The Wedding Room

We used to have a living room.
Now it's a wedding room.

Wedding photos everywhere.

Having a 16x20-size version of myself was a much better idea before I could see my pores from the sofa.

However, I love it. We filled up our mantel, above it and beside it with photos of us, our friends and family on our most specialest day.

(It also matches our Engagement Stairway, courtesy of photographer Kelly V).

Speaking of Ms. Talent V.... she's interested in doing a "Mess the Dress" artsy shoot with me in my dress... either under or near water for a spectacular photo to add to her catalogue. Thoughts??? There's always cleaning and preservation, right? :-)

Eye-high kicks

I saw the Rockettes this weekend with my friend Emily and it was absolutely fantastic.

For 90 minutes, I was a little girl again, watching tall, beautiful dancers swirl in circles and kick their legs up to the sky.
(Appearances by Santa and a soundtrack that included not only Christmas tunes but an entire segment dedicated to the Nutcracker didn't hurt, either.)

I loved the different scenes so much -- acting out the 12 Days of Christmas with graceful moves, tapping their way through at least one number, portraying dozens -- and then hundreds! -- of Santas and of course the Toy Soldier routine that is so amazing.

I had a fantastic time with Emily, even at dinner and along our drive to the arena. She's quickly becoming a wonderful and treasured friend and I look forward to many more outings together while we leave our non-arts-loving significant others behind. :-)

Here are a few photos from the show. Hope you don't mind the giant piece of wiring hanging down in the middle of my view. I couldn't be too angry about it because I figured it was probably keeping some giant prop from falling on my head or was somehow assisting the dancers in those eye-high kicks.

Ho, ho, ho!!!

Happy Halloween

Hope your day was deliciously spooky.


What are your favorite Halloween memories or traditions?




Boo-st wishes! :-)

A pretty prance with Proud

Something literally had to hit me on the head to get me out of my self-induced miserable funk.

Albeit a leaf.


It's not how hard you get smacked with sense, but how much of an impact it leaves.

I had taken the puppies out for a pee-break when a huge yellow leaf landed on my head. A chuckle and a glance around and low-and-behold, it was a GORGEOUS Autumn afternoon. I had let it slip past me for a few weeks now. Not today.





I had a couple of hours to take off of my work day today, so that instant became that time off for me.

I grabbed my camera and just me and our greyhound Proud strolled down the driveway and into the comforting breeze as leaves danced along the street.

We went for about 25 or 30 minutes, taking a pause on a bench at an old schoolhouse on the hill to "talk." Well, he went "roo, roooooo, roo" and I blabbed while I scratched his ears.

It was perfect.

The company was great (Roo!) and the foliage is still lovely here.



























































And I just love my Proud Man.

This must be married life.

While Scott was doing this....





























I was making this...

More wedding photos

Bride-to-be and groom-to-be goofin' off at the rehearsal dinner.

Ladies' (with special guest Jeff) Night before the wedding day fun.
Cards + friends + mixed drinks + Oreos = happiness.

Bridesmaids (minus Julie) looking gorgeous with their hair did.


From left, Kacey, niece Ashley, Jeannine, Allison and Nicole.

Adding some pretty dresses into the mix.

Me and my Papa Bear.

Maid of Honor keeping a hold of me.

Married!!!

With my new-found brother-in-law, sister Shelby, sister-in-law and brother Shamus.

Wedding teaser

My long, massive, boring post about my wedding day and our honeymoon is in the works.

For now...
Me with my two guys on my happiest day ever.

I'm so proud of her.

My friend Ashley is such an inspiration. She's lost a lot of weight while still maintaining/improving upon her strength, style and flair.

As part of her weight-loss process, she started running. Seriously running. To the point where she inspired this former runner to start running again.

And today, I watched her run her first 5K race EVER. Ever, ever, EVER!!! She had a great time and even finished with a thumbs-up and a big smile. She made me so proud and I've had that image of her in the last quarter-mile stuck in my head all day long.

I'm so glad I was there. 
Especially since through ESP, we both wound up with the same hairdo!
But really, I was SOOOOOO... happy to be there.

Congrats, Ashley! Keep up the good work (including a race on my wedding day next weekend!!!)!

