I Love My Spibelt!

Hi bloggies! I feel like I've been gone forever and it's only been a few days. I missed reading and commenting on your blogs! I finished up my last seminar for the week today. Tomorrow is Friday and then it's a three day weekend! :) I am very excited to relax and just be.

I had a nice time in Long Island (aside from a sketchy incident at the hotel that I won't get into). There was pretty much no traffic getting there, so I arrived at 4:30- just enough daylight left to get in my 3.5 mile run! It was actually ten degrees warmer in Long Island, so I only wore my running tights, cold gear top, lululemon jacket and hat and gloves. In hindsight, I probably should have worn my fleece pants too, as it was pretty windy.

I was also excited to give my spibelt a go! I've been looking for some sort of storage mechanism to take on my runs that would hold my phone and keys without being bulky and annoying. I had read about spibelts throughout blogland so when I saw them at the local running store in Virginia Beach I knew I had to pick it up. Gear junkie for sure.

I purchased a pink and black plaid pattern- isn't it cute? So it looks very thin and small. I placed my cell phone, debit card and room key inside, and they all fit very comfortably.

With all of the items inside:

I placed in on the side of my hip and made sure the belt was very tight.

I have to admit that I was skeptical of spibelt's claims. I figured that there was no way I wouldn't be able to tell this pack was sitting on my hip. Well, now I am a believer! I seriously forget that I was even wearing it during my run. It did not shift at ALL. I love this thing! If you are in the market for something of this nature, I definitely recommend giving spibelt a try.

The run itself was beautiful, aside from my IT band acting up around 2.5 miles. I stopped and stretched and was fine, but it still gives me pause for concern. I hope I can continue my training for the 14k! I banged out 3 miles today without an issue, so I guess the telling factor will be my 5 miler on Saturday.

I planned my run strategically so that I would finish in front of the local starbucks. There, I got a "calm" tea and a fruit and cheese plate, which rocked my socks.

Yum! It was my pre-dinner dinner, as I later met Nicole at Novita, an awesome Italian restaurant near her. I didn't take any pictures but trust me when I say amazing lobster pasta was consumed.


When I got home today I decided to see how many energy gels I could fit in the spibelt. I have quite a few of them in my stocking from Bri at Christmas. I'm not running enough miles to warrant using them yet, but I'll get there.

So, I started with 4 gus and a pack of gu chomps:

and they all fit!

The only downside is that there is a slight tear in it already (boo). I don't know if you can see it- it's to the left of the stitching in the middle.

On another note, Suzy from Running on My Time tagged me to list ten things that make me happy right now. They are:

1. My lavender chamomile aromatherapy candle
2. My I love running water bottle
3. Red wine (currently drinking pinot noir)
4. The fact that my pup only had an ear infection and not something more serious
5. My presentation yesterday was my best one yet
6. I get to see Bri next Friday!
7. My upcoming three day weekend
8. Reading blogs!
9. My three mile run today, despite the fact that it was bring your family to the track and walk in the running lane day
10. The Naked Green Machine drink

Thanks for the tag, Suzy!

I'm off to go catch up on my blogreading and foam roll into oblivion. Happy almost weekend everyone, I missed you!

A Change of Plans, My Default "Power Suit" and Food Judgment

Good evening! Today was day one of my three seminar stretch for the week and I have to say, I'm exhausted! Putting on a seminar for two hours is more draining than a run! I had this fantastic plan all mapped out for my run today. My seminar was ending around 3:30, so I'd get home around 4:30, leaving me with plenty of daylight to run 3.5 miles outdoors in the glorious above freezing weather. Sadly, this got put to a halt as I was needed back at the office. Which meant that I wasn't getting home until at least six. To darkness. So my only option was going home, getting my gym gear and going to the track at the gym to bang out 3.5 uneven miles. I then realized that the only things I had eaten all day were greek yogurt and two oatmeal cookies at the hotel (I tend not to eat before a presentation). Soooo, I made the executive decision to instead come home, whip up a batch of Annie's organic white cheddar whole wheat shells with peas (loves!) and drink a green machine drink. Instead of running I did 30 minutes of hip opening yoga, and I'll get my 3.5 miles in tomorrow (outdoors, woot!) since I'll be arriving in Garden City around 3. Sweet!

Whenever I have to present I always seem to fall back on one particular suit. I think I own somewhere around 15 suits. Classic fashion advice seems to suggest that a woman should own at least one suit; I would up that requirement to three, even if your office is business casual. I purchased my new favorite suit last summer at Banana Republic- it was so new to the store that they had it available in my size in the jacket, pants AND skirt. If you ever have the option to purchase a suit with both the pants and the skirt, do it. It gives you more bang for the buck in the sense that you can work more outfits out of it!

