Happy Sunday friends. I am posted up on the couch watching the Panthers/Falcons game. Carolina is actually winning and playing well – I shouldn’t type that because I’ll jinx it (we are sooooo bad)! I much prefer college over NFL football but I like football on in the background and always fun to cheer on the local team!
Couch sitting and relaxing feels like a luxury right now after teaching 13 group fitness classes last week between Charlotte Yoga and The Health Club. I also took a few classes for instructor development and trained a bunch of clients. While I love all of this in-person fitness work, it makes me very grateful for the times that I can sit and work on my computer.
The final count was five hot power yoga classes, five sculpt and strength classes and three flow and lift classes. As I’ve mentioned recently, sculpt is a new format for me and we teach it as an athletic blend of mat pilates and barre. I am much more a heavy weights kind of group fitness girl but I have REALLY enjoyed teaching sculpt and have had so much fun with the sequencing! Writing workouts is one of my favorite creative outlets! Last Monday I taught with the pilates ring for the first time and holy moly, I couldn’t walk down the stairs without holding on and going sideways for three days.
Benji and Zoey are doing well! Zoey’s 11th birthday is on October 6 and we truly didn’t expect her to make it to 11. I am overjoyed that she thriving all things considered. Still moving around a ton, playful and eating like she’s starving. These two love each other so much. I am very worried about what Benji will do without Zoey as he’s never been without her and tends to be quite anxious.
WHAT I BOUGHT AT TRADER JOE’S (FALL 2025)
I popped into Trader Joe’s recently and snapped some photos of what came home with me. In my opinion, fall is the superior season to shop at Trader Joe’s. Love the seasonal offerings although I didn’t come home with too many of them!
Produce:
- bananas
- delicata squash
- butternut squash
- ready veggies – love this blend to sauté
- green beans
- southwestern chopped salad kit
- jumbo blueberries
- blackberries
- medjool dates
- sweet onions
- autumn crisp grapes – 3 lbs for $6.99 and so crisp and sweet!
- lemon
- lime
- avocado
- crunchy salted almond butter
- creamy salted peanut butter – my all-time fave/#1 pb choice)
- Thai style red curry
- Wake Up Blend whole bean coffee – my favorite coffee from TJs)
- pumpkin dog biscuits
- Thai wheat noodles – these come in two separate packs – are great on carbs for carb loading before a long run. I’ll prob do them with the curry sauce
- apple pie spread – I have heard amazing things about this seasonal spread and look forward to pairing it with oatmeal, yogurt bowls, cheese, grilled cheese and more!
- tart cherry juice – always keep a bottle of this in the fridge to mix with sparkling water for a refreshing drink
- rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds – first time trying this but I’m craving oatmeal bowls with fall coming and this looked like a nice change-up for my oats
- Carolina Gold barbecue sauce – a neighborhood mom friend told me she likes to marinate chicken in this and I always love a barbecue sauce!
- Everyday seasoning grinder – I used this almost daily! A great blend of spices that are great on almost everything.
- Dijon mustard
- Thai yellow curry sauce – these jarred curries are great! Yellow is my fave!
- cilantro dressing
- goddess dressing
- Autumnal Harvest pasta sauce – this was the #1 mission for my trip. I got four jars!!! Last year I missed it and that wasn’t going to happen again this year. Love this for so many things but it’s extra great in my spaghetti squash pizza bake.
- Autumnal Harvest soup – I’ve not tried this but given how much I love the pasta sauce thought it was worth a go!
- chocolate syrup – love the TJs chocolate syrup – so thick and no HFCS
- candied pecans
- all-purpose cleaner
- salmon
- smoked apple, Chardonnay chicken sausage
- hummus
- sweet Italian chicken sausage
- Icelandic-style skyr vanilla yogurt – recently tried this and so good. Compares to my favorite Icelandic provisions thick vanilla skyr
- savory herb marinated chicken thighs
- jumbo cinnamon rolls – for canned cinnamon rolls…these are superior! Finn and I love them for a weekend treat!
- artichoke and jalapeño dip – I’ve heard good things but my first time trying
- frozen mango
- Asian-style veggies in stir-fry sauce – these are sooo good with any Asian-inspired entree
- gluten-free chicken nuggets – my fave chicken nuggets of all time because they’re so crispy and delish. I air-fry them and usually put on a salad.
- frozen blueberries
- multigrain blend with vegetables – great for lunch bowls
- frozen spinach for smoothies
I had to really practice restraint in the frozen foods aisle as my freezer already overfloweth!
And that’s all for today’s post. I think I’m about to head to the kitchen for a bit to do some food prep and baking. I see a stroll with the pups and an episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty in my future. I just started season three – team Conrad forever!
QUESTIONS
What is your favorite type of group fitness class?
Favorite fall item at Trader Joe’s? Give me some ideas!
College or NFL football?
