The Wedding

Sorry I'm so late writing this. I've been so screwed up from the time change! Yesterday went by way too fast--we got to the airport at 8:30 AM in Phoenix, and we got home from Detroit airport at 7:30 PM. So our entire day was just gone!

But I'll back up. Saturday was the wedding. I tried on the dress as soon as I woke up, and thanked God that I could actually still zip it. Jerry and I went to breakfast at this super cute little restaurant with our friend Lance and his girlfriend. The restaurant was outside at a farm, and everything was super fresh. I took one pic of the restaurant, but it's not very good:

All of the bridesmaids had hair appointments at 11:30 at a fancy schmancy salon. Instead of buying us a bridal party gift, Sarah paid for us to get our hair and make-up done! They gave us mimosas while they prettied us up. I started with my make-up. She airbrushed foundation on my face, which was kind of cool. I asked her to do whatever was best to cover the jawline acne I've acquired over the past year. I loved how my make-up turned out.

My hair was next. There was the "Senior Stylist" and the assistant of the senior stylist. I never knew that stylists had assistants! The assistant brought me drinks and gave me hand massages and all that good stuff along with handing things to the stylist while she did my hair. I had no clue how I wanted it styled, and she described something that sounded nice, so I told her that was fine. I really like how it turned out, but it was hard to get a good picture of it!

This is a dark pic at the reception, but I'll post better ones once Sarah gets them

After everyone got their hair and make-up done, the bridesmaids all left with Sarah's mom (except me--I went with Sarah). Sarah wanted me to drive her to her house to get her overnight bags and stuff, and then we'd drive her Mustang to the wedding site. The drive was gorgeous once we left downtown Phoenix:

This mountain was gorgeous, and then Sarah told me that that is where the wedding site/reception would be!

Once we got to the site, we changed into our dresses and waited for guests to arrive. The wedding was supposed to start at 4:30, but people were still showing up, so we didn't end up walking down the aisle until 5:00. Jerry had my camera, and took a lot of photos, but they didn't turn out well. Here are a couple:

The only pic he got of me walking down the aisle

All of us bridesmaids

Saying their vows

I wasn't feeling emotional at all until I saw Sarah's mom crying, and Sarah cried a few times, and her new husband even cried! I was holding Ne's ring (Ne (pronounced 'Nay') is Sarah's new husband). My only job during the ceremony was to hold her flowers and hand her the ring. I did my job, and I didn't drop anything.

It was over 100 degrees outside, though, and I could actually feel the sweat drip down my arm and drop from my elbow. How lady-like ;) 

Turns out Sarah forgot the marriage license at her house (an hour and a half away!) so the two weren't "legally" married all night. I never got to sign the license as her witness because I had to leave in the morning :(  I guess the minister went to her house in the morning to get all the signatures. Sarah did NOT, however, forget her $31 panties ;)  By the way, I LOVED your comments about those. I read them to Sarah, and she thought it was funny too.

The reception was immediately after the ceremony, and while the bridal party took pictures, there were Mexican dancers that entertained the guests. It was kind of interesting! I tried to get a pic, but it was dark and they were moving way to fast...

The bar was open and there were chips and AMAZING salsa for everyone to munch on while they waited for Sarah and Ne to finish up pictures.  I had a beer and some chips and salsa, and talked to Lance for a little bit. We took a photo that has become a tradition at weddings since we were two years old!

1984 vs. 2003 (at my wedding)

vs. 2011, at Sarah's wedding

I have a few more, but I don't feel like looking for them right now. My mom took a pic of Jerry and me:

 Then the reception was right there on site. There were candles and little lights all over, and it was gorgeous! My pictures don't do it justice:

Head table

We ate right away. Since Ne is Mexican (and his family doesn't speak English) the DJ said everything twice--once in English and once in Spanish. The whole wedding was VERY bi-cultural (is that even a word?!) Traditional American wedding for Sarah's side, but with lots of Mexican flare thrown in. They had American foods like roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans, along with Mexican food like fajitas and refried beans.

