Exciting Stuff!

Hi friends! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I purchased a new smartphone yesterday- the motorola droid! I love it. I went with verizon for the free skype aspect- skype will be my main source of communication with Bri when he is overseas. Speaking of Bri, I get to see him tonight!! Yay! I miss him so much.

The new blog transition is going well. My next post will be the one announcing the new site! And thanks for your comments on my last post- switching to wordpress simply requires the push of a button! Wow :) I am in the process of transitioning my reader over from my old google account to my new google account but I'm almost there!

I saw SATC 2 on Memorial Day and I was NOT a fan. Samantha really bothered me. It also irritated me that they were essentially promoting Suz*anne So*mmers and all of her hormone added craziness. Miranda was amazing though. One good thing that came out of the movie is that they showed the preview for Eat, Pray, Love, which inspired me to go purchase the book. Wow. I am a third of the way through it and I love it. So far I highly highly recommend!

Have a great weekend lovelies! I'm excited to see Bri but at the same time very sad... he is headed to war! Hopefully this year will fly by quickly...

Destined Not to Race

Hi everyone! Long time no talk, er type. Things have been super hectic round these here parts but will slowly start to settle down in the ensuing weeks. Then it'll be back to a normal blogging schedule (3-5x per week). I truly admire those who can post multiple times a day, or even daily. I'm not that creative!

I was perusing through my honeymoon photos last night before heading to sleep and came across this one: Duuude I want to go back! Please? I miss my husband! The good news is that I will get to see him for a day or two before he ships out. Yippee! The time frame in which this will occur happens to be the same date that falls upon the Freihofer's 5k. Since Bri can't come to me, this means I can't run the 5k with Christina. Hence the faux drama of my post title. Ragnar didn't work out due to my work conflict. However, this reason is MUCH more acceptable. I can't wait to see him!! :) :) I will have to find another 5k to run so I can try to hit my goal of sub-30.

In other fun news, I'm in the process of transitioning the blog over to wordpress! Okay, that's kind of misleading. I'm in the process of starting a new blog to reflect this new stage of my life. The current blog name doesn't really fit any more, seeing as how I've been married for two months (today!). Additionally, I get very jealous at the wordpress bloggers' ability to use strikethrough font and reply to comments directly, among other things, so I'm excited! I don't think I'm going to shift my blogger posts over to the new wordpress site because I don't know how and, quite frankly, it seems like so much time and effort! For those of you that have transitioned over to wordpress, how was it?

So, be on the lookout in the next week or two for the new bloggie! I'll post a link here once it's finalized. I should have a cute new custom designed header, seeing as I won one at Ange's shop 4 a cause 2 auction. Woohoo!

Things have otherwise been going well. I have to go grocery shopping tonight (meh) for supplies for this weekend. I'm heading to Christina's inlaws' cabin "upstate" (it's south of here... don't ask) and it should be a great time! Do you have any fun weekend plans?

On that note, I'm out! Have a fantastic holiday weekend friends!

Feelin' Good

Hey y'all! Happy Wednesday... almost the weekend! Since I last posted I've had a great couple of days and workouts. Friday evening I hit up a new Italian restaurant with my bro, his gf and the 'rents. Bri was sorely missed but when he gets leave this December I plan on taking him :) I tried an amazing eggplant rolotini (?) appetizer. I definitely have a new favorite go to dish!

Saturday was my second ever hot vinyasa yoga class. SO awesome and challenging. I can easily see how the heat becomes addicting. I feel so much more limber and can sink deeper into the poses. Speaking of yoga, I'm participating in Tina's Yoga Pose May yoga challenge so I'm excited about that! Be on the lookout for a pose come May 18th ;)

Monday brought an amazing six mile run. I headed to a local park after work and just ran. The weather was SO beautiful- low seventies/upper sixties with just the right touch of wind. Six miles is the farthest I've gone since the 14k back in February! It was markedly different from the 5 miler I did the week before in VB. I'm telling ya, I'm not a hot weather runner! Give me the cold any day. What temp would you rather run in- hot or cold?

