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For months my battle with running has been an uphill fight.  By nature I am a very lazy person.  Running on a treadmill is by far not on my list of Fun Things To Do.  So reaching this 2 mile marker is HUGE for me.  I felt so good when the treadmill reported 2.38 miles - I almost kept going!  But then I remember I have to do this again on Saturday so I should probably not push my luck.

Now the plan is to run the 2 miles at least 2 more times successfully before moving on to 2.5.  Wish me luck!

Last weekend the family went down to San Antonio for my brother’s wedding.  My sister Kecia and I drove in a few days early to help out with anything they needed, and to get out of Dallas for a few days.  Too bad we both ended up working from our hotel room all day Thursday.  So much for sight seeing!

Anyway, across the highway from our hotel was a fancy shopping area called The Quarry.  We ate dinner over there one night and visited the Michael’s and Starbucks on a few occasions.  We also found the best tanning salon ever.  While we never set foot inside, I know it excels far past any other tanning salon out there, due to the shear creativity of the establishment’s name.

Just take a moment and let the fantabulousness of this name set in.

This was my gmail message for several days last week.  Basically I needed some work distraction, so along came a few links for my entertainment.  Most are funny, some in their own twisted way.  Enjoy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VE6I8vHV0MY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/08/nwheel108.xml

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/flash/play/733/

So I’m back on the Weight Watchers wagon.  After the wedding (and if I’m being honest, before the wedding too) my eating habits went to crap and I’ve since gained a few pounds back.  I’m still below my starting weight back in February, but I need to get back on track before things get out of control.

Since its summer now, my default low point lunch of taco soup isn’t going to cut it.  It’s too hot for spicy soup at lunch time.  On Monday WW sent me an email with some salad recipes, so I chose one that was 4 points per serving.  I made the salad last night for my dinner, and Blake used it as a side salad for his Baked Chicken Tortillas (which are only 6 points, but I didn’t have enough points left for that).  The salad was great!  The dressing when tossed around with the rest of the ingredients is more than enough.  It has a great fresh flavor with enough bite from the red wine vinegar to make it interesting and not bland.  I couldn’t find honey roasted nuts, so I used regular walnuts and it was good enough for me.  The pears add a different texture and I always appreciate that in a salad. 

While I normally hate using any points on something like a salad, it is a great alternative for the summer.  You can add some grilled chicken for about 3 points and it will be a pretty filling meal. 

I don’t know what it is, but immediately following a wedding, many brides have an urge to chop off their hair.  My guess is because they have spent months growing it out to achieve that fantastic wedding day hairstyle (that many people don’t remember).  And now that they are married they are left with a ‘do devoid of any style or life.  And if they are like me, its almost June in Texas and its hot and muggy.  Your hair is stuck to your neck, it takes forever to dry because there is so much of it.  In short, its time for the hair to be short. 

My hair generally doesn’t get much attention.  I wash it, sometimes dry it.  Hardly ever use any “product”.  Why?  I’m lazy.  And many times the extra effort I put in is completely wiped out when I walk out the front door into a humid Texas summer day.  Since the wedding it has been even more neglected.  I was merely just waiting until I had enough money saved for a haircut.  And today was that day!  I ventured out to visit my salon and came out pretty darn happy.  It’s nothing drastic, pretty similar to what I had before the wedding planning began.  But its shorter now.  And it has a freaking STYLE!  What a concept.  Yea for people who know what to do with hair, because God knows I am not one of them.

We did it people.  Blake and I got married!  We survived a year of wedding planning and made it to the big event.  It was truly the most wonderful weekend and I’d do it again tomorrow if I weren’t so broke.

**Disclaimer:  This blog is more of a journal entry for me.  There are so many things about that day I never want to forget, what better way to keep up with those memories than to jot them down in a blog!  I apologize for the excessive details that many of you won’t care about, but this blog is more for my benefit than for my readers.  Sorry!

The events kicked off with a 2:00 pm rehearsal in the Circular Garden at the Texas Discovery Gardens.  The rehearsal was a dysfunctional situation.  I arrived without the listing of who was supposed to walk who down the aisle, which grandparents were seated first, etc etc. (Note to future brides:  pack this in your car the day before, saves lost of chaos)  Luckily Stacy was there and was able to jump in and make notes as we quickly decided the order again.  Then we ran through the order of the ceremony.  Then we ran it again.  Seeing as how just about everyone had been in a wedding before, I was not really worried about anyone being lost.  Our bridal party was full of smart people - I knew they could improvise if necessary.  Which proved a helpful skill when during our rehearsal a turtle decided to strut her way down the aisle and join our bridal party for awhile.  After about 45 minutes in the hot sun, we decided to move it inside the Grand Hall and run the processional there - just in case it rained on Saturday.

