Fun With Emily :)

A few weeks ago, one of my best friends came to visit me in Lexington.  Emily was my big sister in my sorority, and she and I were always close throughout college.  We became even closer in law school.  She lives in Cincinnati, so while up in NKY, she was always the person I'd hang out with to escape the pressure and stress of law school.  I love living in Lexington, but I was sad to leave the Cincinnati area because I knew I'd see less of Emily.  So lately we decided we have to do a better job at staying in touch.  She called a few weeks ago and told me she had a free weekend.  It just so happened that I also had a free weekend, so we decided that Emily would come to Lexington for the weekend. 

I love Lexington and Central Kentucky, so I was excited to plan some fun activities for Emily and I.  It was a chance to show her things I like to do but also explore some new things I had been putting off.  Emily is a great adventure partner.  She's up for anything and is always a good person to have along for the ride!  I was so happy that she came to visit, Sunday came too soon. 

She arrived on Friday around 6 pm, so we loaded up a blanket in the car and headed to Elk Creek Winery.  I had bought us some Groupon tickets to have a picnic dinner and watch a Beatles tribute band.  It was the perfect evening, kind of cool actually.  We bought a bottle of wine, ate some delicious sandwiches, caught up on life, and danced into the night to some groovy Beatles songs.  

At Elk Creek Winery.  Reunited and loving it!

On Saturday, we had a full day.  I had already signed up to run my first 5K in Louisville, so when Emily decided to come down, she decided she would run it with me.  Before leaving for Louisville, we walked around downtown Lexington at the Farmer's Market.  We enjoyed some veggie and ham crepes and then indulged in some "Crank and Boom" ice cream.  If you haven't tried this stuff, it's amazing, but you will seriously become addicted.  We then left for Frankfort, which was our mid-way stop before Louisville.  My little Blair lives in Frankfort, and it's always a good time when our Phi Mu "family" gets to hang out, plus Blair had not seen Emily in forever, so she was anxious to catch up.  Blair just bought a new house, so we stopped by, got the tour, and sat around with her catching up.  We decided to eat at Panera before heading to Louisville so we could have some food in our stomach, but nothing to heavy.  After leaving Panera, Emily and I headed to our 5K.  We were excited, but nervous as neither of us had ever ran 3.1 miles straight through.  We decided we were going to run as far and as much as we could, but overall it was just for the fun experience.  

The GloGo5K was awesome.  We got all kinds of crazy glow gear to wear.  Our heat started at 9:20 pm.  It was an amazing run.  The sun was setting over the Ohio River, it was cool outside, the adrenaline was pumping.  All of the elements combined for an incredible race.  Plus, it was fun to see everyone glowing in the dark.  I am proud of report that we ran the entire race!  And it was easy.  I had been running for a few weeks, one to two miles here and there.  But it felt great to run straight into the after party, knowing we had completed it in good time and without stopping to walk!  Talk about some awesome endorphins.  Below are some pictures from the race! 

It was hard to be cool in the glasses, so we opted for some goofy, nerdy pictures as we waited.

Woohoo.  3.1 in the books.  We rock!

The GloGo After Party with drinks, foods, and dancing!

The only was to indulge after a race is by a celebratory donut right?  I had a peanut butter glazed donut with Oreo topping (pictured left) and Emily had a marshmallow glazed donut also with Oreo topping.  It was so good, I literally caught Emily licking the wrapping after eating the donut.  Such a great reward! 

On Sunday, we woke up and went to church at Southland for their late service.  The service was amazing and refreshing.  After church, we decided to cook a homemade lunch and enjoy it on my patio since the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  We fixed grilled salmon, sautéed brussels sprouts, and fresh corn on the cob.  We washed it down with some yummy Blood Orange Italian Soda....yum yum.  After that we decided to go for a walk.  We walked to all the cute little parks downtown, Gratz Park, Triangle Park, Thoroughbred Park, past the Kentucky theatre, and all the gorgeous old historical homes. We even stumbled upon Henry Clay's old law office which I had never seen before.  It's awesome to be a tourist in your own city sometimes.  I then took Emily to my new favorite Lexington spot, a cute coffee shop called "Cup of Common Wealth."  If you haven't tried this place, you are missing out.  They have the best iced vanilla latte, sometimes I go there to sit outside on a table, sip the cool drink, and read a book....talk about relaxing.   After leaving the coffee shop, Emily and I perused Half Price Books for some bargain books, which both of use agreed we didn't need any books, but there is just something about the search for the next best book you've ever read.  So we went anyways, and had a great time just browsing.  I found a Shaun Neiquist book I had been wanted to read.  Shauna Neiquist is the author of "Bread and Wine."  She is also going to be with Donald Miller at the Storyline Conference I am attending in Nashville in October.  If you haven't read her, you should.  Emily found a cute $5 book which was fictional story that involved a bake shop.  Emily loves to bake, so the cover caught her attention.

So excited to dig into my delicious meal! 

Emily was about to try brussels sprouts for the first time.  She loved them :)

Famous little spot in downtown Lexington.

Iced vanilla latte for me.  Iced chai tea for Emily.  A perfect drink for a perfect afternoon.

Emily and I were sad to say goodbye.  But we've already got two more weekends planned, well three actually.  In August, I am going to Cincinnati for the weekend to explore and run in the Color Run.  She will come back to Lexington in September, and I think we are going to do a bourbon distillery tour then the Old Kentucky Dinner Train.  THEN, we decided to run our first half marathon together.  So we are currently training to run the half November 10 in Louisville.  It will be great to accomplish such an awesome thing together.  I'm happy to have a wonderful friend who participates in all my crazy ideas and adventures with me!