Where O' Where Did Summer Go??

Summer Flew by…guess that is what happens when you’re having fun right??  The summer was spent pretty much hanging around Greenville considering our vacation to San Fran and Wine Country is during coming up soon and then we are going to Jacksonville late fall for the UGA v. Florida game.

We did however manage to get in some fun summer activities.  August was a month of concerts.  Keith Urban in Atlanta, Georgia and Kid Rock w/ Cheryl Crow in Charlotte, NC.    Keith Urban was great.  His concerts never disappoint.  Kid Rock was fun too…the people watching was a real treat!! 



Enjoying the Show with Lark, Laura and Dan
(Lark's sister and her husband joined us for the concert)



KK and I take a moment from "Rocking Out" to Kid Rock to pose for the Camera

Wonderful Friends ...Kristen and Chris

Kid Lark was his nickname for the night

The best part about the end of summer is the beginning of College Football.  It’s a fun time of year for me and the hubby.  Being alum of the University of South Carolina, I pull for the Gamecocks.  Lark’s a graduate of The University of Georgia.  I have to admit that I also pull for UGA when they are not playing the Gamecocks.  We normally make it to a couple of games a year in either Athens or Columbia.  It just depends on whether or not we are able to get tickets.  Last Saturday we went to Athens for the USC v. UGA game.  I was so excited to watch my Gamecocks win in Athens. 

Half-Time in Athens, Georgia

I managed to get my “race” in at the end of the month.  This month was my first “virtual race”.  Since there were no local races around the area during the month of August, I signed up for a race on sparkpeople.com.  I had to complete a 5K between Aug 25-31^th and post my time on the website.  For the 5K, I chose to do the Greenville News Route on Aug 31.  My time was decent…37 mins.  Not my best 5K, I will blame it on the heat…. I did get a "virtual trophey" for completing the event.

 My September race will also have to be a virtual 5K.  I’ve signed up for one though momsrunthistown.com and will complete that within the next two weeks.

I’m currently training like I would for a Half Marathon.  My long runs have been averaging 7-8 miles on Saturdays with Speed Work on Mondays and a Tempo Run on Wed.  The other two days have been devoted to 9 Rounds though I’m considering starting back Cross Fit.  I just have to find balance so my body/legs aren’t TOAST by the time that Saturday comes around for my long run.  I’m not signed up for a ½ at this moment.  Too many things (travel) going on and I’m out of town on the weekends of races or big events around Greenville.  I do plan to do Myrtle Beach Half again in February and possibly another one in early spring.  I have to admit that I’m really enjoying the long runs (7-8 miles) on Saturday.  Maybe it’s the cooler weather or maybe it’s the group I run with…probably a little of both.  But this mileage seems to be a lot easier and more comfortable than it did 10 months ago. CRAZY, I know!

Millions of Peaches...Peaches For Me

July marks the 7th month of the Run for the Bling Challenge.  It’s hard to believe that we are 5 months away from end of 2011.

In June at the Sunrise 8K, I was starting to feel like races were losing their luster.  I think it was a culmination of things.  Being at an event that wasn’t very organized, the weather was very steamy for 6AM and I really didn’t feel like running for time…I just wanted to get a long run in. 

I can’t imagine doing 2-3 races per month as I have seen from other bloggers participating in the run for the bling challenge. 

July’s race was much different than June.  I chose the SC Peach Festival Road Race in Gaffney, SC.  I signed up for the 5K.  It was my 1^st 5K since January. 

 It was a simple, yet challenging out and back.  The hills proved to be worthy. (Thankful that we do hill repeats during our weekly runs).  The last stretch of the race was great.  It was a downhill slope and I had my eyes on passing the two ladies that had been in front of me during the race.  A couple of people along the street were great motivators cheering “almost there”…”keep pushing”.  I took off into a full sprint for about a minute to cross the finish line.  I left it all right there crossing the line and it felt great.

