Charleston Visit and the Gulf Coast 10K

So for my Mom's and sister's birthday presents, I set up a trip to Charleston, SC. Now we did a trip to New York a few years ago, and I whipped them all over that town with very little down time, so this trip we decided it would be relaxing with no real plans other than a couple of dinner reservations. We were off to a great start by getting some dinner and drinks in the Atlanta airport during our almost 2-hour layover...except that dinner never came and we had to walk out and get on this plane with no food.


Luckily, when we got to our hotel, they had a restaurant on the rooftop that was still open...and empty...with excellent music playing...you see where this is going, don't you?



Sadly, my peeps just sat at the table waiting for waitstaff to stumble upon us, but none did! Totally got away with it!


And it was a blessing in disguise that we missed dinner in the airport, because take a look at this: delicious burger with truffle parmesan fries - yum.


We found out the next day that The Watch was a hip, new restaurant that just opened - how lucky can ya' get? So I highly recommend The Restoration on King (which is actually on another street), because the rooms are more like condos with separate bedrooms and full kitchens...


although the main attraction are these crazy private balconies - huge!


You also get a complimentary basket of breakfast every morning! They have a menu to choose from, and some of the food came in these precious glass jars - fabulous.


So we did some sightseeing by the water...


and some historic cemeteries with pretty flowers...


and some pretty fountains...


and historic College of Charleston...


and the Joseph Manigault House.


But mainly we ate great food. This was at Cru Café...delicious and in a tiny old house.


And this was at Callie's Hot Little Biscuit for lunch one day - homemade pimiento cheese in a biscuit - yum.


And this was Eli's Table, which was our best meal, and also it was Ladies' Night so we got a glass of champagne and a rose after dinner. It was an awesome trip, and so much more relaxing and fun than that New York trip!


Oh yes, and I even fit in a little run around College of Charleston wearing my super-tight running shorts...


because the Charleston trip was closely followed by a 10K race!

I finished in 1 hr, 14 minutes, which isn't terrible considering that involved crossing a huge bridge twice! Robbie, I started to text you to come out and say hey that morning, and I think I ran by your water aerobics building, possibly, but we started at 7 AM so you may have been asleep. (No idea why they made the finisher medals with a Crimson Tide theme on one side, but it's a bottle opener, so I'll take it.)

And yes, you can see from Lulu's FB page that I wore the handmade fancy pants, which garnered 3 "I love your tights!" and 1 "Where did you buy your leggings?" That was from the overall female runner herself, who looked at me like I was an absolute freak when I said I made them. She was enamored by the contrasting legs, so I definitely have to make more.

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Alright, that'll suffice for now. Hope YOU'VE been enjoying life, too!

Did You Need a Little Pick-Me-Up?

Wanna see some 40-year-olds dancing, then wheezing and clutching their chests? At least the 9-year-old can keep going - the rest of us gave out. Anyway, this is good for a little pick-me-up when you're feeling down or bored. We inherited this uncanny dance ability from our dad, who was prone to falling on the floor and doing The Worm at the drop of the hat...or the Sprinkler, which Lucas has mastered. Our mom has a different dance style, which I shall profile in the next couple of days....oh yes I will!

Here's What I've Been Up To...

Hello Stranger! I'm back after falling off the planet for a week. There was a lot going on with camp preparations (i.e. manic shorts-sewing aided by my saint of a mother who selflessly cut and ironed and interfaced while I sat at the sewing machine), followed by a week at Lake Martin, followed by more laundry and packing for Drew.

So I have more clips of our fun, but apparently I have to load them on YouTube now because Blogger won't play the regular clips from my camera. Oh well, if you're incriminated in any upcoming videos, rest assured that these are unlisted and not available for public consumption (only public humiliation here at my blog).

And since I'm boarding a plane in one hour, I'll leave you with this and then work on some more later this weekend. This is my brother and sister and the niece and nephew plus Lucas, as captured by Drew on his Flip. You will see that the madness runs in the family - it's not just me.

DJ Zipper and Rapper-17

Word to Drew for the videography, and props to my man Rapper-17 (picked the name himself) for joining me on the flo'. Remember my little statement at the top about being odd and sometimes inappropriate? I think it crossed into weird today, but you'll forgive me I hope. I just wanted to show how much talent DJ's need to do that scratching - we had to do a couple of takes because I was off the beat, thus the poorly edited version. Anyway, shows how well these jeans are made that I can play the zippers like that with no popped stitches, huh! (Ignore the carriers that aren't sewn down yet.)

Watch Out Tamilee! For Me, I Mean...

So this doesn't look like strenuous exercise at all, but I'm actually going 4 mph, which is pretty decent. I think it's that my legs are so long and I'm apparently quite Marfanoid, so it doesn't look like it's fast. What you can't tell is that I ended up sweating rather heavily after a couple of takes. (That just proves that I'm out of shape, not that this is great cardio...which it really is.)

I don't think Tamilee has anything to worry about. Even if I did have big muscles like she does, I certainly don't have the wardrobe or cleavage to pose a problem.

This is not how I look in my head.

Again, when I'm on the treadmill with earphones in, I am SO SEXY during this song! Somehow that all gets lost in video. I like it better in my head - maybe it should've stayed there! This is also about 4 mph, but if you'd rather run, crank it up! Just be careful or you'll fall off the treadmill like I nearly did.

Now for a cool-down, I like that Decemberadio song "For Your Glory" that I linked a few weeks ago. You just have to remember that it's a cool down, so no "testifying" or you'll get your heart rate back up!

New Olympic Event?

I might call this "Stool Dancing" in the Olympics. Drew taught us the move of beating your fists in front of your chest with elbows out and Lucas took it a few steps further, which should get extra points for higher level of difficulty. I was wondering if he was going to stick the landing or fly off.

Gettin' Low

There's nothin' like a good dance party, and Low is a pretty good dance song (if you overlook the verse that talks about the pole in her livin' room). These boys have pretty good moves (one's got a little better rhythm than the other, but I'm not sayin' who). You'll have to watch this video 3 times: the first time your eye will naturally be drawn to the biggest bootie on the flo', the 2nd time you should concentrate on Drew's technique, and the 3rd time check out Lucas's stylings. He likes to take it face down during the chorus. Drew demonstrates strong quads at that point. I think we could've all made it on MTV's TRL.....uh, there at the end where the ratings were down.

Get up and go have a dance party of your own - there's no bettah fun!!!

P.S. For a better dance video - check out Saturday Night Live's parody of Beyonce's video for Single Ladies with Justin Timberlake - HILARIOUS!!!!!!! This was the best SNL of the year!