Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

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Sorry, Monday, I’m Just Not That Into You…

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On November 16, 2009

In Uncategorized

Attitude is everything.  I’ve taken some really rough days and put a positive spin on them and come out alright.  I’ve gotten through some tough times in my life just with optimistic thinking.  So why, when everything is going great, and I feeling so…bleh?

I’m thankful for having a job at a stable company that has a successful product where I’m making a living wage at a title that is not beneath me.  However, I’ve been at that title for 4 years now and it’s time to move up (I’ve never gone so long without a promotion).  Plus, I miss the creativity I used to have earlier this year.  That one post I made a few months ago all excited about job stuff?  That’s on hold and I’m onto something else not quite as exciting.

I’m thankful for have been able to able to lose 110 lbs, and go from someone who grumbled about having to park 100 feet away from her apartment to a half marathon runner.  However, it’s been the greater part of a year since I really took off any more weight.  Why the hell can’t I get it together and finish this up?  Also, a trend I’m not liking is I feel like I’m becoming less enthusiastic about my workouts.

I’m just feeling all around burnt out lately.  This year has been crazy (crazy cool, but still crazy) – it started in March with the birthdays and then April with half training, and then in July, it was wedding, wedding, wedding until October.  I figured things would calm down but now it’s been taking care of all the stuff I’ve put off since the wedding.  Plus I decided to take on NaNoWriMo.  And next week begins half marathon training.

I feel like the guy in Office Space who just wants to do nothing.  The silly thing is, I know it’s crazy because I go NUTS doing nothing.  I think the combination of stressing over my sticky scale numbers, having a period of work where I’m just not quite as into what I’m doing as I could be, not having had a good, lengthy, and relaxing vacation in a while, and feeling obligated to do something at every moment of the day this month is just about making me crack.

But don’t cry for me. Seriously.  I saw you taking that tissue out and just go ahead and put it back.

The Write Stuff:

Even though I’m stressing about it, NaNoWriMo has been a great experience that I will be immensely proud of, even if I don’t get to 50k words (but I’m not giving up!!).  Just sitting down to write a story and getting through it has been huge for me.  Though it’s been hell some days to find time to write, and yesterday I just couldn’t get inspired, I’m pleased with my consistency of being able to sit down and flow.  While this week was too crazy to write most days (hence, why I got so behind), I pulled over 7000 words out this weekend.

Words needed to be on track: 25000

Words written: 20500

Words per day needed this week to catch up: 2400

One thing I’m also realizing – it doesn’t need to be THE BOOK for me to start writing it.  You know, the masterpiece.  The one that’s going to somehow become a best seller and I’ll be able to retire and go move to Vermont like all writers do or whatever.  If I can speedwrite a short book in one month, I can chip away at a novel a year.  Slow, sure.  But it’s better than not writing and complaining about it.  I think it is going to be a goal from now on to write at least one novel per year.

Food, Glorious Food:

I’d say I lost it here this week, but honestly, I don’t know for sure.  I stopped tracking mid-week and just couldn’t bring myself to start it up again.  The key days were Wednesday, Friday, and the weekend.

Wednesday – work event, which I sailed through.  I ordered a DELICIOUS asian chicken salad and only used half the dressing.  Then later, for dinner, I ate a bunch of fried appetizers after some drinking.  This is sort of a wash.  Sure, I ate crap.  But at least I had the sense to split the crap with other people and then realize I was done eating for the night even though it was an appetizer.

Friday, I had a buffalo burger, wheat bun, no butter and split some fries for lunch.  I was hoping to love it since it’s a fairly healthy option for Fuddruckers, but I just didn’t.  The meat tasted weird.  We had grilled chicken, tiny baked potatoes, and my famous veggie pasta salad for dinner.  However, there were two margaritas on a beautiful patio and some drinks later, so again, kind of a wash.

Saturday, I knew I needed major fortification, so I had a footlong subway turkey with no cheese and lots of veggies and an apple.  That got me through the day until the party, where I cooked a feast (more on the tomorrow) and pushed tropical drinks on my guests!  There was some healthy (veggie tray, veggie curry, etc), and some not so healthy (fried lumpia, fried chicken katsu, etc), and I ate some of both.  Come on, a good cook ALWAYS tastes the creations.