Last night I attended hot yoga again. It was different than vinyasa in that there was a lot of Bikram elements, which I've never done. The room was also heated to 105 instead of 95. I was sweating SO much before we even began. I don't mind though, because my skin has seriously NEVER looked better.

My poor pup has something going on behind his ear so I made an appointment to take him to the vet. Poor lil' guy. Here he is (on the right) with his best friend Molly:

Hopefully it's nothing but I'm still worried!

On Sunday I met with my Ragnar team and got the overview of the legs I am running:

• Leg 4- 2.7 miles. Extremely hilly. Awesome.
• Leg 16- 5.8 miles. Fairly flat.
• Leg 28- 3.1 miles. Easy day.

The only one I'm concerned about is the first leg. I'm glad it's the first leg though, since I'll likely have the most energy for that one. I'm starting to get really nervous!

I have been thinking a lot lately about blogging. I have a lot of ideas for future posts, including:

• My bucket list (via Wendy)
• A ten year review (again, via Wendy :) )
• Eating well while on the road/driving looooong distances
• Bri's guest post on fitness
• A fun topic inspired by Runner's World
• My ten basic essentials for a professional wardrobe

I have some other ideas floating around too. As you can see, they're all random. I don't consider myself to be "fitness" blogger, I'm definitely not a food blogger (although I love reading those blogs!)... I don't really know what I am. I'm just trying to live healthfully and interact with like-minded persons! What kind of blogger do you consider yourself to be? What steered you in that direction?

In any event, it's time to get back to bidness. I hope you're having a great week! See you tomorrow with a new thumbs up thursday post!

A Fantastic Run and Lots of Stuff

Hey hey! I can't believe it's been a week practically since I posted. Things have been crazy! I feel like they aren't going to settle down for a while. Virginia Beach was great this past weekend but man, saying goodbye to Bri (I'm not sure if I'll get to see him while he's in training prior to deployment) was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I don't think I've ever cried that hard! Anyway...

I had a nice run on Friday. Well, it was nice when it was over. I ran five miles in the afternoon sun in VB, and I'm not going to lie, it was difficult. I would much rather run in cool weather. On Saturday our parents came to help us pack up the condo and all of that. Afterwards we had the most amazing nachos I've EVER had. Nachos aren't the healthiest obviously but it was a special treat! Although if the restaurant were in my neck of the woods I'd be in trouble. The nachos had shrimp, crab meat, a little bit of hot sauce, cheese and all of the other standard fixins. AMAZING. Woo.

I got in LATE Monday night after an emotional and tiring nine hour drive. Tonight I am dogsitting for my best friend for the week/weekend. She and her husband have a sweet one year old chocolate lab, Sadie. I love to watch her but I feel so discombobulated. I need to be home and get organized! The Ragnar Relay is in two weeks and that Sunday I have a huge work conference, where I'm putting on three presentations. I guess I'm just a bit overwhelmed and posting will be a bit sporadic (although, when isn't it, hahaha).

I did, however, have an awesome run after work! I headed over to a local park to get in a quick three miles before heading over to take care of Sadie. It was windy and slightly hilly and I wasn't even trying to go fast, but I did! For me at least, ha. I had negative splits for the first time in my life!

Mile 1: 9:58
Mile 2: 9:53
Mile 3: 9:22

Yippee! I totally see a sub-30 5k in my future.

I hope everyone is doing well! What have you been up to?

8 Miles (!!) and a Short Hiatus

Hi friends! How is everyone doing? Apparently I decided to take a blogging hiatus for bit. I have been in wedding invitation hell but if all goes as planned, they should be ready for mailing tomorrow! That will be a huge weight off of the shoulders. I've also determined my least favorite part of wedding planning- the invitation process. Corralling the addresses, labeling, tying bows... good times! If you're married, what was your least favorite part of wedding planning?

