Wife chop

Just when I thought I was done with all 40 or so thank you notes…

Two more gifts arrived.

Not complaining, because lord knows we need more storage stuff to neaten up our kitchen, but….ack.  I will get these done.  We mailed a huge batch today, and we just have a few more to do that are kind of impossible to do right now for various reasons.

The best thing about being married so far?

Before:

And after!

 

LOVE IT.  (Note: it got flattened by the rain a bit.)

I feel so much more like MYSELF now.  Long hair is NOT for me.  I feel hot, and hairy, and gross, and awkward, and immature in it.  I grinned like an idiot the entire haircut.

(It is not really the best part of being married, though.  But pretty great.  We’ve also made it through our first week as husband and wife!  Go us.)

The rest of the day was spent shopping!  We completed the bulk of our Crate & Barrel and Macy’s registries.

Glasses:

MAGNETIC measuring cups and spoons.  They stick together so the set is nice and neat!

 

Assorted gadgets, and a random coffee mug lid that got thrown in there.

Butter dish!

 

Gravy boat and olive oil mister!

Wine rack!  (That will be mounted to the wall eventually.  Right, Tim?)

A teeny pot that matches the rest of our set:

And our new guest bathroom setup: Unpictured: shit tons of towels.  Big, fluffy towels, that haven’t faded and match one another.  Heaven.

I also did a bit of personal shopping after my haircut, mostly for our honeymoon cruise next week.

Cute green sundress, black knit skirt, two tank tops, and a white knit shrug (which is more of a wear-to-work piece to go over my sleeveless dresses to make them a bit more appropriate.)  I’m not a big fan of Old Navy’s winter clothes, but I LOVE their summer stuff.  Super cheap, too!

Less cheap, but also awesome?  I found a lucy store!  

I finally broke down and bought a pair of running shorts.  I love that these are cute and high quality, but come to just above the knee.  With the way my body is built, I don’t think I’ll ever wear booty shorts for running.  Love these, though!

In other news?  I LOVE HUMMUS.  I’d tried hummus once, a long time ago, and I didn’t like it.  It was freezing cold and, well, not good.  But tonight we went out to dinner and got a hummus and pita appetizer and it was to die for.  The hummus was warm and garlicky and had chili oil on it and I think I love it now.  Hooray!

What’s something you didn’t like until you gave it a second chance?

Half marathon STYLE

Chocolate Raspberry Luna Bars are the best.

After work, instead of going to the gym, I went to my beloved TJ Maxx to scope out the situation on their workout gear.  I love TJ’s (no, not Trader Joe’s, though I love them too) because they have high quality wicking-type clothes at low prices. 

Backup: I went to TJ Maxx because I freaked out realizing that even though the forecast for Saturday is 75 and sunny…at 7 a.m., it will be in the low 50s.  And it will be that chilly for the entire race (unless I take, like, four hours to finish, in which case I doubt I’ll care what I’m wearing).  And I don’t really have a dri-fit short-sleeved shirt I liked—I like V-necks, and my other two are too big.  I contemplated using my Zensah calf compression sleeves as arm warmers, and then realized I’d look like a total douchebag.

So yes.  My options were light pink, dark pink, and fluorescent green.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t hate pink.  Our wedding flowers are pink.  I think pink is pretty.  But it annoys the bejeezus out of me that all women’s workout gear is pink.  I realize TJ Maxx has a limited selection, but I don’t think it’s just there.  Whenever I want to buy workout clothes, I feel like my options are white, pink, and purple!  I want to wear green and navy and black and red and gray and yellow and orange, too!  (I don’t really look great in pink, either, which also explains my bias.)

Anyway.  Obviously, I am going to be a bright lime green runner on Saturday!  (My decision was actually mostly based on the fact that this fabric was much lighter and is basically the exact same as my favorite adidas tank top that I was planning on wearing, but with light sleeves.)

Tim has NO EXCUSE for missing me running by on Saturday.

I also bought the black dri-fit capris with green accents to match because they were cheap.  (They are the exact same as another pair of adidas capris I have, just different colors, so I know I’m not going to burst into flames for wearing new gear on race day.)

So if you are at the Olathe Marathon on Saturday, I will be the asshole in neon green.

Also, I ordered a BondiBand on Monday and it came! 

Cripes, I need to Windex our mirror. 

I can’t usually wear fabric headbands, even the ones with rubbery grips, because they pop off the back of my oddly-shaped, large head.  But this one is holding strong so far!  I usually wear a hard plastic headband, but this is much more comfortable.  I am reserving judgment for awhile until I take it for a workout, but so far so good!

