A really bad idea...

This past weekend Scott went up to visit his mom in Twain Harte Saturday night (after a DELICIOUS night out on Friday @ The House). I am officially on San Francisco lock down to get ready for the wedding so I stayed back to check out napkin colors and get lost in the art supply store for an hour plus looking at paper for a number of things.

I mean, we are talking IMPORTANT decisions!

I also took the poms to the dog park on Saturday night. AP LOVES the dog park. Lola really only gets excited when it is time to go (she prefers her human friends to other dogs) but Arnold could stay for hours.

One happy pomeranian!

I also went to the grocery store and couldn't decide what I wanted for dinner. Please tell me WHAT I was thinking while picking up these items as possibilities for a meal?

Apparently my bridal instincts have finally kicked in because I decided it would be a great idea to head out on Sunday for San Francisco Half Marathon. Scott and I did this last year and registered again as our "get fit for the wedding" plan. Well, I jumped on a piece of glass and all training for this race went right out the window.

I have been slowly getting back into running with an average of about 3 mile runs two to three times a week. I think my "long" run to date has been 4 miles. In my head, here was my plan..."I will run with cab money and when I get tired, I will just grab a cab and go home OR I will run until the course gets close to home and cut off and go home OR I will just run/walk the race and finish". So, off I went to the start line. I felt surprisingly good and managed to push through the run portion in the park (5 miles) and headed towards my option of going home. At some point I realized my cab fare had fallen out of my pocket so my options were, run to the end or go home. Somewhere in my mind heading to the finish was a great idea...

1. You get a medal (WHOA!-haha)

2. I have a wedding dress to wear in a month

3. I am stubborn

4. Everyone else was still running

5. If the 13 year-old and her mom that I was pacing off can finish, so can I

Well, apparently everyone else doing this race actually trained for it! Mile 10 (mind you I felt surprisingly good until Mile 10) came like a ton of bricks. I had given it everything I had in the running department and my body got angry. Might have been drinking the Cytomax drink at the aid stations, eating Luna Moons, or just plain running 10 miles (ALL of which I knew in the back of my head were terrible ideas...you just don't do things you don't train for or with) but my stomach decided we were going to have a fight. I ended up walking 2.75 miles and ran the last .25 over the finish line.

I then got the chills, sweats, dizziness, and cramps that come along with being severely dehydrated. REALLY not a fun time. The reason I have chosen to share this story instead of just giving myself a pat on the back for finishing is to make sure no one makes the same dumb mistake I did. Hydrate, train, and race with what you train with (i.e.-no Luna Moons on race day unless you have tried it before). I am pretty sure my brain just turned off when I made all of these poor decisions and let me tell you I will not make them again.

Proof of my awesome race!

In other news, I took my aching, hobbling body down to City Hall on Monday with Scott to get our marriage license! We are now legally allowed to get married! It was a very exciting morning and I can't wait until the big day!

Scott at City Hall

So pretty!

Well, I am off to plan, plan, plan! One month and one day to go.

LAST CALL

All hotel reservations for the wedding MUST be made by July 26th!!!!

Well, you can make it after that but you won't get the reduced room rate.

BOOK YOUR ROOMS!!!!!

Information available at http://scottandsteph2010.com under the "accommodations" link.

Jax Gets Married!

This past weekend I flew off to Colorado once again for Jax's wedding.

I was also fortunate to get to see my friend and old boss, Tia, and her adorable twins. Unfortunately I didn't snap any pictures, sorry! Tia prepared a delicious lunch and we enjoyed some wine and catching up.

An old picture of my favorite PR team: Claire, Tia, Shelley and Me

Then I headed south to Denver to begin the wedding weekend festivities. We finished setting up at CB and Potts and were off on a weekend of racing around and trying to beat the clock!

While I don't think we were very successful at staying on time, we did get Kyle and Jax married which was the end goal anyway! I will tell the weekend in pictures. There are plenty more on my Facebook if you care to take a look.

Rehearsal Dinner

Speech time!

Too many bridesmaids in one Rav 4...Elexis had to sit in the trunk...

Fast forward through a dance party, sleep, a little set up, and hair and make up and here we are ready to put Jax in her dress!

Jax, Taylor and Me right before the ceremony

I got to see some old friends at the reception: Eric, Erika, and Kevin

Jax and her dad

Don't mess with bridesmaids and their wedding cake!

Or me and my cocktail :-)

Another one of my long lost Colorado friends, Joni

Lastly, me and the bride.

Congratulations to Jax and Kyle! It was a wonderful weekend.

Awwwwnold...

While Scott was away in Tahoe for his Bachelor Party I headed over to the Strand Fam's house on Saturday evening. It was the first time Crick and the kids had met Arnold Pomeranian and he was a HUGE hit. I think Lola is a bit relieved to have the kids chasing Arnold instead of just her.

I am pretty sure that Kayla thought Arnold was a walking stuffed animal. I mean, I can't really blame her, he pretty much is! In the video you will see when she realizes that AP has eyes!