This past weekend was great. I hit up Chowderfest in Saratoga on Saturday with my co-worker Jennifer and her family and had the most amazing chowder at The Parting Glass. It was something along the lines of lobster crab chowder with sweetened corn bread in it. Amaze! After that, my co-worker, her four year old daughter and my stepmom and I went over to the dress shop for my fitting. The little one was in awe of my dress- it was so cute! I purchased a fun accessory that I won't describe in case Bri is reading this but it is realllly awesome :)

Okay, let's get to running! On Thursday I had a four miler on tap. I woke up early before work (again, yay!!) and hit the treadmill at the gym. I generally start at 5.6 for the first minute or two and then complete the run at 6.0. That was getting boring so I decided to mix it up with high intensity interval training (HIIT). I pumped up the speed to 7.5 and did that for about a minute and half, and then slowed down to 3.2 for two minutes. I did this for a majority of the run for a grand total of 4 miles at 10:30/miles. Sweet! Do you incorporate HIIT into your runs? I am going to incorporate HIIT into my workouts more after the race this Saturday (!).

On Friday I left work because I was having kidney issues. Apparently I may have a kidney stone or something. I'm heading back to the doc for my yearly physical so I'll find out then, but my back pain has gone away so hopefully it was nothing! When I left the doctor, it was too late to make the drive back down to Albany, so I headed home and decided to bang out my long run. The results:

I did it! 8 miles in 1:24:48, which I think worked out to 10:36/mi, which is right where I wanted to be. The splits were fairly good. I had some issues during mile 3 and 4 that left me wishing for a bathroom (tmi!) but I ignored it and it went away. I took three clif shotblocks in wildberry during the course of the run- at miles 4.1, 5.1 and 6.5. My stomach felt weird after taking the third shotblock, but I don't think the shotblock was the cause. I think I like the Gu Chomps better. The flavor of the clif wildberry was good, but the blocks were slightly larger and stickier, making them harder for me to chew. I may or may not have almost choked on the last shotblock ;). The shotblocks are organic though whereas the gus are not... so I haven't made a final decision as to my preference. The weather was chilly but I felt great.

Here I am after the run:



Exhausted, red from the cold and my eyes are black hollow holes but hey, I ran eight miles!!!! I haven't run since Friday. Saturday evening I started feeling a slight pain between the ball and the arch on my left foot. It still hasn't gone away. I can walk on it fine but I am a little concerned, as the race is this Saturday. Eep! I am going to try to run 4 miles on it tomorrow to see how it feels, and then rest on Thursday and Friday.

I am sooo excited for the race! Bri told me that I won't need my gu or anything because they hand out cupcakes at mile 6! Crazy right? I am even more excited to see Bri this weekend :) What is the craziest thing you have ever gotten at a race?

In between stuffing envelopes last night I decided to get some strength training in. There are a ton of weights and a pullup bar in the basement, so I did 25 "jumping pullups" (read: Jump, grab bar, lower self down. Chin is nowhere near the bar.), chest press and flys with 12#, bicep curls and tricep kickbacks with 10#, renegade rows with 10# and a boat pose. Wow. Let's just say I was trying to wash my face afterwards and couldn't even bring my hands to my face. Water was all over my shirt because I was basically throwing the water at my face. It was so foolish that I was laughing at myself. Gotta love it!

After the race this weekend I won't be following any sort of training plan. It will be six weeks from the wedding and I need a training plan to follow! I was looking at my copy of Jillian's Making the Cut last night and I think I may follow her workouts four days a week and work on my 5k speed two days of the week. Do you guys have any suggestions or thoughts?

What's new with everyone? I feel so out of the loop with all of the wedding planning going on! Let me know how you are doing, and I promise that even if I'm not commenting, I'm still reading your wonderful blogs :) Have a great Tuesday!

Cupcakes... and a Co-Op Find!

