Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday, we celebrated.
8 years.


Lots of love
Lots of laughs, fun, and excitement.
Travels to new places.
Time with friends and family.


Tough times, good times.
Over the last 8 years, we've seen it all.


A little over 3 years ago I said yes....

And on August 24, 2013 we will finally get hitched!


Dear Kevin,
You are my best friend, and I love you to pieces. Not only have you been there to support me through grad school, my doctorate, and more school, you've supported me with my work, and the work I want to do. You've been supportive (mostly) of my healthier lifestyle by eating everything I cook for you, and cheering me on to the finish at every race, capturing it all on camera, and making me feel like a superhero. 8 years may seem like a long time, but I can't wait to spend many many more years ahead in life's adventures with you!

Love you Forever
Happy Anniversary!










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Jillian Progress!

How are my Jillian workouts going?


So far so good!
I've done awesome at getting the strength workouts in (They're getting wicked hard)! The cardio workouts, I'm not loving. I've been either skipping or throwing in some running.

Over the last month I've lost...
7 pounds 
3 inches from upper chest
4 inches from bust
2 inches from midriff
0 inches from upper arm
3 inches from waist
.5 inches from upper hip
2 inches from lower hip
.5 inches from upper thigh
1.5 inches from mid thigh
.5  inches from calf

Overall = 17 inches lost!

So far I'm loving the program, but need to be better on my nutrition. I can definitely tell how much my shape is changing for the better. We had our engagement photos taken last week & they came out amazing! I cannot wait to get my CD of pictures to share with you!

I also bought a very important dress to wear in August!


Things are moving along, but I still haven't picked any new races yet!

Have you tried Jillian's Body Revolution?
Do you think 17 inches the first month is a good start?
Who can't wait to see my engagement pics?




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What's keeping me busy?

Things have been busy for 3 reasons....

First reason is....

I have schoolwork to do!
As many of you know, I am a Physical Therapist at an acute rehabilitation hospital. I also love working with students and teaching physical therapy. I serve as adjunct faculty at my alma matter and take usually 2 students a year to do their full time clinical internships, as well as organizing an integrated clinical for first year PT students.
I love teaching.
As a bonus for taking students from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, I get credit vouchers. I have decided to use those vouchers to work toward an advanced certificate in teaching! So I have been spending many nights reading, researching, and writing for school.

Second Reason...
I am on a training hiatus.

I have no races currently scheduled (although there are 70.3 thoughts in my head). I have decided to take 3 months off from formal race training (which I haven't done in over 3 years), to work on really losing the weight I need to. I have tried so many times, but race training tends to leave me exhausted and stressed, and hungry! So for 3 months, I have a new best friend.


Remember when I was back/forth between Jillian and P90X?
Jillian won.
Can we say love it?
I have lost almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks.
I feel lighter, thinner, more energized, and healthy.
The diet is the key part, and I love only doing 30 minute workouts.
My ultimate goal will be adding in a few running days, but that is on hold until my big toe heals from the nasty catamaran injury on vacation.
Not running or training, makes me feel like I can't make posts, but I will just have to make them more weight loss & healthy living centered.

Third Reason....

Kevin & I are getting Married!
We have set our date for August 24, 2013!
I have been busy putting things together, getting organized, and planning planning planning. This is the reason I won't be able to have a repeat at Pumpkinman 70.3, but am considering the Patriot Half Iron in June 2013.

So now you know what has been keeping me busy on my small hiatus from blogging. Oh that, and an amazing vacation. I'll recap that in another post.

What keeps you busy from blogging?
Would you ever go back to school?
Do you care about reading my weight loss adventures or race training only?





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Weddings & Runs & Baby Showers oh my!

In all this tornado crazziness (and my lack of attention), I missed my 1 year bloggiversary!

Last year on May 26, I started this blog as a way to help me stay on track with healthful eating, and working out. At the time, I was recovering from foot surgery, and miserable at the lack of activity I could engage in. Over the past year, I have been so fortunate to find all of you, my followers! My new support team, who has given me words of advice, encouragement, kicks in the ass, and inspiration to continue my journey. You all helped me become a triathlete, finish 2 half marathons in 2 weeks, and sign up for more races in 1 year, than I had in my entire running career! I've learned about new products, training plans, nutrition, and races to try. 

Thank you for welcoming me to this blogging world, and listening to what I have to say. It means more than you know!!

