The Wedding Post

It's been one year (officially tomorrow) since I was married. One whole year since I wore a (not really) white dress, stood in front of my friends and family, and said I'd love Johnny forever. So far, so good!

The BFF and I obviously didn't have this blog back then, so I don't have a whole tab just for my wedding like some bloggers, nor do I have lots of post to reference from when we got engaged and my wedding shower and all those fun things. But I figured, in honor of my anniversary, I'd do an official wedding post. So here it is.

August 28th, 2009. Johnny and I went to a James Taylor concert in the pouring rain. We enjoyed the concert, and he nervously asked me to come with him to the concert "every year for forever." Under a wonderful beach umbrella, he asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes, and put the ring on my own finger (classy, I know, but I was excited!)

For a year, we planned, booked, paid-off, and pulled together our wedding. We were to be married exactly a year later. We didn't really do it on purpose, but it sure does make the 28th that much more special.

We had a really laid back wedding. It was in my mom's backyard, and we had bbq. The days leading up to the wedding were some of my favorite. My bachelorette party was the Wednesday before, and the Thursday we headed up to VT. The drive to VT (only three hours) in the car with my bridesmaids, all sporting our Tiffany-blue "Bride" and "Bridesmaids" tank-tops was so much fun. Even though the car was packed and I have no AC. To have all my best friends in one place at the same time was priceless. We got to VT and started prepping for the wedding.

We picked out the flowers to be used for the center pieces and everyone helped cut apples for the homemade apple pie we'd be serving for dessert (hi there bff!)

Friday night we did the rehearsal thing, and then it was time to head to the hotel. In classic wedding tradition, I stayed at the hotel with the girls and Johnny stayed with his family. I wouldn't see him again until I walked down the isle.

Before I knew it, it was August 28th, 2010. The year had gone by so slowly and so quickly all at the same time. But it was time to go, ready or not (yes, I was late to my own wedding...clearly it wasn't going to start without me). Here are some of the pictures (all take by Eve Event Photography...who I cannot recommend enough...they were so wonderful to work with and I was so pleased with the end result).

my studly husband getting ready

getting zipped in!

I held it together all day...until I saw my dad. Then I lost it and didn't stop crying until I said "I do"

lots of people came to see us get married

my dad walked me down the isle (see, still crying)

we said our vows. they were modern, and this poem was read. the man who married us also baptized Johnny and his brother and sister. He's a long time family friend and it meant the world to have him.

the ceremony lasted about 20 minutes. It was perfect, and now time to PARTY!

the boys celebrating

our awesome wedding party in front of my mom's house

we spruced up the place (no one wants boring port-a-potties at their wedding!)

the flowers picked out the day before in their Ball jars (cheapest, prettiest center pieces ever)

our siblings gave speeches that made us cry. i love them so much.

we kissed a lot. people made us. we couldn't help it.

mini maple syrup thank you favors! clearly a good choice for a wedding in VT.

And pie cutting! yes, we fed each other pie. No we didn't save a pie for this year.

 There are so many more pictures, and so many more memories, but it's hard to explain it all in a blog post. I loved the day...even the bad parts of it...like when the caterer served the food without us being ready, and when the speakers blew out and we had to play music from the speakers of my in-laws rented Suburban. The weather was absolutely perfect and I have never felt so loved in my life. Cheesy, I know, but oh well. It was my wedding day and I can feel as cheesy as I want :)

The next two days were wonderful too. We still had family in town, and we enjoyed our time with them (under the tent, which was still up, and with lots and lots of left over bbq), before we headed to Maine for our honeymoon. This being a do-it-yourself wedding, we didn't have a huge honeymoon budget. Luckily, my uncles own a GORGEOUS house in Maine that we were able to use for the week. It was hot as heck in ME, but we enjoyed being alone together for the first time in what felt like weeks, and boogie boarding on some pre-hurricane waves.

It's been a wonderful year. And this weekend...even though we're NOT moving like we were supposed to be (thanks Hurricane Irene!)..and we are spending our time packing and scrubbing the kitchen floor, we're still going to be celebrating! We've got dinner reservation tomorrow night, and we have a wonderful bottle of champagne the BFF gave us that we'll finally be popping open tonight. I loved everything about my wedding and I would LOVE to have it all over again. It was the most perfect laid-back party ever. Perfectly Johnny and me. (Did I mention we made all our own wedding invitations on an old-fashion type writer?) But you only get one perfect wedding day, so I'll take my perfect husband and live happily ever after (in a hurricane).

Kitchen and Cupcakes

This has been a much better workout week!