Good evening bloggies! I've been super busy with wedding things this week (and I haven't even started tying the bows on the invites, sweet!) I had to miss my weekly yoga class yesterday (tear) in order to meet with the organist for our wedding. She is soo adorable. She played all of the choices available and I am super excited with my selections! I have to say, I teared up a bit listening to the recessional song- it's the first song bri and I will hear as husband and wife! Okay enough cheesiness ;)

Since I missed my yoga class, I completed yogadownload's Yoga for Runners. It is a great workout that seems like the perfect complement to my running! Today called for two miles on the dreaded track and my body sculpt class. I never thought these words would leave my mouth (er, keyboard) but I think I am starting to prefer the treadmill to the track. I can watch television and it seems to go by more quickly. With that being said, today's run and class were great. My instructor is really starting to show in her pregnancy; she is so cute!

Today on my lunch break I ventured over to a local food co-op to pick up some items to make for dinner tonight (I made a rocking shrimp pasta dish that I didn't photograph but trust... it was awesome) and looked around in awe. This place is a gold mine! I easily could have dropped tons of dinero in there. There was grass fed beef, organic EVERYTHING, hard to find teas... I could go on and on. I have to share a picture of my favorite find: Hazelnut agave nectar!!! I am SO excited to put this into my coffee tomorrow. :D Are you a fan of agave nectar? If not, what kind of sweetener do you use?

Speaking of sweets, I went to the bakery yesterday to order our groom's cake. It's going to be a kettlebell. Bri will love it! This bakery is seriously amazing; whenever I go I always purchase cupcakes because they look so amazing, and I'm not even a sweets person!

Hello, lovah:

Red Velvet awesomeness.

Oreo cupcake. Holy yumtastic. Surprisingly, I haven't busted into these yet. I will though!

This post is so disjointed... I'll be back soon with thoughts on conquering my 8 miler and other adventures (chowderfest this Saturday, yippee!) . I'm waking up early again to get my four miles in. Pushup challengers, let me know how you are progressing! I'm going to do day two of week one tomorrow.

This is Baya looking mighty satisfied with herself, as she had just licked my entire face right before the pic was taken. I'm mid-laugh and my eyes are practically shut, but I think it's a funny pic! Do you have any fun pics with pets? If so, post them! I love looking at them :)

Good night!

Early Riser + Treadmill Conqueror

Good afternoon blogfriends! I hope that everyone had a restful and relaxing weekend. Mine was so much fun! On Friday I began the weekend with a seven mile run, with hopes of conquering this: The initial plan was to do half on the treadmill and half on the track, so as to avoid boredom. I ended up running four on the treadmill, ran to use the restroom, and then continued upstairs to finish the run on the track. Um, wow- it was super weird. Running on the track after running on the treadmill must mess with your head, because I was feeling SUPER dizzy and weird. I lasted for a lap before I ran back downstairs to finish the run on the treadmill. The miles were a bit disjointed, but I conquered the mill! Have you ever split a run between a treadmill and a track? If so, did you experience the same funky feeling that I did?


The next morning I got up bright and early to head down to Long Island to visit my friend Nicole. The train ride was nice and quick but effing HOT. Amtrak definitely needs to work on their heating/cooling issues. After meeting up with Nicole, we set off to go wine tasting in Long Island. We hit up about five places and it was really fun! Nicole's husband came along and played DD so we both got to enjoy the wine. Wine tasting may be one of my favorite things to do! On the ride back home I housed a ton of cheese, which I was really pissed off about afterwards because of all days to do that, I had to do it two days before I got my bloodwork done to check my cholesterol... oh well! Have you ever been wine tasting? I've gone wine tasting at Niagara on the Lake, Sonoma County in California, a bunch of times in the Finger Lakes and now Long Island.


We were so sleepy from all of the wine that we were in bed by ten. Party animals!!! The next morning we headed to the gym so I could make up the run I missed Thursday. I ran 3.5 on the treadmill, bringing my January running total to 64.1 miles. Yippee!


