Sunday, September 30, 2012

Happy Haunted 5K Preview

Party on.... Schwing!

24 Hours in Walt Disney World

4am:        Wake up
7am:        5K race
9:45am:   Taken to Magic Kingdom for fun
12:15pm: Crash Mom's Panel luncheon at California Grill
2:30pm:   More Magic Kingdom
6pm:        Dinner
7:15pm:   Meet Abby to walk to bus to race
10:15pm: Cross Tower of Terror 10 Miler start line
1am:        After party at Hollywood Studios
3:30am:   Delirious bus ride "home"
3:45am:   Shower off the salt
4am:        Sleep

Friday, September 28, 2012

Quick WDW Check-In

Good morning from humid Walt Disney World!!

Just a quick hello from me! It's so effing hot and muggy. But we are having fun. Last night we went to Downtown Disney and got a lot of shopping done. Have you had those delicious peanut butter cookies yet??

All Star resorts still suck. Please don't stay here. And don't expect any sort of quick service at their quick service food court!

So far we've witnessed multiple little boys with terrible temper tantrums. I'm rethinking having a child at this point!

In other news, my aunt's memorial is in Monday. I've been in constant communication with my family sharing stories of her and favorite memories. I'm having a pretty hard time. I've done a lot of crying but happily not since I've been in Disney World! Sounds like she and possibly my grandma are at my house keeping an eye on my little 2 Fish, which is my nickname for MF. He's been noticing strange occurrences involving things that I have that used to be Nancy's!

And finally, air conditioning is a gift from above! I'm loving it right now. In a few minutes I'll be en route to my old homeland of Disney's Animal Kingdom before going to the Tower of Terror 10 Miler expo!

Have a great Friday, I'll be back with more later!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Bittersweet Memories... Wedding Dress Shopping

(Dress #2) - Like my bra?
It had potential to be the next hit on TLC amid all of those Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings and Gypsy wedding type shows. It was certainly memorable. It left me a tad bit traumatized by the end. It was the day I bought my wedding dress!

Saturday morning my mom and aunt met me at my house where we all piled into my car, loaded with bridal magazines and The Binder, driving north on a quest for a dress. The drive alone was freaking hilarious. My aunt became Godzilla --- i.e. Godmother of the Bride gone crazy! She had her vision of what the wedding party would look like. Her vision? I think it was more for the Kardashian girls. I should be flattered. I mean she thinks I have this great body and I should show it off. She saw me in short. Not just over the knee short, but SHORT. And tight. High heels. Spray tan. Bedazzled from head to toe. BIG tiara. LONG veil. My vision …. Not that. The entire drive she sat in the back flipping through 4 magazines and pointing out what she liked and didn’t like, telling us how she would change things to make it better.

Quote of the drive north, when I said perhaps I’d go with a dainty necklace (I just feel I HAVE to have a necklace on or I feel naked): If you’re going to go dainty, then you go BIG!

Oy! My mom and I were dying in the front seat. Half out of horror, half out of the hilarity of it all. You see my aunt only had two sons. She never got a chance to be Mother of the Bride, so I guess she was taking advantage! Ah, but it was fun. Also along the way she planned my child/children, which then of course turned to the non-running women telling me I’d have to stop running if I wanted to have a baby. Don’t even get me started on that!

Getting sparkle tips from my aunt
Okay, so we are there, we get to Keizer and check in. I got to sit at a table, fill out a paper and get a welcome packet. Deodorant anyone? I have some now! Soon my consultant, Tatyana, was giving me the tour of the shop and asking what I was going for. She seemed to be a bit excited when I said it was Vegas and I wanted short! *Turns out there was another bride there getting married in Vegas on the same day. Since I wanted a shorter dress (I mean come on, I want to dance and party, not hold up a dress all night) that limited our options. For me this was great. I mean there are a TON of dresses in that shop, I couldn’t try on all of them. I’d be there all weekend.

