Thursday, May 10, 2012

New Blog

Almost a year later, I've finally switched over to my WordPress blog:

www.dancingforfood.wordpress.com

Please go there and follow me!  My goal is to turn this into something REAL - more than just a "public" diary.  :)

Thanks!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

OC Half Marathon Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is my third beach cities challenge half marathon. Tomorrow when I finish I'll get a finisher's medal AND the beach cities medal!

I bought a new running outfit in honor of the race. :) Plus, I desperately needed new running clothes. For nearly a year now since I started running I've been wearing clothes that aren't technically for running. About time I bit the bullet and invested in quality stuff!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Kolbeck Shower

Yesterday was my first bridal shower with the Kolbeck women.  It was thrown by my (almost) mom-in-law Kathy and sister-in-law Nicole and it was AMAZING.  The whole thing was Italian picnic themed.  There were red and white checked things everywhere, yummy food, and cookies (biscotti and almond cookies) and two kinds of tiramisu for dessert.

Each guest brought a bottle of wine for us, and when they got there they signed their bottle.  Our wine fridge has a lot of wine in it now!

We got quite a few lovely gifts, including the quilt that Kathy made for us that is our bedspread.

At the end of it, as I was opening gifts, Mat showed up to surprise me.  He gave me a special gift - a gift certificate to a spa so I can get a massage or facial or both before our wedding.  I'm marrying an amazing man.  :)

I feel SO incredibly blessed by the love and generosity that was shown by all yesterday.  It was better than I could have imagined.

Some pictures from the shower:

Amanda and I with the winning toilet paper veil she made.

Nicole and I

My dad came by at the end and we got a family picture.

Wine picnic basket

Bride and groom after he surprised me!

Games outside

Toilet paper veils :)

My mom gave me super cute sandals to wear when my feet start hurting at the reception!

We had a mimosa bar!

Desserts

Food!

Mom, me, Amanda, Kathy

Making veils

Dessert

The front table - Kathy made the M and M sign for us!

Nicole explaining the veil game

Guests arriving

Flowers on the tables

Amanda, me, mom

I think I'm laughing at the veils...

Pretty

It was a gorgeous day!

Their veil was hilarious!

The quilt

Right when we got there

See?  It's hilarious! 
The favors were M n Ms!  In mini mason jars!!

I finally got to have an invitation.

Because the back was a surprise :)
This isn't from the shower.  But the quilt looks FABULOUS!
 67 days to go!


Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Weekend Off

This is the first weekend in a long time, and the only one for a long time, where there is nothing we HAVE to do.  Nothing for our wedding, nothing for anyone else's wedding.  It's glorious.

Yes, I have some extra credit packets to grade but they're multiple choice, not nearly every kid did them, and Mat can help.  Yes, I have a few little things for BTSA to finish, but I'll do that while Mat's at work tomorrow.  On the agenda for today?


  • 14 mile run (check!)
  • Food hehe (check!)
  • Sit around and watch tv/browse the internet (doing it as we speak)
  • A couple errands later - the kind you can do without caring if your hair or makeup are done.  And I'm only willing to do these errands because we sort of have to.
In other news, our rehearsal dinner is all set!  I talked to Kathy (Mat's mom) this morning and she told me that we're having lasagna or eggplant parmesan - people get to choose one.  We'll have a champagne toast, wine on every table, and tiramisu for dessert.  I'm so excited!  It's more than I could ask for and I feel so incredibly blessed!

76 days!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

One of those Months

It's one of those months where you find yourself spending more money than usual or than you want to.  Most of it is wedding related, so at least I know it's temporary (only 86 days to go!!).  But it's still annoying.  Fortunately we are both big planners when it comes to money and are both fairly conservative with our money, so it always works out.

I crossed a couple of things off my wedding to-do list today.  One was the rehearsal dinner, which I found out last night has been booked.  Yippee!!  The dinner is going to be at Portofino, an Italian restaurant near our church.  My (almost) in-laws know the owner, so it should be a good time.  And they have yummy food (if I'm able to eat anything the night before the wedding).

