It's a love story, baby just say yes...

So I have gone out walking/running 6 of the last 10 days and am feeling really good about it. I am making some progress in being able to run more. Between Sunday's run and Tuesday's run I shaved a whole minute off my mile time by running just a little bit more on each lap. It was really amazing and uplifting. Today's run wasn't quite so good but better than Sunday's. It's the little progressions that help make this more fun to do. Tuesday was also the first time that I let Stephen come with me. He didn't run with me, but he was there. I had been too embarrassed and self-concious to let him see me out there doing something that I'm not particularly good at. Plus, considering he has run competitively in the past, trying to run in front of or with him was daunting for me. But, it's a start, right? It meant a lot to have him there and to work on getting over some of my insecurities. He's been supportive the entire time and I am so lucky to have a fiance who cares so much. He's awesome. And it was so nice to run up to him on the basketball court and have that warm hug to collapse into.

So, my new totals are:
Since Restart: 12.48 miles
Since April: 106.80


Wedding Notes:

-Engagement pictures are a week from Saturday. I'm praying that global warming will hit Colorado so I don't die of hypothermia.
-I neglected to mention in my last wedding post that I have made an alterations appointment for January 9th. Yay more progress.
- My shoes are scheduled to arrive next week!!

I purchased an iPhone on Tuesday night with the help of Stephen and Mike. It's pretty much the coolest toy ever!! It also gives me the ability to track my fantasy football team on the go (like I need that...) and I love that. Sundays are saved!! I can do other things and still obsess about my team!!

On Running...

Nike was nice enough to give me the above certificate for (finally) going over 100 miles since I started using my Nike+ Sensor. It took 43 runs to get there, but I made it. Today was a 2.03 mile run (my 44th total). The park I run at is just beautiful right now. The trees (and there are many of them) are starting to change colors so it's this beautiful symphony of green, red, orange, and yellow. Plus, running there around 5pm means the light comes beautifully through the trees when I run the back stretch and I wish I had my camera at the ready. Running and taking pictures at the same time could prove to be impossible. I really enjoy running there more than anywhere else.

I realized that I didn't really set my running parameters at the start of this blog. I do not intend to run every day (at least not yet, maybe one day!). I plan to go every other day, if possible. My poor legs need that day of rest. I am still alternating walking and running, though I hope that as my endurance increases, I can run the whole time.

The most important thing though, is that I am not running for the purpose of losing weight. If I do, that's a great side effect, but obsessively tracking minor weight fluctuations has been part of the reason this didn't work before. The last time that I did this, I was also counting calories ( eating 1300 or less each day, per the recommendation of Livestrong.com for losing 1.5 lbs. a week) every day. When you are tracking your eating and exercising and not losing ANYTHING, it is very discouraging. Stephen told me that I needed to give it more time, but those who know me know I'm not a patient person at times. So, despite the fact that my Wii Fit so lovingly tells me that I'm overweight (Stephen and I did Wii Fit yesterday and my abs hate me today...jackknives are my friend and enemy in one), I'm going to do this to feel better. To feel healthier. To look healthier maybe, but not to get to a goal weight. Or a goal pant size. I think this is a much better way for me to do this.

Nike Running has challenges that you can take part in to make the process more fun and have some friendly competition. I'm not too competitive, so I joined one today called Across America. It tracks your total distance and plots where you are based on the cross country run done by Paul Staso in 2006. It goes from Oregon to Delaware. 3,260 miles in all. So, at my point I have just crossed over from Oregon to Washington. It started at Elsie, Oregon and I crossed over just past Portland. Here's the route: Run Across America. It took him only 18 weeks. It will most likely take me a few years, but it would be amazing to finish!

If anyone has song suggestions for running, let me know!

