The Weekly Recap Blog: River Floating, DIY Projects, & Pad Thai Recipe
This recap post almost didn’t happen this morning. I just spent the last 45-minutes trying to revive my computer after Leo’s big furry tail knocked over my coffee onto the keys. Luckily my persistent hair drying method worked, and my keyboard has finally regained life. I deserve some kind of computer doctor medal after that one. It’s a good thing my computer is working because I’m excited to share my week with you all. It was a good one.
Last week was filled with a lot of fun. I made time for tennis, went river floating down the catawba, went out with some friends, tried a (new to me) vegan restaurant in Charlotte, made a pad thai with zoodles that you must try, and got covered in paint working on a DIY project with my dad. Now, that is my kind of week. This week, I’m going to focus more on my running, organizing closets in the house, and posting the California blogs. 😊 Now that I’m back from my morning run, I made a second cup of coffee, and it’s time to start writing the recap!
The heat has me feeling defeated when it comes to running. I’m not giving up though, just taking it a lot slower until the cooler months get here. My goal is to keep running 2-4 miles several times a week to maintain my endurance until I can go all in. Even when I go out to run two miles, I feel pretty proud of myself.
Before I headed out on my run on Monday, I made a bowl of my protein oats. I use oats, water, protein powder, and top it with nut butter. I have found that this small pre-run breakfast makes me feel the best and doesn’t cause stomach cramping. I’ll usually recover from my run with a smoothie.
ps, I filmed a day in the life on Monday 😊 —> video link
After my Monday morning run, I spent the rest of the day working on my recap blog (like every Monday 😊).
For lunch, I made a delicious tuna salad wrap and a green smoothie (the tutorial is in the video.) Kyle and I been living off this tuna salad for a couple of weeks. It’s so dang tasty. I got Becca hooked on it last night, and she had to run to the store to make her own. It’s perfect for adding to salads, crackers, or sandwiches. Next time, I need to make it in a bigger batch, so I have plenty of leftovers.
I decided to switch it up and make something new on Monday night, so when I saw gluten-free pad thai sauce at the grocery store, I knew I needed to buy it. The recipe turned out to be so delicious, and I’ve made it twice! Last night, I made it with zucchini noodles, and I’m already counting down the hours until lunchtime, so I can eat the leftovers 😋 I bought more ingredients on my way home last night so I could shoot some photos and make a more formal recipe blog post, but the recipe is in my recap video from Monday + more details towards the bottom of this blog post! 
On Tuesday morning, I had a blackberry spinach smoothie for breakfast. It had 3 cups of fresh spinach, 1/2 cup frozen blackberries, one scoop of amazing grass greens, one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 2 cups of water, and topped with granola and nut butter!
For lunch, I had Mary’s Jalapeno seed crackers topped with my tuna salad and leftover pad tai on the side.
On Tuesday night, I met up with my friend, Emily (best karaoke dancer in the Lake Tahoe Video), for dinner at Fern. Fern is a vegan restaurant in Charlotte that I have wanted to try for a while now. I had heard so many good things, and it didn’t disappoint.
For my dinner, I ordered their white bean burger with garlic aioli on gluten-free bread with a side of herb potatoes. Wow, was it good! We decided to order dessert to top off the delicious food while we finished our glass of wine. We decided to go with raspberry & chocolate mousse. It was unreal! The presentation was abstract on a plate. The creamy chocolate mouse hit the spot, and I would recommend it if you try this place out.
speaking of places to eat in Charlotte; I’m working on updating my Charlotte Guide page. It’s so dated, and I think creating a “weekend in Charlotte” blog post will be so much better! 
On Wednesday, I worked on the blog all day, and then go around to making a Purple Carrot for dinner. I tried out the scallion noodle cakes with crispy broccolini and tamarind sauce. I was pretty shocked by how good the noodle cakes were! I baked extra chicken in the oven for kyle’s plate, but he also loved the noodle cakes. They were so unique, and the crispy edges made each bite extra tasty like biting into a crispy french fry. 
So Thursday’s run, oh boy. I made it 2.2 miles and had to walk the rest of the way. It was hot, and I waited way too long to go out for a run. Plus, I kept getting into my head and psyching myself out. It’s crazy how we can get in our heads and create a huge mental block. One of my rules for running is that if I can’t run the rest of the route, I must walk it. I can’t just walk back to my house after going one mile, but walk the rest of the planned run. I have found that this makes me feel less defeated when I can’t keep going. 
I just threw a ton of stuff in a bowl for dinner on Thursday night. I made steamed broccoli, cauliflower gnocchi, and a black bean burger! I don’t mind these random dinner nights because they are quick to make and plus they taste great.
After finishing the ice cream blog post on Friday, I ate a quick lunch, and then headed over to my parent’s house to work on a project with my dad! I had a big salad with spinach, kale, cabbage, tuna salad, avocado aioli dressing, sesame seeds, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It hit the spot! 