Moments after the finish, while I was trying to get the time chip off my shoe, one of my running partners came across the finish line.  We were both elated at our performance and worked our way over to the post race snack for some water and of course….peaches!!!

Overall, I’m glad that I did this race.  It gave me the rejuvenation that I needed!!

Happy Trails,

TD

Three Things Thursday

I’m trying to be a little creative with my blogging so here are three things that are on my mind today  (CDs, Clothes and Food)

1.       Three CD’s that never get old to me ( I can't just pick one):

1.   Counting Crow’s – August and Everything After.    This CD not only reminds me of my freshman yr of college but also a road trips to and from Jefferson, Georgia in the front seat of the “Dream” (the name given to one of my besties KK’s car)

2.    Sugarland – Enjoy The Ride & Twice the Speed of Life (Girls Weekend – Garden City with Mags and Betty)  Sitting on the beach from Sun-Up til Sundown with this CD on Repeat. 

3.    Keith Urban - I've been following KU since he first arrived in Nashville back in the late 90's.  I've gone from seeing him at the House of Blues to sold out arenas and his concerts never dispoint.  His music gets better with each CD he releases.  Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing is one of my favorites by Keith.  All of the songs are filled with emotion...even the fast ones!  He's an amazing guitarist and sings from the heart!!  One of his songs is in our wedding video.

2.    I love workout clothes….My latest find is the Kirkland’s brand (Costco)  Yoga Tank Tops.  These are wicking material and very comfortable….and the price is only 12.99.  Really not bad when it comes to tank tops.  Though I started wearing "Skirt Sport Running Skirts" back in the Winter, I’m still totally addicted to them and have been a little afraid to try running in other skirts or shorts.  (The Pic is a Funky One that I wore during the Cooper River Bridge Run.

3.   Peanut Butter Granola.

I love granola.  Plain, Bars, In Yogurt.  You name it I love it.  It’s actually a nickname that some of the attorneys in my office call me (Granola Girl) because for a while I was having a granola bar once a day….

I recently found a recipe for homemade Peanut Butter Granola.  I’ve made this many times now…The first time I made it I followed the recipe to a T.  It was a big hit w/ my running group so the next batch I added raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips, and cranberries.  Another Success!!! 

Recipe for Granola

(I always double it)

           

2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. oats

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.  Combine peanut butter and honey in a bowl and microwave until peanut butter melts (approximately 20 seconds). Stir.
Stir cinnamon and vanilla into peanut butter and honey mixture. Add oats and stir until oats are completely covered in peanut butter mixture.  Spread out oat mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 7 – 8 minutes until granola is slightly browned.  Let cool until granola is crunchy.

I hope that everyone is having a great Thursday.   I will most likely update the blog again this weekend to recap my race from last weekend at the SC Peach Festival.

Until Then,

TD

Sunday's on the Couch

Just for fun- I thought I would do the ABC’s I have seen going around the blog world Here you go:
A.   Age: 35

B.    Bed size: King...It’s awesome...Don’t even know when Lark moves or gets out of bed.

C.   Chore you hate: Um…laundry. Well, just putting clothes away

D.   Dogs: love them but do not have them.
E.    Essential start to your day:  Coffee

F.  Favorite color: Red

G.  Gold or silver: Both...depends on the outfit.

H.  Height: 5’5

I.   Instruments you play: Air Drums
J.   Job title: Paralegal

K.  Kids: None....maybe one day in the future.

L.  Live: Greenville, SC

M. Mom’s name: Lydia Jane

N.  Nicknames: TD, Tdawg, Trix, Decibels

O.  Overnight hospital stays: Sophomore Yr of College.Stomach Ulcers

P.  Pet peeve: being late.......

Q.  Quote from a movie: “What up Big Perm….I mean Big Worm. (Friday)  or I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special' (Steel Magnolias)

R.  Righty or Lefty: Righty.

S.   Siblings: One brother that is 6 yrs older and a step brother that is 12 yrs younger

T.   Time you wake up: 6:30 on weekdays.  Usually 5:30 on Saturdays if I’m running… and 8AM on Sundays

U.   Underwear:  I have a variety of them

V.    Vegetables you dislike: The older I get the more I like
W.   What makes you run late: The Today Show and putzing around in the closet in the morning.