The kids were really cute with both poms and Crick and I had a great night (of course I made her join my white food diet, scratch that, mandate).

For the record, I promptly ate some colored foods as soon as I was allowed to on Sunday!

Men and picture taking clearly don't mesh because all of the pictures of the Bachelor party are people mid wiffle ball swing or bean bag toss. If I get motivated I'll throw a few up or maybe even make Scott blog!

A brighter me

In an effort to beautify for the wedding I took a trip to the dentist for some teeth whitening. While I have dabbled with the "Crest White Strip" variety a time or two, I have never actually had my teeth whitened professionally. What an experience...

The whole process took about an hour and half and left me with instructions to only eat white foods for 3 days. I challenge you to try this as it is more difficult than it sounds. I think the worst things to give up have been my bars and Hershey Kisses (I have two a night after dinner). You see, I am a grazer. I pretty much eat every 2-3 hours and these snacks are usually Special K bars or something of this nature. Left without this I am HUNGRY! Probably a good thing with a wedding coming up but me hungry is just not pleasant to be around (just ask Scott-good thing he has his bachelor party this weekend).

Not really sure why I am rambling about this but it is my blog and I can do what I want, right?! On to some pictures...

Yes, I snapped a picture of myself in the chair. I also read emails, snoozed, and checked in on Facebook. An hour is a long time to not move your head.

My white dinner. This would be a pizza with no sauce, reduced fat cheese, mushrooms (ok, they are white enough!), and onions. Oh, and a glass of sauvignon blanc. It took every ounce of my willpower not to eat the whole pizza!

Ok, a non related picture but aren't they cute?!

All for now...

Introducing Arnold Pomeranian

As I am sure many of you guessed, that little guy at the end of my last post is my new/old dog! Arnold Pomeranian is one month younger than Lola and has been living in Pennsylvania for the past two years but he has now found his home in California. AP, Arnie, Snooch, Arnold was originally brought home as a companion for Lola-the-crazy. She had terrible separation anxiety and in my reading I learned she needed a friend or to take something daily to calm her down. Option number 2 sounded horrible so along came Arnold. The two of them became fast friends and it was pretty heartbreaking to separate them. At the time it seemed to be the best (or only) choice for all involved. Lola eventually adapted to being an "only dog" and enjoyed the spoils of her new life regularly.

Recently some circumstances presented themselves for me to be able to have Arnold once again. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Arnold came back into our lives much fluffier and bounding towards his long lost friend. I wish I could say Lola felt the same enthusiasm but she took awhile to warm up. I have caught a few snuggles in bed and on the couch though which leads me to believe she is pretty happy to have her friend back.

A few pictures of the life and times of Arnold Pomeranian...

Poor guy took a tumble down the stairs on day 1 and broke his leg :-(

The kids.

Snow poms.

Upside down Snooch!

Snuggle bugs

This...quickly turned into...

This. And now...

Fluffier than ever and back together

In a slightly heartbreaking moment, Scott and I packed up every possible summer item we could find and headed to Calistoga for the holiday weekend. Don't get me wrong, a weekend of fun in the sun with a pool in the backyard is not heartbreak, but I knew AP was confused and it was pretty rough on me to leave him. Luckily he was in good hands with Michelle! Hopefully she will babysit again as I was a bit of a pest this weekend with my new mommy syndrome.

A stop at Gloria on the way up (who can pass up free bubbles?)

The weekend turned out exactly as planned. Hot, sunny, great company, and tons of fun! We spent most of the weekend in the pool floating around and working on our tans. Or in my case what turned out to be a less than attractive sun burn. Slowly but surely it is turning into a tan though. I did manage to get in two runs in the hot weather which was both nice and hard. I am spoiled by the mild running weather here in the city and it took a bit to adjust to conditions.

I failed miserably at the picture taking this weekend but Hanna managed to stroll around the house and take the following pictures...

Where much time was spent!

A look back at the outdoor seating area as she took off on her photo journey

My favorite...a self portrait!

We didn't go without good food and drink as each of the families took a night to prepare dinner for the group.

Our night was Mexican...complete with homemade guac, chicken and steak tacos, and Tommy's excellent margaritas.

The 4th was a great day filled with bellinis and, you guessed it, more floating! We had a good ole American BBQ for dinner and then, lucky for us, the fireworks from the fair were perfectly viewed from the backyard! Couldn't have asked for better "seats".

Miss K and I floating in the pool

Don't you just want to give her a big hug?!

Hanna, Kayla and Paisley hanging out in their tubes. I swear Tanner was around this weekend too, he just moves too fast to capture!

Scott was there too!

Monday we made it home for a quick refresh and snuggle with the dogs before heading an hour south (yes, LOTS of driving this weekend) for a goodbye party for one of Scott's co-workers. More food and fun.

Today, I am beat. I am looking forward to more snuggle time on the couch with my two furry friends...we'll see if we can squeeze Scott in too ;-).