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!

9 miles

Today I ran 9 miles.  It didn't really feel any different from the 8.25 miles I ran the past 2 Saturdays.  I was a little tired, but that could be from a variety of things.  I definitely ate last night, so it's possible that I was a little sluggish because of that.  Either way though, I didn't stop unless I paused at a light, and I always jog a bit in place when that happens.

Speaking of food, here's what we had last night:

Whole wheat penne pasta with a homemade pumpkin sauce and hot Italian sausage.  Spinach salad with apple and red onion and a homemade dressing on the side.

Wine.  Part of it went into the sauce.

We also had chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream.  I wonder if that's what made me a bit sluggish... :)

I'm currently still working on my post run food:

PB & J, banana, strawberries.

Iced mocha.

In other news, discovered this morning that when my doctor wrote out my prescription for my birth control, he didn't put a 3 month supply on it and I'm now paying $80 for the one month's worth that is coming in the mail.  If I get a 3 month supply, it will cost $120.  I think I may switch to generic because that only costs $20 for a 2 month supply.  I can't do anything about the $80 cost so I'll try not to think about it right now, but on Monday I definitely need to have a little chat with my doctor about if generic is ok, and if so, have him phone in the new prescription and make sure it's a 3 month supply.  *sigh*  I'm already seeing dollar signs so this does NOT make me happy.

Tonight Mat and I are going to Kelly and Keith's engagement party.  I'm sooooo excited to celebrate with them and to see the Kappas I haven't seen in a long time.  And, I haven't been to a party like this (for someone else - we had our own party back in April but that's different) in forever, so I'm super super excited.  I'm so happy for them and can't wait for their wedding next October.  :)

Maybe I'll get some Save the Dates addressed today.  Or something.  :)

Friday!

This weekend has a few things going on, but it's good because I'm trying to stay busy.  I do hope for some relaxation too though because this has been a rather long week.  The kids in 4th and 5th period were rowdy yesterday but apparently I put the fear of God in them because today they were both much better.

On a random note: I really need to cut my fingernails.  I'm a weird girl - if my nails start to get even a little long, I get really bugged.  I don't have great nails, so they basically need to stay short.  I think I'll be getting acrylics for my wedding because my real ones are just ugly.

The fall sports assembly was today, and Amanda's song pom girls performed.  At the second assembly, the one I went to, they did really well.  I was proud, and I'm not even the coach!  I just hope her paperwork goes through so she can get a paycheck - she's owed a ton of money right now!

I really want Starbucks tomorrow morning but I don't know that I can justify spending any money.  I need a paycheck too!

This Week

This week was long and jam-packed, which is why I haven't touched the blog in a while.  Let's see...

Monday: Pretty normal.  My parents went to pick up their new Mac and were gone the entire evening so Mat and I had a few hours just us.  It was lovely.

Tuesday: I had a doctor appointment after work.  The woman doctor. You know, THAT appointment.  I was then supposed to meet my former roomie Jenn for Golden Spoon and much needed catch-up, but traffic reared its ugly head and she couldn't get here in time so we rescheduled for Thursday.

Wednesday: Mat and I went to an open house/vendor appreciation at The Summit House.  We were mainly going for the free food, and holy crap was that a good idea.  They had tons of amazingly delicious things as well as free champagne, wine, beer, etc.  It was awesome.

Thursday: Follow up appointment with my dermatologist after work, and then meeting Jenn for Golden Spoon.  The dermatologist is in Pico Rivera, and I work in Santa Ana, so after having driven 20 miles to get to work in the morning, I drove from Santa Ana to Pico Rivera, then back to Whittier where we were meeting, then to get gas at Costco, and finally home.  This was around the time that I realized I have virtually no spending money until I get paid at the end of the month.  Good times.

Friday: Oh glorious Friday.  I gave quizzes in all classes which gave me a few minutes of quiet in each class but resulted in a shit ton - yes, a shit ton - of grading for this weekend.  More good times.

The evening was ok.  Not exactly what I wanted for a Friday night, but a lot of stuff is going on right now.

