Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Last Few Days

Yesterday was a fairly simple day, one of my favorite kinds that can only exist during summer, winter, or spring breaks from school.  I got up around 8 and took a 2 mile walk - having run my long run (4 miles at this point in the training) on Sunday I wasn't supposed to run but instead "stretch and strengthen."  I was fairly lazy most of the day, just laying around and reading vast amounts of the 7th Harry Potter book.  I decided to go to ballet because it is, after all, stretching and strengthening, and then Mat came over for dinner and we read a little more (I finished the book) and watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica.  Yes, he's gotten me into it.  *sigh*

Today was a 3 mile run and it felt pretty awful.  I felt sluggish and stiff and like I couldn't get my legs off the ground. However, I stuck with it and did not walk.  I did not stop.  I ran, however slowly, the entire 3 miles despite feeling like crap.

I will never figure out how a 3 mile run was more tiring and painful than the 4 mile run of two days prior.

Then, around 10:30 this morning, Mat and I left for the beach.  It was a great day for it, and the water wasn't too all that cold.  Like for our engagement photos on Friday night, we went to Corona del Mar.  I absolutely love that beach - it's small, not too big of waves, gorgeous houses, and it's where we always went when I was a kid.  Then we came home and I was absolutely pooped.

And speaking of engagement photos at Corona del Mar, here are the 9 sneak peek photos that were posted to Facebook on Sunday:









Sunday, July 24, 2011

Interesting, and Comforting, Information

*If you're a guy or squeamish about girl topics in any way, I suggest skipping this post*

I've started reading several healthy living blogs.  I found on one of the women's blogs an entry about not getting her period even though she was on birth control.  And, she was "healthy as a horse" according to her doctor.  When I read that, I thought, "No way!  Excellent, I'm not the only one whose body freaks out despite the pill!"  Technically this hasn't happened, but I have been on the pill since October and have still had some weird periods, so obviously my body is still whacked out.

I'm supposed to start my period today-ish.  By today-ish, I mean anytime in the next day or so.  Usually, I start the 4 placebo pills on a Sunday but don't see much of anything til around Monday night.  Sometimes it's been later than that, sometimes right on target, and a couple of times I would spot for about a week before the placebos and continue spotting through the placebo days and never get a full-blown "regular" period.

Will I start today-ish?  I have no idea.  I think I remember some mild cramping about a week ago, which has happened before.  Last month was one of those weird spotting months, and I've been steadily increasing my running over the last month too.  I haven't necessarily increased my exercise, but I suppose the change in the kind of exercise and the constant cardio could have something to do with it.

In any case, I then did some googling and found this.  It made me feel a lot better, because at least there's some sort of research (at least, I assume this article is based on research) saying that women can indeed skip a period even on birth control when they aren't pregnant.  Since I need to call my gynecologist for that lovely yearly appointment anyway, I plan to ask about this and see what happens.  In the meantime, I really like knowing I'm not the only one dealing with this stuff.

Friday, July 22, 2011

A DJ and a Photo Shoot

Today I called the DJ we met with about a week and a half ago to say that yes, we did want to hire him.  Now I just need to print and sign the contract and send in a deposit!

Tonight we had our engagement photo shoot down at Corona Del Mar.  It was so fun!  Our photographers are awesome and came up with really creative poses.  And, of course, we're super cute and photogenic too.  :)

I can't wait for our pictures to be ready!

I still have no idea which dress I want.  Or if I should look again.  AHHH...

One of these days I should blog about food like I've been meaning to do.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Wedding Dress!

Yesterday my mom and sister and I went shopping for my wedding dress.  We started out with a 10 am appointment at The Dresser, a bridal boutique in downtown Fullerton.  I found 3 possibilities there, with 1 standing out significantly.  Naturally, the one that stands out significantly is over budget.  But no matter.

After a somewhat random grocery shopping trip at Trader Joe's (my mom had brought an ice chest so the cold stuff wouldn't spoil in the car - seriously),  we had lunch at Alicia's in Brea.  Yummy food and all of it fresh.

Then we went to a 3 pm appointment at Alfred Angelo in Brea.  This store was not a boutique, but it wasn't quite as "chain store" as David's Bridal is.  Here I also found a couple that are possibilities, with 1 standing out significantly again.  This one is not over budget, but it also is not as nice of a dress as the one I found in downtown Fullerton.

The problem with most of the dresses I tried on was that they were all around a size 10.  I'm a size 2.  Or 0.  Or something.  Basically, really small.  So that makes it hard to tell.  And the two dresses are very similar, but the skirts are different.  I can't decide.  And I can't decide if I want to go to another store and see what's there.

Sorry, no pictures of any of this.  We were allowed to take them which is very helpful (or very annoying because all I end up doing is staring at them on my computer and coming to no conclusion at all), but I'm not posting anything because I don't want Mat to see anything until I'm walking down the aisle.

But that's my dilemma.  Oh, my life is so hard! :)

On another note, I ran three miles again today.  And it was easier than the first time.  :)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Could I Be Lactose Intolerant?

I first noticed something weird a few weeks ago, shortly after my parents left for Europe.  I would get an annoying stomach pain, sort of on the left side, which is where I usually get such pains.  It was sort of a combination of so hungry your stomach feels like it's going to eat itself and bloatedness.  I've found that those two symptoms often occur together, particularly when I feel that hungry and can't or am not able to eat right away.  I couldn't figure out why, after eating as much or perhaps even MORE than usual by 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I was feeling so...hungry?  Bloated?  Both?