The other thing was silly.  I've had on my personal wedding list to get pens for the guestbook and wedding advice cork board.  Today at Target I accomplished that.  It seems trivial, but the kind of pen you use is actually sort of important.  Our guestbook is one of those photo books you can get from Shutterfly or Mixbook (where we got ours).  This means that the pages are that sort of shiny stuff that regular ball point pens don't work on.  So, I got fine point sharpies in fun colors.
Fun colors and the ink won't bleed!
Since there's 5 of them, there's no need to worry when one gets lost.  Our guestbook will start at the church and then my buddy Katlin is going to take it from there to The Summit House.  It will then join our homemade wine cork bulletin board that we're going to have for guest to pin marriage advice cards to.  We'll have pens galore!  :-D

I looked for cute thumb tacks too, but didn't see anything.  These are the little things I need to get my butt in gear on.  Spring break is half over already and I still have lots to do.  And Mindy's wedding is in 24 days!  Eeek!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

4 years

Today/tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary.  The reason it spans two days is that we went to dinner on March 28, 2008 but Mat didn't officially ask me to be his girlfriend until after midnight on March 29th.  Being the OCD person that I am, I wanted to have our anniversary be the true date, so the 29th.

To celebrate, we went to The Cheesecake Factory tonight, just like we did on this date 4 years ago.  We went to a different location, but that's ok.  :)

We also couldn't go out tomorrow night if we wanted to because I have Open House at school.  I'll be at school for at least 13 hours.  Teach all day, help with the musical rehearsal til about 5, then Open House 6-8.  Steph is going to visit because she wants to see where I work, and she's bringing Starbucks.  That makes the long day totally worth it.  :)  And, to make it better, Mat is making me a yummy anniversary dinner for when I get home.

The only bad thing about this week is I'm not making it to ballet.  At least next week is spring break so I can go a couple times to make up for it.

92 days!!!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

100 days

Tomorrow our countdown hits 100 days.  You know how long I've been waiting for this?  Well, the day Mat proposed until our wedding day is a total of 510, so 410?  I know that after 100 days, the countdown will go incredibly fast.  I.  Can't. Wait!!!

In other news, March 15th came and went last week.  This means that my job is safe.  I may not be at Century next year, depending on special funding, but we shall see.  I'm sending in my paperwork tomorrow to add dance to my credential, and assuming that all pans out I might be teaching some dance next year.  Again, we shall see.  Everything is up in the air right now.

However, I thank God that I am still employed.  I have to force myself to remember this every day when I'm cranky and tired.  This is a tough time in the school year.  Spring break is just around the corner and the kids know it, so they're getting VERY squirrely.  Which makes it VERY difficult to cram in the last chapters before CSTs.

Spring break is the first week of April.  I'm very excited.  I'll be kicking it off with Mindy's bachelorette party.  I'll be ending it with Mindy's bridal shower and Easter.  Later in April is my first shower thrown by my mother-in-law to-be.  (I finally get to have a bridal shower!!!!!)  The week after that is Mindy's wedding.  It's a  jam-packed April!

May is pretty crazy too, but we aren't there yet fortunately (or unfortunately?)

I'm taking a BTSA day this Thursday, which means I get to sit at home and get Module C finished.  It will be glorious.

100 days!! Eeeeeek!!!!!!!  :-D

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Retail Therapy

Today I decided to just go ahead and give my credit card a workout.  I've been browsing the internet (especially Pinterest!) for quite a while looking for the perfect dresses for both of my bridal showers, for Easter, for Mindy's bridal shower...and for shoes for these events.  I still need honeymoon clothes, swimsuits, etc and Mat needs new clothes as well, but today was definitely a massive start.  I'm just figuring that we won't be saving much money except for the house savings (I REFUSE to let that be compromised) for the next few months.  But hey, the wedding is just over 3 months away so why not have a little fun?  We basically never do it!

Here's what I bought, in the order in which they will be worn! :)

Dress for Easter and possible Mindy's bridal shower to be paired with white heeled sandals.

Dress for the shower my mom-in-law-to-be is planning for me, to be paired with shiny tall black pumps.

