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Fitness Friday 25


Welcome back to Fitness Friday! I had a pretty consistent workout schedule this month, except for the first week of July where I was at the beach with TJ's family. I have kept a rotation of my favorite class: Ballet Fit Theory outside at Fit Atelier, at least one class with the Jabs by Gina team from Equinox over Zoom, and stream a video or two. I'm starting to see a lot more outdoor class options, so I'll probably start adding more of those to my schedule in August! I also got back into cooking a little more, which I really need to stick with. I have a lot of new recipes saved I need to keep trying!

Workouts
Week of 6/29-7/5
I was at the beach with TJ's family, so just lots of beach walks and some swimming in the ocean

Week of 7/6-7/12
Ballet Fit Theory at Fit Atelier (outside)
Pilates on SweatNET Streaming
(with the PT I saw for my hip, use code "STREAMFREE" for a free month!)
Jabs Choreo x Arms

Week of 7/13-7/19
Ballet Fit Theory at Fit Atelier (outside)
Flywheel style barre on @barretotable IGTV
Jabs Bands
Sculpt Society on Popsugar Fitness IGTV

Week of 7/20-7/26
Ballet Fit Theory at Fit Atelier (outside)
Jabs Choreo x Abs

Week of 7/27 to today
Ballet Fit Theory at Fit Atelier (outside)
Jabs Arm Blast
Sculpt Express on SweatNET
Express mat pilates and Stretch on SweatNET Streaming

Food

  1. I actually got back into trying some new recipes this month (thanks to all of the Pinterest-ing I've been doing for wedding planning) like these sweet potato black bean bowls with a cilantro Greek yogurt sauce that I think are a great meal prep option.
  2. I more recently tried these hummus quesadillas for dinner (with added chicken) and I will definitely be making them again!


Activewear



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4 Years in Charlotte











Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

eShakti dress c/o (headband is sash from dress) | Earrings and bracelet set from my Etsy shop | Similar bag | Heeled sandals | Prada sunglasses

This week marks 4 years since I moved to Charlotte and starting living all on my own! Since my 3 years post, I have left my first job that brought me here and started another late last fall. I can also now say it was where I met my future husband! Although a good bit of this year was spent quarantined between my apartment (the same one I moved into 4 years ago) and TJ's house, I still love calling this city home. I shared a few of my favorite things about it for my 2 years post, that I think are all still relevant. The city just keeps growing and growing and pre-quarantine there were always new places to try out. Some things I have been missing are brewery hopping on Saturdays, the workout studios that haven't been able to offer outdoor classes, and I know football season will look very different this year. But we have been making the best of it with a lot of (distanced and masked) local antique shopping and visiting nearby outdoor destinations like Asheville and some Carolina beaches.

On to the outfit, I'm excited to be styling another piece from eShakti! They have endless options of styles you can customize. Which I have always loved because I never have to worry about their pieces being too long for me. This tiered dress is so much fun to wear with a very light fabric, great for summer days. They also now have some great masks to choose from, you could even get one to match this dress! I styled it with some of the jewelry available in my Etsy shop and this silk scarf that might be my new favorite vintage find! TJ and I recently went to the Depot at Gibson Mill in Concord, which is the largest antique mall in the south. I found several silk scarves on that trip, including this one with a map of North Carolina. According to the tag it is a souvenir scarf from the 50s or 60s. It has been fun to wear but I think it look great in a frame as well!

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Wedding Wednesday: White Seersucker Dress and Other White Dresses under $100








Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Similar white halter dress (got this one in the Lauren James sale I mentioned a few posts back) | Lulu's heels | Earrings and bracelet from this set on my Etsy | Similar vintage bag | Prada sunglasses

White dresses all around in today's post! I scored this one for just $10 in a Lauren James sale back in May. I ordered it not knowing I would be engaged so quickly after, but was thinking it would be great for a bridal shower whenever that would be. I love the eyelet detail on the hem and open back. Although it is no longer available, I thought this one looked very similar with the halter cut and ruffle hem. For my fellow brides to be, I also found a few other great styles all under $100 that I have linked below!




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Caralina Style Jewelry


Remember how I keep mentioning I've been going to eventually share the details on the jewelry I've been making? Although way later than originally planned (wedding planning might have gotten in the way), I have set my Etsy shop back up with everything listed! It is also named Caralina Style and everything is either $15 or $20. Making jewelry has become a really fun hobby since quarantine and I'm very excited to start selling the statement earrings and bracelet sets I have been working on. I've picked all of these pieces to match my style have really enjoyed putting them all together. I've been styling some pieces in almost all of my recent blog posts like this seersucker dress, this palm print dress, a printed t-shirt dressa colorblock shift dress, and most recently this ric rac shift. I plan to keep adding some new options, and I am open to custom orders!















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Wedding Wednesday: How He Asked

A little over a month ago, TJ asked me to marry him! In case you missed my first Wedding Wednesday post about how we met, you might want to start there. But on to this story, we had been talking about getting engaged for awhile now. We met in November of 2017, and I was pretty sure he was the one a few months in. But we didn't really talk about it until spring of last year. We seemed to agree that we wanted a proposal to be just the two of us. No public thing, no family or friends waiting to surprise me after he asked, just us.  Since the pandemic hit, that was basically guaranteed anyway.