New Totals:
Since Restart: 8.32 miles
Since April: 102.63 miles

Wedding Party

As an addendum to the last post, here's our wedding party:

Sandi Ady, maid of honor

Dan Rabon, best man

Jen Mumaw, bridesmaid

Brandon Atherton, groomsman

Nikki Glass, bridesmaid

Josh Hayes, groomsman

Jen Matlock, bridesmaid

Chris Ady, groomsman

Ashleigh McCabe, bridesmaid

Chris Padilla, groomsman

Rebekah Rabon, bridesmaid

Matthew Rabon, groomsman

Despite the fact that 4 out of 6 of my bridesmaids are married (and one of the others will be very soon), I really really don't like the term matron. It makes people sound like they are old, lonely, and own 30 cats. So, no offense to their husbands, but they are maids for the day :) I like my girls too much to make them sound old.

And of course, the cutest unofficial bridal party member ever: SLADE!

My Big Fat Mexican Wedding Post

Okay, okay, so this post has very little to do with my being Mexican but I'm not Greek, so I had to improvise. I have created a timeline with pictures to show the progression of the wedding planning process. In making my timeline, I realized that we have been very industrious. Without further ado, here it is:

August 22: Engagement!! Best day ever! The picture to the left is the ring and the Facebook mobile upload that started it all! How my phone didn't explode that night, I have yet to discover. It went off almost non-stop for 4 hours. I was so ridiculously happy that day and have amazing friends and family who dropped everything to celebrate with us.

August 23: My dad, brother, Ash, and Slade came up to have an engagement lunch with us. Dad brought my mom's wedding dress up from Victorville with him. We unpacked it and saw that it was amazingly preserved 28 (almost) years later. I decided if possible, I'd like to use my mom's veil. Well, once it's updated a bit.

September 4: Engagement party with Gram and Grandpa Tom

September 5: Bought my wedding dress!! Amazing day with amazing friends. Sorry, no pictures. Stephen sees this :)

September 13: Stephen, Mom, and I toured the Historic Hotel Woodland as a possible venue. Very pretty, food looked great.

September 19: Mom, Dad, and I toured the Chateau. It was GORGEOUS. I fell in love with the place. Stephen wasn't able to go because of work, but he told me that he'd know by my reaction that it was the place. Mom and I cried in the car when we went to leave because we both knew this was it. I knew I am going to walk down that aisle and marry Stephen. It's SO gorgeous there. And the people were friendly and very helpful and the lake is less than 5 minutes away and the whole atmosphere is just lovely.

September 22: Bridesmaid dress shopping with 5 out of 6 bridesmaids (Rebekah is in Colorado, so it's a little harder for her to come). Two of the girls ordered their dresses and the others have good ideas of what they want to get. Very successful trip.

September 24: Dad signed the contract and paid the deposit for the Chateau. It's officially ours on our wedding date: April 18, 2010. I also made us a wedding website this day. Our Wedding Website

September 25: Stephen and his mom went to meet with my dream photographer Charlotte Geary. I am so lucky to have a fiance who loves me so much that he works hard to see that I get what I really want, even if I've kind of given up on it. She's AMAZING. I've been following her work online longer than I've known Stephen and have always wanted her to take my wedding pictures. I figured between the cost of photos and travel expenses it'd be impossible, but Stephen always takes care of me and we're going to make it happen.

September 30: Due to the amazing generosity of my Aunt Lori and Uncle Bill, Stephen and I booked the lodging for our honeymoon. They gave us a week for a wedding present at the condo of our choice through their timeshare company. We'll be honeymooning in Kauai :) We're both very excited to go somewhere beautiful and tropical and relaxing. And for a whole week!! How lucky are we?

October 1: Signed the contract with Charlotte Geary and paid the retainer fee. Our wedding pictures are officially going to be the most amazing ever.

October 2: Stephen and I take a trip to Incline Village. He finally gets to see the Chateau in person and he loves it too. We also got our marriage license while we were there (!!!!!), researched some beachfront picture places, checked out where we plan to stay our wedding night, and met a florist. On the way home, we stopped in Roseville at Shane Co. and selected our wedding bands. They're on layaway :)

October 5: Mom and I went on the hunt for our cake topper. Operation Cake Topper was a success. Stephen got off work and we quickly got down to business building it :)

October 9: Stephen and I registered at Target. It was lots of fun. Mom was at Women's Retreat with church and bought me a hair comb to attach my (her) veil to. I gave it to Carol (who works with me and is awesome and crafty) the following Monday to take it off the Juliet cap Mom used and attach it to the comb Mom bought.

