Before I get started with this recap post, I wanted to send my thoughts and prayers to Texas! Kyle and I donated to Austin Pets Alive and The Salvation Army. If you can donate, please do! No amount is too small. My hearts break for everyone dealing with this tragedy. It’s heartwarming to see the nation come together to help Texas.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up and took the dogs for a super long walk, worked for a bit, and then took a drive to the grocery store to pick up some things for the house. I tried this Zevia energy drink on the way home, and it was delicious! Sometimes the natural energy drinks are a huge fail, but I loved the flavor of this one. I’m excited to try the other flavors. For breakfast, I had watermelon, eggs, and peaches!
Earthfare always gets me in trouble. I picked up some cereal, protein powder, turkey burgers, fresh fruit, bread, and some other goodies.
It’s been a little over a week since making the switch to black coffee, and I love it so far. I’ve also been using protein shakes as “milk,” and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do it!
For lunch, I had an Applegate Turkey burger, pineapple, avocado, and toast. I have been eating Turkey burgers a lot lately. They are so easy to throw onto the skillet and an excellent source of lean protein. The only ingredient in them other than turkey is rosemary, a wonderful addition. When I do my meal prep next week, I’m going to make my own turkey patties with fresh herbs that I can wrap up and put in the freezer. 
I ended up making it into a sandwich 
On Wednesday night, I headed to my favorite workout class. It’s thirty minutes of glutes & abs, and thirty minutes of Tabata. Tabata is one of the best workouts! It gets your heart rate going up and down! I’m already excited for tomorrow’s class. 
Easy dinner: Turkey burger, veggie fries, and avocado!
The weather was perfect on Thursday. The boys (pups) and I took a really long morning walk and then headed back to the couch to work and cuddle.
Black coffee, pumpkin spice Cheerios, chocolate puffs, and protein milk for breakfast!
For lunch, I had a turkey burger, avocado, one fried egg, and cotton candy grapes. If you’ve never had cotton candy grapes, I highly recommend you find some! They taste 100% like cotton candy (hence the name.)
I met up with my parents on Thursday night to play tennis. The weather has been perfect in the evenings and tennis is one of our favorite ways to get active.
The drive home was beautiful. 
I told you, I’ve been a turkey burger addict lately. I had broccoli and turkey burger for dinner. I had chips and salsa for my carbs while the food was cooking Leo was in bed waiting for me to cuddle up with a movie. He’s the cutest. What I love most about Leo is his personality. He is literally the silliest dog, and I feel like he does things on purpose to get people to laugh.
Friday = power cleaning day!
I spent three hours cleaning and doing other chores. My mom started this tradition when I was growing up. She always had Fridays off from work and would spend the day decluttering and scrubbing the house from ceiling to floor. As soon as Friday comes around, I’m in full cleaning mode. I weirdly enjoy it. I blast music throughout the house and go at it.
For lunch, I had Applegate chicken nuggets and GoVeggie fries. Those are the best store-bought chicken nuggets I’ve ever had. They don’t have a weird/fake taste.
While I had lunch, I wrote a blog about eleven life improvements I’ve been making. 
Around five, I made a protein shake before the active evening. My shake had frozen raspberries, frozen peaches, water, and vanilla protein powder.
My mom’s birthday was on Friday, so Kyle and I met up with her and my dad to play tennis.
*Crazy short story for you guys* My mom is a twin, but they have different birthdays. My mom’s sister was born right before midnight and my mom was born after midnight. I just think that’s cool 
Kyle and I picked up sushi for dinner, and then ended the night with a Dateline episode.
I woke up around six am to have coffee, walk the dogs, and head to the gym before taking off to Greenville. The HIIT class was incredible!
When I got home, I got ready, packed my bags, made a protein shake, and headed over to pick up my mom! My shake had chocolate protein powder, banana, and water. 
I bought my mom and I tickets to go see her favorite musical, The King and I, for her birthday. She was so excited and so was I. 
I couldn’t believe how gorgeous Greenville was. It’s a short drive from Charlotte, and I’m embarrassed it took me so long to visit. I can’t wait to come back with Kyle and the pups. It’s a very dog-friendly city. 
We did some exploring. The walking trails were breathtaking. 
We were ready for some coffee around noon. We headed to, Bex. It’s a coffee shop/Juice bar. I loved the rustic and vintage design. 
We ordered two dark roast coffees and the Whimsical Leaves juice. The green juice had green apple, mint, kale, romaine, lemon, extra ginger, and mint. By far the best juice I’ve ever had. 
The coffee was great too! Bex was the perfect place to stop for good coffee and good conversation. The young gentleman working couldn’t have been friendlier. We chatted with him the entire time. 
My mom and I were so hungry around one, so we decided to split a salad at Rick’s Deli & Market. Our salad had chickpeas, avocado, romaine, cheese, balsamic, and grilled chicken on top. We wanted to split a meal because we had dinner reservations at six. 
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town. There were shops everywhere, so much art, and a lot to look at! I tried on that red coat and wanted it so bad, but I can’t pull myself together to buy a $200 coat. Just nope. I did find a cheaper red/black plaid coat online that I ordered! I can’t wait until it gets here!:) 
My mom and I toasted to the weekend! Red blend & Champagne! We headed back to the hotel after our drinks, and got ready for dinner! 
