This weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. For Mother's Day, Matt and four other husbands surprised a group of us with a spa day at the Ritz. And it took us six months for the five of us girls to find a date that all of us were in town. Finally, on Saturday we cashed in our Mother's Day gift...and it was magical.
We arrived early enough in the morning to secure the best five loungers in the pool area that were off in a more secluded area and conveniently next to the pool bar. The day was so amazing. We sipped on mimosas, lounged in robes, napped in the most gorgeous relaxation room, had facials + massages, sat in the salt room and all got ready together in the massive bathroom for dinner with our husbands later that night!
Sara + McKinsey + Lisa + Me + Laura
Photo credit: Laura
Hair credit: Also Laura
Once we were all dolled up we met the husbands downstairs in the Ritz lounge for a round of cocktails before heading to dinner.
Gosh, I love these girls so much. I seriously won the best friends lottery.
Yes, Andrew and Matt are wearing the same shirt. Naturally, we made them sit next to each other at dinner...
After dinner we made one last stop at RiRa for a drink on the rooftop before ubering home. The entire day was just perfect -- ginormous kudos to the husbands for the very best gift.
Every now and then Matt and I try to capitalize on daycare hours by playing hooky from work and going on a day date.We spent our last day date in Asheville and loved it so much that we almost did it again but changed the plans last minute to picnic on my favorite mountain -- Black Balsam Knob. It was truly one of our favorite things we've ever done together.
The drive was about 3 hours away so we dropped the kids off at school super early, grabbed some coffee and hit the road. It was so nice to spend time together in the car without the constant interruptions and requests from the backseat. We arrived to the trail head off the Blue Ridge Parkway right around 10:30 am, stuffed our backpacks and set off for the 3 mile hike.
I love this hike so much and have camped along this trail in several places. The first half mile of the hike takes you through the Enchanted Forest -- an endless pine forest with a gorgeous dense pine canopy. See all those trees?! They open up to the most amazing treeless mountains.
As you climb the mountain you can feel the air thinning, the temperature dropping and the wind gusts picking up. It is exhilarating -- truly. Nothing kicks my endorphins into overdrive like climbing a mountain with spectacular views.
Once you get through the grassy and rocky mountain meadows you reach the first knob. From there we continued on another half mile or so on the Art Loeb Trail to get to Black Balsam.
Alas, we made it to the peak...
Views from the summit of Black Balsam Knob!
At 6,214 feet, Black Balsam Knob is the 23rd highest of the 40 mountains in North Carolina.
It was wild how quickly the clouds would pass through us. We could feel them sweep over the mountain as the temperature would drop a good 15 - 20 degrees each time. It was incredible.
Right before his ascent to the top of this rock, Matt made sure to remind me that this is exactly how every good episode of Dateline begins.
After exploring the mountain for a bit we decided to set up camp with a little picnic. To avoid the wind we descended down the side of the mountain a little bit to the most perfect grassy spot.
At 6,000 feet we enjoyed prosecco and a charcuterie board on the side of a mountain. I swear it felt like a date right out of The Bachelor, minus the rose, Chris Harrison...and the awkwardness. It could not have been more perfect.
This lunch could not have been easier thanks to Trader Joe's pre-made snack packs of cheeses and meats!
The spectacular view from our picnic spot! I think I must have said "I can't believe we are here" at least 348462 times.
After a few hours on the mountain it was time to hike back to reality.
And because I'm a huge dork I dropped all of our photos and video snaps into an iMovie to have forever!
Cross your fingers for us this morning -- we're wrangling our toddlers onto an airplane and heading to Florida! I am so so so so so excited to meet my littleist love, see my daddy and hang with the fam for a few days.
one. I spent a few days in Atlanta this week for work which I didn't mind one bit because I got a night out with my bestie Brynn at Barcelona Wine Room. We shared tons of small plates and had the very best time catching up since I last saw her. Isn't she the prettiest?!
two. On our grocery run during mama spring break we picked up a few pints of Halo Top. I was clearly the last one to the party (per usual!) because everyone raved about this ice cream all weekend and it definitely lived up to the hype! My friend Laura mixes half of this ice cream with half of her favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream so she cuts the calories but not the quantity of her dessert -- brilliant, right?!