I really love BR suits. They are cut perfectly for my frame! The only drawback is the fairly steep price; I try to buy them in classic cuts and prints so that they will be worth the investment.

My latest BR love:
You can't really tell from the picture, but it's a medium grey with a thin white stripe.

Close up shot of the color:

Sorry for the random weird picture of my leg. I'm going to wear the same suit on Wednesday with the skirt.

When wearing a suit I rarely (if ever) wear a button up collared shirt with it. That's what I typically did in the past and it is such a pain to finagle with the collar over the jacket. I generally wear thin shells, camisoles or thin sweaters underneath my suit jacket. This way I never worry about whether or not my collar is sticking out!


Do you have to wear suits for work? How many suits do you own?

So when I was at the grocery store earlier purchasing my Naked Green Machine drink, the cashier gave it a weird look and said "that looks healthy". I told her that it was actually quite good. She said that she could tell from the contents of my shopping basket that I eat healthily. I asked her if she evaluated customers' purchases on the regular (I always wondered that!). The cashier said that she did and that you wouldn't believe some of the stuff people buy. She said it made her the most angry to see families with overweight children purchasing a bunch of "crap", like oreos, ramen and the like.

I hate to say this but when I'm at the grocery store I tend to look at other people's carts to see what they are getting. When I see someone with a cart full of nutritionally void food, I get very judgmental. Why are they purchasing that stuff? Do they want to have a heart attack? Then I feel guilty, because who am I to judge? It's not like I eat perfectly. Do you guys find yourself evaluating other people's food choices?

Have a great evening everyone! I'm meeting up with one of my oldest friends tomorrow (she recently moved to Long Island) and we are hitting up a delicious Italian restaurant. I can't wait! Night!

When Life Gets in the Way of Your Training Plans

Good evening blog friends! I hope that your weekend has been fun and restful. Today has been fairly low-key for me; I've been running through my presentation, updating some blog stuff, reading blogs and eating. :) I added a link to my exercise log in the right-hand column of the blog, and figured out how to import my 14k training plan. I'm going to add an "About" page in the near future too. They are one of the first things I look at when I first stop at a blog so I should probably get on it!

Today started off fantastically (is that even a word?) with homemade blueberry pancakes topped with chobani pomegranate yogurt. I love adding greek yogurt atop pancakes- it makes them nice and creamy and gives you an added 14 grams of protein. Yum!


I also added a bit of organic maple syrup. I cringed at the price while purchasing this at the grocery store. However, the ingredient list sold me:Pure maple syrup. None of the HFCS badness. Do you pay extra for better quality foods? Or can you not justify the cost? It's frustrating to me that the items that are better for your body are more costly.

Today marked the start of week 4 of my 14k training plan. The 14k is only one month and three days away! I am hopeful that I will be able to do well (IT Band, I hope you're listening... stop acting up) and think that I am capable of reaching what once seemed like an impossible distance because I have following my training program consistently. With that being said, I have only finished three weeks of training and have already had to alter my schedule each week. By way of example, my training schedule provides that every Friday is a rest day. However, this did not coincide with what my "real life" schedule called for; my New Year's Day 5k was on a Friday morning! Instead, I swapped Friday's rest day with Thursday's three mile run. This past week I had my hair appointment on Thursday night (which I could NOT miss, Kisori books months in advance) so again, Thursday was my rest day and I ran 3 miles on Friday and 4.5 on Saturday.


I have missed one training day, unfortunately. Last Sunday I was going to cross-train at home (elliptical) once I got back from Virginia Beach. Instead of taking 8 hours the trip was delayed to a little over 13 hours, so by the time I got home at 11 PM I literally could not muster the energy to jump on the elliptical machine.


This week is a busy one for me. I'll be traveling a bit for work (hello Long Island), so I'm forced to take my training to the road. Tuesday is typically my yoga class (essential for stretching out my tight muscles), but I'll be driving and then checking into my hotel that evening. I adjusted my schedule and am prepared to practice yoga in my hotel room- I am packing my yoga mat and downloaded a new class from YogaDownload. Sure, I'd rather be at my class, but sometimes life gets in the way.