Today I did not go to the gym but I did have a home project that has me feeling exhausted! We've been talking about renovating our kitchen for a while now and with me not having a job just yet, I finally have some time to tackle it. The previous homeowner did a terrible job of placing tile in the kitchen, check out the before picture.Alright so the original flooring didn't have that missing tile (this photo was taken after Jay showed me how to use the sledgehammer and other tools) but the joints were really thin at some points and really think at others, some tiles were hollow and it was crooked! Today I tore out all of the tile and we'll be putting in some new flooring soon!! Check it out! My wrists, back and biceps are exhausted!! Not a trip to the gym but I sure did work up a sweat.

Jay's co-worker was kind enough to give us tickets to two Isotopes baseball games; we had such a great time. I decided to bake him and his family some festive cupcakes. While buying supplies at the grocery store and I noticed they had these "flag pans" that came with lids, they were on sale but I didn't know why and bought them to send the cupcakes in anyway. It wasn't until I was home and ready to load the cupcakes when I realized why the pans were on sale and what was meant by a "flag pan"...It didn't even cross my mind that these were leftover from 4th of July. I packed them in there anyway and went with it, I mean baseball is America's favorite past time, right? Sorry the picture is a little foggy, I had already put these in the fridge when I remembered to take a picture! Aren't they fun?

Tonight we're going to go do some work on our cars at Jay's parents' house. And by "we're going to do some work" I mean that Jay is going to do all of the hard work and I'll sit there and chat his ear off. Teamwork!

Please Excuse our Appearance...

I'm sorry my posting has gotten a little off/infrequent this week. My apartment currently looks like this:

We are leaving our apartment one week from today. All of our stuff goes into a storage pod on Sunday. We have approximately 900 boxes packed and 3000000 more to go. Not really, but it feels like it. Since we've both 40-hours-plus-a-week workers, we've had to do bits of packing here and there. It's nice to not have to go balls to the wall, but it makes life very unsettled. It has decreased my ability to find shoes in the morning, and cook dinner. I cannot wait to be moved into our new place (which will not be until Sept 7th, thanks to the wonderful people who decided the apartment needs to be painted and cleaned before they let us in...which is why our stuff will be going to storage on Sunday). It also turns out that there is the possibility of a hurricane hitting Massachusetts on Sunday, which totally screws everything up. I'm not looking forward to what that will mean for us...

In healthiness related things, I got my race information packet yesterday! Not my actual race packet...that will be picked up on September 10th, but rather a PDF will all kinds of good information in it.

Truth be told, when I got this packet I totally freaked out. Like I thought I might puke in my office freaked out. Luckily, I was chatting with the BFF online and she helped talk me off the ledge. These are a few things for the packet that added to my anxiety.

1. I got the packet in the first place, therefore the race is close. REALLY CLOSE.
2. We will have no less than 5 race numbers to display in one form or another and if you mess up them up, you're screwed (not really, but they want you to think that...I think).
3. Most people will be using wet suits.
4. There are no headphones allowed on the course.

UM WHAT? No headphones? I don't run without music unless I"m running with the hubs because we talk to each other (or try to speak while trying to breath and not die all at the same time). And now I have to push myself harder than I ever have WITHOUT MUSIC?! Shit.

I was hoping more of my fears would be calmed when I went to a newbie meeting for the tri last night, and they were and they weren't. I'm less worried about transitions and the race, but now I'm terrified of flat tires and chaffing! I'm feeling totally unprepared wardrobe-wise, and paranoid that I'll get a flat and be screwed because I don't know how to change them and the race officials aren't supposed to help us. Great.

So today I'm going to go for a run without music and without the hubs. We'll see how it goes. I'm feeling like the stress of moving is not helping with the stress of the triathlon, but hopefully by next week I'll be feeling better about both things!

Weak Workout Week

This week has not been a very one for my workouts.

I spent last weekend in Arizona with Jay celebrating a year since we got engaged, we would much rather have been planning a honeymoon for this year but unfortunately that's not the case. We found an awesome deal online for a stay at a resort- it was sunny, we laid by the pool and enjoyed spending uninterrupted time together. After so many months of both of us training for separate events and my not so positive job situation, this trip was exactly what we needed!

We agreed to not stress about the indulgent food and lack of exercise for the weekend. I was looking forward to a week back on track and it started out great with a walk Monday evening with our little girl.
And then we spent Tuesday evening dealing with my migraine. Those things are so miserable!! I tried ice on my head and neck, sitting in the dark and just couldn't get it to go away; an Excedrin and a back rub later I finally drifted off to sleep but wasn't 100% Wednesday so I didn't work out. Thursday morning I felt fine enough to do a quick leg circuit and in the evening did 15 minutes of cycling followed by weight training on triceps and shoulders. I have job searching to do today and then I need to hit the gym.

