Fat

I am a good size. You might not agree. You might not be comfortable if you were in my body. But I am.
I'm at the size where if I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full, indulge occasionally, and run a few times a week, I stay right here. I'm training for this half marathon, trying to fuel right, and if I happen to lose or gain weight while doing it, I'm cool with that, but not focused on it. I'm getting healthier and stronger... and more prepared for the zombie apocalypse. (Rule #1: Cardio)

So last week I ordered my bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding. I called her to tell her I ordered it and she said "Oh what size did you get, an 8?" (Hah.) "No, I ordered a 12." (But thanks for the compliment.) "A TWELVE?! There's no way."

Oh yes, there is. Attention, internet. I am 5 ft, 4 in tall. I weigh 155 lbs. And I wear a size 12. (Side note: Having worn both a 16 and an 8, I think 12 is a really happy medium.) I think I'm quite proportional, actually. 37.5 - 30 - 42, those were my measurements at the wedding dress store. Heck, according to this chart I am almost exactly a textbook size 12. (Which does not explain why I can NEVER find work-appropriate slacks that don't gap at the waist!)

She proceeded to backpedal a little bit. I suppose because she realized that thinking I was too small to be a size 12 was indirectly calling size 12 large... which was indirectly calling me fat for being a size 12. She talked about how we were training for the half marathon so surely I was losing weight and would be a 10 in no time, or that I was going to keep working out after the half marathon to prepare for my own wedding.

Ah right. Because The Knot assumes that you'll spend the 6 months before your wedding putting together 250 extravagant favors, while also tasting cakes and fried appetizers and half chickens on a bed of wild rice, while also picking out the perfect earrings and dye-to-match shoes while also dieting and exercising so that you'll look *perfect* in the dress. Thanks, but no thanks, Wedding Industrial Complex. 

I decided in 2011 that I would run a half marathon this year. I signed up for the Disneyland Half before I was engaged. Therefore, this half marathon was not about "losing weight for the wedding" when I signed up. Actually, this half marathon was not about "losing weight" at all. It was about running a half marathon. Since starting training, I haven't lost any weight. I love food too much. Besides, I bought my wedding dress in a size 12, too. It doesn't get in until November. So, really, I have no reason to be trying to slim down for the dresses since they fit me now.

This post is about a couple things. It's not to bash my friend, who is one of my oldest friends and I know does not actually think I'm fat. This is what it is about:

1. No I'm not going on a wedding diet. If  I go on a diet, it'll be to get healthier. Not skinnier for my wedding dress. Dan likes me how I am, inside and out, even when I don't like myself. And that makes me like myself more. Enough that I don't need a wedding dress diet. And neither does anyone else.
   Amazingly, APW, who are always inside my head these days, has written 2 posts this week on body issues related to weddings. Read them.
2. Solidarity, sisters. Let's stop judging ourselves by our pants size. Just as importantly, let's stop judging each other by pants sizes too. Now I'm not saying that if you really fear your friend is going to keel over dead or contract diabetes that you can't subtly invite them to spin class or some other form of exercising. But healthy comes in many shapes and sizes- not every girl you think is "fat" is unhealthy and not every girl you think is "skinny" is a picture of health. Nor is skinny code for beautiful, or fat code for ugly. Get a new measuring stick. Or, even better, throw out all the measuring sticks. Stop seeing the world in terms of black and white, fat or skinny, healthy or unhealthy; things are too gray to be sorted out. And never, ever ask your friends what size their dress is.

Disneyland Half Week 5 Training

Monday: 6am wakeup call. 4 mile run.

Tuesday pm: Yogalosophy DVD.
Good butt burn, good ab burn, good sweat. Thought about saving this for Thursday night but realized I probably wouldn't want to do it Thursday either. So I did it. While the beets were roasting.