With my bridesmaids, mom and aunt mingling and anxiously waiting, I slipped into my dressing room with Tatyana. Good thing I wore the big girl boy short undies, poor girl was spared from seeing my pale tooshie all day! And so I dove into that first dress. Um, it barely went over my hips. Off came the pants! And Oh my, it was freaking tight. I looked down and all I saw was a big ol’ tummy and wide hips. NOT the dress for me! I liked the length, but that’s about it. Next! Dress number 2 was the one I was staring at non-stop on the website. It looked sweet. Of course it looked better on the model, I’m mean I’m not a size 2 after all. But I still liked it. It ended up a touch longer than I wanted though, and poofier. I do have to pack this and then dance around The Strip in it, I didn’t need something huge. We discussed how to accessorize it to spice it up a bit with some color. My aunt was just insisting that I have a row of sparkles going just under my boobs. Okay, with my body I do not want a band of anything that is going to accentuate that I have big ribs and little boobies! TMI? Tatyana hooked me up with some absolutely adorable shoes to wear with the dresses. That did help I think.

Mother of the Bride deep in thought.
And then it was dress number 3. A short, ivory dress that I would have never even brought back to the dressing room. Not my type at all. It reminded me of dresses I used to make fun of back in junior high. And it was also strapless, like #2 was. Tatyana zipped me up, I slipped on the heels and OMG. “This is way cute!” We opened the door and eyes lit up. I went out to the big podium in front of all the mirrors and Cilley Girl insisted that was the dress. She said it fit my personality. Jessica agreed. We all loved it. Except my aunt wanted sparkle. Of course. We did play with accessories and discuss things I could do to personalize it. It just said “fun” and “I want to go dancing with my friends and celebrate”!

Then came dress 5. Number 4 never came off the hanger. We knew it would get vetoed and personally it looked a little too tight for what I wanted anyway. But number 5. OMG I freaking loved it. It had such a flattering shape and cut. Poofy, due to the petticoat underneath. Sparkles here and there. I just really liked it. But we all knew it was a no. It was too much like my first “party” dress of 2002. Number 3 came back on and that was it. Number 3 was the big winner!

Pointy booby dress on Jessica
The bridesmaids hit it off well I thought. Yay! This was their first meeting, and they seemed to have no hesitation about diving into the sea of dresses to find The one. We saw some colors that were just gorgeous, but also some styles that made funky retro pointy boobs. There was also concern about bras and the fact that the bridesmaids actually have boobies to work with, unlike the bride. Straps were something that they HAD to have.

To cut to the chase, all 3 of us ended up in something we had NO plans of wearing. The girls were so excited about their new strapless dresses! Cilley Girl was even jumping around demonstrating how well her girls were doing without any support. We found the right dress! And super pretty colors. After they were all set we studied colors and accessories, deciding how to tie all the people together and have the rainbow color effect I am going for. We will all meet up again when their dresses arrive, and then we’ll finish that out with just us girls, and not any other outside influences trying to turn us into one big sparkle.

Such a gorgeous color on Cilley Girl
*For the record, as it is now there is not one single sparkle in the bunch! Ha!

I delicately placed my new dress in the trunk and sadly said good bye to my friends. We’re meeting up next week though, so that will be fun! On the drive home we stopped for a celebratory dinner at Mazzi’s in Eugene. So delicious!! I could just go and have the rolls and be perfectly content.

It was the drive home that things got scary. I won’t elaborate, but here are some of the topics: Brazilians (and not the people, but the “style), a$$hole bleaching (people do this??), general “grooming” in girly regions and do you need a mirror to do it?, sex in cars, Adam Carolla’s opinions (which I support!), and pedophilia. I swear it all flows together if you were there, but I can’t even get into it. I almost choked on my gum so many times. My aunt has NO filter! Jessica, Cilley … you girls got lucky!!! I hope Man Friend doesn’t get scared away!!

Aunt-zilla, Cilley, Jessica, Bridezilla picking colors
And that’s my day of wedding dress shopping! *There are pictures of our actual dresses. Those won’t be shown until after the wedding, so anything you see here are the rejects. Lovely, but still the rejects.

**It is with the heaviest of hearts that I post this. I had it all ready to go, and to cut to the chase ... this morning my aunt that loves the sparkle and sex talk and was always a great source for gossip, hilarity and unsolicited advice decided to end her own life. It's so... I don't even know the words. I had this post written, almost just a tale of my aunt and her incredibly unique personality that we all loved, and before I even had a chance to share my story she's just gone. I feel lucky that at least my last day with her is committed to memory via this posting, and it was certainly a wonderful final day that I'll never forget. A simple, excited wave good bye. That's a final sight that I'll always remember.**

One final, happy toast to my Aunt Nancy.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Run 1.62/1.63 - Burn Out, Disney and Bridezilla Meet

Warning: This might be a bit incoherent. I’m nearly down for the count with a Meniere’s attack, so nothing is processing right. Lovely.

