Hello from Walt Disney World!

With the lovely Heather of Running With Sass.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, last week a handful of bloggers were presented with this amazing opportunity to join FitFluential and RunDisney for the Princess Half Marathon this weekend. An amazing opportunity that includes a FULL weekend of events that started today and will run all the way until Sunday. I’m really excited because these events will give us an inside look into what makes RunDisney tick by the people who make these events possible. Exciting stuff!

My original plan was to be in Walt Disney World by 2:00, but when 2:00 rolled around – and I was still in Tampa – I knew that wasn’t going to happen. On the plus side, I got some exciting news about HLS today.

An hour and a half behind schedule, I still made great time heading to Disney World and enjoyed a homemade trail mix of nuts and dried fruit along the way.

The RunDisney people are graciously putting us up in The Animal Kingdom Lodge for the weekend. The hotel is located right outside of The Animal Kingdom and is well known for the animals that roam outside the rooms.

Unfortunately, I only have a lovely view of the parking lot, but I as able to catch some glimpses of animals in other parts of the hotel.

Look! A giraffe! And zebra!

I stashed my stuff in the room and did what any normal human being would do, I headed straight to the pool to meet with fellow FitFluential ambassadors Heather and Kelly by the pool.

Only I forgot my swimsuit at home, so it was purely comfy-legging lounging for me.

When we checked in, we were all presented with a packet that included a few goodies for the weekend, including 4-day park hopper passes for the parks and a media FastPass that allowed for instant fast passes to all the ride (aka Disney Gold).

We had two hours to kill before dinner, so I talked Heather into taking a quick trip to Animal Kingdom to put our Disney Gold to the test.

It’s like magic. I put the media pass in the FastPass machine and a ticket popped out for the current time of day instead of the usual 30-45 minute callback time. That way I could instantly walk on the ride without waiting and I could use the pass again immediately if need be (usually you have a time limit to wait before you’re able to grab another FastPass). I have BIG PLANS with this pass and the Toy Story ride this weekend.

Heather and I knew we still had a while for dinner, so we split a pretzel to hold us over.

Hi Heather!

We rode a ride, had a pretzel, and walked and talked before we returning to the hotel to clean up before dinner.

Fellow FitFluential-ist Callie, Kelly, Heather, Brittany, and Christie before dinner.

Tonight the bloggers had a quiet dinner with the RunDisney marketing reps at Sanaa in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Sanaa has a large Indian menu with African influences to their dishes. I was warned the food is ‘interesting’ and ‘spicy, spicy.’ I said to bring it on. ‘Interesting’ sounds like it’s right up my ally.

We started with traditional naan and a plethora of spices ( my favorite was the curried coconut)

Then we moved onto heavy appetizers of lamb, samosas, and roasted cauliflower. I actually didn’t realize this was just the appetizer and ended up filling up on this round of food. Oops. Oh, and they weren’t kidding about the spice! My mouth was on fire.

I was Callie’s copycat and ordered a Malbec to go with the rest of dinner.

Nest was my favorite course – the salads. The watermelon salad was so refreshing after the spicy round of appetizers.

Finally, the main course arrived.

But, of course, no meal would be complete without dessert.

My favorite? The mango ice cream on the very end. AMAZING.

Now I’m stuffed and ready for bed. We have EARLY wake-up calls through the rest of the weekend, I better get some sleep.

Good Night!

Question: What’s your favorite Disney hotel? I always loved the pool at the Yacht Club as kid.

Derek is working from home today and asked me sometime around noon if we had anything in the kitchen for lunch. I said “sure, but you might have to get creative.”

Here’s my version of getting creative.

We had a head of cauliflower that had entered the use-it-or-lose-it stage of life, so I chopped it up and roasted it with some chili powder, salt and pepper. Bbq sauce is amazing on roasted cauliflower, in case you were wondering.

I also added the last of a container of cherry tomatoes to my plate.

I almost made an egg sandwich, but decided eggs-in-a-basket would be more fun. I used an Arnold’s Thin for the bread and smeared them with pumpkin butter.

See. There was food in the kitchen. It just took a little imagination to turn that food into lunch.