Thursday: 5:40am wakeup call, 4 miles, 2 tempo @11:59

1 mile jog, 2 miles in 11:45 and 11:39 respectively, walk/jog cool down. This actually felt really good at the end, although totally drenched in sweat. I think I like the quick runs rather than the slow plodding runs. Go figure.

Sunday: 6am wakeup call, 6 mile run
Yeah, that didn't happen. We were out late and had a big dinner with my mom and sister. When the alarm went off, my stomach felt off and I didn't want to risk tummy troubles on our bathroom-less route. Also I was tired. So we went back to bed.

Monday: 5:45am wakeup call, 6 mile run.
Second time is a charm, I guess. I actually am working the 3pm to midnight shift this week so after our early wakeup call, I went back to bed for a couple hours before my late night at work. It was super hot and humid even at 6am, and we dragged through the miles. Remind me why I signed up for a September race?

Meal of the week:

Wednesday we had grilled ribeye steaks, with foil packet veggies (plantains, onions, garlic cloves, limes, and raisins) and sauteed spinach. It was all delicious.







Sunday/someday setup: Erm, I don't know what's gonna happen with the evening shift and the heat. I did find a casserole recipe to make Sunday to eat on console: Baked Pasta with Sausage
This week's workouts are supposed to be:
5 mile run, speedwork (2x1600), and 7 mile long run.  We'll do the long run Sunday. I'm gonna try to get up early again on Thursday to run and go back to bed, but it will be tough on only 5 hours of sleep.

Maid of Honor Dress Success!

Friday afternoon we headed to David's Bridal. Heather tried on tons of dresses. See?

In general I want every girl to choose the dress they want, but have them all be the same color. However, as we were looking, my sister liked a short dress a lot but my mom didn't think you could have the Maid of Honor in a short dress and other girls in long. What do you think about that? Is it still the ettiquette or are things more "everything goes" these days? Anyways, I didn't want to restrict everyone to short because a) I like the look of long dresses and b) it's going to be cold, so I told Heather she had to have a long dress.  She tried on plenty....

 

 And she really liked this sort-of pickup dress with a cute little flower applique. However I didn't like the color she tried on (David's Bridal Lapis) because it looked navy blue in some lighting, not purple.  The sales girls told us it came in Plum, the color of the dress she's holding.

Well, when I went home, I looked it up online. It turns out that dress is a special one that is only available in 5 colors and Plum isn't one of them. Sigh. I felt stupid for a little bit, because I didn't want to care that the dress wasn't the right purple. But I did care. I didn't like that color as much as the other color. That couldn't be the dress.

Saturday, bright and early, we headed to Alfred Angelo. I have to say that the dresses were much cuter at Alfred Angelo, and the salespeople were more helpful (and I'm not just bitter about the color mix up, but they were generally unhelpful as we were running around pulling different sizes/styles and trying to zip them up).

Again she tried on a TON of dresses...

I love these two. She didn't pick them, but I hope one of my other girls will!

 Finally, she found one that she loved even more than the one she liked at Davids. Also has pickups, plus a lace-up back!

I was originally wary of Alfred Angelo, because I didn't like their colors on the website, but it turned out that the colors looked totally different in person. The purple that I thought I'd love at Davids (Lapis) was too dark, and the color that I thought I hated at Alfred Angelo (Grape) I loved. The way it looks in this picture, it's definitely my favorite color!

And we finished in plenty of time for a long MCC tour!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

I have 5 wonderful bridesmaids, scattered all over the country. 5 bridesmaids in 4 states, none less than a 5 hour drive from each other... or from me. Logistical nightmare.