Okay, so I had a run. I’m burnt out on running, if you haven’t noticed. I had such a high coming off of the Prefontaine Memorial Run (Run 1.62) that when it came time to run long the next day I was kind of in a state of “are you kidding me? Why would I run when I could watch Bravo all day and catch up on my Housewives?” So I put it off a day … but that turned into, “are you kidding me? Why would I run when I could go to the Halloween store and plot WDW race outfits for January? Why would I run when I could go to the jewelry store and get all Bridezilla wanting to know when I get my ring back?” **For the record, I get it back tomorrow!!!! So then last night happened … “Are you kidding me? I have a marathon in 3 weeks and I have no desire to run? I better get my ass off the couch, turn off my Dexter marathon, put down the wedding binder and throw on some tech clothes!”

Random from Vegas
Which brings me to Run 1.63 – I can’t believe how many runs I’ve done just to prepare for one race. And of course I burn out and slack at the end. Of course! Alrighty then…. I had no plan. I don’t even know what my schedule called for. I just knew that I was tired and a little spinny, thank you Mr. Meniere. MF’s back was bugging him, so I promised an easy pace. We sound like a mess! We just decided to run the ATM loop – 3 miles – and then take it from there. Maybe we’d add on, maybe not. We started running and closing in on one mile I laughed. It felt like I was working so hard. We were on a flat path and I was feeling like my effort level was high … yet we weren’t even close to the average pace we had at Pre. Maybe I was still recovering. I mean the fact that I was average 10 minute mile pace on constant hills still shocks me. Back to last night… 1.8 miles in my heart was going crazy with this flutter that I was feeling up into my throat. I freaked out. We paused and looked at the river and tried to just talk about anything and get me feeling a little less stressed overall. Soon we were back running and finished out 3 miles. It wasn’t spectacular, but considering I’m battling vertigo right now I won’t complain! OH, we also already decided that after Goofy weekend we are done with marathons. I am so over the training. It’s so long. And 20 mile runs eat up a big chunk of my time. Next year I think shorter races to work on speed, half marathons in Oregon for long distances, simple… i.e. money saving, yet still racing when I feel like it. 


In non-running news, i.e. Bridezilla alert!!! The chapel is booked, everything is officially on! Saturday is dress shopping for myself and the bridesmaids, and possibly my mom! I’ve gotten all of the addresses I need for the Vegas part of my wedding, so now I have to figure out invitations. And after the run we kind of finished, but not really, our wedding website. Want to check it out and see how sappy we are? Or aren’t? Feel free to see! It shares the story of the engagement, as well as how we met. Did you all know MF and I have actually known each other for years and that I spent the majority of those years hating him? True story! Life is funny sometimes!

In running news, next week I head to Orlando with the Maid of Honor for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler weekend. I have my 3 costumes complete and ready to be packed! MF actually thought I would leave the binder at home and that we girls would just vacation for the week and not plan wedding activities? Ha! Does he know me at all?? Who else will be down in Orlando for the races? I should know, but I haven’t been able to read blogs at all in a while and I’m just totally out of the loop. I need to lock myself up in a room with my laptop and just stalk all of you to know who is doing what, when and where!


Sunday, September 16, 2012

2012 Prefontaine Memorial Run


It just might be true what they say ... the third times a charm! Being the Pre freak that I am, this is the one race I willingly always run and will continue running, no matter what! And this year was freaking AWESOME!

Friday night I drove to the coast, got my hotel room and had my traditional pre-Pre dinner of French toast and hash browns at the Kozy Kitchen. Delicious! I got a little concerned when I was freezing. I ended up heading to the store to buy a hoodie for the next morning. I had no desire to freeze before we even began running. I also learned from last year and bought my bagel, banana and water the night before instead of going after picking up my packet! Early to bed, I slept not that great, but still woke up feeling energized and ready.


Packet pick up is always nice at the Pre... a nice small town feel and very friendly volunteers helping out. The shirts this year were really cool, the first that actually felt like a tech shirt. I didn't buy anything extra... because I already own everything. I did forget ear buds, so we made a quick trip to the store for those and then parked at the finish line eating our breakfast. It was a nice walk through town to get to the start, and of course I walked right by Pre's mom's house. Of course. We were very happy to have our new jackets, too. It was rather chilly!  At the start line I looked up and saw we were outside of the museum that was open and free on that day. I rushed in and ran upstairs to the room dedicated to Steve Prefontaine. Talk about great pre-race motivation!! Leaving the building we decided to go drop off our jackets at the bag drop and take a spot close to the start line. This race isn't chip timed, so trust me I am not starting at the back!!