I think the key to any training program is flexibility. As long as you are getting in the requisite miles and aren't lumping all of your long runs together (so as to avoid injury), moving around your workouts isn't going to hurt you. Another key to training are scheduled rest days. Rest days are essential to allow your muscles to recoup and give your mind a chance to rejuvenate. Rest days are also good in the sense that having them in your schedule allows you to finagle it around a bit when something comes up.

Have you followed a training plan? If so, do you follow it to a "T"? What works best for you?

This afternoon I made it to one of my favorite places- Saratoga Coffee Traders:

I love this place. All of the coffee is fair trade and organic, and they have amazing lattes and delicious breakfast sandwiches. I pulled a little breakfast for dinner action and had egg and cheese on a bagel.


The counter in the coffee shop is really cool- it is covered in old coffee bean bags. Very green and somehow pretty chic too! I'm thinking of getting individual servings of the coffee to put into the out of town bags for the guests at the wedding. My co-worker thinks a gift card to the 'bucks would be better. While I get the appeal of the convenience of just grabbing a coffee with a gift card, I think it is more fun to get unique coffee that you wouldn't find elsewhere (plus, it goes with my Saratoga theme!) What would you do?

Lastly, I noticed that Target was having a sale on their champion sports bras, so I hightailed over there to pick some up. Anything to delay the doing of laundry (more sports bras= less need to do laundry) is A-ok in my book. The damage:

Okay so I have some beef with Target. The C9 bras that I usually buy were not on sale. I still bought one anyway (the purple one) but that was some misrepresentation in the flyer! I guess I shouldn't complain, because the polka dot sports bra (lovessss) was only ten dolla. I also snagged a yoga tank (17.99) to work out in. Hi, my name is Katie and I'm a gear junkie.

The rest of the evening will be spent prepping for tomorrow. I have to give presentations in front of large groups fairly regularly for my job. If you had told me in law school that this is what I would be doing I wouldn't have believed you; public speaking truly terrified me. Thankfully, I got over that fear (perhaps because I was forced to do it so much in law school?) but I still get on edge. Some of the tips I've learned in the past few years:

• Encourage audience participation. If you just sit there and talk at them, people are likely to get bored. During my presentations, I stress the point that if anyone has any questions to just raise their hand and interrupt me. The questions generally get a good dialogue going and gives you a chance to regroup.
• Know your audience and use real life examples to demonstrate points. In my line of work, I answer legal questions from our members on a daily basis. Oftentimes situations come up where while it may have only happened to one of our specific members, it may happen to another in the future. I use the past problems our members have encountered and explain how they dealt with it. Because, let's face it- the law is the law and all, but sometimes what happens in real life situations may, um, differ from what the law suggests. By the way, how many times can I saw real life in this post...yikes.
• Try to focus on each member of the audience at a different point. When I feel my eyes darting about the room I start to get stressed. Instead, I tell myself to relax and look towards a friendly face. If there are no friendly faces, run from the room screaming (kidding).
• Fake it. If you appear confident, people will be more receptive to what you are saying and are more apt to see you as authoritative.

Have you had to present in public recently? Do you enjoy it?

I'm off for some cross-training- have a great evening everyone!

A Chilly 4.5 and Bridesmaid Dresses!

Happy Saturday evening everyone! My Saturday has been surprisingly productive. Earlier this morning I met with Christina, my matron of honor, for coffee and breakfast. I ordered my caramel brulee latte at Starbucks and the barista looked at me strangely and said "they'll be back next Christmas." Dude, if that's the case, why does the sign still say enjoy our holiday lattes?! Grr. I settled on a caramel macchiato, but not without pouting.

After grabbing coffee we headed to Bruegger's Bagels for brekkie. I got one of my favorite indulgences: the cinnamon sugar bagel with maple cream cheese. Heaven in bagel form.


It was so bright in there that Christina had to rock her shades indoors, celeb style:

Isn't she cute?

We then went to pick up her bridesmaid dress! Can I just say that the prom dresses out this season are fugtastic? Holy bedazzling batman. Yick.

Back in my early days of blogging I wrote about how I was torn on my color scheme. I had originally settled on navy dresses with dark pink flowers as an accent color. This got thrown to the wind after seeing this champagne and light pink scheme on the knot. I am so glad I changed the colors; the dresses are fabulous!

The official color of the dress is "latte".

Excuse the wrinkles dress, the lovely (dripping with sarcasm here) dress shop takes really good care of the dresses. They have a sweetheart neckline and an almost trumpet-like skirt on the bottom.

I love the ruching on the dress!

What are your thoughts on the dress? If you are married, what was your color scheme? If not, do you already (secretly) have one picked out?