After the rehearsal ended - everyone headed off to shower (did I mention it was 85 and muggy?) and get ready for the rehearsal dinner.  Blake and I arrived to the dinner in our usual fashionably late manner and we were greeted by a room full of our family and friends.  It wasn’t until this moment that I started to get excited about the entire weekend and all the events to come.  (Second Note to future brides:  allow time to go from psycho-must-finish-to-do-list mode to excited-i’m-getting-married-tomorrow mode)  It was so wonderful to see all of our family and friends.  So many people traveled in for our wedding and this dinner gave us to the opportunity to visit with them.  It also gave us the opportunity to eat some seriously awesome food.  I heart Maggiano’s.  The best part of the evening were the toasts offered up to us by our guests.  We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people and during the toasts I felt so honored to have them all in the same room for those few hours.  If we could have a rehearsal dinner every week I would totally do it just to be able to spend more time with these great people.

After the dinner, my matron of honor and I headed to a nearby hotel for a night of uninterrupted sleep (and some Will and Grace reruns).  I know there are a lot of brides who probably don’t sleep the night before their wedding, but I am not one of those!  I treasure my sleep and checking into a hotel no one could find us at allowed for 9 hours of sleep and no phone calls.  It was fantastic.

Saturday morning we packed up and went over to my mom’s house to pick up my dress and check in with the family.  We managed to finish loading up the dress right before it started to lightly rain.  Then it was off to the salon for noon appointments for 3 bridesmaids and myself.  My hair took almost 2 hours.  Usually I can be pretty patient, but by the end of the time there I was getting antsy to get on the road.  Not that leaving any earlier would have fast forwarded the time until the wedding, but it sounded better than sitting in that chair any longer.  I have to say though - my hair was amazing.  Susan at Lalique Salon really worked hard to make it perfect and to make sure it would stay throughout the wedding and reception.

After the salon, the bridesmaids and my mom all met up at The Magnolia hotel downtown to finish up makeup and so the girls could get dressed.  We got there WAY early.  We literally sat around for almost 2 hours just talking and munching on some sandwiches and other yummies.  Finally about 4:30 I decided to do my makeup.  By 5:30 everyone was dressed (except my mom and I) and we were off to the Gardens.  Jessica ran in first to be sure Blake was locked away somewhere and didn’t catch a glimpse of me or the dress.  I snuck in the back way and stumbled on a building full of people setting up for the wedding.  There were people everywhere!  I didn’t want to linger too long so I ran back to the bride’s room.  Except that everyone kept talking about the cake so I had to sneak back out long enough for a look at it - and yes it was fabulous.  After that I hung out in the bride’s room awhile longer.  Seriously I allowed for LOTS of extra time in case we were late - probably too much.  I finally got dressed about 6:45, Pastor Deb led us in a prayer and then off we went!

I stayed hidden in the back hallway with Christina while the family was seated.  Once the groomsman were off down the aisle, we made our way out the side door.  Then I was nearly tackled by a wall of bridesmaids who had seen me coming - apparently Blake was still at the back of the garden.  Oops!  So we convinced a banquet worker to stand in front of me so no one could see me through the glass of the Grand Hall.  Then the music changed and the girls headed off down the aisle.  Then I saw my dad.  He made me cry.  It was a happy cry though!  Just a short time later we were headed down the aisle and he was giving me away to my future husband.  Blake looked so handsome in his tux and I just kept thinking about how lucky I was to be marrying him.  Except for a part in the Pastor’s homily, I never really cried.  I wasn’t surprised though.  I was (and still am) so confident in the decision we made to get married and spend our lives together.  After a year of planning a wedding - I was ready for the actual marriage to begin!   I was so excited and was filled with too much happiness to waste any minute of that ceremony crying.

After the ceremony we rounded up our families for some formal pictures.  This is like herding turtles.  (Third Note to future brides:  create a listing of the formal pictures you want and include the names of all family members in each picture.  Then pass the list out to those people.  That way you don’t have to learn how to herd turtles.)  After pictures, my sister Kecia, my mom and Stacy all improvised the bustle on my dress (no one could remember how it was really supposed to work), then we were announced into the reception!  Blake said a quick thank you to all the guests, then James Petty led us in a beautiful grace before dinner.  Blake and I ate at a seperate sweetheart table, complete with what we thought was our own security guard.  Turns out he was actually part of the banquet staff Christina had hired to help set up and tear down the reception.  He poured our wine and tried to look somewhat scary as he attempted to curve the buffet line away from our table (it is really weird having a line of 150 people watch you eat dinner).  Not surprising, Blake and I were too excited to eat much and we were soon on our feet checking out the picture table (I was excited to show off my bridal portraits).  Not long after that our DJ read our Love Story, which was hilarious and touching at the same time, then Blake and I busted out our first dance to Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”.  I think our dance lessons paid off, because we had no trouble remembering the steps and enjoying our first dance together as a married couple.  After that I danced with my dad.  He sang all the wrong words to the song, but I loved it anyway.  Then Blake and his mom enjoyed a dance, followed by a bridal party dance.  The rest of the night is a bit of a blur.  We played the Newlywed Game, enjoyed some toasts from our parents and best man and matron of honor, cut a super yummy cake (which we actually got to enjoy some of it the next day), danced excessively, tossed the bouquet and garter, and did our best to enjoy every minute of the celebration.  When it was time for the last dance, Blake and I showed off our rhumba skills and then made our exit to our beautiful shoe-polished Jeep Grand Cherokee.  That shoe polish made it until about Wednesday of the next week, but we received lots of happy honking while it lasted.