What's Better?

What's better than a 10 mile solo ride on Sunday?

 (yes, I know I'm not very fast on the bike. This is a judgement-free zone.)

A Wednesday night ride with friends!

Last night, two of my friends and I took advantage of the nice weather and went for a ride (Don't worry, Lindz has already been yelled at for not having a helmet). It worked out perfectly that the three of us could make it happen, and we rode around South Boston and Castle Island for about an hour (I had issues remembering to start and stop my Garmin so I'm not exactly sure the stats). It was the perfect weather and it was nice to have riding buddies! It wasn't exactly a training ride, but it was fun! And sometimes the most important thing about exercise is making it fun. I kind of hate doing it in the first place, so might as well make it as much better as possible, right? (Yeah I did just say I hate exercising...and yes, I do mean it. Feeling like I'm going to die on a regular basis is not my cup of tea. Do I love how I feel afterwards? Yes, I do. Which is why I keep putting myself through the torture).

Life is a little crazy right now because the hubs and I are getting ready to move! We're just moving to a new apartment a few blocks away, but having lived in our place for three years, we have a lot of stuff. So our current apartment kind of looks like a bomb went off in it. Why do things always have to get messier before they get organized and clean?

I'm hoping to get a run in tonight before heading home to the disaster zone...I'll report on that tomorrow. But before I go, I just have to said that I would move to Maine for the blueberries alone. There is nothing like fresh, organic, Maine blueberries. Nothing.

Work it Girl

This weekend I've been enjoying some time with my family in Maine. After three weeks with the in-laws, I was a little nervous about three more days with my family, but in Maine life is perfectly relaxed and we've been enjoying it all.

Yesterday I spent most of the day laying on the beach reading and getting some sun. It was the kind of sunny, kind of cloudy type day, but I still managed to get a sunburn (I always burn...I apply lots of sunscreen, but I will inevitably miss a spot and burn there...it's unavoidable).

After several hours of simply laying around (it's Maine so it's a little toooo cold for swimming), I decided to get my butt in gear. I didn't really feel like running, so I hoped on this gem of a bike and took off instead.

I was told it needed air in the tires, but I didn't listen. So I rode about 7 miles with low tires. On my way back home I ran into my uncle who was out on a ride as well, so I turned around and joined him. He promptly took me to the gas station and we filled up my tires. The next 3.5 miles were SO much easier. Funny how properly filled tired make such a difference...I ended my ride at 10.5 miles, but I was still itching to go. So I took off running. My legs felt weird for a while, so I kept going until they felt better, and at that point I was on a three mile loop and didn't want to turn around. I took a handful of walk breaks going up some hills (because Maine is seriously hilly), but I did it! I was so proud. Now I'm a little less nervous about my tri that is LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY (yeah I'm freaking out a little). A couple more bricks like this one, and I'll be good to go! I came home a hot sweaty (really proud and happy) mess.

Annnd I spent the rest of the night in terrible pain. My stomach was in complete knots. I think I was dehydrated from being in the sun all day and working out for about an hour and a half. It wasn't fun. I missed out on a dinner of chicken parm made my dad's wife. I couldn't do dinner, but I did manage to stomach half a piece of birthday cake. I can't pass chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting to celebrate my husband, my dad, my gramma and my brother's birthdays. That would just be rude ;)

Today the sun is not out, and my legs are tired, so I'm not sure what's on the agenda, but there will be more celebrations for my gma...she's 81 today!

Another Week on the Books

I had this post all ready to go yesterday, but things got CRAZY at work, and it never went up. Now Mari and I have both posted in the same day...when it rains it pours I guess!

This week was a great one. It's been a week since I posted, but I was busy busy! My in-laws are all in town and it's taken over my life (in the best way possible). We spent time in VT and have had some fantastic dinners, but I still managed to get in two runs and two spin classes! Although I've had to take the last two days off because of family time, I still feel as though I've gotten a little bit of my workout mojo back!

Last Friday I drove to VT by myself. The in-laws drove from Boston, but since I work in the boonies, I had to make my way up myself after work. I don't mind driving, but driving 5 hours alone didn't sound like too much fun. I stopped at the store to get a Diet Coke and a snack. I was temped by the snack mixes and candy, but I was good and got a bag of cherries instead! Go me! :) They were delicious!

