Ladies who Lunch and Ladies who Lion

While at my Grandma Julia's (aka Jules) this past November we got to talking about her house. They are moving into a new house next year, and while very excited about the new home, kitchen, porch, etc, its hard to leave a house they have lived in for so long with so many happy memories. Since this was to be their last Christmas in their current home, I said "Why don't I help you throw a holiday lunch and you can invite all your girlfriends over one last time?" to which my 89 year old Grandmother replied, "Well, I've still got some friends that are alive....I guess I could invite them?" Ahh, the joys of getting older. Your invite list is determined not by who you want to include, but by who is still living. ANYWAY, we did it. She invited 12 young ladies to attend a holiday luncheon on Dec. 17th.....I arrived the day before to help decorate the house for the holidays and to do some of the cooking. Our menu was comprised of a first course of Cream of Mushroom soup (rich, decadent and delish!) and our second course was Ladyfinger's Chicken Salad on a bed of lettuce, Tomato tartlets and homemade rolls. Then for dessert I served cheesecake with fresh whipped cream and fresh raspberry sauce. Mmmm. Grandpa Russel (aka "Russ-L") was my sous chef and head waiter and took direction beautifully....remind me to tip him generously. The ladies had a good time I think and it was nice to bust out Jules' china, crystal and silver for a big hurrah!

I'm very lucky in that both of my parents are from the same town in NC, so my other grandmother, Lois (aka Lo Lo) was in attendance! Pretty spoiled to be able to see both grandma's in one shot, I know.

Christmas tree - faux but gorgeous

I cut holly and greenery and put it on the mantel

The dining room - not a great pic but my point and shoot is starting to die, what can I say

Me and my other grandma who was in attendance, Lo Lo

Jules and Margie Mann socialize in the Living Room

The ladies in the Living Room gossiping, uh, I mean, socializing.

Place setting

The card table in the den - not all the ladies would fit in the dining room!

The night of the luncheon happened to be "Ladies Night" at the Lion's Club and Grandpa Russel asked if I would attend with him. Of course, who could resist LADIES NIGHT so off we went.....it was their holiday themed Ladies Night so they had a children's choir from a local middle school come sing for the group and they gave away poinsettias and ornaments. Santa even came out and borderline harassed Jules....he called her "hot". See Grandma? You still got it.

Children's choir

74 years of Lions in Sanford...

and I think Grandpa has been a member for almost 50 of those years......

Grandpa's nametag

Russel, Julia and Ellen - HOW CUTE IS MY GRANDPA?

Look at him with his tie, sweater and blazer. Love it.

Music Monday

For your consideration, this week's submission is from my main man Drew. I have enjoyed this recommendation thoroughly and am certain you will too.....very chill and mellow. Drew points out, "This is the lead singer of the Deftones - his side project."

Check it out - Team Sleep - Ever

Music Monday

I was going to skip this week's MM since I'm so behind in posting but my brother guilted me into it....he is still up in NYC, flying out tomorrow morning to come home for Christmas....and you know how that last day of work is before you come home - long and terrible. And then I started thinking of him up here, and our whole family down here enjoying the tree and a fire in the fireplace and good food and I felt terrible for him. So as a treat to him I decided to get off my lazy bum and post a MM selection. Its not a Christmas-ey one but I love this song and I think you should too.....Bon Iver with "Flume"

Kiawah Half Marathon - done and done.

The weekend of Dec 12th a group of us headed down to Kiawah Island, SC for the weekend to participate in their annual half marathon. As you know, Internet, I've been training for this half for quite some time and, especially since it was my first? You could say I was a little nervous. THEN when the weather called for rain all day Saturday morning? I was VERY nervous.

We left Raleigh on Friday afternoon.....7 of us hopped in the Newell Family Escalade where we had snacks and a variety of movie options. We watched "The Hangover" and "Four Christmases" and literally pulled onto the island as the last movie was finishing, it was perfect. We had to register with the race officials and pick up our bibs (with our race numbers), our timing chips and our race t-shirts. Then we checked into our house via the Kiawah Island Golf Resort and headed there to unpack and get ready for dinner. The race organizers host a big pasta dinner that Friday night and we had a great time eating and eating and eating. Then when we were full, we ate some more. Gots to carb up you knows.

Saturday we woke up early to eat SOME MORE and then headed to the race starting line. Luckily, the rain held off till the afternoon and when the gun went off at 8am sharp, we were off. The group ran at different paces and dispersed themselves over the course of 13.1 miles but I ended up running with my friend Natalie the entire time. The course is nice and flat since its the beach and I tried to be really good about drinking some water and Gatorade at the water stops. Around mile 8 I was feeling pretty good but was definitely tired of running so I treated myself to a Gu pack (little packet of goo that is concentrated electrolytes, sugar, who knows what else) and my iPod! Only 5.1 more miles left at this point! Then around mile 11? I was SO BORED AND READY TO BE DONE. I made Natalie tell me stories and started singing to her the songs that I was listening to on my iPod. The ole Pod was reaching WAY BACK and I busted out some "Footloose" tunes for Natalie and distracted myself by high fiving little kids that had lined the running path. Then around mile 12 Natalie and I realized that we were making really good time and could possibly come in under 2hrs, 10 min.......so we picked up the pace....and I finished my first half marathon in 2:06:17! I was so excited!!

After the race? I grabbed my little foil blanket (it was COLD!) and my medal, and headed to grab the most important thing of all.....an icy cold Bud Light. Here are some pics!

Getting dressed early in the morning for the race.