Today: I RAN 7 MILES!!  Yes, 7 miles!!  And I didn't really even get that tired.  I got up at 7:15 so it wouldn't be too hot, and of course the sun was already out (stupid sun) but the air was much much cooler than last Saturday so the sun didn't bother me at all.  I also was a good little girl and didn't exercise at all on Thursday (just like I'm supposed to according to my training plan) and I just took a 2 mile walk yesterday morning.  Mat and I didn't do our usual evening walk last night due to the stuff that is going on, but it was probably for the best because my run was awesome.

I officially signed up for the half-marathon in Long Beach a couple days ago.  No turning back now!

Here's to hoping for a good weekend (despite the shit ton of grading - I should probably get on that) and the end to some stuff.

Running in the Sun after Work = Death

I originally was going to shift my runs from morning to afternoon once I went back to work.  That all sounds fine and good until you realize that, oh yeah, August and September and October and November and even December in Southern California do not have happy breezy afternoons.

They have death afternoons.  Blazing sun.  In your eyes.  Little/no breeze.

Not cool.  (Yes I realize the double meaning behind that little sentence there).

Don't forget that after you've been at work all day you're more tired.  Today and yesterday weren't even school days yet.  I don't even want to think about how much more tired I'll be once the kiddos arrive.  On Wednesday.

Solution: Run in the morning.  I've officially decided that I would rather make myself go to bed at a decent hour like I should be doing anyway and just running in the morning.  It's cool, quiet, and I'm more awake.  I found that running in the afternoon, besides it being hot, is not pleasant because I've eaten that day and it makes me feel sluggish.  It doesn't really make sense, I know, because I always wait a bit after I eat, but I just do better on an empty stomach or just a little orange juice for some natural sugar a few minutes before I go.

To keep it safe while running at 5 am: alter my routes so I'm in primarily residential areas.  I also just bought an awesome Spibelt off Amazon.  I learned about these from this blog and decided it was amazing and that since I'm coming into extra money this year from the school day being extended (hello extra 4 grand at least from last year) I could afford to spend 20 bucks.  And safety has no price tag, right?

I swear I'm almost done...
Yes, we're getting paid extra for the extra half hour being added to each day.  This is in addition to the extra we are already paid for meetings and other work outside the regular contracted school day as well as in addition to the $1000 bonus that we get in June for having attended extra meetings and done extra work.  Yes, we get double paid for that stuff.  It's awesome.  I see furniture and a fabulous honeymoon and a chunk of a house down payment in our future.

I'm Thinking I Might Move Out. Soon.

We always intended to stay living at home until we got married.  There were a few reasons for this.  One was that we could save a lot more money to buy a house later.  Another was that we're a bit old-fashioned about such matters.  So much so that while we aren't super innocent (come on, we're human), we are of the wait until marriage type.

However.  This summer has shown me that I can't continue to live at home.  There are a lot of factors.  I'll be 26 in two months.  I live with my parents.  Anyone can see that this is not a good combination.  I also have a 20 mile drive to work.  That's 40 miles a day.  That's bad for the gas tank and the car.  That's bad for the sanity and the patience, of which I already have very little.

My parents were gone for 3 weeks at the beginning of the summer.  To say that Mat wasn't going to come and stay with me the whole time would be stupid.  Really stupid.  Of course he stayed.  I would be the stupid one if I wasn't going to take advantage of such a thing.

You know what?  It was really, really good for us.  We felt it, and both his mom and sister commented on it.  I think them commenting on it made me realize it even more.  When I'm home with my parents I'm grouchy and irritable and I pretty much stick to my room.  You know what else?  Living in a bedroom the majority of the time makes one crazy.  Perhaps it's worse lately because it's summer and I haven't been working, but during the school year it's not much different in the afternoon/evening and on the weekends.

Mat and I go out every Saturday night simply to get away.  Even if we end up spending more money (a lot more money) moving out, we at least won't be spending the $100+ a month on going out.  And we'll be eating healthier.  Helloooooo wedding dress!!

And really, we're getting married in 10 months anyway.  By the time we actually get a place, get some furniture, move, get settled, etc, the wedding will be 8 months away.  In the end, are we really living together prematurely?  Probably not.  Are we going to still wait until marriage for that one thing, even if it's weird to be living together and not doing it?  Yes, because we're strongly committed to that decision.  Will we have less money saved?  Yes.  But will my sanity be saved?  GOD YES, in more ways that one.

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!