Ben and Ashley’s Wedding: The Details

Ben and Ashley did such a beautiful job with the little details of their wedding, that I thought they deserved their own post. Let me know if you have any questions about anything in the comments below and I’ll try to track Ashley down for the answers.

On the Bride:

• Dress: Alfred Angelo’s (something new)
• Shoes: Etsy (something blue)
• Hairpiece: Alfred Angelo’s
• Veil: A piece of my mom’s veil (something old) <- I’ll explain this in a later post
• Jewelry: diamond earrings and necklace from her grandfather and a bracelet from her mother (something borrowed)
• Hair & Make-up: Divine Image of Titusville

On the bridesmaids:

• Dresses: Alfred Angelos (Ashley told us we could pick whatever style of dress we liked from Alfred Angelos as long as the dress came in the cobalt blue color and was a certain material. Really it was just plain luck that we all selected similar styles – the only difference being that Chelsea and I had bows on our dresses. You can read about our dress shopping experience on THIS POST and I wrote about alterations HERE).
• Shoes: DSW
• Jewelry: American Eagle
• Hair & Make-Up: Divine Image of Titusville

The Flowers

• Flowers of Distinction of Titusville

Here’s a little secret – Ashley had all of the bouquets and boutonnieres in her possession 6 months before the wedding. How? They were all fake. Ashley is allergic to fresh flowers and – instead of swelling up like a balloon on her big day – opted for fake arrangements. This was also a great way to save a little money and – honestly? – I’m not even sure anyone noticed or cared. Everything was still beautiful and no eppie pens were needed <- huge plus.

The Reception

• Courtyard Marriott in Cocoa Beach

This was actually the same hotel our friend April had her reception last summer (recap here). The ballroom will technically seat up to 200, but I thought150 felt just right and much more than that would have been too tight. It was also nice that the hotel was right on the beach so the bridal party could get some great beach shots.

The Candy Buffet

On February 15th, Ashley was at Wal-Mart at 5:30am in order to be one of the first stock up on discounted Valentine’s Day candy. She ended up buying too much and having to return some, but it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.

The candy buffet was a HUGE hit. Most of the containers were near empty by the end up the night and there was a constant flow of guests filling up the bags through the night.

Ashley made the sign herself.

It read:

Candy Buffet

Step right up to the candy buffet

It’s a sweet addition to a wonderful day

This is a treat we are offering to you

On this beautiful date when we say I Do

Use the scoop, choose what you like

Leave some for others,

Be polite.

If you enjoy your bag of treats,

Please remember,

Love is Sweet!

Photo Collage

Two days before the wedding, my Dad and Ben built the photo collage that was displayed behind the present table. They cut two poles down to size, spray painted them black, and drilled three holes on each pole to attach the strings to. The night before the wedding, Ashley’s aunts set up up the photo collage behind the present and card table. The collage was made up of photos of Ben and Ashley growing up and of the two of them together over their five years of dating. Ashley didn’t even end up seeing the display in person and only saw it in photos the morning after.

The Guestbook

(no picture )

The guestbook was an address card holder that Ashley ordered off of Etsy. Each guest filled a card out with all of their contact information, birthday, and well wishes for the bride and groom.

Cupcakes

The cupcakes were from Caked with Love of Titusville, Florida.

Caked with Love is a local cupcake company run by Ashley’s good friend Melissa. Her cupcakes are AMAZING! They’re very tasty and so beautifully done. She did the same dark chocolate frosting for Ashley’s bridal shower cupcakes and I’ve been fantasizing about them ever since.

Originally Ben was going to build a cupcake stand for the reception, but they realized that it was just about the same amount to buy one pre-made as it would be build it, and they ended up ordering one online.

There was one minor hiccup at the reception when guests started eating the cupcakes before they cut the cake. I’m not sure they realized the cupcakes were the ‘cake’ and by the time it was time to cut the ‘cake’ – half of them were gone. Not cool. But there really wasn’t much you could do at that point. Oh well.

And just because this is the stuff I wonder about… Ashley ordered 160 cupcakes for 150 guests and ended up having some left over. I know she was told to order at least 1.5 cupcakes per guest when she was shopping cupcake bakeries, but having 1 per guest, plus an additional 10, worked out just fine.