Tomorrow, my sister (the maid of honor, of course!) is coming to visit me in Houston to find a dress. Remember how it took me 4 dresses and 2 hours to find a wedding dress? Well my sister is the exact opposite of me when it comes to shopping (and several other things, but we'll focus on shopping for now). She likes to try things on, look at them from every angle, maybe try them on again later. For me it's either a yes or a no. Sometimes I don't event get whatever garment even half-way on before I decide I don't like it. To loose, too tight, too stretchy, too ugly. Too picky, that's what it is. My sister always has a closet of fabulous clothes that I covet, because she has the patience to try them all on and really think about whether she likes them. I always have "nothing to wear" because I give up too easily and often leave the store empty handed. So yeah, sometimes her method is a good thing. But we have less than 48 hours with her in Houston to pick a dress so she's gonna have to do it my way, aka QUICKLY.

This weekend we are going to...

• David's Bridal on Friday afternoon
• Alfred Angelo on Saturday morning
• Nordstrom on Saturday afternoon

...if we have to. I hope she just finds a dress at Davids and we can skip the other appointments. I even bribed her with a tour of the space center. If we are done by Saturday at lunchtime, I'll take her to see Mission Control. If we have to drive across town to Nordstrom that afternoon, then there won't be any time.

See Heather, you could be here! Source

Whatever she chooses, then I'll give the rest of my lovely ladies their instructions... place, length, color, etc. Hopefully a couple more of the girls will visit this summer and we can shop for them as well, but I am keeping our search to big chains so that they will easily be able to shop at home if they have to. My plan is to have everyone in the same color but let them choose their own style- there are a couple colors (all in the deep purple family) that I like from browsing online, so it'll be up to what looks good in person and what color Heather's favorite style comes in.

Things I'm loving right now:
One strap dresses. I was actually hoping for a one strap wedding dress, but there weren't any. Now I have to live vicariously through a bridesmaid or two!

Tea length dresses. Unfortunately Davids Bridal has 2 tea length dresses and Alfred Angelo has one. All have two straps. Go figure.

Sexy mermaid or high slit dresses.Winter wedding generally means long dresses, but that doesn't mean you can't be sexy!

 

All pictures from Davids Bridal.

Excited to get the ball rolling on the bridesmaid dresses. Bridesmaid dresses leads to groomsmen apparel which crosses two major things of my to-do list. And I love a shrinking to do list!

My first Blog game!

So Tara over at Texas Runner Girl picked me for the One Lovely Blog award.  I am super excited because a) this is my first blog award thinger and b) I love these games! So....

Rules are...
1. Post the award logo and picture on your blog and link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Tell seven things about yourself.
3. Nominate up to 15 additional bloggers who you think deserve the award.
4. Post a comment on the blog of each nominee to tell them him/her they have been nominated.

Coming up with seven things about me is actually kinda hard, since I have a blog and regularly tell people things about me when they come to mind. But I'm gonna dig real deep and give it a try:

1.  When I have to make big decisions in life, I just go with something and hope for the best. Usually it turns out ok, too: I applied to one college (it seemed like a sure thing, and it was, because I got in), when I graduated I went on one job interview (my current job, which I got), and when I bought a house I looked for ONE day, then went back the very next day to buy one of the houses I saw the day before. And there's that whole thing about trying on only 4 wedding dresses.
   

   

   There's my house under construction. When I bought it, it was just an empty lot.

2. When I was a kid I told people that if I couldn't be an astronaut, I'd be an archaeologist instead. I had dinosaur sheets and rocket posters, simultaneously.
   
3. I should have studied creative writing in college and become an author (instead of living vicariously through this here blog). I am just so in love with the idea of manned spaceflight that I couldn't really imagine that there was another option than to become an engineer and work for NASA. Now that I do, I still love it, but I also daydream that one day I'll be a writer instead.
4. I do not own a hairdryer. Not some kind of crazy feminist statement, I just hate the thought of blasting my head with hot air and then walking outside into 95 degree weather. Maybe if I ever get to move somewhere that's cold for most of the year, I'll get one.
5. I've been resisting the e-Reader craze for years now. I love the feel and smell and sound of a real book. But I am starting to come around... it would be really convenient not to keep buying books because I have run out of places to store them. Also, taking several books on a trip without having to lug around several actual books is a pretty attractive proposition.
   Here are some of the many piles of books around my house waiting to be read:
   
   
6. I have a total black thumb. It's not a mystery, I just forget to water things. And then they die. Go figure. Here are my next victims, still clinging to life:
   

   

   The one on the left is already turning brown!

