Weekend Royalty

Heyyy everyone! I had a wonderful weekend and hope you did as well! :)

My mom has been out of town, keeping her brother's kids in Wilmington, NC so I've been dogsitting her babies while she's been gone. Of course, her babies are my baby's sister and mama, so naturally they need excessive love and attention!

They seemed to be a little love deprived this week and hadn't eaten much, so Cory and I decided to have a sleep over at mom's to keep them company. They were beyond ecstatic, leading to no sleep for me and the hubs! :(

Unfortunately, that resulted in a slight delirious AM run....




Me and runnin buddy taken by another group member


I must have been sleep running when I hit a crack in the sidewalk and busted it on the busiest road in Fort Mill. I'm sure I'm on YouTube somewhere... I hit the ground and rolled into the grass...I imagine it was quite entertaining. With skinned up legs and hands, the last 2 miles of the run were so awesome and painless.


Road Rash is hott. You didn't know?

After cleaning up my battle wounds, I did something that was so far beyond over due... went shopping! Got a few new things, some shorts (!!) since summer's almost over now and I haven't had a single pair unless you count sweet running shorts. Also a few cute dresses and accessories. yessssss
I got our weekly grocery shopping/cleaning done since me and the hubs had some pretty sweet plans for the rest of the weekend, which is foreign to us. Plans I mean (cleaning sometimes, too).

Then napped until around 5 when I got my clean on...

Shopping? Showering??? You know that's outta the norm! Where were we going, you ask? Cory and I planned our First Wedding Anniversary celebration dinner for Saturday night! We were in for quite a treat! :)




Bam!

 Oooooh yes, we did.

And we tried our very, very best to not seem like tourists while we were there... but that's a feat a little too tough for us.

They seated us in this aaaaamazing table beside the lobster tank (honestly, it was prob the best seat they had in the place) We think it was compensation for losing our reservations (we had them, I swear). Naturally I had to prove to the hostess that we had them by whipping out the iPhone to show her the email confirmation. Classy.




Lobster staring at me. Poor guy.

 All plans of acting like we knew what we were doing went out the door when Cory yelled out:

"Oh sweet, look at those CRABS!"

fail.

Dinner was out of this world good. If anyone needs a place to go to get treated like royalty and eat food that you don't want to ever end, go. there.



Sweet bar...grabbin a drank while we waited

I swear I'm not drunk

Well heyy there good lookin

King Cory

  

And the chinese Queen

 Dinner started with amazing bread that we were afraid to cut
"No sudden movements. Don't. Break. Anything."

And then salads mmmm.



Mine-
Oven-roasted double chicken breast stuffed with garlic herb cheese and served with lemon butter




Plus creamed spinach.



Cory's-
The most tender cut of corn-fed Midwestern beef topped with crispy onions and served sizzling
They forgot his "crispy onions"...the nerve.

Plus garlic mashed potatoes

Finished off with a dessert trio (no pic, sorry!) Which included Raspberry Sorbet, Chocolate Sin Cake, and Traditional Cheese Cake. They were each TO DIE for.


Sunday morning, we woke up, went to breakfast and then headed for Crowder's Mountain for the day.



Happy ONE YEAR!

 Crowder's Mountain is so beautiful and peaceful. It was the perfect place for us to talk and spend all day together. And we couldn't have asked for better weather! Naturally, we chose the "strenuous" trail to climb, and it was a work out! Had us both sweatin at the top!!

After hiking to the top and back, we ate our little romantic picnic pb&j's and then headed back for a real treat....



Anyone for some year-old wedding cake?



Cutting our cake

Y'all. This cake was the bomb. Even a year later. It was awesome! Wish we had more
... someone wanna get married? Please.

In all seriousness, this has been the best year of my life and I completely owe that to my wonderful husband. We've roughed it this past year and through all the marriage, job, home and life adjustments, Cory has done nothing but support me 110%. He's everything I could ever ask for in a husband and I can't wait to see what year 2 has in store for us. I love you Cory!





2 days late and $.50 short

Happy Belated Birthday America!!!