Sunday, minus the pizza that found it’s way into the house during lunch time (Zliten’s fault!  He didn’t even give me the chance to veto, he just left and came back with it), I noshed on the leftover veggies, salad, soup, fruit, and for dinner we made tiny filets.

All in all, I think what happened is I slipped back into “balanced lifestyle” mode instead of “weight loss” mode.  I didn’t go off the deep end.  I balanced out the alcohol and junk with a lot of fruits and veggies.  And this was even left to my own devices.  I’d venture that I averaged maybe 1700 calories per day this week total, which is not what I’m aiming for, but not up to my maintenance calories either.  I’d call it a victory, but I haven’t had the courage to step on a scale yet.  Tomorrow morning, I’ll let you know. 🙂  Last week, I bounced between 154.2 and 155.4.  Disheartening as I was hoping to continue the downward trend, but encouraging as I was not up and down like normal.  I’ll take what I can get.

This week, my goal is to stay under 1500 calories per day (closer to 1300 if I can), minus a planned event Wednesday which I’ll allow up to 2000.

Body Movin’:

I talked about this a lot this week with my abrupt end to shredding, unplanned day off minus some yoga Wednesday, and my subsequent discovery of DDR circuits that I refined on Friday, so I’ll spare you any more details.  I took the entire weekend off to give myself a rest and am back at it this week.  This is essentially my week 0 for half training, and I’m getting myself prepared to run more by bumping it up to 3 days this week.  I am a week and a half from my 5 mile race, and I just haven’t trained much for it specifically, so I’m just hoping for the best.  Here is the plan:

Monday: 10 mins warmup, 6×400 sprints, 10 minute cooldown

Tuesday: 5 mile run at attempted race pace (45 minutes)

Wednesday: off

Thursday:DDR circuit

Friday: 3.1 mile tempo run (yeah, I’m going to chase my sub 25 5k ONE LAST TIME before half training starts and I need to be a reasonable human and stop running so fast and work on running far)

Weekend: DDR circuit and a bike adventure

Wednesday is off because I have to be into work early anyway to go to said event at 5:30, and I don’t do early early morning workouts so I’ll adjust the rest of my week accordingly.  I may reconsider and do a regular strength session tonight at the gym after my sprints instead of so much on the weekend, but we will see.  Without schedule conflicts, I would have run M/W/F (sprints/tempo/long) and did DDR circuits Tu/Th.

I still owe before and after shred pictures.  I’ll get on that.

So bloggy people, how was your weekend?  Anything supah cool?  Anyone else kinda feeling the blahs and just CANNOT WAIT for some damn time off over the holidays?   Wanna tell me what an arsehole I am for feeling whiny?  Your opportunity awaits…

And yes, it was another Natalie Dee day.  It just felt right.

Running A Year Ahead

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On October 23, 2009

In Half Marathon Training

So I have this horrible habit of planning too far ahead.  I know, sounds great, right?  Well, I’ve already got my half training plan semi-set for the half on Valentines day, I’m just letting the changes I made roll around in my brain to see if they make sense.  Now, I’m starting to work on a full marathon training program targeting a marathon in October 2010.  Oddly enough, I was not excited for either really until I started looking up training programs and putting schedules into excel.  Now, I just want it to be TRAINING TIME!!!  I would like to pose some quandries out there to people who are either in training or who have done the whole 9 yards (or even half of it…).