   Yes, while I was out there taking the picture I watered them. I'm not cruel. Not intentionally anyways.
7. My favorite movie is and always will be 10 Things I Hate About You. It's awesome for many reasons, but one of the best is that the dad in the movie is an OB/GYN and so is my dad. But unlike that crazy dad who says things like "Kissing isn't what keeps me up to my elbows in placenta!" my dad has always been open and honest about sex. He always got a good kick out of the dad in that movie too.

Well, ok that's 7 things about me.  What are some things about you? Green thumb or black? Favorite movie? And how do you feel about e-Readers?

Nominees:
Since Rachael and Tara already did it, I guess that leaves...
Michelle at The Running Jewess
Jessica at What Would Jessica Eat?

Get to it ladies!

Disneyland Week 4 Training

I'm TIRED this week. I think its a combination of the early wakeup calls, increased mileage, and not getting a real day off in awhile. I definitely a relaxing weekend after a whirlwind few weekends of travel, guests, and console shifts. I feel like I've been going pretty much nonstop since May began and here we are in the middle of June. Yikes!


Monday- 6am wakeup call. 4 mile run.

Another sweaty run. It was about 80 degrees by the time we finished and SO humid. Summer is certainly coming. It's amazing to see the effect that the weather has on our runs. I didn't think it was possible to "run" a 13 minute mile, but a few times I looked down at my Garmin and saw that pace. I certainly felt like I was running, but I wasn't getting anywhere in that thick air.

That tomato killed Dan! Oh, that tomato is me!

Came home from that sticky run and collapsed on the floor under the fan... we waited until we stopped sweating to get ready for work. Otherwise, you sweat all day.


Wednesday- 6 am wakeup call. 3 mile run.

Thursday night- Yard work and some walking

Went out to pull the weeds. Then decided to test the sprinklers and found a broken pipe spewing water into my yard at an alarming rate. Sigh.
Got mail and found envelopes for TWO different neighbors on the next street over, so I walked it over to them.  Decided I had enough excitement for the night and that this could count as my "cross training" for the week.

Saturday- 6am wakeup call. 4 mile run. 1 hour nap.

Added the 5th mile we slacked on last Saturday so this was actually a 5 mile run. It was definitely a struggle to complete and we took a walk break after 3 miles. I'm starting to formulate a half marathon strategy and I think that doing 3 mi run/0.5-1 mi walk would be doable.
After the run and breakfast, it was naptime! When I woke up the second time, I started cleaning. My sister is coming next weekend for bridesmaid dress shopping, so I needed to ready the house for company. Spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry.

Sunday- Sleep in day!
First time I have gone to bed without an alarm set in a month. Seriously, I looked at my calendar and the last weekend I didn't have an early wake-up call was May 14th. So of course I woke up at 9am. French toast for breakfast, some wedding planning stuff, and then vacuuming and tidying up for company.

Meal of the week:
I took the advice of Jenn over at Peas and Crayons and bought Veggie Patch brand falafel, from the fake  meats section of my grocery store.

I whipped up a quick Israeli salad- diced onion, tomato, and cucumber with a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Refrigerate while the falafel balls cooked. Yum! Added the falafel, Israeli salad, tahini, and spinach to a pita. Quick, easy, and so good! Served with a glass of wine. :-)

Sunday Set-up:
Workouts:
Monday: 4 miles
Tuesday: I want to give summer shape up a try, if I get a chance to buy the equipment.
Thursday: 4 miles tempo
Sunday: 6 miles

Meals:
Monday: Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Blackened tofu salad (I swear I will make it this week, I have even bought the tofu!)
Wednesday: Dan's choice
Thursday: Beet salad pizza
Friday: After an afternoon of dress shopping, I think we're going out!