Also motivational ... standing at the start line having your typical pre-race talk with Pre, while looking at his mom and sister. I swear I wasn't stalking, it was just sort of coincidental. The gun goes off and we are off. ... Off at 8 minute mile pace. I told Man Friend we would not be maintaining that and that he had to follow my lead and we'd back off a little and watch everybody else burn out on that first of many hills. And that's just what we did!! Steady as she goes, we just kept moving forward. "I've now hit a new longest distance of sole running on this course!" And we kept going! That first hill, which we did think was the steepest of them all, was dominated. No walking at all. 

On the downhills I let loose and we made up for any lost time with that hill. I walked through the first two water stops and then realized I didn't care about the water and skipped the remaining stops.  Any walk breaks I took were very short. Just one in the first half during another long hill, and then 2 short walks on Agony Hill. They are NOT kidding when they call it Agony Hill.  A total blast to run down, but a total bitch to run up!  

At each mile marker a volunteer would be shouting out our time. I was always stunned, and pleasantly surprised ... which then made me pick up my pace! On the final, long downhill (so that first hill we ran up), Man Friend noticed that he had to change his stride to keep up with me. I knew we had one mile to go and I wasn't leaving anything on that course. I knew I had a course PR in me, but did I have an overall 10K PR? I was ready to fight for it!!

We hit Pre's neighborhood and had that last nasty, short hill. I did walk a few paces. A girl I had flown by was now passing me. I sort of ignored it, but not really. At the top I resumed running and was completely focused. I looked into Pre's house and saw his sister. That pretty much gave me the final boost I needed. I had tunnel vision and was visualizing my new PR that was just around the corner.  Coming up the rise onto the track I could hear everybody cheering. Once on the track MF asked if I wanted to open it up and go. "No," I said, "not just yet. Otherwise I'll puke." I stayed steady behind that girl that I had passed, then got passed by. At the last turn it happened. We were on HIS track and I could feel him with me. I was going to use that finishing kick I always practice during my training runs. Around her left side I went, there was no way she could keep up. Then I passed the next girl. With a final straight stretch to go I let loose and was down at the 6 minute mile pace I usually finish at.

The elevation from my Garmin. Like I've said before - this race is No Joke!!

And it was AWESOME!!! Last year I cried in disappointment with my performance. This year my arms were up and I was celebrating! Not only did I finally get a new faster time on that course - by ELEVEN minutes!!! - but I had just set a new overall 10K PR ... on the hardest course I have ever run in my entire life.

This really was the most magical day of racing for me. The weather ended up absolutely perfect. I kept my head in the game. I ran a smart race. I made some smart choices. I ran the tangents perfectly according to my Garmin. I had a fabulous, fun time. I mean it was soooo hard, but it was so very fun!! Hill training this summer certainly paid off!! Who knows what I'll do next year! A big thing here is "Pre lives".  I certainly feel he was alive that day, and I'm pretty sure he was right there pushing me along and helping to my awesome victory!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Run 1.60, 1.61 – Blah

I resumed running. It wasn’t the most fabulous thing ever, but there were some highs I guess.

1.60 – Tuesday night. This was my first run in over a week! Yikes!!! I was supposed to do 5. I did 3. I’m such an overachiever. The weather was cooler, so that was nice. My legs felt like lead. Half way through I was on the verge of a little breakdown of sorts. Work was getting to me. I’ve been way busy planning a wedding. I was feeling beyond chubby and slow. It all got to be too much. I just flat out stopped moving. In the dark I stood there talking with MF. I finally lightened up a bit when I realized the police K9 unit was nearby and the dog was running around. So I watched that. As I was getting ready to resume running the car with the dog came up behind us. The dog barked at me. I’m sure it was just saying Hi and not alerting the officer that I’m a criminal, right? I mean really the most criminal thing I’ve done as of late is skip my runs. So we picked up and finished our run. It was in the dark, which was kind of nice – but I wouldn’t wear a headlamp. My Meniere’s Disease has been bugging me and I didn’t want extra pressure on my head. That made me rather dependent on MF for light. We hustled up the final hill and finished out the run in my neighborhood. He gave me a hard time about saying how slow I am, yet I was carrying on conversation at 8:30mm pace. Ha! Who knew? In my defense, we were going down a hill and then just flattening out from it. We did maintain that pace until the end though!