Half marathon:

  • I’m considering a longer taper. Last time, I ran hard up until 6 days before the race (did my 12 mile Sunday).  Then I did easy runs Mon/Thurs, a pretty hard tempo Tues, and raced Saturday.  A two week taper scares the crap out of me (last long run 2 weeks before the race), but I think one of my failings last time is I didn’t feel that well rested and this might help.
  • I am going to cut the time on my cross training. I did it because it was in my plan, but I see NO need to do 60 mins of cross training late in the game when I’m already running 25 miles and trying to cram in weights and yoga.  Instead of ascending with the run times, it’s going to be 30 mins per week.  Period.
  • Long runs on random days. Due to scheduling conflicts, the first 1/3 of my long runs will be Fridays, the second 1/3 will be Saturdays, and the last 1/3 will be Sundays so I get used to running Sunday.  Will that totally throw me off?
  • Anyone have awesome speedwork suggestions? I’m not trying to qualify for the olympics or anything, but I’d like to beat my 2:16.  Currently the plan is alternating 400 repeats w/400 jog (6 working up to 10 @ 8 min mile pace) and tempo runs (from 25-40 mins @ 8-9 minute mile pace).
  • Do I *really* need to run hills? I know the answer to that but… hate, hate, hate.  How would I work them into a training program?  Replace a speed workout every few weeks or replace an easy run every few weeks or…
  • I’ll be training through the winter and will attempt to not be a wuss and run outside every day. However, I’ll venture due to inclement weather I’ll need to hit the ‘mill occasionally.  I’m making the rule that at least 2 out of the 4 runs per week need to be outside.  Thoughts?  Since my feet are pretty road hardy already does it matter, or should I attempt to make every run outside unless its stupid stupid cold and raining/snowing?

Marathon Training.  Hooboy, lots of unknowns here.

  • Do you really, really have to drink aide in training during long runs? I prefer water and fueling with sport beans every 45-60 mins or so.  I like to train with water and then save aide for the race if I need extra oomph (I took aide at the last station during my half and it perked me up).  However, a lot of places out there swear you can’t get through the long 15+ mile runs without it.
  • I’m considering the less-is-more 3 days per week training program. Anyone ever tried it?  Basically, you skip all the pure mileage runs and run a tempo, a speedwork, and a long run per week.  Then, you cross train the other 2 days per week for 40-45 mins.  It makes sense to me.  You run good quality and focused runs (and faster than easy pace) but less often.  Am I committing long distance running suicide trying to do this for my first race and should stick with a more traditional plan?
  • Training time. There are some 3 month plans, some 4 month plans, and some even go to 6 months.  The current plan I think is coming off the half marathon, rest a month, for the next 3 months make sure I do one long run (10 miles or more) at least every other week.  Then, in mid-June (4 months out), I start formal training.  Woohoo.  Heat training all summer.  Oh boy.  I will be FLYING at that race when it’s a nice cool 60-70 degrees with an ocean breeze.  Or – should I start sooner since it’s my first?
  • Max miles on long runs? Some programs have you only going up to 20 (which seems ridiculous to me), some have you going to 22-24 (which seems more reasonable), and some have you running 30 a few weeks before.  It seemed good to train up and peak your miles on race day, but I’m not sure I want to add SIX miles on.  Two, sure.  It makes more sense to my logic circuits to run the whole distance or even a little further in preparation, but since I am NOT a robot, I don’t want to push myself too hard.
  • How hard is it? I mean, really.  Talk me out of this nonsense.  Training up from 6 miles to 13.1 was hard – but doable.  Most of the long runs were enjoyable.  That was 2 hours.  How different does it feel running for 4 hours?  13.1 miles was really not all that much harder than shorter distances as long as I made sure I kept my pace in check (with proper training).  Is there some magic that happens between 13.1 and 26.2 that makes it a whole different world?
  • Speed workouts? Some sites suggest them, some sites say don’t bother.  Some interesting workouts I saw: progression runs (most of the long runs easy – then the last 40 mins pick up the pace to finish at race pace), 10×100 pickups after a run (just to not forget how to go fast), 2×6 mile tempos 5 seconds faster than race pace with 10 min recovery jog between, 10 x 800 meters in the same minutes and seconds you want to finish your marathon in hours and minutes (if you want to finish in 4 hours you should run them in 4 minutes),  and 6 x 1 mile at 10k race pace.  It seems like most of the sites that suggest speed works say to mix them up.
  • I’m targeting Long Beach for a marathon because it’s pretty and temperate there is a 7 mile stretch along the beach and it makes for the start of a nice vacation.  However, there is a much closer one I can get to that would be a short drive, not a flight.  Who wants to talk me out of doing my first marathon 2000 miles away from home?