Thankfully, Sarah told me that I didn't have to do a toast if I didn't want to--and of course I decided not to (although I should have... she did one for my wedding!) After the toast (which the best man did in English and Spanish), there was lots of dancing. The DJ mixed American music with Mexican music, and the Mexican music proved to be the most popular, among EVERYONE. They did the "dollar dance", so the best man and I stood up there and collected cash for everyone to dance with Sarah and Ne. I wished I could've taken pictures, because Jerry went up and paid to slow dance with Ne ;)

The first dance

Me, dancing with Ne

Ne's family was VERY fun

Me, Sarah, and my friend Lance (we all grew up together)

I danced a little, but mostly chatted. I had a few glasses of wine, but I had waaay too much the night before to want to drink much. At around 11, I started loading up Sarah's car with her stuff so that she wouldn't have to stay after the reception. Jerry and I rode back to the hotel with Sarah and Ne in her car. We were all SO TIRED. I fell asleep numerous times while sitting in the back seat. I gave them hugs good-bye, since Jerry and I had to leave for the airport in the morning.

Again, I got zero sleep. I was SO TIRED the next morning. We went to the airport and had breakfast, and then had no problems boarding or taking off on the plane (thankfully! I don't think I could've handled a repeat of Wednesday's flight). We arrived in Detroit and I had to get a cinnamon roll for my kids. Weird, right? Every time I talked to the kids while we were gone, Eli kept telling me that he wanted me to bring him home  a cinnamon roll. So I made it a mission to do that.

When we picked him up on the way home from the airport, he was SO MAD when he saw it. I had no idea what was wrong! Then, after about 10 minutes of questioning him, I discovered that he wanted a SOUVENIR, not a CINNAMON ROLL. He kept saying 'cinnamon roll', thinking that he was asking for a toy. Poor kid!! It was so cute!

The kids had a blast with my sister, of course. Last night when I tucked them into bed, Noah told me, "Mama, you know what my favorite part of the week was? Spending the night at Dylan's!" and I asked Eli, "Eli, what was YOUR favorite part of the week?" and you know what he said? In the sweetest voice, he sighed a little and said, "Coming home."  My heart melted.

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Okay, this is way off-topic, but I got a phone call today from the plastic surgeon's secretary, and the date of November 14th has been confirmed!! My surgery is scheduled for 6:30 in the morning that Monday. I'm so excited :)

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Rehearsal (Arizona-Day 3)

Once again, I was up at 3:30 this morning. It's impossible to get into the groove of Arizona time.

Yesterday, Sarah and I went to her gym again. I ran 6.4 miles on the dreadmill in 60 minutes. The last three miles I did intervals, just to help pass the time a little faster. I set the slow speed at 5.8 mph, and the faster speed at 7.0. I did a quarter mile slow, then a quarter mile fast, and repeated that for 3 miles. I'm glad I went, but I don't think I could ever enjoy being a gym rat. I like running outside so much more.

After the gym, we showered and got ready for the rehearsal. We went to lunch at a little Mexican restaurant that reminded me of Chipotle. I had two fish tacos, and they were SO good.

We went to check out the resort hotel that everyone is staying at, and Jerry and I decided to book a room for last night as well as tonight (originally, we were just going to stay Saturday night, but when we saw how awesome the rooms are, and that our friends were staying here, we added a day). 

Since we were having a barbecue at Sarah's house for the rehearsal dinner, our moms spent most of the morning and afternoon in the kitchen, cooking. I had too much wine for sure, but it was so fun! 

Jerry, with two of Sarah's dogs (she has three)

Me and Jerry (my hair! ugh)

Watching the moms cook  ;)

During the rehearsal, Little (that's the dog) was begging to be held.

I don't know why I look so confused... it's a simple ceremony!

Walking with the best man

Sarah and me

Completely exhausted and ready for bed at 11 PM

Today is the wedding!  We have appointments for hair and make-up at 11:30, and then we're going to get dressed at the wedding site. The wedding is at 4:00. Jerry and I are going to fly home tomorrow at 10:30 in the morning, so I may not write again until I'm home.

