Reeds, Rivers, Runs, and Rocks!

  Last weekend my family came up to Greenville for a short visit. The original plan was for my parents to drop off Jacob and go off for the weekend for their 30th anniversary, but due to some last minute changes, they ended up staying with us and all leaving on Saturday night. So, instead we got some good family time in.

On Friday night, we went downtown to pick-up our race packets and then ate dinner at Antonino Bertolo's. Mom, Jacob, and I split a pizza and dad got the ravioli. It was quite delicious! None of us had been there before so it was a good experience for all!

Then, on Saturday, Jacob and I ran the Reedy River 10k in downtown Greenville. It was a blast and it felt good to be (slowly) running that type of distance again! Jacob, the sweet brother that he is, ran slow with me the entire time. And since we were going sooo slow, he had to entertain himself while running. This involved a lot of talking, doing basketball drills when we ran past cones, and jumping over poles. It was 6.2 miles of entertainment to say the least! After the run, we went and had brunch at Waffle House. It's starting to become our Saturday morning tradition when the whole family is together in Greenville.

After a quick clothing change, we headed up to Pretty Place, the chapel at YMCA's Camp Greenville. That was a first-time experience for all of us as well. It truly lives up to its name! Jacob had quite a bit of fun, since he pretended to kick dad off the mountain. He then tweeted a picture of attempting to kick dad, saying 20 retweets and he'd do it. Lucky for dad, he only got 12 retweets. (Although, dad did enjoy confronting all the youth at church on Sunday about trying to get rid of him!)

On the way back home, we decided to catch one more scenic view and stopped by Bald Rock for a bit. Jacob mentioned hearing some water, and mom found the cute little stream.

We packed a lot into one Saturday, but it was an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside and enjoy time together as a family!

Pre-race hug to keep warm

Almost to the finish line

  

 

Pretty Place

 

Mom and Dad - 30 years together!

The pretend kick that started it all...

Dad getting his revenge

Bald Rock

Jacob's stream

  

Galentine's Day

Yesterday I got to participate in my first Galentine's Day with my friend MM!

What is Galentine's Day you ask? I'll just let my friend Leslie Knope explain:

So MM and I went to dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe in downtown Greenville and then went to a Greenville Road Warriors Hockey game! I had never been to Tupelo Honey before and was super excited about trying it out. Unfortunately, it was the night before Valentine's day so the restaurant was a bit crazy, but we were able to eat in the back by the bar. Still good, though!

The biscuits were so good we ate them too fast to get a picture, so instead I got a picture of the honey!

Afterwards, we went to the hockey game! It was 'Stick it to Cancer' night so it was even better because everything supported a great cause! They even passed out glowsticks to be activated during a special moment although the whole arena chuckled because most of them had already done it!

ROWDY!

We are so excited about the hockey game! (We even got photobombed by "Crazy Uncle Perry" as he called himself)

We love hockey and Galentines Day!

That's a Nice Boulder

Last Saturday my friend AM and I went bouldering at an Indoor Climbing Gym called the Mountain Goat (its got a really cool mission - you should check it out here, after you finish reading this post of course!). Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is done when you don't use ropes or harnesses.

I haven't been climbing in forever so I was super excited to go!  A and I had been trying to go for a while now so I was pumped we were finally able to make it happen. 

Luckily, A has a roommate who is a frequent climber so she had climbing shoes and chalk that we were able to borrow.  After a few practice climbs, we pretty much stuck to one wall with multiple routes on it. I was finally able to conquer the route I had been working on, but of course A had gone to the bathroom and didn't see it! There was one witness to my feat, but he wasn't nearly as excited as I was about it.

After about an hour and a half of climbing, A and I decided to call it a day. We may have left with tingly fingers and bruises on our legs (ok, just me), but we definitely had fun! Can't wait to go back again!

Mary had a little BAM!

This past weekend, our church held the youth Dodgeball Tournament to raise funds for youth summer mission trips.

My co- leader and I played with four of the girls in our small group. Two of the girls had played last year, while the rest of us were all new this year. But we weren't going to let a mostly new team keep us from winning! DC and I knew we could win - we even had strategies to win:

Post-Tourname smiles!

• Strategy #1: Only attempt to catch the ball if you are absolutely sure you can catch it.

• Strategy #2:  If possible, take out their strongest player first

• Strategy #3: Pray for DC and KB to be kind and have good, humble attitudes (DC and KB are a bit competitive - we really wanted to win)

• Strategy #4: Three people will run for the balls at the whistle and bat their assigned balls back to the rest of the team

• Strategy #5: Throw at the opposing team's feet. Its harder to catch that way.

• Strategy #6: One person just needs to be a body - stay in and only dodge balls because if time runs out, the team with the most people still on the court wins (We lost that way once. Never again!)

We walked away from the night 2 - 2, but still had a blast. Besides, we know (in our hearts) that we won for best team name, which was "Mary had a Little BAM!"

