My own personal March Madness

The month of March has been busy, but pretty fantastic if I must say so :) Lots of running/training, girl's nights with new and old besties, and quality time with the hubby. Here are a few pics of what's been happening {outside of St. Patrick's day}...

It's easy to make yourself run with scenery like this at night.

Girl's night at Blush and Brush in Georgetown. 

Pre-Cherry Blossom

Love my Jen time!

Found another fab nail place: Mimosa in Dupont.
Bottomless champagne and affordable mani/pedis- yes please!

Spotted Rick Santorum's tour bus in DC during the primaries.
Not getting my vote, but a cool reminder of how close we are to the action!

My niece turned 6 months old... is she the cutest thing or WHAT??!!! 

Speaking of cute babies- I got to see my boyfriend Brayden!  So in love with him.
Tara is pretty cool, too ;)

Me and Shannon discovered we both loved pucca shell necklaces in college.
We also refuse to take another profile pic for our bank cards.

One of my best friends Kristen got MARRIED!!! Isn't she pretty?

College roomies! RP207 holla.

Sistas for life ;) Such a fun day!

Thanks to a layover in Dallas, I enjoyed 2 large bowls of salsa from Pappasito's.
Texas people- you don't know how good you have it!

I found time to cook a few good meals of my own, too :) 

Mimi's Chicken, Sausage, and Seafood Gumbo- recipe to follow 

Beginnings of Slow Cooker Latin Chicken with Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes
**I added a few ingredients to spice it up a little- see below!

Swapped green chiles for roasted red pepper, added 2 tbsp of Cholula hot sauce, used 1 tbsp of ancho chile powder, and rubbed the chicken with Bobby Flay's 16 Spice Rub, recipe shown.  I swear by this rub- it goes with everything!

16 Spice Rubbed Porkchops with Mango Kiwi Salsa {Recipe for rub shown above}
Roasted corn with Queso, Cilantro, and Chile {Thank you Pinterest!}
*One of Mr. Smith's new favorite sides

The next recipe I want to tackle is another brunch favorite: Eggs Benedict. I bought an egg poacher gadget thingy and am attempting to make it tomorrow night. If you have any tips for poaching, I'm all ears.

I think that just about catches me up for what's been happening. Off to bed for this gal! Sweet dreams :)

St. Paddy's Recap

Hello there! For starters, sorry I've been MIA these last few weeks. Between running, traveling, and work, I chose to spend my downtime cuddled with Mr. Smith vs. huddled in front of the computer. No offense ;) 

St. Patrick's Day is always one of my favorite holidays. I love to celebrate the fact that I'm 1/32 part Irish by dressing up in ridiculous costumes and downing Irish Carbombs. Who doesn't?

We kicked the party off a little early this year with the Leprechaun Lap the first weekend of March. It's a pub crawl that takes you all over DC to favorites like Sign of the Whale, McFaddens, Mad Hatter. I only managed to snap a few pics, but we had a blast as usual.

To continue the Gaelic festivities, last Tuesday we attended the DC Guinness Pouring Contest at Fado in DC. Eoghain competed against 25 other bartenders from Irish pubs in the area to see who could 1) pour the "Perfect Pint" and 2) create the best Guinness freestyle drink. It was like Iron Chef, only the language was foul and the spectators got to sample the products throughout. We strategically posted up by the judges, therefore got several complementary pints ;) Much to our delight, Eoghain won! He's the 2012 Guinness Pouring Champion and has the trophy to prove it.

4 judges: 2 work for Guinness. They were intense!

Mayors of P Brennans, current and former. 

A "perfect pint"

One freestyle pour- cut a hole near the pee pee of the statue,
run a hose through it, fill 4 pints. 

Eoghain's freestyle: Red Velvet Cupcake Shot. 

Cake Vodka, grenadine, Guinness, whipcream topper.
Delicious! 

Crowning the victor

#1 Fans

Next, we went to an Irish Whiskey tasting Thursday evening at P Brennan's. This is the 4th tasting we've done there and we love them! It's a great way to learn about the history of the brands, what actually goes into making them, and discover something other than "the usual". {Hint, hint: there are other types of Irish Whiskey besides Jameson!} I didn't get many pics of the evening, this one was much more low key for me since I had the half marathon only 2 days after. I was a good girl and went home at 9:00 :)

My favorite was Redbreast {top right bottle} with 2 ice cubes. Has a good caramel flavor.

 And finally... St. Paddy's day arrives! Half marathon time!

Chaotic metro ride there... packed wall to wall with anxious runners. 

Me + Blair = shoe twins!! I also bought us matching Double T running charms to add some bling. Aren't we cute?? 

