carrots, lettuce, honey mustard vinaigrette!

I headed out for a run Thursday evening. It took me about an hour to convince myself to do it! It was sunny and nice, but the wind was so strong and running through it sounded miserable. I was proud of myself once I finished.

Hair looking so red! ahhh.

I ran to the Park Road plaza, grabbed a post-run snack and a cappuccino. I had a gym date planned with Becca, so I grabbed her an Americano as well!

We sat in the sauna for 30 minutes (to waste time while there was a class in the gym) and then did our circuit.

I decided to make a quick and easy dinner.

These green beans were cooked in olive oil, sea salt, honey, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.

I broiled the carrots in the oven at 400 degrees. I added about 1/4 of cup of water to the bottom of the pan and topped the carrots with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and sea salt.

PERFECT VEGETABLES.

I picked up an organic rotisserie chicken at the Fresh Market to make it easy.

I packed up the leftovers for Friday lunch and dinner!

& that was the end of my week 🙂

I cannot wait to share my mountain weekend with you all! I’m about to get up and make some french toast and bacon! xo xo

Questions for you!

1. What are you up to this weekend?
2. Have you ever stayed in an AirBnB?