Midweek Ramblings.

{Loved finally getting to see Evelyn Henson's Confetti Hearts Wall mural while in Charlotte this weekend! Follow me on social media @miss_alk}

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Ramblings:

• Personal days: I took Monday of this week off for a personal day. This was the first time ever that I've used PTO not for travel. I gotta be honest... I don't think I'm a fan of personal days! While it was nice to sleep in, I felt 100% out of sorts all day, and was not nearly as productive as I hoped I'd be. It just felt odd to have a random weekday all to myself, without having any big plans. For the rest of this year, I think I'll only be using PTO for travel, like I have in the past. What are your thoughts on personal days- yay or nay?
• Donut shop success: This is one of the sweetest stories from around the internet this week! A man in Texas was so sad when there weren't any customers coming to his new donut shop. His son tweeted about how empty the shop was, and the tweet went viral! Hundreds of people came to the donut shop, and they ended up selling out of everything. Seriously, such a feel-good viral Twitter story! 
• ER visit: Last Wednesday, my day got off to a not-so-fun start! I had to go to the ER because of severe throat pain. The night before, I had gone to a work dinner, and ordered lamb chops. While eating my dinner, a piece (not sure if it was a small piece of bone, or just really overcooked meat) of it cut my throat as I swallowed. I'd never had something like that happen before, so I assumed the pain would go away after drinking water and going to sleep that night. Unfortunately, I woke up at 2:30 am and was in a ton of throat pain. I drove myself to the ER and they gave me a numbing medicine for my throat! I took that day off work, and thankfully within a couple days my throat was back to normal. I'm so thankful it wasn't more serious- in the ER one of the doctors told me that food (especially meat) getting stuck in the esophagus or cutting it is more common than you might think! 

Weekend Recaps:

• Last weekend: I was in Charlotte for the weekend for the most fun girls' weekend! I brought seven friends from Charlottesville along with me, to show them one of my favorite cities. I'll be working on a blog post soon about what we did while there!
• This weekend: Pretty sure that I'll be going to Richmond on Saturday to run a few errands (I feel like I'm in Richmond at least once a month!), and on Saturday night I have a Black Tie event to attend for work. I've never gotten to go to a formal work event before, so I'm looking forward to that. On Sunday after church is my friend Amy's baby shower! 

Purchases: I did some fun spring shopping over the past week!

• I saw this gingham dress while at SouthPark Mall in Charlotte this weekend- and I immediately grabbed it! I think this will be my "winery dress" for summer weekends in Charlottesville this year. It's on sale right now so grab it while you can for less!
• J. Crew Factory has done a scalloped version of one of their classic skirts, and as soon as I saw it in pink, I had to get it!
• I live in lightweight cardigans over dresses in the summer months, and I know this cardigan will match a lot of my favorite summer looks.
• I'm going on a weekend trip with my parents in a couple weeks, and I really hope it'll be warm enough to wear this denim skirt!

Wishlist:

• I saw this adorable lavender colored matching crop top and pants set- if this doesn't scream spring, what does? 
• This is such a cute button up shirt for spring and summer (although it is a bit pricy- I'd wait for it to go on sale!).
• OH MY HEART- Lilly Pulitzer's new spring arrivals! This pink dress is everything. 
• I tried on this cute tank top while shopping in Charlotte! I didn't end up getting it that day... but I've been thinking about how adorable it was ever since. 
• A basic (but adorable) striped dress that's under $40- endless ways to wear this. 

Recipe of the week: Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Chocolate Covered Katie. This is one of the easiest cakes that I've ever made! I think making both the cake and frosting took under an hour, and it was absolutely delicious. It's also an egg free cake, and still came out wonderfully! Highly recommend for an easy homemade dessert.

Song of the week: Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Well this is a throwback! 😉Haha. This is the song of the week in honor of the fact that it came on at a bar that my friends and I went to in Charlotte... and I kind of lost my mind on the dance floor when it did! Love me some 90s hits.

Favorite blog posts of the week: 

• Carly the Prepster - I have so much respect for Carly for keeping her dating relationship private for such a long time. With that said- I was so excited that she finally introduced the blogging world to her boyfriend! 
• Alyson Haley - Haley shared some fantastic international travel tips for visiting Columbia, inspired by her recent trip. This was such a helpful travel post, and it's inspiring me to make my future travel guides even more useful!
• Heather Bien - Another travel favorite for this week! I always enjoy Heather's travel guides, and I enjoyed reading about her brief adventure in Pittsburgh.

On the blog this week:

• NYFW 2019: Days 2 + 3 Travel Diary
• NYFW 2019: Colorful NYC Mural + Would I Go to NYFW Again Soon? 
• How I Got Back Into Fitness + My Weekly Gym Routine

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese