Happy Friday friends! I had such a nice week. It was great to be settled back in Charlotte after a lot of travel. My week was full of Finn, friends, teaching, the pups and work and it felt perfect.

Here are a five of my favorite things from the week!

WALKS WITH THE PUPS

For whatever reason I was feeling walks more than runs the latter half of this week. Zoey and Benji were very happy about that!

Can we talk about Benji’s fluffiness for a minute? His last grooming experience was basically a scalping so I wanted to give it some time before he was groomed again (and to give me time to finally find a good and convenient groomer). The good news is that I have found a mobile groomer who comes highly recommended by someone in my neighborhood who also has an anxious doodle. She’s coming next week to groom both of the dogs and I’ve also got them scheduled for their annual vet visit.

NEW RUNNING SHOES

I received a special delivery from my friends at Newton Running today…the just-released Fate 7s! These will definitely motivate me to head out for a run this weekend. Newton Fates are a neutral running shoe and they’ve been my go-to running shoe for gosh…six years now!

The new generation of Fate’s feature a new form-fitting 3D upper, their most cushioned insole ever and new sustainable construction that uses recycled materials and Ecopure to increase biodegradability up to 75%.

I am so excited about these shoes!

THE FLOWERS BLOOMING IN MY YARD

Most of you know that I purchased a home in August 2020. Even though it’s far from done or perfect, I love the house so much. Being at home makes me feel grounded and happy (even when I’m dealing with HVAC issues like I was this week..haha). One thing I’ve been loving about my house lately is all the things that are blooming. I have pretty pink, yellow and white flowers blooming in the front yard and blue and white hydrangeas in the back yard. What a blessing that the previous owners did so much with the landscaping. Today I clipped a few gardenias from my front yard to bring into the house because they smell so heavenly!

A SWEET BLAST FROM THE PAST 

I am currently working on a partnership with Highlights and we received a box from them this week full of books and magazines. Finn was so thrilled and exclaimed, “look at all the pretty books!” Reading Highlights magazine is such a fond childhood memory for me and it’s wonderful to be able to share it with Finn.

A BOHO PICNIC STYLE HOUSEWARMING PARTY

One of my girlfriends recently purchased a new home and invited a small group over for a “boho picnic-style party.” What we arrived to find was nothing short of spectacular. We couldn’t get over how lovely and charming the set-up in her back yard was.

My friend worked with local Charlotte company Picnic. Party. Repeat. They brought everything from the rugs to the speakers/playlist to the glassware to the serving dishes and more. She said they showed up with a U-Haul around 3p and had this ready to go by 6!

It was seriously incredible and we were blessed with the most perfect weather for an outdoor boho picnic.

Check out this fruit display.

And here is the cheese board.

And this was the dessert spread with more fresh fruit and cake balls.

While the food, decor and ambiance were amazing, the most special part of the evening was the fellowship and connection with the other women in attendance. I hadn’t seen some of them since pre-COVID or even pre-Finn. We had a fully vaccinated group and this party felt like the first “back to normal” COVID gathering that I’ve had with a big group of girlfriends. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it until we were all standing there giving each other hugs and catching up.

Most of you will recognize Dorie in the photo above. She was not the hostess of the party but she did do the mortgage for our friend Jenn. I’m not surprised that Jenn pulled this off just two weeks after moving in given her excellent organizational skills and seriously impressive design vision. Jenn is the owner of Habitude Interiors. I can’t recommend both of these women enough if you are in need of a mortgage/refinancing or design services in the Charlotte area. I’ve known them both personally for 10 years and worked with both professionally as well.

So there’s a quick glimpse at some of the high points of my week! I hope you guys had a good one too, and that you enjoy the weekend!

QUESTIONS

What’s your favorite running shoe? 

What workout felt good to you this week? 

Do you enjoy entertaining? 

Have you started having bigger gatherings with friends?