...just a few days late, I've been busy (lazy). Please forgive me.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I had a very low key weekend, which was really nice after all the traveling and excitement lately.

Friday night was seriously chill (read: boring)- Cory had some car trouble Friday morning and borrowed mine, so he came and picked me up from work and then we ran a few errands, headed to Mom's for a quick dinner, then came home and just hung out. (I think. That was too many days ago...obviously it was something ground breaking.)

Saturday morning, I met my regular running friends for a hot and humid and sweaty 6 miles. We started at 7am but the dang sun was already blazing! I hate to think what August is going to look like... 5am runs?

 I think not!

After I gave my skin a real nice salt treatment, Cory and I went and ran all over town (no, not on foot). I had a few birthday gift cards to cash in, and started looking at decorating projects/ideas for our new home! I can't believe how soon we're moving!! :) I'm soo excited! No, not about carrying our 2 sofas, recliner, washer and dryer, bedroom furniture, and TV down 3 flights of stairs.... but what else are men good for?! ;) I kid I kid... (sorta).

No complaining. Could be worse.

Saturday night, Cory and I went to dinner with his parents at one of our favorite places- El Cancun! We used to have a Thursday night tradition and went every week, but things have gotten ca-razy through the summer. I got my typical boring, naked, grilled chicken fajita salad- dang that thang's good!

After dinner, I got a really terrible migraine and (seriously) went to sleep at 7pm...and slept til 7am. Woops! I think either the sun drained me or I was dehydrated. I felt so bad for Cory, but I guess he managed to find something to do without me. This one time (last week) Cory took a "nap" from 5pm to around 9pm. When he woke up (oh wait, that's right... someone accidentally pushed his arm down so it would hit the coffee table and wake him up... accidentally) I whined about how he'd "left me" all night. He still laughs about that...says I'm a five year old that can't get left alone without some type of entertainment, like jugglers and clowns.

Sunday morning, I got up in the mood to work out, even though it was my planned rest day (weird, I know). So, I headed over to our apartment gym for about 50 mins on the elliptical, split up in increments of 10 minutes. Every 10 mins, I would stop and do 1 minute of burpees- made the workout go by incredibly fast! Plus, my dang feet always fall asleep on the elliptical. Does that happen to anyone else?!

After working out, me and Cory watched the closing statements for the Casey Anthony trial that we've been following for awhile now. And BTW, I'm not even going to go there because I'm literally sick over the verdict. I guess it's ok to kill someone but not okay to lie.

Sweet.

Glad all the murderers out there now know all they have to do is just hide their victims long enough so they decompose and get a really good lying lawyer.

Okay...vent over.

Sunday afternoon, my mom and I went shopping hunting for dishes for our new place, which was going to be her bday present to me. I had seen some online that I wanted, and of course they were no where to be seen in stores. I believe we covered and recovered every home store in 18 zip codes.

The only think I bought?

Half off K-cups from Belk. Sweet deal.

On the way home, I just freaking ordered them online- what I should have done in the first place.

Wanna see em? :)

They come in today!! Seriously, Macy's in on the ball.

After shopping, we headed to my in-laws for a 4th cookout. They know me too well and already had the veggie burgers sittin out! :) That seriously doesn't mean I ate healthy, though.

The amount of chips and white bean dip alone were probably enough for 14 people to live on for 32 days. Plus the cookie cake and ice cream...ohhh cookie cake. You complete me.

Oh, and wine? Yeah, sure, I'll take a bottle.

Chug that wine, Leebs!

Cory and his dad did a fantastic job entertaining us with their fireworks and karaoke. Who needs jugglers and clowns when we got these two?



Dear Lord.......yes he's trying to strike a match using his teeth.





After I tranquilized him.



Monday, since I had the day off, I met a friend to run what we thought was a 4.5 mile loop. Nottttt quite. 4.5 turned into 6.2 miles. Oh well, 10K done before 8:30am --not complaining. It was even hotter than Saturday- in order to prevent death by heat stroke, we stopped at a questionable gas station and drank water from the bathroom sink (not kidding).

After the run, I figured I hadn't quite had enough of the sun for one weekend and went to lay by the pool in Mom's neighborhood. Did I mention her pool has a deep end?

