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Lilly Pulitzer Dressed for Summer Sale









Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Lilly Pulitzer "Preston" dress | H&M wedges | Similar bag | Earrings and bracelet part of this set

Bad blogger status over here, I knew Lilly Pulitzer was having a sale that started this morning but I thought it was going to be like one of their more recent sales with 30% off. But it is much larger and more like the bi-annual After Party Sales with some amazing deals! I'm not sure if this will replace the After Party Sale that is usually Labor Day Weekend or in addition to, but there is not an in-store preview day like the APS. I also thought there were not nearly as many products offered, but I could be wrong. I ended up with a white eyelet dress I hope to wear for some pre-wedding events and another of my favorite t-shirt dresses! The dress I'm wearing in this post is from the January sale and I have been living in al spring. But you can shop some of my favorite picks still available below. Act fast though, the sale only lasts through tomorrow at midnight!



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Fitness Friday 24


This is a 2 for 1 Fitness Friday post this month, because I was going to share May progress on June 5th and June progress on July 3rd. But there were much more important things going on in the first week of June.  I also don't have a whole lot to report because I can only do so many workouts in a tiny apartment before I lose some motivation. Luckily, one of my most visited studios, Fit Atelier has been offering outdoor classes over the last few weeks! I also have been trying to do more outdoor workouts to get some cardio in at TJ's house on weekends. If I didn't have those options, I'm not sure what I would be doing at this point!

Workouts
May
Week of 5/4-5/10
West Kept Secret on SweatNET Streaming (use code "STREAMFREE" for a free month!)
Bloc Cardio Dance on SweatNET Streaming
@barretotable Instagram Live
Jabs Bands

Week of 5/11-5/17
Jabs on Instagram Live
Lots of beach walks

Week of 5/18-5/24
 Jabs Abs
Jabs Choreo
@barretotable Instagram Live

Week of 5/25-5/31
Hilliard Studio Method on SweatNET Streaming
Jabs Abs
Core704 on SweatNET Streaming

June
Week of 6/1-6/7
Jabs Choreo
Ballet Fit Theory (outdoors!) at Fit Atelier
Stretching on my own
F45 Training on SweatNET Streaming

Week of 6/8-6/14
Ballet Fit Theory (outdoors!) at Fit Atelier
@barretotable Instagram Live
Jabs "Mostly Abbing with a Little Jabbing"

Week of 6/15-6/21
Jabs Combos x Bands
Ballet Fit Theory (outdoors!) at Fit Atelier
Lower Body Burn on SweatNET Streaming

Week of 6/22-yesterday
@barretotable Instagram Live
Ballet Fit Theory (outdoors!) at Fit Atelier
Jabs Abs

A more consistent feature on my schedule lately has been Jabs Live, which are Zoom classes from the Jabs by Gina team from Equinox in New York! I've followed Gina on Instagram for quite awhile now, when Jabs was fairly new. She did a popup in Charlotte last year that I unfortunately was not able to attend as it was shortly after my hip labral tear. But her class has grown into a huge movement and she was actually on the Today show yesterday! Jabs is a really fun method and I love how her team has made it accessible for everyone during quarantine. There is a fee for each class, but they are all under $10. It is based in boxing but they have a great variety of class formats from choreo (my favorite!) to bands, to abs, and several more. I really like the accountability on being on Zoom for these classes. I've caught myself not fully participating with a video playing if I'm not being watched or following along with a class. Spots fill up very fast (especially before/after traditional work hours), so I've only been doing about one a week. But being able to access these classes is a definitely a highlight to this whole situation.

Food
Really not much to report here. I've gotten lazier and lazier with the quarantine cooking, a lot of the same foods on rotation. A lot of toast or oatmeal for breakfast, smoothie bowls or lunch, and various frozen Trader Joe's meals for dinner. And I've picked up curbside greens and grains bowls from Cava more than a few times. But one thing I have been putting a little more effort into is making french press coffee!