Anyone out there have other suggestions for me now that I’m starting to put together THE PLAN?  What helped you in your training?  What’s your best race story?  What’s your favorite race distance?  Should I just sit on the couch and eat popcorn instead?

Now, to run headlong into my weekend.  See ya next week, and I’ll let you know how Miss Jillian and her shredding are working out for me…

Another One Bites The Dust…

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On September 21, 2009

In Uncategorized

Weeks that is.  Time is flying so freaking fast.  I’m surprised it’s not Christmas already.  What’s been going on in my world?

Sweat rings R hawt.

Sweat rings R hawt.

5k race:

I was up at the butt crack of dawn (6 am) before it was light and got ready for the race.  We didn’t get out of the house until 7 and were on our way!  At about 7:30 we realized that the website gave the wrong directions – luckily, we found other people that were lost and they had found a couple going for a walk in the area, who pointed them in the right direction.  We followed them and got to the race around 7:45, and got registered and a number and headed to the start line just in time.  I made my way up close to the front of the line so I didn’t have to wade through the walkers/easy joggers and Zliten stayed at the back.

The course was awesome and rough at the same time.  Awesome – because there was nothing but one slight uphill (which we hit twice because it was a two lap course), and it was in this beautiful park/nature preserve area which always makes for a nice experience.  The rough was that although 1/3 of the course was on sidewalk, 1/3 was in grass/slightly muddy dirt, and 1/3 was on a trail with HUGE STICKS.  That surprised the hell out of me and I probably lost some time the first lap, but the second time around I just ran to the side of it, and it didn’t bother me much.  Also – they had mile 1 marked, but not mile 2 (or mile 3, but that was pretty obvious).  I was wondering why the second mile seemed so long when I got to the finish, tee hee.

I finished with an official time of 26:31, which included the few seconds to get to the start line (since it was not chip timed).  Zliten finished in 35:54 and it’s one of his best 5k times yet!  I got through the finish line and walked back, grabbed him water, found him on the course and then ran with him the rest of the way almost to the finish.  I placed 11th out of 76 females and 72nd out of 177 people overall.  Although I didn’t get my goal time, I did set an official race PR by 48 seconds and am pretty happy with my performance.  The race happens each month on the 3rd Saturday, so we’re going to go back next month and try again!

One thing I noticed – does anyone else that races notice this – around mile 1.5-2 I start getting REALLY over it.  There is enough of the race left that I’m not getting the “I’m almost there” boost, and you’re far enough in to have the tireds set in.  I ran at an 8:33/mile pace.  My first mile was 8:18 (that’s the only one I know because of the mile marker issue), and I’m pretty the last mile was pretty close to that.  My second mile had to have been over 9 minutes because I just felt so bleh and tired.  I hope to figure that one out by next month.  If I could stop losing my ooomph in the middle of 5ks, I’d run much better times.

Tee hee, couldnt resist this picture...

Tee hee, couldn't resist this picture...

Project: Unfluffy Bride:

This is starting officially today and ends October 1st.  I’m attempting to eat as close to 1200 calories as I can per day, and modifying my cardio a bit so my appetite doesn’t incapacitate me.  The plan is to do 30 mins cardio 4 days this week (running or DDR), 2 weights sessions, and a bike adventure sometime this weekend.  I’m allowing myself to do less if I need, or a *little*more if I feel like, but that’s the plan.

The last few days weren’t terribly successful, and they averaged out to about 1700 calories per day instead of the 1500 I’d like, but I am starting off at 155.4 today instead of in 157 silly town, so I must have done SOMETHING somewhat right.  Wish me luck with the rest of this week.  My first challenge: lunch with the girls today at Tex Mex…

Wedding stuff:

One week four days until I’m hopping on a jetplane to Vegas to get hitched.   Most of the details are dealt with, but there is still a lot to do.  Right now, the item of the day to figure out is centerpieces – the hotel said decorations were included (which we thought meant centerpieces), but after we pressed them for details, the only thing they actually provide is a black candle holder with a lit candle in it.  Not exactly tropical themed.

