Surprise shower

Two weeks ago, my friend invited me out to a bar to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday. His birthday is on Valentine's day but he wasn't going to be in town that day so she wanted to get together on Sunday before he left to celebrate. I told her Joey and I would  be there except that she scheduled it at 1pm and we were going to church from 10:30 - noon and then had to meet with the pastor for about an hour. I knew we wouldn't meet with him until closer to 12:30 and we were about 30 minutes from the bar so I told her we'd be there at 1:30-2 at the earliest.
I got up that morning and got ready for church and actually did my hair and makeup, which I don't always do. Joey started to wonder if I knew something was up but he didn't say anything. I fixed my hair like I posted about a few weeks ago. Anyway, we did the church thing and the pastor thing and then we headed to the bar. Joey was sick but he didn't protest going to the bar.
We walked in and I was so confused. I saw a friend of ours that I figured wouldn't be invited to celebrate this guy's birthday. Then I saw two other friends that live an hour away! Then I looked further and saw my parents and my aunt! So crazy! Then I saw a table filled with presents and figured out what was going on.
They didn't yell surprise when we walked in because the friend that Joey texted to let them know we were on our way was out getting her camera (Joey knew about it but I didn't). It was still a surprise and it was probably actually better for me that they didn't all yell surprise and know we were there right away - I'm a little shy and don't like all the attention on me. It ended up being a really fun party at a bar that we love with a lot of friends and family! We had some snacks and beer and then opened our presents at the request of our guests.
My maid of honor planned the entire party and managed to get a hold of friends and family via facebook, email, and even snail mail. Her boyfriend, who was the mastermind behind us taking the cake decorating classes a while back, decorated the cake. He picked up a half sheet cake without icing and he decorated it himself. He's very good. If you've seen Princess Bride, you'll get the reference, if not, you'll just think he can't spell very well.

It was delicious! I had two slices.
A few people came back to our house afterwards and we continued the party. It was so much fun and I was so touched that my maid of honor threw me a shower. I honestly didn't expect to have one and I was ok with that. I love my maid of honor! She planned the shower and the bachelorette weekend mostly on her own. She's been fantastic!

Six more days!!! 

The home stretch

It is only 9 days until my wedding! Where has the time gone?!

This past weekend was a blast! We had fantastic weather for 90 percent of our trip. We ate, we drank, we danced. It was everything I could have asked for in a girls weekend. I had a personal photographer with me (my good friend who is also photographing the wedding) and she got some awesome shots but I don't have them yet. I will likely share a few at some point.

Now I feel like I am on the home stretch. The date is now included in the 10 day forecast. I know it can change (and likely will), but right now they are calling for highs in the low 50s with sun and clouds. That sounds nice to me.
I have what seems like a ton of stuff to do between now and then. I still need to place the food orders, take my photographer up to the reception site so she can scope it out (we're doing that after work today), get my hair cut/dyed, print cards for guests to fill out (instead of a guest book), have my hair done by my future SIL for practice, etc. I'm sure there are more little things I'm missing in that list. Anyone think of anything I'm forgetting?

Next Friday we will be doing a girls day. We are going to get our nails done, head up to get the keys to the reception building, get lunch, get ready for the rehearsal dinner, etc.

I tried my dress on this past Friday and it still fits! Wonderful news, right? I also tried it out with all of my jewelery and shoes and it looks like everything is a go. Joey also tried his suit on (we were in different rooms so we didn't see each other).

Speaking of not seeing each other, if you are married, did you see your groom/bride before the wedding? I know that traditionally you don't see each other but I also know that a lot of people do anyway and even get photos taken beforehand. It sounds like Joey wants to wait until the actual ceremony for us to see each other. I guess I am ok with that. I did decide that I want to get our photos taken together beforehand but not see each other. I know that doesn't really make sense but I saw some cute photo ideas on Pinterest where a couple stands on the corners of a building holding hands but unable to see each other. I also saw one where they were on opposite sides of an open door.

Sorry if the wedding stuff is boring or anything. It's what has been on my mind lately and I wanted to record this stuff for me. Plus, I always enjoy reading about this stuff on other blogs so probably some of you are interested.
I did get in a run yesterday in the 60 degree weather. I was jealous of everyone wearing shorts because I had packed my gym bag the week before and only had pants. :( I hadn't run in a week due to having congestion in my chest and not wanting it to get worse for my weekend at the beach. I'm back to feeling nearly 100% though. I have plans to head out today in the nearly 70 degree weather!!