The next day we wandered around downtown for a bit, had some lunch and then made our way to visit a few relatives who were still in town and have dinner with friends.  The day after is just as much fun - you get to find out all the details of what happened when you were out dancing or talking.  You get all the gossip about which guests enjoyed the bar a bit too much, who had the best dance moves (and the worst), and to just find out if everyone had a good time.  From what we have heard, all of our guests enjoyed the evening.  One of our goals was to create a wedding celebration that made everyone feel comfortable and happy, maybe even to help them remember their own weddings, and it seems we accomplished that goal and that truly makes Blake and I happy all over again.

Of course, the whole event would have been a disaster without all the help we received from our family and friends.  Christina was our day of coordinator and also arranged for the banquet staff that helped out throughout the evening.  She resolved problems and made everything happen without having to hunt Blake or I down for answers - this is a huge deal!  It was so nice to know that everything would come out perfect and that I didn’t need to worry about any of the day of details.  Our friend Stacy was also amazing.  A few months before the wedding I turned over the detail of table centerpieces to her.  Centerpieces and decor are not really my thing - my computer geek practical self takes over and cannot figure out what to do with flowers and vases and whatever else it involves.  We were fortunate to be able to borrow all the glassware we needed, but we needed a plan for what to put in them and Stacy volunteered her time.  I have to say I was never worried about how this would come out.  Stacy understands what Blake and I like and was able to recreate that with our tiny budget.  All of the flowers and centerpieces were beautiful.  She highlighted everything with votive candles to add some soft light and it was just perfect.  Without Stacy and Christina, it is likely that our guests would have been greeted by a fajita dinner buffet without flatware or plates and a mostly empty room to enjoy it in!

We also had lots of help from everyone in our bridal party and our parents.  They helped get us ready for the wedding, the guys helped to deliver all the alcohol (yippee!), and they stuck around at the end of the night to help tear down the reception and get everything loaded up into cars.

Blake and I agree that our wedding was essentially perfect.  We made our committment to one another with our family and friends there to witness it and then we were able to spend the evening celebrating that committment with all of those wonderful people.  In the end, it was truly the wedding we dreamed of.

Now I leave you with what I feel is the best picture we have seen from the table cameras.  Thanks guys!

For more rehearsal dinner pics, visit my Flickr or Zach’s gallery.

For more wedding pictures, mostly from the table camera, visit my Flickr.

A few months ago Cosmo had an article about post-wedding depression that opened my eyes to what after the wedding could really be like for me.  Post-wedding depression occurs right after the wedding, after all the attention is no longer on you and you have your life back.  Only your life isn’t what you remember, because the last year of it has been consumed by wedding planning.  People stop asking you about the wedding plans, or how you are doing with all of the stress.  Essentially life is normal again - but you just don’t recognize it without all the extra attention and full schedules.

As Blake and I have put this wedding together, I’ve tried very hard to not get all Bridezilla and start demanding outrageous things out of my family and friends.  I’ve tried to be conscious of how I am acting, and to be sure I ask others about their lives and not just spend hours and hours going on about our wedding.  Probably the last few weeks have been worse than before, but I still try to keep myself in check.

So will I have a bit of the post wedding blues?  I think its very possible.  Girls are raised to dream of their wedding day and how fabulous it will be and how beautiful they will look, etc.  So essentially getting married has been a part of my life since I was a little kid.  So when our big day has come to an end, I might feel a bit lost.  While that feeling might be natural and probably okay for a few days, I definitely want to try and curb it so it doesn’t get out of hand.  So here is a list of things I am going to look forward to after the wedding.  I plan to use it as a reminder of how fortunate I am, so that I can drag myself out of any slump I might be stuck in.

