BABY, I LIKE IT!

This is what PRIDE looks like! 

Oh baby.

First of all, I want to thank Sara for asking me to do this in the first place.  I hadn't known she was going to run it I don't know if I would have gathered up enough courage to do so!  The first half of the race (well MOST of the first half) we ran together.  And quickly I may add!  Our pace for the first 5 miles was in the 9 mile family.  The hard part was the 2nd half.  At about 4.5 miles my legs were starting to tell me to walk - as were my lungs which were striving to get oxygen for my muscles!  But we were pretty much just kicking ass and taking names.

The second half of the run was very much a challenge.  If I could do the whole thing over again I would train longer and earlier.  But I still ran most of the way.  My thought going in to the race was that I didn't want to put a ton of pressure on my body so I was completely ok with walking part of the distance.  I would say overall I probably walked about 3/4 of a mile throughout the race.

Sara and I before the race!

 After the race we were greeted by our adoring public, we retrieved our swag (metal, noms [read: food], and an awesome stadium blanket that folds up nicely into a little bag.

FINISHED!

I'm basking in the glory of the run, but also icing my knees and ankles which will undoubtedly be sore tomorrow!!!  Sadly, I think I want to do it again!  WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!

10 Miles!

I am so stupid.

Thank you everyone for supporting me and helping me prepare for my race!  If you're looking for me, I'll be the one passed out at about mile 6 or 7 with the above badge on.  Feel free to check out the course here.

Mission Accomplished.

Today, I was given the best compliment ever.  Kind of the one everyone dreams of getting.  I had a conversation with a woman in my building.

Woman in Building: Wow, you look great!  Now do you work out or are you just one of those lucky ones that looks good without exercising?
Me:  Oh I definitely work out!!!

Basically, it was one of those things that totally inflated my self esteem and assures me that I'm doing everything right for my body and not only that but people are noticing and for someone to say that who I rarely every see... wow.  Just.  Wow. 


Now I realize this probably doesn't make a lot of sense why this was such a compliment to me.  But deal with it, cuz I'm on cloud 9.

Ebay

In the past few weeks I've been getting my ebay purchase and selling "on".  Right now I'm bidding on the perfect number for my 90's themed bachelorette party.

Oh yeah, I had one of these back in 1991.

As usual I'm not going about this outfit in a very thoughtful way, because I also plan on wearing my super "chunky" shoes that I wore in 7th grade (1997).  So I'm just going to mix and match my 90's gear, I'm sure I'm going to look more like someone who should be shopping at wal-mart rather than a bachelorette on her "last night out" (please) with her friends!  But it's going to be a riot.

Bonus:  My mom found my stash of SCRUNCHIES oh and also a fannie pack.  Jealous?

PS:  I'll update you all if I win the hypercolor shirts!
Pss:  Yup, won the shirts

One Year Anniversary!

Fiance and I at Jack Trice Stadium

Oh Happy Day!  I just wanted to celebrate my one year anniversary of getting engaged!!!  Our wedding is in 46 days and I am just so excited and overwhelmed!

I have some very busy weekends coming up before the wedding including 2 bachelorette parties - one for Chicago peeps and another in Iowa City, another bach party for a friend, 2 weddings, and my 10 mile run.  Yup, I don't have a free weekend until the wedding and after that we're going to CANCUN!

I would also like to give a shout out to my mom who's birthday is TODAY!  Can you believe she's only 25?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Weekend

I'm glad that this previous weekend wasn't my last. 

I saw Bridesmaids on Sunday, a movie that I must highly recommend. 

Favorite Scene:
When trying on dresses

Yup, if you haven't seen it you must, if you have seen it, do you want to come with me to watch it again?

Happy Monday everyone!

My short review of my new iPhone

I was just thinking about my new phone and how I like it compared to my droid.

The best positive I can say (although some might find it to be a negative) is that I don't get a blinking light every time I have a notification.  That means, my gmail isn't pushed through unless I open it, and I don't see if someone "liked" my facebook status unless I actually open my gmail or facebook.  All in all, it's NICE not reading your email the instant it's sent.

I think I need to be sans cell phone for at least 7 days. Ahhh someday... 

I've been blackburied.

You know what? There is no Easter Bunny - over there, that's just a guy in a suit!

Hello That Easley readers!

So I am just writing today to let you all know that I am feeling pretty damn good about myself.  I feel like I'm in shape and pretty darn near the holy grail - my goal weight.  Although I've been stuck at this plateau for ages now.  I just kind of wonder if I should do what all the fitness experts say and throw out my scale (or at least the significance of that perfect weight) and just focus on being fit!  Screw that goal of being 10 pounds lighter.  What does that even mean anyways? 

Question:  Am I gonna go around showing you all what it looks like when I step on the scale? 
I am SO not doing that cuz I weigh myself naked like any other girl who doesn't want even her hair tie to throw that number up at all. 
Answer: NO, I'm going to show you how damn awesome I look by strutting around in fun clothes that make me feel my very best.

I have a confession to make.  I'm seriously starting to like running.  It just feels GOOD to run, and running outside is like a thousand times better than running on a treadmill.  I have a 10 miler next weekend and I've gotta say I'm really pumped!

So I think I'm going to formally just announce that this blog is no longer going to be about my weight loss goals - because I kind of feel like I'm there.  I am comfortable in my body and to be honest, don't mind showing a little skin every now and then.  Of course there are parts of me that I wish I could change but I don't really mind them as much anymore.  But I still feel like talking about fitness and my troubles with weight creeping up will still be an issue I talk about because for me it's therapeutic to throw my story out there to my family and friends!  It's cheaper than weight watchers anyways. 