Now, we have two options.  The first is to get centerpieces done to match my bouquet (orange, purple, and white).  I am finding out today how expensive this is. The other option is to bring my own centerpieces, and my parents had a great idea of a small circular mirror, some tea lights, and flower petals.  Since we have a bunch of other stuff to decorate the tables with (leis, flower hair clips, tropical confetti, those silly little drink umbrellas, etc), we don’t need something HUGE, but just something at the center would be cool.   Any suggestions/ideas?

The makeup is going well.  I went on a little spree this weekend and am now much better prepared.  I went with the bare minerals starter kit for fair skin, and am incredibly happy with it.  At first I was a little nervous that it was going to be too light – but it looked amazing after it was done.   The rest of the routine involves the pinks look that I did last week, but my awesome maid of honor V gave me some blush and is letting me borrow some bronzer.  Hooray!

The hair progress is going a little slower, but ok.  Got2Be hair luster lotion is amazing.  I hope to never live without this product ever, ever again.  I, right now, am on 3 day hair I’ve slept on twice and have not brushed, and there is nothing sticking up as long as I apply a little of this at my roots every morning.  I went for a curly look (hence, why I haven’t brushed it) and used Fructis Wonder Waves spray.  It makes the hair a little crunchy, which I don’t really want for the wedding, but for daily use, it’s awesome!  Like I said, it’s 3 days from being washed, and I still have nice, defined curls as long as I spray it on every morning.  None of these products take very long to use, so I can see keeping up with it at least some of the time.  I didn’t get a really good picture of this, but I’ll try to take one tonight.  I plan to wash my hair then and try something different.

So… yeah.  Any advice for the centerpieces?  Run any races this weekend?  Wanna tell me what your favorite low calorie super healthy go to meal is?  Hit me up.

Thingity Things of This Week

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On September 18, 2009

In Uncategorized

I don’t have that much to say but figured since Friday is a normal posty day, I should at least ramble about things and goings onses.

Running:

5k tomorrow!  I’m excited and a little nervous to see if I can get my 26 flat time or better, but I think I’m more excited as it’s Zliten’s first race!  Woohoo!  Never did I think I was going to get him to run with me but now he seems to quite like it.  Endorphins FTW!  I feel good and prepared – yesterday I went for a nice, easy run to keep my legs loose and I kept wanting to go fast.  That means the legs are rested.  Check.  This morning, I did a nice long yoga, and the plan tonight is relaxing, and more relaxing.  Checkity check.  Good race prep.

After the race, we are going to see my parents for a belated birthday lunch of BBQ.  Alliterations FTW!  Then, some shopping to procure makeup/hair/other stuff… it’s gonna be a busy and long day.  I may demand a nap!

Day 1 of project: unfluffy bride:

Well, my plan was to hit the top of my range today and that I did (going over by 10 calories).  My lunch was bigger than I would have liked, but I had a pretty light dinner to compensate and only ate my 2 pieces of fruit for snax rather than digging into the nuts or seeds or whatnot.

I’m seeing 2 problem areas.  One I rocked last night, one I didn’t.  My first “shoving things in my cakehole when I shouldn’t” time was right after I got home from work.  To put things in perspective – I had a 200 calorie breakfast, about a 650 calorie lunch, and about 100 calories in snacks, so I wasn’t starving in the least.  I then realized it had become a habit to eat out of the pantry when I got home.  I had the same issue after the run and before dinner.  The conversation with myself went something like:

Munchy self: “Mmm, I’m a bit peckish.  Let’s have a snack.  These baked cheese doodles look rather tasty.”

Self that wants to be unfluffy: “No!  Dinner is coming soon.  You just had fruit.  You are not going to faint dead if you don’t stuff your face.”

MS:  “But how about some veggies and hummus *cough*andpitachips*cough*.  That’s heatlhy, right?”

STWTBU: “NOT ON THE CALORIE PLAN!  STOP IT!”

MS: “Ok, then fine.  How about we go for the stir fry veggies leftover.   It’s veggies.  You can’t say no to veggies, right?”

