{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings

September 2023:

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Highs of the Month:

September brought the start of two new additions to my weekly routine, and both are such positive things that I'm excited about. First up- I rejoined Jazzercise after a two-year break! I was a member of the Charlottesville Jazzercise studio from 2019-2021 (until I moved to Virginia Beach). I was a member of a different type of gym that offered fitness classes for my first two years in VB, but I'd constantly think back to how much I loved doing Jazzercise in Charlottesville. When I finally healed from my hip bursitis a couple of months ago and was able to resume fitness classes, I knew I wanted to try Jazzercise in Virginia Beach. So glad that I decided to go back! It is such a great workout for your body while being a lot of fun.
The other positive thing that I started this month was seeing a counselor. I've been having really high anxiety in 2023 over various things in my life. I struggled with anxiety and depression in high school, and the anxiety remained into college and my early 20s. While it's been a lot better for the past five years, I've been noticing old unhealthy thought patterns creeping back into my daily life in 2023. The last time I had seen a therapist was when I lived in Vermont six years ago, but I knew it was time to try again. I first met with a new therapist in June, but I found that therapist to be extremely unprofessional and not a good fit. (I ended up making a complain to the office manager on how unprofessional she was.) I started with a new one this month, and this therapist has a wonderful demeanor and the exact vibe I was looking for. I know that counseling will have lots of tough and vulnerable moments, but hoping it makes me stronger going forward.
My 29th birthday cake- lol! But for real. It made me so happy that I wrote a whole blog post about it! And on an extra fun note, I got to have coffee with Briana (the amazing baker behind the cake) last week. Yay for new friends!

Lows of the Month:

I was in a crummy mood on my actual birthday this year. I'm still not sure why I was? Nothing bad happened that day. Nor am I sad about getting older (if anything I'm very excited to turn 30 next year!). I was able to snap out of it and go to the beach for the rest of the afternoon, but I was just kind of in a weird mood overall that whole day.
My car insurance went up again on my new policy. No idea why this keeps happening since I haven't had any tickets or accidents?! I guess it's just inflation, but ugh. And I'm way too lazy to price shop for new insurance so I'm aware that I'm complaining to no avail- ha!
I've been unusually tired all month, despite getting about the same amount of sleep on weeknights that I always have. I have always been anti-napping on weekdays (since it can be tough to fall asleep early that night for work), but I've had to give in to more than a few weekday naps this month for reasons unknown.

September Weekend Recaps:

1st-3rd - We were in Maine for Labor Day Weekend! Full recap and itinerary for our trip in this Travel Guide blog post. (I won't re-list everything here. 😉)

8th-10th - On Saturday morning, we went to a meeting with our young adults' group at church at a local coffee shop. I had to attend a work event at a local business that afternoon. That evening Ryan and I went out to my belated birthday dinner at local restaurant The Porch (my birthday was a few days earlier midweek). You can read about how my birthday was this year in this blog post! We went to church on Sunday and then went to Ryan's parents' house after for lunch and to watch football.

16th-18th - I started off Saturday by attending a morning Jazzercise class. Ryan and I then went to a brunch double date at southern themed restaurant Tupelo Honey with another couple. I had a work event in the later part of the day up in Newport News (about 45 minutes from Virginia Beach) where I was serving as "local celebrity" judge for a food truck festival. My friend Bea came with me, which was really fun! On Sunday, we went to church and then went back to Ryan's parents' house after for lunch and football. We also got to see some of the military's annual Air Show from their backyard.

22nd-24th - I was hoping to go to the beach on Friday after work and was supposed to play a round of golf with my friend Kelsie on Saturday afternoon, but both of those things got cancelled when Tropical Storm Ophelia moved through the area. I headed home right after work on Friday since I didn't want to be out in case the weather got too bad. Thankfully it never got super bad in our area and we never lost power! Ryan and I binged the first round of episodes for Love is Blind Season 5. On Saturday morning, I did a few chores and filmed a reel for Instagram. Kelsie and I then met up for our backup plan instead of golf: lunch and a wine tasting at Cooper's Hawk Winery + Restaurant. After that I headed to a local library to get some blog and computer work done. On Sunday, we went to church, took a walk after to do some geocaching, and then that evening I went for my second walk of the day. My friend Sara-Sullivan and I hit a local trail on Sunday evening.

29th-1st - I went to Charlottesville for the weekend! This trip had a twist though. Instead of going up there to visit all of my friends there, I went up with Virginia Beach friends. My friend LeighAnna from Junior League moved to Cville for a new job earlier this year, and three of us from Junior League went up to stay with her and do a Charlottesville winery weekend. It was fun to play tourist in my former home, and LeighAnna was a great hostess to the three of us. Friendly reminder that I have an Ultimate Charlottesville Travel Guide here in my blog archives (all my best recommendations from when I lived there). This weekend away in Cville also kicked off the first of four consecutive weekends/long weekends out of town for me- October is about to be really busy!

September Purchases:

I just want to give myself a shout-out first and foremost- let's talk about something I didn't buy this month. For the first time in years, I actually didn't make any purchases during the fall edition of the Lilly Pulitzer Sunshine Sale! I had fun covering the sale on my blog as always, but I have so many summer Lilly pieces in my closet already that I just didn't feel super compelled to get anything else this time. I'm sure I'll be super ready to shop the next sale in January though.
Now for things I actually did buy! My birthday gift to myself was this classic trench coat. I used to have one like this a few years ago that got a little small for me in the shoulders, and I've always wanted another ever since. Can't wait to wear my new coat throughout the fall.
I used some birthday gift money to try a new-to-me trend: cropped leather pants! These feel very edgy for me, but I'm excited to style them this fall and winter.
I got rid of a lot of my older pairs of tights when I moved this summer (overdue honestly). I grabbed these tights when they were on sale to have for winter.
I also got a couple affordable pairs of shoes for fall. First up were these cute suede booties. I wasn't sure what the quality would be since they're under $50, but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them.
I also bought these strappy low heels. I got them in the black color in hopes to wear a lot with my new leather pants. Just like the booties that I also bought this month, I thought these shoes were great quality despite being under $50!
I used some birthday money to get these earrings during this past weekend's Charlottesville trip. I have a couple weddings on the calendar already for 2024 and I think these will be perfect wedding guest earrings.

September Blog Posts:

God Bless,

xoxo Annaliese

October 3, 2023

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings

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