Friday Faves

Hi guys! Happy Friday :) Thanks for your helpful comments on my 10 month baby update post yesterday! I’m popping in today with some Friday faves before I head off on a big adventure (more on that at the end of this post). Here are a few random things I’m loving lately:

1) The podcast “By the Book.” 

I like occasionally listening to podcasts while on walks with Riese and/or Freyja, but hadn’t found any that really grabbed me lately until my friend Karen recommended By the Book. I’m now obsessed – it’s part comedy and part self help, and every episode has the two female hosts (and their husbands) living by the rules of a different self-help book for 2 full weeks. It’s entertaining but also quite introspective, and I love it. So far I’ve listened to the episodes on “The Four Hour Workweek” and “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Excited to continue because there are a few seasons worth of episodes to work my way through!

2) This random candle. 

I spent some time over the weekend when Riese was napping trying to clean up my disaster of an office, because I have a hard time focusing/feeling inspired and creative when my office is a huge mess (like it has been for awhile now). I still have some work to do, but it’s better, and one of the things I rediscovered when I was tidying up and reorganizing was this candle! I’ve started lighting it on days when I’m in my office working and I love the way it smells (and that’s saying something because I am not someone who loves perfume or incense or anything – overly intense scents often give me a headache) and how it makes the room feel more cozy to have a candle lit. Sometimes it’s the little things, my friends!

3) Workout date night with Matt. 

I didn’t get a photo of us actually working out (or before/after, blogger fail), but on Tuesday night Matt and I met up with a few friends for an evening workout class at OrangeTheory!

He wanted to try OrangeTheory ever since a friend raved about it and because he’s looking for one more weekly workout to throw into his routine. Originally he was just going to go by himself (which is what he will normally do moving forward if he signs up obviously b/c one of us needs to be home with the babe – he usually does evening workouts and I do morning, or we swap off or go together with the babe in tow on the weekend), but my mom was free to babysit, and then a few of our friends wanted to join, too, so we turned it into a party! OrangeTheory is an interval workout with a mix of treadmills, rowers, and weights. Such a good workout and it goes by really fast! (Sidenote since I was just talking about podcasts – I enjoyed the Ali on the Run Show podcast episode interviewing one of the co-founders of OrangeTheory, Ellen Latham!)

I’m normally not super into evening workouts because I’m tired by that point in the day, but I randomly had good energy on Tuesday night and for the first time in AGES it felt good to really push myself in a workout, which was a nice change. We hit up Cava for dinner afterwards – I love their lamb meatballs! Random mediterranean bowls are the best.

4) This children’s book, “I Love You Like…”, which is co-authored by a blog reader’s husband, Scott, and his best friend. Scott is currently fighting stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer; when he was diagnosed a couple years ago, his best friend, Alec, came for a visit and they decided to co-author the book together and dedicate it to Scott’s son, also named Alec. In the book, after a young grasshopper asks his father how much he loves him, the Dad takes his son on an adventure to show him just how much. It’s really sweet, and also nice to have a book that has Daddy as the main character – I know Matt will love reading this to Riese as she gets older. <3

And now, time to enjoy some time with my little love before I hit the road – around noon I’m heading out for a girl’s weekend with my two best friends from college! We’re meeting up in Cape May, NJ and I’m SO excited to see them and catch up. This will be my second trip away from Riese, and Matt’s first time being home solo with her (the first time I was gone his parents came to stay). I know he’ll do great! I’ll miss them both so much, but I’m looking forward to a weekend with my girls. :)

Have a good one guys, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

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