While I was at the 'bucks I noticed a new Kind bar at the register and, being a bar sucker, clearly purchased it. I have to say that I am a huge fan of Kind bars. They have a short ingredient list and are generally very delicious. Today's purchase (mango macadamia) was no exception! You can't really go wrong with mangoes and macadamia nuts. I could eat an entire jar of macadamia nuts if left to my own devices.

So fruity and delicious! I fueled up on half of the bar before my 4.5 mile run. Yesterday the temperature was predicted to be 0, so I was going to do it at the gym. However, today was practically a heat wave- 20 degrees and sunny! I put on all of my winter gear and got to it. The first few miles felt amazing, which I was happy about. I ran three on the track at the gym yesterday and my legs felt like lead. I did encounter some technical difficulties on today's run at first because I pushed the lap button on the garmin (hereinafter garmie) instead of the start stop. Oops. I went back and ran the distance so I could know what I had covered.

I encountered some issues with my knee about 2.5 miles into the run. In the past my IT band has acted up so I was fairly concerned, but it was only a minor twinging and I was able to continue running after a few stretching stops. Yippee! I then came home and foam rolled my IT bands into oblivion. Hurts so good.

The only thing left on tap for this weekend is to prep for my upcoming seminars next week. Eek! I've done them before but I like to have my presentation absolutely memorized, which is difficult when it's 2.5 hours.

Anyone else run in the artic temps today? Any fun plans for the rest of the weekend?

Have a great night!

Unfortunate Food Evening

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe the weekend is here already- the week flew by! Normally this would be fantastic but I have a lot to do before my seminar on Monday. My weekend will consist of a long run (4.5 miles), meeting with my Matron of Honor to pick up her bridesmaid dress and getting ready for next week! Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Last night I had an appointment with my hairdresser (finally!) It wasn't until 6:30, so the original plan was to eat a clif bar at 5 and then eat dinner when I got home. This plan was foiled when I tried my clif bar of choice- banana nut bread. Holy disgusting batman! I nearly spit it out it was so gross. I then scoped out the area surrounding my hairdresser and settled on Bountiful Bread. Their cranberry chicken wrap looked awesome! I even decided that I was going to play food blogger and take pictures of the wrap in public! I got the wrap and realized that it was a chicken salad type wrap. I'm usually not a fan of such. I finished half of it and it was fairly good. Nothing to write home about. I go to take a bite out of the other half and saw a short, curly black hair amongst the chicken that looked suspiciously like the dude's hair that prepared the wrap. Ugh! Normally I would have just thrown it out and left but I was hungry! I was able to exchange it for some tomato bisque soup but my appetite suddenly left me once I received it. Ew. All in all, an awful food night. I did take a picture of the wrap (and received some strange looks), but I'm not posting it. Take that, evil wrap! Have you ever found something gross in your food? If so, what did you do about it?

Moving on to the hair. At least that turned out okay! My hair has been so annoying lately- I've been shedding like a banshee (seriously, my hairdresser asked me if I was stressed because so much of my hair was falling out) and it was just waay too long. This is what I typically look like five minutes after arriving into work, pre-haircut:
Hair back in a messy bun. I can't stand to have it all up in my grill! Uber professional, no?

Hair down, pre-cut:

I hate taking self-portraits, so logically I went the gangsta look route.

After:

Yay! No more roots and I am three (hair) inches shorter! The only negative about getting my hair done is that it takes forevs. I was in the salon for over two hours. Not fun.

In other news, I was one of the random recipients of the Beautiful Blogger award from the lovely Susan at The Great Balancing Act!

I'm excited because this is my first blogger award! Yippee! In receiving such, I'm supposed to list seven random facts about myself. Here we go:

1. I used to consider myself to be quite unadventurous, but recent events have led me the other way. Namely, I got certified to scuba dive (in the murky, freezing Lake George waters, no less) and went midnight tubing in the Hudson River in the Adirondacks. Yes, that's tubing in a river in the pitch black; it was exhilarating yet terrifying. All of this from the girl who ran screaming out of the ocean because there were "sharks" (read: dolphins) while Kristin ran IN the ocean to play with them.

2. I have a tendency to trip quite a bit; as in, I'll be walking down the sidewalk in flats and my ankle randomly gives out. I'm not uncoordinated, I swear! I think it's because I have broken/sprained both ankles so many times that my ligaments have just given up on me.

3. I never drank coffee until second year of law school, when it became necessary to drink in order to stay awake. The only things that I really drink are coffee, water and red wine.

