travel – Married to the Weatherman

It’s been a little while since I’ve last blogged and it’s because there have been a few life changes that have happened. I started a new job with a company that I love (Cool Springs Plastic Surgery) and Jared and I have moved into a new home. With that comes a fresh routine, a new vision and several adjustments to our old norm. On top of all that, I decided that now was as good a time as ever to jump into a new venture and become a Travel rep for Zyia Active. A lot of you may know that I am very passionate about a healthy lifestyle and staying fit. I also enjoy coming home from work and immediately changing into my “athleisure” wear (athletic clothes that you lounge in). In my defense, I tend to workout in the morning before work so those clothes have dual purpose for me. Regardless, it’s not like I’m coming home and jumping into baggy sweatpants. I try to look cute whether I’m relaxing at home on the couch with a glass of wine, running errands around town, working out at the gym, or taking a weekend hike with friends and family. With Jared’s TV schedule requiring him to go to bed around 6:30 PM every night, I was also on a lookout for a hobby to keep me busy on weeknights. Zyia Active appeared in my rearview mirror and I knew it was meant to be. Jared and I first met at a gym after all.

What is Zyia?

ZYIA Active is an active lifestyle brand. It is also a culture that believes in embracing activity with excitement, vigor and delight. They feel that pushing your body and mind is easier and more fun with friends and family. The mission is to inspire and uplift by making activity a fun and essential part of life.

How does the activewear differ than other brands?

Most of the fabrics that Zyia uses are 4-way stretch fabric to help with stretch ability, compression, form, fit and comfort. Zyia also understands that there is so much more than that to good activewear and is always improving and investing in innovation and technology in it’s fabrics.

Zyia or Lululemon?

Zyia and Lululemon are made in the same factory. They both have excellent quality, but Zyia has much better pricing!

Check out some of my favorite Zyia pieces:

Pocket Light n Tight.jpeg

Black Pocket Light n Tight Hi-Rise

Red Everywhere Zipper.jpeg

Red Everywhere Zipper Jogger

White All In Tank

Turquoise .jpeg

Turquoise Zipper Pocket Light n Tight Hi-Rise Capri

To celebrate the launch of my new adventure: If you make a purchase here in the month of August, I will add you to my raffle to win a free Copper Charged Tank! Website: http://www.myzyia.com/emmy

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for reading!

xox

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us . . . “

Jared and I made plans to escape for a quick overnight to Knoxville this past weekend and we were delighted to find a charming city so close to home. The only other time we had been to Knoxville was over 7 years ago when we briefly stayed the night on our move to Texas. This time was different, of course. We headed out on our journey (a quick 2.5 hour drive) on a rainy afternoon, immediately after I got out of work in hopes of seeing a glimpse of the fall foliage and taking a quick pause on city living. I had been craving a nice hot cup of Starbucks coffee to go with my RX bar on our drive, but forgot to tell Jared I wanted that until we had passed the last Starbucks on our route. A little heads up if you are traveling from Nashville to Knoxville the last Starbucks to enjoy on your drive is in Cookeville. It’s okay though, Jared found a Dunkin’ Donuts express and we stopped there instead.

Jared made reservations at Emilia located in the historic market square in Knoxville. We arrived after dark in the misty rain and walked hand-in-hand along the brick sidewalks. We were met with warm lights that decorated the entrances of all of the shops and restaurants of the market square which made for a romantic stroll to dinner.

The food at Emilia was fresh and comforting on a rainy night. We started with the warm homemade focaccia that arrived thickly sliced with a perfectly crunchy exterior and a soft middle. It was accompanied with a small dipping bowl of whipped ricotta and olive oil topped with sea salt and pepper. For dinner, I had the pan roasted salmon and Jared had beef short rib ‘francobolli’ which was a ravioli filled with braised beef, cheese and root vegetables. The whole meal was divine.

Jared had been up since 2am that morning to do his early morning show so we decided to head back to our hotel for the night. We had been hoping to drive out to Gatlinburg the next morning for a hike, but since it had rained over 2″ there in 2 days, Jared made the judgement call to stay in Knoxville the next day. We will definitely make plans to for a trip to Gatlinburg in the near future.

Jared had been looking for places to go bowling just in case the weather prevented us from hiking (good thing he knows a couple things about planning for the weather). I think it had been about 3 years since we had been bowling together and we love to bowl. Fun fact: It was actually the activity Jared picked for our third date.

He found a place called Maple Hall— which turned out to be a captivating 11-lane boutique bowling alley located at the center of downtown Knoxville. It is quaintly tucked away in the basement of the old J.C Penney building. The environment is completely cozy with plush soft-leather couches and oversized pillows located at each bowling lane. The interior exposed brick walls in the bowling alley add to the feel of being in a historic building. We had a blast. Jared won both games, but don’t get me started on that. I ordered a chardonnay and I quickly forgot about the loss(es). After our bowling time expired, we ended up heading over to a lounge area in the back of the venue that had several comfy couches and coffee tables to order lunch and watch the other bowlers.

We had so much fun that we are going to plan another trip very soon!

Emily

Tag: travel

It’s been a little while…

Trip to Knoxville