Pregame Smiles- right before we went and scoped out the competition!

Serious (Dodge) Ballers

  

 Our Awesome Shirts!

Hand- Drawn by MS and her mom

The Detour

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to IKEA in Charlotte on my way to Louisville. Now, many of you road-wise people may be going, "Wait a minute. Charlotte isn't on the way to Louisville!" Yep. It's not. I know that now. So let me paint the picture of how this came to be....

I had been wanting to go to IKEA for a while now, just hadn't had any reasons other than that to go to Atlanta or Charlotte (the closest locations). My departure time for Louisville had changed several times throughout the week and then Thursday night I got the great idea to just leave at my original time (early), hit up an IKEA, and still arrive at the agreed upon time.  Brilliant, right?

So Friday morning dawns bright and cold and I text my friend and ask if there's an IKEA in Louisville. She said no, but you pass one in Charlotte. Now, let me stop here and explain why I took her word right away.  My friend's parents live in this area and she came here at least 1-2 times a month during football season the last two years, so I assumed she knew this drive pretty well. I mean why would I question her, right?

So, I finish loading Roxie (my car), plug IKEA in Charlotte into my GPS and hit the road. So as I'm driving by myself, I had a list of people to call, one being my grandmother - Mema, as she had had surgery a few days before. Now growing up, I had taken many roadtrips with Mema and Papa, including several to Louisville while my uncle was in seminary there. Mema still knows the way, very well actually.  So as I mention that I'm on my way to Charlotte, she says several times "I don't think that's on the way to Louisville." Now me, being bullheaded, said "Yeah it is. It's just a different way to go"...getting quieter every time I said it as the doubt was now starting to sink in, that maybe, just maybe Charlotte is not on the way to Louisville. 

So I finally get to IKEA, get in and out in 30 minutes (Amazing, right? Especially considering it was my first time ever going to IKEA), and then hop back into the car. I contemplate swinging by Nordstrom to make a return, but see its about 30 minutes away so nix that idea. Then I plug my friend's address into my GPS and realize my trip to Louisville, which should have taken 6 hours and 15 minutes, is now going to take me 7 hours and 20 minutes, on top of the hour and a half I had already driven to Charlotte. At this point I just heave a heavy sigh and then chuckle at myself. In my friend's defense, I texted her early in the morning while she was multitasking.  In my defense, I should've checked the map first.  Oh well, I was happy I finally went to IKEA and got everything I was looking for! And, I got to travel across the entire state of NC, which was pretty to look at while I drove on through!

And what was I looking for on this grand adventure to IKEA? I'm glad you asked!

One of the things I was looking for was a rod to hold tins that would hold plants. (see picture below - that makes it a bit easier to understand!) My old roommate had one that we hung coffee mugs on, but since I don't drink coffee that wasn't very appealing to me. Lately, I've been using a lot of herbs and thought it would be cool to get one of those hanging things to hold herbs, so ta da! Right now, I have basil and mint in my tins!

I also got a hand towel holder because the way my bathroom is setup, there is a wall between the sink and the hand towels in my bathroom. I'd been wanting to get a holder for this wall for quite some time, so was excited for this too!

Ikea may have been out of the way, but I'm glad I went, because every good road trip needs a good story!

Louis, Louis, Louisville!

Over Martin Luther King Weekend, Roxie took her first major roadtrip!  (Roxie is my car for you new readers) After a detour to IKEA in Charlotte (more on that later), I went to Louisville, Kentucky for the weekend to visit my best friend! I had been to Louisville before to run a race, but had no time to visit!

This trip was all about discovering Louisville! The first great discovery - Roxie gets great gas mileage!  After leaving Greenville and going to Charlotte, I made it all the way to the Kentucky/Tennessee border before I had to get gas! Whoo! But, on to the real discoveries of the weekend!

After I got there, KQ and I went and had dinner and Tom + Chee! It is a cute little gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup shop! It was absolutely delicious! I got just a regular grilled cheese sandwich - can't beat the classic!

(Side Note: To get this picture, because I forgot to take it when we went, I had to open up KQ's sunroof, stand through it at a red light and quickly take a picture. It was quite comical.)

After dinner, we stopped and got ice cream at Graeter's and then went back to KQ's place and relaxed by watching the Lego Movie because neither of us had seen it (EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!). After a long day of driving for me and work for her, we both needed a calm and relaxing evening!

On Saturday we woke up, went and got Chick-fil-a, because what else would we eat together on a Saturday morning!?! Then we made our way to downtown Louisville and went to the Louisville Slugger museum. It was so cool! I didn't realize the bats were still made there!

Some artsy guys outside took this cool picture.

Of course we had to take a picture with this bat!

We picked a perfect time to go as everyone was down the street at the Duke - Louisville basketball game (Duke won).

Next we headed over to Churchill Downs. We had a wonderful tour guide! He has lived 2 miles away from the track his entire life. He entertained us with many great stories from his years attending the Kentucky Derby! Also, walking through it was much more enjoyable than running through it!