Dress and shoes for the bridesmaid-planned Breakfast at Tiffany's themed bridal shower.

Dress (in ivory, not the orange color that shows up) for rehearsal dinner to be paired (most likely) with nude heels, possibly the ones I'm wearing in Mindy's wedding because they're basically fabulous:

Yay new clothes!!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Back to Ballet

Tonight I went back to ballet.  I didn't go to my usual studio - that's too much of a pain and a long drive right now.  I instead went to Maple Conservatory, a studio that's literally RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER from the apartment.  It's more expensive than Lois, but I'm only planning to go once a weekish so the money will go pretty far.

It was so nice to dance again, even though I can't get my leg as high right now.  It felt weird to be back in class, because I hadn't gone for about 2 months and had been going very irregularly before that, but I was pleased to see that I still had it.  :)  Rusty, but still had it.

I really want to put ballet back into my life again, even if it's just one class a week.  I think I'm finally at the point where I can do that and love it again and not get caught up in the politics of it.  That's another nice thing about going to a new place - no one knows you and you can start fresh.  (However, I did see and talk to a girl I knew from when I went to Anaheim Ballet several years ago - the ballet world is so tiny!)

Tomorrow is Friday.  Thank goodness!!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Wedding Cake!

Today we picked out and ordered our wedding cake.  After going to two different tastings, we picked out a super cute cake from the second place we went too.  Their cake was just as good and the price was MUCH better.  And, they were much nicer.  At the first place, the woman talked to our parents more than us.  It did not go over well in my book.

So, I got to check that off the list!  Next week - menu tasting!!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

March

March is a long haul when you're a teacher.  You just had a lovely winter break, and easy January because of a Monday holiday and finals, and an easy February because it's shorter and has two Monday holidays.  But March?  March kind of sucks.  Our spring break is the first week of April, which means we have 5 full weeks (after tomorrow) until that blessed week off.  I've already been quite tired lately, probably from all the running and the fact that nearly every weekend since the school year started has been busy with something on at least one of the days.  And that trend will continue until our wedding.  It's good stuff, but being tired isn't so fun.  It's not just physical tiredness, but also emotional.

Despite being tired, I want to take a ballet class.  There's a studio around the corner that I went to several years ago while living at UCI the summer between my 3rd and 4th years.  I've been itching to dance lately, but I think I need a place that doesn't have a ton of emotional baggage attached to it.  That and I need a place that's close by.  Around the corner is perfect!  :)  Hopefully the energy lasts and I can make it to a class sometime next week.

Tomorrow is Friday.  Saturday brings with it a 16 mile run followed by 2 cake tastings.  :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

Mom Shopping

Today was the first attempt at shopping for MOB and MOG dresses.  Both my mom and Kathy had seen dresses online that they really liked and were hoping to try them on in store today.  Naturally, neither the dress Kathy wanted nor the dress my mom wanted were actually in the store.  They both tried on a different dress but it just wasn't quite right.  So, they will be ordering the top choices and then hopefully they will work.  Next thing to shop for will be shoes!

Things are certainly moving along now.  The limo that will take us from the church to The Summit House has been reserved, and the next two weekends are filled with cake and menu tasting.  When we do the menu tasting we'll also be selecting the linens and going over all the details (except the final head count, of course).  Then the weekend after that I have my first alterations appointment which will be for both the bridesmaid dress for Mindy's wedding as well as getting a start on altering my dress.  I don't want to do too much to mine yet because I'm afraid I'll lose weight toward the end.  Do I need to lose weight?  Nope.  Is it possible/likely I will anyway?  Yep.

And in the midst of all that good stuff, today was the last holiday from work until spring break the first week of April. I'm hoping to take a BTSA day in March but I can't schedule it quite yet.

I need to find the tiffany blue pumps I saw on Pinterest.  Stat.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Hitting a Wall

Yesterday I totally hit a wall.  It was actually a pretty easy day because we were giving a benchmark test at work, so I basically sat all day and was able to get caught up/ahead on my own work and planning.  However, I was already quite tired so the sitting made me even more tired.

