Please take a number...

It's official...I'm in the race. There's no going back now, buddy! (Well, I guess technically I could just not show up tomorrow and chock my entry fee up to a donation to the American Cancer Society...but I won't - I promise!)

Tonja, The BFF and I all went to pick up our packets together this morning. Somehow, magically, even though our names are not close to each other alphabetically, and we all sent in our registration forms separately, we ended up getting sequential numbers: 1938, 1939, and 1940. I thought that was pretty cool...

See that "R" under my number? That stands for "Runner", and I'm not exactly sure they know how loosely that term should be used in my case, but whatev. I'll go with it.

Also in my 'packet' was this lot of runner swag:

A shampoo/conditioner sample, a travel-sized 30 SPF sunblock that is "Ultra Sweatproof" - thanks, I'll need that -, a travel-sized Dove Lotion, and a packet of PowerBar Carbohydrate Electrolyte Gel in Green Apple flavor - mmmm, yummy! (I'm seriously intrigued by this.) I'm a sucker for free stuff!

After we picked up our packets, we got in my car and took the route of the race course. This, of course, is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, now we know the lay of the land, what to expect, and how much farther we have to go until we reach the finish line. On the other hand, we now know how much farther we have to go until we reach the finish line.

Seriously?! 3.1 miles is a looooooong way, dude! I'm in a wee bit of shock, and it's my fault. My 5k's have been stationary - I've never been outside and mapped that distance, and to tell you the truth, if I had, there's a good chance I would have quit right then and there. But I didn't, and I won't, and tomorrow I'll give this thing everything I've got.

One good thing about this course - it's really pretty. It goes around a lake, past a horse farm, and past another lake before coming back to the starting line. The website says "rolling hills", and I'd say that's fairly accurate. Most of the course is pretty flat, with probably 3-4 long (not tall, but long) hills throughout.

Good thing #2 - this race is for runners and walkers, as I'm pretty sure most 5k's are. For me, this means two things: (1) there will be other people there with me in the back, and (2) there will be people there that I will be faster than! I'm just glad that I (hopefully) won't be the last person across that finish line. I may be the last runner, but if I beat the walkers, I'll be happy. Plus, having people there towards the end will help push me to keep going, to run as much as I can, and to finish faster than somebody.

Good thing #3 - the weather is supposed to be great! 62 degrees, mostly sunny, and only a 10% chance of rain. It doesn't get much better than that!

I'm really excited. I have no idea how I'll do, but at the very least, I'll be able to say I did it. That, to me, is what really counts.

Stats...

Monday: 1400 calories*, t(readmill)5k
Tuesday: 1200 calories, t5k
Wednesday: 3000 calories, sat on fat ass. (Good day all around!)
Thursday: 990 calories, t10k
Friday: 1100 calories so far, Steak & Salad for dinner, t5k
Saturday: Hoping to stay around 1100, t5k in preparation for REAL 5k
Sunday: REAL 5k @ 8am!!!
Monday: Weigh-in, hopefully around 247. (We'll see!)

*all calorie counts are after working out.

Have a great weekend, lovelies! :-)

Can you hear me now?

I may have survived my camping trip, but my phone did not. I guess it decided it was being overworked and it wasn't going to take it anymore. Now it won't turn on, and the Verizon Guys can't fix it.

Fortunately, my New Every 2 comes available on the 11th, so I'm using the in between time to research my next phone. I've got it narrowed down to these four:

The LG Dare:
The LG Versa:

The Blackberry Storm:

And the Samsung Omnia :

Do any of you have any experiences with these phones? Let me know, good or bad. I don't want to be stuck with a sucky phone for the next 2 years!

I hate you.

The guy in the cube right next to me has a crispy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, and he sure is taking his precious time to eat it. The smell has been wafting over to me for about 25 minutes now, and I'm not sure how much longer I can go before I kill him.

Ugh.

"Thank you, for lettin' me, be myself, again..."

("Thank You" by Sly and the Family Stone)

I really appreciate all of the encouraging comments you've left. It's actually really comforting to know that I've got so many people supporting me -

-my amazing husband, who gives me a pat on the back and a kiss when he comes home from school, even though I'm dripping with sweat from my treadmill 5ks...

-The BFF, who is the other pea in my overly-analytical pod, who understands pretty much exactly what I'm feeling and why I'm feeling it (usually without me even having to tell her).

-my blog and BHM buddies, who don't even really "know" me, but still take time out of their days to read what my rambling, crazy mind comes up with, and to leave me words of encouragement when I probably don't deserve them.

My life is good. Thanks for that.

Let's get this show on the road.

The BFF and I have had enough. We've re-committed ourselves to c25k. We're committing ourselves to five 5k's.

You read right.

Five. 5k's.

06/07: "Run For The Prize"
07/04: "4th of July Spectacular"
08/01: "Lady Distance Classic"
09/06: "Cincinnati Zoo Cheetah Run"
10/03: "Reggae Run"

All right. Let's go. I'm ready.

"And I am telling you I'm not going, even though the rough times are showing."

("And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" by Jennifer Hudson).

This is the post that I have been dreading. I know I've needed to tell you all how my diet is going, and I just haven't wanted to. I wont lie to you, so that means I have to tell you that I've been failing, and that's just not something I've wanted to do. If I'm being perfectly honest, I've got to tell you that even though I've been busy, the bigger reason I haven't posted much lately is that I don't want to disappoint you all and tell you that I haven't been working out, eating right, or even attempting to meet any of my goals. And that's exactly what I used to do. That's exactly what got me to 260 pounds, that's exactly what I promised myself, and all of you, that I was not going to do this time. It really hurts to realize that I hadn't really changed. Well, I did change, but I guess it wasn't permanent. It hurts me most to know that some of you read this blog and find me inspiring, and I feel like I have absolutely failed you. I'm used to failing myself, but when it affects other people, that's just unacceptable to me.