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Arizona: Day 2

I'm having such a hard time getting used to the time difference!  In Michigan, it is 10:40 PM right now, but in Arizona, it's only 7:40. I really feel like I need to be asleep.

I was up bright and early at 5:00 this morning, which is when I finished writing my blog. We had some coffee and sat around for a little bit, and then Sarah and I went to her gym. This was a (near) first for me, because the last time I was in a gym was when I was a freshman in college (2001).

The gym was HUGE and the equipment looked really nice. Sarah had a 3-day pass that I could use, which was perfect. I planned on running 8 miles on the dreadmill. I learned that just because it's in Arizona doesn't mean it's any less boring to run on a treadmill. Each machine had its own TV, but there wasn't anything interesting on. I ended up watching America's Next Top Model and running just 4 miles before I couldn't take it any more. It was SO HOT in there, and there weren't fans (except ceiling fans, which didn't help at all).

After that, Sarah and I went into the spinning classroom--but there wasn't a class going on, so it was just the two of us in there. I've always been TERRIFIED of spinning, so I would never have tried a class. But Sarah showed me how it works and WOW. It was seriously the hardest.workout.EVER. I only ended up doing 20 minutes total, and most of it was just easy peddling to catch my breath from the extremely intense 30 second hardcore crap she had me do.

Spinning is intense. And definitely not something I'm interested in pursuing! I realized that I had every reason to be terrified of it, because it's HARD.

We're supposed to go back to the gym tomorrow, too. I know I'll run, but I don't even want to guess how long I'll last. The heat + boredom does not make a fun run!

After the gym, we went to her house and showered and dressed, then we went to get manicures and pedicures for the wedding. I picked the same color of pink as my dress (the dress color is called "Watermelon") for both my toes and my fingers.

My mom flew in today for the wedding. She's staying with a mutual friend at a nearby hotel. They came over to Sarah's and planned the rehearsal dinner. We're going to have a picnic here tomorrow for the rehearsal dinner, even though we're not having an actual "rehearsal". Tomorrow is when everything is going to get crazy, I'm sure.

Sarah's friend Kristal (also a bridesmaid) flew in today as well. We went and got ice cream after dinner. I had a scoop of Red Velvet and a scoop of Reese's PB Cup. Yum!

Sorry, but I've not been good with taking pictures while I'm here. But I did get the pictures back from the Big House Big Heart 10-K race I did on Sunday, so I'll show you those:

Check out how pale my lips are--that's how you know I'm about to puke

Picking up the pace, with 50 yards to go

Finish line

This is one of my brother's pics. Why don't my pics ever turn out this good?!

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The nightmare that was my flight

Well, you all know by now that my biggest fear is flying. I hate it and will do just about ANYTHING to avoid it. So naturally, when something goes wrong, it would by on MY plane! I will start by saying that I made it to Arizona safely, and I'm fighting to stay awake at Sarah's house right now (it's 9:10 PM here, but 12:10 PM in Michigan).

Jerry and I got ready to leave and my little brother ended up driving us to the airport. We had no problems getting through security or anything, and we made it to the gate. After waiting there for a while, the plane started boarding. I had picked our seats online, because I wanted to be SURE to get a seat next to the window, since my older brother told me there would be less turbulence.
(Okay, I literally fell asleep while typing. It's now 9:00 Thursday morning)...

We got on the plane and sat in our seats. I was just above the right wing. I had taken to Xanax in the airport, but I was still nervous. The plane started taxiing and we got to the runway. Then we just sat there. For a looong time. The plane was super hot, and there wasn't much air coming out of those vents. I was on the verge of a panic attack.

Then the pilot came on the speaker saying that there was a problem with the right engine, and they were "working on it". WHAT?! I just wanted to get off the plane immediately. I didn't want them to fix it while we were sitting there. We sat there for about an hour, and everyone was super hot. Finally, the pilot said that they weren't able to fix it, so we had to return to the gate and go board another plane.

