Guest Dress Decided

The wedding we had this past weekend was perfect. Simply perfect. The weather, the ceremony, the food & reception, the friends celebrating together, the BRIDE. All perfect. I can't wait to share photos Wednesday.

For now, here's a quick glimpse of the view Saturday afternoon before the wedding. Can you believe this is April?! Love it.

As you may recall (here), I had 3 dresses to choose from for this wedding. And the winner is.....

The blue-one strap. :)

Although I was really leaning towards the green one-strap dress, I decided my gold accessories just looked better against the royal blue.

The Details:

Dress - Eliza J (through Ideeli)

Shoes - Enzo Angiolini (Nordstroms)

Fuchsia Bracelet - Banana Republic (gift)

Earrings - JoJo Fleur Blings

On J:
Suit: Calvin Klein
Shirt: Brooks Brothers
Tie: Calvin Klein
Sunglasses: Polarized Ray-Bans (that he has miraculously not lost in 2 yrs!)

 This is a phone photo I meant to send mi madre since she missed the wedding. Here you go mom! :)

While reading US Weekly last week, I came across this photo and knew I wanted to mimic it somehow.

Not exact by any means, but I was happy with it. The wind did not help my cause though!

Wedding season has officially begun! Off to plan my outfits for the coming bachelorette party this coming weekend. :)

HM Training

That's right. J & I have decided to run a half-marathon. It's still crazy to think about really. Had you asked me this a few months ago, I would have said never. And even a month ago this wasn't totally on my radar.

So here's a the low-down on our half marathon. I warn you, it's a bit lengthy...

WHY?

Well, at the beginning of March I started to track my workouts. And by doing this, it really did motivate me to get to the gym more often. And the more I worked out, the better I felt. And the better I felt, the more I pushed myself. On the morning of my 26th birthday, I decided I needed to prove to myself that I wasn't getting any older and decided to push my normal 5 mile run to 6 miles. I felt sooooo good after - I think mostly from the accomplishment.

The following week I pushed myself to run 7 miles, and again, I was so shocked that I did it, but felt great! That is what really got me thinking about it. After a little research I landed on HalfMarathons.net. It's a pretty cool website where you can search for races by state and it gives a training schedule to follow. Although I was a little behind on the training schedule, it didn't deter me from considering a local race in mid-May. I'd catch up. :)


There's a funny thing about timing - sometimes it couldn't be more perfect. There is a local running shop, South Boston Running Emporium, that I decided my next pair of shoes would be purchased from. I've been running in a pair of Nike Frees for the past 11 months and it was high time I got myself a better pair of sneaks. Growing up we always bought our sports equipment from a small local shop for two reasons, better customer service and better knowledge on the equipment. It can be hard to find those small shops these days though (thanks Walmart) and so throughout college and into my post-college running career, I began hitting up whichever chain store I was near. And though I always asked about my arches, how I place weight on my feet, etc. I could never get a straight answer. So I stuck to my tried and true Asics (whom I still adore). But when purchasing new sneakers last spring, I got caught up in the Nike Free phenomenon. Disclaimer- I realize many people love these shoes, and I had many great runs in them myself. But they just are not the best pair of shoes for ME.

So with that, I made my way to the SBRE last week to support the local guy, and hopefully take advantage of his running knowledge. Back to my sentence regarding timing, the day I planned to visit the SBRE after work, Life of Blyss posted this blog post. And I found it SO interesting. According to the VDOT tables Alyssa discusses, using the pace I ran last year's Harpoon 5 miler at - 8:50 - I should be running my longer runs at a 10:45 pace. WHAT?!?!?!? Crazy talk. I'd been running around a 9 minute pace outside and just assumed that I should be running all my training runs at the pace I'm hoping to race at.


Well, after Bill (at SBRE) had me walk around his store without shoes on to study how I my feet shift weight on them, checked out my arches, and fitted me in a couple different pairs of sneaks to choose from, I asked him about this pace difference. And although he had not heard of Jack Daniels (whom Alyssa references), he agreed 100% with slowing down your long run pace. As he stated, your pace should be a minute and a half to 2 minutes slower than your race day pace. His formula went a little something like this: the terrible twos = too much + too fast. Your risk of injury greatly increases. (Disclaimer for Bill - please don't treat this as the Bible to training. Do what works for you).

NOW I know why my catch up run in Florida went horrible. :) Old shoes, the ridiculous wind I ran against for the first 3.5 miles, and a too fast of a pace. But, a new pair of sneakers and some running advice later, and I'm back on track.