One theory was that during the school year I was really really stressed and therefore my body was "holding on" to food more.  This theory was based on the common yet depressing knowledge that while stressed, your body retains fat.  Now that it's summer, perhaps my metabolism was going back to what it used to be and burning more calories and therefore I was more hungry.

But the bloated thing just didn't compute.  Then I thought, wait a second, having too much dairy can cause these symptoms.  Even people who aren't technically lactose intolerant can have icky symptoms from too much dairy.

So, on Sunday, I had no dairy at all.  No milk, no cottage cheese with yogurt and berries and granola and honey (tear), no nothing.  Well, unless you count the tiny bit of milk that was in the salad dressing and the tiny bit of milk in the filling of the sliver of cake I had.

And lo and behold: no symptoms!

Yesterday, a repeat of Sunday.  No dairy except for a little bit of cheese in the enchiladas we had for dinner, and that was accidental because I totally forgot that enchiladas have cheese (don't ask).  No real symptoms.

So, we shall see.  At least one more day after today of no dairy and then I'll try it again, probably on Thursday.  I read that it is not uncommon for lactose intolerance to suddenly happen to adults.  Fortunately, if I do find that dairy is what's making me feel icky, it's not a bad case.  That's good, because if I ever had to give up pizza and ice cream and other such delicious items, I would cry.

Oh yeah, and I ran 3 miles for the first time EVER today. :-D

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Whale Watching, or Seeing Dolphins as it Turned Out

Yesterday, down in Newport Beach, Mat and I went whale watching.  This was his birthday gift from me (his 26th birthday was on Friday) and he was SOOO excited.  Like little kid excited.  We got down there early because of parking issues and such, and he seriously was like a 5 year old.  It was funny and adorable.

We didn't get to see any big whales, but we saw quite a few common dolphins (that are actually considered whales) on the way back into the harbor.  They were swimming right by the boat and jumping out of the water and everything!  It was amazing.  These dolphins can only be seen in the wild - the ones at Sea World are different.

After our whale watching excursion, we treked 2.5 miles over to Lido Village to Le Bistro Mediterranean, a little restaurant I found on restaurant.com.  It was quite lovely - a quiet, calm atmosphere overlooking the marina.  A little expensive, but a restaurant.com gift certificate helped, and even then it wouldn't have mattered because the food was delicious.  I highly recommend it.

Anxious to get on the boat!
Only 30 minutes to go!

Practicing with the binoculars.

Enjoying the ride.

Aren't we cute?? :)

I think you can see a dolphin in there somewhere.

Pelican.

Bottom right corner: dolphin!

This one, like many of them, was swimming right by our boat!

People in Newport are rich.

Food!!!

Mmmm, pasta!

Rounding out the meal and the day with the best chocolate souffle in Newport Beach.

Half Marathon?

This past Thursday, the 14th, was the first day I ran 2.5 miles.  I ran that distance again on Friday, took Saturday off (from running anyway, I still walked a lot down in Newport) and then ran 2.5 again this morning.  I'm hoping to get to 3 miles sometime this week.

I'm also debating running the Long Beach International half marathon in October.  A friend saw my Facebook post about having run 2.5 on Thursday and mentioned that according to her training schedule for a half, that day was supposed to be a 2.5 mile run.  Even though the entrance fee is $80, I'm very intrigued.  It would be such an accomplishment, and definitely not something I ever thought I'd do.

I'm seriously considering just signing up and paying for it because that will certainly get me committed!  It's on October 9th, which is 5 days before my birthday.  It would be quite a nice birthday present to myself!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

On Running

16 days ago Mat and I went for a run.  It was Tuesday, June 21st.  I had been talking about actually taking up running ever since a random run I went on about a week and a half before that in an effort to clear my head after a crappy day at work.  That day, we went around 11:30 am.  It was a stupid idea.  It was already quite warm out, and I don't think I waited long enough after eating.  We only ran 1.5 miles, but I felt pretty nauseous when we still had at least a quarter of a mile to go.  I managed to finish anyway because I hate giving up (and because I didn't want to make him stop) but I was very irritated and had an "I hate running" mentality again.

Then, the next day, I went for another 1.5 mile run on my own around 7 am.  This was MUCH better.  Yeah, I was a little sore from the day before, but I wasn't dying or anything.  The weather was much more suitable for a run and I hadn't eaten anything yet.

I started running for 3 days in a row and would then take one day off (but would still walk or bike or something).  I increased to 1.75 miles a week and a day after that first hot run on the 21st and kept at that pace until today when I did 2 miles.

2 miles isn't much, but for someone who has never really been into running, getting to 2 miles in 16 days (and doing it in roughly 20 minutes, though I think it was just under 20) is pretty cool.  I'm quite proud of myself.

My hope is to increase to 2.5 miles in another week or so, and be at a 5k (3.2 miles) in at least a month.  By the end of the summer, I would love to be between 4 and 5 miles.  Eventually, I want to be able to run a half marathon.  In theory I would also love to run a full marathon, but that's going to take much more serious training that I don't know I can commit to right now.  (You know, with a wedding coming up and all).

I think I have a new addiction.  :)