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!