And again, our little lovers:

Oh yeah!  In more exciting news…I got my first donation to Team in Training today!  Super exciting.  If you think I can finish a marathon, throw a few dimes in my tip jar, please! 

What’s your take on the predominance of girly workout gear?   Would you rather workout clothing be more unisex? 

Snow? In March?

This has been SUCH a long day. 

I rolled out of bed at 5 so I could be at work by 6:30.  Worked from 6:30-noon.  Hey, guess what?

It started snowing/raining/sleeting late last night and continued throughout the night.  This morning, it turned to snow.  We now have probably 4-5 inches of snow on the ground.  And it’s March 20th.  Not cool, winter.  Not cool.

The upside is that it’s supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow so hopefully it will all melt.  But still, sucky.

I was absolutely determined to get the shopping-related errands done today.  They’ve been stressing me out for the last week and I was tired of it.  So I forged ahead and did my errands, snow be damned.

First stop: Ulta, for shower hostess gifts.  I have 7 hostesses (roughly) so it had to be something reasonably inexpensive.  I’m going to wrap them up with a note hoping that all their showers will be as nice as mine!

And a nice flatiron for my hair.  My straightener right now is a joke—I think I bought it at the drugstore for $9.99 my freshman year in college, and it doesn’t work.  I’m so tired of long hair, but I want it to look nice for my shower/bachelorette parties/etc, so I figured I should splurge on a nice one.

 

Then I stopped by the running store to a) restock on Gu and b) pick up some odds and ends to wrap up for my sister’s maid of honor gift half marathon registration.   My friend/the owner Bob was there, and of course he asked about my shoes.  Guiltily, I told him that they just weren’t working all that well and showed him my dead toenail/new blisters. 

He felt bad and gave me some new cushiony insoles to try.

They are so wonderful there, but I think they think I’m a lost cause at this point.  Bob admitted that he can’t think of one more thing that would help me that I haven’t tried, and recommended I see a doctor.  (Which I plan to do after the wedding—things are just too crazy now.)  It makes me sad that there’s really nothing else they can think of that will help my poor feet. 

Bob even said, “I’ve never said this before, but maybe you should just go to a sporting goods store, find a pair of shoes that feels good on your feet for $50, and keep trying that until you find something.  At this point, you don’t have anything to lose.”  (Except more money.  But…a nice sentiment.)

Anyway, I got this.  I’m not sure if it’s going to be for my sister or for me quite yet.  Oops. 

And an array of goodies to give my sister—non-cotton socks, sport beans, shot blocks, various Gu flavors, and Body Glide.

I also bought a whole box of Chocolate Gu.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  This should last me awhile, and it’s discounted if you buy by the box.

 

Then I headed to the mall and picked up some bronzing airbrush spray while I waited to get my eyebrows done.

Got my eyebrows waxed, came home, ate dinner, and now we’re watching The September Issue and possibly The Hurt Locker later.

Anyway, not a cheap day, but I think I’m mostly done shopping-wise for my Chicago trip.  Tomorrow’s MUST GET DONE LIST:

• thank you note for the gift we got this week
• print/cut/assemble/address rehearsal dinner invitations
• write out cards for shower hostesses
• try to get as much Chicago packing done as possible

Anyone else getting unseasonably awful weather?

Girls just wanna have fun

I woke up this morning at 8:30 after having gone to bed last night at, oh…9:30.  I was exhausted!

I put on my running clothes and woke Milhouse up, fully intending to go for a 3 mile dog jog.

Then I got outside.  It was rainy, and windy, and cold, and muddy, and Milhouse started whining to go inside almost immediately.  I thought “I have to run…but I don’t want to!” and had a minor panic attack.

Milhouse dragged me back inside and I had a bowl of Kashi and flipped on a little Stacy & Clinton.  I was already dressed for a workout, so I felt especially bad about skipping.

Then it dawned on me.  I can work out inside!  Suddenly, the idea of some indoor, at-home strength training in front of the TV sounded PERFECT.  It’s not running, but I’ve been neglecting weights of all kinds for the last few weeks, and I’ve missed them. 

I set the oven timer for 30 minutes and grabbed my yoga mat and 2 8 pound weights (the heaviest I have at home, sadly).  I improvised a 30 minute weight circuit, repeating the following circuit 6 times in a row:

• Weighted squats for 1 minute
• Upper body move (shoulder press, flies, rows) for 1 minute
• Abs (bicycle crunches, planks, reverse crunches) for 1 minute
• Weighted lunges for 1 minute
• Upper body move (bicep curls, skull crushers, chest press) for 1 minute

It was a really great idea and I’m glad I did it!  I would have been crabby and unhappy for the half hour if I had gone running, but I had a lot of fun doing this!  I’ve missed weight training since I’ve been so running-centric lately.   And I must have done something right, because by the end I was pouring sweat and shaky. 