4. I have a true obsession with Tim Horton's and Wegman's, which are the two things that I miss the most about Buffalo. Tim Horton's coffee is like crack. If either entity came to the Capital District, I would most likely die of happiness.

5. My favorite movie, among others, is The Wedding Singer. I think it's the 80s music, because typically I'm not a chick flick kinda girl.

6. I can read ridiculously fast. I've been known to finish more than one book in a day. My dad probably spent thousands of dollars on books when I was growing up. Okay, at least a thousand. My stepmom donated my childhood/adolescent book collection to the library, which made me very sad. Probably my own fault for putting the books in the basement. Bring back the Sweet Valley High books!

7. I am in love with San Diego. You can't get a better climate!

So now I'm supposed to pass the award along to seven other lovely bloggers. I'm going to tag:

Julie @ Julie's Running Blog

Ashley @ Fashionably Fit

Christina @ Building the Nest

Wendy @ Give Love, Create Happiness

Danielle @ Coffee Run

Linz @ Destination 26.2

Tricia @ Endurance Isn't Only Physical

I can't wait to read your seven random facts, ladies!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Running is (umm, should be) Cheap

Good morning! I don't know about you but this week is flying by for me. Usually this is a good thing but I feel like I have a lot to do before my seminars next week!

The gym last night was awesome. For whatever reason the commute home was quicker than ever (I'll take it!) so I got there in time to rock out two quick miles before my body sculpt class at 6:30. The class was great! There wasn't too many new people and there was more than enough room to run around. And, my instructor is pregnant! She is so cute- I am so excited for her! Anyway, she put us through an intense full body workout. My favorite part (not at the time, so hard!) was when she had us doing a zillion squats holding weights. She then had us pause in squat position, then pulse up halfway three times, go up back to standing and repeat. It burned so good!


The other day I was in my bedroom, which I noticed was quickly being taken over by all of my running gear and apparel, particularly now that it is a frozen tundra outside. If you think about it, running is extremely low maintenance; all you need is a pair of running shoes and the ability to run. Cheap, right? Right. Well, hypothetically it is. It is not cheap if you are a gear junkie like myself. I thought about everything that I have either purchased or received as a gift relating to running since I started last May. I was shocked by the total cost. Let's break it down:

• Adidas Supernova Glide Sneakers- $110
• Garmin Forerunner 305- $179
• Running Tights- $40
• Coldgear Cold Weather Hood- $30
• Coldgear Cold Weather Fleece Pants- $55
• Coldgear Compression Top- $50
• Coldgear Gloves- $20
• Coldgear headband- $15
• Lululemon Running Jacket- $100
• Running Socks- $20
• Nike Tempo Track Shorts- 4 pairs- $100
• Extra Sports Bras- $70
• Race Entries (to date) $145
• Oakley Sport Sunglasses- $170
• Running Fleece- $10
• Moisture Wicking Tops- $60
• Foam Roller- $25
• Road ID- $30
• Spi Belt- $20
• Zensah Socks- $20
• iTouch Armband Holder- $20
• Reflective Waistband- $10

Grand Total: $1299, or approximately $1300 dollars spent on running!

Arguably, I could use some of the gear for other activities, but their primary purpose is for running. For instance, before I started running a lot I had around four sports bras (some since my volleyball days back in high school!) However, running a ton required me to either do laundry all of the time or purchase more. Clearly I opted for the latter. I am a huge fan of the Champion sports bras at Target. They are relatively inexpensive (about $15) and provide great support (I'm a C).

Are you surprised by the amount I have spent on my running habit? How much have YOU spent on running (or any other sport/hobby that, on the surface, is inexpensive)?

I am finally getting my hair cut and highlighted tonight- yippee! It will be my last cut and color before the wedding. My hair is getting waaay too long; this appointment is long overdue!


Also, I broke down and joined twitter. It's fun! You can follow me @fittowed.

Lastly, for some pics. My maid of honor Kelle has been asking me to forward her a picture from my bachelorette for the longest time. I'm kind of bad at emailing pics to people. So Kelle, here you go!


Me and Kelle at my bachelorette- wine tasting in the finger lakes! Kelle had just dyed her hair from blonde to a beautiful brunette.

For a frame of reference, here is Kel as a blonde:

Me, my bridesmaid Jenn and Kelle as a blondie in summer '07. I had just finished studying for the bar in Buffalo (read: no sunlight) which is why I am so pale. Who am I kidding, I'm always pale!

Have a great Thursday! Let me know your thoughts on running and/or fitness costs!

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!