I think I overdid it on the running this last week and a half or so.  Today was a day of much needed rest.  I've also been trying to get back on track with my healthy eating habits.  I haven't been eating horribly or anything, but I think the move has just thrown me off as far as dinner portions are concerned.  I'm really trying to be more conscious of it so I don't have to freak out near our wedding.

This Saturday's long run is only going to be 8 miles.  Doing 13 miles and then 15 miles 6 days later was a somewhat stupid idea.  Besides, you're supposed to step back every other week once your long runs hit 12-13 miles.  So this week will be 8 and then the following week will hopefully be 16 (that's the day we're going to TWO different cake tastings!)

Time to get ready for bed!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Quite a Lovely Day :)

Today began at 6 am.  When the alarm went off I wasn't too happy - it was the 7th straight day of getting up at 6 or (usually) earlier.  I eventually got myself out of bed and set out for my long run.  I had redone my 14 mile route so that the extra loop (around the apartment) was at the beginning.  That way, no matter how tired or sore you get, you can't cut the run short.  It somehow ended up being more like 15 miles, but I was cool with that.  At least I was last night.  Waking up at 6 am on a Saturday can make you change your tune.

But, I got up at out and was running by 6:40 or so, after having a spoonful of peanut butter and a handful of chocolate chips.  My knee lasted pretty well.  It just got a little stiff, but a large part of that was just the general fatigue I was feeling in my legs by the last 2-3 miles or so.  By the time I got home I was very tired, but felt SO awesome and accomplished that I had done it.  I ran 15 miles!

I had a couple of hours to rest up, shower, and eat before heading up to Fullerton for coffee with Mindy and a hair appointment.  It was lovely to see Mindy again and catch up, and getting my hair done is always fun.  So is catching up with Lauren.  I also met the girl who is going to help out with hair and makeup for the wedding.

After I got home, I got my Valentine's Day gift from Mat.  Pink roses, Godiva chocolate, and the perfect card.  :)

I gave him wine, chocolate, and a nice card.  :)

We then went to a restaurant in Laguna Beach called Romeo Cucina.  It.  was.  yummy.  We shared an appetizer that had melon with prosciutto and tomato slices with buffalo mozzarella and basil.  The bread basket was also delicious.  Because I'm a pig, I also ordered a caesar salad but was kind enough to share it with Mat.  :)

My entree was this delicious pasta - orechiette with sun dried tomatoes, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash in a pink sauce.  It was supposed to have mushrooms, but I'm just not a fan of those.  I also added chicken.

The meal wasn't complete without a glass of wine.  Pinot grigio for me, chardonnay for Mat.  He had ordered chicken picatta.  It came with angel hair pasta that had a light tomato sauce.

We came home for dessert.

Tonight has been some news watching and Pinterest browsing.  It's about time for bed though - getting up for church in the morning.  Thank goodness it's a 3 day weekend - one of the perks of working in a public school!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

My Kind of Meal

Huge salad, roasted veggies, honey mustard chicken. Yes, I'm a pig, but at least it's super healthy!

Surf City

I intended to post about the Surf City Half Marathon on Sunday, but I got sidetracked.

I finished the race in 2:10:01.  That was about 5 minutes faster than the Long Beach half!  And, I did it with my knee issue.  :-D I slowed down toward the end again, but I could tell I was doing better than Long Beach and I definitely didn't get as tired overall.

It's interesting how I can run 13 or even 14 miles on a Saturday morning at home, yet doing 13 in a race setting tires me out way more.  I don't get it.

I took yesterday off, of course, and got right back out there for a 3.5 mile run this morning.  Tomorrow I plan to do 5, just like usual on a Wednesday.  Then Saturday I would LOVE to do 14 without knee pain, but that all depends on how my knee and what it wants to do.  Thankfully, I was able to do 13 without any real pain until I was done, and then I iced it right away and it was just a tiny bit stiff yesterday but nothing major.  Fingers crossed!