Nicole has a really cute german shepard pup named Baya who is almost a year old. She took a picture of Baya and I that I was all set to post- it's hilarious because Baya had just licked the side of my face before the picture was snapped so I am laughing and she is looking at the camera with a devilish look. The file size is too big to post- I need to figure it out! Baya's head is as big as Bailey's whole body. I'm not used to big dogs!


While I was on the LIRR train heading back to Penn station to catch the train upstate, I caught a conversation between two women next to me. An older woman that spoke broken English was very distraught and confused because she was on the wrong train but didn't know which train she should be on to meet up with her daughter. The younger woman that was sitting next to her asked her where she needed to go, and then called the woman's daughter on her cell phone to help the older woman figure it out. After that, the younger woman gave her detailed instructions to help her navigate the train system to get home to her daughter. This younger woman's act of kindness really inspired me. Taking the train can be stressful, especially if you have no idea where you are going and are unfamiliar with the system. This young woman's act, which only took up a few minutes of her time, saved this older woman from a lot of stress and confusion. Incidents like these that make me believe in the good of human nature. Have you witnessed any acts of kindness lately?


As I alluded to earlier, I had to get bloodwork done this morning for my physical next week. Since I am meeting with my caterer tonight, I have no time after work to get my 4.5 miles in. I realized this last night and decided that I MUST get my butt out of bed early to get the mileage in before my 8:05 appointment. I am happy to report that I did it!! This is major for me, as I love sleeping in as much as I can and have always been an evening exerciser. It felt great to be at the gym with a different crowd and to have the sun streaming through the windows. I'm going to do this more often! Are you a morning, mid-day or evening exerciser? Do you think working out at certain times of day impacts your body differently? I've read various articles that seem to suggest this. I want to look into it more!


I'm excited to start the 100 pushups challenge today! I did the initial test last night and got up to 11. I could have done more but 11-20 pushups fall in the same column so I decided to call it quits at 11. Lame, I know. I'm going to create a spreadsheet after work and will share it with everyone interested in participating.


Oh, and for those of you who asked- Bri and I are having our reception at the Canfield Casino in Saratoga. I love it!


Have a great Monday!

Missing In Action!

Hi blog friends! I've missed you! I was all set to write a post last night but my exhaustion got in the way. Then, I figured I would write one when I got a second at work today. Well, being out of the office conducting seminars all week= a million bajillion emails and calls to get back to. By the time I left the office today I still had 11 emails to respond to (that can wait until Monday :) ) It was fun to read all of your comments on the issues you incur while running-I'm glad I'm not alone!

All of my seminars are done, yippee! No more public speaking engagements until our June meeting (which occurs in May, strangely). I think I am doing well with my goals; I definitely feel much more comfortable in front of an audience.

My travels took me to the city of my law school alma mater, Buffalo. I was very excited to attend one of my favorite sushi places, which apparently closed down. Dang, I only graduated 2.5 years ago! But, no matter, I was still able to go to Tim Horton's. I woke up extra early to get some coffee and a delicious breakfast sandwich before the seminar. I documented my excitement:

Right before I ordered. Can you see the excitement in my eyes? It's almost kind of sad. And holy closeup batman.

Hello, lover:

Yes, that is a starbucks cup in the background and no, I'm not cheating on Timmy Hos. I had a calm tea the night before ;)

After my seminar in Buffalo, I hightailed it to Syracuse for the next seminar, checked in to the hotel and changed into my workout gear:

I had two miles and a strength workout planned. Wow, treadmills suck. I got it done but I didn't like it! Question for the treadmillers- do you put the treadmill on an incline at all to mimic the outdoors?

After the workout. Yellow totally matches pink, didntyaknow?

After the 'mill I incorporated some of Fitnessista's Winter Shape Up challenge moves into my workout. Loves the renegade rows! This was followed by dinner at Dinosaur bbq- if you're from upstate you know what I'm talking about! I had fried green tomatoes for the first time- wow!