Activewear



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Palm Print Dress







 
Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Palm print dress c/o (use code CARALINASTYLES2 for 15% off) | H&M wedges | Gigi New York bag | Similar sunglasses | Handmade earrings and bracelet

Anyone else's weather going a little crazy lately? We have been having 85+ degree days that drop down to 65 for the next. So even though I'm still not going out much, dresses like this one are great for the higher temp days. Once we can go back to breweries (they're open but we aren't meeting up with friends there yet), I think this look will be perfect for a day of brewery hopping.
While inside, I've been spending a lot of time making jewelry over the last few weeks like the earrings in these photos. I've been planning to do a launch of everything I've been making. But since I got engaged the weekend before last, my life has quickly been consumed by all things wedding planning. So that will be pushed out to later than I was originally hoping, but for the best reason!




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Wedding Wednesday: How We Met


In case you missed my Instagram over the weekend or my mention in Monday's blog post, TJ and I are engaged! Thank you to everyone for all of the well wishes and sweet messages we have received over the last few days. There are so many planning decisions to make, especially with the current state of the world...but we are just so excited! I have been wanting to write this post for a very long time.  But have been waiting until we were engaged to tell it. I make short references to it, but I'm sharing the full story of how TJ and I met!

I don't mention it too much on the blog, but my Catholic faith is very important to me. I always attended Catholic school (all the way through college), and my church and school in Greensboro were connected during my elementary and middle school years. My mom was very involved in fundraising events for the school, and our family became close with the pastor at the time, Father Frank. Diocesan priests are often moved around, so he was only there for about 3 years while I was in elementary school. He had spent a good portion of his career in Charlotte before then (if you're not from NC, about a 1.5 hour drive apart), so he was sent back to the parish where he previously served. Fast forward about 11 years later when I move to Charlotte after graduating from college (August 2016), and I joined the church where Father Frank was still the pastor. Whenever my parents would visit, they would make sure we went to the mass he was saying to chat with him after.

About a year later (November 2017), he sends me an email about a "young man he often sees at mass" that he thought I should meet. He asked if he could share my contact information with him, so I agreed. He copied TJ on my response, and TJ sent me a reply with this number. We started texting and ended up meeting for drinks about a week later. Now on TJ's side of the story...he received a call from Father Frank several days before he contacted me, saying he knew a girl in the church he thought he should meet. TJ agreed to connect with me, thinking Father Frank had already spoken with me. He said he would call TJ back in 5 minutes. Several days go by, as he has not sent this email yet. So poor TJ thought I ghosted him before I even knew his name. But I was quick to respond to his email, and the rest is history! My mom said it was divine intervention and my friends called him "church boy" for the first few weeks. And we have mostly been referring to Father Frank as "Father Matchmaker" since then. TJ's parents live in town, so I quickly learned he always went to an earlier mass with them, while I went to a later mass by myself. Little did I know, I was in the same spot as my future husband every Sunday for a year, but we were just there at different times. I knew all of the prayers that I had said for my future husband were answered when TJ came into my life, and I just cannot wait to share our lives together! Father Frank actually retired last fall, but we are hoping he will be able to marry us. We're going to respond to his original email with the news!

My next wedding related post will likely be how he proposed, but I don't think I'll be doing a Wedding Wednesday post every week. Maybe once a month? We will see, there's so many little details that I never given much thought until I have been diving into Pinterest over the last few days! Please let me know what you would like to see, and share your favorite wedding resources!

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Seersucker Tunic Dress








Photos by Deeana Kourtney Photography

Duffield Lane "Grand" dress c/o | Jack Rogers wedges | Lilly Pulitzer sunglasses | Scarf, pin, and bag are vintage | Rattan earrings

Well it only took about 3 months to get some photos in this classic dress Duffield Lane was so nice to send my way! I'm still taking all of the necessary precautions, but it was very nice to meet with Deeana for photos for the first time since March. I styled the dress with some vintage accessories and my favorite Jack Rogers wedges that I've had since college.
I'm actually typing this post after wearing this dress to TJ's parent's house to celebrate our engagement!! In case you missed my Instagram from yesterday,  TJ asked me to marry him over the weekend! I could not be more excited and there are many more details to come in future posts!

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