1.61 – Thursday night. We were supposed to run on Wednesday night but I was just beat. I think part of it was that I had gone so long without any protein that I was just literally collapsing. I was so tired and weak and didn’t want to do anything but watch Dexter and sleep. So that run didn’t happen. Last night we had dinner with my future brother in law, and his new wife. It was fun to meet them, and to share all sorts of wedding talk. Looks like they’ll get an abundance of wedding since MF’s brother will be in ours! After dinner we hurried home to change and run before Glee. It was so freaking hot! What the hell?? I was dying. I made us have two walk breaks simply because I was hot and dehydrated. I was pretty sucky. But we finished it out and yeah, nothing impressive to report.

What now? Tonight I don’t run. Tonight I pack some sort of race outfit to wear tomorrow in my 3rd running of the Prefontaine Memorial Run in Coos Bay. I’m excited because it is Pre, but I don’t feel at all prepared for the likes of Agony Hill. But I’ll do my very best and enjoy it!

And in bridal news …. April 14, 2013 I’ll be getting married at 5pm in fabulous Las Vegas! We have our chapel all reserved and paid for. It’s official!! We signed all of the contracts yesterday and sent them off!


Thursday, September 13, 2012

3 Year Runniversary!!!

5K #1
Three years ago I was blogging about random things. Life. Work. Nonsense. Vacations. Okay, so pretty much what I do now, but I was NOT blogging about running! A high school friend had been writing in her blog about training to run a 5K with her husband. I was in awe. A 5K? That’s like legit business. No way could I ever picture running a 5K! I kept telling how inspiring she was to me and wondering what was her secret. At the same time I was seeing another friend talking about running. I remembered how earlier he posted a status from the start line of the Walt Disney World Marathon. What?? A friend of mine was running a marathon??? How is that even humanly possible? How can people run more than a single lap around the track without dying? That was something only Olympians do, right??

5K #2
So three years ago, after hearing about C25K from my friend, I put on some new Nike shoes, a cotton t-shirt and some shorts and went on my very first run! And I did it!! I kept with the intervals and felt a total high by the end. I ran for a whole minute at a time and I didn’t die! I was going to be the greatest running in the history of the world! Take that, Pheidippides! Over the course of Couch to 5K I of course then had moments where I “knew” I couldn’t do it. 5 minutes of running? You’ve got to be kidding me. EIGHT? No freaking way! As I was nearing the end of the time and approaching my first race …. H1N1. The Swine Flu. Bed rest. Sweating. Chills. Constant fever. NO running. One week before race day I was finally allowed to be moving around and go back to work. One week later I was at my first race …. The Beaver Fun Run 5K in Corvallis, Oregon. It was 27 degrees out. My mom and step-dad cut their vacation short so they could come cheer me on. Even my dog was there to support me (but I hear she spent most of my race cuddling on blankets in the car with the heater on)!

Half #1
I crossed my first finish line on the 50 yard line of Reser Stadium at my alma mater, Oregon State University. My arms were in the hair, I had a huge smile. I was on top of the world … and completely exhausted! These 5Ks are no joke! Before I knew it my mom and I were en route to Orlando for my 2nd 5K, Disney’s Royal Family 5K, part of the Princess Half Marathon weekend. I’ve already talked before about my quest for the backpack and how Disney shamed me into striving for me. At that, my second race ever, I ran the full 5K distance for the first time in my life. And at that finish line I vowed to my mom that the next year I would be back, this time doing the half marathon! And thus a complete race addict was born.

It’s been 3 years (and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.) … oops … and it’s a very rare month that I don’t have a race. I can’t even tell you off the top of my head how many races I’ve completed and of what distance. Dang it, now I have to go figure it out!

1 – Great Urban Race
1 – Warrior Dash
15 – 5K
5 – 10K
1- ¼ Marathon
2 - 15K
15 - 1/2 Marathon

Half #11
So I’ve been busy! Now in a month’s time I’ll add in another 10K, 5K, 10 miler and my first marathon to that list. All of this within 3 years of that very first race. All of this from that girl that didn’t think she could run around the block. All of this from that girl that 3 years ago did her very first run… in a cotton t-shirt!