Hello Kiawah!

Walking to the race

Pre-race photo....we figured we might not look this good post-race.

Hello dah-ling! Perhaps you can tell but I have my front pockets stuffed with gu packets, iPods, gloves, and anything else I thought I might need throughout these next 3 hours!

That's me! Drew tried to catch pics of us crossing the finish line.....

Hello Elizabeth!

Natalie and Nay are done with the race and happy. Now its time to eat.

Group shot - laughing too hard.

There we go - group shot of the runners

See I feel so good I can lift my leg up.....ok, maybe not. Is like lugging around 2 bags of concrete!

On Saturday night after the race we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Jasmine Porch.....oh my it was delicious and I had NO GUILT about ordering whatever I wanted! I had a half dozen oysters to start, (and some of Nay's Fried Green Tomatoes), and the shrimp and grits as my main meal....and some of Nay's banana bread pudding for dessert....sorry Nay, I kinda ate your whole meal. And the best part? Two delicious dirty martini's with blue cheese stuffed olives. Fabulous! The ride back on Sunday was not QUITE as fun as the ride down....sitting for 5 hours on tired muscles is not ideal, but again we had movies and food to distract us. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad I accomploished my goal! Thanks so much to Natalie, Nay and Sheena for those long runs on Sunday nights and helping to keep me motivated! Ya'll are the best!

Blast from the Past

Umm....I'm SURE you remember this holiday special, Internet. Talk about taking you back.....

Live on the "General Electric Fantasy Hour" - yikes.

Music Monday

As Christmas draws closer, I'm impatiently waiting for my brother and sister to come home. I've helped Mom and Dad get the tree up, there are presents under it, the house is decorated and Christmas cookies baked, but it won't REALLY feel like Christmas until they arrive home! When I used to live in New York, I was always so anxious to get home for the holidays because it didn't officially feel like Christmas until I walked in their door.

That being said, today's Music Monday selection is one of my all time favorite Christmas carols, and is a classic. I love, love, love this version....I think the lyrics to this song are so beautiful.

Take a moment to listen to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Bing Crosby

To Infinity and Beyond!

What happens when you attend Disney on Ice and get to meet your favorite character, Buzz Lightyear? You get a smile like this!!

While we were in Kiawah for our Half Marathon, Rives got to go with Granddad Tuck and Mom Mom to see Disney on Ice......you can imagine the excitement. I think the smile in this picture also indicates that he is having a mini mental breakdown due to the excitement of being so close to Buzz.....he is literally death gripping his shirt. Congrats buddy!

Run Ellen Run!

Ok, so in about an hour we are heading out to Kiawah for my first ever half marathon! I'm a little nervous, mainly because its supposed to rain all day tomorrow and I'm not excited about running in the cold, rain. I'm hoping to finish the half in under 2 hrs, 30 min - cross your fingers that this rain doesn't prevent me from doing that! Also, I'm a little worried because my right shin and left foot are hurting :( But I'm going to take a bunch of advil and ignore it - I'm sure any doctor would agree that that's the right thing to do......er, maybe not.

Anyway, we will take lots of pics and I will definitely give you a full update on how it went!

Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Music Monday

Um yea. This is an embarrassingly true story.

So last Saturday morning I was watching an episode of "One Tree Hill", because as aforementioned, I have the television viewing habits of a 13 year old girl. Well, it was the pilot episode which happens to be especially terrible/awesome and there is this scene at the end where Nathan and Lucas have a one-on-one basketball game at the "River Court" to battle out their "turf" - specifically if Lucas is able to join the Ravens basketball team, even though he is an outcast from the wrong side of the tracks AND is unwanted by his biological father - ALSO KNOWN AS NATHAN'S FATHER. Oh snap.

Anywhoo, when Nathan Scott walks onto the basketball court they play this old N.E.R.D. song and I was sitting in my pajamas thinking to myself, "Oh man, that is a great song, I forgot about that song." So at the end of the episode, I hopped up, downloaded it off iTunes and loaded it up to my iPod. I then proceeded into my bedroom to brush my teeth, wash my face and get ready for the day. I popped my iPod into my stereo, cranked up my new N.E.R.D. purchase and standing in front of the mirror - because let's be honest, that really is the only way to dance in your bedroom - I busted out a little dance move, fly girl style.

And then promptly found myself on the carpet, writhing in pain and griping my neck - apparently Awesome Moves + Old Age = Neck Spasms.

So with all that being said - "Lapdance" by N.E.R.D. - its so good it will give you neck spasms. Download it now.

Go Heels!

Although we are still in football mode and looking forward to a Bowl Game this December? Basketball season has started up and last night was a big game - Carolina vs Michigan State. And UNC won! Mom, Dad, my friend Chris and I went over to the Dean Dome early to eat dinner and visit with folks, then headed in to cheer on the Tar Heels.

Sidebar: Katherine, drumline introduction of the team? You are right, I love it! Will try to take video of it next time for you Internet.

Also in attendance were our friends Matt and Stephanie - as you may recall from previous posts, they lived in CT but moved down to Chapel Hill maybe 2? years ago and are now proud Tar Heels! They sit on the opposite side of the Dean Dome but I took a pic of them regardless :) Let's play a game of "Where's Proto?". Can you spot them?

Good game Heels!

Warming up

In our Carolina blue

HELLO PROTO AND STEF! I sees yous.

Celebrating 100 years of Carolina basketball

Eh. Not so great with the free throws last night.

Dad and me....and Brick blackberrying in the background.

Mom and me

Rameses and the students enjoying the win!