I was NOT okay with this. I really just wanted to go home. My Xanax was quickly wearing off. Anyway, Sarah sent me a text saying that her friend Kristal (also a bridesmaid) may not be coming, and she really needed me to come. So about an hour later, we boarded a new plane, which had different seating. And of course it would be my luck that they'd put in in the BACK of the plane, which is the worst spot to sit as far as turbulence goes.

I popped a couple more Xanax, and then we had to sit and wait in the plane for almost another hour because they had to reload our luggage and change the food carts and all that crap. So it was three hours after the original departure time that we finally took-off.

It was the most turbulent flight I've ever had. The second we took off, the plane was shaking and rocking and I just thought, "What the fuck am I doing here?!"  I kept my feet off the floor and my arms off the hand rests (I found you feel the bumps less if you don't have contact with those things).

For two hours, the turbulence was really bad. Once we got past the mid-way point, it got a little smoother with a few rough patches. I even managed to take some pictures:

Lake Michigan coast line

Dunno where this was... but aren't the circles kind of cool?

Tired from 2 mg of Xanax

The mountains out west look awesome

The landing was really rough. I almost hit my head on the seat in front of me because we stopped so fast. But when we got to the gate, I saw this:

The yellow sticker says "human remains"

It was sad and kind of interesting at the same time. They were actually loading the body onto the plane while we were deboarding.

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We got to Sarah's, and her house is GORGEOUS. I was in total awe. I didn't take any pics last night. We went out to dinner with Sarah and her fiance, Ne  (His name is Norberto, but everyone calls him Ne--pronounced Nay). They took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant called Ponchos, and it was AMAZING. I didn't plan on eating too much, and I even split a dinner with Sarah, but I left there completely stuffed with margarita, chips and salsa, and a variety dinner. I even had my first tamale, and it was so good.

After that, Sarah and I went shopping for her wedding night lingerie. I had told her a long time ago that I wanted to buy it for her, so we finally got to go shop. I also bought some Spanx for myself ;)  After paying, we were walking out, and the math wasn't adding up in my head. I thought $160 seemed like a lot for three items--her nightie (about $50), my Spanx (about $75), plus a pair of panties that were blue lace and said, "I DO" on the front (didn't check the price, but they were just panties).

I pulled out the receipt and those panties were $31!!! We both laughed so hard at that. I know for a fact that I've never spent more than about $3 on a pair of panties. We discovered that the "I DO" was made out of swarovski crystals--BAHAHAHA.  Then we were joking about how she could possibly use them again, and she said maybe she could rearrage them to spell, "IT'S A BOY" some day. Yup, the $31 pair of panties. Yikes!

This is what a $31 pair of panties looks like

We are suckers.

Today, I'm going to Sarah's gym with her to run on the dreadmill. Arizona is HOT.

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New pics from the party

Well, I don't look any better in the bridesmaid dress than I did 10 weeks ago. Oh well. I'm just praying that come Saturday, I'll be able to zip it. So I won't be eating much on my Arizona trip.

My mom came over last night and brought over the pictures from my dad's surprise party. I love how they turned out!  I won't bore you with tons of them, but here are a few favorites:

Someone asked my dad something about the 60's... haha!

My little brother Nathan, my dad, and my older brother Brian

My siblings, my kids, and my parents

Me and my siblings

Being silly

Love this picture of Noah!

My mom's next door neighbor took all the pictures. They look fantastic, don't they?!  For Christmas, my mom is going to hire her to do a photo shoot of Jerry, me, and our kids.

I'm going to keep this entry short, because I am still not done packing, and we're leaving for the airport at 6:00 AM.  Did anyone happen to catch Dr. Oz yesterday?  Chris Powell was on there--I love him!! He's a trainer that helps people with massive weight loss. I originally saw him on The 650-lb Virgin documentary, and now he's on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

Anyway, he said something that completely struck a chord with me yesterday. He was talking about his diet regimen (eating high carb one day, and then low-carb the next, for 6 days a week). You get one "free day" per week where you can eat whatever you want... as long as you don't bring it home with you.