 

 

 

Psh, because we're all cowards on the starting line. :-)

Talkin' 'bout a Sunday drive on a Friday

I have just gotten so ridiculously awful at blogging lately. Please forgive me. It's the Wedding Mind Syndrome thingy.

Anyway... on Sunday... sigh, FIVE days ago, Scott and I went for an impromptu drive.

In the first couple years of our relationship, we used to frequently go for rides around the area, especially as I was still getting acquainted with 'the country.' I learned towns and back roads and we got to have some really intimate conversations about ourselves and our future along these streets and highways.

An essential part of our trips was, like in most places and times in my life, my camera. I captured endless self-portraits of the two of us -- me grinning like a fool and Scott half-smiling, half-driving (thank goodness!).

It's been a long time since our last little road trip, but on Sunday, we just did it. Forgot about the to-do list and the phone calls, e-mails and errands. We just got in my man's manly truck and off we went.

Three-plus hours and three states later and it was just.like.old.times.

Here's a peek at our journey, at least before my camera battery died somewhere in West Virginia and at between 50 and 70 mph.  Starting at our house (!), including Maryland and West Virginia scenery and the always-exciting mini-Tabasco bottle at a convenience store along the way.

We need happy thoughts all up in this grill

My friend and lovely bridesmaid Julie got some scary news last week.

She went to the doctor last Monday and he found malignant melanoma on her leg. By Friday, she had had surgery to remove a chunk out of her right calf and the surgeon seemed optimistic that they had gotten it all.
She finds that out for sure on Thursday.

I need all of the spare positive thoughts you can muster to head her way. She and her husband Mike are amazing people, wonderful friends, and such good parents to their baby girl, Olivia.

Today, she told me this and I wanted to speed the 40 miles over to her and hold her...
"Going from thinking I was completely healthy to cancer in 3 days was a bit much."


I love her.
My friends mean so much to me. When they ache, I ache. When they're joyful, my spirits are great.

I don't care about wedding RSVPs that are still unanswered, seating charts that need created or favors that need done... I just want Thursday to be here so we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Shoot for the moon... even if you miss it you will land among the stars

In high school, our cross country team used to have locker buddies that would decorate (secretly) a teammate's locker, giving them energy drinks and snacks, hanging up streamers and inspirational quotes. Ask anyone who ran in blizzards and hurricanes in Mount Olive, NJ between 1998 and 2002 and they'll tell you that that quote was always plastered on my locker... and in my locker buddy's locker, too.

I believe in it. Especially now.

I want to run again.

Some of you have just smiled.
Some of my friends have a hand to their mouth or let out a little "whoa."
I bet one of you is nodding with a tear in your eye.
I hope someone's cheering.


Scott and I stopped briefly at a Dick's Sporting Goods store today and I found myself holding a pair of mesh shorts and wanting to dart into a jog right in the parking lot.

I've been thinking about it a lot lately, but my running comes with a lot of baggage. I thought I gave it up for good about two years ago, when in the middle of training for a marathon, my body just shut down.

My friend Ashley gives me hope as she trains for a race later this month after a long and successful weight-loss program. I'm so proud of her and it is in part her stories of her training that have gotten me drooling for my pasttime of 10 years.

My friend Kacey recently decided to go back to running, too, and I'm so happy for her. She and I got each other through college cross country. Well, she got me through it with her shared secrets and disappointments and all those crazy times in the training room.


This gives me inspiration. And hope. If she can do it, I can do it.
And I don't need to win any championships or even run 50 miles a week again. Really, I just want to hear my sneakers, tied in the special way that I've been doing for half of my life, with just the right amount of support and cushion for my old achy legs, beating against the pavement, through the fall puddles and across the crunchy winter snow.

I want to be lost with my deepest thoughts -- or no thoughts at all -- as I beg my legs to pull me up the next hill.

I want to fight with the voice inside my head that tells me I'm tired and to just turn around and walk home.

I want to be back to the memories of middle school, high school and college, making friends, pushing myself and feeling fit and happy. That feeling of accomplishment turning off the IPod or glancing at my stopwatch.



I don't want to get lost on the unimportant things... calories, sit-ups and just-one-more-mile's.

I don't want to go back there.

I don't want running to equal a sickness and lose all of the things I love about it.