1. My big brother’s wedding on June 16th in San Antonio!
2. Our new house should be ready to move into by the end of June
3. Being married to Blake!  My friend Wendy once told me that her marriage has been better and better every day - she has been married not quite 2 years.  I hope Blake and I have that kind of happiness!
4. The upcoming weddings of Novie and Viv, Justin and Maggie, and Kate and Clay.
5. Changing my name (I must confess I’m still torn on this one, but it is exciting nonetheless).
6. The development of the non-profit ballet company His Kids and Company.  So much to do here and I’m excited to be involved as president of the board.

Okay, so that is my list!  If anyone else is getting married, consider making one of your own lists to refer to.  Even if you don’t run into the wedding bell blues, its a good exercise to have a list of everything you are excited about or grateful for.

Yesterday Justin and I were chatting on gmail about the ins and outs of planning a wedding and keeping your sanity at the same time.  It’s a delicate balance.  My friends Lou and Amanda have delcared the only way to get married and not deal with all the planning hoopla and politics is to elope with an orphan.  I agree this is a great policy, but it doesn’t work for either Justin or I at this point.

Then Justin tells me about Maggie’s April Fools joke.  I cannot relay the hilarity enough, so I’ve copied and pasted the chat log.

  4:22 PM justin: right, right.. noted  i was going to play a joke on her on april fool’s and tell her i had reconsidered and everything was off

  but i forgot on april fools day

 me: HAHAHAH

  I can see that would have ended badly for you, I’m glad you forgot

 justin: only b/c two days prior she emailed me at work and told me she was pregnanat

4:23 PM i seriously had a minor heart attack

  and she just laughed and laughed

  i immediately went to the hallway and called her and she goes “april fools”

  even though it was like March 28th

  not funny

4:24 PM me: OH DAMN

  maggie is good!

  hahahahahahahahha

  crap, she’s not online. I was going to commend her on her creativity

4:25 PM  justin: she is in florida

  not creative, mean

  it wasn’t even april fools

4:26 PM 

  so i was seriously worreid for about 1 min

  i was like its not even april fools yet

 me: LOL

 justin: she goes “you would’ve known had i done it on the first”

 me: if she waited until that day it never would have worked!

 justin: all i could think of was that thank god we got trip insurance on our honeymoon

  and how fat she was going to be walking down the aisle

  or that we should run to vegas and elope

 me: HAHAHHA

4:27 PM you are cracking me up

 justin: seriously, a million thoughts through my head in less than 30 seconds

 me: I would be thinking “how are we gonna tell her parents” not “damn she’s gonna be fat in her wedding dress”

 justin: well, that crossed my mind too

  it took me like 10 minutes to get back to normal breathing patterns

  i can’t imagine finding out that info from some ho-bag you slept with on a one night stand

Literally.  I resemble a corpse.  I am a pasty white woman!  Put me next to the Pillsbury Dough Boy and you might have trouble distinguishing who is who (hint - I don’t wear a white hat).

This revelation came to me as I was formatting pictures from my bachelorette party so I could upload them to my gallery.  In just about every picture I had to fix some red eye, and when I zoomed in I was blinded by my whiteness.  I am a ghostly bride to be!  I also make a wide arrange of fun faces.  Trust me.

Enough about my lack of melanin, let’s move on to the bachelorette fiesta.  Several weeks ago my matron of honor and two of my bridesmaids got together to throw a lingerie shower and party for me - and I have to say they did a fantastic job!  They threw a party that completely resembled my style - lots of food, lots of talking, lots of alcohol, and some bowling.  Yes I said bowling, and I know you are jealous.  Seriously, I don’t ever go to the bar or clubs anymore - it really was never my style.  So when Jessica asked where I wanted to go for the party, I knew bowling was the answer.  There is alcohol, music videos playing above the lanes, the chance to take out your aggression on 10 pins, and of course alcohol.

Rather them ramble on and on about how much fun I had, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.  See the whole gallery here.  A big thanks to everyone who was able to make it out for the fun, I had a blast and I hope we can make girls bowling night a regular event!

Where have I been?  I’ll tell you where!  Laptop hell!  In the middle of my last attempt to post, my old laptop and I had a disagreement that caused me to lose several pictures and all of my patience.  The laptop is 5 years old now and randomly shuts itself down.  Since it isn’t exactly living up to my high IT standards anymore, I decided it was time for a new machine.  I picked up a new Toshiba Satellite last week and I’m quite happy with it.  It’s a wide screen, which is a whole new world!  It also has the handy new “TruBrite” display that is way more fabulous than my other two laptops.  Yes, I said other two laptops.  My desk is a bit crowded.

I’m still in the process of converting over to the new Toshiba, but thought I would give my faithful readers an update as to where the heck I was.  As soon as I’ve got this thing ready to go, a new post about my bachelorette extravaganza will be up for your reading pleasure!