Then I went for a massage.  While the massage itself was great, the whole experience was ruined for me by how pushy they were for tips the whole time.  I’ve worked in the service industry, and I understand that tips are important, but this just came across really grabby to me:

Combined with envelopes with GRATUITY on them in the rooms, and the “How much gratuity would you like to add?” question at check-out, I will not be going back.  Not worth it. 

At least my legs feel a little bit better.

Then I went shopping.  Ann Taylor Loft had a big sale today, and I noticed they’d gotten more stock in since last time I’d been, so I figured why not.

MAJOR SCORE!  I wound up with a shower dress, a dress for my downtown bachelorette party,  a dress for Napa Valley, a necklace, earrings, and headband for 50% off…which amounted to maybe $15 more than just my first shower dress cost. 

For the shower:

And for my bachelorette party night out in Chicago:

  

And for bumming around Napa Valley:

I’m definitely a dress person in the spring and summer, so these will be re-worn on our honeymoon and various other ways while the weather is nice.  I hate wearing shorts—I can never find pairs that fit me in both the waist and thighs, so I own a lot of summery sundresses.  I think they’re cuter and cooler than shorts anyway!

I got home and spent the afternoon  watching Precious:

Good movie, but sad.  As expected.  I also wrote some thank-you notes.

Buckley’s taken up residence on the back of my chair for the time being:

 

Tonight?  Homemade pizza for one and bumming around.  Glorious!

Anyone else get any good shopping deals this weekend?

A Very Nauseous Holiday

Last night Tim and I went out to dinner.  We usually go out to dinner on Saturday anyway, so it wasn’t really a Valentine’s Day celebration.  I had some delicious blackberry sangria, pasta with chicken and mushrooms, and we split a slice of chocolate cake.  It was a nice night together!

Until this morning.  I got up and had an English muffin with PB and coffee, and immediately, my stomach started disagreeing with my decision.  Suffice it to say, it was not pretty 10 minutes later.  I felt better, so I decided to go ahead as planned and try to go shopping to get some of the things I need for the wedding: a rehearsal dress, a shower dress, and clothes for my bachelorette parties.

Unfortunately, no stores have dresses that are anything close to what I want yet.  I couldn’t find ANYTHING, and I went to two different malls.  I did wind up with some cute shirts for work, though.

And I also got two bras, which I desperately needed.  But you don’t get to see those.  Also, pet peeve: when women bring their husbands/fiances/boyfriends to Victoria’s Secret.  There were no fewer than four men awkwardly lurking around VS while I shopped for bras.  Creepy.

Anyway, my stomach was crampy and upset all day while I shopped.  I got home at about 1 o’clock and made the only thing that sounded remotely appealing: plain macaroni noodles with a little butter.

Yeah, that didn’t take well either.  10 minutes later…you get the idea.  This is all extremely weird, because I have a cast iron stomach.  It rarely gets upset.  But today…ugggh.

Anyway, again, I felt a little better and decided to finish running my errands.  I went to Target to pick up the printed pictures of Milhouse and get a few grocery staples, and then to Michael’s to get more adhesive and vellum for wedding-y stuff.  I noticed shadow boxes were 40% off, and I’ve been meaning to get one for our invitation, so I did.

I might dry a few flowers from my bouquet to add after the wedding, but I like it!   I just need to figure out where to hang it.

I also picked up dinner for myself at Target and told Tim to fend for himself.

A plain wheat bagel.  Exciting!

So, that’s our romantic Valentine’s Day.  I’m currently sitting in my armchair fighting nausea and wishing it would go away.  Blech!  I’m glad I took tomorrow off.  At least I was productive.  I’m not sure if it’s food poisoning, or a stomach bug, or what, but it’s not pleasant!

What’s your nausea remedy of choice?

Homebodies

Hi, guys.  Sorry no post last night–we just needed some unplugged couple time together.  (And red wine, and dark chocolate.)

Anyway, early yesterday I decreed it pajama day–all pajamas, all day long.  We played a lot of video games (Super Mario Galaxy on Wii for me, Assassin’s Creed on XBox for Tim), watched TV (the Soup, West Wing on DVD, Tivoed Gilmore Girls reruns), and I spent a particularly glorious hour reading in bed with a mug of hot chocolate with Milhouse and Buckley.  We made homemade pizza and a salad for dinner and it was yummy.

