Artsplosure!

Saturday was Artsplosure again in downtown Raleigh. I love seeing artists from North Carolina (and other areas in the South) with their booths set up all around Moore Square.

When I walked through the center of Moore Square, I saw a collection of painted trash cans. I immediately recognized the one that was done by artist Keith Norval. I have been a fan of his for probably as long as I have lived in Raleigh and first saw his work in Artspace. His characters are fun animals with bright colors, which is right up my alley.

Keith Norval's can-vas

Anyways, I found out more about this movement in Wake County and it's called 86 it: Respect the can. Many artists (86, actually, I think) painted cans and they're going to be distributed around Raleigh. It's supposed to attract people (aka litterers) to the cans. I really hope they put one on Hargett Street by the bars near my building. You cannot imagine how many cigarette butts I see on the ground every day.

Respect the can.

After seeing Norval's work, we decided to walk to his studio in Artspace. Outside, is the (temporary - they paint over them every couple months) mural he painted. Enjoy!

Keith Norval's mural

Happy Earth Day!

I'm pretty Earth-focused every day, but it's fun to have a day dedicated to loving and serving the Earth. I hope some people choose to continue doing the things they do once a year (coffee in a reusable mug, for example) as often as they can.


I just downloaded a cool app for my iPhone called Locavore. It's normally $2.99, and it tells you what's in season in your state and where you can buy local food and share recipes, but today it's FREE!

Here's also a fun video (made by the talented Russell) from Mother Nature Network to celebrate Earth Day.

Boylan Bridge beer flights and best in the Triangle?

For the month of March, I've been voting in the Triangle Arts & Entertainment's poll for what I think is the "Best Brew in the Triangle." For the most part, I pick Big Boss Brewing Company because I love a lot of their beers (Blanco Diablo, Aces & Ates and Brown Betty, to name a few) and they also host cool parties at their brewery (such as the "Who's Your Paddy?" gathering I went to last night). They get a bunch of food trucks, such as the delicious Klausie's Pizza, to park in their lot and have bands playing in the warehouse and have the taps pouring out $3.50 pints. It's a good time.


There are 14 breweries listed on the poll, and I think I've tried 9 of them (but most I don't remember what I thought about their beers and only 3 of those 9 have I had recently). The leader in the poll is Aviator, and while I've only had 2 of their beers and I really really liked them, I want to try more before I vote them the best. Though I'm not really convinced I think it's the best, I do really like the beers from the Boylan Bridge Brewpub. I've voted for them a couple times, too, just to put them on the board.


Speaking of the BBB, I had a LivingSocial deal, which included a free flight of their beers, and I took advantage of it with J yesterday for lunch because the weather was nice enough to sit outside (and I know their porch will soon explode with people, especially on the weekends).

Beer flights

What we ordered: Crab Dip and Bacon Wrapped BBQ Shrimp to start. The dip was our favorite out of the two starters and is something I'd order again. J went with the Spicy Chicken Philly he already knew he really liked, and I tried their $5 sandwich of the day, which was fried catfish. I of course had to trade chips for sweet potato fries because they are so good there, and they serve them in a little paper bag, which is just too cute.

Fried catfish sandwich

If you want to vote for your favorite Triangle beer, the poll closes March 31. You can vote once a day!

nOg Run Club

Monday night might be my new favorite thing!


Months ago I heard about a running club that met every week at the Irish pub Tir na nOg (where the race I ran two weekends ago was). I've seen runners wearing run club shirts at local races and read about the club on my local running store's e-newsletter, but I never actually got my stuff together to go.

Anyways, two Mondays ago I finally buckled down and went with my friend Jen. I feel like taking that first step to doing something can be so difficult sometimes (even when the thing you're wanting to do is so easy) but once you do it once, you open the floodgates.


Last night I went back without Jen (sadly she had to work) but metup with three other people. We went on a nice 3 mile run (even nicer with the daylight savings time in our favor for an evening run) and then played trivia while enjoying the $1 pasta & salad and beer specials.


While our team didn't win, we were actually right in the middle of the pack, so there's much room for improvement while also not thinking too badly about ourselves, haha. There were  a lot of St. Patrick's Day questions that nobody knew, so maybe a week when it's more general we'd have a better chance.


Regardless of how we do in trivia, I'm so excited to be a member of an actual running club now! Eight more runs and I get that free club shirt, too.

St. Patty's Run Green 8K

Saturday afternoon I ran this super fun 8K in downtown Raleigh. It started at Tir na nOg Irish Pub, which also hosts a running club every Monday night. The race was great because it was at 3 p.m., and I could walk to the starting line from my apartment!

