Toes in the Sand

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Life is good! I have reunited with my college sorority sisters and you’d never know that it’s been a year since we saw each other.

Robin, my fellow sorority sister who also lives north of Mason Dixie, met me at the Charleston Airport. We are staying at her family’s house on Edisto Island this weekend so I was happy to have an expert navigator next to me for the ride. She wasn’t too enthusiastic about the fact that it’d been months NOT days since I last drove. Oh well, our tiny little car did a great job of getting us to Edisto Island and was a great deal on Priceline!

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Luckily, Google Maps found our favorite grocery store only 1 mile off our path.

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Thirty minutes later we filled a grocery cart with all the weekend necessities: beer, bananas, peanut butter, and bread. We did a great job snagging deals and taking advantage of every coupon we saw on an aisle!

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Look what else we found- pumpkin beer!

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By the time we finished grocery shopping we were starving and craving a Publix sub!

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A Publix sandwich truly puts Subway to shame! Their ingredients are super fresh, made to order, and they use Boar’s Head meat!

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I enjoyed a five grain sub with turkey, tomato, lettuce, onions, pickles, olives, and mustard.

Look what else we passed on our way to the beach!

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If I’d taken Highway 17 I could have been in Savannah in an hour and a half. Good thing I’m going down there next weekend!

Finally, an hour later, we were at our beachside destination.

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Robin’s family rents this house out throughout the year so we were appreciative they shared it with us on a rare free weekend.

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We unloaded the car in record time because the beach was calling our name.

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Our beach is on the sound side of the island where the Edisto River meets the Atlantic.

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Our feet were in the sand, the beer was cold, and the gossip and conversation flowed easily. There was no where else I wanted to be in that moment!

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As the clouds rolled in we took the signal as time to head back to the house in order to prepare dinner. Grilled hamburgers, vegetables, pasta salad, and salad are on the menu with a side of delicious baked goods and beer! I think I’ll be wonderfully fueled for tomorrow’s 20 miler!

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We’ve decided that cooking at a beach house is always an adventure. You don’t know where any of the utensils and ingredients are, the appliances aren’t used very often, and there are surprises around every corner and in every locked cabinet!

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We figured out where the liquor cabinet was by unlocking every locked cabinet! I’ll definitely be enjoying that tomorrow night. But, for now I’m going to ensure that everything is prepared for my run, hang out with the ladies, and enjoy the delicious food!

Have a great night!

Question: What is your favorite alcoholic beverage?

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Carolina on My Mind

Greetings from the friendly Delta skies! I can’t believe that I’m already flying again after only returning from Los Angeles four days ago! Between September and October I’ll log 16 legs of flights on Delta!

I slept like a rock last night and had zero desire to wake up when the alarm went off. Knowing myself all too well, I hopped out of bed quickly as I knew I’d go back to sleep if I didn’t. I always fear snoozing through my alarm on a travel morning.

By 7:30, I was through security at LaGuardia chatting with a co-worker who was flying back home this morning. His flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 from my same gate but was delayed.  It was such a fun surprise to know someone in the terminal at this hour.

I spent the rest of the time catching up on the news and enjoying some quality time with an iced coffee and my Kindle.

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I normally prefer green tea but the airport’s coffee shop, which is adorable by the way, only had hot tea which had to steep. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle or possible mess of trying to steep the tea and then transfer it to ice.

The LaGuardia Delta terminal continues to amaze me throughout it’s renovation! There is now a coffee shop, pizza kitchen, burger joint, health and natural section, and a full hot bar featuring oatmeal and toppings during the morning hours!

A banana and small portion of oats only cost $4 which isn’t too bad considering it was in an airport!

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The simple addition of a dash of brown sugar, cinnamon, and yellow raisins gave a boring cup of oats a complete makeover! I need to remember how far a small portion of brown sugar goes in providing an oatmeal flavor update!