I know exactly when it happened, too. It was the week I was supposed to start Week 4 of C25k, and I started this big project at work that had me moving a ton of stuff. Work was kicking my butt, and I was too lazy to make myself work at work, and work at home. It sent me on a downward spiral of laziness. I got out of the habit, and damn it's easy to get out of the habit. Why is this so hard to do? Why is it so easy to get out of the workout habit, and so freaking hard to get out of the laziness habit? I know I need to do it...it would improve so many areas of my life if I were less lazy. It would make my husband's life easier. My MIL would think more highly of me. My house would be a lot cleaner. I would quit feeling so paranoid at work. I would actually be able to say I accomplished things.

And it feels good to be able to say I accomplish things. I'm proud of the ten pounds I've lost so far. It feels great to know that my goal weight is only 50 pounds away now, instead of 60. I feel great when I'm so tired and sweaty after a treadmill 5k that I can barely stand up. I live in the daydreams that one day I'll feel comfortable in a swimsuit. I want these things. I really, really want to be healthy and to feel pretty in my own skin. I want it, but I sure as hell don't want to work for it. Therein lies the rub. Or, maybe Shakespeare will forgive me if I say, "Therein lies the lazy".

I'm disappointed in myself for failing. I'm disappointed in myself for making yet another attempt and not pulling through. I'm disappointed in myself for continuing to drag you along, saying, "This is it. This is the week that I'm going to get back on track. Do you believe me?", and you do. And then I become a liar - I turn myself into a liar. I hate liars.

And I don't blame you if you don't believe me right now when I say that this is it. Again. Is this it for the last time? I want to pull out my Eternal Optimist card and say "Hell yes!", but as eternally optimistic as I may be, I've still got a healthy dose of reality in my world. I'm human. I fail. I have failed, and I will fail. It's all about "Fall seven times, stand up eight". If I have to lose this weight ten pounds in five months at a time, then that's what I've got to do. It's not a race. It's not a competition. It's my life.

I feel like I'm two people - stick with me here - I've got the miserable, lazy, fat Mrs. B. who is just dying to be thin but doesn't want to do anything about it, and I've got the motivated, confident, active, healthy Mrs. B. who's just fighting like hell to get out from under her. The fat me has just plopped all 250 pounds of misery right on top of my skinny, healthy me, and she can't fight back. She's just stuck under there.

Here's the part where it may get too wishy-washy for you, but hear me out. Now, I'm trying to visualize my little, skinny me getting stronger and stronger, and my big, fat, miserable me shrinking away, until one day, healthy me crawls out from under her for good. It's not just food, though, that makes this whole thing hard. Laziness, family, bills, stress, time - all of this stuff just keeps feeding my Fat Me and squishing Skinny Me into the ground. It's a struggle, a fight. A battle between good and evil. Between instant gratification and wallowing in self-pity, and fighting for what's right. The stronger Skinny Me gets, the easier it will be for her to fight back against all those things that are pulling her down.

I know that "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" is about a woman not wanting her man to leave, but listening to it lately has kind of become the story between the two me's. Skinny Me's not going to back down. Not going to give up. Skinny Me's not going anywhere. And Fat Me's gonna love Skinny Me enough to let her get stronger and do her thing.

"Tear down the mountains,

Yell scream and shout,

You can say what you want,

I'm not walking out.

Stop all the rivers,

Push, strike and kill,

I'm not gonna leave you,

There's no way I will.

You're gonna love me."


Get the fuck off my Skinny Me.

"You make me feel like a 'natural' woman..."

("Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin.)

Friday I embarked on my first ever camping trip. You may recall that I was a little apprehensive, since I've never been, and The Hubs is an Eagle Scout. The six of us (The BFF/BF, Tonja & Jason, and The Hubs and I) had a spot at a campground in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio.

(This is just our stuff. Two nights of camping and two people...I had no idea how much stuff we would need!)

The website for the campground had a map showing all the campsites and their locations as compared to the campground's Family Fun Center which was supposedly equipt with mini golf, go karts, and most importantly, shower houses. According to the map, our campsite was easily within walking distance of this area, so the three women in our group were very excited at the prospect of camping with nearby indoor plumbing.

Unfortunately, the map they provided was not a topographic map, and while they may have been a quarter mile apart distance-wise, they didn't mention that we would have to walk up a busy road, then up an 80 degree treacherous gravel incline, and across a field to get to the showers and toilets. Needless to say, that wasn't going to happen.

The boys obviously didn't care about this, because well...they're boys. They don't have a problem peeing anywhere they like. The BFF is a self-admitted germaphobe, and was having difficulty deciding where she wanted to 'go', Tonja 'manned' up and took the squatting route, and I braved these:

See them, way back there, behind Jason? My two best friends, the disgusting Porta Potties. The one on the left had hand sanitizer, but no toilet paper (which was fine because I brought my own) but it also had some dried mud, or dirt, or... whatever... on the seat. The one on the right had tp, but no sanitizer, and had a resident wasp. I chose to utilize the one on the right for the weekend. Damn skippy, I'd rather face a wasp than something questionable on the seat. Not that I actually sat anyway, but whatever. The tag inside said they had been "serviced" on the15th, but I'm pretty sure "servicing" them means just checking to see if they still exist.

Here's our campsite, right on the Hocking River:

We were fortunate enough to have this section all to ourselves, even though there were three or four other campsites in this area. Every time a car would drive by, we would all watch to see if it was stopping, and luckily, they never did. Saturday night, however, a couple came and set up camp in the site closest to the Porta Potties. (You can see their orange tent in the Porta Potty picture). I bet they weren't too thrilled with their spot, especially when I had the overwhelming urge to pee at 2:30 Sunday morning. Oh well, sorry about your luck. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

The Hubs and the boys went looking for firewood for us, and The Hubs came back and said, "Geez, someone must have been afraid of vampires or something - look at this stake!" We all know my love of puns, so I couldn't resist making him take pictures with various "stakes" through the heart for the rest of the trip.

You've got the classic wooden stake:

The modern tent stake:

And the weapon choice of Foodies everywhere, the dinner steak:

Why does this man put up with my shenanigans? I would have divorced me by now, for sure.

Saturday, we had signed up for a canoe/kayak trip. I guess I knew in my head that it was an 8 mile trip, but I didn't realize just exactly how long 8 miles really is. If I had thought about that before hand, I might have paddled a little bit harder on the first half.