New romper + wedges from my favorite boutique, Petal! It's not available online (yet!) but it is available in-store ($58), and they will ship it (my sister does this all the time)!
three. Last night, when we should have been packing for Florida, Matt and I decided to dip out for a quick date night at Foxcroft Wine. We shared my new favorite Sauvignon Blanc (Cloudy Bay!!!) that my friend Abby introduced me to on vacation and a large bowl of truffle fries, sliders and award-winning brussels sprouts! Then we polished off our wine with some homemade donuts. So you can find me hiding behind a beach towel in my bikini this weekend -- but it was totally worth it. four. I recently re-read a hilarious article,12 Jim Gaffigan Quotes & Jokes: Everything You Need To Know About Family & Parenting, and had to share it for those of you looking for a good laugh. I am a huge Jim Gaffigan fan. If you love the article, you should absolutely check out his book, Dad is Fat.
five. Okay friends, help a mama out -- neuLASH or R&F Lash Boost? One of my girlfriends recently used Lash Boost and her lashes are ahhhhh-maaaazing but I've heard great things about neuLASH too and it's a little less expensive. Give me some feedback!!
one. The weather has been gorgeous in Charlotte lately so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Last weekend I picked up this adorable push car for the kids and they've been fighting over it ever since. I'm not sure why I waited so long to get one of these. It's way easier than pulling two kids in a wagon and it doesn't have pedals for the kids to get their legs caught in (I'm looking at you, evil tricycle).
We also finally picked up the second seat kit for our stroller and are also kicking ourselves for waiting so long to do this. It's only been two weekends and there are no less than 2 boxes of raisins and 3 sleeves of crackers crushed in the bottom of the stroller already.
two. Triple Date Night! Last weekend Matt and I went on the most fun triple date with two other couples. We kick off the evening at Exit Strategy, a 60 minute puzzle you have to solve to escape the room! (Charlotte friends -- we did the Murder Mystery room and loved it). I am happy to report that our team of friends solved the mystery with minutes to spare! We can't wait to go back and do another room next!
Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious dinner in a private wine cellar in the basement of an old church.
Matt and I started with fried green tomatoes topped with pimento cheese, followed by steaks and lots of cocktails!
It was an awesome night out with friends.
three. I love this little snap I took of the fam walking to church last weekend. Caroline has been loving Sunday School. And Thomas has been hating it. I swear he acts like we're never coming back for him when we drop him off. Also, a huge shout out to the nursery crew for catching Thomas's contact that fell out while he was there last week. I didn't even tell them about him wearing contacts so I was ridiculously impressed when I received a text during church saying "We think a contact just fell out of Thomas's eye?" This blew me away. In the almost two years that he has been wearing and losing contacts regularly at school none of his teachers have ever recovered a contact! So grateful!
four. While transferring my 235983405 photos from my phone to my computer I realized I forgot to post about our recent impromptu happy hour date night at Heist Brewery. Matt and I had an event to attend after work a few weeks ago and realized when it was over that our kids would still be very much awake. So we took a detour on our way home and ended up in NoDa for an early dinner. I am certain that happy hour dates are my new favorite.
five. Our daycare recently moved one of Thomas and Caroline's old teachers into Thomas's class! It has been super awesome because she is one of our very favorite teachers ever and loves our kiddos so much! It was an amazing surprise and we've already seen so much growth in Thomas in the past few weeks! He is drinking out of cups without spilling his milk everywhere, saying a lot more words and is now obsessed with books. So I'm wrapping up today's post with a few favorite pictures of Thomas that his teacher sent me this week!