And along the way I’ve met so many of you as blog/facebook friends, and then some of you have turned into real life friends! I’ve had awesome runs. I’ve had terrible, spirit crushing runs. I’ve crossed finish lines in tears – both happy and sad. I’ve thrown up at too many finish lines, and once mid-race (which is this weekend’s race, incidentally – so hopefully I won’t do that again!!). Did you know I even got 1st place in my age group at a 5K once? Did you know I crossed the Boston Marathon’s finish line, getting my first sub-30 5K? Even with the injuries, the hard runs, the runs in snow, the runs in the blazing heat … I’ve freaking LOVED it!! Running is so awesome … I just wish I discovered it more than 3 years ago!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Run 1.59 - Dresses and a Run!!

I kind of forgot that I ran again! And then I forgot to blog it. Oops! Clearly I've got wedding on the brain and not marathon. I'd say that will change soon, but who are we kidding? Let's just get the wedding planning stuff out of the way here now and get to the running.

  • The bridesmaids seem to be just as excited as I am! It's been constant dialogue sharing ideas and speculating on what the dresses will end up looking like.
  • September 22nd I am officially dress shopping with my mom and the girls (J & J as I like to call them). So exciting!! A bonus of this is that it is my first big event in the planning process AND the first time J & J will meet -- but I think they are already hitting it off, thank you facebook!
  • I picked a date!!! Once I know the venue is available I'll reveal ~ and for those that know me the date might not be all that shocking?
  • I've narrowed it down to 3 different venues. No, MF and I narrowed it down! We were buried deep in all of that last night and as I type this he is making some phone calls!

And now the running! I unintentionally had a big hiatus, but now I'm back! Sunday MF and I went out for our long run. I'd been having some Meniere's troubles over the last couple of days, so I wasn't as steady on my feet as I'd hoped. We turned our 10 miler into 5. That actually felt fine to me. It took a couple miles to loosen up and get back in my groove. Those miles felt pretty sluggish. Suddenly though, the unexpected happened. "There's my girl!" I heard from MF who was now a half step behind me. It's like all gears were in motion and I was back to 9:30 with no trouble at all. It felt so good to get over the slump and back into my rhythm!

I was happy with the 5. I mean it was shorter than planned, but it was still more than 0. This week we have it pretty easy, which is good. Saturday is the Prefontaine Memorial 10K .... aka the toughest course I've ever raced. This will be my 3rd year in a row and I'm hoping to improve upon my prior two performances. Last year I could have had a course PR had I not started throwing up at mile 4. I finished within seconds of my time from 2010, which told me really I did run better in 2011. So we'll see what 2012 has in store!

And finally, it is September 11th. If you didn't remember that just go to FB and you'll see 1,000,000 posts about it. I'm not going to blog it, but I will mention the fundraiser I was doing for Active Heroes. If you wanted to contribute it goes through midnight tonight (the link is to the right). We all had a goal of raising $911. I feel thrilled that as of this morning I raised $500 to help families that lost loved ones on that terrible day! That's $500 more than I've ever raised for anything in my life!

Friday, September 7, 2012

I Just Need To Get It Out Of My System

It's like I am not running so then I'm not even finding things to blog about. I mean I said maybe I'd share Vegas stories, but when I get home I pretty much go into Bridezilla mode and start planning. Of course right now "planning" really means brainstorming and looking at all sorts of things. Last night it was rainbow dresses and rainbow bowties/cumber buns. *MF says he'd like a vest and suspenders. I'm with him on this one! I started on our corny wedding website, too. It's far from done, so I won't be in your face and link to it just yet or anything.

So since I can't talk about running I'll tell what I DO know - my wedding posse is actually going crazier than I am with all of this! Two girls that I know are pretty freaking excited about being required to be in a wedding that is taking place .... in fabulous Las Vegas! For years I've been saying that I didn't want to get married again, but if I ever did it would totally be in Vegas. Well then I met MF and out went that thought of "I don't want to get married ever" and instead - well you see where we are today ... planning a Vegas wedding! My after party will be back in Oregon, and if the party/reception goes as I envision it could be pretty fun and totally something up our alley. We aren't into stuffy, prim and proper, winery type stuff. I'm thinking more of dancing, drinking, and a little bit of the wedding brought back home for all to enjoy!