RFF

Today I'm going to RFF a la Katie

1. I learned to swim in a lake.
2. The first time I swam laps in a pool was for my lifeguard certification. I passed but the instructor told me I should only work at pools, not any open water swim areas.
3. When I took the driving test to get my license (on my 16th birthday), I had the option to drive an automatic Ford Ranger pickup or a 5-speed Geo Metro. I chose the Metro.
4. I stalled out 3 times during my test but still passed since I didn't panic, just restarted the car and continued on.
5. I hardly ever stalled out while learning to drive but I was nervous during my test.
6. I still drive a 5-speed.
7. Before I had a car, I used to ride my bike everywhere. I even had an odometer for my bike.
8. As a result, I'm very comfortable on my bike but I've never really ridden one for exercise before, only as a means to get around or for fun.
9. I'll be wearing pearls at my wedding. I didn't always like pearls but they are my birthstone so I have receieved a few over the years. As the years have gone by, I've really grown to love them. Simple, yet elegant.
10. I like going to the beach during the winter. It is cold, but it is way less crowded. It is gorgeous to see the ocean without a ton of tourists around.
11. I'll be spending this weekend with my girls celebrating the last of my single days at the beach!

V-day

Things have been more hectic here lately. I have a few things I want to blog about but just haven't found the time. I'm sure it's only going to get worse in the next few weeks (17 days until the wedding)!

Joey and I celebrated Valentine's day in our traditional fashion. We didn't buy each other gifts and we didn't go out to a fancy dinner. Instead, we had a fancy dinner in. We really enjoy cooking together so many, many years ago I decided it would be more fun to create a dinner together than it would be to fight the crowds and go out. We are also both not too interested in celebrating just because the date implys we should.
This year we decided to make homemade manicotti and caesar salad. I hadn't used my pasta maker in a long time and figured tubes of pasta would be way easier than noodles, and I was right! Joey and my friend Lisa (oh yea, we invited a friend to our dinner too. heh) got to work on the sauce while I did the pasta. While Lisa was making sauce happen, Joey got to work making homemade caesar dressing. Did you know it has anchovies in it?  Sounds gross but it is surprisingly tasty.
Joey got the cheese mixture ready and then we all helped roll out the pasta, stuff it, and get it into the oven. We all work in the kitchen like a well-oiled machine since we've been doing it for so long.
It didn't seem to take long at all to get dinner ready and aside from using every bowl we own, it didn't take long to clean up either. We enjoyed our tasty dinner (we even made homemade croutons) with a glass of prossecco I picked up this weekend while buying wine for the wedding.

Do you do anything special to celebrate Valentine's day?

Three Things

1. I ran a quick 2.5 miles today during my lunch break with a new running buddy! My former roomie got a dog this past Sunday and asked if I could drop by since I was working from home to take her new pup outside. He's such a sweetheart! He ran the entire time with me and only tried to trip me up a few times. I think I ran faster than usual because I got tired faster than normal. I'll have to borrow her pup in the future when I need a buddy since Delilah isn't much of a runner.

He was difficult to photograph with my phone because he kept moving!!

 2. I ordered a waterproof camera from one of those online deal thingys and it arrived today. It looks like a real camera (unlike the waterproof one I got my parents for Christmas). I hope it works! It says it takes pictures and videos. We are going to take it to Hawaii with us.

3. When I got back from my run today, I noticed that some tulips are peaking through in my front garden! I also noticed that I really need to clear the leaves out of there soon. I think all the poor plants around here are confused and think it's spring already. Some of the cherry trees in DC have already started to bloom. I hope my tulips don't die before they get a chance to bloom!

Bullets

I haven't had a lot going on lately other than waiting on RSVPs to arrive, trying to get some work finished before I take nearly 3 weeks off for wedding/honeymoon, and enjoying the unusually warm weather we've been having. How about a bullet post? ok.

I made some really tasty food this weekend. A french toast casserole for Joey's sister's birthday brunch, some bacon-wrapped jalepeno poppers, and some monkey bread pizza.

• I went to see Dia Frampton on Saturday night. Her band is aka Meg & Dia. She was on "The Voice" apparently and made a name of herself by coming in 2nd (I think? I didn't actually watch) so they are now touring under her name but her sister Meg is still part of the band. Anyway, it was a great show even if she didn't sing any of the songs that I wanted to hear. I enjoyed the ones she did sing and the couple cover songs they did. We also got our photo taken with her and Meg after the show but my friend's sister hasn't sent it to me yet.
• I curled my hair so it was wavy for the show. I liked the way it looked and it didn't take terribly long but I don't usually like to spend more than 5 minutes on my hair so I probably won't do it too often.

• I got carded the other day at a liquor store and when the clerk saw my date of birth, she looked at me and said "you look really young". That made my day. When we were at the concert the other night I also got carded. It may have been because I was with a 26 yr old (who looks really young) and her 21 yr old sister (who looks even younger). Either way, it makes me feel good that these people can't determine my age.
• We currently have 77 people coming to our wedding and only 2 people who are officially not coming. The RSVP date is Feb 15th so people still have time to respond but so far it doesn't feel like we're going to get a 90% positive response rate (which I heard was typical). The people who can't make it are people I expected to not be able to come. I think we still have a decent number of people who have not yet responded. I was hoping to keep it under 100 people but that may not be the case. I guess we'll find a way to make it work.
• I am looking forward to my bachelorette weekend! Me and some of my girlfriends are heading to the beach for a weekend of fun during the off season. It might be cold (unless this gorgeous weather continues) but we'll still have a good time. My BFF from high school is flying up from FL for the occasion and I CAN'T WAIT!
• I ran more miles in January this year than I probably ever have in any January in the past. It was still only 58 miles total, but usually I'm a slacker in January and only run 35-40. I'm guessing the warm temps mixed with my desire to workout prior to my wedding/honeymoon have kept me more motivated.
• I've been doing some upper body weight workouts and ab workouts recently. I did both on Sunday before going to a friend's house to watch the game and I was sore on Monday!

