I wish I could tell you that I had a super exciting July Fourth weekend…but I didn’t! It was a really quiet and low-key weekend. It felt like the city of Charlotte was a ghost town this weekend. Restaurants were empty, there was no traffic and classes at the studio were pretty slow. We usually have pretty high numbers on holidays…even Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think almost everyone was at the beach or the lake!

Of course social media doesn’t help that feeling of “wow, I kind of feel like a loser for not even having cookout plans” when it seems like everyone you know is hashtagging #merica (a trend I refuse to get on) and throwing back beers or posting family beach pictures…but then I decided that I actually appreciated a quiet weekend with no partying and just having some space to go at a slower pace. From the time I was young, my mom always reinforced in me that you don’t always have to be entertained. Sometimes finding yourself in the middle of nothing is exactly where you need to be.

So here are some pictures from my non-exciting July Fourth weekend! 🙂

Rainbow at the end of the Firecracker 5K on Friday night. Our evening ended on the couch with two episodes of Damages. (so.addicted.)

A really lovely Saturday morning that started with naturally waking up at 7, smoothie, granola baking (third time to ensure new recipe ready to share…and it is!), farmers market and yoga class.

Gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. I’m so glad they’re back.

My first Your Mom’s Donuts experience at the studio before teaching my 11:15 a.m. on Saturday. Life changed. I will be driving to Matthews on Sunday mornings for these things.

Watermelon and a few hours poolside with two girlfriends and a cute 9 month old baby. It was a really cloudy and stormy weekend in Charlotte but it magically cleared up for the time we were lounging. It was nice to see blue sky after a few days of gray.

Saturday night patio dinner at Vivace. I thought these two bright dots in the sky were planes or helicopters hovering before the fireworks but then I found out that it was actually Venus and Jupiter. Apparently they are very close to us this week. Pretty cool to see.

We thought we would be able to see the fireworks Uptown from Midtown and stood around for 30 minutes after dinner waiting for them to start. When they finally started just after 10, all we could see were some lights in the sky and reflections off of buildings…womp, womp. Back home to watch Damages!

I subbed a yoga class on Sunday morning. Since so many people were traveling, we had an insane amount of sub requests for classes. It was a lovely way to start the day…but I’m still happy with my decision to take back Sunday mornings!

I had a serious craving for breakfast burritos after class so that’s what I whipped up for lunch. Scrambled eggs, avocado, black beans, spinach and shredded white cheddar. I pressed them in a FlatOut wrap and then served them with a dipping sauce of plain 2% greek yogurt and salsa mixed together.

I got kind of domestic on Sunday afternoon. I trekked to Home Depot to get some potting soil for my basil plant and came back with a few more herbs and a tomato plant. I wasn’t going to attempt tomatoes this year (I’ve yet to be really successful with them) but then I saw this “patio plant” that was already established and growing tomatoes so I decided my margin of error was a lot smaller and bought it. I placed my herbs and tomato plant on the front porch this year in hopes that a) Zoey won’t dig them up and b) I’ll remember to water them daily since I’ll walk past them so often. My parents did not pass down their gardening gene to me.

Although I am grateful that my dad passed down his cooking and baking gene because that’s how I spent the rest of the afternoon. I love playing in the kitchen when I’m not in a rush. I baked a simple lemon blackberry cake.

And roasted a chicken alongside some herbs and veggies. The house smelled amazing.

While the chicken was baking I took Zoey for a really long walk. I decided to forgo a formal workout in favor of a walk. It was a nice way to wrap up the weekend.

I’ll give you one guess how I ended Sunday night? Damages may or may not have been involved! 😉 (And there was cake and salted caramel ice cream!)

Did you stay home or travel for the Fourth? What was the best thing you ate over the holiday weekend?