October 17: Stephen and I went to Men's Wearhouse and picked out the tuxes for the guys and set up our group account. The tux style is two button notch lapel. They'll be wearing black of course. The vests will be different, though and they will all have normal ties, not bowties. The groomsmen will have apple vests and ties. Stephen will have a white vest and black tie. The fathers will have a dark shade of silver vests and ties. We'll see what we can find for Slade, the unofficial member of the wedding party. He'll no doubt be up there, he just doesn't have an official job besides being ridiculously cute. Baby tuxes are pretty much adorable no matter what colors they are.

We also had a very busy ordering day that day! We ordered our toasting flutes and cake servers, my shoes, my slip, favor tags, and a sample of the invitation we're thinking of getting. We have since received the flutes, servers, and favor tags.

The toasting flutes say "Mr." on one and "Mrs." on the other in between the bands. The cake cutter and server say "Mr. and Mrs." down the handles. The shoes say MrsRabon on the red stripe :) I love them.

October 18: Mom, Ash, and I went shopping for her mother of the bride dress. She ordered it. She looks amazing in it and is sooooo cute. I love it!! And she loves it. Which is really important.

Other than that, we asked all of the members of our bridal party during this time. We also have an appointment with Charlotte for engagement portraits on November 7th at Garden of the Gods. I'm really excited for that.

There is breakfast calling my name (thanks Mom!) so I'll make a wedding party post sometime in the near future. This took me a very long time. Getting the html right was somewhat annoying.

As a side note, I did a 2.03 mile run yesterday. This makes my totals:
Since Restart: 6.29 miles
Since April 10: 100.58 miles

First Post

So I decided yesterday to create a blog to track a few things in my life:

the wedding planning process and my attempt to be in shape.

I suspect it will slowly become more than that as I have a tendency toward endless rambling, but it's a starting point.

I feel that we've made great strides in wedding planning in the two months (as of today) that we've been engaged. The next post will be a timeline and picture post of what we have accomplished/decided/received. I hope that by blogging I will be able to keep all of our loved ones in the know as well as get some ideas or input from people. Plus it will be fun to look back on later :)

The getting in shape thing... well that's a little trickier. I'm lazy by nature. I'm not one of those people who just loves to work out and has no motivation problems. I have LOTS of motivation problems. I get easily distracted and easily discouraged. If I have a better offer (such as spending time with Stephen or my family or friends), the work out is cancelled. I started running earlier this year. It was the end of March and then on April 10 (I believe, it was Good Friday) I tried out my cool Nike+ Ipod sensor. It was love... well puppy love. The fleeting kind. I like a good toy. I ran fairly diligently through July 24. And then I stopped. I can't recall why exactly (I took a week off once because my knees hurt, but that was earlier) but it just ended. The first week I no doubt made excuses (my knees hurt, I'm tired, allergies, it's too hot, etc.), but it quickly turned into quitting. And it was easy for me to do. They say it takes 21 days to make a habit (or something like that) but that sure didn't work for me.

I'm disappointed in myself to know how I might have actually been somewhat good at this thing if I hadn't taken a 3 month hiatus. I might actually be able to run the whole distance (I trade off walking and running). I might have been ready for a 5k. But alas, I did take the hiatus and now, I'm trying to bring running back into my life.

I ran for the first time since July 24 yesterday. I tried to the day before but was having a wardrobe malfunction so I walked instead. Note to self: make sure pants have a drawstring before purchasing. It wasn't my best time and I certainly couldn't go as far as I once could, but it's a start...right? Stephen is amazing and encourages me so much- he even puts stars on my calendar the days that I run. I'm so lucky to have him. And lucky he loves me even though I'm lazy and whine about my sore legs the next day.

Here's to a new start!

This will appear on the bottom of most posts...or at least the running ones- I have yet to decide.

Total distance run/walked since I restarted: 4.25 miles

Total since April 10: 98.54 miles