Emerald Nut Run - NYE

Just over a month ago, I mentioned that The Husband and I (more me than him) were going to attempt to run the Emerald Nut Run on New Year's Eve in Central Park. I started training a couple times a week because as many of y'all know, I'm NOT a runner. I even got a swanky new running outfit as to encourage me to get outside and move my legs.

Well, I'm proud to report that I actually did the race and I ran the whole way! All 4 miles. It was awesome.

Not awesome in the sense that I had an epiphany and now run everyday - I do not. But, awesome because the race was at midnight, we got to see fireworks and the ball drop, it was nearly 50 degrees outside and I ran with 10,000 of my closest NYC friends. It was one of those New York moments that makes me fall in love with the city again.
The run was also awesome because I got to dress up. Yes, most people wear something fun to run in. We saw guys in speedos, the Star Wars gang, girls with tutu's and even a couple who dressed up like Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The day of the race I visited the local thrift store and found this little number
I was set.
The Husband also participated in the fun and wore a dress shirt and bow-tie. Cute, eh?
We ran and ran with people cheering and laughing and just having a good time.


If you are in the city over NYE and don't want to go to time square or pay to go to a crowded party, I highly recommend the run. We even popped some bubbly afterwards for our walk home...
Have any of y'all tried it before? I definitely want to do it again.

Throwing Pumpkins and Homecoming

Last weekend we pretended that we were in college again. Though it's only been five years since we graduated, we quickly realized that we can't party like we used to. Our good friends Allie and Bradley (mentioned here) hosted the out-of-towners and on Friday we got things started in Raleigh. Whenever we get together, it's like no time has passed. These friends know me inside and out. I don't think I stopped smiling once and anytime I spend time with them, I come back to NYC feeling so filled inside. They're awesome.

While out in Raleigh at a local bar, we danced, talked, cheered, drank, ate and laughed. After 1 or 2 (or maybe a lot more) drinks, the boys decided to throw a pumpkin on display. You know, a casual game of toss the pumpkin? Our boys are so smart. Soon after the tossing began it quickly ended, when one boy (who shall remain nameless) hit a light with the pumpkin and shattered it. Our crew of 10 was quickly escorted out of the bar. But, don't worry, we didn't let it damper the evening. On to the next bar we went...

The next morning, we awoke (a little fuzzy) and drove to Elon, our alma mater, for homecoming and our 5 year reunion.
Because of Friday's festivities, it took us awhile to "get in the spirit" of homecoming but we rallied. Allie and Bradley hosted the tailgate complete with good food, good weather, good drinks (including "icing" the boys) and of course corn-hole.

After the tailgate, we headed to the local bar (where the beer is cheap, my gosh! See picture above). Despite it smelling like we remembered, it didn't quite look the same. Funny how that happens. The day quickly turned into the evening (complete with dancing of course) and before we knew it, homecoming was over.

I love Elon for many reasons, but especially for brining these special people into my life.

Oh, and by the way, we still have our Phoenix Cards (our student IDs). You never know when you'll need it one day!

Home Sweet Home

I know I know, late again with the posts...

This past weekend, Southern in the City headed home to NC. It's so nice to go home, slow down, relax and recharge. I decided to take a couple days off work and am so glad I did. Sooze and I shopped for the apartment, finding cute curtains that I can't wait to show y'all when they arrive in a few weeks. We lunched with brother, visited dad's office, saw the new pipes at church, sang along with the sing-off and checked things off our list one by one. If only I had a week to spend down there. But, I'm sure a week would go by just as fast as a couple days did.