It goes all the way to 1 1/2 feet.

After attempting to get a sun burn (what's SPF?) I headed home, met Cory, then went to Chad and Page's so Cory could help him finish a project they'd been working on in the yard. Naturally, I stayed inside and caught up on Tetris (thanks for introducing that me to me Chad, you're a lifesaver).

Due to a crazy rain storm, they're project came to a quick halt and we headed over to Cory's parents to eat cookout leftovers (more bean dip and cookies? don't mind if I do).

And that, my friends, concluded the weekend. I'm most likely talking (typing) to myself at this point in the novel, but that's ok. This week hasn't had anything exciting happen...yet. I'll keep ya posted.

Livin the High Life

This week is just a flyin by! I guess I assumed it would drag since I was on vacation last week, but thankfully its rockin!! This week has been pretty bussssyyy but so, so great!!! Here's my workout schedule for this week- sorry it's just now coming up!

Monday- AM Group strength training; PM- brick work: 3 mi run, spin class

Tuesday- 1 mi warm up, 45 mins on elliptical during lunch

Wednesday- AM Group strength training; PM Boot camp (new instructor= HARD)

Thursday- Rest! :)

Friday- AM Group Strength training

Saturday- 6+ mile run

Sunday- Rest

Want to know what really sucks??? That I took ONE week off from strength training while I was at the beach (while still running everyday) and I already lost strength. During my AM group strength tranings this week, I've still used the same weight as normal, but geeeeeeez am I SORE!!! I kinda like it though.. means I'm doin something right, right? :)

Want to know what really doesn't suck???

GAMECOCKS WINNING THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loooove my Gamecocks!! :)



This has definitely been a high light of the week. Another highlight??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEE!! :)

I feel so blessed by all of the sweet people in my life that have taken time to wish me a Happy Birthday today! Thank you!!!

Today is also one of my favorite co-worker's last day of work before retirement. So, we're all headed to a local restaurant after work for a farewell celebration Happy Hour. Afterwards, I'm meeting my whole family for dinner at Outback! I can't tell you the last time I ate there, but I'm pretty excited!!! Craving that bread!! :)

Another highlight??

My wonderfully amazing husband got a promotion this week!!!!! Wooooo hoooo!! Sooo proud of you, Cory! :) You deserve it and so, so much more!

What a hottie.

Want Another?

We officially reserved our new town home! We move at the end of July!!!!! I went and toured it just to make sure everything was good, and since then, I've probably spent a good 46 hours on potterybarn.com. I'm clinically obsessed with Pottery Barn. How do they just make it look so good?? I've gotten some really good DIY ideas and can't wait to get started! Our living room/bed room is coastal/nautical themed, which I love, so I'm wanting to stick with that theme and amp it up some. Here are a few ideas I have so far-



I'm planning to make a version of this myself- incorporating our colors and maybe a few pieces of cork, and painting faded coastal images on the wood slabs to hang in our living room.

We have solid chocolate colored sofa/love seat but I love the cream with it- so I'm thinking of getting some cream throw pillows. Also, LOVE the lantern + the candle/rope inside and the lantern on the wall!

Here's one I found online that I like:



Too bad they're $79.... booooo



I'm still unsure what our kitchen theme will be, but I really like this and am thinking about making one with an "H" on it:

I'm sure there will be many, many more ideas to come! Plleeeaassee let me know if you have any! :)

Hope everyone has a great day!! 

Award Winning Weekend

Who doesn't hate Mondays? Probably only pastors and hairdressers, ya know the ones that don't have to work. I think we should start a petition to have every Monday off... 3-day weekend? 4-day weeks? Hallelujah.

This weekend was one of those that went slowly by the day and seemed to stretch on like the ocean. Simply. Perfect.

Friday after work God decided to open up the flood gates of Heaven and give us a crazy monsoon. Despite the weather, Cory and I went home searching and had some luck! :) We think we may have found our next home! Very exciting! Too bad we can't move in til August, though. Afterwards, we headed to Mom's. Back in the day (2 months ago) Mom, Jen, and I had GNO (no, not gyno...Girls Night Out) every Friday. We'd take turns planning and it was so fun. Well, life (I mean, my crazy Saturday running schedule) got in the way of my drinking habits and I had to cut it back. Who likes to run 12 miles with a hangover? Trust me, it's not as fun as it sounds.