I left Syracuse yesterday around 1PM, tired and exhausted. I got home around 3:3o and the last thing I wanted to do was go for a run. But, I made myself put in my four miles- I have a 14k to get ready for! At this point I truly feel like a runner; before, if I was tired I would have just rested! The run was fantastic. My iTouch was dead so it was just me and the pavement (and garmie). It was nice!

Bri is coming tonight (yay) and we get to attend pre cana tomorrow. joyous! Apparently we even get to watch a video on the joys of natural family planning. Why am I not eloping and getting married on a beach again? I apologize for the disjointed nature of this post; it's been a long, stressful day! I'll be back on Sunday with my long run (six mile) recap and various other adventures!

Do you guys have any fun weekend plans? Enjoy the rest of your Friday!

The Engagement Story

Happy Sunday everyone! It feels like a Saturday to me because I am one of the lucky ones with tomorrow off- Bailey is going to be happy! Do you have tomorrow off? I have a nice four miler planned. It's supposed to snow in the morning but get sunny in the afternoon so I'll hold off until then. Today was a rest day for me. My legs were pretty sore after the five miler yesterday so I foam rolled them into oblivion for a bit, then banged out 40 pushups and did some ab work.

I've been reading The Kind Diet and I have to say, it's very interesting. Definitely opening my eyes to a lot of things. I'll probably finish it within the week and will be sure to post a review! Also, I am absolutely loving the Juice Facial Moisturizer I purchased at Sephora yesterday. I can already tell a difference in my skin- it is so much softer- even moreso than it usually is after getting a facial. It's only been a day but I highly recommend!

I made my way to Broadway in Saratoga for my weekly pilgrimage to the coffee shop. For those of you are unfamiliar with Saratoga, it's a quaint main street in the city where people are always milling about, regardless of the weather. Today I saw a group of 14 year old girls standing on the corner dressed like they were going to a nightclub in Miami. Mind you, it was about 35* today. They started walking in front of me and I noticed one girl wearing a sheer top that fell to just under her waist, with black stockings and booty shorts. However, to my horror I realized that the booty shorts were not shorts but were the control top part of the stockings! wtf! This young girl was literally walking around outdoors with no pants on. I feel like I'm getting old but man, kids these days! It makes me frightened to have a daughter. Is it me, or are the younger girls growing up a little too quickly these days?



I thought I'd share with you the story of mine and Brian's engagement. We got engaged last February (February 15th, but whose counting) after dating for approximately a year and half. Bri and I were together for about a year before he left for boot camp in September 2008. From September 'til the following January, he was stationed in Rhode Island, first attending boot camp and then Naval Justice School. I made the trip over to RI a lot, and we talked about our future and getting married quite a bit. It may sound cheesy, but I knew he was the one from the start. I distinctly remember my friend (and maid of honor) Kelle asking me how I felt about him after we had been dating for around three months. Without hesitation I told her that I would marry him tomorrow if he asked. I had never felt that way about anyone, ever! I guess it's a good thing I roped him into marrying me ;)



After January, he got stationed in VB. I helped move him down there and then purchased a ticket to come over Valentine's Day weekend. My flight was supposed to leave on Thursday, but there were crazy wind delays. I was nervous to fly with the aid of his mother got a refund and began the drive down to VB. His mother lives in PA at the halfway point, so I drove to her place and left for VB the following morning.


That weekend, Bri left the house early to "go to work". Little did I know that the jeweler had messed up the ring setting and he was frantically trying to get it fixed. Bri actually wrote out our engagement story for our wedding website, so I'll let you read it from his point of view, with one caveat- I really would have taken a piece of string!

From Bri:

I knew I was going to propose to Katie from the moment she told me that I was going to. No, in reality, I knew it all along and wanted to make it special for Katie, even though she falsely stated that she would be happy with a "piece of string." It took me about 3 months to pick a ring and about a week to throw any shred of discipline out the window and propose to her. I had a lot of ideas about how to pop the question, but I ended up choosing on a February walk on our beach. I picked this proposal because Katie and my relationship has never been anything more than a true love of each other and an extravagant dinner where I would propose was not really appropriate.

