Luck o' the Irish

I love Saint Patrick's Day simply because it's the one day of the year when the whole country collaborates. Not to end hunger or create world peace, have you, but to all wear the same color in order to avoid being pinched. Seriously, whoever came up with this "wear green or you'll get pinched" deal is a genius. Nothing like peer pressure and a little physical punishment to enforce random holiday cheer. So every time I see someone wearing green on St. Paddy's Day, it makes me pretty darn happy that we can all be that organized. 

For our St. Paddy's Day hoopla, we headed downtown to meet up with the residents for a night of debauchery. Loved the night out with friends and, of course, seeing everyone's greens.

On our walk to the restaurant, we spotted this beauty chillin' on the cobblestone streets.

We match :) 

Both decked out in green and pinch-free.

The other highlight of our Saint Patrick's Day was the arrival of our friends Daniel and Connie's baby girl. Kenna Lee Cornett was born at 3:50 pm on March 17th and is healthy and adorable!

Meeting the new little leprechaun at the hospital on Sunday. Congrats Daniel and Connie!

Fun in Salt Lake City

This past weekend John and I went on an adventure to the great state of Utah. Salt Lake City precisely. John was interviewing for a job at a hospital there and I went along for the ride and to assure myself that I could actually enjoy living there. We definitely have some important decisions to make in the near future, but for the weekend, I was just glad to be off work, spending time with my husband and exploring a fun new city. 

Wouldn't you know, the rental car we got was a Sentra! It was almost like driving good old Al around again.

Our hotel was called Little America and along with the big room and marble tub, we also got chocolates on our pillow every night. Fancy!

The view of Salt Lake City from our hotel room window.

The mountain views were definitely the best part of the trip. So beautiful! 

We enjoyed a beautiful mountain sunrise on our ride up to Park City Sunday morning. 

We had some fun exploring Park City's Main Street.

Then we got to ride a ski lift/gondola from the parking lot the base of the mountain at Canyons ski resort. 

Where we were pleasantly surprised to find our favorite Oklahoma beer, Boulevard Wheat, on tap. Love John's glasses? Those are his "I-forgot-my-sunglasses-at-the-hotel" last minute replacement pair. 

Back in Salt Lake, we saw the site of the Olympic torch on our tour of the city. 

And just when this city was winning me over, I found a spot that felt even more like home---good old TCBY! A self-serve TCBY, actually. Fancy!

Just Keep Running

It's that day again, Sunday Run-day! Or at least that's what day it is for me. And this (above) is the bad boy I've been tackling every Sunday for the past 12 weeks or so. It's the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, AKA the Cooper River Bridge. Me, my mom and Larry signed up for Charleston's Cooper River Bridge Run back before Christmas and we've been training ever since. 

The race is a 10K and it's Charleston's biggest race every year (kind of like the Tulsa Run for you Okies). It's actually the third largest 10K in the U.S. and about 40,000 people race in it every year--wowza! The race is on March 31st, so we've officially passed the one-month-out mark now and I couldn't be more excited. I'm excited to accomplish a goal I've been working towards and I'm excited my mom and Larry are flying into town to complete it with me!

Race poster for this year

Since December, I've been running the bridge every Sunday. If you park on one end and run over and back it's just over 5 miles. The tough part is definitely the first leg, which is a pretty tough incline. Running hills took some getting used to! Luckily, the weather in Charleston is nice enough year-round that training outside hasn't been a problem for me. I'm proud to say I've never had to run on the treadmill! Thank goodness! I hate that thing.

I usually run two or three other days of the week, too, keeping up a distance of 5 or 6 miles. If you're coming to Charleston, here's a list of my favorite places to run outside. There are lots of options! I'll also share some of the songs on the pretty awesome run playlist I've been jamming to.

Where to Run in Charleston:

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge--- As mentioned before, it's about 5 miles

James Island County Park--- If you loop all three trails, it's about 3 miles. Do 2 loops to make it 6.

Folly Beach--- Beach running is my new favorite! You just can't beat the scenery! At Folly, I can easily start at one end of the beach, run down and back to get 6 miles. 

West Ashely Greenway-- this trail is 10.5 miles total and runs through town where an old railroad track used to be. It's nice because it's long and flat, but it runs through what I consider to be some shadier parts of town, so bring a run buddy!

Downtown---Running on the peninsula is beautiful also! I like to run through the historic neighborhoods South of Broad, loop around the Battery, Waterfront Park and Colonial Lake. Here's the route I take for a 4 mile run. It does cross over some roads and intersections so watch for traffic!

Some of My Favorite Run Songs:

(some are explicit, but you can download the clean version)

"Move (If You Wanna)" by MMS

"Riot" by Tedashi

"Dum Dum" by Tedashi----- this guy's a Christian rapper and pretty awesome!

"T.H.E" by Will.i.am

"Git It" by Ying Yang Twins

"Diva" by Beyonce

"Wobble" by V.I.C

"Lose Control" by Missy Elliot

"Run The World" by Beyonce

"Work Out" by J.Cole

"Imma Be" by The Black Eyed Peas

"Go Girl" by Baby Bash

"Gimme That" by Ciara

"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" by Kelly Clarkson

"Starships" by Nicki Minaj

"Good Feeling" by Flo Rida

"Lose Yourself" by Eminem----this has to be my favorite running song ever. Just turn this one on when you want to quit!

What songs are on your workout playlist?