This weekend?
Packed with activities.
Saturday morning was the Susan G Komen 5K (race report HERE)

Then, I raced home to get ready for my friend Katie & Ian's wedding! It was a 1:30 ceremony, and we were meeting up with a bunch of my coworkers there. Katie looked gorgeous, the ceremony was nice, then we headed to Northampton Brewery for an in between snack & beer since the cocktail hour didn't start until 4:30. Once we got to Hotel Northampton, and to the open bar, I quickly realized that my scheduled long run for sunday may not work out in my favor. We had a blast!

Coworkers at cocktail hour!



The bride looked gorgeous!

After a glass of wine and 2 cosmos, I got a text from Shelley checking in on our morning run. I told her I'd try my best, but it was open bar afterall! A few more cosmos, dinner, another glass of mine, 2 glasses of champagne & endless dancing, we headed home. Kevin gave me an ibuprofen and water before bed, and I fell instantly asleep.

 I woke up early for my 8:30am meet up time with Shelley. I felt ok, not hungover, but just tired. I gulped some gatorade and had breakfast. Thank goodness it was a recovery week, and only 8 miles. Shelley wanted to run in Forest Park again, so I mapped us a route starting in Longmeadow. We got to our start point and... no Garmin! I left it charging at home, grrr! I quickly downloaded the mapmyrun app so we could at least track our mileage.

My stomach, thank god, felt fine. My legs felt heavy. We headed for forest park and were aiming for a new loop. Somehow we ended up on a paved trail, which turned into a wooded trail. This began my first encounter with trail running. We had no idea where we were, we just kept following the trail. Finally we saw a man, and asked him how to get back to Longmeadow. Soon, we saw the paved road that we shouldn't have ventured off, but it was down a very steep hill. Carefully we walked down, trying not to fall, until we hit the pavement. No idea where we were. I had no clue Forest Park was so big!! We found someone else, and asked how we got back to Longmeadow. He directed us toward a different entrance than we came in, but at least we knew where we were. 

We passed some pretty sights, ponds, geese, and gardens. Finally we were out, and already 5 miles in to our run, we headed back to the car, exhausted. 7.2 miles total, only .8 short of our goal.

Back home to shower, then off to a baby shower!
Met up with a few more coworkers to celebrate our friend Michelle's baby girl on the way. I also had to skip out on another baby shower my friend Barbie was having that morning, phew!

Thank goodness I took today off! I've already done some cleaning, laundry, shopping, and am getting ready to go lay by the pool for a bit. Its a gorgeous day here. Did you notice no workout listed? My right foot is feeling a little painful, so I figured I would give it a break. Enjoy the day!









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Snow, snow, stay away!

My Sunday long run? non-existant this week. We got another few inches of snow. Shelley & I bundled up, and headed out. The roads were poorly cleared. We headed out, and Garmin said we were at a 14:00min/mile pace. The roads were filled with ice, snow & slush, and we were nervous. We decided rather than risk an injury by going for our 10 miles, we would go for a short walk, then hit starbucks. We clocked a mile before getting our latte, no breakfast sandwich since we really didn't exert any energy. So disappointing.

On the other hand, I was wicked proud of us! Last year, I would have NEVER attempted to head out with snow on the ground. Any sign of inclement weather kept me inside, probably eating & watching TV. I came home, played the Wii fit for a half hour before getting ready for the rest of my day.

That afternoon I headed to the HUGE bridal show that was being held at the Big E fairgrounds with one of my bridesmaids. Lucky for me, she got married last year and knew exactly what questions to ask. We pretty much were only on the lookout for photographers & limos, since I already have my venu & DJ picked out. We got a bunch of free goodies, entered a ton of raffles, and even won a free cruise to bahamas & key west on Royal Caribbean (our fav)! We only have to pay for cruise port taxes & gratuities! Even though the wedding is about a year & a half away, its exciting to think about the possibilities!

liked this bridesmaid dress too!


Tonight I made a delicious dinner from Self Magazine in Feb 2010


Butternut Squash & Fried Sage Pasta
What you need
8 oz whole wheat penne
1 TBSP olive oil
8-10 sage leaves
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium butternut squash (about 2#), peeled, seeded & cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

How you make it
Cook penne as directed on package
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry sage, turning once until crisp on both sides, about 1 min per side. Transfer to a paper towel.
Add onion and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft & golden, about 3 minutes. Add squash, 3/4 cup water, salt & pepper. Cover & simmer, stirring occasionally, until squash softens, 5-7 min.
Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot & add squash mixture. Stir over low heat, adding water if necessary until pasta is coated. Mix in sage & cheese. enjoy!

We're supposed to get another round of snow tomorrow night. I am crossing my fingers that it won't be much, but I'm sure that it will be. I did skip the gym this morning in favor of some extra sleep, but will definitely hit it up for my run tomorrow. 5 weeks until race day!

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