It was a healthy start to a great weekend. We had a family cookout, the hubs turned 26 (!!! old man. Just kidding...I'm older than him lol), we spent time on the lake, and we got to hang out with the most amazingly wonderful baby in the whole world. Check out that face:

She's absolutely perfect. How could you not want to smother her with kisses all the time?

I got in another track run this weekend (just because it happens to have been close to where I was staying...which happens to be a small town with no where to run), and I'll be doing another one tonight (the town I work in is much like the town in VT...no where to run but the track!)

My in-laws are leaving this afternoon and the hubs and I will be sans house guest for the first time in THREE WEEKS. Although the visit was great, and their leaving is bittersweet, I'm excited for life to get back to normal. I went shopping Tuesday night for a few essentials to tide us over/so I could make lunch for work again and stop buying it. Clearly I love produce. Other that this, I got oatmeal, waffles, string cheese and Greek yogurt. I'm exciting, I know.

Tonight after my run, Johnny and I are going couch shopping!!! I'm so excited. We have the most awful couch in the whole wide world and I cannot stand it. It was free from my uncles three years ago, and although it was wonderful of them to pass it on to us, and it has served us well, I'm SO done with it. We're hoping to find a great one tonight because this weekend is tax free weekend in MA and the store is doing a promotion so you can buy the furniture before the crowded weekend, but still get no tax awesomeness! I've for my fingers crossed!

Snack Attack

I'm having a tough time learning to snack. I've never had a problem before but since going through the competition I find myself feeling incapable of snacking. For 16 weeks I stuck to the show diet which was made up of 4 small meals (mostly protein based) and no snacking, so am I going through a case of "don't use it, you lose it" and I've lost my ability to snack??

Here's the specifics on the situation...Every morning I eat a bowl of bran flakes with a banana or strawberries. A few hours later I am a little hungry, not hungry enough to eat lunch but in need of a little something. And I start to panic. I almost feel guilty for wanting to snack and have found myself convincing myself that I don't need it even though I know that I'm hungry. I don't know how to overcome this inner battle. Is it something I will just get over? Yesterday was probably the best day I've had since completing the competition, I was hungry in between meals and served myself a handful of Wheat Thins and fresh cut watermelon and it was perfect- light, salty, crunchy and sweet; however, today was a different story and I was back to this new found level of insecurity.

Are there maybe some healthy snacks you could recommend? Maybe if I know I have healthy snacks planned, I'll ease up on the guilt? Maybe I should try going back to meal planning but scheduling those snacks so it feels more normal? I know it isn't healthy to feel so badly and I want to make a change before this develops into a bigger issue.

Goal Update

We kicked off the weekend with a date night! After sharing some apps at Chama River (seriously, they have the best green chilie fondue and I love their blackberry pear mojitos) we watched The Change Up- it was okay, I didn't like some of the jokes at the beginning of the movie and the people next to me kept playing with their phone and talking. Jason had a big run planned for Sunday morning so we had a low key Saturday and cooked up a big pot of spaghetti. We cooked whole wheat pasta and added in Ragu Garden Vegetable sauce, garlic, mushrooms (a natural anti-inflammatory) and some home grown squash! Delish! And guess what else I finally was able to do last weekend?? Go to an Isotopes baseball game!!

I clearly didn't meet my goal of posting 2-3 times last week but I'm going to try again this week, after all, it was a month long goal so I can't give up! I am doing so well with working out an hour each day, I haven't made it 1 full hour each and every day but I'm getting close. Here's what I have done as far as workouts so far:

• Sunday - Walked about 2 miles (side note: while on this walk I saw the creepiest creature, it was part spider, part scorpion and part beast!! It stood about 2" tall and was about 5" long the walk became a jog after that sight)


• Monday - Completed a 45 minute treadmill run*


• Tuesday - 15 minutes of treadmill cardio and a 30 minute leg circuit workout


• Wednesday - 10 minutes of treadmill cardio and about 35 minutes of weight lifting on back and biceps

So I thought it'd be fun to share this treadmill workout with you. I do this at least once a week because it changes every few minutes so I don't get bored and it allows me to select the incline and speed so I can challenge myself depending on how I feel that day. I haven't tried it, but I bet this would be even great on a stationary bike or walking.
* I believe this came from here and it looks like this:

• Minutes 0-5 Warm Up


• Minute 5-6 Increase Speed and Incline 2 Increments Every 15 Seconds


• Minute 6-7 Stay at this Level


• Minute 7-8 Decrease Speed and Incline 2 Increments Every 15 Seconds


• Minutes 8-12 Moderate Run


• Minutes 12-13 Increase Speed and Incline 3 Increments Every 20 Seconds


• Minute 13-14 Stay at this Level (you can do it!!)