After the race, Mat wasn't feeling too good.  His body hadn't been totally ready for it, and he's been having knee issues of his own (worse than mine) and yet he ran the whole thing.  I'm super proud of him, but he was NOT feeling well afterward.  The out of the ordinary heat and the physical stress on his body screwed with his system.  I drove home, and after he had a shower and laid down he was ok.  Until he had to go to work from 3-9, come home and eat, and be back at work at 5 am...

Now on to the Super Bowl.  I could care less about football (sorry!) but I enjoy good commercials and the excuse to eat a lot of junk food.  I also like to feel normal.  So, sissy came over and I made 7 layer bean dip and margaritas and we sat with the game on and chatted.  It was quite nice.  We also had some veggies and ranch and the chicken skewers and cheesecake her roomie had brought over before she left for work.

Lots of wedding planning things coming up!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Yum!

Thank you to the food bloggers I read for clueing me in to bread, peanut butter, and chocolate chips!

The Next Few Weekends :)

"Few" should really say "several."  Here's what's going on in my life:

This weekend: Surf City Half Marathon on Sunday (then watch the super bowl with the sister and eat a lot)

Next weekend: coffee date with Mindy, hair appointment, and out for Valentine's dinner on Saturday

2/18: Second meeting with our pastor

2/25: Cake tasting at 2 places! (2/26: watch the Academy Awards!)

3/3: Menu tasting and discussing reception details at Summit House!

3/10: Alterations appointment #1 (my dress, bridesmaid dress for Mindy's wedding, Amanda's MOH dress)

3/17: free for now, maybe some St. Paddy's day fun :)

3/24: free for now


There's more after that, but this is just the next 6-7 weeks or so!  It's crazy!  But, it's so. nice. to be finally DOING wedding things.  I feel much more productive and accomplished just having scheduled all these things.  It definitely helps the weeks to go by faster and gives me things to look forward to during the long work week.  It is challenging to keep up my energy, especially since I'm still getting up to run before work (later than when I lived at home thankfully) as well as on Saturday.  Since I'm training for a full marathon in May, the Saturday long runs are taking more time which proves difficult since there are things to do on Saturdays, but most things are in the afternoon.  The menu tasting will be earlier, but that's ok.

I swear, I just ate a couple of hours ago and yet I'm hungry again.  Granted, that was the first meal I ate all day after my longer than usual walk.

Tonight will be an early night - getting up early for the race tomorrow!

Monday, January 30, 2012

2nd Semester

Tomorrow is officially the first day of 2nd semester.  Today was a student-free day, so despite having to sit for a very long time during meetings, it was a much less tiring day than usual.

I'm excited to start the 2nd semester.  It always seems to go a lot faster than the 1st because there are more little holidays plus all the testing that breaks up the weeks.

My Saturdays in February are already booked, starting with the Surf City Half Marathon this weekend.  I think my knee is going to be ok for it.  I ran 10 miles on Saturday and it only started hurting at the end, and I've continued my strengthen/stretch routine.  This morning's 5 mile run was good too.  Tomorrow will be a walk or two, then Wednesday and Thursday will be either both 3.5 milers or a 3.5 and a 5 depending on how I feel.  It might be wiser to do both 3.5, just so I don't aggravate my knee again.  You're supposed to taper down for a race, but since I've already done this distance a couple times and have in fact exceeded it once, and since it's not my first race, I'm not as worried about it. I have no doubt I can complete it with no issue as long as my knee doesn't act up.

Once this race is over it's time to really buckle down on the marathon training!  That one is just under 2 months before my wedding, so hopefully it will put me into amazing shape and then I'll be able to keep it up!  Hmm, probably shouldn't alter my dress too much before then.  At first I was thinking I could because I really shouldn't shrink anymore, but then again who knows what full marathon training + the last few months of wedding planning will do to my body.

Oh yes, initial meeting with the florist is done!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Apparently on Hiatus?

Moving has definitely impacted my writing here.  There were several factors: being incredibly busy (obviously) and then not having internet access for about 2 weeks.  That put me out of the habit, so even though internet has been up and running for about a week now, I sort of forgot.  I know, I know, shame on me.

Current news: this week is finals week.  It's AWESOME.