X.    X-rays you’ve had: Ankle that was crushed in the 3^rd grade.

Y.    Yummy food you make: Cupcakes and anything sweet.  Taco Soup.

Z.     Zoo animal favorite: Sea Lions

My June race for the "Run for the Bling Challenge" was last Saturday, June 11th.  The Simpsonville Sunrise 8K.  Though the race started at 6:30AM it was still very humid and warm outside.  The course was more challenging than I anticipated.  The first 2 miles was flat and then we turned into a neighborhood with rolling hills for the next 3 miles.  One house in the neighborhood had a sprinkler set up on their lawn that made a huge waterfall for the runners to go through.   A refreshing thing I might add!!   My goal was to finish in under an hour and I did just that. 

After we finished the race everyone came back over to the house for a post race brunch.  I prepared Shrimp and Grits the night before and everyone else brought their favorite breakfast item.  Our Motto for the day  was "Will Run For Mimosas".... the after race cocktail we all had to go with our breakfast.   It was the perfect way to start the morning!!

Today has just been another Lazy Sunday.  I’ve managed to catch up on a few movies.  Black Swan (I may be one of the few out there that actually enjoyed it)  Now I’m watching Julie and Julia.  Maybe it will inspire me in the kitchen…..

Here’s to Lazy Sunday’s on the Couch.

TD

Milestones in May

May was another busy month…one that was filled with a couple milestones.    On May 8^th my wonderful husband and I celebrated our first year of marriage.  I can’t begin to describe how fast the past year has flown by.  It seems like just yesterday that we got engaged on our vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and spent the next 11 months planning a wedding.  Now, we’ve celebrated our first year as newlyweds.



Our First Night in Punta Cana...Right fter Lark proposed.



We took a break during our reception to capture some shots on the Rooftop

I started our anniversary weekend off with a small road trip with my running group to Hartwell, Georgia for the Best Dam Run 5K and 10K.  Mile 4-5 of the 10K is over the Hartwell Dam.  I must say that it was a pretty cool view running across the Dam.    Though the weather was perfect, this was not my best run.  I just couldn’t get into the groove of things.   I know we all have bad runs from now and again…this was just the first time it ever happened to me during a timed event.  Oh well, I didn’t let it stop me from having a great remainder of the weekend.

Getting Ready for the Best Dam Run

Go Run Greenville - Waiting at the Start Line

Mile 2.  Looking Across to the Dam...An uphil climb to get over there.....

Running across the Dam

Race is Over.  It's Time for Breakfast...Where's Panera???

Lark and I had dinner reservations at The Green Room.  It was incredible.  I had Shrimp & Grits and he had the Bone in Pork Chops.  After dinner we returned to the site of our reception, the Westin Poinsett Hotel.  We sat at the bar and opened a special bottle of wine to celebrate the occasion (2001 Caymus) it was Delicious….Down to the very last drop.  

YUMMMMMM

Hanging at the Westin

Our actual anniversary was on Sunday the 8th so we basically spent the day doing yard work and hanging around the house.  We grilled out steaks and I made twice baked potato and a salad.  For dessert, we had a glass of champagne in our toasting flutes and cut the top of our cake that had been frozen for a year.  The cake itself was very good.  The icing had slid off the cake just a little but overall, it was still pretty tasty.  After dinner we watched our wedding video and of course, I got misty-eyed ….as I do each time I’ve seen it.  If I could go back to our wedding day, I wouldn’t change a thing.  It was the most perfect day!

Cake and Champagne.  YUMMM!!!