Here's the crew at a little docking spot right after the launch.

Here's Tonja and Jason floating down the river together:
It was the perfect day for the trip - not too hot, sunny, and lots of big shade trees on the banks.

Tonja takes advantage of the sun:

And, like I said, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I guess what they say about women going to the bathroom in groups is true even when camping:

The river trip was really fun until we got to the part with the Ohio University drunks screaming and drinking their Nati Light all over the river. We paddled as fast as we could to get through them, but I swear, there were probably 20-30 separate canoes filled to the brim with drunken college kids. Kinda ruined the peaceful float down the river that we had been enjoying up until that point. Overall, it was a really good time, and the long-ass 8 miles was really worth the money we paid.

Saturday night, we got back to camp and had dinner. We were just about to hit the s'mores when The BFF's BF got a call from his mom freaking out because we were about to get some bad weather our way. I had been doing okay so far with the whole nature/dirt/bugs/sleeping outside thing, but hearing the word "tornado" scared the bejezus out of me. We all started packing as much stuff into the cars as we could in case we had to get out in a hurry. I've never packed so fast in my life, dude. In the end, I had everything in the car but the tent, air mattress/cot and sleeping bags. I was ready to go.

I told The Hubs that if it started to rain, we were getting in that car. Sure enough, it started to rain, so I folded up my chair (with the Diet Coke still in the armrest, which The Hubs was thrilled about, let me tell you) and high tailed it to the car. Once there, I cried and cried and cried. So I'm a wuss, sue me. The Hubs got really frustrated with me freaking out, but my whole point was that he's a freaking Eagle Scout. He's done this a thousand times, and in weather a thousand times worse. This was the very first time I had ever slept outside. We didn't even do backyard camping when I was a kid. Of course I was freaked out!

We called his mom, and she checked weather.com for us. She told us that it didn't look too bad, just some rain and stuff that should be over by midnight. We ended up unpacking the things we needed for the night and staying there. The Hubs and I went to bed a little after midnight, and that's when the downpour started. It was supposed to be over by then! It only took about twenty minutes for The Hubs to start feeling drops on his sleeping bag. Our brand new tent had a leaky seam, right across the section of the tent where his body was. There wasn't really any room for him to move around, so that awesome Eagle Scout of a man spent the night with water dripping on his body. And then I woke up at 2:30 am with the uncontrollable need to pee, so I woke him up and he walked with me to the Porta Potties and checked the inside for bugs for me.

Bless that man. I certainly do love him.

We got up Sunday morning, packed the tents up, and decided to hit up Cracker Barrel for lunch. The Hubs always plays the little wooden game at the table, and this time, he conquered it on his first try!

Overall, I'd say my first camping trip was 85% fun. I will definitely do it again, I'd just like to wait for a weekend with no chance of rain. Cooking hotdogs and s'mores over the campfire was definitely one of the fun parts, as was the canoe trip. Once we get a new tent, I'll be excited to go again.

And where have you been, young lady?!

Sorry, Mom...

I've been out of it, and I apologize. On the downside, that means you haven't been graced with any hilarious, witty and entertaining posts from yours truly. (Apparently I think pretty highly of myself.) On the upside, now you get to be bombarded with them! Yay!

Without further ado, Post #1, or "What I've Been Doing for the Past Twelve Days," by Mrs. B.

When we last spoke, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of the warp in the space/time continuum that made my shoes perfectly comfortable in-store, and unbearable at home. Yes, groundbreaking, earth-shattering news, I know.

Friday:

I ended up wearing those shoes (with a back up pair, of course) to work and was surprised to find that I made it through most of the day with only two band-aids. And as all of you ladies know, you can determine the comfort level of a pair of shoes by how many band-aids you have to wrap your feet in to keep the blistering/rubbing at bay. In the end, I decided to pack them to wear to the wedding with no back up plan. You'll find out how that went in a little bit.

I put on my back up shoes when I left work because I had to hurry to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy whatever I could scrounge together from my cousins' registry on the night before the wedding. Ugh. Yes, I know, it's my fault for waiting until the last minute, but I couldn't help it. I walked in, armed with a handful of BBB coupons, printed off their registry, and started rummaging through my choices. Of course, the $300 Kitchen Aid Mixer and the $300 vacuum were still available, but I could only afford about $30 worth of gifts. Guess what they got. Go ahead, I dare you. Give up?

They got spoons. I got them all of the random, individual serving spoons on their registry and called it a day. It's quite possibly the worst/strangest gift I've ever given someone, but in my defense, they registered for them, so they must have wanted them. And those things are freaking expensive individually - between $7-$10 a piece! (That's expensive to me, but maybe I'm cheap...) I'm sure they'll think of us every time they have a need to scoop, dip or stir.

Anyway, I bought their gift, went back to the house, packed for the wedding and the weekend, and we went up to The Hubs' parents' house. We finally got to hang out with The Kids, and had a really fun night at the bar with them. I drank a lot, but never really got drunk. (Which seems to be how it goes since the gallbladder left town...) At any rate, we got to hang with them, which should buy us another month or two of crazy schedules that interrupt friend time. Bah, I hate that!

Saturday (we're up to May 23rd in my 12 days of abandonment):

The Hubs and his dad changed some belts on my car and then it was off to the wedding. But first, we had to make a stop at the prom:

The MIL wouldn't let us leave until she got pictures of us in the front yard. It's endearing, I guess. The Hubs went to his senior prom with a bunch of friends, so she never got to take these pictures 10 years ago. It's a little fun to indulge her. (Btw, I'm wearing the shoes in this pic.)

The wedding was nice. It was the first time I had ever been to a Catholic wedding with a full mass. Other than the awkwardness of the whole stand up, sit down routine, and not knowing the songs or the responses, it was very nice.

Here's the happy couple, my Step Cousin, Steve, and his new wife, Jen.

I'm sure they'll look just as happy when they open up their spoons...

