Welcome to the first ~the wellness diaries~ monthly recap! I’ve been trying to get into recap posts on my other blog for years now and couldn’t make it happen. It felt like too much work trying to do recaps and consistent reviews, so I’d do a recap like once a year, then push it aside for far too long. But those days are gone (hopefully!) 😉
The ideas of weekly recaps (from other bloggers I love) is what inspired me. But honestly, doing a recap every week feels like way too much while also having a full-time job, marriage, social life, and just general adulting to attend to. But a monthly recap? That sounds doable.
Without further ado, let’s get into all the fun activities and exploration I got into this April…
This month was full of so many fun things planned! I had the Taylor Swift concert (which was nearly impossible to get tickets for, as a lot of y’all know, so I was mad grateful to get nosebleed seats behind the stage with some girlfriends!) The weekend after that Mary and her boyfriend, Jesse, came to visit in Clearwater and I stayed the weekend with them at their hotel.
But we’ll start with the first of the month…
I’ll write more about our honeymoon adventures very soon. But to recap March, we spent the last 2 weeks traveling around Europe (London to Venice to Rome) for our honeymoon. So when we got back at the very end of March, all I wanted to do was get back into a routine and attempt to recover from jetlag and sickness.
I was feeling way better by the time we got home to Tampa, so I kicked off April by getting back to the gym for a leg workout and some easy cardio.
After eating out for most of our meals in Europe, I was excited to get cooking again! We had these delicious homemade chicken burrito bowls. They were SO delicious and fresh tasting.
While cooking at home again was super exciting, you know we couldn’t pass up getting donuts when we found out about a new donut shop opening in Brandon.
These were from Duck Donuts, which is a new donut shop where they decorate the donuts right in front of you. So they’re hot, fresh, and so doughy when you get them home!
The maple bacon was incredible. I would highly recommend if you’re ever in the Brandon/Riverview area.
Later that day, I headed to the park to get a 3 mile walk in.
It was a gorgeous day out, but it’s definitely getting HOT here in Tampa. It’s been in the high 80s or low 90s most days this month.
The park was gorgeous and pretty calm that day. It’s hit or miss how many people will be there. A lot of families have big birthday parties for their kids at the park I like to go to, so it can get really busy some days. I definitely prefer a calmer walk when it’s less busy.
The palm trees and lake were gorgeous today.
My group of girlies that all went to the Taylor Swift concert! We had to get a picture in front of the Eras merch truck of course, before heading into Raymond James for the concert.
In the stadium now! We were in our Lover eras for the concert, with the glitter eye hearts and blue hair!
We got there pretty early so we obviously had to do a full photo shoot with our outfits, makeup, and hair! I rarely go all out for concerts, so it was super fun to get all dressed up for this one.
The sun was setting and the vibes were immaculate for photos. We also didn’t really care about hearing the openers, we were just there for Taylor. 😉
The concert was SO fun. We were singing, crying, and dancing the night away from our nosebleed seats behind the stage. We could barely see the actual stage from where our seats were, but we could see enough and definitely heard enough to have the time of our lives.
After the whole Ticket Master debacle (and spending an entire day refreshing the page trying to get tickets, only to get them 12 hours after the pre-sale opened) I was beyond grateful for our nosebleed seats.
The following weekend, Mary and Jesse came to stay at a hotel on Clearwater Beach! I met them out in Clearwater and these were the views from their room. Absolutely beautiful.
We headed out for dinner at Marina Cantina on the water. The sunset was stunning that evening. I swear nothing beats a sunset on the beach.
There’s the whole sunset vs. sunrise debate and I’ll always be a sunset person. Sunrises are gorgeous too, of course, I just don’t like waking up that early to see them. 😉
I got the shrimp tacos and they were fantastic! The toppings always outperform the meat/seafood on tacos in my opinion. These had pickled onions, avocado, lettuce, and a delicious creamy sauce.
My cute besties with their giant tropical drink!
The next morning, we headed out for brunch at Clear Sky Cafe. You guys… This Belgian waffle was insane. I saw someone had ordered it when we were waiting for a table and couldn’t resist. The berries were so fresh, the waffle was perfectly doughy inside and crispy outside, and the amount of Nutella… Good Lord. I could eat this every day.
After brunch, we headed out for a beach day! The weather was perfect: sunny, clear skies, and just enough heat to make the water enjoyable and laying in the sand enjoyable.
We spent most of the day on the beach playing catch, laying in the beach chairs, listening to music, and enjoying each other’s company.
We headed to a hotel restaurant that evening that had really good ratings. The views were amazing, but the food was ehhh. I got the grouper fish and chips and it felt like a fast food restaurant version of fish and chips. Not to mention we had to wait over an hour to get a table. At least we had this nice ocean view though!
You can tell I wasn’t impressed by the food if I forgot to even take a picture of it. 😉
I headed back to Tampa from Clearwater the next morning, since it was time for Mary and Jesse to fly back to Salt Lake City. It was so great to spend time with them and always sad to see them leave.
For breakfast back at my apartment, I made an oatmeal bowl topped with fresh berries, bananas, walnuts, and Nutella.
I’ve been making the same breakfast almost every day on repeat for about a month now. It’s SO good and never gets old. I’m not typically a repeat meal kind of gal (I get bored easily) but this one I crave every morning.
It’s oatmeal, mixed with chocolate protein powder and a spoonful of flaxseed. Topped with whatever fruits I have on hand (usually strawberries, blueberries, and banana slices), Nutella (I’ve switched over to Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter now, which is amazing!), walnuts, and cinnamon sprinkled on top. SO GOOD.
I started eating these oatmeal bowls because I’ve been trying to add more Omega-3s to my diet. Joint pain sucks. 🙁 Hence, the walnuts and flaxseed.
I love eating breakfast outside on our porch when it’s not too hot. I had to take a picture of the first flowers blooming on our tree outside. Spring has sprung!
Dinners this week consisted of Hello Fresh meals mostly. This was a yummy chicken, roasted carrots, and rice dinner.
Also, I’ve been beyond obsessed with these Polar vanilla orange seltzers lately. I usually drink 2-3 a day but am trying to contain myself lol. They’re just so good!
My best friend is getting MARRIED this year and asked me to be her maid of honor. I am overjoyed and couldn’t be more excited for her and her fiance’s wedding!
It’s so surreal growing up and seeing your childhood friends get married, have kids, and more. I don’t know how to explain it, but when it’s someone you’ve been best friends with for almost 20 years, seen every aspect of their life and growth from grade school, high school, college, and now these adult milestones like marriage. It makes me want to cry happy tears. Which I definitely did when I received this mug in the mail. 😀
Ever since we tried a traditional English breakfast in London, Jeremy’s been making (a slightly Americanized version) every few weeks. We both didn’t like the mushrooms or black pudding when we had it in London, so we omit those and have everything else. Bacon, sausage, toast, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, and baked beans. It’s so yummy! I’d definitely recommend trying this combo for breakfast sometime.
Drinking black coffee from my Rome mug on a rainy day. Missing Italy. I have travel fever ever since our honeymoon and I’m so ready to plan our next trip!
I’ll be posting more blogs from our honeymoon soon. I’m trying to divide them up to make the most sense, into a separate London, Venice, and Rome blog. So it’s taking a while to get through all the pictures (there are a lot) but hopefully I’ll have the London blog up in the next week or two! Wish me luck. 😉
You can read the London recap and Harry Potter Studio tour here and check out my other travel guides here.
If you liked this monthly recap, I’ll be posting more here. Thanks for reading!
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