Another milestone this month was the high school graduation of a very special young lady.  I had the greatest pleasure of being a nanny for a family when I lived in Columbia.  Long story short, I met the family in 1997 when their son was six weeks old and their daughter was four years old.  I was with them from 1997-2007 when I moved to Greenville.  Last weekend, KW graduated from high school.  She’s like the little sister I never had.  I’m so very proud of her and that she’s going to be attending a University about 45 minutes from me next year.  Their son will be a freshman in high school next year and I know that in only 4 short years I will be attending his high school graduation.  I will say that I’m very lucky to have been a part of these kids’ lives. 

My "Lil Sis" The Graduate!

Best Kids Ever!!

The month has come to an end and we are almost halfway through 2011.  I’m sure there will be a few more “milestones” before the end of the year.

Until then

TD

April Recap

So this is the longest gap to date between blog post.  Time is flying by and I haven’t taken the time to blog about EVERYTHING that’s happened over the past month and a half.  So I will do a brief recap

The last time I posted was the night before St. Patrick’s Day (Lark’s Favorite Holiday).  To celebrate, we went downtown for a little Guinness and Sheppard’s Pie.

On March 19th, some friends that I run with ran the Georgia Full and Half Marathon.  A few of us decided it would be fun to drive down and cheer the girls on.  The race began at 7AM and majority of the roads were going to be blocked at 6AM.  Therefore, we left Greenville at 4AM.  That’s right…4AM.   Needless to say, no one slept on the way to Atlanta.  It was an amazing experience to be there and cheer our friends on.  We started at Mile 2 and then worked our way to the finish line to cheer on the Half Marathoners (Whitney, Heather and Carmine) and then walked to Mile 25 to run the last mile w/ Nova. 

Waiting at Mile 2....where's the cowbell

Meeting up with Nova at Mile 25

Celebrating at the end!

Four weeks ago a group of us went to see Prince.  This was the 2^nd time that I’ve seen him in concert.  The first time was about 6 years ago in Columbia.  To this day, I always said that his concert was the BEST ever.  I stand by that statement after seeing him again on March 28th.  He did not disappoint.  He played for nearly 3 hours and sang most of all “the hits”  He even opened the show with Purple Rain….not the traditional way of starting a show but FABULOUS!!

The month of April began with a trip to Charleston to run the Cooper River Bridge Run.  This is no ordinary 10K.  It started in Mount Pleasant for a two mile stretch of flat land and then you run across the Ravenell Bridge and then into the heart of Charleston.  Mile 3 is an incline to the top of the bridge and mile 4 is downhill to the bottom of the bridge before exiting off onto King Street in Downtown Charleston for another 2 miles of flat land.  There were bands on the bridge playing music and 40,000 people with one common goal… “Getting Over The Bridge”.  To me this was not a race about time..it was about time well spent.  I held back so I could run w/ a few of my girls from the “sole sisters” that had never done a 10K before.  We went into the run knowing that we wanted to just have fun.  We stopped along the way to take pictures and so I could dance with the bands….The finish line was great because we all crossed it together.  We all celebrated that evening with a Fabulous dinner at Water’s Edge in Mount Pleasant.

waiting in our corral before the start of the race....it took 30 mins  just to get to the start line

If there's a Band....I will dance!! 

Celebratory Dinner @ Water's Edge

Two weeks ago Lark and I participated in the American Lung Association “Fight For Air Stair Climb”.  Again, not the typical 5K kind of event.  This is hard core, climbing 30 flights of stairs.  It took me 6 mins and 23 secs.  I was 2^nd in my age group….just 6 seconds under the 1^st place in my age category…must have been that LONG pause at 12^th floor.  Lark won his age group with a time of 7min, 11 secs.  I was so proud of him.  He even got a medal!!

waiting in the hallway before climbing the stairs

With one more week left in April and a calendar full of events I’m trying to find time to plant flowers in the yard and visit with family and sneak in a few long runs before my next 10K on May 7^th. 

I really have missed posting and will try to not have as long of a break between post again.

Happy Trails

TD

March Already!?!

