Over halfway there!

So, as some of you know, my sister has managed to talk me into running a half marathon (13 miles) in December. I'm still trying to figure out how she managed it. We've been training for about 2 months now. We run at least 3 days a week (at freaking 5:30 in the morning), and our friends John and Stephanie are doing it as well. We've gradually worked our way up to 7 miles, and this morning's run was supposed to be 7.3. Well. Let me just tell you. For reasons that shall remain unnamed, I needed to take a slight detour, so we gave John and Steph the directions for the rest of the route and Beck and I went a different way. As we winded our way through the streets of Charleston and finally our last turn was in sight, I became slightly delirious and couldn't stop laughing. Yeah. You try running 7 miles and giggling at the end and see how it works for you :) As we stumbled across the "finish line", I was yet again proud of myself for completing another ridiculously long run and still trying to figure out why I was doing it. Well, lo and behold, I get home and Becky calls me after mapping out our run (and the detours we had to take), and come to find out we actually ran 9 miles. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! First off, I still don't know why we're running it when it would be so much easier (and make sense) to just drive. Second off, well, it's just absurd. I never in my life would have imagined running 9 miles (and being alive after it to talk about it).
So, to wrap this up, many thanks to my sucky sister for talking me into this and helping me meet goals that everyone (including me) thinks are nuts, but just may be worth it at the end.

Scavenger Hunt

YAY!! So the scavenger hunt was a raging success! I didn't know if Dad's friends would be as willing to completely embarass themselves in downtown Charleston, but from the pictures that we saw and the stories we heard, they definitely went above and beyond the call of duty! For those of you that have never done a hunt before, it usually involves collecting various objects, taking pictures of designated places, etc...Well, Dustin created this hunt by himself last year for all of us to do. It was pirate themed (timed for the release of Pirates of the Caribbean 3), and each team had to have bandanas on, eye patches, plastic swords, gold hooped earrings, etc... He printed out an old map of the Charleston peninsula and created a list of tasks on tea stained paper, all written in pirate speak (ARRR!) We had so much fun doing it and were thrilled that we could put the hunt on for someone else. The only bad thing was that the teams continued to argue for at least 4 hours after they got back about who had actually won!
So, a huge thanks to everyone involved and we're really glad to have had so much fun!!

Here goes!

Alright, here goes...my first official blog post! Where to start, where to start?? So, the most recent news with Eric and I is, well, there isn't really anything new. I'm getting ready to head back to school next week and will be taking my Mental Health Nursing class (no comments from the peanut gallery please!) Having already gotten my bachelor's in psychology, I'm very excited about this class. My rotation is at the Institute of Psychiatry at MUSC and we get to take a "field trip" to the State Mental Institute in Columbia on one of our clinical days (which for some reason I'm stoked about but Eric tells me I'm crazy). I think more than anything I'm curious as to whether these places are anything like what the movies/tv makes them out to be. Eric has already informed me, though, that I will not be working at any type of psych. hospital because these areas have the highest episodes of violence in the workplace and he doesn't want me anywhere near them (all together now- Awwww!) Leave it to the engineer to come up with the statistics of where the worst places to work are!!

We've currently got our house listed for sale- we're not desperate to sell, just trying to time the market so we can get into something bigger at a lower price. Fingers crossed! All I know is that selling your house is a pain in the a$$, and hopefully, if/when we do get into a bigger house, we won't be moving anytime soon after that!

One of the most fun things to tell you about (though I'm sure the people that will be reading this are the people that were with us at the time) is that we've recently taken it upon ourselves to canoe/kayak around Charleston and find little known islands/beaches. We then proceed to initiate them with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka and multiple (read as 2-3) cases of beer...between 5-6 of us, fried chicken , and various other finger foods, including melon(s). See below :)

We find it is our duty to take advantage and appreciate this beautiful, unoccupied land before all of the greedy developers come and snatch it up. And what can be better than sitting on a secluded beach soaking up the sun with the best of friends, looking out over Charleston Harbor, and drinking a cocktail? Well, unless you're Dustin (my brother-in-law). He might not enjoy it so much because he tends to get body slammed :)

So concludes my first official blog post! Tomorrow will be yet another of our fun adventures- we're hosting a pirate themed scavenger hunt for my dad's 53rd birthday. We (a group of about 12-15 of us) have already done this hunt, but we've added some more clues/tasks (because it was so much fun and too short the last time) so now my dad and his friends get to do it while we judge! I hope they enjoy it ...although I don't know if they will have as much fun embarrassing themselves as we did :) Have a great weekend!