The goods: Brooks Ravenna 3 for me & Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 for J

Imagine my excitement when the shoes that fit me best were accented in PURPLE! :)

I have to say, slowing down our pace worked wonders for J & I. Oh, also, please note that J had not been running 7 miles at the gym for a couple of weeks before deciding to run with me. He simply turned to me after we both got fitted for our new sneaks and said, "well, it looks like I'm running a half-marathon." This seriously amazes me. Running is a terrible mental game for me. I can't imagine just deciding to run like that.

Anyways, back to our run. I mapped out 10 miles around our neighborhood, studied it the night before and the morning of to memorize it, and we set out on our slow run.

Pre-run jitters

I have to say, running a slower pace is hard work. I recommend timing your run, and being somewhat aware of the whereabouts of each mile in order to make sure you've kept a slower pace. It's far too easy to get in the zone mentally. We had to remind each other to slow down a few times. I think we were both so surprised to feel good after mile 6 that it was too easy to want to pick up the pace. Before we knew it, we were at mile 8 where we had placed a bottle of water in J's car, but decided not to stop and just finish strong. Our final time: 1:34.18, pace of 9:39 (total run of 9.77 miles)

So maybe it wasn't exactly a 10:45 pace...but it was still 40 seconds per mile slower than a normal run so I was extremely happy with that. And if you don't believe Jack Daniels or Bill at SBRE about running slower...check out this article from Runners World or read below. (or check it out here in a pretty diagram)

Measuring Your Effort
Train at the right pace to make sure you're race ready

Type of Run:
EASY RUN
Pace: 90-150 seconds per mile slower than 5-K pace
Heart Rate: 65-70% of max heart rate
Perceived Effort (1-10)*: 3-4 (easy)
Talk Test: You can speak complete sentences

LONG RUN
Pace: 90-150 seconds per mile slower than 5-K pace
Heart Rate: 65% of max heart rate
Perceived Effort (1-10): 3-4
Talk Test: You can speak complete sentences

MARATHON-PACE RUN
Pace: 45-100 seconds per mile slower than 5-K pace
Heart Rate: 88-92% of max heart rate
Perceived Effort (1-10): 5-6
Talk Test: You can speak short sentences

TEMPO RUN
Pace: 20-40 seconds per mile slower than 5-K pace
Heart Rate: 94-96% of max heart rate
Perceived Effort (1-10): 7-8(hard)
Talk Test: You can speak a few words at a time

SPEEDWORK (800s, 1200s)
Pace: 5-40 seconds per mile faster than 5-K pace
Heart Rate: 95-100% of max heart rate
Perceived Effort (1-10): 9 (very hard)
Talk Test: You...can't...talk...must...run...

*Perceived effort is measured according to the Borg Scale, with 1 being the minimum effort (sitting on the couch) and 10 being the maximum effort.

And how'd I look after?

Ready for more!  

(do you like our wedding invitation display on the wine fridge :)?)

WHERE & WHEN?

Gloucester, MA's Twin Lights Half-Marathon on May 12th. 

HOW?

We have been following the Hal Higdon Novice 2 training schedule with a few *tweaks*. But I am going to save that for next weeks Fitness post. This one is WAY too long already. 

Guest Dress Decisions

First wedding of the season is this Saturday! I CANNOT wait! Although I had a fall wedding, I'm liking the idea of a spring wedding more and more. Simply because, it's the beginning of wedding season and everyone (my opinion - probably only girls) has been itching for their next wedding to attend.

No matter what time of year your wedding is though, there is something so comforting and exciting about watching 2 people who are so in love get married. It gets me every time. And I love standing there with J listening as the vows are read and mentally renewing my own.

On to the reason of this post - I am definitely someone who loves having a reason to wear a nice dress, and often buy dresses I find that are "perfect" without an event in the line-up. Just can't pass them up! I love the feeling of being all dressed up for the evening. So I've been thinking about what I would be wearing to this wedding for much longer than the average person would and should. But when life got in the way these past few weeks, and I didn't have time to buy the dress I determined I simply needed, I turned to the next best thing. My sister's closet. :)

There is nothing better than having friends and family that wear the same size clothes as you. Jackie and I certainly luck out because we wear the same size in just about everything (she's a little bit taller and skinnier than me though..damn B) The only problem is that she no longer lives in MA so it's a lot harder to swap clothes. Boohoo. :(

But when a sista is in a bind, the other comes to the rescue. I asked Jackie if she wouldn't mind sending me 2 dresses she had worn to weddings last year. Well, she did me one better, and sent me 4! Love her.

I've decided one is just too short for the occasion, but the other 3 fit great. Now, the question is, which do I wear?!

Which would you choose?

