Hey friends! Whenever I have all sorts of random things to share I like doing things I’m loving lately style posts. Let’s get to it!
Things I’m Loving Lately
1) Virgo season!
It’s officially Virgo season and as a Virgo and lover of fall energy vibes, I’m here for it. I do think it’s too early for pumpkin (gotta wait until October for that IMO), but I have always loved back to school season and the way the cooler weather blowing in makes everything feel reinvigorated and fresh. Related – are Trapper Keepers still a thing? I used to love those things!
It’s probably no coincidence that fall is also when I’m most excited about meal prepping! If you haven’t tried my Spinach Feta Egg Wraps yet, do it. They are awesome for meal prep. Similarly, my Make Ahead Veggie Egg Sandwiches are another fall breakfast meal prep fave.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you great content every week!
2) Cooler weather for running
On a related note, if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you know I love running but not so much in summer. I probably only got in a couple of runs total in June and July because I just hate running in the heat! Yoga and indoor boot camp classes were much more appealing.
That said, we got really lucky with the weather while we were in Pittsburgh for a couple weeks in mid-August. It felt like fall and made for some awesome running weather! Matt and I got in 4 morning runs while we were there, ranging in distance from 2 to 3.5 miles.
One of those runs was with our mutual friend Tom, two were on our own, and one was with Wes in our travel stroller (Amazon affiliate link) which worked surprisingly well as a running stroller in a pinch!
I’m excited to start to get back into a consistent running routine again this fall. Matt has been talking about wanting to sign up for a fall race together – likely a 5 miler or 10k, not really feeling anything longer than that. Any recs from those of you in the DC/NoVA area?
3) Basil!
We planted some basil awhile ago and it’s been going nuts in the backyard – we’ve had SO MUCH! I used 3 packed cups worth to make pesto one day for dinner, and also gave away some to a friend and we still have more to use! Send me your best basil recipes, please. 🙂
We used the pesto to make a variation of my Veggie Pesto Pasta (<- recipe card includes a homemade pesto recipe that uses walnuts instead of pine nuts to mix it up). We skipped the broccoli and instead added peas, grilled chicken, and some microgreens. Hadn’t made that recipe in awhile; it came out great!
4) End of summer adventures
Matt and I went on our friend Ben’s annual overnight canoe camping trip again this August since it coincided with the weekend we were already in Pittsburgh (the river they canoe down is a couple hours north) and we both had a blast. You can read all about the trip and how it works in last year’s recap.
There were only 6 of us this year – me and the guys – but they insisted that I was still welcome to crash the dude party! Matt and I just did 1 night again like last year (the rest of the group did 2 nights) and that worked out great – 1 night of camping is enough for me. 😉
It was a lot of fun! Last year it was windy so we had to paddle harder on day 1, but this year we had time to lash our canoes together and float for a bit while Matt played guitar, our friend Luke played mandolin, and we all sang along.
We also got lucky and it didn’t rain on us like the weather forecast called for. Whew!
Besides singing in the canoes, my other favorite part of the trip was the rope swing. Kinda scary (you have to climb up a tree a little ways to get high enough before jumping and holding on for dear life) but so fun!
Speaking of summer adventures, Matt and I and some friends went and saw Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins in DC at the end of July and it was SO GOOD! They both put on an awesome show. I’d never seen Green Day before but Smashing Pumpkins was my very first concert back in the late 90’s. Big time nostalgia!
Somehow Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day’s frontman) still looks 25 years old. And had 20 year old energy to match! Impressive.
And that’s the randomness I have for you today! Have a great week.
- When do you think it’s appropriate to kick off pumpkin everything season? Are you with me on waiting until October or are you all-in already?
- Any favorite basil recipes to share?
