Living

Thank you to Always for sponsoring this conversation. Through the changes in my life I’ve always been able to depend on my tight girls and Always.

I can hear the clock ticking, and no, it’s not the biological one. I’m talking about the one that has me bending the corner on a new decade. Forty is less than six months away, and while it seems like just another year, I’ve seen a lot happen in a year, but the mental part of turning 4o probably has me over analyzing a few things and asking way too many questions to the homies that are on the other side of the threshold waiting on me with open arms to the oh so exclusive forty club.

They have champagne and stories by the way.

Stories about how things in our bodies change, and about those aches and the fact that while we think we can still hang out and recover quickly the truth is a night out, now takes about 5 days to recover from.

NEVER ask me about my 39th birthday, just don’t.

Recently I’ve started to notice a few changes in my body, and while I know the number to the doctor, there is a sense of comfort in talking about how I might be starting menopause in one sentence and discussing the PTA in the next with my closest girlfriends. We’re all in a different place, our children are different ages but in our quests to take care of ourselves and each other our conversations are moving towards things we can only giggle at, because they were once only thought to be chatter for women of a certain age.

A certain age will surely catch up with you,  and while bladder leaks aren’t something I personally experience I’ve heard enough about them to know this is an issue with women and their post-childbearing bodies. I can relate on the term that Always Discreet Liners and Pads are products that cater to women in all the different stages of their lives.

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Have these conversations, as I move out of my child-bearing years amongst friends makes me feel vulnerable in a good way. Being woman might be one of the greatest and toughest things at the same time. We do a great job of supporting one another during our child-bearing years and then the conversation starts to fall off. This is the time to keep them going, so we are confident in our next stages in life.  You may not be experiencing the same issues as your peers but who’s to say you won’t. The sisterhood and the village is where we talk these things out and learn from one another. Now that the kids are back to school, be sure to make time for that doctors appointment and girl time. Taking care of our bodies isn’t just physical, it comes with connecting to those that genuinely have our best interest at heart.

This post was sponsored by Wendy’s as part of an Ambassador Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own

This weekend over a casual conversation with a friend, we ultimately came to the conclusion that there aren’t enough hours in a day. Not that we didn’t already know this, but we just had to repeat it for good measure.

I don’t even get frustrated any more by the lack of time I have to do everything I want to do. That whole grace thing?  I give myself more than a fair share of it, and I make no apologies. Wherever I can cut back to fit in as much as I can, I do.

One of those cut the corner moments for me comes in the form of eating out when I don’t have the time, or energy to cook. With both kids in activities four days out of the week, my husband and I both working full time, in addition to my side hustles, sometimes worrying about dinner comes at the moment someone says they’re hungry.

Judge me.

The 4 for $4 at Wendy’s is always a winner. It’s good on the pockets, and the chicken offerings work well for me because I don’t care for red meat. The crispy spicy chicken sandwich is my new fave, it has just enough kick to speak to my love of spicy food.  The Wendy’s in our area recently underwent a renovation so eating in serves as our dinner table on those nights when cooking isn’t an option.

I think changing up your scenery and weekly routine from time to time helps you feel like you’re not actually in a hamster wheel. Little breaks from the monotony, (and french fries) help me push through the week. The chatter around what not to eat, how to do the most with the least, and still manage to look like we walked out of a magazine can easily make you feel like you aren’t doing something right.

I’m a champion for self care and if that means eating fast food, so be it. Daily we can only give what we have, and some days the truth is we have nothing extra to give. On those days, use what you have and supplement wherever necessary, even if that means Wendy’s for dinner!

I’ve been wanting to go to Asheville forever. Last fall we had a reservation to visit during one of the peak weekends, and unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t want to play nice and it rained the weekend we were set to go.  If you don’t know anything about Asheville, know the rooms don’t come cheap, especially in the fall. In lieu of wasting what would equal a month’s worth of groceries around here, we decided to postpone the trip and reschedule for another time when we could fully enjoy the city. Fast forward to last weekend, we decided an Expedia deal and our upcoming 13th anniversary made for a great opportunity to go on a quick weekend getaway.