This is genius! I know it's so simple, but 90% of my overeating is AT HOME. I don't even think I would have the urge to binge outside of my house. I don't binge in public, so this makes so much sense to me. Anyway, he actually talked about a few things that are new to me--which is rare. Most weight loss advice we've all heard 1,000 times over; but he had some new, interesting info.

Today I went out for coffee with Renee and Jessica again, and Jessica suggested that the two of us run the FULL marathon in Detroit next year! I really want to do it, and having someone to train with would be fun. So I think we're going to do it!  :)

Jerry and I are going to bring the kids to my parents house now, and then next time I write, I'll either be in Arizona or back home. I'm bringing my computer so that I can hopefully blog, but I don't know if I'll have internet at Sarah's, so we'll see.

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Two more days

I leave for Arizona on Wednesday. It's coming up so fast! I'm a total nervous wreck about flying. When we were driving to the race yesterday, I was asking my brother (the pilot) some questions. The thing that causes panic attacks more than anything is not the take-off or landing (I'm fine for those) but the whole middle section. I flip out every time I hear the noise of the engines change--whether they get louder or quieter. I hate that noise change!

So I asked Brian what it's caused from, and he told me it's a number of things: as the plane burns more fuel, it goes faster and higher, basically running more efficiently, so the pilots make the engines "slower" (these are MY words, not exactly pilot-speak); if there is some turbulence, the pilots might change altitude to make it smoother, so that will change the noise of the engines; when the plane starts to descend for landing, the noise changes.

So now that I know that, I'm going to keep those things in mind on the flight when I hear the noise change. I'm also going to make it a point to talk to the pilots before the flight, because that will ease my mind a little. Brian told me that the other day, a woman went up to talk to him because she was a nervous flier, and he showed her the foot rests that the pilots use while flying. He pointed out how worn out the paint is on them, because while people in the back are nervous about the bumps, the pilots are sitting with their feet up, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. Hahaha, I don't think that makes me feel any better!

I'm hoping that I'll be able to sit Indian-style in my seat--because when my feet are up off the floor, I don't feel the little bumps. But holding them up is some serious ab-work! I'm going to take Xanax before the flight, but meds never help me when I'm THIS nervous.

This was my last flight (Aug 2010). I'm only smiling because I was drunk.

The temperature in Arizona is supposed to be over 100 degrees most of the time we're there. It RARELY reaches 100 degrees in Michigan in the middle of summer! So I'll be packing some sundresses and shorts.  I bought a luggage set at Goodwill today for $20. It came with 3 nesting suitcases--the outer one is HUGE, and at first I thought it was $20 for just that suitcase. I decided to buy it, and when I opened it up, there was another suitcase inside. I opened that, and there was another. So I thought it was an awesome deal.

Tomorrow I need to finalize all the details for my kids. My sister is coming in on Wednesday to take care of them until Sunday. Our plane doesn't arrive until 6 pm Sunday. My kids are going to have a blast with my sister, of course!

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Big House Big Heart 10-K Race Report

Well, it's OVER. I'm so glad!  I've been anticipating/dreading this race all summer. Since I wasn't able to run a half marathon this fall like I'd wanted, I decided to do this 10-K... and do it right! I followed an intermediate training program right to the tee, hoping to PR at this race. All last week, I kept thinking, "What if I did all this training and I don't PR?" It was such a huge deal to me to PR at this race! My last 10-K finish time was 55:05, so I was hoping for anything less than that. I figured if I try to keep an 8:50/mi pace, that will get me in under 55:05. (I later realized I was wrong about that)

My cousin Kaitlin actually organized a "team" of us to run either the 5-K or 10-K in honor of her mom, Kim. Kim died 5 years ago from adrenal cancer--she was WAY too young to die, and she left behind three teenage girls. A portion of our race fee went to charity, and Kaitlin did a lot of fundraising on her own to donate to adrenal cancer research. Anyway, my brother Brian and I were the only ones from our group to run the 10-K.

