Happy Friday!
Today I am linking up with Andrea & Erika for a little Friday Favorites. A peek into a few of my favorite things from this month.
One of my favorite things to do each January is to look back at the MOST VIEWED BLOG POSTS OF 2024. This little list made me so happy!
Here are the Top Ten most viewed blog posts of last year…
#10: MERRY MONDAY
#9: GREEK CHICKEN TACOS RECIPE
#8: CONSIDER THE LILY FUNDRAISER AT THE GROSSMAN FARM
#7: RED THAI SHRIMP SOUP RECIPE
#6: SLOW COOKER CUBAN BLACK BEANS RECIPE
#5: BEER AND SLOPPY JOE’S RECIPE
#3: 2024 NEW YEAR GOALS + GIVEAWAY UPDATE
#1: NEW YEAR GIVEAWAY 2024 and 2024 NEW YEAR GOALS + GIVEAWAY UPDATE
Some more faves included…
…watching our oldest do her thing at her high school swim meet.
This year, as a junior, she was surprised to learn she was voted one of four Captains for swim team. We are so proud of Alexia’s work ethic and choice to lead with a “do the work and don’t complain” attitude.
After picking up Naiya from track practice, we drove to the pool (located off-campus) and cheered her sister on! Last year Naiya swam with her sister, even qualified for States in breaststroke. But after falling in love with track in the spring of her freshman year, she opted to run indoor track this winter.
Another favorite from January…
…was an unexpected road trip with this girl to a high school track meet in Virginia.
Truth be told, I okayed her signing up, not knowing a few important details.
One, that it was four hours away.
Two, that it was the largest indoor track meet in the US, with 6,000 high school athletes from 25 states and 2 countries, including an Olympic gold medalist (Quincy Wilson, 500m dash) in attendance.
We joked afterwards that it was a good thing I got “tricked” into saying yes, because had I had all the information up front (namely, how far away it was), it would have been a definite no.
This ended up being such a special experience for our girl, to see what it is like to compete with and against some of the best in the country. The energy in that indoor track was indescribable.
Nerves, adrenaline, and elite competition led Naiya to PR in her favorite event, the 55m dash. She ended up placing…
…158th out of 400+ girls entered in the event. There were 64 heats total!
What this track meet trip also afforded us was a stay with my sweet friend, Laurel, and her family. An old friend from when we lived in Annapolis, I was finally able to meet her fourth baby…
…sweet Alice. Although this selfie doesn’t do her justice, she was the happiest baby all weekend!
We managed to pull off a couples-only birthday dinner for our dear friend.
Ryan made a gourmet meal for us all and the evening was filled with lots of laughs, words of encouragement for the birthday girl, a picturesque snowfall outside, and ended with us moms doing our own version of a flash mob dance party.
While this month’s 14 degree weather was certainly not my favorite…
…my early morning quiet times by a cozy fire, certainly are. A recent favorite also featured in this photo is my light pink Apple watch band. Perfect for upcoming Valentine’s Day! It comes in many other colors and is under $6!
While we’re on the topic of Valentine’s Day…
…here’s a festive dessert should you need a recipe to spark some red and pink celebratory fun next month!
While I have my quiet time before the kids get up, Hazel sits next to me every.single.morning. Nevermind the fact that her bed is within inches from my chair on the floor next to me.
Ryan and I planned a quick ski trip getaway to Park City, Utah.
I have only been to Colorado resorts, plus the east coast Roundtop family ski trip earlier this month. I had heard great things about Park City and wanted to scout it out for a possible future ski trip with our kids.
It was such a sweet time away to relax and talk uninterrupted, plus go out and adventure on the mountain together. Ryan is MUCH better than I am, so he spent much of his time snowboarding down the hill and then waiting for me to ski down and catch up to him.
While at the Salt Lake City airport waiting for our flight home Sunday afternoon, I got a call from one of my besties with a last minute invitation to meet her…
…in NYC!
Our other travel trio bestie and I hopped on a train on Monday evening and arrived at Penn Station at midnight. Not ideal timing, but it was what worked best with our schedules and it was only $35!
Our last travel trio trip to NYC was during Christmas in 2023…
Being in the city in January is a much more calm experience. The streets aren’t as crowded and the lines aren’t as long. While I LOVE how festive the city feels in December, it was a nice way to experience all of the popular food establishments without the long lines.
This January trip we ate our way through the city on a food tour, caught a Broadway show, and poured our mom-life hearts out over coffee and cannolis.
I have found a staple sweater this winter, it’s a cropped version of a past favorite. I love it so much, I also bought it in black. It’s so soft, a relaxed fit with cropped length. It’s 50% off right now, limited sizes left though.
Today my boys get out of school at noon, then we’re staying to watch their cousin’s Variety Show performance.
No plans on this rainy Friday evening, so I’m excited to have a low-key start to our weekend. Especially as we’ll be off and running tomorrow morning for Alexia’s high school league championship swim meet.
I’ll be spending my free time in between her swim events listening to…
So far, this has been an incredible resource to fasting for a woman, by a woman!
She goes into great detail how to sync fasting with our monthly hormone cycle. I’m not new to intermittent fasting, but any long term fasting I haven’t had a great experience when I’ve agreed to join my husband. I’m excited to implement my first 3-day fast syncing it to the most optimal time for my body (and mind)! We’ll see! 🤞
Thanks for reading along today! Hope you have an AMAZING weekend! xoxo
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