You know how you have an idea in your head of how you think a place would be? Well, Asheville was totally different from what I expected but I loved our weekend getaway there nonetheless. My love for little kitschy boutiques is borderline obsessive and Asheville didn’t disappoint. Adrian was even cooperative, every store I ventured in he took a seat and waited. Giving his honest feedback on items I tried on while watching football on his phone.

We passed on visiting the Biltmore as neither of us was really pressed to visit, and when we discovered the tab for both of us to just get on the grounds was going to be $140 we decided to postpone that part for another time.

Asheville is definitely a foodie town and even when we weren’t hungry we felt like we should eat. So we did. Our first stop for lunch was at Village Wayside. The tagline was, “Slightly dysfunctional people pleasers,” I vibed with it. Situated on a railroad track, it had grape kool-aid on the menu and was soundtracked by old Motown tunes.

Yes.Please.

Adrian has this thing about barbecue. I don’t get it, but he dug out his phone and located a well-recommended joint called Buxton Hall. Barbecue is aight, I’m not a huge fan so I had a fried catfish sandwich and Adrian had typical barbecue fare. Cheerwine is apparently big there, so I had a Bourbon & Cheerwine slushie. Let’s just say your girl was feeling good after that slushie, and if you ever go there make sure you get one. Since we were eating all of the things I finished off my dinner with a Black-Bottom Banana Pudding Pie.

We stayed at the Residences at Biltmore and I couldn’t recommend this place enough. It’s a different concept, people buy condos in the buildings, but it is run like a hotel. It was the cutest little spot.

Saturday morning, we were up and trying to move before 8a, on our getting old ish! Checkout wasn’t until 11 so we forced ourselves to chill. When we finally got out and moving we ventured off the touristy, beaten path and slid into a cute and quaint little doughnut shop that I found on Pinterest.

Hole, was just that. It was literally a little “hole” in the wall doughnut and coffee shop with a line out of the door. It wouldn’t pay me any good to be a neighbor to this place. They’d know me like a Cheers situation, and I’d weep on Tuesdays, when they are closed.

SO. GOOD.

They make your doughnuts when you order them, then it takes just enough time for you to start staring at folks eating theirs, and tapping your feet in anticipation before it’s your turn. They call you by name to see where you are in the rather small establishment and walk over, with a smile  I might add to hand you a very hot doughnut. We were lucky and found a seat, but others had to stand. Favor ain’t fair.

When I say hot, think of a hot chicken wing straight out of the grease, hot. I may or may not have burned my tongue after the lady told me to let them cool. Whatever. We enjoyed our doughnuts and coffee before throwing the peace sign and moving on to our next adventure.

I love graffiti walls for some reason, so I pulled out old trusty Pinterest to look for the hotspots. We found many in the River Arts District, which they call (RAD) for good reason. Lots of street art and murals along with showrooms of local artisans. I didn’t really get any photos because sometimes you have to just live in the moment. The people there seemed so free, if you’ve ever been to Austin, that was the vibe but a little more hippy to me. Quite an eclectic mix of people and things. I was digging it.

We left there and headed out to the Asheville outlets. I had already done my homework and knew they had a few outlet stores that we don’t have like a Restoration Hardware and West Elm. Bruh! My intuition is mostly right and I nailed one h*ll of a deal on a little sofa for my mom cave (update on that coming soon unless you follow me on IG stories!) The sofa was the end piece of a sectional that was marked down from $750 to $99.97, AND some pendant lights for the kitchen that were normally priced at $140, had been marked down to $70 with an additional 50% off. Do the math, that was $35 per pendant.

Sis, no typo!

I grabbed a pair of sneakers and a dress from Gap before we rounded back to West Elm to gather up our steals and put our loot in the car and by put, I mean stuffed. We headed back to Atlanta feeling good, feeling great!

Growing up, my parents took me on lots of little weekend getaways and I fondly remember those moments. I ‘m looking forward to more small weekend getaways with the kids. We’re heading to the beach in a few weeks and I might be more excited than the kids for the opportunity to get out of town again.

I managed to gather a few video clips to put together a short vlog of the weekend, it’s my effort towards bringing them back on a regular basis! Hope you enjoy.

Where are some of your favorite weekend getaways? I’m making a list of places to visit and would love your input!