A - Yellow/Pink floral

B - Green one-strap

C - Blue one-strap

St. Augustine, FL - Round 2

For Easter this year, I had the opportunity to visit my mom in St. Augustine, FL. She is down there for the month in what she is referring to as her very own boot camp. Yes, she's crazy. Swimming, yoga, yogilates, walking, and spinning are all on her list of activities.

While I was only there for 3 days this year, we made sure to make the best of it. Friday night we headed into town for the monthly Art walk. We walked by Flagler College, which I've been so curious to see. It used to be a fancy hotel.

Flagler College

 Amazing lighting in the Casa Monica Hotel

 St. George Street

The weather wasn't great my first day there but by Saturday afternoon it was time to bask in some sunshine.

 View at the pool. I had it all to myself for the most part. :)

View from my mom's condo

 

Bruno cooling off after an afternoon walk

 

 Easter brunch was held in the condo. Everyone brought something. My mom was in charge of a frittata. Doesn't this look perfect?!

Easter cocktails on the deck. 

This photo just cracks me up - trying to teach someone else how to use my camera...hahah

 But this one came out great!

I left Brunch early to enjoy this view and let the adults continue to chit chat (let's just say I was the only one under 50 this year....)

All in all, it was a great weekend. Spent some quality time with my mom and her good friends, got in a nice long run, visited the local Farmers Market, and sun-bathed by the pool and on the beach. Crossing my fingers St. Augustine is on the agenda next year too! (hint, hint)

Checking things off the list

Today's home & fashion post comes in the form of a list of things we conquered this weekend. Starting with this coming weekend and ending June 30....we either have a wedding, bachelorette party, bachelor party, bridal shower, or race every.single.weekend. Yep. Crazy, I know. But we love it that way. And in all seriousness, I definitely get more done/am more organized when I have more on my plate.

Starting with Friday, J picked me up at work and we headed north to hit up Home Depot, AC Moore, Sports Authority, and TJ Maxx. All in one plaza, it is great.

First stop, TJ Maxx where I needed to return something. But who goes into TJ Maxx without doing a little shopping as well? We ended up leaving with a Nike Dry Fit shirt and Nike shorts for J, and a Nike Dry fit shirt and the cutest new dress for me.  Plus, the dress was the same price as the shoes I returned so it was a net zero win for me (on a dress I don't need but loved). :)

And then on to Sports Authority where we picked up Honey Stingers chews for our planned Saturday run, and J picked up another pair of running shorts.

AC Moore was for some arts & crafts fun that maaayy make its way to this blog down the line after a few events take place.

And lastly, Home Depot. Every homeowners dream store....being sarcastic there for you. When we first bought our place, I LOVED going to Home Depot and Lowes. I felt so grown up, and loved finding things we needed to fix/replace at our place. Now, I realize, it just means more $$ to spend on a place we will not be living in forever. Thankfully this time, the purchases were small.

Somehow, our toilet paper holder randomly broke one day. About three months ago, mind you. So we've been dealing with this for a little too long...

So sad.

But after this purchase,

We had this good to go Sunday

You must be so impressed. :)

Oh, and another exciting purchase...

We discovered a crack between the tile and the tub in our bathroom recently. It was ugly -

Can you see it? A closer view you say?

Terrible, isn't it? Well handy dandy J fixed that problem.

Problem solved. Phew.

Lastly, every time we go to Home Depot I check to see if they have succulents for our condo. I've needed some new green plants for a while now but am rather picky about what I'd like to get. And they also need to be able to survive with minimal water since I do not have a green thumb and will most likely forget about watering them. Well, finally the Home Depot near us has entered the 21st century and was well stocked in mini cacti and succulents. Here's a blurry phone photo of what we picked out -

Saturday, J & I started our day with a 10 mile run. We have decided to train for a half marathon and are following the Hal Higdon training plan. More on that Thursday during my fitness post. But long story short, our run went much better than expected. :)

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent on bridal shower and bachelorette planning for some VIPs in my life. It was a great relief to get a few more things done and I can't wait to share all the details with you over the next month or two. Oh, and I was also able to switch out our winter clothes for summer clothes. I'm hoping this 70 degree weather is here to stay! Don't you?

And finally Sunday.... Sunday was for checking more things off the list. First, the outlets to exchange sandals at the J.Crew outlet where I also found the cutest shorts...

Yes, those are lobsters on this New England girl's shorts. :)

Then, Yankee candle to pick up some Summer scents since I still have winter candles out (picture me humiliated). Is it me though, or are candles ridiculously overpriced? I really hate spending $$ on them.