Holding steady at mile 6.
Me: "BABE! Come grab my tutu! This thing sucks!" And he did :) 

Slow and steady doesn't win the race. It finishes. Good enough for me!
Me crossing the 13.1 line {in the white hat} 

Proud hubby

Running buddies!

The run was a lot harder than I expected. I feel like we were prepared for the distance, but not for the surprise "hills" on the course. We went through several tunnels and under bridges. And what goes downhill must come uphill-- no fun! But overall, the weather was awesome, the spectators and bands kept it lively and fun... it was a great experience. I can definitely say I would do one again!

After the race, we showered/rested up, then headed to P Brennan's for some real St. Paddy's day festivities. 

Red Velvet Cupcake Shots {duh}

WTH 

Love my silly hubs

Running buddies post-shower. Yes I wore my medal out. I earned it!!!

My Austin, TX thrift store shirt... it's the truth! 

Easy, Kyle. You're scaring the kids.

I didn't last much longer... we were home and asleep around 8:30 pm. I guess that's what happens when you get old. And there you have it!

I have a ton of updates and some fun chicken, pork, and gumbo recipes to share from March. Stay tuned...

13.1... Here I come!

Well folks... tomorrow is the big day!!! Hopefully around 10:00 am, I'll cross the Rock and Roll Half Marathon off of my bucket list. Green tutu and all. 

Send good thoughts my way tomorrow morning-- I'll need them!! See you at the finish line :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

First and Foremost: Happy Oscars Night! I don't know about you, but my favorite part is always the red carpet. The winner? Brangelia. Hats off for always stealing the show. She makes pale look sexy, and he makes long hair non-creepy.

I want to be a non-scandalous version of them when I grow up.

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was nice and low key. Friday, I rewarded my awesome week of workouts by indulging in Five Guys...

No cheese or mayo makes it ok, right? 

Later that night, Brittany and I grabbed some dinner & wine at Twisted Vines  while our boys ran wild in the streets of enjoyed a relaxing night in Baltimore for a Bachelor Party. Girl time is always welcome and appreciated... we made the most of it :)

Picture sent circa 11:00 pm to the boys saying "Look how much fun we are having!"

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early for my Training Trio's run. We met at 8:00 am at Roosevelt Island in D.C... and just our luck... it started snowing just as we were getting ready to take off. 

Me no likey. 

We camped out in the car until 8:30, and magically, the clouds blew through and the sun finally made an appearance. Game on!! However, we soon learned that the random weather passing through quickly wasn't an accident... the wind was out of control.

We embarked on an hour and a half torturous run through some of the heaviest winds I've ever encountered. The first 4 miles out was great... the last 4.5 back we faced consistent 20+ mph headwinds with gusts up to 35 mph.

I can say with certainty that this was one of the hardest physical tests I've endured in my 28 years of living. And that's a bold statement- I've ridden a bike 160 miles in 2 days and completed a sprint triathlon.... I feel like this was worse. I got through for 2 reasons: My bad ass iPod mix and some great running partners. Elliott and Blair were very sweet and patient with me... they stopped so I could catch my breath a few times and never cussed at me out loud. {Internally, I'm sure it was a different story}. I'm confident that after our windy 8.5 mile zinger, next weekend's 10 miler should be much easier {and hopefully wind free}.

I spent the rest of the day in the fetal position on the couch. Mr. Smith and I definitely clocked at least 13 hours of sleep From Saturday-Sunday.

Today, we went to brunch at Founding Farmers in DC for my friend Mattie's birthday. I'd heard great things, so I was so excited to finally have a reason to go! It's a farm fresh organic restaurant with a modern twist. The menu has a heavy New Orleans influence, and everything is made in-house. They're known for their cocktails, eggs benedict, and chicken and waffles. 

Now THAT is a bloody mary. 

Birthday girl with her new bracelet, scarf, and tulips :)

Gin fizz.

Eggs Benedict Arnold with Sausage and Black Pepper Cream Gravy , Side of grits

Classic Eggs Benedict, Side of fruit

This place certainly deserves the hype... everything was delicious! Our favorite part was the hot sauce basted bacon {which we ate too fast, couldn't snap a pic}. We will definitely be back!

We spent the rest of today running errands and cleaning. I'm happy to report that we finally took down the christmas tree. Yes... it was still up. Until 5pm tonight. Next year, we decided to get a real tree so we have no excuse to leave it up for 2 months. It's a great conversation piece, though!

Now that the Oscars are over and I don't know any of the people/films that won besides The Help, we are hitting the sack. Sweet dreams!