Having Faith on APW

So through the wedding planning process I've found a few additional blogs to add to my Reader. Most are superficial, about flowers and dresses and what celebrity X's engagement ring looks like. Those are useful though, because I am adrift in a world that (hopefully) I will only be in once and can never hope to master in this brief trip... wedding planning world. Where budgets are in the thousands, and people without a speck of propriety or fashion sense are expected to care about shoes and hairdos and invitation wording. Once the wedding is over, I will probably never read these blogs again (or at least not until I end up in someone else's wedding and I need those ideas all over again).

But I have also found at least one amazing wedding blog that I am sure I will continue to read for the rest of forever. A Practical Wedding is basically the opposite of all those other blogs. Sure they have (awesome) how-to's and (amazing) vendor ideas, but they also tackle the important questions. One of my favorite topics that they discuss often is on Feminism and marriage. Can you be a feminist and still get married? Can you wear a white dress and take your husband's name and still be a feminist? (answer: Yes.)

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we have been struggling with finding an officiant, but I begged off posting the details because I had just submitted a guest post to APW on the same topic and wanted to see what would happen there...

I am very excited to say that they posted it! Check it out here!

It's a difficult topic, with no easy answers. I'm so glad to have sent it off into the universe and gotten so much support back from the community there. So seriously, check them out!

Disneyland Half Week 3 Training

Monday: 6am wakeup call, 4 miles easy

Sweaty! Woke up to a really humid day and we felt it for all 4 miles. When I stopped mid-run at a traffic light, I became aware of the film of hot, sticky sweat all over. Much better to keep moving! Gross.

Thursday: 5:45 am wakeup call 6am wakeup call, 4 miles with 2 tempo (12:02 pace)

Did 3.6 miles with 2 at 11:38 pace. I didn't want to get up at all for this. I rolled over, pulled the sheet over my head, and told Dan I was going to skip it. He gave me one snooze and then made me get up... good running buddy! After that it was rush rush rush in order to get to work by 8. I had to mentor a sim, which means watching a mission controller in training troubleshoot failures on a simulated space station. It also means sitting still in a chair for about 5 hours straight. Not good for my poor legs post-run. I really missed my evening runs that day!

Saturday: 5:45 am wakeup call for work. 5 miles at 8pm.

Woke up early, but not for a run. Had to be in Mission Control by 7am for the day shift. When I got out of work at around 3:30 it was 90 degrees and super sunny. Not running weather so we waited. And waited. And waited. We ate an early dinner, hoping to give it time to settle before we went running.
And the run was terrible. Dinner had not settled so we were both nauseous. It was hot. Way hotter than at 6am. We cut it down to 4.25, instead of 5. I knew it was going to be terrible and contemplated skipping it... but we went anyways and even though it was slow and we walked a bunch, it's good we got out there. Right?

I think I'm starting to get a cold- headache, stuffy-ish face. Or maybe I'm just tired and need a day to sleep in. After work, I headed home to write some engagement gift Thank You cards, ordered in Chinese food, and had a relaxing lazy evening.

Meal of the week:
Portobello Bison burgers with Celery Apple Slaw

Bison burger, slaw, with parsnip fries and a side of ketchup!

On Wednesday morning I told Dan it was his turn to pick dinner. He, of course, suggested we grill burgers. I searched "gourmet burger recipe" and came to this list from Epicurious. So many of these look good, but the buffalo caught his eye so we picked that one. Then the grocery didn't have buffalo but did have bison. Are they actually different? They look the same to me...

