Happy Fall Y'all!

Fall has arrived in Memphis!!! (At least for today!) It was only 63 degrees and rainy. Love it. I can finally wear the turquoise colored jeans I bought a couple of weeks ago at Target. Yippee! This colored jeans trend is one that I am actually totally excited about. I'm really tempted to get a maroon pair too! Hmm. Speaking of cooler weather, when I was in Ireland, I ate soup like it was going out of style. Now with the weather change, I believe I can enjoy it in Memphis too. Saturday night we went to 3 Angels Diner and I got their "adult grilled cheese" with the turnip and white bean soup. Delicious! The grilled cheese reminded me a lot of The Melt in Cleveland. Only it wasn't so big it would take me 3 days to eat. Ha.

This was a busy, but fun(!) weekend here in Memphis! Lots of time spent with friends and too little time spent sleeping. I was really dragging at work today! Thank God for coffee. I was happy to celebrate National Coffee Day yesterday by making not one... but two trips to Starbucks. Sometimes, I feel like they must put some kind of addictive magical fall goodness in their pumpkin spice lattes. I can't get enough of them! It's a good thing they are seasonal or else I'd probably weight at least 30 lbs more. Haha.
A highlight of the weekend was my running friend Sarah's 30th birthday!! She had it on the rooftop of one the apartments downtown which had such a gorgeous view of the river and the city from up there.

Sarah the birthday girl in the middle and
 another Star Runner friend Courtney on the end. :-)

As I look at my calendar for the month of October, I have a feeling it's just going to fly by! Next weekend I'll be in Philly for a nutrition conference - lots of S.W.A.G.! (to quote Michael Scott - "Stuff We All Get"!). Lol. Hoping that swag includes free Chobani Greek yogurt again. Yum. :-)

Green(er) Pastures

As you all may know, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend 10 days in Ireland visiting my friend Charis. Although I didn't find any leprachauns to provide me with a pot of gold, I did have many fun adventures exploring the city of Dublin. Ireland was just as green and pretty as I expected it to be!

First of many coffees!

Guinness factory/museum

Straight from the source!

Exploring Howth

Sailboats along the shores of Howth

Out on the town!

We met Charis' work friends for a drink. :-)

Hiking! Beautiful view of Dublin from the top!

Wicklow Way hiking trail

Cillian was happy to stop for some fro-yo!

Totally ready to have one of my own... JK!!! 

Bridge from the film PS I Love You. Secretly wishing I could still run in to Gerard Butler there. Haha.

Happy sheep chillin' by the roadside. :-)

One of the beautiful twin lakes of Glendalough.

Dublin Gaol tour!

Trinity College

In addition to the adventures above many Butler chocolates, coffee, and Guinness was thoroughly enjoyed. Actually, I wish coffee here in Memphis was served with a piece of chocolate or biscuit! I will miss that. Above all, it was so refreshing to finally get to catch up on Charis and get a glimpse of life and motherhood (little Cillian is such a cutie) in Dublin! (Oh, and to have a few pints with Tony of course!)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The time has finally come for my lonely little passport to get a new stamp! I am flying off to Ireland tomorrow! I can hardly believe this trip is really here. :-) I've seriously been looking forward to it for so long. I can't wait to finally get to see Charis again and catch up over coffee, hang out with Tony, and meet little Cillian! It will also be a much needed long break from work. I haven't taken this much time off since I started. My little blog will likely be a little neglected while I'm gone - but I'll be sure to take tons of pictures and post my vacay recap! Now, I'm off to pack and do laundry. Fun!

Lazy Labor Day Weekend

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend!!! (If you didn't have Monday off... I'm sorry!) I was feeling a bit under the weather this weekend, but with the help of some cold medicine I didn't have to miss out on all the fun!

My favorite cold remedies...

Friday, Will and I headed to this Ethiopian restaurant, Abyssinia which is not far from his apartment. From the outside, it looks a bit sketch so I was always hesitant to go. Also, my idea of Ethiopian food was rice and then some kind of meat on a stick. However, a few weeks ago, our friends Stanton and Genevieve said it was awesome and convinced us to go with them. They were so right - it's delicious! (Despite it's rough exterior.) Plus, they had plenty of vegetarian options - no skewered meat cubes! This time, we split the veggie and fish plate. Everything is served in little piles on this fluffy tortilla bread with additional bread for grabbing bites of food. No utensils needed!

Saturday I was up early to do 17 miles with my running group. It's a looooong time to be out pounding the pavement. However, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I anticipated since we are doing this run-walk method. The run becomes much less daunting if you think, "If I can just make it to the next walk break I can do this". It also helps having friends to share in the pain!
Monday we packed up Honey and some lunch then drove to a little park in Mississippi to picnic and hike. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the weekend. :-)