The reception was good. I had the most amazing roast beef I think I've ever had, and I did The Booty Call, The Cha Cha Slide, and The Cupid Shuffle - in my shoes! They actually ended up being one of the more comfortable pairs of high heels I own. I'm really glad I gave them a second chance.

Sunday:
I went out to lunch with The BFF and Tonja, and then we had shopping to do! We hit up Wal Mart and Target for camping supplies, and then I went home and did grocery shopping with The Hubs. Lots of shopping that day, nothing really exciting to report.

Monday:
Memorial Day. Instead of going out to my Mom's house, we lounged around all day and enjoyed the first day in a very long time that we had absolutely nowhere to be. The Hubs did homework most of the day, and I enjoyed an all-day John & Kate Plus 8 marathon while cleaning out my closet. (Yes, it took almost a whole day to clean out my closet. Don't judge.) I filled 3 trash bags full of Goodwill goodness, and sorted and organized all my junk. What a fun and exciting life I lead.

Wednesday:
I went with MFN andThe BFF to see "A Chorus Line". Can you say "booo-riiing"? OMG, I thought it was never going to end! Luckily, I'm not crazy, and MFN and The BFF felt the same way. Maybe we're Theater Snobs, maybe we've been spoiled by Les Mis and the other amazing shows we've seen, but man, was that a rough two hours to sit through. Oh well, at least I can add another show to my list.

I got the 2009-2010 schedule the other day, and I'm pretty much going to have to get a second job to pay for my theater habit. "Mama Mia!", "The Color Purple", "Rent", "Chicago", "Legally Blonde: The Musical", "Dreamgirls", and I'm super excited about this one: "Mary Poppins"! I HAVE to see all of them, or I'm pretty sure I'll die. (What? I'm being overly dramatic? You think so? Okay, fine. I'd really, really, really like to see these shows, and if I don't, I'll be really sad. Better? Good.)

Thursday:
I realized on Wednesday that there was no way I was going to be able to get all of our camping stuff organized and packed, and clean up our apartment in time for the trip on Friday, so I took Thursday off. I spent the first 4 hours of my day reformatting my iPod and adding/organizing songs. Ugh, what a P.I.T.A.! Then I spent the rest of the day cleaning, organizing, and packing. When The Hubs got back to the house around 11pm, we only had a few things left to do on our list. It never would have gotten finished if I had worked that day.

Friday - Sunday:
Camping. I'll give it it's own post.

Monday (today!):
Back to civilization, back to work, back to the diet and exercise. I'll give the whole diet and exercise thing it's own post, too. (Aren't you lucky?!)

So you may have had to live without me for 12 days, but as you can see, I had a lot going on.

Do you forgive me? I sure hope so.

I'm alive, I promise.

I've just been uber busy and unmotivated to blog. I'll update more today, I swear.

Pinky promise.

:-)

Riddle me this, Batman.

This is ridiculous, and I'm getting tired of it.

The scenario:

I'm looking for a tan/nude shoe to go with a dress that I own. I go to Target. I find the perfect shoe:

Now, I know how things work, so I traipse around the entire freaking shoe section of Target with these beauties on my feet. I walk up and down every single aisle, fast, slow, turning corners, stepping out onto the unpadded tile. I put these shoes through their paces. They feel fine! They fit! They're perfect! I'll take them!

$31 and some change later, I own what I think are the perfect shoes to wear with my cute dress to the wedding this Saturday.

And then I get home.

This is where it all goes wrong. Where it always goes wrong. I put them on to break them in a little bit and wear them around the house. Holy toe pain, Batman! In no time flat, those perfect, somewhat comfy, flirty little shoes turned into little evil tan-colored monsters, manically chomping away at my feet. They suddenly rubbed in all the wrong places, squished my toes, and made it clear to me that they in fact, did not wish to be the missing part of my perfect little ensemble.

Why...why....why?!?!?!? And, how? How is it possible that they feel fine at the store? Especially when I spend so much time walking around in them and trying them out? What could possibly change in those 15 minutes from the store to my house? The freaky part? This has happened on way more than one occasion, with so many absolutely adorable pairs of shoes that it really pained me to have to part with. What is going on?!

I need an explanation or a solution, and I need one quick...I'm still out a pair of shoes for this damn wedding.

Why is it so hard to be a girl sometimes?!

"Well it would have been, could have been worse than you would ever know..."

("Dashboard" by Modest Mouse)

Small victory, big defeat.

First, the defeat. House scale: 250.0 - not surprising since I suck. More on that later.

As for the small victory? Scale in my boss' office: 249.2

Today was the final weigh-in for our work BL contest. Now, someone, please explain to me how I kept losing weight on my home scale and never losing on the work scale, and now I gain weight on the home scale and lose it at work?! I'm beginning to lose my faith in scales, I can tell you that much. But at any rate, I'm not complaining, because that was my goal for the BL Challenge - to get that darn scale to say something under 250.

Anyway, let's move on to the topic of how much I suck, shall we? Since that's such a happy, light topic...

How many times in the past two weeks have I made good food choices? Yeah, none.

How many times in the past two weeks have I done C25k or anything on the treadmill? Um, maybe twice? And neither of those were in the past 7 days.

How many times have I eaten food within an hour before bedtime? I think 3.

How many times have I counted my calories? None.

Yep. I have hit a snag. How utterly inconvenient that I realize this a mere three weeks before my 5k. (Get ready, I know you all can feel it coming...the Eternal Optimist is on her way...)

But, it's better for me to realize what's going on before my 5k rather than after it. Unfortunately, I am human, and I falter. This is my chance to get back on the wagon. We all fall off, and the challenge is getting up and climbing back on, as hard as that may be. Today, I start the climb. Calorie counting. No eating out this week (except for my weekly lunch date with MFN and JMcQ). C25k Week 3. At least four Treadmill 5k's. Upping my 5k training to a 1% incline (since I've heard that running outside is equivalent to running inside at a 1% incline because of wind resistance, hills, etc.)

I can do it. For one week, I can do it.

That family wedding that I was supposed to lose my second 10 pounds for is this weekend. Did I lose my second 10? No. Do I get to reward myself with a cute new dress? No. Am I upset? Yes. Do I get to blame anyone but myself? Nope. I did it. (Or rather, I didn't do it.)