We also went clothes shopping which brought a most hilarious and awkward moment from my time at home. While at a clothing boutique (which will remain nameless) I tried on a cute party dress that caught my eye. After getting the dress over my head and hips, I quickly learn that it was too tight in the shoulders (strange place for a dress to be tight). After five minutes of trying to get the dress off me, I realized it was not going to happen. Crap. I quickly called out for Sooze and she came to the rescue. After 5 more minutes of trying to get the dress over my head we were both sweating with worry. Sh*t! Still wouldn't come off. Panic stricken we kept pulling and pulling, in the back of our minds thinking we would have to cut me out of the damn dress. Finally, after a couple more pulls, I was out, but the dress was ripped. We weren't sure if it was already ripped or if I had made it tear (it was likely me), but I told the clerks about it and their response, "That's the third time it's happened. We should take it off the rack." Um yeah. You should. My shoulders still hurt. But, I digress...

Because my college reunion and homecoming were the same weekend, we decided to make dessert for the football tailgate. I noticed this cute recipe on Pinterest and decided to test it out. You see, Acorns are our "thing" at Elon (Elon means oak in Hebrew). I've blogged about my love for acorns here before. Fortunately they looked and tasted great. Unfortunately, I left them in my car during the tailgate. But, they were still delicious the next day!

All you need is doughnut holes, nutella, chocolate sprinkles and pretzels - so easy!


More pictures and stories from homecoming to come...

Put a Ring on It

Over the weekend, my two very awesome friends got engaged! I've mentioned Allie & Bradley here before when they came to visit Southern in the City and The Husband last winter. I love these two lovebirds and am so happy for them. {by the way, these pictures remind me that winter is coming, ew}.

Allie & Bradley have been dating since our college days at Elon when Allie and I were roommates our junior and senior year. I have been anxiously awaiting the day when B would put the ring on A. In fact, for the past year whenever Allie called, I would yell across the room to The Husband and say, "It's Allie! She might be engaged!" [kidding, sort of] Well, on Saturday night after just coming home from dinner, my iPhone lit up and the name "Allie" popped up. I did the aforementioned shout to The Husband before picking up. Lo and behold, she said Bradley had proposed to her! "Yes!" It felt like Christmas.

I then proceeded to jump up and down and do the happy dance around the apartment. I've been known to do this on occasions such as this.

Congratulations to the happy couple! I can't wait to celebrate with y'all!

Weekend Updates

For the past few weekends, we've been busy. Quite busy in fact. Since I haven't posted from a couple weekends back, I'll start with my family's visit. We had a great time walking, walking, eating, walking, relaxing, shopping, eating and celebrating Mother's Day. We even caught a late night comedy show (if you can even call it that). The five of us plus a group of questionable ladies and men were the only audience members of the evening. Though the show wasn't funny, the company and experience was. Where else on a Saturday night in NYC can you go and have no crowds?

This past weekend, The Husband and I drove down to DC for a friend's wedding. It was beautiful and fun and my feet are still aching from all the dancing (wish I had taken pictures!). I was also lucky enough to see my best friends from college. When we get together, it's like no time has passed...
...AND I got to meet my cousin's little baby, LG (Laura Gray). She is adorable. Despite the fact that she started crying the moment I held her and stopped the second her mamma took her back, I think she likes me:)



In other news, The Husband and Southern in the City are off to France & Italy on Thursday! More on our trip later...

And the winner is...

I always love watching the Oscars. There's just something about watching movie stars, all dolled-up, reflecting on the past year in film that is very fun to me. Though this year's award show was a bit dull, I loved watching the little guys win - telling their stories of how they did it - and last night there were quite a few of them.

My good friend Dan makes movies. I first met Dan back in 2002. It was late August and our first year of college at Elon. We quickly became close friends and as freshmen were in some of the same communications classes together. He was into movies and I was into PR (well, who is ever really into public relations? It's in the family...but I digress). It didn't take long for me to realize how talented Dan was. Before starting college, Dan and his Ohio friends made a movie which was eventually picked up and played on the college's TV Network.

Fast forward four years and Dan was moving to New York to pursue his film career and I was moving to New York to become a PR girl. Leaving Elon for the last time [I think I cried all the way back to Raleigh], I called Dan and we both talked about how we couldn't believe college was over, how sad we were, but excited for our future. See you in New York, we said.

