Monday, February 28, 2011

Wedding post#11: the e-ring's purpose

I love my ring. Not just cause it is pretty (it is!) or because receiving it is one of my dearest memories (it is) but because every so often, not usually, it startles me to see jewelry on my finger and I instantaneously remember why. It's fun! And exciting. I get a little visual reminder of my friend and partner for life.

It happened tonight. I was rubbing my eye at work and scared myself with a near stone in the eye. Then it happened, I thought, "oh yeah, I get to head home to my future hubby. We'll eat leftovers and broccoli, probably in front of the TV." And it made me so happy.

Not to say that didn't happen without the ring but it is different in a way. I was (still am maybe) kind of worried that I'd never understand marriage. My life experience was that you don't need it to have children, you don't need it to have lasting romantic relationships, you don't need it to create a family/community. I was worried that I would never "get" it but I think I'm getting there. I am so happy/content that I get to have M in my life forever. So much so that I wear it as a badge. Man and country know that my life is entwined with him. The ring not only informs them but it serves to remind me too. I can imagine the utility of it when thoughts of M/marriage/life are less than stellar (I know my dear but I'm guessing it'll happen sometime) and I can imagine it strengthening me. Maybe I am overly romanticizing symbolism but it is working for me.


I may or may not have been the type of democratic party volunteering young woman who thought the e-ring was an outmoded form of sexism (or something along those lines. I guess that can fall under the numerous wedding traditions that were built around property acquisitions that have been re appropriated but that is a discussion for another day). Now I feel sad for M that he doesn't get that little rush. Maybe (and partially in response to the last parenthetical statement :) ) I should hit up Etsy for e-ring for him. Hmm...


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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Swim, yes please




This was me on saturday! But with a less awesome swim cap. I braved the torrential downpour and went out (to an indoor pool in Seattle) for my swim of the year.

Yay/for-shame Amber!

It was pretty good. I am a touch slow but not as bad as I may have expected. I did workout one on my team in training OYO swim workout sheet. It wasn't much yardage but a few sets of 200's on an interval was a good reintroduction to the pool.

The downside is that the closest pool isn't terribly close and it isn't a regulation length. The nearest real pool is all the way in Seattle. This is feeling challenging with my bus commute.

I need to either drive one day per week or figure out how I can pack the minimal essentials to not be a frozen-chlorine smelly-starving Popsicle for the bus ride home.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wedding post #10: We're moving to the east coast!

Yeah right. Yuck!
But I do feel like it'd help our wedding decor significantly.

When I lived in CT I LOVED (loved!) a store called the Christmas Tree Shop. It was weird and awesome. They just sell random stuff. I'm actually not sure what took me inside one the first time but once I saw the world of cheap/cute things, I was hooked. They sell lots of home decor items, door hangers for all occasions (my sister still hangs the Halloween one she got there), cute ceramic and glass dishes and a whole slew of kids personalized items. It is weird and fun.

I was determined to visit the store on my little trip to Mass. Luckily for me there was a store only 3.8miles away. Score! I jumped into a cab to go see my cute, fun, random, cheap stuff. A $23 cab ride later (haha) i was there. And they did not disappoint. There were still adorable things all over. Our house could have been decorate dot the nines for Valentines and prepared for Easter all for under $20. They had a line of Victorian tea pots and serving dishes (would be amazing for a dessert buffet or a bridal shower tea party). They had candles as far as the eye could see, both standard and flameless (more on this later). There were all types of lanterns and assorted baskets.
Sigh, so much stuff that could be potentially very useful. But I didn't know what exactly we'd need and there was no way to get it all home anyway.

So I walked away.
But not without a couple fun things:

I got the most adorable birthday bunting ($2.99), If the colors were right I'd try to get the letters off to use the bunting.


Fairy bags for my little girl attendants ($0.79)



Personalized barrettes for my flower girl ($2.99)



Other random assorted stuff (namely musical cards)

(all that plus a $23 cab ride)
Their logo...



Why yes, I DO!

When I was done there I decided I could manage the T to get home (my old Roomie will probably look back fondly at this) by taking the Orange line to the red line and getting off near MIT.



Took me WAY too long to find the T station (Sullivan Station). Like, an hour and i think I walked 2miles or so. But once on the train I was all good.

So, east coast here we come Captain!

(YEAH RIGHT, YUCK!)

I Cheated on My Treadmill

I was not the most disciplined when it came to eating on this business trip but I am proud of myself for activity.

I shredded every day I was there AND I ran on Tuesday night. There was an intermittent sheet of ice and/or 3 feet of snow piled on the sidewalks (not to mention we worked all of the daylight hours and the central district in Cambridge is semi-sketchy) so running outside didn’t happen. Instead I used the treadmills in the gym.


WOW

What a difference. The machine was so sturdy and solid and QUIET. I don’t think I love my treadmill any less but I certainly felt the difference. And I realize that my machine only has one (maybe two ;) ) users whereas gym TM’s have to deal with much more traffic. Mine has been an amazing addition to my life and I appreciate it…but WHOA was that hotel one sturdy. I just hope my TM doesn’t find out that I was running around behind its back.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

This zone is for passenger loading of face

I have a weird issue with thinking that airports are calorie free zones. Not sure why that is. Ideas:
May be simply that I'm excited to see some old favorite brands that we don't have where I live now.



May be that I just need a drink to fight airport dehydration and just lack willpower.

Either way, I just had a bagel thin at what is really 4am my time.

And it wasn't even yummy. Thus possibly ruining my appetite for munchkins when I get to beantown (see idea #1 above)

In other news, I am at 20miles this week, without a Sunday run yet.

Time to potty and brush before my next flight.
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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Wedding post #9: Go-go Wedding Glo-site


So we’ve officially signed up for our glosite (www.glosite.com/). It is an electronic event organizer with digital wedding stationary. I first saw this on apracticalwedding.com and was immediately in love with how modern and smart (and well suited to my ineptitude in paper crafting) this approach is. I love it. Mainly cause invitations aren’t something that I care too much about. I have looked and looked and there isn’t anything that grabs me. Plus I have a deep seeded editor fear; once you print something and send it along, that is locked. I love the flexibility of xml (M, correct me if that isn’t the appropriate term). I am excited to try to make it an interactive site and get guests info and input.




I am having the same issue on Glo that I have in the real world though. I am not finding a template that works for me. So we’re setting out to design a pretty pretty special one.

I hope people find it useful and that we will actually make sprucing it up a wedding priority. It is gonna be sweet! We get to ask our guests questions and get more real time info. Hopefully it doesn’t blow too many minds that there is no “Formal Invite to Follow.” Well, no, there will be a formal invite…just electronic. Hopefully that will blow people’s minds, for the better.

A poem

Run then shred
Shred then run
Doesn't matter cause neither is fun.


I am on day 2 of February's 30 day (er, 28?) shred. This time I'm thinking to alternate levels every day to switch thing up.

I ran 9miles pretty fast on Sunday. Then felt horribly sick to my stomach for ~1hr. It is pretty frustrating really. I had been planning to write a post titled "I Ain't Got It" about how my body has decided to violently reject long runs. But that was before I wrote the literary gem above. Plus I am feeling less dramatic about it 4days later.

Shredding on the road is my next challenge. No one weighed in on whether I could check handweights without issue.


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