N is for Nalgene

The other day I was heading out to meet my sweet friend for brunch and, upon realizing I was a bit late, decided to take a different (hopefully faster) route to our meeting location. (Side note, if you haven't eaten at Cafe Strudel, you should stop what you're doing and go now!)

After taking a few turns here and there on some back roads with very few cars impeding my trip, I turned on a street that was completely clear except for my car and one other far in the distance. Thinking fabulous thoughts of myself for taking this route, I picked up the phone to ring my sister Lillian. After a few loving jabs (per our usual) the other car on the street was right in front of me and something caught my eye. The poor girl had left her Nalgene on her roof!

(For those of you who need a visual...)

Without hesitate, I tucked the phone under my ear and held it with my shoulder, hit the window button, pumped my breaks and began pointing repeatedly out of the window toward the Naglene, trying so hard to get her attention.

Looking at me with much confusion (and a bit of fear), the girl shook her head and keep driving, speeding up around the turn and throwing the Nalgene off the roof and onto the ground.

Determined to let her know that she just lost a $20 water bottle (and explain the reason for my sporadic actions and gestures), I sped up to the main street and looked to see if I could see her coming out a few streets down.

I DID!

At this point, I was on a mission. Having sincere motives, I followed her down Main Street and prayed the whole way for a red light. Forgetting that Lillian was still on the phone and ignoring her comments about how stupid I was being, I was able to catch up to the girl.

Rolling my window down (again), I said like any good Southern Belle, "Excuse me," (insert more flailing arms and maybe a honk or two)"I was trying to let you know that your Nalgene was on your roof and you lost it back there." Laughing nervously, the girl said, "Ohh, ha, well thanks, but, you didn't have to follow me," with a bit of an attitude if I don't say so myself.

Taken aback by her "thank you" for trying to save her money, I fibbed and said, "Oh, umm, I was, eh, going this way anyway."

Speeding off as soon as the light turned green (selfishly hoping that she saw my Junior League sticker and realized I wasn't completely crazy and that community service was apart of my extracurricular activities), I picked up the phone to hear Lillian dying with laughter, yelling numerous "OMG's" and "I can't believe you's."

Feeling like a moron, I finally made it to brunch, late, but knowing in my heart that even though it was a major FAIL, I could mark off my good deed for the day.

(I know she went back and got it!)

H is for Half Marathon

AHHH!!! I'm too excited and I can't wait until the end to tell everyone... I DID IT!! This weekend I conquered a goal and completed a half marathon! (If you don't know how far that is, it's 13.1 miles. Yes... MILES!)

At the start of the race, I felt strong. I felt like I was in a groove and nothing, not even the aroma from the Krispy Kreme we passed at mile two wafting in the air, could stop me. I ran through water stations grabbing a quick sip and throwing my cup on the ground in true runner fashion and was focused; totally loving being on a runners high!

Around mile 6.5, my focus shifting just a bit and, while I still was thinking I was a rock star for running in a half marathon, I couldn't help be start thinking of the sofa and snacks waiting for me back at the beach house. At this point, I started to read the reminder my mom gave me the week before that I wrote on my arm.



After reading this about 150 (literally) and having my good friend Katie there telling me, "you're not going to stop, keep going," that was all the motivation I needed to keep my legs moving...



All the way to the finish!!



After getting my first half marathon medal...



I got some hugs from my best friend...



And I was on CLOUD 9 the rest of the day because... I'm a half marathon RUNNER!!

S is for Sooo....

It's been, roughly four months since my last confess... I'm just kidding! It's been four months since my last blog! WHAT?! I set out toward the end of last year with the outrageous challenge of attempting to do one blog entry per day. Well, to my loyal followers, you will note that challenge lasted a grand total of five, maybe six, days. Super lame. Sorry about that.

Mooooving forward, there are some things I need to update everyone on. Let's see, I'm still reading "The Help" only because I started and just finished "Bitter is the New Black" (a very sassy book by Jen Lancaster.) I love to bake and have thought about opening a bakery.... (so I can eat what I bake all day).



I'm still loving my house and I will FINALLY be getting a Verizon iPhone in a few weeks. Oh, and yes, if you're wondering how my girl crush concert went, it was amazing! Sara was great and I got to meet her.