So, the day came and it was a little chilly but the sun was shining. We walked and the whole time I figured she had me pegged and knew I was going to propose. I thought this because I had to get a new fitting on the ring at the last minute and I was in and out of the house with no explanation of where I was going. At one point during the walk, she even asked to put her hand in my jacket pocket, but like a gentleman, I told her NO because I did not want her finding the box. I may have even swatted at her hand. At that point, I knew that things were going downhill, so I could not wait until the end of the walk when I would propose. While we were still on the beach, I nervously searched to make sure we were alone and I got down on one knee and asked "Will you," holding the ring out for her to see. Katie, being the astute attorney, immediately asks, "Will I what??" which I had to clarify to be marriage. I could tell she was shocked and I think she said yes as she jumped up and down. Well, she accepted the ring and, to be sure, I later asked if it was a yes. Katie called a lot of people to tell the news, and I personally was relieved to know that she had a long drive back to New York happily engaged.

----

It was such a beautiful proposal- just he and I on the beach. I knew that he was asking me to marry him, I just wanted to hear the words from his mouth! Then I definitely started jumping up and down like a little kid. I regret not taking a picture on the beach after we got engaged. Bri very stealthily suggested that I take my camera and my phone "in case I wanted to call anyone" when we went on our walk. I wish I had taken a photo! I'll leave you with some of our engagement photos from our awesome photographer:

If you're married or engaged, how did your guy propose?

Have a great evening everyone!

My (Blue) Wedding Shoes

Good morning blog friends! Today is going to be a great day, I can just feel it! The Governor is giving the state of the State, which as a general rule means that the commute into Albany will be nasty. So, preparing for that, I awoke at the crack of dawn (6:50 AM is the crack of dawn) and left my house at 7:40, prepared for a stressful commute. Usually I'm just waking up at 7:40 (to leave my house at 8:10- what can I say, I'm def not a morning person!)

The commute was glorious! I feel like such a tool saying that but there was hardly any traffic and I arrived to work over a half an hour early. Loves it! I swear, the sun was even shining differently (which, uh, makes sense, since I left 45 minutes earlier than I usually do). The sky was so pretty! Can you see the hearts and flowers flying around my head yet? I'm practically annoying myself with how happy I am.

Another reason the commute was so great was because I listened to some great music. When I was driving home last night, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" came onto my iTouch and hearing the early chords of the song literally brought a smile to my face. Probably because it is still new to me (I don't really listen to the radio so if I get sick of a song, it's because I have played it to death, not because the radio is playing it every five minutes). I love this song for some reason! Lady Gaga is a hot mess, her lyrics are strange at best and I can barely understand what she is singing at some points but her music makes me happy! I played Bad Romance on repeat for a while this morning. Are there any songs out there that put a smile on your face when you hear them?

Last week at yoga class my yoga instructor said something that really resonated with me. Since it was still the holidays, she decided that she wanted the class to have a "giving and receiving" theme. In addition to various poses that incorporated the theme (ie, partner shoulder stretching), she read some passages that applied as well. One spoke to ways that we can easily give to others. The example that she described and applied to our every day lives applies to something we all do every day- driving (even yoga ties in with my commute!). You know how sometimes when you're driving along and someone wants to merge in or merge over and you speed up so that they can't pass you? We are all probably guilty of this (at least I am!). My yoga instructor said that an easy way to "give back" to people without exerting any effort is to just let those drivers in. Everything is so rush rush these days but really, what do you have to lose by doing this? Not a thing. So, thinking about what she said, I applied this to my commute this morning. It left me smiling to let in other stressed drivers, and my drive did not take any longer than usual. If you practice yoga, do you try to incorporate it in other ways into your daily actions?