• Minute 14-15 Decrease Speed and Incline 3 Increments Every 20 Seconds


• Minutes 15-20 Moderate Run


• Minutes 20-23 Increase Speed and Incline


• Minutes 23-28 Moderate Run


• Minute 28-29 Increase Speed and Incline 2 Increments Every 15 Seconds


• Minute 29-30 Stay at this Level


• Minute 30-31 Decrease Speed and Incline 2 Increments Every 15 Seconds


• Minute 31-36 Moderate Run


• Minute 36-39 Increase Incline (Feel the burn!)


• Minute 39-45 Cool Down

Happy Wednesday!!

Vacay Recap

For being unemployed I sure haven't posted very much! I actually didn't realize how little I've posted until I read the BFF's post and she mentioned that we posted 7 times in July!

July was definitely a crazy month - training, posing, fittings, workouts, meal planning and trying to keep it all together. The good news is August is going to be a bit more relaxed and full of activities that I've been missing out on. I had read so many times before that training for one of these fitness competitions tends to affect one's social life and I wasn't sure how that would work but I was optimistic. During my experience, I did notice the impact- I no longer wanted to go out to meet with friends for drinks because a) I couldn't drink and b) I was afraid if everyone wanted to munch I would be so tempted to cheat on my strict diet so I didn't go out very often. For the same reasons, I didn't go to the movies (snacking on fish during a movie just didn't seem so appealing) or do very much because i was so afraid I'd mess up my diet. I know that a lot of people have the self control to go and do these things without affecting their diet, but I was so scared that I wouldn't be that strong so I chose to stay at home. I'm happy with results of sticking to my diet and training plan but I am so happy to being catching up with friends over New Mexican food, making plans to grab a glass of wine and scheduling a movie date with my fiance!


The San Diego trip was an overall awesome vacation. We stayed in a condo with my parents and sister just across the street from the beach (Sam Adam's Summer in a blue plastic cup accompanied me on many of these quick walks to the beach). Jay and I nicknamed our room the Butthole Bungalow simply because of this lamp...We ate great seafood, In-N-Out burgers and I finally ate the three things my diet missed so badly: cereal + milk + fruit!! It was delightful!! Clearly I had already eaten most of this serving before I remembered to take a photo.

I didn't think that I would be motivated to get back to exercising right away, surprisingly by Monday morning I was ready for a run. I think the sites had something to do with it!
We also sat on the beach, enjoyed the sunshine and played in the water. I think this sums of the great times on the beach had by all....


My goals this month are to blog at least 2-3 times each week and to do some level of exercise (running, walking, zumba, weight lifting, etc.) for 1 hour each day, with at least 1 day of rest!

Repeat Offender

Today, I was awesome. (This blog is supposed to be upbeat and motivational right? So I'm just going to throw it out there because I just felt great today).

Today I was planning on going to the gym to run on the treadmill, but after I made a quick trip to the post office during lunch, I decided a run outside was in order. The weather was PERFECT! Warm, but not hot, cloudy and not humid. It had to happen. So, I suited up and went to a track close to work.

It was a pretty painful run (since I haven't actually run in quite a while) BUT I did it! I did a mile, then I walked 100m and sprinted 100m for another half mile. Then I ran the last 1/2 mile. It took longer than I was hoping it would, but like I sai. I DID IT. AND TODAY I'M AWESOME. And sweaty.

The lighting in this picture does not do my redness and sweatness justice. I was GROSS. haha In the best way possible. I had an orange on the way home to refuel and refresh.

So one reason I'm not awesome today: I am a repeat workout clothes wearer. This is generally not bad because honestly I'm not that smelly a person. Today, however, I smelled like fish. Monday night after spin class, Johnny made me fish tacos. And I sat around the house while he cooked them and I ate them, and then I packed those same clothes to run today. And I stank. haha another good reason for running outside today.

And today was awesome because I helped celebrate the birthdays of two friends on mine. It was too hot to bake, so we have Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt!

The pretty lady on the right is Lindz. She went to school with Mari and me, but she's also from Massachusetts, so I get to hang out with her always :) Today, she got a bike for her birthday. She was as giddy as a little kid!

She's the only member of our gang without a bike, so now she can join in our group rides! The first one will be the week after next. I'm pumped!

Here's to hoping for another awesome day tomorrow!!