The reason I came to this conclusion was because I was pretty sick and tired of not having anything new to write about as far as weight loss goals.  I think that you guys just keeping up with my life in general should be enough!  Because I'm awesome.

Chandeler Bing

Could it BE any colder this Spring?

Quick Update to show you all that I'm seriously not at all bummed

Ok, so that last post ended on a depressing note.  YIKES.  And I expect that after a long lapse of posting that many of my regular lurkers (ie people that don't publicly follow me (ie the future inlaws)) probably haven't got around to reading it yet.  So anyways, I figured I'd give everyone a quick wrap up of my awesome weekend.

This weekend was rather interesting and fun I must say.  Friday night I met up with my good friend Erick and we went out for margs (see below for my "I've been drinking margs" face) and Mexican food.  Afterwords we enjoyed a night of Karaoke until closing time.  The fiance and I didn't get to sleep until probably 2 or 3 and we had to get up for premarital counseling the next morning at 6:30.

Looking good, as per usual

Saturday night was just so much fun!  I haven't had a night like that since college.  I ended up seeing some old friends that I haven't seen in YEARS, had some wobbly pops (read: beer) and enjoyed my night in downtown Des Moines.  The story behind the below picture is that this guy started hitting on me at the bar - I was like "not interested buddy" and showed him my engagement ring, to which his friend lifted his hand and showed me his wedding band.  I was like "ummm these things are supposed to repel one another, no?".  But after a few more annoying pick up lines and me going "no thanks" over and over again I got a little fed up.

Victim of my art.

This kid instantly passed out at my friends apartment after last call and started snoring really loudly.  Of course I decided that I would draw on his face because he was annoying me with his snoring and his "I can get any girl" attitude.  So, you'll notice "angry eyebrows", unibrow, kitty whiskers, and a twirly moustache.  Some of my best work if I do say so myself. 

So my friend and I decided that this kid MUST walk outside the apartment without having noticed his new temporary tats.  Our plan included removing the lights from the bathroom and covering the mirror with oven cleaner and posting a sign that says "You are beautiful!" to distract the kid from trying to see what he looked like before he left.

Operation Beautiful was my inspiration.

Of course when I woke up the next morning the first thing I did was tell him to wash his face and apologized!  So a question I must ask you, my dedicated readers:  Is it ok to draw on the face of a married "man" that was hitting on an engaged woman? 

In summary it wasn't the smartest, most mature weekend I've ever had but I sure had fun. 

I just wanted to show you all that despite that last post, I'm doing just fine because I have amazing friends who will help me have fun no matter what!  (Also: the guy I drew on was only mildly upset but said he's had worse things drawn on him)

Opening the window on my family drama.

Wow, I must apologize for my complete lack of posting this last month.  I have been busy with work since we were recently acquired by another firm.  Rest easy - I'll keep my job.

I have been busting my ass lately going to the gym, running long distances, doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) and I swear I've been noticing some positive results.  For instance - a pair of pants that I bought from the Gap because they were insanely cheap (like $5-10 bucks, I can't remember exactly) in April 2009 that were too tiny to fit me... now are toooo big!  Like I can stick my entire arm down my pants (in a non-gross manner) when just over a year ago they would squeeze my tummy just a little bit too much that I decided against wearing them.

The wedding is coming together nicely but the procrastinator in me is showing her ugly head.  Yeah I know I need to assign someone to guard the guest book (any takers?) and what not but sometimes there are jobs you have to give for a wedding that you'd rather not do yourself so you think "why would anyone else want to do this?".  Oh I'm sure I'll find a way to get all those details wrapped up in time for the big day (which is less than 2 months away).

I also came to realize recently that there are some members of the Salton family that regularly read my blog and I think that kind of scares me because I just write and write and write stuff on here that I don't think is always family approved.  For that I apologize, but I'm like an open book!!

That being said I wanted to address something that came up recently that really blew my mind.  Well sort of.  My dad said that he would not be attending my reception and would only go sit in the back of the church so I could "glance at him as I walked by".  Therefore taking care of a somewhat difficult question of "how am I going to tell my dad I don't want him to walk me down the aisle?".  Seems rough but full disclosure is that my father (who probably will never read this) feels that although he would like to be a part of my day he doesn't have anyone to hang out with at the wedding (not even his daughters/son/grandchildren/brother who are all coming?).  I guess the short version of the story is that my father burned A LOT of bridges during my parent's divorce way back when.  Including some with me and my siblings and for whatever reason has been lax on calling us on our birthdays or including us in Christmas gatherings or whathaveyou.  This is a somewhat painful discussion topic to be perfectly honest and it's really my passive way of communicating to the Salton side of the family (and college friends too that don't know the situation that well) why my father isn't going to be represented much at my wedding. 

So that's super sad - but honestly I'm trying to remind myself that he's just doing me a favor by not coming and disrupting any peace.  But if you've read this and you're coming to my wedding - and you hear anyone ask anything about my dad, you can feel free to mention this to them and tell them to shut their traps when they come near me on the wedding day because I'm fairly certain I'm going to be so crying tears of happiness basically all day that I don't want any tears of sadness to come and cramp my style. 

Easley OUT!

Time Flies

In case you were wondering, 15 months goes by in about 4 minutes if you're engaged.

2 months to go!