STWTBU: “NO!  It’s the principal of things.  Today it’s veggies, tomorrow I’m back to the cheese doodles dipped in cheese spread (yes, I did it, and I won’t apologize, it was FUCKING YUMMY).”

MS: “We can eats it with our fingerses!  If you don’t use plates and utensils it has no calories…”

STWTBU: (almost believes it and has the tupperware open and then slams it shut) “Wait, NO!  That isn’t right.  I’m leaving the kitchen now…”

MS: *grumblegrumble* “Fine, we’ll discuss this later.”

I won the first round but lost the second.  We had a good friend over, and we happened to have his birthday cheesecake sitting in our fridge from another friend.  After a lovely, light, and healthy dinner, I cut them big slices and me a little slice.  Then it just looked too sad and little so I added another sliver (but it was still about half their size).  My Zliten went ahead and left half his cheesecake and when I took it in, MS won as I mowed down the rest of it.  Le sigh.

Regardless, I’m back on it and ready to fight another battle today.  The stats from yesterday:

1560 calories.  Only “notsogood” things eaten were a few tortilla chips at lunch and the cheesecake incident.  Everything else was totally on plan.

Did a slightly less than 3 mile run and full body weights.  My guesstimate is about 600 calories burnt.

Weighing in at 156.4 this morning.  Not great, but closer to being under my freak out weight than yesterday.

Hair and Makeup Adventures:

Well, I took the night off.  My face was feeling kinda dry and my hair kinda dirty and frizzy, and figure it wasn’t worth it.  I was going to try to do a look with more browns/coppers, but I actually don’t have a lipstick that goes with those tones, and while eyeshadow under chapstick works in a pinch, it wasn’t worth it.  I’m going to try again after I get my list o new stuff to play with.  I’m pretty confident with my makeup after this week, and I have two weeks to figure out the hair stuff and I’ve had LOTS of great advice!  Thanks so much!

I’m going out tomorrow with the intent of picking up the Got2B Smooth Operator Smoothing Luster Lotion, some bare minerals foundation/powder/concealer, and maybe some other fun and exciting stuff like mousse/gel/etc for volume.  Anyone have any opinions on diffusers vs just using a low setting on my dryer and cupping the hair in my hands?  I hate to spend the money on it because I rarely do my hair curly, but if it’s the one and only thing that’s going to make this work, I’ll spring for it.

Have a great weekend!  Wish me luck at the race and then with figuring out the ‘do.  Honestly, more nervous about the ‘do as there will be other races, but only ONE WEDDING.  Geez, I sound like such a girly girl there.  Ah, well.  I’ll be back Monday with results on both.  If you’d like to know more immediately, follow me on twitter or friend me on facebook (name is Leah Ruben, and I’m the one with the vintage gymnastics profile pic).

And I just have to end it on this…

Things on my head, things in my head…

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On September 14, 2009

In Uncategorized

Things In My Head:

So normally every Monday I post this mathematically anal and precise summary of what I did last week and what I am going to do this week.  There are calories in, and calories out.  To be honest, Friday it started to drive me crazy.  I’m not making the progress I want anyway.  4 day workout weeks were interesting, but just not working for me as well as they used to.  I’m still hanging out in that silly little 153-155 (ignoring the scale today because it is mean and way outside the norm) range I can’t shake, no matter how much the numbers say I should be moseying away from it.

So I’m going to, for at least this week, do it a little more organically.  I am going to eat (mindfully) what I goddamn feel like, and focus on what my body is trying to tell me it needs.  Focus on good whole foods and fruits and veggies and good proteins and fats and the like.  I took the entire weekend off working out (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) minus walking pretty close to 1000 miles shopping (ok, so maybe only about 8 or so but still).  When your friend asks for his birthday present to relax and not workout, you oblige.  I am adopting a workout plan for this week, but only because I am racing (just a little local unofficial one) on Saturday morning.

Today: 5k easy run, weights

Tues: 5k for pace (26 minutes plzplz?) and yoga

Wednesday: DDR and weights

Thursday: 5k run with timed mile #2 (7:10 plzplz?) and yoga

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Race!