Yesterday was a long day. After work I attended a legal clinic and put in some pro bono hours. I really enjoy doing this. Last night I met with two women and they really just wanted someone to talk to and some reassurance. Doing this sort of thing really puts things into perspective for me. I am so... I don't even know how to put it. I don't want to say "blessed", because I think that term is kind of overused. I am so grateful for everyone and everything that I have in my life. I am thankful that I do not have to stress out about whether I can afford to purchase six dollar medication. There are people out that there that struggle with these sort of issues every day.

Okay, anyway, I thought this was a post about my fabulous wedding shoes? Oh, riight. So I'm just going to come out and say it. I hate (hate) white shoes. Yick. I don't know why; I just do. This presents a problem for the traditional wedding shoe since they are, well, white. However, after seeing Carrie Bradshaw get married in her blue Manolos, something must have stuck with me, because after I got engaged, I KNEW that I had to have blue shoes (navy, to be exact).

Source

Thus began my search for the shoes that didn't exist, or so I thought. I googled the shoes that Carrie wore (not that I was trying to buy $895 Manolos) and saw that they were not navy, nor were they peep toe, which is what I was looking for. My hopes sank. I perused various shoe sites (Zappos, I heart you but your blue wedding shoes were fug) with no luck. I was looking on Macy's website at shoes when I saw a red pair that they "suggested", with the always encouraging "more colors available" link underneath. There they were, and under budget ($99, my budget was $100) with free shipping to boot! I hemmed and hawed about ordering my wedding shoes when I hadn't even tried them on, but I just took the plunge and ordered them.

Behold:
Oops, kinda blurry.

Navy blue satin, peep toe, adorable ruffles- what's not to love?! I tried them on and fell in love. The final test was trying them on with my dress. Originally I was going to have to have my dress shortened a little because I planned on wearing 2 inch heels. These babies are about 3.5 inches. The 3.5 inch heel went PERFECTLY with my dress; it needs no alterations! I'm just under 5'8", so with the shoes I'm at about 5'11"ish. Bri is just over six feet tall so they are perfect!

These aren't the comfortable two inch heels that I was originally hoping for, but it's okay. I decided last night that I had to start breaking them in.

Yes, I wore them around my house with my pink pajama pants on. It was super hot.

So what do you think of the shoes? If you are married, did you wear colored shoes? If not, would you on your wedding day? And should I invest in a pair of ballet flats for the reception?

Tonight my training plan calls for a two mile run and my beloved body sculpt class. If the class is packed to the gills, I swear, New Year's Resolutioners' heads will roll. Kidding, kidding. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to revive (okay, begin) my love affair with brussel sprouts with a recipe that Wendy from Give Love, Create Happiness shared on her blog the other day. It sounds really delicious, and hopefully it will will take the bittah out of the brussel.

Sorry that this post is all over the place. I'm random. Have a great day!

Back in Business

Well I definitely fell off of the blogging wagon for a while, not that anyone likely noticed, haha. Anyway, I spend a lot of time reading healthy living blogs and thinking about my new "lifestyle", so I'm going to give the blog the old college try and continue posting.

I'll have a lot to write about, since I am starting my training program for the Virginia is for Lovers 14K that is on February 14, 2010 (one day before our engagement anniversary!) I am super excited to run it and know that I can do it, as long as I don't run into any IT band issues!

I'm also spending New Year's in Virginia Beach with Brian and we are going to run the Hair of the Dog 5k on New Year's Day morning. We are crazy party animals I tell ya. Good times! I'm hoping that I can beat my previous 5k PR of 31:50.

I'll probably try to post some of my outfits of the day, since I have been trying to be more creative in my "business attire" wear.

And now, some miscellaneous pics of what I've been up to these past few months...

Crossings 5k Run, September 27 2009

Me, Shannon and Christina at Christina's 27th Birthday Celebration

Attended Bri's Promotion to Lieutenant

Christina (right) and I at Jingle Bell 5k... 10 degrees... brrr

Happy Friday everyone!