But I will.

That's what this year is about: saying I'm going to do something, and then finally doing it. I've made a small step towards my goal - I've lost 10 pounds. Now, I have to get my ass in gear and lose my second 10. I am not going to finish this year anywhere near the 260.6 I was in December of 2008.

I promise myself, and I promise you.

I feel good about this...here we go (again!)

Wedding Music*

*If hearing about the music I used for my wedding/reception does not interest you at all, please feel free to ignore this post. I won't take it too personally...

Way back in February, I did a couple posts about the music we used in our wedding, but never finished. (That's so like me...) Since life's pretty slow right now, and I don't have much else to blog about, how 'bout a little re-cap, plus the rest of the music that I never shared with you?

Pre-wedding Slide Show:

Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys
Come Fly With Me - Michael Buble
Stuck on You - Elvis Presley
Come Go With Me - The Del Vikings
L.O.V.E. - Michael Buble
At Last - Etta James
Burnin' Love - Elvis Presley
This Magic Moment - Jay and the Americans
The Best is Yet to Come - Michael Buble
You Send Me - Sam Cooke
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Michael Buble


The Ceremony:

Canon in D - Pachelbel (Gary Schnitzer version): Pastor/Parents/Party Processional
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach (http://www.weddingmusiccentral.com/ version): Bride/Father Processional
Back to the Future Main Theme - John Williams: Recessional


The Reception:

Walk This Way - Aerosmith and Run D.M.C.: Bridal Party Entrance
Back in Black - AC/DC: Bride and Groom Entrance
For Once In My Life - Michael Buble: Our first dance
Stand By Me - Ben E. King: Parents' Dance
Have I Told You Lately - Rod Stewart: Anniversary Dance
Ladies Night - Kool & the Gang: Bouquet Toss
Low Rider - War: Garter Retrieval and Toss
How Sweet it is (To Be Loved By You) - James Taylor: Cake Cutting
Play That Funky Music (White Boy) - Wild Cherry: A 'must play' for my dad; it's his favorite song.
All You Need Is Love - Nada Surf Version: Last Song


A couple notes/stories about this music...

As you may have read in my previous post, none of our music was played with our pre-wedding slideshow. It was drama, and I was not pleased. Instead, our 170-something guests got to silently look at pictures of us growing up. The church's sound tech was, like, 12. End of story.

Paying $2.99 for that version of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was some of the best money I spent on the wedding. I could not find a version of that song that was as slow as I wanted, and had the right instruments. Then I came across http://www.weddingmusiccentral.com/ and all was right with the world.

The 12-year-old sound tech wasn't very quick on the draw with our recessional song, so we ended up all standing at the altar waiting for the music to start for a good 30 seconds. 30 seconds seems like an eternity when 170 of your closest friends and family are staring at you. Trust me, I know.

Extra kudos points to you if you don't personally know me (sorry BFF and MFN) and you can guess why we chose the reception entrance song we did...

I could write an entire post about the dumb issues we had with our DJ the night of the wedding. Not the least of which is this: he played the live version of MB's For Once In My Life, without telling us it was going to be the live version. While it's not the worst thing that could have happened, it was totally not what we were expecting, and the live version was not as good as the regular recorded version. I was annoyed, but I still remember almost every single second of that dance.

We chose to cut down on drama and do our Parents' Dance together. The Hubs danced with his mom, and I danced with my dad at the same time. Stand By Me was the perfect choice for us.

The Anniversary Dance went on for so long (my grandparents have been married for 61 years) that we were still 'eliminating' couples after HITYL went off. The DJ had to find another song to continue the dance until we were down to my grandparents and another couple who had been married for 59 years. Honoring these long marriages was one of my favorite parts of our reception.


The Hubs did a quick change during my bouquet toss into his racing gear, and had a surprise entrance into the reception for the garter retrieval. This is definitely one of the only places where our DJ earned his money, because we just couldn't figure out a good song to use for this, and they came up with Low Rider. It was perfect, and we managed to keep the whole thing a secret from everyone. Yet another highlight of the reception.


I'm really sad that the photographers had left before the last dance. To their credit, they really did get everything that we thought we would want. I wasn't expecting the last dance to be as great as it was. It ended up being me, my new husband, and our closest friends in a circle singing "All You Need Is Love" to each other at the top of our lungs. There's nothing like the "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah's"...remembering that part ALWAYS puts a smile on my face. It was the perfect way to end the perfect day.

Sweet Sacrifice

As I've mentioned before, MFN's hubby is in the Army. Next week, he deploys for a year in Iraq...lucky him. I can't even imagine what MFN is going through. I'm so selfish that I have always just simply said I would not date anyone in the military, or emergency services of any kind. I just couldn't do it. Luckily for me, The Hubs has metal plates and screws in his leg as a result of being an idiotic teenager, so there's not really a chance he would get drafted, or even accepted as a volunteer.

Anyway, remember The Navy Wife? She called me on Friday night to check on my 5k progress, and we got to talking about how MFN's hubby is leaving, etc. The Navy Wife has been through two deployments (I think...I can't remember, but it's at least two), so she had some really good advice and insight.

One of the things she suggested I do, was to do a 'countdown' for MFN using candy. It was such a good idea, that I started working on it right away.

Here's the finished product:

You know an ex-English Major can't resist the chance for a good pun...
365 Skittles (I counted twice!), one for every day of his year-long deployment:
MFN gets to eat a Skittle every day, and 3 on Mondays (for the weekend, of course). Hopefully, they'll be gone before she knows it! (Also, hopefully, the cleaning crew at the office doesn't steal any during the night!)

I know that this isn't life-changing, and it's not like I'm bringing Jason home quicker for her, or anything, but I hope it makes the next year just a tiny bit easier for MFN to deal with. At the very least, a sugar buzz can't hurt, right?

WTFS* Moments...

*"What the eff, seriously?!"

I feel the need to share these two fast-food related WTFS moments because (1) the second one just happened today, (2) my first job was at McDonalds. I was 14 and I like to think I had more common sense than the characters I seem to keep encountering, and (3) the common 'combo' theme cracks me up. I didn't know it was really that challenging.