Center Pieces

Ashley ordered the numbers off of Etsy (from here) and collected green wine bottles in the months leading up to the wedding. A week before the wedding, she recruited several family members to wrap the wine bottles with the numbers and fill them with peacock feathers that were held in place with wax.

She ordered the candle votives in bulk from Dollar General. It was an easy centerpiece that fit the theme perfectly.

Peacock Feathers

Did you catch Ashley’s theme? Peacock feathers! She was inspired by a Victoria’s Secret runway show of all things and just ran with the idea. There were little touches of peacock feathers everywhere – from the jewelry the bridesmaids wore, to the feather on her beautiful blue shoes, to our bouquets, to the table numbers, etc.

I thought the touches of peacock feathers were fun and hope to incorporate snowflakes in the same fashion for my wedding.

Ben and Ashley did a fabulous job on their wedding. Everything was so beautiful and so them. However, in the end, the extra details are just fun touches for the day – what really matters is the love the radiated through every moment of their wedding and reception. This is something I need to remember in my own wedding planning. In the end, all that matters is the love and marriage, everything else is just, well, details.

Congrats again Ben and Ashley!

Other Ben & Ashley Wedding Posts:

• A Magical Engagement
• I’m Going to be a Bridesmaid!
• Say Yes (Maybe) to the Dress
• Intro to Wedding Blogs
• Bridesmaid Dress Shopping
• Toasting the Future Mrs. Anderson (Bridal Shower)
• Six Girls and a Veil (Bachelorette Pt 1)
• The Bride’s Entourage (Bachelorette Pt 2)
• The Bachelorette (Bachelorette Pt 3)
• The Rehearsal
• Getting Ready
• The Ceremony
• The Reception

Good Morning!

I was at the gym early this morning for the second workout of New Rules of Lifting for Women Stage 7.

Stage 7 is tough. My legs were still a little sore from workout 1 of Stage 7 on Tuesday and I know I’m going to be feeling today’s workout in the morning. Luckily workout 1 was leg heavy, while workout 2 was heavier on the arms- so it will be a nice even spread of soreness in the morning.

Stage 7 is also pretty long. The 4 set of 15-20 reps were a bit time consuming. I was at the gym for well over an hour, trying to fit everything in.

For breakfast I took another stab at Apple Nachos.

These are so fun to make and eat. The ‘nachos’ are just thinly sliced apple segments topped with a thinner mix of PB2 and milk, raisins, and a handful of Quaker Oatmeal Squares. They were enjoyed with my hands, on the couch, in front of the tv – just how nachos should be.

Maybe next time I’ll add a nice dollop of plain yogurt for ‘sour cream.’

Around the Web

Exciting news! On Monday, February 27 at 6 pm CST Whole Foods will host their first-ever national live streaming Parmigiano Reggiano Celebration. During the event, Chef Derek Sano will demonstrate and discuss four parmigiano reggiano themed recipes created by bloggers. I’m excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with Whole Foods and created a Parmigiano Reggiano Dressing that will be featured at the event!

My Parmigiano Reggiano Dressing recipe is now live on WholeFoods.com or you could tune in and follow along here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/whole-foods-market on February 27th to see the recipe take shape live.

Amy Sherman of Cooking with Amy, Sara Wells of Our Best Bites, and Tina Haupert of Carrots n Cake have also all created some pretty amazing recipes for the event. I’m particularly interested in Tina’s Brussels Sprout Pizza. Yum.

Have you ever suffered from race burnout? That ‘ burnt-out’ feeling is something every runner faces at least once in their running career, but I’m happy to report that a little break and a re-examination of what works best for you is the ultimate cure. Check out my guest post at Healthy, Happier, Bear today where I discuss how I recovered from my own burnout in 2011.

Do you have a fun post to share today? Well, let’s hear it! Leave a link in the comments section!

I guess last night’s teaser for my Princess Half Marathon costume wasn’t much of teaser because everyone guessed correctly. I’m going to be Belle!

Or, you know, try to be Belle.

Fun fact: when I was in first grade (and Beauty and the Beast had just hit theaters) I asked my mom to change my name to Belle for school. She said no.

I actually prefer Belle in her blue and white dress (I was never a fan of the glitz and glamour look as a kid), but a quick trip to JoAnns made me realize that the yellow ‘princess-y’ look would be easier to recreate. Go figure.