Source

Sunday Set-up:
Workouts- Step back week
Monday- 4 miles
Tuesday - cross train
Thursday- 3 miles (might add the extra mile from Saturday that we skipped- is this a good idea?)
 Saturday - 4 miles

Meals
Sunday: Chinese takeout. Sometimes you just gotta take it easy and order in. 
Monday: Chicken and veggie tostadas from Cooking Light
Tuesday: Veggie patch falafel pitas (had so many leftovers, I never needed these last week. They're still in my fridge and it's about time they get eaten!)
Wednesday: Blackened tofu from Daily Garnish (I never got to this last week either)
Thursday: Grocery store sushi night!
Friday: More gourmet burgers on the grill perhaps?

Need some meal planning advice? Try this recipe website my fiancé found today. Not safe for work. Also more amusing than actually useful. But you never know what you might find...

Five Things Friday

Haven't taken much time to blog this week, but I did want to share with you....

Five Links

1. Phantom cell-phone vibrations are a real thing!
2. Shuttle mockup Explorer makes the journey from KSC to JSC on a barge. My friend/fellow Mission Controller Ben posted his view.
3. This awesome article from APW about weddings and feminism. Yes, you can be a bride and a feminist and wear a dress (or not) and get your makeup done all fancy (or not). Actually, you can be whoever you want to be, all the time.. especially on your wedding day! And that, in a nutshell, is what A Practical Wedding is all about.
4. Vintage photos in the Disney blog from their last Mars-based space-themed ride, Mission to Mars. I don't remember the attraction, but I do remember Alien Encounter. Poor Skippy! Suspended indefinitely. (1 million bonus points if you know what I'm talking about)
5.  Penny for NASA makes some incredible videos about why space is so important. One of the best things about working where I do is being surrounded with passionate space geeks all day. This video brought actual tears to my eyes. Watch the video, and think about signing their petition.
   
   Five Photos (from last weekend):
   

   

   
   
   I'm an avowed nail biter, but I've decided to quit. I bought some super nail growy nail polish and am giving it my best shot!
   
   

   

   
   
   Parents and I gave my poor old CR-V some tender loving care while they were here.  Headlights were all foggy and gross, but with a $13.99 kit from the auto parts store and some old fashioned scrubbing they are almost as good as new! See?
   

   

   
   

   

   
   
   Dan and I took the parents to Shuttlebration to see the mockup shuttle float in. It was kinda cool to see it sail across Clear Lake... even if it is a replica.
   

   

Cards Against Humanity is a hilarious, not-for-children card game. It's basically the adult version of Apples to Apples. One person flips over a black card, and the other players select a white card to fill in the blank or answer the question on the black card. The person who flipped the black card chooses the best answer. Whoever collects the most black cards wins.  At right is one of the hands we played last weekend: Which white card is your favorite?

Note: Only play this with your parents if you are ok with making sex jokes in front of him (and potentially watching your father play a card that says "The clitoris" in the same round that you play "Fingering." My father is a gynecologist, so it's normal for me.)



And there you have my five Friday things! I'm off to work console tomorrow, and have to fit in 5 miles without dying in the sweltering heat while I'm at it! Happy weekend!

Disneyland Half Week 2 Training

Monday: 6 am Memorial Day wakeup call. 3 mile run.
Tummy troubles struck at mile 1.6, rare for me on morning runs. Luckily we were running in my neighborhood so we swung back home for a pit-stop at mile 2 then headed out to finish it up. I made French toast for breakfast, with 9 grain and seed bread from Kroger. I always did French toast with regular honey wheat bread until one time I only had the 9 grain bread on hand. It was so delicious, I'm never going back. The seeds add a wonderful texture to it!
After that, since it was a day off, we went back to bed for a 2 hour nap. Awesome. When I woke up, I got my second "workout" of the day, vacuuming and cleaning up. My parents are visiting for the weekend and I wanted to make the place presentable. My dad even asked if I had a maid, that's how good it looked!

Thursday: 5:45 am wakeup call. 4 mile speedwork.