WTFS Moment #1: Arby's. I picked up lunch for MFN and myself a few weeks ago.

Mrs. B.: Do you have a Ham Melt value meal, or do I have to buy all the items separately?
Arby's Girl: No, we don't have a value meal.
B: Okay, then I'd like a Ham Melt, small potato cakes, and a small Diet Coke.
AG: *lightbulb* Oh, well we have a Ham Melt combo...
B: (after a WTFS moment/look)...Okay...I'll take that.

WTFS Moment #2: Wendy's. Thankfully this WTFS Moment did not actually happen to me. I was merely a witness.

Customer: I'd like a Number 1...
Wendy's Guy: The meal? Or the sandwich?
C: The Number 1...
WG: The meal?
C: Yes.

Do you have a WTFS Moment you'd like to share? I'm sure they've happened to you - idiocy can't possibly contained to the fast food restaurants in the Cincinnati area...

Anything but the diet...

Lots of little stuff going on that I want to share, and I need to take a break from talking about that ever frustrating topic of diet and exercise. Therefore, my challenge today is to talk about anything but the diet.

1. Work sucks. I need to win the lottery with the quickness. Also, randomly, I absolutely hate it when I have to choose a new password for my computer at work. We have to do it every couple of months, and today was the day. Inevitably, I sit there, staring at my computer screen for minutes, trying desperately to think of something that fits the two million requirements and is something I will remember/not hate having to type in every day. Run-on sentence over. You may breathe.
2. The Hubs is about to have a serious breakdown. I think he has finally hit his limit with the whole full-time job/full-time student thing. It took about 5 weeks, which is probably about 3 weeks longer than it would have taken me. Now we are at an impass...he either has to get a new job that pays better so he can work less hours, figure out a way that we can afford for him to work less hours at the poorly-paying job he has, or suck it up. And I either have to find a way to spend less money or get a second job. Both of those options are equally hard/sucky for me.
3. My mom is the awesomest. I hung out at her house yesterday and we spent the afternoon looking at old photos of her and our family. She gave me the two baby blankets that were made for me when I was born. She made one of them, and my Aunt Nadie made the other. She made sure to emphasize the fact that it was really special that Aunt Nadie made me a blanket because she didn't make blankets for any of the other babies. Did I mention that my mom is the awesomest?
4. The BFF is one of the strongest women I know. You can't imagine the life she's had, and some of the things she's gone through, or how it always seems like god/the devil/allah/whoever has it out for her. As of right now, there's a whole lot of drama with trying to evict Tulula the Toomah from her uterus, but I think it will all get figured out. She hasn't given up hope yet, and at the very latest, Tulula will get her walking papers in January. And, I realize that the image of a larger-than-a-softball-sized tumor getting up and walking out of her uterus is something I'm sure you could all have done without.
5. I can't wait to have Memorial Day off! And it just so happens that I will be camping with 5 of my favorite people the weekend after that, so I only have to work 3 days that week! I'm super excited about camping, and I can't wait to go. I think we all could really use some time away from life!
6. I really need to spend a day (or a week!) organizing the music on my iPod. What a flippin' mess! There are so many songs that got imported as Unknown Artists even though I know full well who the artists are. And playlists? Don't even get me started. I really have to work on getting a great playlist together for that big event of mine that's coming up on June 7th, but that I'm not allowing myself to talk about in this post. Get it? Got it? Good. Moving on.
7. The Hubs and I are totally sucking with working out a way to find time to hang out with friends and family during this crazy time in our life. Candice and Harby have tried to hang with us several times in the past couple of months (in fact, I think the last time we saw them may have been The Hubs' 30th at the beginning of February. Damn, we suck!) and we have either bailed on them, or flat out had to say no. And now Candice is trying to get something together for Harby's birthday, which is awesome, but... it's the weekend of that big event of mine that I'm not allowing myself to blog about. (Dude, this is harder than I thought!)
8. I hate internet direction sites. When trying to get directions to my mom's new house this weekend, Google maps took me some strange way that said it was going to take over an hour and a half, so I used Mapquest, whose route looked much more sensible. While it took me only a little over an hour, I soon (after missing the very first turn I was supposed to take) realized that all of the distances were off. If it said I was supposed to go 5.8 miles down a certain road, it really ended up being closer to 5 miles. Sometimes even less. And then, I get to my mom's, and my 80-year-old Grandpa is incredulous that I don't own a GPS. "I used my Tom-Tom and it brought me right here", he says. Seriously?
9. I can not win a contest on Pioneer Woman's blog to save my life. At least I'm in good company with the other 15,000 or so people who try every time. If you haven't checked her out, especially Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, what ever you do - don't do it at work. At least not with any big deadlines looming, because you will not be able to pull yourself away.
10. That, ye lads and lasses, is all.

Part 1: The Early Years of Us (Continued)

(Labor Day fireworks one year after the proposal.)

(MFN's and my 26th birthday cake. Made by The BFF.)


(Cornhole game The Hubs and I made for my dad's birthday.)

(Where the infamous proposal happened. Yes, we had a wedding date before we had an engagement.)

("I Hate War" monument in Washington, DC.)

(The Wienermobile! How cool is that?!)

(A baby gorilla about to get in trouble by big daddy.)

(My most recent -and fourth- tattoo. As a tribute to my mamma.)

Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures! (Part 1: The Early Years of Us)

Just thought I'd share some of my favorites. These are all pictures from either before or during the time The Hubs and I were dating. (July, '06 - October '08)

(A pretty day on the way to see The Hubs race.)

(A park in Dayton, Ohio.)

(The Hubs getting ready to race.)

(Us at the track.)

(Halloween '06: Racecar Driver and Checkered Flag.)

(Gatlinburg trip exactly two years before our honeymoon.)

(Florida trip, December '07)

(Downtown Disney)

(The BFF at the Jimmy Buffett concert.)

(Candice at the Cincinnati Zoo.)

(Me and Harby aka The Hubs' best man.)

More in a minute!