However I later learned, the "new normal" we have been living also threw the plan off a little bit. Back in March, TJ kept saying he wanted to plan a little weekend trip once we could go outside again. So we thought it would be fun to go to St. Simon's Island in GA since we had never been there, even if some things were still closed. We optimistically planned it for the first weekend of May but knew that there was a good chance we would have to cancel it. He later told me that he was first hoping to ask me on that trip if we were able to go. We did of course have to cancel that trip as NC was still under a stay at home order. But we went to Pawley's Island with my family a few weeks later (after orders were lifted), where he asked my dad for his permission. Little did I know, the ring also arrived at TJ's house that week. Shortly after we got back from that trip, we planned a trip to Asheville instead of another beach trip, so I could see the Biltmore Estate for the first time. I knew he had asked my dad, so I was expecting it at some point in the near future. But he also told me the shutdown was affecting the production time for the ring. Which was very smart of him, because I didn't suspect a thing!

The Biltmore Estate, which if you're not from NC, is basically a castle you can tour with gardens and beautiful grounds. They had recently re-opened with limited admission and all of the necessary precautions. Masks were required inside the house, one way traffic, limited capacity in each room (the smallest rooms were closed), and most of the shops and restaurants were closed. You now have to make a reservation to enter the house, which ended up being more of a process than we were expecting. We purchased the Annual Pass (NC friends, it's a great deal!) so we did not just buy day tickets and were not sure how to make a reservation without the physical passes. So TJ spent 2 hours on the phone to get us an 11:15am entry time. Although I later learned that he was first told we couldn't get in until after 3pm. But he told the customer service team he was planning to propose, and they got us the earlier spots!

So we arrived that morning, toured the house, walked around the grounds, and had a picnic lunch. We were planning to go back to the car and head to another part of the grounds, but stopped again in the gardens. TJ said something along the lines of "we didn't see this side of it the first time" and we walked over and stopped under this arbor between some of the rose bushes. While I was taking some pictures of my dress and jewelry, I looked over and saw TJ had something behind his back. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was in total shock, a little speechless, and teary-eyed. I of course said "yes" and he put the ring on my finger. It was absolutely perfect and I couldn't believe it had happened! He totally surprised me, and I was lucky I had applied a press on manicure a few days earlier to shoot outfit photos. My nails had barely been done all quarantine!

We FaceTimed my parents, called TJ's parents, texted a bunch of friends, and went back to the car to get my tripod to take some photos. Waiting in the car, TJ had a shadowbox he made of tickets from shows, football games, and museums we had gone to, mini golf score cards, etc. then he read a printout of the original emails from Father Frank and the first Valentine's Day card I ever wrote to him. He's just the sweetest, and I couldn't be happier! Another fun detail: he got the inside of the ring engraved with "C & TJ- Joined by God".

I had recently bought a phone mount for my tripod I have been using to shoot some content in my apartment, and TJ mentioned I should bring on the trip in case we find some cool spots to take a photo "or something". Well there sure was something to take photos of! So we brought it around to some of the prettiest spots on the Biltmore grounds, including back to exactly where he popped the question. We didn't want the proposal to be filmed or have a photographer waiting around, and I think this was the perfect way to document the moment. We were able to go back and forth to test the best lighting or ways to stand without bothering anyone around to take a photo for us (plus who wants to hand their phone off during a pandemic?) or keep a photographer waiting around. Then we explored a little more of the grounds and headed back to the hotel before we figured out some dinner. TJ had bought a 4 pack of cider from Red Clay Ciderworks in Charlotte where we had our first date, and had it waiting in the fridge. We were hoping to find somewhere we could eat outside for dinner, but didn't have very high hopes considering the circumstances. We ended up calling in a takeout order at a taco place that had 1 set of chairs outside that we ended up being able to sit at for a quick dinner. After circling downtown Asheville for a bit, we found the rooftop bar of the AC Hotel that was allowing limited capacity, so we were able to get some (socially distanced) celebratory drinks with a view! It was the perfect day and I wouldn't change a thing about it! A month later, and I still can't stop staring at my ring!

What should my next Wedding Wednesday post be? My amazing mom has done so much to get most of the larger things already set and planned just in the first month!

Thanks for reading!

Gingham and Ric Rac Shift








Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Duffield Lane shift dress c/o | Jack Rogers wedges | Brahmin bag | Lilly Pulitzer sunglasses | Vintage belt | Tassel earrings and bracelet part of this set

I had originally scheduled to post this dress in April...better late than never? I haven't been dressing up very often since quarantine, but wearing a simple dress like this one can bring a lot to my day. I'm basically taking any excuse to dress up at this point. Luckily, I've had a few wedding vendor meetings and I tried not to wear leggings very often when at the beach with TJ's family a few weeks ago. Anyway, back to this dress. I added a vintage belt to this ric rac shift Duffield Lane sent over and it's basically all of my favorite things in one outfit. Pink seersucker, gingham, a navy detail, with neutral shoes and accessories!




Thanks for reading!