Today started out in perhaps the best possible way–Tim woke me up with homemade waffles!  He is really the expert on non-egg breakfasts around here, as his pancakes and waffles are really, really good, and mine always wind up awkward and half raw.  I had two, with a little maple syrup (way more than I intended because the spout was fast!) and almond butter.  And coffee.

I was planning on a run today, buuut my iPhone indicated that the temperature was a frosty -1 degree outside today.   I am hardcore, but negative digits are not my friend.  I’m taking the weekend off so I can be fresh for half mary training, which starts officially on Monday!  Whee.

Today’s plan involved a few random errands.  I had some checks to deposit, and we decided to get the wedding tuxes all squared away.  We ended up going to Men’s Wearhouse and picking out a simple, classic, two-button black tux with a white tuxedo shirt.  They only rent out clip-on bowties, which make me gag, so we are going to buy black silk bowties for the guys to wear.

We also got some groceries and had a late lunch at Panera.  We didn’t get much–oranges, bananas, pears, an onion, some potatoes, whole wheat flour, red wine (we’re cabernet junkies now), and soup (I’ve been on the I love soup train lately).

Plus, a few random protein bars I found on sale.

They were $.88 each, and at 280 calories and 20 grams of protein each, will be split in two, so $.44/serving.  For a protein bar, that’s practically unheard of!  Unfortunately I let my bargain hunter side take over and forgot to check for HFCS, and they do contain it.  Boo, hiss.  I’ll eat them, but I won’t re-buy.

Also, on New Year’s Eve, I went to Costco and stocked up on a few basics.  Tons of Chobani, a massive bag of dried cherries, 40 slices of cheese (oh yeah), shampoo, chicken breasts, and lean beef.  I also purchased the world’s largest box of oats.  (Are you in shock?  Me too.  I’m definitely a breakfast cookie junkie now, but you still won’t catch me eating hot oats in the morning!)

For scale, I needed a volunteer:

Oats > cat.

Anyway, after shopping, we went to a second mall so Tim could get one of his favorite dress shirts, then we went home.  Now we are planning on another chill night at home with the animals–I’m making a simple whole wheat pasta with chicken, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan for dinner, along with a green salad.  I’m attempting to master my mom’s perfect non-salad dressing vinegar and oil combo!  It’s heavenly and so good for you–it’s just olive oil, apple cider vinegar, oregano, fresh garlic, salt, and garlic powder, but it’s so hard to do it just like my mom does.  I’ll report back if I get it right tonight!

Have a great Saturday.  Don’t forget to enter my RoadID Giveaway!

Personal savasana

Y’all, I am tired.  Being on the road is tough.  Even though what I’m doing is not particularly mentally or physically taxing, it just wears on me being in the car all the time.  I drove roughly 6 hours yesterday, and 3 today, and have 4 on the schedule for tomorrow.  I ate lunch in the car today–a sandwich between two schools, and my Kind bar and baked chips while commuting to my hotel for the night.  I feel like I can barely form sentences coherently.  See?  That’s my lunch.  In my car.

I did manage two Operation Beautiful notes though for my own personal challenge.  School #3:

And #4!   I was stationed near a Christmas tree so I decided to put my own ornament on it.

I arrived at my hotel and tried to do a Yoga Download video, but unfortunately my computer was too slow and it kept stopping and stalling and freaking out, which was not exactly relaxing.  There was also the problem that I didn’t have a yoga mat with me, so I tried using a towel, which was not sticky at all.  Combine that with a recent application of hand lotion and you’ve got a recipe for disaster while in downward dog.  (I bonked my head.)  And I had a headache, too.

So, I took a very yogi approach to things and decided that organized yoga was not meant to be today.  I am tired, and I am hungry, and it didn’t feel good.  Instead, I opted for some cardio.

Christmas shopping!  I finally got the go-ahead from my boss to take off December 23rd and 24th, so we are booking our flights to visit my family as I type this.  I’ve been rather grinchy about Christmas until now, but now I’m suddenly in the spirit.  I almost bought these for T as a present, but decided against it.  They would be too small for him.

I found this display of calendars hilarious:

Interesting choices, don’t you think?  I didn’t actually buy anything because we’re going to do all our shopping online and have it shipped to our destination so we don’t have to worry about carrying a bunch of presents on the plane.