Some of our team after the race

We got to the starting line at about 7:30 (race started at 8:00). There were signs designating where to line up, based on pace. We went between the 8:00/mi and 9:00/mi signs. There were a lot of people running, so it was kind of crowded the first mile, and I didn't get to go as fast as I would have liked. The first mile went by SO SLOWLY. I kept waiting to hear the beep on my Garmin, signaling the end of the first mile.

At about the 1 mile mark, there was a steep hill. My legs were on fire while I ran up, and I know that slowed me down a little. And the worst part was knowing that I was going to have to do that hill AGAIN, because the course loops around. I kind of just made up my mind to not try for a PR at this point. My lungs and legs were killing me from the hill.

After another mile, I looked at my Garmin, and I was actually on pace for a PR, so I decided just to keep trying it.  Because the course looped back on itself, it seemed to be sooo long. I wanted to quit so badly. I was exhausted. I felt like I was running in circles and it would never end.

After running up the big hill for the second time, my lungs were on fire. Normally, I don't need water for at least 10 miles, but the hill did me in. I kept expecting to see a water station around each corner (and there were LOTS of corners), but it was probably a mile after the hill. I gulped down a cup and kept running.

After mile 5, the course does about 1/4 mile out and back. I saw my brother as I started heading out (he was almost done with the O&B part, so he was facing me). At this point, I really started thinking that I might puke. I don't think I've ever run this hard before. Then I really felt like I was going to pee my pants, which would be even worse than puking. I took the speed down a notch, and just said, "Fuck it" as far as a PR goes. I just wanted to be done!

I was so tempted to just walk the last mile in, but when I saw I was still on track for a PR (8:49/mi pace at this point), I just kept willing myself to keep going. We entered the stadium with just a couple hundred yards to go. We ran down the tunnel that the U of M football players run down, and then we ran onto the football field. As soon as I hit the grass, I saw that I just had to run to the end of the football field, turn, and run across the 50-yard line.

The final few yards (not me, I took this afterward)

The finish line

The big screen showing the runners as they finished

 I felt slow as molasses when I made the turn, but after that, I was flying. My pace was 5:41/mi for the last thirty yards or so ;)  When I crossed the finish line, I stopped the Garmin and saw that my average pace was 8:50/mi, which is what I calculated that I'd need to PR. However... my finish time (according to my Garmin) was 55:11 (6 seconds too slow to PR).

The reason for the discrepancy is because of the course length. When they measure the route for a race, they measure the shortest way to run it (the inside part of the course). So if you take wide turns, zig-zag, etc, then you might run farther than the actual race distance. This race ended up having me run 0.05 miles farther than the last one. So while I planned on an 8:50/mi pace, I forgot to account for the longer distance.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, I did NOT set a PR today. I was bummed, but not terribly. I know I ran my hardest, I hit my target pace, and I ran HILLS this time. There were no hills in the last 10-K I did. So even though it sucks not to PR, I am happy with my time.

Here are my splits:

My average heart rate was more than 90% of my maximum heart rate...yikes!

My Garmin (a.k.a. "unofficial" results)

Brian and me, post-race (obviously)

After the race, I grabbed some water and caught my breath on the bleachers. Brian and I walked down by the 50-yard line to take pictures, and while I was walking, who should I run into but Rose from Hacker Half Marathon!!  She recognized me first, and I knew she was going to be there, so I was excited to actually bump into her among 14,000 runners! This was my first time ever meeting a fellow blogger in person--I'm sure I was completely awkward ;)  She's going to be running her first marathon next weekend, so make sure you wish her luck!

See how packed it was?!

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So, my final "official" results were:

Chip time:  55:13.7 (8:54/mi pace)
Placement overall:  1,010/2,299
Placement age group: 74/223
Placement females:  364/1,236

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