I actually went in not sure what I was getting myself into. I thought I would find some fabrics that matched the color I was after, wrap the fabric around my body, and be done with it. Unrealistic much? But then this mannequin’s tutu caught my attention.

Once I saw it and examined it, I knew the look could be recreated it at home.

So I bought a yard and a half of yellow tulle, a yard and a half of yellow fabric with sparkles, and hoped for the best.   

The rest of my supplies included: a tiara, puffy paint, fabric tape, fabric glue, elastic cord, a white tank top, a yellow tank top, and a red flower.

First, I started with the elastic. I measured it freely around my waist and used the back of a chair as an impromptu mannequin for the assembly of the tutu.

I secured the elastic cord with a safety pin, but ended up having to make it an inch or two smaller when I was finished. If you’re going to the less adjustable approach (like permanently securing the elastic cord together) then I would suggest measuring one to two inches tighter than you think you’ll need because it will stretch out a bit.

Then I cut the tulle into strips.

The strips were about 1.5 inches thick and I ended up using all of 1.5 yards of fabric for the tutu.

To assemble the tutu, I folded the strips in half and draped the folded end over the elastic.

Then I pulled the two ends through the loop of the folded end

and pulled tight

until it was secure on the elastic and there weren’t any gaps in the looped knot.

I just repeated the process until I ran out of tulle

The full tutu – from start to finish – took about an hour to complete.

Or one episode of Pretty Little Liars.

The tutu skirt is nothing fancy, but it was easy to create and I got the look I was going for.

I’m still not sure what to do for the top part. I wrapped the yellow sparkle fabric around my mid-section and pinned it in place. I figured that if all else fails, this method could technically get the job done on race day. I’m not looking to break any records here, just have fun and play dress-up at Disney with my running buddies.

Kinda? Sorta? Maybe?

We’ll see. I still have time to work on it. At least I have a yellow tutu – that’s a start.

Any running costume tips you want to share? Please do!

I had a meeting at Whole Foods this afternoon that ended up going well past my normal dinner time. Lucky for me, a meeting at Whole Foods meant an easy dinner at home.

Soup to go!

I reheated the Sweet Potato and Kale soup on the stove top when I got home.

The soup was rather bland. I tried to spice it up with salt, pepper, chili powder, and garlic, but I couldn’t get it right.

I also had a corn and cashew cake that was also ‘just ok.’ I wasn’t very impressed with my Whole Foods quick-grab dinner this evening.

Peach + almond for an afternoon snack.

Valentine’s Day Godiva chocolate for dessert.

I think Scooby is starting to feel at home here.

What do you think?

Good Night!

There’s something about today’s lunch that just makes me smile.

I think it’s all the bright colors. You really can not go wrong with a brightly colored lunch.

In the mix

• spinach
• tomatoes
• green beans
• carrots
• chickpeas
• almonds
• mozzarella cheese

On top – the last biscuit with pumpkin butter.

Yes, the colors were pretty, but I think the biscuit was what put this meal over the top.

Savage Race Giveaway

Alright, Central Florida – who’s ready to get dirty?

The Savage Race is returning to Orlando on March 10th and I have TWO free entries to giveaway!

In case you’re not familiar with The Savage Race, I’ll just say there’s a reason they call it ‘the race built to kick your ass‘ because – well – it kicks your ass. I ran, swam, and scaled 8ft walls at the 2011 race back in August, and I will tell you that it was not easy. Extremely fun and challenging, but not easy.

So if you are up for the challenge of this year’s race, I have to warn you that even though this year’s race is in the exact same location as August’s race, I’ve heard rumors that the Savage Race team added another mile to the course and a handful of obstacles to go with it. It shall be epic.

You can still register for the March 10th Savage Race online or, if you’re a local and feeling lucky, leave a comment on this post telling me what your craziest made-up obstacle would be in an event like Savage Race. Please feel free to use your imagination, i.e. I would add a bungee jumping obstacle where you would plunge over alligators. You know – to keep it interesting.

You have until tomorrow night at midnight to enter. I will draw two lucky winners Friday morning.

Good Luck!

Happy Wednesday!