I had dinner at Panera and now I plan to spend the rest of the evening snuggled up in bed watching Grey’s Anatomy and other such programming.  Good times!

EDIT: I’m an idiot and forgot to mention two awesome things.  See?  I’m tired.

1. I’m a Bombshell Bride!  Check out a super cool interview with me here.
2. Last day to enter my Oikos giveaway is Saturday!

What puts you in the holiday spirit?

Bad workouts, new clothes!

Ugh.  Today I had a bad workout.  Aren’t those the worst?  I was planning on running a steady paced five miles on the treadmill today, but my body had other ideas.  I was just miserable.  I think I have to quit running after eating dairy and/or drinking coffee.  The first two miles I powered through, but I was so incredibly nauseous and my legs felt like they were made of lead (I suspect yesterday’s hills were harder on my body than I thought originally).  Then I walked for a few minutes, ran another mile, walked a few more minutes, and finally ran another half a mile and had to stop.  I was just not feeling well at all!  I think I ended up doing something like 4 miles of run/walking in about 44:00 or so.  It was rough, and my stomach has been just off all day since then.  I had to force down lunch, and the only thing that sounds even mildly appealing for dinner is my go-to “sick food” from when I was little–plain buttered elbow macaroni!  So, that’s what I’ll have.  No need to upset my stomach to have the perfect balanced dinner–one bland carby day isn’t going to hurt anything.

Now, the fun stuff!  Since I’m starting my new job, I’m giving myself a bit of a makeover.  All summer, I basically let my hair and wardrobe and personal grooming go to pot because really, all I was doing was sitting around the house studying for the bar exam.  Then, being unemployed, I didn’t have the money to buy clothes, and I didn’t want to buy anything new until I knew what I’d be doing.   But now that I have a job, I can buy!  (And I need to, because I got nothin’ to wear to work!)

I bought three cute skirts.  I love skirts.  Skirts and dresses flatter me far more than pants–I really hate dress pants.  My body likes to store every bit of fat in my thighs, so pants that fit me in the waist and butt are skintight in the thighs, and pants that are big enough in the thighs are HUGE in the waist and butt.  Sigh.

Here is the one lone pair of pants I found that looked somewhat okay.  And a pair of cute black flats:

Sweaters!  And shirts!  In total, I wound up with a white short-sleeved button down, a blue and white striped short sleeved button down, a merino wool blue v-neck sweater, an ivory shawl collar sweater, a short-sleeved gray cowl-neck sweater, and a black turtleneck:

Please excuse the cat in the pictures.  He was being…strong-willed.

And accessories!  Two pairs of tights (cream and black), knee-highs, and some shoe-linery kind of things.  Also, hair dye.  I have awful roots right now.  Tomorrow I’m getting a hair cut for the first time since July.  I will do a before and after post that includes the results of dye-ing.

So, that’s the haul so far.  I’m still looking for:

• a big shoulder bag
• comfy black heels
• a cute way to pull my hair back that looks professional
• black/charcoal gray pants (ugh)

What are your shopping challenges?  And what do you do when your workout just sucks the big one?

The ones that weren’t.

The problem with the internet and weddings is that it seems like everyone goes into dress shopping now with an absolute set idea of “the one.”  They see a picture online and go, “oh my gosh!  That’s it!” and fail to account for the fact that it might look terrible on them.

So, I present to you a parade of wedding dresses that just didn’t cut it for me.  The really horrible ones didn’t even make it to picture stage, but there are some pretty bad ones.

This is my example of “I saw it and loved it on the hanger, but ohmygosh how terrible.”  On the model:

On me:

I think the word “linebacker” is what I used.  Lovely dress, not for me.

This one was a front-runner for awhile, but man, this dress was even LESS forgiving than what I picked out:

This was a perfectly nice dress.  It’s really not bad at all looking at it now, but at the time I think I thought it felt like a poufy prom dress:

This one got the “pretty, but boring” kiss of death:

I actually almost bought this dress.  Are you noticing a trend?  I loved satin mermaid dresses with pleating and minimal beading.  I ended up with a lace dress with lots of beading.  Go figure:

Another one I almost bought.  I still look at it and feel tiny pains of longing, even though I love my dress:

So, there you have it.  I tried on well over a hundred dresses before I found “the one.”  I have to confess, especially after trying it on the other day–I have some doubts.  You see so many beautiful dresses hanging on the mannequins, it’s hard not to see them and go “ooooh…pretty…I bet that would look great.”  I know when I have the full package together on the wedding day I won’t regret a thing, but man, it’s tough!

What do you think?  Did I get the right one?