My dad and I have been working on making fun cornhole boards! We play all the time, but I wanted heavy-duty boards that had less bounce. My dad built these in a few hours, and then I came over to paint them! I’m going to put the finishing coat on them tomorrow, and then order some pink and yellow bags off of amazon. I told my dad that since he’s retired, he should start building these for people!
I didn’t know for sure what I wanted to paint on them, but I did know I wanted a lot of colors. I started taping off the top with painters tape until I created a fun design. I have some paint spots to touch up since it bled under the tape a bit, but I’m pretty satisfied with how they turned out. I’ll be making some fall ones with pumpkins on them next!
After working on these in the backyard heat, I floated around the pool for a bit to cool down and then headed home to shower off and get ready for some fun Friday night plans. 
We met a group of friends at Kid Cashew for dinner! This is another one of my favorite spots in Charlotte. Kyle and I split the marinated chicken skewers and hummus for a starter. For my entree, I ordered the quinoa stuffed avocado with salmon on top. The dish was terrific and it would be fun to recreate at home. I loved the idea of stuffing avocados with quinoa. If you’re a salmon lover, I highly suggest their salmon. They know how to cook it to perfection.
After dinner, we all headed over to 1812 to check out the cool speakeasy. It’s so cool because you walk into Manchester, and give the person working the password, and she opens up a brick wall, and you take the stairs down to this cool cocktail bar. If you’re ever out with friends in Charlotte, this is a cool spot to bring them to. 
I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to meet up with my tennis group. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get out and play, but it felt so good to be back! And even though it was in the nineties, I managed to fit in the three hours of playing time. Since I’ve been running again, my endurance when it comes to playing tennis has been so much better. I’m never huffing and puffing after a game.
When I got home, I made tuna salad wraps for lunch for kyle and me, and then we headed to look at a few homes! We spent the rest of the evening finally watching Bohemian Rapsody, and dang was that an excellent movie. We also watched the docu-series I Love you, now die: The Common Weather vs. Michelle Carter on HBO, and that’s such a crazy and messed up case. Yikes. 
On Sunday morning, Becca and I met up to go floating down the river! We’ve been doing this for the past three years, and it never gets old. (year 1, year 2) We did replace the tube this year since last year we floated down on a deflated tube 😆
After parking the car at the Riverwalk, we drove the river access in Fort Mill to begin our adventure down!
And leave it to us to pack venti iced coffees! 
It can take anywhere from 2-3 hours to float down the river, so we brought our lunches in a cooler. Of course, I made us delicious tuna salad sandwiches!
Becca was the real MVP of the day. We were floating fast downstream and were about to miss our chance of getting out near the car, so she dove off the tube and swam us to shore. 💜 
When I got home, I showered off all the river water, made a cappucinno, and started working on the blog. Around 6 pm, I decided to make some pad thai with zoodles for dinner! I can’t believe how good it turned out. I cooked the zoodles up in a pan on high with avocado oil until the zoodles with fully cooked. Then, I added pad tai sauce, spinach, and peanuts! I made regular rice noodles for Kyle and then added shrimp on top of both! I’ll get a recipe blog post out for this one this week. 😊
Questions for you!
- What is something fun you like to do in the summertime with your friends outdoors?
- Have you ever been to a speakeasy?
- What state do you live in?
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Great recap post! I love hiking and swimming in the summer. Both are great ways to be social and get exercise. I definitely went to a speakeasy or two in Portland, OR. My husband and I lived there for 5 years. We just moved to Dallas, TX and so far we love it!
Thanks, Lyssa!!
Hiking & swimming sounds amazing!
Have so much fun in Dallas! I visited about seven years ago and loved it! xo
Hi Taralynn!
Honestly, during the summer, my favorite thing to do outdoors is sit on a patio with drinks! I’m super active early in the mornings usually, so I like to take a shower, put on something cute and meet up for cocktails outside.
There’s a speakeasy in Atlanta! I went years ago and thought it was so fun and classy. All the drinks were named after gangsters or notable men like Sinatra or Don Draper.
And on that note, yep I live in Georgia, so not too far from Charlotte!
That honestly sounds like the BEST summer activity 😊
I love Georgia!! 💕
Awww Leo!!! My dog (Winston) did the same thing to me a few months ago when I was drinking a smoothie.. except he knocked it out of my hand with his nose in an attempt to get me to pet him. *Sigh* at least I managed to save my computer!
And I looove that you went tubing! There was a huuge tubing / floating event in Portland this weekend. I managed to miss it, but I hear that it is a ton of fun 🙂
As for summer activities, I really want to go on more hikes and maybe play some golf!
Lol, it’s one of those things where you just can’t be mad at them because they didn’t mean it and they are too cute! 😂
Awww that sounds like a blast and probably much cooler weather in portland lol My brother was actually in Portland last weekend and said it’s amazing!
ohhh those activities sound amazing!
Did I miss the tuna salad recipe? It sounds amazing!