The speedwork on this plan is kinda weird: 2x1600 in 11:31, with 800 breaks. Mile repeats with half mile rests? And that's not much faster than our regular pace (remember last week we ran 11:40 tempo). It seems like I could do better with faster 800s instead. But what do I know? Does this seem weird to you?

However I had to be at work at 8 so we decided to cut it short. 0.5 mile warm up, 1 mile run with 0.25 mile walk x2. At the end I forgot to turn it off when we got home, hence the average pace of 43 mins/

For dinner I made fANNEtasticfood's Healthy Chicken Enchiladas for my parents, who are visiting for the weekend. Delicious! Even my dad liked it, which if it's not wrapped in bacon is hard to do!

Saturday: 6am wake-up call. 5 mile run.
Then a day of exploring around the wedding venue for a rehearsal dinner site. Afternoon nap. Dinner for my dad's birthday.

Next week's workouts:
Monday: 4 miles easy
Thursday: 4 miles with 2 tempo (12:02 pace)
Saturday: 5 miles easy/long (I hope... I have work console Sat and Sun from 7am to 4pm, so with the weather and early wakeup call we are planning a late evening run. Yuck.
Sunday: Cross train (I'm thinking Yogalosophy DVD)

Food for the week:
Monday: Shrimp Cucumber Feta Orzo salad from fANNEtasticfood
Tuesday: Veggie patch falafel pitas
Wednesday: Blackened tofu from Daily Garnish
Thursday: Happy hour with work people- will either eat there or have something leftover
Friday: Dan's turn to decide... something on the grill I imagine.

Goodbye May, Hello June!

May Goals:

• Order a wedding dress. Check.
• Send those Save the Dates! Check.
• Start training for the Disneyland Half. Even though its hot out! Check!
• Strength train at least once a week. Oh fail. I think I did it once.
• Plan my meals for the week every Sunday afternoon. 2/5 But with 2 weekends away and a week-long work trip, this was probably aiming a little too high.

June Goals:

• Bridesmaids dresses- my sister/maid of honor is coming on June 22nd to pick hers out. Then I can send instructions to my other maids on what to get.
• Find an officiant- at some point I'll do a post on why this is such a struggle. For now, I'll just say that I've been working on this basically since the week after we got engaged, without much luck.
• Keep training for Disneyland half. Miss no more than 2 training plan runs this month. I could go for 100%, but I believe in setting reachable goals, not pipe dreams.
• No drinking before morning runs. Also they are ALL morning runs. Two reasons: 1. drinking is dehydrating and I don't need any help being dehydrated in this weather. 2. too many empty calories taken in as wine and beer.
• Cross train at least once a week- could be biking, walking, yoga, T-Rex, whatever...

If the temperatures weren't evidence enough, June means summer is really here. I am not looking forward to the next 3 sweltering months. But I can't wish them away any faster... there's plenty to get done!

A few words on yearly goals...
Planning the wedding has definitely taken precedence over some of the other goals for the year. Its amazing how much time it really does suck up. And how much mental energy to deal with all of this stuff. And I selected a mostly inclusive venue where many things are chosen for me. I can't even imagine what some people go through.


1. Half Marathon.
Working on it. Picked a half marathon. Booked a hotel. Working on training. Will need to buy plane tickets at some point....
2. Home cooking. 
Sort of working on it. I still cook, obviously. And I am trying new recipes. But I don't take as much time to post them or keep track of them.
3. Enjoy life
Well, I'm trying. Especially because the wedding planning process really IS something that I will never get to have again. (Because if I ever find myself getting married again I am 100% insisting on eloping!!) It's stressful, but as I told Dan the other day, it's really the first thing we are doing as a family. And that's pretty exciting. As for painting the guest bathroom honeydew melon... well I still haven't done that. But Dan did let me register for the purple towels!
4. Grow the blog
This also took a backseat. I have less time to participate in online chats and comment on other blogs as a way to interact with the community. But that's ok, I have my own little place on the internet and I'm happy with it.