Still a pretty kick ass week, but spread out a little more, and no long run.  Will resume distance next week because I really enjoy that long run, but this week it’s all about trying to prep for a PR!

Still things in my head:

So we’re in a all wedding, all the time stage of the game here at La Tete de Quix, considering in 2 weeks and 4 days I’ll be on a plane to Vegas.  We are making huge strides in finalizing everything, but I still have these main things to deal with:

  • The reception details.  The coordinator is just impossible to get ahold of and we have a lot of questions.   I think it will be a pretty quick phone call because we have all the main stuff dealt with, but I feel a little ill at ease not having some of the stuff like decorations, dance floor, audio setup, and cake stuff dealt with.
  • Final touches on my ensemble.  I need to finish figuring out my makeup and do some more trial runs.  The first run I loved at first but then realized it was a little too dark for a day tropical wedding.  Also, I’ve been researching how to get my hair to do what I want (beachy waves, mostly down, maybe some braids, flowers, etc).  My maid of honor was going to do my hair and makeup, but she said she was nervous about getting it right, so I’m looking into doing it myself, or at least knowing EXACTLY what I want so I can enlist help getting the curling iron around the back of my head and such.   Also, still kinda want some sort of tropical flower brooch possibly to go on the front of the dress.   I think though… that’s it!
  • Reception timeline and playlist.  We’re not going with a DJ or band – we’re bringing the mp3 player loaded with a playlist and getting a friend to sorta be “master of ceremonies”.  So that being that, we need to spend a bunch of time downloading songs and figuring out what of the traditional things we want to do and when.

Geez, I think that’s about it.  After all the things still outstanding last week, I feel much better about everything.

Finally, things ON my head:

So after doing a bunch of hair research (did I really just say hair research?  heh) I found a freaking awesome little tool on the In Style site.  Seriously, make sure you have an hour or two to waste and give it a click.  Some highlights:

This one is actually one of my favorites.  I don’t necessarily want this cut for the wedding, but it’s pretty close to that “I’ll have this look someday” picture in my head with the dark hair with red highlights, bangs, and a little longer than shoulder length.  I’ll have to make sure that this one doesn’t make me look horrid if I do my normal bedhead hairdo (which, perhaps, if I looked that nice with some effort, might happen less often but let’s be honest, priority #1 in the morning is my workout, not the curling iron), but I might go for it later this year.  The nice thing about hair – it grows back (and mine grows fast).

Ok, enough of that, onto wedding ideas…

Here are some of the styles that are just about almost right.  The far left has braids like I was playing with, but I think I want a little more of my hair up.  Middle – I can ALMOST get my hair to do that, but I can’t quite get the volume and it just doesn’t look as nice.  That one would be fun too because I could probably get away with an extra flower in back.  Also, if this could be my natural color, I might possibly give my left arm.  Right, I like the waves at the bottom better than the one before it, but I like the top part of the other one better. Bottom – I like the curls but it needs something else to it.

I went ahead and tried their makeup generator too, and it left me looking about 10 years older.  Do please ignore that part of it, but I think the flower will work.  I wanted them all over my hair but I think that more than one flower/clump will be overkill.  I think I want more of a “half up” type style more than what’s going on here, but I like the wispy, fresh from the beach style that’s there.  For some reason, this picture screams glamour shots.  Remember those?  I never got them but I was always jealous of the girls who did…

Anywhoo, here’s more fun!  Man, I wish I could be as cute as Zooey in her do (fourth), but I’m actually amazed I can pull of Charlize’s (third) as well as am there.   Enjoy, but don’t tell your bosses where you got the idea.  In fact, don’t tell mine.   Have a great Monday – how’s your hair today?  Should I go for that first cut?  How’s your hair?  What would you do with it if you could just have a stylist appear?

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About Me

I'm a video game producer and a lover of anything game related by trade.  I'm a triathlete by hobby.  I live for being on or in the water as much as I can - scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, water slides... you name it.  The dichotomy between my outdoor and indoor realities are interesting, but they're all mine!  Longer version here...

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