My mom was so adorable in her dress!
A lot of you were asking about it on my Instagram story! You can find it here! It’s Nine West Women’s Floral Print Cold Shoulder! 
We had dinner at Pomegranate on Main. We had the nicest waiter ever! I feel like Greenville is just the friendliest place I’ve ever visited. 
My mom and I split a salad and entree. We ordered their house salad with balsamic citrus dressing and the roasted salmon. The entree had fresh filet of roasted salmon marinated in Persian and saffron, a side of basmati rice mixed with dill and lima beans, and roasted tomato on the side. Wonderful earthy flavors and seasoned to perfection. I loved that they didn’t overload their food with salt. It was amazing! 
We walked around and did some more exploring! Greenville’s beauty is never-ending.
This is my favorite dress. It’ so soft and comfortable! It’s blue with gold polka dots I got it from Loft a couple of months ago, but they are out of stock, unfortunately! I wish they had this in every color! 
We stopped at a little health store to buy some dark chocolate for dessert. 
Chocolove is my favorite brand of dark chocolate. 
Ginger for the win! The ginger flavor is my fave! 
We decided to get coffee at Spill The Beans. The musical was going to be a late show, so we needed some caffeine! I go to bed early, so I need it. 
This place smelled like heaven when you walked in. They had fresh house-made waffle cones, ice cream, and desserts. And the addition of coffee on top of all the heavenly smells! 
Again with the Greenville friendliness. It must be in the water there 
This was another cute and rustic coffee spot. 
My mom ordered a skim latte with vanilla, and I had their dark roast blend. It was so tasty, especially with my dark ginger chocolate! I love that dark chocolate is so rich that you only need a couple of pieces and you’re content. 
We walked across the bridge to head over to the Peace Center for the show! We were so excited! 
Greenville is breathtaking. 
The show was by far the best musical I’ve ever seen live.
I’ve been to over 25 musicals in my lifetime. The acting, the set, the voices, the dancing…just incredible! We were left in tears.
My mom and I woke up early, had a hotel breakfast, and headed out to walk the trails. My breakfast had fresh fruit and oatmeal.
Lesson learned: bring your own containers to hotels for their breakfast! 
I wasn’t a fan of the hotel coffee (pretty sure it was Folgers), so I ordered a coconut milk cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso before our walk.
I had such a great time with my mom, and I plan on making more trips with her! She’s a blast If you live in the Carolinas, I highly recommend visiting Greenville! 
We got back around noon! I headed uptown to see Kyle and the pups! We took the boys for a walk around uptown during the pride parade. So many people! Charlotte is a great city:) Also, Leo grew out of his old Ruffwear! He is moving on up to the green. We sometimes call him “Lizzard” so it’s very fitting. Hooking the leash in front of the Ruffwear helps you control their movements. It’s really helped with pulling, especially with Grumples! We use leashes with extra handles, too.
Salad for lunch: Strawberries, blueberries, kale, romaine, mandarines, chicken, onions, cucumber, eggs, and tomatoes! 
Kyle, Steve, and I headed to Freedom park to play tennis. We’ve been having the best weather. 
Leftover salad for dinner (followed by leftover ginger chocolate.)
Kyle wanted my chicken enchiladas for dinner so bad. He picked up all the ingredients, and I showed him and Steve how to make them. I’ve actually made this recipe into stuffed bell peppers, which is my favorite way to eat them! 
I took the boys for a long walk Monday morning in uptown! I love this lil(big) guy 
I headed to an ultimate conditioning class around noon, and it was tough! We did a latter workout, followed by sprint work. I shared the workout on my Instagram story yesterday, but here it is again!
We did ten rounds of each exercise and subtracted one rep every round.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
BOX JUMPS
PUSH UPS
JUMP SQUATS
PLANK UPRIGHT ROWS
BURPEES
CHEST PRESS
MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
ALTERNATING JUMP LUNGES
SHOULDER PRESS
SIT UPS
Ended the later workout with sprints 20 seconds on/20 seconds off X TEN 
I stopped at The Fresh Market after the gym to pick up some eats! My favorite organic turkey burgers, yogurt, fruit, chocolate, quinoa chips, ginger, water, and Daiya mac and cheese. I have been so curious to see what it tasted like. 
My breakfast before the gym: 3 egg whites + 1 yolk, oats & cinnamon.
Post workout: blueberry coconut milk yogurt with fresh fruit. 
I ended up going back to the gym with Kyle around six. I just went to walk the track while he lifted weights. There’s nothing wrong with getting some extra steps in! It was such a pretty walk to the gym, and it felt like fall outside.
For dinner, I had strawberries, Daiya mac & cheese with black pepper and garlic powder added, taco-inspired hummus, and organic turkey! The mac and cheese was tasty for being dairy free/gluten free/ and vegan. I was surprised by the outcome. It needed some spice added!
Kyle and I watched Bachelor in Paradise before bed. <3 I wish I could jump into the TV and match all the couples up myself!
