North Carolina Mountains for July 4th Weekend

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great July 4th weekend!  Having the long weekend was great and we spent Friday-Monday in the lovely North Carolina mountains with Craig’s family.  It was a great combination of relaxing, eating amazing food, being active with hiking and running, and just having a good time!  Saturday morning I went over to a nearby park with Maverick, Craig, and his momma! They kept me company while I ran a few laps around the park.  I did 4 miles in a surprisingly fast fashion, especially for how hot it was (even for the mountains!).  My average mile pace was 7:52.  I will always take an average mile in the 7’s!  The fact that I ate a giant slice of cherry pie with vanilla ice cream the night before probably only helped! Haha.

That afternoon we all ventured out to find this gorgeous waterfall that is tucked away far from civilization 😉 The hike itself wasn’t long at all which was fine with me since I had already gone on a run that morning.  Craig even jumped in to cool off.  In hindsight I wish I had jumped in.  Next time I’m jumping in, dang it.

After hiking we stopped at a brewery for some beer, and I got an un-pictured grilled chicken sandwich with a giant side of french fries. I was too hungry for a pic of the food but once I was finished scarfing that down I took a picture of the flight of beer Craig and I shared.

Sunday was my rest day from physical activity but I was sure to still exercise my eating and drinking muscles, ha 🙂 We went to Burntshirt Vineyards in the afternoon with some friends and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine.

Then that evening we met back up with the fam to head out for dinner.  Someone mentioned pizza to me earlier in the week and once someone plants that seed, it is REALLY hard to un-plant it from my brain.  So we went downtown and got some!  I got a personal sized pizza with cheese, arugula, and prosciutto.  It was so freaking good…and now I want it again right now.  Darn this picture for making me so hungry.

We came back on Monday to try to beat some of the traffic but to also have a day at home to get some things done, I know I had a super long checklist of to-do’s in which I needed to make a serious dent.  I also apparently really needed to sleep in my bed, because I slept for 11 straight hours on Monday night.  Did not even wake up a single time…LOL out cold.

Once I did finally wake up around 9-10, I slowly got ready, had some breakfast, and got myself out the door for my run.  It was already hot af since I decided to sleep away the cooler hours of the morning, and I think my lack of water intake that morning plus my previous days’ wine & food consumption made for a pretty rough run.  Barely got in a 5k, and that includes having to stop and walk for a minute.  But, there are good runs and bad runs, and sometimes the bad ones just remind you how awesome the good ones are 🙂

The rest of my day was all about blog planning, posting, writing, etc.  I had a nice big salad with kale, arugula, gluten free chicken tenders, and strawberries, plus a kombucha.

I even set up a new email list, that I would LOVE if you signed up to join!! If you sign up I promise not to spam you. I just have some things planned for the future that I would love to give my email subscribers first dibs to, plus post recaps, sale alerts, special events or offers, etc.!  Let’s be friendsss 🙂

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Since it was July 4th and everything, I decided to shut down the working around 5pm to celebrate and be a little festive with Craig.  We had some wine before grilling out!

You can shop this outfit here.

PS you can shop my recent Instagram looks, even if you don’t have Instagram, on this page.  You can also always email me if you ever have specific questions or need help shopping!!

He grilled us burgers and I made our favorite brussels sprouts on the stove while rosemary olive oil french fries baked in the oven.  We also both really love to not eat our burger with a bun when we make it at home, and instead we top it with guacamole and steak sauce.  Don’t knock it til you try it, it’s delicious.

And let’s not forget dessert.  Tate’s gluten free chocolate chip cookies plus Halo Top ice cream in chocolate chip cookie dough flavor.  SAY WHAT?! I know.

As night fell we could actually see some fireworks from where we were sitting on our couch which was pretty nice 🙂

And now it’s Wednesday, I did one of the hardest arm workouts of my life today and I’m having trouble typing much more.  I’m going to call it a night.

What did you do for the long weekend? 

xo,

Bess