A license to wed

On Monday we did the one absolute must in wedding planning.

Got our marriage license!

Posing for a shot outside the building.


Oops, wrong building.
We corrected course and found it.


Pic in front of the real building.


Getting closer!


The state of WA had very little interest in us as a couple beyond the $64 (cash).



After intense paper work which required us to remember our address and birthday. We were licensed bridegrooms.


We hate sitting on the license so we're moving the wedding up.


Not even! Much to do before 7/22 but can't wait for it to come.

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More flowers

Ok, since I'm sharing my floral attempts here is what I'd did with some managers special roses I got 2 weekends ago.

I didn't have very many so it was small. Cute but needs some filler/volume. The roses are so very structured, especially compared to peonies.

ETA: I made this one before work one morning :)










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Never sorry when you go #722

I was really feeling like finishing up an awesome weekend with my sweetie by sitting around talking and working on wedding projects.

But I am limping a half M in 3weeks and walking a strong 60mi in November

So I went for a gallo-walk and got in 8.5! Shouldve probably been more but I am SO glad I went for it.

Now back to the original plan


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Flower followup

I forgot to show off my leftovers



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Wedding Post #15: The time has come…Flower practice

It has finally started to get a touch nicer (read: it doesn’t rain constantly, it lures you into a sense of excitement with a day or two of sun before pouring on you). With this slight shift in temperature and with the season I have been noticing peonies and sweet peas popping up in the farmer’s markets so I knew it was time to start practicing making my bouquet.
I had held off until now because there were mostly tulips out there which, while lovely, probably won’t be in season and seem much more fragile than I, joe-blow non-florist, can handle. Peonies are all over the blog world and people are gaga over them. Brides go to extreme measure and cost to include them in their wedding décor.


I was lucky to see booth after booth full of pink, white and magenta peonies for a STEAL.



They are a great early summer flower and make me excited for what is to come but peonies aren’t the be-all-end-all for me. They can start to look unruly and timing them just right for opening seems a bit tricky.
I had ~$46 cash with me so I set out to get a good amount of flowers to test bouquets and bouts. I brought a canvas grocery bag to carry my loot (I was taking the bus home) but only $15 in my bag was totally full!






When I got home I stripped all leaves from the stems and separated out my loot by flower type.
I got a ton!


I soaked them in a bit of flower food for a few hours (while we went ring shopping for M) before starting in on my work.
I followed a tutorial I found on apracticalwedding.com and tried building my bouquet while holding it to myself and using a mirror now and again to watch the look.



I think it turned out great! It is maybe a bit lopsided but I let the shape be determined by the peonies rather than trying to force a shape. I think a tad more tweaking could happen but so far I am pleased.



Wrapping the ribbon is not too tough but securing it is trickier and I’ll need to figure that one out.

Taking a picture is hard though

The Bouts were up next. I kind of thought these would be easy but they turned out kind of meh. I did like them when I pinned them to M’s jacket. They’ll be made from whatever flowers are available so all of the above is subject to change.



I think there’ll be a bit more practice but I am totally good with the plan for now.

Gallo-WIN!

I think I am liking the whole run walk thing.

Yesterday I managed to do 9.75miles and felt really great.

I did 2' walking 3' running for 10 intervals (keeping an 11' pace which is not that much slower than my typical long run pace) and by that point I was nearly five miles out!

I turned around then and switched to 3'walk and 2' run for the way back.

It wasn't the fastest but it was further than my untrained booty could've done and I really felt good.
I also think it is helping me feel and realize the difference between walking and running which is bigger than I once thought.
is it possible to need different shoes for walking than for running? I don't have a history of heel discomfort in my shoes but all this walking feels so hard on my feet and heels especially.

On my (stupidly long) to do list is going to a shoe shop to get pro advice.


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Wedding post #14: new invite

Reading some of the elaborate invitations that people on weddingbee come up with I have decided we’re sending out these:

Picture it-

A shoe box sized box arrives at your door. It is insulated (while remaining attractive of course) and warm inside. At the bottom of the box is a small nest with two hand painted eggs. The eggshells have a date delicately painted on them. The eggs are gingerly sitting above a delicate vintage handkerchief hand embroidered with all the info typically on a formal invitation (you are cordially invited, etc. etc.). Before you can unwrap that to read it in full the two eggs hatch into baby white doves which are bred to specifically take flight on the date that had been painted on the eggs. Our wedding date.


The scary thing is that if my father was Russian Czar centuries ago we may have tried to make this happen and the scarier thing is that David Tuttera might try today.

Come my loyal readers, give me your most ridiculously out there invite idea

Redeeming quality of cats

And yes, that is singular on purpose

The redeeming quality that these cats have is that they really help with my cool aunt status. The boys LOVE them. It is hilarious and adorable.