Anyway, we tried to bring it back this Friday, with one exception- we had a boy there (I know...so wrong). Cory was our token male and joined in on the fun (although he won't admit to liking it). Mom made some more of her Cherry Limeades, because, they're just that good. We ate a late dinner at a local restaurant and my brother-in-law, Tony couldn't resist joining in on GNO and came to eat. Cory and I got in late (for geezers) and went to bed pretty soon after.

Saturday morning came quickly. I got up at the ripe hour of 5:45 (who does that?!!) to get my self together for my morning run. I met my running friends around 6:45 for a misty 10 miles. Mist + Fog does some craaazy stuff to my hair... a bird made a nest and laid eggs in it during the run, I swear. Needless to say, I came home and showered, poured a gallon of detangler on my head and got ready for the day. Cory had the whole weekend off, which was pretty dang awesome. We headed out for some coffee and then played all day. Literally, all day. Like we were 12 years old. Probably not even 12, more like 8.

Why yes, actually, we are pros at having fun for free.

Since Cory had three days off with me, we kinda wanted to "get away" for the weekend. We contemplated going camping, but for fun decided to shack up with the rents. Saturday night, we showed up at Mom's and slept in my old room. It was fun to get away from the "norm" and even better to have her cook breakfast in the morning (the whole point, jk Mom!) We haven't spent the night anywhere but our apartment (except for weekend trips out of town) since we got married, so it was fun to go back to the Old Days. Sunday, Cory woke me up around 8am (he must have been on speed or set a secret alarm). We drank some coffee with Mom and then he left us to meet his dad for some yard work.

Mom and I went and did secret girl stuff (shopping) and then I convinced forced her to go to Pilate's with me. She did really good! Go Mom, hot stuff! It was fun, despite the evil looks we got from the die-hards while we were cracking up in the back corner.

Sunday night we had the King of all Cookouts at my In-Laws. Have I mentioned how much I love cookouts?!

We ate grilled chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni salad, rolls and baked beans. Then things got a little crazy...

Have I mentioned how much I love my In-Laws?!

 Kidding! We did make some home-made margaritas that were awesome! We used fresh squeezed lemonade, extra lemon juice, tequila and a splash of 7-Up. Yum! :) Of course, there were some serious competitions, too!

Focus. Don't. Let. Cory. Win.

And of course, lots of belly rubbin'!

We continued our weekend extravaganza and stayed with Cory's parents Sunday night, in Cory's old room. Monday morning, I woke up a little home sick and was ready to get our normal weekend "chores" done so we could enjoy our day off. We went and grocery shopped, cleaned, had a funeral for Cory's fishes (yeah, they both died on the same day...I swear it wasn't me, and yes Cory fed them over the weekend) and then took 2 naps. You read that right, TWO. We were invited to see Pirates of the Caribbean with Cory's fam Monday night, but neither of us had seen the recent ones, so we opted to eat with the family and head back for the Bachelorette. I don't know about you, but I loooove Bentley. NOT!!!!

Have a great week! :)  

Weekend Warrior

Hello friends, Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was kind of all over the place but turned out being really fun.

Friday after work, I met Mom at her house for a few drinks before heading to dinner. Mom is the Queen of summery cocktails and is always coming up with new delicious recipes! Friday she made us Cherry Limeades which included Diet Cherry Limeade soda, cherry vodka, a splash of cherry juice and a few cherries. It was DELICIOUS! These drinks get me in trouble though, because they just taste SO good! I know ingredients for this drink will be brought with us on our family vacay to Oak Island next month! :) Can't wait!!