After the outlets, we headed to Super Target to pick up most of our groceries. Depending on what the grocery list looks like, we sometimes favor hitting up Target versus the grocery store. Especially if we need more toiletries, paper goods, etc.

And lastly, good old IKEA. We have had a pair of curtains to exchange for way too long now. And again, realizing this is our last weekend without commitments, I had to check that off the list too.

Although it is nice to sleep in, I love that sleeping in for me and J is usually 8 am. So getting out of the house by 9:30 on Sunday meant we were back at our place by lunchtime and still able to enjoy the 75 degree weather.

All in all, it is certainly a sigh of relief to get so much done this weekend. A few new articles of clothing, a few things done around our place, and some quality time with Tucker & J.


Today is the Boston Marathon and the temperature is slated to reach almost 90! The BAA is allowing runners to defer their race until next year, have set-up extra water stations, and have advised that attempting a PR may not be safe. Good luck runners!!

Remember when...

• Hard shell tacos were the only tacos? J & I discussed this the other night while eating soft shell tacos. How when soft shells first came out, in elementary school we think, it was just weird. I mean, why would you ever want to eat anything other than hard shell tacos? And then you tried them....and the rest is history.

• Everyone used to clap when an airplane landed? I think about this every time I fly. Especially into Boston, where you are literally over water until 5 feet before the plane is set to land. 

• This used to happen in gym class? Gahd, I loved gym class. Who didn't though? Anyone else play "Clean up your room"? Or was that just a made up game at my school. I can't believe they used to let us whip nerf balls at each other. That game is definitely in the top 5 best gym days for me.

And while we're on the subject of school....ever had this happen? I know I DID! 

And by this photo, I mean that there needs to be more space between desks really.

The first two are conversations I had this past week which stuck. It's funny to remember such odd pieces from the past that seemed so important at the time. And the third I stumbled upon and HAD to share. :)

Can you think of any others?

Here's a funny photo of Tucker just because. This is what I'll probably look like tomorrow after J & I attempt a long run outside.

Have a good weekend my friends, you deserve it! 

Ch-Ch-Ch Chia

Did you think I could name this post anything else? :)

Today's healthy eats are chia seeds.

They seem to be all the rave lately….

And I have totally joined the band wagon! After reading all about the benefits of Chia seeds, J & I picked some up at a local health food store about a month ago (these ones). We’ve been consuming them almost daily in either smoothies or overnight oatmeal.

Why chia seeds you ask? Well they are very rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, molybdenum, niacin, and zinc to name a few. Yep, a boatload of goodness!

And another advantage that this old lady really loves, they help relieve joint pain! Wahoo! Freshman year of high school I had to have surgery on both of my knees. At first, we were told I couldn’t/shouldn’t continue playing sports. We gave that doctor a big ‘ol YEAH RIGHT! Just kidding...sort of. More like we proved him wrong. But part of the deal was custom orthotics shoe inserts and a daily glucosamine supplement. Guess how long those items lasted? Ya, not long.  When I left for college, so didn’t my daily routine. 

I am horrible at taking a daily supplement. Horrible. Probably haven’t taken even one pill of glucosamine in the past year and certainly wasn’t taking it even close to daily, or even weekly, over the past 8 years. Since leaving home, I just cannot seem to rely on myself for these things.  (Update- going a week strong on glucosamine and a daily vitamin. Hoping I stick with it this time!)

But, I have to say that over the past 4+ weeks of taking chia seeds 4-5 times a week, I have had close to zero knee pain. Or any joint pain for that matter. Last summer, any run of 5 miles or more left me feeling like the Tinman by the end. Somebody seriously needs to figure out a way to make WD-40 for humans! Oh wait, that’s what chia seeds are for! :)

In all seriousness, they really have seemed to make a difference for my 80 year-old knees.

So you don’t have joint issues? Here are some other GREAT benefits of these little guys:

1. They help balance blood sugar
2. They help lower blood pressure
3. Ounce for ounce, these seeds have more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon
4. 11 grams of fiber per ounce keeps you feeling full much longer
5. 18% daily value of calcium per ounce (3x more than skim milk!) helps fight osteoporosis
6.  Absorbing 12 times its weight in fluid, they prolong hydration
7. May help with such health issues as IBS, celiac disease, and thyroid conditions

Have I convinced you yet? While visiting my mom this past weekend in Florida, I was telling her all about them and come to find out, one of her friends in FL has been using them in smoothies too! And another had read all about them recently. She picked some up this week so we'll see what she thinks of them in a few weeks.

Looking for a little help on ways to consume them, Shape Magazine published some fun ways to incorporate chia seeds into recipes here.

Let me know if you try them and what you think. :)