I was really excited because I had recruited some friends to run with me and had everyone meet at my place to walk. I think because I was with other people I was distracted while leaving and didn't realize I didn't have my Garmin or my iShuffle until we got to the race. I was treating this as a fun run at the end of marathon training, but I still wanted that Garmin to pace myself (and good thing. I didn't see one mile marker the entire race, but I know they were there). I ended up running back to my place 10 minutes before the start and realized I was going to be way too hot in the top I was wearing, so I also changed clothes really quickly.

I made it back to the start soon enough and crossed 2 minutes after the gun so I was back with families with strollers. It was fine, but it was a lot of weaving at the beginning. The race flew by for me I think because I was looking for my friends the whole time. I never found them, but somewhere along the line I must have passed one of them. Obviously by the name of the race this was a St. Patrick's Day run, but I was still shocked at the number of people wearing green!! I was decked out in full Carolina blue in preparation for that night's game versus Duke, which was amazing, by the way. GO HEELS!!

Anyways, I felt really strong the entire race. There were a lot of uphills, but they were pretty tame compared the ones I run on my normal routes. The best part was my knee didn't hurt!!! I don't know if that's because it knew it was "go time" or what... but I'll take it!!!

I crossed the finish in 44:25 which isn't a PR, but I wasn't going for one. My goal was to do the race in less than 45 minutes so yay. It blows my mind to think that in just three weeks I will have run 5 times what I ran Saturday (plus an extra 1.2 miles)!

The after party was so much fun! Race participants got a free pint glass and a beer from the local brewery Natty Green's (I think I drank Wildflower... they had several to choose from), which was quite refreshing. I missed the memo that we were all meeting at a certain spot after the race, so I went straight for the beer line when I finished before meeting up with my friends (below):

While we were hanging around, Ryan saw a booth for Shoes for Soles. You donate shoes and they go to someone in need. He wanted the T-shirt they give you for donating thinking it said something like "I love shots" (for St. Patty's Day celebrations was his train of thought there) when it really says "I love shoes." What an unpleasant surprise for him because he had to walk home barefoot!

Anyways, I hadn't run a race since Thanksgiving (it was directed by the same people, actually, for MS) and I always forget how much fun they are! I'm really looking forward to my marathon now.

Eating out at Capital Club 16

Last night I ate dinner with my parents at Capital Club 16, and we will all definitely be back. (Seriously, we're going back in a couple weeks for my dad's birthday!)


I'd mentally put CC16 on my list of places to check out because it's a restaurant downtown that I'd walked by several times and always thought it looked cool. My parents had actually eaten dinner there a week or so ago, and they wanted to introduce it to me as well. The bar and chairs in the restaurant have a really cool story to them. They come from a restaurant in New York City (I can't remember the name), where my dad and granddad used to eat together when he was growing up. The owner and chef of CC16 moved to Raleigh from NYC and brought these pieces from warehouses up north. My dad was so excited to see them again! They're pretty deco and go well against the open white-wall feel of the rest of the space.


Anyways, we were actually the first to arrive for dinner, so I picked the table right in the window. I love people watching. I enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay while my mom opted for Big Boss Brewery's Aces and Ates. I was pretty excited when she ordered it so I could have a sip (it's a heavy stout - think Guinness) because Big Boss is a great Raleigh brewery, and I desperately wanted to try that beer, but not with my dinner! It's brewed with Larry's Beans, which is a local fair trade and organic coffee company. I've bought his espresso beans from Whole Foods and man oh man is it a good roast! I can't get it every time because it's a little pricey (you get what you pay for, though: fair trade organic beans) but it's so worth it when I can.


We all started with the roasted vegetable soup (yumm) and also got a bread basket with German pretzels (double yumm). Dad then got the potato cakes with applesauce, and I got a Caesar salad. It may have been the best Caesar salad I have ever had. They definitely make their own dressing and croutons in house. It was just so delicious. For our entrees, we all ordered the special, which was NC trout in a cream sauce with spinach and cherry tomatoes over black rice. The trout was cooked really well (overdone fish makes me sad) and the cream sauce was so good (but I wanted a little more to mix with my rice). Then for dessert, Dad got the chocolate bread pudding, and Mom and I shared some apple blintzes (basically fried apples I think) in a vanilla sauce with vanilla ice cream. What a delicious meal! Though we were the only people in the restaurant when we ordered, it was packed when we left.


Like I said, we will definitely be back for my dad's birthday (and then some). Granddad will actually be in town, so he'll get to see that bar and those chairs from New York! I'm happy I can cross off a place I wanted to go from my list.

Photo: NewRaleigh.com