We went to a local pub for dinner- McHales. Typically, this is more of a bar than a place to eat, but we wanted somewhere with outdoor dining since it was so nice outside! They have a great beer menu and I tried out the Paulaner Hefeweizen and really liked it! It was a light, smooth beer that started with hints of banana and clove and ended with a hoppy malt taste... ha! Who am I kidding? I have no idea how to be a "beer taster" or whatever they're called... it tasted like beer to me. Maybe one day I'll learn to appreciate it, but honestly, it just tasted like beer... good beer, but beer.

I ordered a spinach salad with grilled chicken + buffalo sauce and a side of ranch. This is my absolute favorite salad, and I always seem to crave it! After dinner I headed home to spend the evening with Cory watching our favorite show, Dateline! We can't get enough of this show and try to catch it whenever it's on. Too bad we're too poor stingy to buy Ti-Vo. Ahhh the possibilities.

Saturday morning, we were both up early to get started on the day. Cory headed to work and I headed out to meet my running friends for a quick 6 miler. We started at 7:30 and by the time we finished it was H-O-T. I'm not sure I'm ready for it to be this hot yet! We agreed to start this coming weekend at 7 to finish before the sun really got us. After my run, I ran a couple errands and headed home to shower and get ready for my sister-in-law's baby shower in Hartsville, SC. My mother-in-law and I drove up there together for the 2 o'clock shower. It was so fun, baby Reagan is already SO spoiled and has twice as many clothes as I've ever owned in my life! Too bad we can't share.

hahahaha

Page's Granny, Chad, Page, Julie, Me

After getting back in town, we joined Cory and my Father-in-Law at White Horse, a local restaurant, for dinner and awaited Rapture. After realizing we were all still alive, and the end of the world wasn't ending, we ordered. Remember how I said that thing about always craving a Buffalo Grilled Chicken Salad? Yeah, I got pretty much the exact same salad as Friday night. This one had the addition of mushrooms and a piece of garlic bread...I sure know how to branch out.

After dinner, Cory and I went home to watch Little Fockers. We liked it okay, but thought the first two were better. Of course, it was still funny and I'd recommend it to anyone that liked the first two in the series! After the movie, we watched Dateline. Again. :)

Sunday morning, I woke up around 8 and cooked Cory and me "Sunday Breakfast." This was my first time making biscuits from scratch (of course, when I say scratch, I mean Bisquick mix that only needs water) and they turned out edible! wooo hooo! This cookin thang ain't so bad! ;) We also had scrambled eggs and coffee. Unfortunately Cory had to work again (7 days this week! Poor little guy). Since he was out running around with screaming kids, sweatin in the 100 degree heat, I felt like I needed to be doing something, too. Lucky for him, that meant giving our little home a good cleaning. I'm not talking vacuuming and dusting...this girl cleaned out cabinets, scrubbed the bathtub and steam cleaned the carpets. Ahhhhh nothin' like a clean apartment! Just wonder how long it'll stay like this! :)

Afterwards, I went for a 60 min Pi-Yo Class (Pilate's + yoga combo) and then grocery shopped. As soon as Cory got off work, we headed over to the In-Laws for a cookout. I love cook outs! Every time we cook out at my In-Laws it always brings back happy memories of the day Cory proposed, which by the way, was almost 2 years ago! Time is seriously flying!

This morning, I got up at the crack of dawn for my AM strength training sesh, then had Banana Overnight Oats at my desk and some Chocolatey Special K around 10:30. For lunch I had a turkey + spinach sandwich on a sandwich thin with an apple (you guys know what these look like, thought a pic was unnecessary....okay, that's a lie...honestly I just devoured it too quickly to take a pic). I've got my favorite Kashi bar waitin' on me for an afternoon snack and then it's to the gym for a spin class! It's been too long since I've taken this class, I'm lookin forward to it!!!

This is a fantastic week for shows!! Tonight kicks off The Bachelorette + Dancing With The Stars, Tomorrow is American Idol and Biggest Loser, Wednesday is AI Finale and Thursday is the Premiere of So You Think You Can Dance!!! It's gonna be a gooooood week!

Babyfaces and Bunny Birthdays

This past weekend was perfect! Two amazing weekends in a row = one happy girl!