This is my life?

I just called The Hubs to share some really exciting news:

I saved over $40 with coupons at the grocery store and came in $30 under budget. And I bought him the fish he likes without him even asking.

Next thing you know, I'll be driving a Dodge Caravan full of screaming children to soccer practice.

I think I need to put on a skanky outfit and go do some binge drinking while ugly guys try to grind on me without my permission to really bad hip hop music at an 18-and-up club - just to recapture a teeny tiny shred of my youth before it's totally gone.

Or, I'll put away groceries, clean the bathroom, and watch Dirty Dancing again.

Then I'll look up the phone number to the Dodge dealership. Minivans are hip, right?

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Okay, just have to say that is quite possibly the best. movie. ever.

I might just have to watch it again.

:-)

"You fixed it!"

(I'm a My Big Fat Greek Wedding nerd, and that's one of my favorite quotes from the movie. Challenge: Can anyone tell me what scene it's in?!)

Anyway, the awesome Katy over at "Follow Me to 'I Do'" alerted me to a problem with posting comments on my blog. Maybe you guys really do like me after all! The BFF had issues with comments after she started using a non-Blogger template, and I think that's what my issue was as well.

I think I fixed it, but I'm going to need the help of you Smartie McBloggertons to help me prove it! (a.k.a. leave me a comment, pretty please!)

So I guess I could give you a little update while I'm here...The Hubs is en route to his parents' house. I'm en route to some yummy dinner and some even yummier young Patrick Swayze in the form of Dirty Dancing.

What self-respecting woman who was alive in the 80's wouldn't call that a pretty perfect night? Certainly not me.

Certainly.

"Hold your head up, keep your head up - movin' on..."

("Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics).

248.0, but guess who has made the executive decision to move her weigh-ins back to Monday? That's right, yours truly.

Since the 20/20 Challenge is defunct and no one is 'officially' keeping track anymore, it doesn't matter when I weigh in. I just feel 'off' weighing in on Fridays, and it gives me no incentive to be good through the weekend. Therefore, *lightbulb* I can weigh in on Mondays again!

So I guess that means I've lost 1.8 pounds from last Friday, but maintained from this Monday. We'll see what next Monday has to say about that. All in all, I feel much better about Monday Weigh-Ins, so I'm glad they're back.

So far this week, I've done treadmill 5k three times. Twice with an attempt at as much running as I can - not strictly C25k, but running for less time, more frequently. I'm not sure if it's the best idea, since it's not doing much for my endurance, but it's probably closer to the reality of what I'll be doing when I actually get out there and run my 5k. We'll see how it goes.

I have 2 more 5k's this week to reach my goal of 5. Tonight and tomorrow will have to be the days I get it done, since I'm driving out to bufu to see my momma on Sunday.

The End.

Existential Crisis...

Wow...nine posts and nary a comment to be found.

Have you all grown tired of me already? I don't know if my little blogger heart could take it...

:-)

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away..."

Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
("Yesterday" by The (incomperable) Beatles).

Oy vey! Yesterday was rough. I can't even begin to tell you how many food sins I committed -but I'll try. After all, you're stuck with me - the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yesterday was definitely ugly.

The week started out okay - I ate pretty well on Monday, and had a new PR on my 5k Monday night. Tuesday morning, the scale said 247.6. (Pretty please don't tell me not to weigh myself every day. I know I'm not supposed to, but it's my "own personal brand of heroin". You won't get me to stop.) Anyway, 247.6, I was pretty stoked.

The morning started out perfectly - my Crunch Pak of apples and grapes, and V8 Fusion. (Yumm-o.) At 11:30, MFN was in a meeting and I was getting really hungry, so I decided to have my lunch without her. I wanted to get in and use the ONE microwave we have before everyone started warming up their Cinco de Mayo party dishes. So I ate my Bowl Appetite.

This is where my day starts going downhill.

Half an hour later, MFN gets out of her meeting and warily comes to my desk. She needs to get out of the office and commiserate over a Cincinnati staple - Skyline. (p.s. I absolutely love my city, and it's plethora of culinary delights. As long as I have this blog, I will extol their virtues. All of them, that is, except Goetta. The Queen City is on her own with that one.) So, as you will recall, I already ate my lunch, but I had to help a friend in need! Two cheese coneys, a root beer, and a lot of complaining later, I was two lunches down for the day and still had a long way to go.

Remember that Cinco de Mayo party I mentioned earlier? All it took was one person mentioning chips, and I was in there with the quickness. Fritos?! I haven't had Fritos in years...I had to have some of those. Mmmm...salty, water-retention-y goodness, say hello to my belly fat.

And then, The BFF emailed me a special little coupon for a free two-piece grilled chicken meal with two sides and a biscuit from KFC. I had kind of wanted to try their new grilled chicken, and mashed potatoes with gravy, mac 'n cheese and a biscuit certainly sounded good. So guess what I had for dinner? And, p.s., the grilled chicken was absolutely horrible. Seriously dry, and the pieces of meat were much smaller than their normal chicken. If they were trying to get people to try it so that they would return and buy more...they failed. Miserably.

And then, irony of ironies, I enjoyed two (small) brownies that were left over from my Mother's Day dinner, while watching MTV's True Life: I'm On A Diet. That's like eating a whole pizza by yourself while watching The Biggest Loser. Ugh. Low of lows, here I am.

My best guess is that I was probably about 1,200 calories over my goal for the day. That's almost an entire day of calories. This morning, the scale said 249.somethingorother. I couldn't bring myself to pay that close attention once I saw the first 3 numbers.

I just can't freaking believe it was so easy to fall.

On the upside, (The Eternal Optimist strikes again!) I didn't let my self-loathing keep me from getting on the treadmill and doing my second 5k of the week. I had no plans to run, but I wanted to stay at or above 3.1 mph so that I would finish in an hour or less. You know what I realized? Walking on the treadmill is the most boring thing in existence. It takes forEVER! I finally couldn't take it anymore at around 45 minutes and just had to start running as much as I could. Just to get it over with!

I went to bed trying to remind myself that tomorrow is a new day, and I can't take back how today went, but I can do better tomorrow.

