Savannah Bucket List

There are like a million pros and cons to living in a place that people love to vacation in.  One of the pros is that at any time, you can do a staycation and not even have to pay for a hotel (even though it's more fun to stay downtown, it's way cheaper to just pay for parking and come home to a cute puppy!)  Since we dropped the ball on going out of town and gas costs 4 bucks a gallon anyways, we decided to make a bucket list of things to do in Savannah and try and do them all with the money we wouldn't be spending on a hotel and gas.  Here's our list:

Yesterday morning, we took Jake to the dog park first thing and got him plum tuckered out since he'd be alone for more than a few hours.  He has a bff named Lucius that seems to be there when we're there most of the time and they have a ball.  Yesterday, it was a ball over a blue squeaky ball.  Jake ended up victorious...

He likes to close his eyes when I take pictures of him. It's like he knows exactly when I'm taking them. Anyways, we ventured out after that and found the best parking in Savannah.  10 hours for 3 dollars! It wasn't even far from everything! 

We decided our first stop would be the Temple Mickve Israel.  This place is in my favorite square (Monterey) and we go by it pretty much every time we go downtown.  I didn't even know they did tours til I went on TripAdvisor after a Saturday night fiasco with a "haunted tour".  We learned so much about this great place and the women there that run the tours are amazing!  I also learned a thing or two about Judaism which was cool.  Here are a few pictures:

Our second stop was to have tea at the Gryphon Tea Room.  We decided instead of doing high tea, we thought we'd just share a pot and have some dessert for a mid afternoon snack.  The hostess, who turned into our waitress, was really nice and informative on the different teas and desserts.  We had a lovely time relaxing and people watching.  

One lump, or two?

Pinkies out!

Cute way of presenting the check

Beautiful Building the Gryphon is in

After that, we hopped on a pedicab and took a 30 minute tour of the city.  Our bike driver was cool, I couldn't hear half the things he was saying because he was facing away from us and paying attention to traffic. (which is good!) But it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the perfectly awesome day we'd had.  

We ended the day with a trip to Isle of Hope where Hubs helped FIL with pressure washing the boat while Jake and I took a leisurely run through the neighborhood.  Jake was a little bit of a brat, but we had fun nonetheless.  

How can you not smile at this picture?

Running Gracie 2.0

So, I'm doing a blog revamp.


As in, I'm completely starting a new blog since I am no longer a bride, but a newlywed. I didn't run away as the previous blog may have led you to believe, I love Hubs. Never had any intention of running away from him!

Happiest Day of my Life

Eventually, I won't even be a newlywed. I'll be an old married woman, but for now I'd like to remember us hot and awesome like the above photo.  So even though I've moved on from wedding planning and getting excited about color schemes and lanterns...

I'm still running. 

It is, in fact, the one constant "me" thing in my life.  Whenever I feel like the world is crashing down in one way or another, I go for a run and even if it is the worst run ever, I still feel like I at least did myself a solid by working it out.  Nothing says "I feel better" like "I am a sweaty stinky mess".  I also have a little more motivation in the form of this guy...

Cutest 

We got Jake in August, before the wedding because I wasn't giving up til we got a dog. I had a half marathon to train for and needed someone to run with. I couldn't pay 25 bucks and join a running group, I had to have a dog (which costs a bit more!)  And he's worth every penny. The dog was made to run with me. He doesn't pull (much) and he has a great pace. He did help me through the half marathon training and we had our differences every once in awhile (usually around mile 4) but we made it.  

That was all in 2011.  2012 is the year of the marathon. I know, you've heard it all before but here's why things are different this year:

1. I've lost about 25 pounds and hope to lose another 10 before the "serious" training begins so injuries will be less prone to happening. 

        a. Starting April 1st, I'm kickstarting my nutritional challenge. No alcohol and mainly non-processed  foods. I say mainly because, let's be honest, it's really hard to not eat processed foods. I'm planning on cutting back on the sugar and bad fat intake.

2. I joined the $25/year running club in Savannah so that I can meet some people who enjoy running (cause Hubs certainly doesn't) and have people who hold me accountable through the summer when I really don't want to run at 5 in the morning. You should check them out, they are called Savannah Striders and while I have yet to go on a group run with them, I've already received a welcome email that made me feel very welcome.

3. I've done a half marathon. I know another 13.1 miles is A LOT, but I at least know what it's like to run for multiple hours. And I kinda like it. 

4. I'm running for a cause. At first, I was just going to sign up so that I had people who held me accountable for training.  If people are contributing to a cause I'm advocating for, a 20 mile run wouldn't seem so horrible.  However, autism is something that has affected my life in profound and unexpected ways and while putting together my donation page, something in me clicked. I'm doing this for Olivia and Eli and every other family who may or may not have the resources to live with this diagnosis.  Here's my personal website to check out my story and maybe you can help contribute! Team Elivia, see what I did there with the names? I'm pretty clever.

So, welcome to the new blog. Running Gracie 2.0.  The girl that does races for the t-shirts. And my health. First up, the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston this Saturday! I'll have an entry tomorrow for the expo. I'm super excited to be in a race with 39,999 other people.