While Dan and I don't see each other quite as often as I'd like, I know he is out there making movies. Last night, as I watched the Oscars, I imagined Dan one-day, receiving his. Goosebumps.

Check out Dan's next project, The Richard Corman Documentary. Dan needs our help to make it a reality. You can read more about that here or check out Dan's message below.

Good luck, buddy!

"Winter Must Be Cold For Those With No Warm Memories" - An Affair to Remember

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blog readers - I love (luff) y'all!

On this Valentine's Day, I'm feeling a bit tired. Scratch that - very tired. Maybe it's because I stayed up until the wee small hours of the morning both Friday and Saturday laughing so hard my stomach hurt and my eyes watered up. Good friends will do that to you.

As I mentioned last week, we had some very special visitors this past weekend at Hotel Worsham: Lauren (Lo), her man Adam, Gray and her man Eric (Huddy). Lo, Gray, Huddy and I all went to college together and this was the first weekend we got to meet Adam, whom we luff! And speaking of Elon, those who attended would appreciate that in the wee small hours of Saturday morning, we stumbled upon [more or less] Sparks and were able to have a Sparks Challenge. Ah, college.

There is just something about having your friends visit that just fills your soul. They are probably making fun of me for that last sentence but I'm corny and they love that.

So on to the weekend recap...most of our weekend consisted of us yapping (probably about our favorite blogs like Young House Love). The boys asked us what we would do without blogs and we replied, "we have no idea."

Per usual, we took our friends to our favorite sandwich shop in the city, Torrisi Italian Specialities, which I swear gets more delicious each time we go.


After stuffing ourselves, we walked to Park Here (the indoor park that sort of feels like a real park). Although it's not huge, it was quite comfortable so the six of us sprawled out for a bit taking in all the fake bird sounds and fluorescent sunlight. This is a perfect place to take your kids in the cold winter months. They even have free wifi and very clean bathrooms.



Next we walked and talked and walked some more through most of lower Manhattan. There is nothing better than people watching in the city and stumbling upon crazy little stores in the village like this one. Who'd a thought that a whole store could be dedicated funny lines and jokes from The Big Lebowski (The Husband's favorite movie by the way)?

We also checked out Chelsea Market and The Highline Park, ending our trip at the Beer Garden at the Standard Hotel. The Beer Garden was quite the highlight of the weekend, especially with all the beautiful people (models for fashion week, er, I mean my friends). If you're looking for a fun and trendy but not uptight place this is it. It's very comfortable, not too expensive and they even have ping pong. What more could you need?



On Saturday night we visited our favorite local pizza place and attempted to go to Cafe Wha?, which I don't recommend unless you want to pay $60 for a bucket of beer (Wha??) and if you don't like being claustrophobic. I'll just leave it at that.

Oh how I luff my friends. Though I'm tired today, it was sooooo worth it and I miss y'all already.

P.S. If you find a flip phone or a jacket lying around the city, please let Huddy know:)

P.P.S. If you see a "wanted" sign for Gray, please let Gray know:)

Friends in the City Part Deux

I'm a bit late with post, I must admit. With the snow(s) melting away, I thought I'd play catch up from a couple weekends back. Though winter 2011 has been one for the books, it hasn't kept our friends away and I'm happy about that!

Two weekends ago, our friends Liz & Aaron flew up for a visit from VA. Liz & Aaron grew up with James and have been friends for a very very long time. We were both in each other's weddings and when they lived in the city, Liz and I had weekly date nights, which usually involved wine and sappy movies while the boys played darts. Needless to say, we miss them oh so much!

Like many of our weekends, we ate a lot. We took them to our favorite Friday night pizza place, ate lunch at Torissi's (it's a must when you come visit us), toured the new Open House gallery - a 5,000 sqft. indoor park in Soho, got our nails did (the girls not the guys) and celebrated The Husband's birthday. And like all friends' visits, it went by too quickly....here are some pictures from their visit!








Special thanks to Liz for donating some of the photos!