It’s in my “day in the life” video!:) Linked above! xo
A tip for preventing bleeding under painting tape…. put some caulk on the edges of the tape and wet your fingers and smooth it over the seam. You just want to leave a very thin layer to make a seal. After it’s dry paint your design and then remove the tape when the paint is almost dry, just slightly tacky. My family are professional painters so I happen to know way more about paint than I want to 🙄
Thank you for that, tip!!
Looks like a fun week! What do you put in your tuna salad?
Thanks, Anne!
I shared the recipe in the day in the life video on Youtube! 🙂 But i’ll go ahead and insert a recipe in the post since I’ve had a lot of messages asking! xo
Just stopping by to say that you should look into getting a spibelt for when you run! I love mine!!! I use it when I run or bike and can be handsfree without worrying about dropping my phone.
I actually just got a new bra off amazon that holds my stuff in my back and it’s unbelievable! If I ever ran a race and needed to carry more, I’ll totally look into that! thank you! xo
Ahhh, I love floating down lazy rivers! 🙂 Reminds me of my vacations in Thailand when I was little. And pad thai is simply the best! 💕✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Awww I bet that was a dream! ❤️
I’ve been to a few cute speakeasy’s I’m in north Orange County, CA and not far from LA so we’ve got a few! Something we do every summer is watch movies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and we always try to make it to a baseball game. Can’t wait to make that pad thai, also have you had the cherry plums from trader joes? They’re the perfect summer fruit and great in homemade sangria!
I’m sure California is filled with them! & those sound like awesome summer activities!
I saw the cherry plums yesterday at Publix!! I was wondering how they tasted, but now I’ll have to get them! Thank you 😊
I’m in NM and am so jealous of all the fun stuff you do in Charlotte! I have always wanted to live in NC 🙂 I visited Boone once and it was so pretty. I love river floating, rafting, canoeing- all things river! Thanks for sharing, looks like a fun week ❤️
Always room for more people!! ❤️ I LOVE living here!!
All your food look amazing! I want to try the scallion noodle cakes, have you already shared the recipe for that?
Hi, Jacky! Those were from a purple carrot!
All they were though were boiled rice noodles mixed with zucchini noodles and scallions with a bit of salt and pepper! You use your hands to form a little pancake-like form and place it in a pan with avocado oil for five minutes on each side! 🙂
1. I love to go boating or kayaking. I also love to do at least one trip Up North. This year I’m going the last week of August for my birthday 🙂
2. No, but that sounds really fun!
3. Michigan (Metro Detroit area)
Go Lions! 😊
Awww your birthday is around the time all my loved one’s birthday! August 14th! 19th! 24th! & 25th! lol, lots of august birthdays.
Oh wow you do have a lot of August birthdays. My moms is the 20th and mine is the 25th 😊
My moms is the 25th! a great day to be born! 😊
I know this is a random comment, but the other day I randomly remembered you have blogged about brandless. So, I went on the website and ordered so much- 16 items for $49. I was shocked at how inexpensive it was, and then when it came, I fell in love with the simplicity of the packages and how it was packaged. I wanted to thank you for talking about this company, I have now passed on how great they are to just about everyone I know!
I love that your opinions are always honest and real, it’s nice to have your genuine opinion to help guide your followers!
Thank you! 🙂
Hi, Emily!
This comment made my day! I’m so happy you tried out brandless (& you just reminded me to make another order!) 😊 You have to try their lentil chips if you haven’t already! xo
UM YES to your dad making corn hole boards! I would totally buy some from you 🙂 & I am local!!!!
I’ll let him know 😊
Tubing is definitely one of my favorite this to do ,that has became a birthday event for me every year lately. So relaxing
Such a fun birthday event! 😊 & I agree. It’s truly relaxing.
What an epic week! Pad Thai is sooooo delicious, I should make my own also!
Each year that you post about tubing down the river makes me wish I could do that too. It looks so fun!
http://www.justbeingbrooklyn.com
It’s amazingly good! Can’t believe I didn’t make it sooner.
If you ever come down to Charlotte, we can go together! xo xo
That would be so much fun!
😊
I love those Mission GF tortillas. I just went to the store today to get more and saw they came out with Spinach Herb ones! Thought you might like to know 🙂
Aren’t they so good! WAIT, they have GF spinach herb mission tortillas?!?!
My dad makes cornhole boards too! They are so much fun! I love all the bright colors you painted yours.
What is something fun you like to do in the summertime with your friends outdoors?
Going to the lake, swimming and road tripping.
Have you ever been to a speakeasy?
Never but it sounds like a lot of fun!
What state do you live in?
Texas! Hence when I said road tripping because there is a lot of driving in Texas especially to go to the bigger cities for a weekend away.
That is awesome & thank you! I needed something fun for summer!
Ahhhhh I need to get to texas soon!
Oh my goodness! So glad you’re computer survived the coffee. I’m always worried my cat is going to do the same thing.
1. We love to just get together and spend time in the pool.
2. No, I haven’t, but the one you went to sounds super neat!
3. O-H-I-O! 🙂
I can’t believe it came back to life lol