I did both federal and state tax returns tonight.  So did Mat.  We're going to get nearly $6000 back between the two of us.  This is going to help us ENORMOUSLY.  God is good!!!

I seem to have developed IT Band Syndrome from running.  Today was my third day off.  Tomorrow I'm planning for 3.5 miles.  I'll probably rest for a couple more days, then try 5-6 on Saturday, then do a bit next week.  The Surf City Half Marathon is coming up and I really want to be able to run the whole thing without pain.  So, as much as I hate taking time off, I know that if I don't I'll make my knee worse and that would be very bad.  Thankfully taking time off shouldn't seriously affect my stamina for 13 miles.

Wedding plans are coming along: alterations appointment for my bridesmaid dress for Mindy's wedding, my own wedding dress, and my sister's maid of honor dress on March 10th, appointment with the florist this Sunday, and 2 back to back cake tasting appointments on February 25th.  We met with our pastor about a week and a half ago and have another meeting with him February 18th.  It's super busy but amazing at the same time!

Time to think about bed now.  Good night!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Car Battery

Today my car battery finally died.  I had left the flashers on for probably an hour because we were parked in a red zone while unloading stuff, and I think that's what took up the last of the battery juice.  When I tried to start the car, it did nothing.  Not one sound except a faint humming.

Thank God for AAA.  They are truly a lifesaver.  They came within half an hour, determined that my battery did indeed need to be replaced, determined that the alternator was good, and jumped the car.  Since it started easily with the jump, it wasn't the starter, so I was very happy.  A battery is not free (boo) but at least it's an easy fix.  I had called ahead to the place we take our cars to see if they had the correct battery in stock, and they did, so after the jump I took it straight there and was able to wait for it for only an hour or so while they fixed it.  $137 later I was back in business.  Then I put gas in it.  By 3 pm today my car was a happy camper.

I was basically waiting for the battery to die.  It was still the original battery and was 4.5 years old.  I've been nervous about my car not starting in the morning on the way to work for a while now.  In the end, I was glad it happened today when I had time to deal with it.  I wasn't thrilled with shelling out money, but that's why I have savings: buffer money for the unexpected like this.  Having just signed a lease and needing to buy lots of stuff makes it especially bad timing.

But oh well.  $137 isn't very much to spend on a car repair so I can't really complain.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Too Much Stuff!

I have way too much stuff.  I also have been accumulating way too much stuff.  The kind of stuff that one does not accumulate until one moves out on one's own: sheets, towels, salad spinner, tea kettle, iron, KitchenAid mixer, etc etc etc.

I loaded up my car this afternoon with all of the boxes from Christmas as well as any other accumulated things.  I have a few more bags to put in tomorrow morning.  (I didn't do it this afternoon because there were a few things I didn't want sitting in the sun all afternoon, and then tonight I forgot).

Tomorrow morning after my run and a trip to the dentist we're going to officially sign our lease and get our keys!  All we're moving in is the stuff from my car that we don't use yet.  Then bright and early Thursday morning Mat and his dad will take the mattress, TV, blu-ray player, and anything else that can fit in his dad's truck.  Mat will then come back with his dad and we'll load up another of our cars with more stuff like clothes and necessities.  Amanda wants to see it so she's going to load her car too.  Then, it's off to run tons of errands and come back home for a probable pizza or similar type of food dinner with Mat's Uncle Rick who will be in town for his sister's wedding this weekend.

Friday is me taking a few more things to the apartment and then working in my new classroom for a few hours.  Amanda helped me set it up yesterday but I need to do a little more to be ready for Monday.  Friday evening begins Nicole's wedding things.  Saturday morning is a 14.5 mile run, part of which is along Newport's Back Bay.  :)

Now that we're at 5 months and change until our wedding, and I'm moving, I'm starting to feel the pressure.  But it's good pressure - pressure I think I've been wanting to feel because up until now, while I've definitely been DOING things for our wedding and otherwise, I haven't felt like I've really been moving forward.  Moving is a definite step in the moving forward.  :-D

Things are starting to happen!!!