Where is the time going?  It has been almost two weeks since my last post yet it feels like  yesterday.  The first weekend in March I completed month 3 of the “Run for the Bling of It” Challenge by running in the Reedy River 10K.  For those not aware of this challenge, click on the side bar and check it out.  One race per month for the entire year.  So I’m 3 down with 9 more to go.  I have things lined up for runs in April (Cooper River Bridge Run 10K), May (Best Dam Run 10K) and June (Simpsonville Sunrise 8K).

Back to the Reedy River 5K/10K.  It was a RAINY morning and this was the first time that I had gone above 4 miles since the Half.  I wasn’t in the best mood the morning of the run and arrived downtown quite frazzled…Once the gun sounded I decided to just run and leave everything going through my mind out on the streets of Greenville.

I brought along a trash bag to use in the event that it really started pouring.  The rain was light yet steady the entire time.  Good thing I was properly dressed and had a ball cap.  By the time I hit mile 5, I still had the trash bag in my hand.  I decided to toss in the trash when we passed through the park…  No need to have a bag in my hands when trying to cross the finish line.   

The last mile of the race was ALL UP HILL.  Granted, I’m not as scared of hills as I used to be thanks to weekly hill repeats…..but a hill such as Broad Street at the end of a 10K can wear on your nerves just a bit.  I found a buddy while running the hill and we decided to push it and not stop until we reached the top.  We both did it and then sprinted downhill to cross the finish line very close to one another.  Looking back,  I found this to be a great run!  It was even a PR for me.  My first 10K was New Years Eve (12.31.10) and I finished in 1:13.  I finished the Reedy River with a chip time of 1:09.  I think it must have been the rain and the sole sisters cheering section at the end.   Lark even had a PR on his 5K.  In keeping w/ race day ritual we all gathered for breakfast afterwards.  This time I treated myself to a Mexican Mocha that was oh so delightful…thank you Coffee Underground!!

This past weekend was very low key…something that is needed every now and again.  I tend to keep a full calendar.  By Choice…but there’s always something going on!!  We took advantage of the weather and had a fire in the firepit Saturday night.  St. Patrick’s Day is Lark’s FAVORITE holiday so on Sunday we spent time with friends’ downtown at the “Return to the Green” Irish Festival.  I do see another celebration in our future tomorrow downtown at the Blarney Bash.  Maybe Lark will wear the Green Shamrock & UGA Socks that he wore on our wedding day….

I do see another celebration in our future tomorrow downtown at the Blarney Bash.  Maybe Lark will wear the Green Shamrock & UGA Socks that he wore on our wedding day….

Until then, Happy Wednesday and St. Patrick’s Day

TD

Live From The Red Carpet

I have to admit that I love to get dressed up for a night on the town.  Not just the typical dressed up w/ jeans, cute top, etc.  I’m talking about the whole nine yards… cocktail dress, heels, fun jewelry, et.al.

Sunday night was the annual Junior League Oscar Night America Party.   Granted, prior to the event I had only seen one of the films nominated in some form for an Oscar.  Sunday morning over coffee, Lark and I watched The Social Network.  I wanted to see Black Swan but not a single theater in Greenville County was showing the film. Seriously…what’s that about?  All Oscar films should remain in the theaters until after the awards ceremony.

Prior to making our way down the red carpet…yes, the JLG actually rolls out the red carpet, we had a cocktail at Nantucket’s. I was even able to convince the bartender to turn the TV to E! so we could watch the stars make their way into the Kodak Theatre.    Let me rewind to say that a few of us decided to leave the fellas at home for this event and make it a girl’s night.    It was so much fun to watch and comment on all the dresses. 

The remainder of the evening was spent mingling, checking out the silent auction items and of course watching the Oscars.  My favorite of the night was Sandra Bullock.  She looked amazing in the Red Vera Wang…of course I do have a soft spot for Vera since my wedding dress was a Vera Wang design.

I have to admit that I wish the Oscars were held on a Saturday night vs. a Sunday.  It was a late night and a little difficult to get up early for work Monday morning but worth it in the end!  Kudos to the Junior League for a Fabulous ONA.