Four year old nephew Cuckoo Head is staying here tonight. It is his first time spending the night but his big brother has been coming to my house since I lived in Seattle and usually gets shown an amazing time. I don’t really have hard plans for Cuckoo, we went to a super cool playground before coming to the house. When we got here this evening he was so excited to see the cats. Following them around (as they tried to walk away) telling them his name in a singsong voice. Asking over and over again who was who. Repeatedly checking on their whereabouts. He was so happy to give them their treats and took the advice that he should guard his pizza from them to heart. Informing me he knows pizza is not good for cats.

They’ve been attempting to make themselves scarce and he is being pretty good at respecting that.

M worries that they’ll gauge his eyes out and he’ll spend the remainder of our lives together being blamed for our blind nephew. I’m sure he’d be feeling more reserved about encouraging (really facilitating) their interaction but I’m willing to risk permanently maiming my loved one because a) the odds are very low b) he loves it SO MUCH (and c) the biggest reason is that I am supervising and he is being gentle and calm).

Their dad is deathly allergic to cats so I know it will remain a new and crazy experience for awhile and I plan to savor it.

In all other areas…let’s just say the cats have made me see where the wicked stepmother character comes from/

Protect your investment

I just observed my colleague, a PhD in organic chemistry, who is basically paid for his ability to ID the endo and exo products in a Diels Alder reaction, who is supposed to know how to synthesize macromolecules from teeny tiny building blocks, basically a person who has invested a ton into nothing more than his brain power
RIDING HOME ON HIS BIKE WITHOUT A HELMET.

What the heck!
Just seems so lame…his brain is his livelihood (not that it isn’t for everyone but come on).




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It was a miracle!

So, I went for a walk in preparation for the ridiculous 3-day. I was planning on Galloway-ing it since I technically have a half-marathon to deal with in July and am thinking that Galloway may be the way to tackle it while still prepping for the 3-day. But as I was leaving M agreed to walk with me so I went out for a 2mile run and came back to pick him up. We walked down new streets (to us) in Redmond and came across a stretch of the Powerline Trail which cuts through Redmond from the Lake Sammamish Trail. My soft goal was a 4 mile walk but I am cruel and didn’t tell M this but was silently tracking our distance on my Garmin which was in the pocket it is often in on my runs.



We walked for a while and when I checked my Garmin we’d done 2.5 miles. Soon after that we headed back. We chatted and tried to figure out our city’s geography. We’d just about reached our main street when I realized that my Garmin was gone. Ugh. By this point we were kind of ready to be back and start our day…and I wanted to eat breakfast. But we trudged back and I went up and down the trail, further than we’d walked even in case someone had picked it up and set it down going the other direction. But no luck.

M and I had separated and I called him to tell him the sad news (and beg a ride) when a runner came up behind me. I asked her if she’d seen it and she said YES! So I picked up my pace and ran to where she saw it but it was gone.

This is pretty much where I thought the story would end.

But NO! Later that evening we got a knock on the door. A couple in workout gear asked if I was about 29 years old. I admitted to that and they pulled out my long lost (it had been ~7hours by then) Garmin! Yay! I hugged them and ushered them in and we lavished them with gifts and money. Not really, I was sort of dumbfounded and just kept thanking them and saying wow and smiling until they must have felt uncomfortable and walked away.

So not only have I gotten my Garmin back, I also got a little boost in faith in humanity. Most people are nice so I guess it makes putting up with the rest worth it and I am going to try to be a little nicer myself.

Plus, retracing my steps probably bumped me up to 8-10miles that day. 60 miles here I come (slowly, and probably with blisters)!



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So excited (but I can hide it)

I am super excited about the wedding today. Not sure why particularly. Maybe cause I feel like we got some stuff done this weekend. I think though that it is the prospect of seeing all sorts of people from all sorts of parts of my life.

Yay

We also BBQ pizza this weekend!






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FINALLY going (going) back to (back to) Cali (Cali)

It had been almost 2 years since I visited CA to see friends and family! Crazy and ridiculous.

My mom and I went for our as-close-family-as-it-gets friend's 6th grade graduation. This little girl is very special to me because her mom was awesome to me especially while in college. Her baby was born in 99 the year I started college and they'd pick me up on the weekends and hang out. They were such a great part of my life and babyV grew up to be as fun as she was adorable.

My mom (who babyV is named after) came too! She has been doing terribly healthwise so I was worried but it turned out great.

I also got to meet babyJ, the new addition to the Roomie's family. He is so stinkin cute and she is even cuter (if possible) as a mommy. I loved getting to chat in person after WAY too long.

So this weekend


We played games (this is babyJ, he was born after I moved away:( )


Swam


I took the kids to school


Visited with babyJ and the Roomie (not pictured)

Went for a walk (not pictured)

Went to graduation


Reminisced about when she was this size



All in all a great long weekend.


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