I don't want to be sick.



I'm scared that it's just too late. And that too much damage has been done.

I'm scared that it will be like the last time I went for a run. I made it about a mile, pushing through the aches in my ankles, the stabbing pain in my hips, the burning in my chest. Then, I felt as though my entire body had exploded and then just gone lifeless. I was next to a cornfield, alone on a back country road, unable to lift my arm, let alone make it home. I sat sobbin on the gravel, wondering how I had gotten here and what happened to the 15-year-old with a dream as big as The Bowl in Holmdel for the state cross country championships.

I've come a long way in the past couple of years. It's been a tough road and it's not done yet, but I am eating healthy -- and more -- and I'm taking care of myself for possibly the first time in my life. Well, OK, definitely the first time in my life.

And I've already told myself that I can't push myself in any way. That it has to be fun and the moment it stops being enjoyable, I stop lacing up those sneakers and settle for my tennis and Pilates again.

I tell myself that I can do this. That running got me through the toughest times in my life and that it's as much a part of me as my friends and my family some days.

I tell myself that I'll be more upset if I don't just try.

The great Steve Prefontaine once said:

“Life’s battles don't always go to the strongest or fastest man, But sooner or later the man who wins is the fellow who thinks he can.”

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards.
-- Alberto Salazar

Two easy steps to blushing (and beautiful) bride

Step One.
Find an amazing friend and wonderful person who also happens to do a fabulous job with make-up, even if she is completely honest about your wrinkles, acne, translucent skin and possible mustache.

Step Two.
Find a hairstylist who constantly raves about your "beautiful hair."
Implore said stylist to make sense of your makes-no-sense requests for wedding day hairdos.

Combine them. Stir slightly, but only if enough hairspray to attract every bee in central Pennsylvania has been used. Also, fake eyelashes and 29 bobby pins are a plus.

And voila, you get this.
Oh, and this...

Wendy vs. Wall vs. Greyhound

Wendy came in third place.


It's hard to tell in the picture, but that's my right upper calf/shin area. The two bruises combined take up about 3 inches by 5 inches. You could actually frame my miserable trophy of defeat and put it on your mantle.


It is a dark, dark brownish-greyish color. It's great timing for the short and skirt weather we've been having here. Sigh.


According to the internet, 'major' bruises last an average of about 2.5 weeks.
Great, because my wedding and honeymoon are in less than 4 weeks.

Thanks, dog.
Thanks, wall.

I'm baaaaaaack!

I realize that it seems to all my faithful readers (I love both of you, haha) that I have fallen off the face of the earth.

Yes and no.

I went to Jersey and back, had a bachelorette weekend of shenanigans (Hunk-o-Mania in the ghetto anyone?), my first of two bridal showers (second one is this weekend!) and on top of that am making the first of many, many, MANY last-minute wedding plans (dress fittings, ceremony planning and hair-dos, oh my!) while caught in the midst of my coverage area's scandals, increased taxes and a fatal car crash.

Sigh.
In between the 12-hour work days and 45 thank-you cards, I am also trying to maintain a healthy, loving relationship with my soulmate.

And keep my sanity.

And fight off the cold/sickness that has given me a Man Voice for the past two days. I don't know how long until I wave my white flag at the NyQuil bottle. I just hope I make it through Saturday.

Oh, and did I mention my stepmother, sister, 9-year-old niece and 4-year-old nephew are visiting next week?

At the core of it all, however, I am so happy. I am blissfully content with all of the opportunities I have, the good health I've GIVEN MYSELF and the dozens of loved ones who make me feel like a princess.

I missed my blogging and promise to be back regularly very, very soon (with scandalous photos, perhaps?!)

For now, enjoy me and 4 out of 5 of my bridesmaids in Wildwood, NJ, and then us with my niece/junior bridesmaid at the shower. Oh, and a beach shot of me and my flat boobs with my favorite hat of all time in one of my most relaxed moments EVER.

LESS THAN 2 months...

... until I walk down the aisle in a pretty white dress toward a hunky guy I might just have a crush on... to say the least.


I honestly can't even fathom the fact that our wedding is LESS than two months away! CRAZY.


I can't wait, though. It's so close now, I just want to enjoy all of this.

I'm going to be a Mrs.!