Thanksgiving was tasty, Christmas was a wonderful whirlwind and New Year's was spent in Atlanta with some great friends cheering on our Gamecocks! (Even though they lost... again. I'm such a loyal fan!) I've gone to some weddings...



Saw NEEDTOBREATHE for the fifth time...



And have been running my little heart out prepping for my upcoming half marathon! That's pretty much it. I'll do my best to update my blog more often. Hopefully some fun things are soon to come. Oh wait! There's one more fun thing I get to do in a few months...



I'm going to see ADELE!! She's amazing and I know she'll bring it live. Ok, I'm out. More to come later!

T is for Tracy Turpen

Ok. First things first. Yes, I know. I failed at my challenge of writing a new blog post every day. To be honest, it was just exhausting! And, I was stressing myself out a bit. "Get home, get home, it's almost 11:46! Ahhh!" So, to my faithful following (mom) sorry about that!

I'm back and, yes, I'm talking once again about...photography. I have always loved photography, but I was never really good at it. I mean, yeah sure, I can luck up every now and then and take some sick pictures like these, but it's few and far between.

Last year, a dear friend of mine got married and used a wedding photographer that I've absolutely fallen in love with (among many!). Her name is Tracy Turpen and her work is creative, dynamic, original, breathtaking and, most importantly, alive. I feel like she just gets it. She understands how to tell the story of that special day through an image. Take a look:









Isn't she wonderful? Yeah, I thought you'd like her!

H is for The Help

I just picked up this book today, and am already obsessed. I'm sure tomorrow's post will be my review and I can't wait! I just read that they are in the process of making a movie based off this book, starring non other than American's sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon. Yet another reason why I must stop writing and go finish reading this book!

H is for Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Birthday dinners are always so much fun, especially went you go to awesome places like Saki Tumi! Here are some of the fun things we ate and enjoyed for Lindsay's 25th!

To start, we had some kind of awesome fried rice. It had egg in it so I was happy!



Doesn't that look amazing! It's shrimp tempera. The only way I can eat "sushi."



We had a few shots of this. I think this was called "Blue raspberry delishiousness saki"! (And that it was!)



To round out the night, we finished with this...



Raspberry cheesecake! This masterpiece was found at the one and only, Nonnah's, Columbia's secret little gem!

Such a great evening for a great friend! Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Note: The author of this blog definitely ate every last bit of everything photographed... and she's pretty proud of that!

G is for Grooveshark

I'm about to change your life... again! For those of you that, like myself, have desk jobs, listen up! (And those of you that get to go and come as you please can continue to read, but just know that you're not who this entry is intended for and I'm very jealous of you!)

If you're anything like me, music at work is a must. I literally cannot just sit there, in silence, tapping away at my computer, trying not to listen to conversations happening around me, wondering what my friend in another department is doing without having some kind of background noise to drawn out my wondering thoughts. At first, I was alllll about some Pandora. (If you don't know Pandora, then... umm.. well.. ask any young professional you meet). I had Pandora on from the time I sat down, until the 5 o'clock bell. It was a normal part of my routine. Walk in cube, turn on desk light, move my mouse to gently wake up my computer, log into my email accounts (yes, plural), open a browser for the Huffington Post (my favorite) and then, bam, hello Pandora!

Oh how I loved Pandora. I had created every station known to man. I had everything from Elton John, The Pointer Sisters and Michael Jackson, to Jay Z, The Plain White T's and Needtobreathe. I just loved it... until the day the music stopped.

I frantically minimized every browser window I had up until I got to the Pandora page, only to see the message "To continue listening, sign up here" was staring back at me. I had come to the end of Pandora. No more free music, no more cube parties, nothing. Done. Everything was over...

Well, fast forward out of that depression and into present day, and I have been saved. I found the best thing ever for a hard working, desk job-er! Please enter... Grooveshark!

Unlike Pandora, you can REPEAT songs, listen to songs in whatever order you like AND fast forward! Additionally, if you are lazy and don't want to create play lists, you can listen to satellite radio. WHAT?! I know! Grooveshark is that amazing and I hope that you, my fellow deskers, can enjoy and appreciate this little gem as much as I have.