Starting with Friday; I had the day off from work for Good Friday, and good Friday it was! I woke up around 7am and went for a 4 mile run around the neighborhood- my planned Thursday run (which I just totally was not feeling Thurs!) The weather was a little foggy + misty but the cool air was perfect! I set my Pandora to the "Counting Crows Station" and soared down the road as I took a trip back to the 90's. There's something about listening to Hootie (when he was still "Hootie") and the Blues Travelers that just puts me in a good mood!

"Once upon a midnight deeeary I woke with something in my head. I could not escape the memoryyy of a phone call and of what you said..."

After my run I headed to the gym for some torture weight lifting, then came home, showered, cooked Cory and me breakfast and got ready for the day (yes, he ate it...in case you were wondering). Then I joined Mom and Furnace for a much needed pedi (I apologized to the girl doing mine before she even started... yes, they were sick.)

Pinkies for me!

Afterwards, Mr. Y and I decided to make the most of our day off and started with some shopping. We received our income tax return last week and decided to have fun with $100 and put the rest into savings. It was really fun to see what all we could buy with our "fun" money.

(Note- yes, we are 11 years old and have never had our own money before and got overly excited about our shopping spree...but, we'll blame the free Earth Day Starbucks for making us run through Target like we were on Supermarket Sweep.)

We've been talking for awhile now about trying out little "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants around town and felt like today was a perfect opportunity. We were gonna go to Bob's Grill...but decided we wanted to take our time eating.

Kidding! Neither of us had ever been to Nishi G's although it's basically a Rock Hill legacy (ha) so we decided to try it. It was actually really good! And cheap! (double points!) I got buffalo grilled chicken on a whole wheat wrap (+lettuce&tom) with a side of green beans (I mean, "grayn bayns"). Cory got a burger with "everything ya got"..which to him, meant lettuce, tom, mayo, pickles... ya know the regular. Instead, he got loaded down with everything they had in the kitchen (including chili, coleslaw, hard boiled eggs and pineapple). Ok..only kidding about the last 2.

Afterwards, we headed to Cory's parent's house and anxiously awaited the arrival of Chad and Page (Cory's brother and wife). They had been to a 3D ultrasound and we got to see a video of our sweet niece, Reagan Joanna Hinton! She is absolutely beautiful!!! It is so unbelievable to be able to actually "see" her before she's even born. We can already tell she's gonna look just like her parents! What a Great Friday!

Saturday, was more relaxed. I met up with a friend in the AM for a 7 mi run. Later in the day, Cory and I spent some time with our families and took some much needed rest time. That night, we had dinner with my in-laws and then joined them + Chad and Page in Charlotte to see The Conspirator. I thought it was a really great movie, although I wasn't expecting the ending. Had I known more about the history (probably should have....did I mention I am NOT a "history buff?"), I could have anticipated how it would turn out; I guess I was hoping for a Happily Ever After.

Sunday was Easter and it was also a great day! Cory and I woke up early and enjoyed some home-made French Toast (that was delicious...to me at least, Cory coulda fed his to Anney while I was in the shower) and then headed to church. We were lucky enough to have both of our families in attendance (minus Melantitus)- we nearly took up an entire row! After church both of our families joined together at Mom's for Easter lunch. SO.MUCH.FOOD. Mom cooked a ham, and also made spinach, fruit salad, deviled eggs and rolls. Jennifer contributed mac 'n cheese, Page made a great broccoli casserole and Julie (mother in law) brought cole slaw and wine! I contributed  an Oreo-Peanut Butter Pie which was heavenly (Read: anything pb is heavenly). Recipe here.

Mom had prepared an Easter Egg Hunt before we got there which we joyfully took part in after devouring the grub (um...yes, we still have Easter Egg Hunts) And guess what? I WON! What did I win, you ask? Three delicious eggs of Cadberry (second in line behind peanut butter).

After eating, Cory and I headed home to enjoy our Sunday (which included napping and loading up on even more sugar- thanks for the jelly beans and cavities, Mom!)

Oh! and I almost forgot! It was (Easter) Lily day!!! Which we named her stand-in birthday. So, Happy 2nd Birthday Lily! She was gifted with an hour of playtime and a banana from her parents and a donated used toy from Anney.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, too!