As much as I know that, and as much as I try to remind myself of it, I just can't shake that nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I failed at yesterday.

"Fall seven times, stand up eight", right?

Well, at least I'm standing...

"I'm goin' down down baby, yo street in a Range Rover..."

("Country Grammar" by Nelly).

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is as 'ghetto' as I get. I do enjoy that song, though.

Anyway, the point is, I'm goin' down, down baby...

5k Times to Date:

• 59:40 (April 01)
• 57:15 (April 03)
• 56:48 (April 16)
• 55:38 (April 21)
• 54:25 (April 23)
• 52:39 (May 04)

I have brought my 5k time down over 7 minutes in a month! I'm really excited about that, because that means if I can keep this pace up, I'll be down to 45 minutes by the time my 5k rolls around on June 7th.

I seriously felt like I was going to die tonight. Maybe 10 days away from running wasn't such a good idea after all. But I made it through. I kept going, and as we all know, that's the name of the game.

Let's Make A New Friend

Meet my pal Sigg:

She is beautiful, and she keeps me hydrated. She also comes in a gazillion stylish designs for you to choose from. The design above is called "Earth", which just happens to be the particular Sigg that adorns my desk at work.

I highly recommend you make friends with a Sigg of your own.

"I'm back in the saddle again..."

("Back in the Saddle Again" by Aerosmith).

This morning's weigh in? 248.0

I'll take it!

I've got a new resolve. A new strength. A new motivation. A week off was just what the doctor ordered. I've decided I'm going to push myself as far as I can go. I'm going to lose those last 8 pounds by May 23rd.

I'm going to do it - no excuses. And here's how:

• C25k Week 4 at least 3 times this week.
• 5k on the treadmill at least 5 times this week. (Including my c25k nights).
• 1,600 calories or less every. single. day. this week.
• Metformin every single day this week.
• V8 Fusion and fresh fruit for breakfast every work day.
• Drink at least 3 full Sigg bottles of water every work day.
• Continue crazy active work project at least 5 hours of every work day.

I'm excited!

On to other news:

Tonja cancelled her birthday bash this past weekend, so we didn't even have to miss out on it! I'm bummed for her that she cancelled, but excited that we might have a better chance of going when she reschedules.

We didn't see X-Men: Origins this weekend. The Hubs is wicked bummed. Maybe next weekend?

I cooked for The In-Laws yesterday. It was uber awkward. I made Chicken Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Veggies, and Crescent Rolls. The Chicken Casserole turned out great, the Mashed Potatoes were still lumpy, the Steamfresh Mixed Veggies were disappointing, and I burned the bottom of the Crescent Rolls. So maybe The MIL has a point. :-/

Everything was actually pretty good, considering, and I think The In-Laws could tell that I was trying really hard. And no one got food poisoning, that I know of. Yet.

So I guess that's it. This week, I'm focusing on diet/exercise. The Hubs is focusing on schoolwork. And we're both focusing on not having nervous breakdowns.

Waisting time...

(Heh heh, get it? It's a pun. About how I'm wasting time, and it's affecting my waist? *Tap, tap*...Is this thing on? Crickets.)

249.8

I'm up a 1/2 pound, which is to be expected. I've boycotted diet and exercise this week, just because I can. Now that's dedication for you...

Actually, I've been doing a very physical project at work that involves LOTS of lifting and moving and general running around. It basically means I leave work at the end of the day feeling like I got hit by a train. I just couldn't bring myself to go through c25k this week. I knew the consequences, and this morning, they were staring me in the face.

Unfortunately, until I took a look at the calendar this morning, I didn't realize just exactly how much I was counting on this week to help me get to the -20 mark by May 23rd. Now I have made it so that I have to lose over 3.2 pounds per week to reach that goal. I'm not going to say it's impossible, but...

If I get there, that's great. If I don't, don't expect a big, whiny post about it. It's my responsibility, my job to do the work. If I don't reach my goals, I have no one to blame but myself.

And that's all there is to say about that.

Current events-wise, Tonja's birthday bash is this weekend, which The Hubs and I can't afford to go to. Bummer! I'm sure it will be an awesome time.

Since The Hubs has to work on Mother's Day, we're having The In-Laws over for Mother's Day dinner this Sunday. Wish me luck, as this is my first chance to prove to her that I'm a capable, adult, human being. I'm going to cook a family favorite that I've made about a thousand times. I had better not mess it up, since she already has about zero confidence in my cooking/baking/breathing ability, and she's not been shy to make it known. The hope is that this will turn her attitude around, without The Hubs having to have the talk with her. Wish me luck!

(p.s. While she can be a little too much to take sometimes, she's totally cracking me up lately. The woman keeps asking me how my 'marathon' is going...no matter how many times I tell her it's just a 5k, it's a 'marathon' to her. Okay, Jack's mom, sure...I'm running a marathon in a month. Let's go with that.)

The Biggest Loser Challenge final weigh in by my boss is on the 18th. I know I haven't won the challenge, but I just really want that fricking scale in her office to tell me a number below 250. It seems as though I've been going down, down, down on my home scale. Every fricking Friday, I try the scale in her office, and every fricking Friday, it says 251.6. How is that possible?! I figure, losing those 10 pounds by the 23rd, maybe...just maybe I can get that scale to say 249. Ugh!

Aaaand...I had 115 chances to become a millionaire on Tuesday, and it didn't work. Mega Millions was up to $181 mil - $117.4 mil cash option, which would have worked out to just over $2 mil after I shared it with the other 56 people at work who put in money. I have 129 chances tonight, and would have to share $220 mil ($143.5 mil cash option) with 58 people. In case you're wondering, that would be just about $2.5 million dollars.

Don't you worry your pretty, little blogger-friend heads...I will blog, even if I become a millionaire. I promise. :-)

Wish me luck, because my good karma from last week - I saved a girl from walking out of a bathroom with her skirt stuck in her underwear, and I saved a deer from getting hit by my Speed Racer of a husband - didn't help at all!

Guess that's all the news here in Mrs. B-ville. Hope you have a great Friday!