Distance makes the heart grow fonder!

Hello friends, I have spent far too many months away, but I am happy to report that I'm back (hopefully more consistently this time around). A lot has happened over the past few months, at least it seems that way. So I'll try to keep the reminiscing brief.
I guess I should start where I left off many, many months ago (I can't believe it has been since March). Well, I did it! I completed my very first half-marathon...13.1 miles! Nashville was amazing and I had a blast with my Team in Training group. I fell in love with that city. Definitely loved seeing the bands playing on every corner, in every bar, and pretty much every mile of the race. Speaking of, the race itself was great and not so great all at the same time. My time was about 2:15, wayy more than any of my team runs and my training paces. With that said, I was so proud of my accomplishment,  but was very disappointed as well. The temperature reached about 90 degrees  (RIDICULOUSLY HOT) and there was full sun exposure. While training we never hit temps over 60! It was a killer to say the least, but I still have the desire to run more races. After the half, my motivation has been kind of sporadic, mostly because I find myself with limited time, but I'm working through it.
So moving on, in May, Dan and I took an absolutely amazing trip to Europe (my very first European vacation) , London and Edinburgh to be exact ("Hey look kids, there's Big Ben" - name that movie). There was just so much to take in. We ventured around all the main sites in London and then some, Big Ben, Tower of London, the London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Queen's Rose Gardens... you name it, we saw it. I think scones might be my new favorite thing in the world.We even threw in a day trip to Stonehenge...BEYOND AMAZING! This tour allows access to the henge after hours, and also lets you walk around and inside the henge (you can't do this without taking a day guided tour so I highly recommend it). While in London, we also got tickets to see Wicked. LOVED IT! I think London itself might be the most amazing place to see a show.
The latter half of our trip was spent in Edinburgh, which was just beautiful. I truly loved everything about Scotland. Edinburgh was much more of a historic European city, unlike London which was more like the European version on New York City. The Edinburgh castle was so grand and magnificent. We spent most of our time exploring the various areas of the city, there was something new and beautiful around every corner. We actually hiked up to Aurther's Seat which is located next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse - the Queen's Scotish vacation home, she was actually hosting a party there during our visit! And no we were a not invited
:( Once at the top of Aurther's Seat, we experienced the most amazing views of the city and beyond. Probably my most favorite memory! From Edinburgh we took a day trip to Loch Ness. The actual trip through the country made this so completely worth it. One side on the road would be lochs (lakes) while the other would be mountains, pure beauty. We didn't get to Nessie, but we did see some pretty cool Harry Potter locations along the way ;)

The summer was filled with weekends at the Lake and a trip home to Buffalo. During this time, I also got a new boss at work, so the summer was not as relaxing as one would hope. The craziness has continued into the fall and this, I think, has been the busiest time of my life. I have spent only about one full weekend at home in Charlotte since the summer (umm, we're now December just to remind you all). We've been back and forth to Clemson most of the time...Go Tigers, but more importantly ROLL TIDE, ROLL! I was able to go home to Buffalo twice, but sadly, one of those weekends was for my Aunt Ruthie's funeral. I still cannot believe she is no longer here with us, especially now during the holidays. It's brings tears to my eyes to think about. I'm trying to keep up some of her holiday traditions, so her memory will be with us all. She lost her battle with cancer at the end of September, and in her memory I have decided to participate in another season with Team in Training, this time as a Mentor. We start training in January, so there will be more to come in the future. Training will take up most of my focus in the spring as I plan to participate in the Disney Princess Half Marathon in March, and the Rock n' Roll Seattle Full Marathon in June. A FULL 26.2 Miles! REALLY, what am I thinking! I really am so excited to get back to training with my TNT family. I have truly missed all their beautiful faces and warm hearts.
As for the present day, I just spent the past weekend in Charleston with Lacey, a true girls weekend. We drank some wine, visited the Drayton Hall plantation, shopped on King Street of course, and took a night ghost tour of the Old City Jail.... CREEPY... annnnnnnnd went to the cutest Cupcake shop around.
I'm now looking forward to some much needed time at home in Buffalo with my family, which starts this weekend.


Now that I have caught everyone up, back to work I must go, but I do plan to be back! Happy Monday to you all!