That's about all I've got for today. Anything new and exciting going on in your life?

If you had a wedding, do you recall what your positive response rate was?

I swam!

Remember when I signed up for this little triathlon? Well, I haven't exactly been training for it yet (other than running). Last night, that changed a little.

I SWAM!!

A friend of mine said she takes her daughters to the pool in my town every now and then to wear them out before bed while she swims some laps. I have never been to this particular pool before and I'm always a bit intimidated by going new places by myself so I was very excited when she invited me to come along.. and pick me up so I wouldn't even have to find it on my own. :)

I was glad to be there with someone who was familiar with the facility because it was surprisingly large. There were two lap pools and a huge kids pool area with a ton of water slides. We sent the kids off and headed to the recreational lap pool. Both lap pools were really busy with some sort of classes or masters swims going on. There were a few lanes at the end that only had a few people so we jumped in and got started.
I started with 4 laps of freestyle and then switched to breast stroke for 2 laps. My original goal was 10 laps, just to get a feel for it. I switched back and forth between breast stroke and freestyle and really tried to focus on my breathing (the most difficult part for me) during my freestyle laps. I did pause for a few seconds at the end of most of my laps to wait for my friend (we were in a weird end lap thing by ourselves). Once we finished 10 laps, I wanted more! My friend suggested that we do 3 laps without stopping at the end. I managed to do 3 freestyle laps with breaths every 3rd stroke for 3 laps without stopping but I still found it difficult to regulate my breathing. Does that get better with practice? How do you get used to not having constant access to air?!
Anyway, we then decided to do 16 laps... but once we did those, I was still not satisfied. We ended up doing 20 laps total. I felt like I could have kept going, but I didn't want to overdo it on my first day.
We went down one of the water slides and then hit up the hot tub for a while before heading home.
Now that I am familiar with the facility, I can't wait to go train there!

Q&A part 2 - How I became a runner

That Pink Girl asks:

How did you get started running and when did you start identifying as a "runner"?

I was always active growing up. I played softball from when I was in 3rd grade until I was in high school. I also rode bikes and played drive-way basketball, among other things. When I was in 8th grade (1994), I saw a flyer during gym class for a Jingle Bell Run. I took the flyer home and showed my mom and told her I wanted to run the mile youth run. She thought it was a great idea and signed herself up for the walk. I came in first place for the youth mile and my brother's friend's dad (did you get that?) approached me and suggested that I join the cross country team at the high school next year. I didn't take his advice.
My mom was frustrated with the walk and said she couldn't believe how some of the people who walked were so competitive and were declaring others cheaters and whatnot. She vowed to run the 5k race at the same event the following year. I, not to be outdone by my mom, vowed to run it with her. We were both a little scared and intimidated by the 5k length but we went for it. We would head over to a nearby baseball field that had a 1/3 mile crushed limestone trail around it. We didn't time ourselves and we didn't follow any specific plan - we just ran (and probably walked some). Eventually, the day of the race rolled around and we ran together until the last tenth of a mile or so when I sprinted ahead so I could beat her (what a nice daughter I was, eh?). I also proceeded to lose the contents of my stomach - orange juice (NEVER drink orange juice before a race... you've been warned). I think we finished in 29:xx. We were both pleased and we continued to run.
As I mentioned above, I did not run cross country as a freshman in high school. I was in the band so my fall was very full with competitions and football games. In the spring, I tried out for the softball team. I was a decent player but I did not make the team. That turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to me. As a result, I joined the track team and ran the 400, 800, 4x800, and 4x400 races. Then, I decided to join the cross country team as a sophomore, you know, to stay in shape for track... Little did I know that I would fall in love with cross country and then only run track to stay in shape for cross country.

As far as identifying as a runner, I guess it happened pretty early on for me. I mean, I was running for a school team so it was difficult not to just accept the title of runner. I also ran a few road races with my mom during the off season (though I managed to get a lot faster than her due to my training with the team). My high school cross country team was really, really good. In fact, we won states my junior and senior years. I was usually the 4th or 5th runner for the team and my PR from that time was around 22:xx. I can only dream of being that fast these days.
After high school, I tried to keep running but it didn't last. My mom and I ran as a mother/daughter team that summer and neither of us were well trained and we did awful (I believe I reached my puke threshold in this race too). I ended up calling it quits for a while but continued to run occasionally, just no more signing up for races.
Fast forward to 2005 when I got my current job. After a few months sitting in a cube all day and eating out for lunch more than I'd like to admit, I decided something needed to change. I joined the gym in my building and slowly became a runner again. My first race back was a 10k in 2006 and I haven't looked back.