Then we headed back to KQ's place to meet MR and head to church.  After church we went to a restaurant called Game. Oh.my.gosh. SOOOO good. I had been talking about wanting to eat at Game since last April and man was it worth the wait! Game is a restaurant with a variety of game, such as kangaroo, bison, and antelope. I got a kangaroo burger - soo good. Told my colleagues in Australia I was officially ready to go work there now!

The game at Game

Kangaroo Burger

After that, we somehow made room for more ice cream from Graeter's. Then KQ and I settled in and watched Frozen! On Sunday we slept in a little and then went and had brunch at Toast, one of the hottest brunch spots in Louisville as evidenced by its 45 minute wait! It was quite yummy!

Then we attempted to go tour a few of the Bourbon distilleries along the Bourbon trail. However, all the distilleries are closed in January.  Whoops. Luckily the Evan Williams Bourbon experience back in downtown Louisville on historic Whiskey Row was open! It was really neat. It had a great tour of their mini distillery onsite, while giving a fascinating account of the history of Evan Williams and Bourbon! The tour ended with a tasting and of course I liked the oldest, most expensive bourbon they gave us the best!

Then we walked all the way to Indiana! Just kidding, but seriously we did cross the Big Four Bridge over the Ohio River, which connects Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was a gorgeous and windy afternoon for a nice walk!

To wrap up our day we ended up at a local pizza place, Wick's pizza! It was like everything else in Louisville - delicious! Had a fun vibe to it and was a great place to wrap up my weekend in Louisville! While we packed a whole lot of stuff into one weekend, I can't wait to go back - there is so much more to do and see there!

A May-December Post

After cranking out two posts close together at the end of 2013, I was convinced that I would be able to post at least 1 blog post a month in 2014. Easy peasy, right? Whoops! This year turned out to be a lot crazier than I thought it would be, and sadly the blog was the thing that had to go.  So, below is a recap of my year from May-December, which may also give an indication as to why there were no posts from May - December!


May
May was filled with wedding showers, baby showers, and apartment hunting! It also included Jacob's last Spring Social - glad it was cotillion year - love the tuxes!

June
June was quite busy! I signed the lease for my new apartment, went to the beach for a bachelorette weekend, packed my entire apartment up, moved the weekend of the 20th and went to Minnesota for work on Tuesday, the 24th! I got almost all of my stuff moved in and arranged before I left for Minnesota, which was a huge relief. While in Minnesota I got to go to the Mall of America, which was very interesting- I only came home with 1 new pair of shoes, which if you know me is very impressive!

July
July started off with a 5k run with friends for the 4th, and KB & JA's wedding on the 12th! It was absolutely beautiful and I was so happy to be a part of that special occasion with them! I even got to take a little time off to go to the beach for a few days with my family!

August
August was a fun month! I had a friend stay with me while passing through town, had KN join me and my family at the Drive-In Theater in Greenwood, headed to Georgetown for AM & GT's wedding and ended the month with a viewing party for the Clemson-Georgia game!  I love the drive-in theater - I wish I would go more often!  Georgetown was beautiful, but the bride and groom were even more so! I was so blessed to be a part of the Martin family for the weekend for that wedding! The Clemson-Georgia game didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but I did have a blast hosting my first event at my apartment!

September
September is when things got really crazy! But in this case, really crazy was really fun!  In the beginning of September, I got to go on a cruise with KQ down to the Bahamas! It was my first cruise and it was such a blast! Hopefully a blog post with pictures will come soon- teaser picture below! The week I got back, I cut around 13 inches off of my hair and started what would be a weekly babysitting job. The next week I started a new bible study at my church and then ended September by going to New Jersey for the last week! Between the travel and 4 nightly commitments each week - I didn't stop!

October

Babysitting and Bible study continued on through October and football season was in full swing! This was also a really busy time at work that included a lot of early mornings and late nights! During the Clemson Homecoming game against Syracuse, because KQ is awesome, we got to hang out in the President's Suite during the 3rd quarter and meet Nancy O'Dell!

November

November was spent wrapping up a major project at work, as well as flying out to CA (for work) and then relaxing at the lake for Thanksgiving! I got to spend a week in Newport Beach, CA for work and let me just say it was beautiful. Even the flight to CA was spent chasing the sunset. Below is the view from one of my dinners in CA.

December

December started off with a quest for a coffee table! And find one, I did! It was a nice wooden table from Goodwill that I painted - the top is a gray chalkboard and bottom is black! Haven't decided if I'll keep the chalkboard top forever, but its been fun to decorate for the holiday season! And to bring us up to date, I spent the weekend with my family celebrating my birthday. We went hiking at Raven Cliff Falls in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness in Caesars Head State Park. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for hiking - low 60's, sunny! We had a blast! 

Well, hopefully as the year is winding down and things are slowing down a bit, I'll be able to post a few more "catch-up posts!"  The year is not over yet!