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My plane down to Charleston is a long and lean jet, only featuring 96 seats and no room for luggage on board with the passengers. Luckily I snagged a window seat by myself which means there is plenty of room for reading, sleeping, and curling up with my huge pashmina.

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See you in a few days New York coastline!  I’m ready to see some warm, South Carolina marsh and coastline!

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The Weekend Comes Early: Thirsty Thursday

Happy Thursday! I don’t know about y’all but I’m ready for the weekend. Luckily, my weekend just started! I’m heading down to Charleston tomorrow to spend a long weekend with my some of my college roommates and sorority sisters down on Edisto Island, South Carolina. Unfortunately, Bo can’t make the trip down with me due to work, but I’ll have the opportunity to spend time with the rest of the girls and their husbands celebrating babies, engagements, and memories!

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It’s been a year since I reunited with most of these girls and I’m so excited I could scream!

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I have a lot to do between now and tomorrow morning when I fly out, bright and early, including pack and get even more nervous about my 20 miler. My running coach only has 17 miles on my Saturday schedule but, I like to make my coach proud and I like to push myself. Therefore, I’ve made it a personal goal to conquer 20 miles on Saturday. I have awesome running friends down in Edisto with me who first motivated me to start running six years ago. I figure that the fun discussions we’ll have, ocean breeze, flat streets, and new scenery will make it more bearable too! Now if I can just remember to apply sunscreen to my calves so I don’t have a horrible calf sleeve tan line come Sunday.

Before my vacation started, I had a jam packed day trying to squeeze in everything I needed to finish before putting up my out of office message.

Lauren and I met for our Thursday training session which has now become the arms and abs killing session. Each Thursday we barely touch my legs due to my marathon training but instead focus the whole session on my biggest trouble areas. The hard work is finally starting to show as we’ve been able to decrease the weight used in the pull up assist each week and increase the weight and repetitions we’re using in other combination exercises.

I also enjoyed some delicious meals today which kept my snacking at bay.

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Breakfast was quick and messy, a crunchy cinnamon oats paired with a trenta Starbucks unsweetened iced green tea.

Per Lauren’s suggestion, I substituted my Soy Chip and Baked Lays obsession with a whole grain roll during lunch along side a beet heavy salad.

IMG_4652 (640x478) IMG_4651 (640x478) During the day, I tried to stay hydrated by drinking more water. My body still feels a bit off after last week’s travel and my heavy sodium meals haven’t helped. I’m in love with the new Crystal Light that I was sent to sample.

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When I first started losing weight, I was a Crystal Light addict, often going through multiple packs a day. But, then the artificial sweetener headaches and cravings came and I cut it out almost cold turkey. I was hesitant when Crystal Light contacted me but with the word pure in the name, I figured I’d give it a try.

Crystal Light Pure contains no artificial sweeteners, flavors or preservatives. Instead, it is sweetened with sugar and TruviaTM, an all-natural, no-calorie sweetener derived from the stevia plant. This also means that while it isn’t calorie free like the traditional Crystal Light, you can have the delicious AND natural flavor for only 15 calories per serving.

I highly recommend this product if you’re not a fan of plain water or are trying to wean yourself off sodas. This little packet of flavor turned today into Thirsty Thursday, helping me drink over 100 ounces of water from 8am-7pm when I left the office!

Last but not least, before I go pack, I want to thank each of you all for reading each day. When I started my blog, over a year and a half ago, it was a place for me to track my marathon training and a way to keep in touch with my family. Now, it has evolved into my favorite hobby and provided me with amazing opportunities, friends, and memories. I was honored and so humbled by Fitness Magazine’s shout out today on their FitStop blog. I also have to give Caitlin mad props for that wonderful picture they featured!

image Question: What is one thing you’re trying to cut out of your daily routine? Mine is my lunch time diet soda. I grew up in Georgia and was born with a Diet Coke in my hand. 🙂 Therefore, it’s a difficult habit to cut but I’m trying to at least cut back on the habit.

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