Some of you readers already have met part of my wedding posse of J & J. And both of them are pretty much always in my blog. J #1 - Jessica, my vacation travel partner that I not only convinced to do the Las Vegas RnR with me, but also convinced we HAVE to run Tower of Terror 10 Miler together as well. So this month we're off on another adventure. She's not a blogger, so I can't link - but you'll start seeing her face soon! (Look to the right, we're in orange and black and she's pushing me on a little square thing.) J #2 - Cilley Girl! One of Oregon's most hysterical bloggers, and someone I actually did meet because of blogging! I can't even imagine what Vegas will be like with the 3 of us girls all together!

And I haven't ruled out Titanic wedding. I think my mom was going with it until we saw we could only have a maximum of 15 guests. If I can't get married on the Grand Staircase I still have a plan, don't you worry!

OMG I'm so annoying!!! Wedding, wedding, wedding!!!! I do resume a regular running schedule tonight, so I'll try to get back to that and not so much on the fact that my world has been a happy little thing covered in rainbows and bridesmaids!

I'll end on a running note ... Portland Marathon is ONE MONTH from TODAY!!! Eek!!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Call Me 'Zilla!

So life became a whirlwind.... when I turned into Bridezilla! *I try to say that in a joking manner. Sure it might be the only thing on my mind, but so far I've only involved one person in my shceming and planning. So technically I'm still not crazy - although my mom has started calling me 'Zilla now and then.

Last night I found a wedding planning binder at the craft store. $35?? No thanks. I went grocery shopping and hit up the school supply section to create my own binder for a lot less! It's even complete with a pencil pouch and post-its.

Running ... what's that? Is that what I'm supposed to be doing instead of looking up wedding locations and brainstorming ideas with my Tower of Terror running partner? OMG, wait until you see what she got us for our costumes!! AND, speaking of that -- I'm in Corral A! Yes, you read that right -- A!!!

Yeah, so tonight I'll go running again. Promise!

And because I'm on the brink of Bridezilla I'll say that I'm REALLY leaning toward a destination wedding with a VIP guest list and then a BIG party at home where I can invite all of my friends and family. I have my ultimate fantasy location .... but I'm not sure if it is even possible. I might have to assign the Maid of Honor to look into it for me so then I won't cry if they tell me no. Wait, she has a phone phobia too. Hmm... As far as destination, my mom suddenly thinks WDW Marathon Weekend is THE place to do it. Okay, that would be fun and then Giraffy would be there, and probably Lesley, too ... but MF and I think that is just too soon! We want to enjoy being engaged and enjoy planning something that is fun, simple and Us!

And speaking of MF, isn't it great how "Man Friend" and "My Fiance" both have the M.F.?? No blog name change required! And what a dear he is, he went shopping ... check out his lunch time surprise for me!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

What I Did This Weekend

Vegas?
Local winery?
Country club?
WDW Marathon Weekend?

These are all suggestions that I've received so far in regard to a place to have my wedding. It might be important to note that I only got engaged late Saturday night while wearing a Stewie Griffin t-shirt in Las Vegas. Sexy, right?!? It is now Tuesday. I'll now share the suggestions that Man Friend came up with...

Pirate theme
Dueling pianos
Jimmy Buffett

See?? He and I ARE totally MFEO! (Made For Each Other. Yes, I'm such a grown up I love using MFEO.)

Apparently my step-dad has already been busy talking budget, location, etc... MF and I haven't even begun to think of a date, let alone time of year or ANYTHING. I find it all absolutely entertaining! Just today during lunch it all went from talk of planning to baby names to a Silence of the Lambs theme where I offered up that we could serve liver and fava beans. Gross, I know.

So what else happened in Vegas?

We walked to THE sign - and I melted. We walked along the Titanic promenade on a calm, starry night. We met up with another runner blogger that also got engaged in Vegas this weekend! We went to a Cirque du Soleil show. We saw Pete Rose, twice, all alone waiting for anyone to visit him. We spent a lot of time at Margaritaville. We sang a lot. We never stopped smiling. We had a truly wonderful time!! I might have a few small posts here and there just to share little bits of the trip. I can say that it was the best trip I've ever had to my favorite city in the entire world. AND ..... I'M GETTING MARRIED*!!!

*I promise not to be bridezilla.
**Attention: Watch your emails for your pre-wedding planning instructions! We will have regular meetings to go over itineraries, fittings, mixers, showers, parties, guests lists, etc. If you want to add an item to the agenda please get it to me at least 3 days before the meeting. I'll be serving Mimosas at the first one, please do not get drunk and make a fool of yourself. Let's keep this classy, ladies! Attendance IS mandatory.

;)