I had 6 miles on my training plan this morning with 8-10 fartleks. However, as soon as I started running, I realized that wasn’t happening. My legs were feeling the sting from yesterday’s NROLFW workout and just running at an ‘easy pace’ was pushing it for them. Running on tired legs is great practice (because I promise your legs WILL be tired at mile 20 of marathon and not want to be pushed then either), so I’ll just vouch this as a ’6 miles on tired legs’ training day.

After my run I had a little of this, and a little of that for breakfast.

One chocolate Oikos topped with fresh strawberries, dried fruit, and Kashi Go Lean Crisp

One Arnold’s Thin topped with honey peanut butter, raisins, and flax seed.

Mizuno’s Wave Rider 15 Review

A couple of months ago Mizuno sent me a pair of their new Waver Rider 15s to test out and review for the blog. I have to be honest and admit that it was the fun colors that really caught my attention with these. I know, I know – Rule #1 when buying a pair of running shoes is to never select a pair because they’re ‘pretty.’ Well, these were pretty and I was smitten.

It may have been the pretty colors that sold me initially on the shoes, but it was the great support the neutral base provided that kept me coming back to them. The shoes arrived a month before the St. Pete Rock ‘n’ Roll and my original plan was just to take them for a quick test run around the block. I wanted to continue training in my beloved Brooks until the race was over, then switch to the Mizuno’s on a more long term basis after that.

The first was run was ok in the MIzunos. They were stiff and in desperate need of being stretched out, but there was something about them that just felt right. I ran fast in them, faster than I was expecting in a new pair of shoes, especially ones I thought were too stiff.

I went back to my Brooks for the next run, but the Mizuno’s kept finding their way back on my feet for longer walks and pretty soon for shorter runs, then longer runs. It was a gradual transition to the Mizuno’s that kept both my legs and feet happy.

My Brooks never did find their way to St. Pete – it was the Mizunos that eventually proved themselves in training and carried me to my new PR.

I hate to talk shoes because, honestly, I don’t know much about them. I’ve always found the brand and style of shoes that a runner chooses to wear is so personal and unique to each individual runner, that one runner’s favorite shoe may be another runner’s enemy. I could recommend my favorite running shoe to someone, but if I have wide feet, high arches, and need a neutral base – and you don’t – then my recommendation just became invalid.

What I can say is that the MIzuno Wave Rider 15s come in really fun colors. They’re stiff right out of the box and take a couple of runs to really break in – so don’t give up after the first run. For my wide, high-arched feet, they were a great fit and the extra cushioned supportiveness is always a great bonus in a running shoe.

What do you look for in a new running shoe?

I need to rewind for a minute.

Remember our day of pampering the bride on Friday?

Well, we were in a bit of a rush on Friday, so I wasn’t able to go into too many details, but I wanted to share a couple now.

Like… how starting the day with massages was one of the best ideas our bride had.

If you’re in Titusville – and looking to treat yourself to a reasonably priced massage – I highly suggest checking out HealthQuest on Garden Street. They do great work there.

Or …that getting your toes done is fun no matter what the situation.

Getting your hands done is fun too.

I rarely have my nails painted, but when I heard they had gel nail polish – I was sold. It’s a little pricier than a traditional manicure (and it’s a little more tedious of an application process), but it doesn’t chip for up to three weeks and it’s instantly dry when you’re finished. The gel polish isn’t anything new – just new to me.

I decided to go with the french tip for wedding weekend and loved the results. And they were right – no chips!

Here’s the gel manicure on Friday…

And here it is today (Tuesday)….

Still no chips! If this was normal nail polish, I would have chipped half of it off by now. This stuff is impressive. Too bad it wasn’t around when I was in high school and french tips were all the rage. Was that an every high schooler thing or just my high school thing?

Catching back up to today…

Lunch was a great plate of leftovers.

My snack was a container of applesauce topped with walnuts, almonds, and Chocolate Sommersaults.

Dinner was a random mix of green beans, acorn squash, red onion, chickpeas, cheese, and a biscuit.

(Derek was at his brother’s for dinner + I didn’t get home until late = quick, random meal)

I dug into my candy-bar favor for dessert.

Edible favors = GENIUS

Oh! AND I have a fun announcement to make….

Thanks to FitFluential and RunDisney, I’ll be running Disney Princess Half Marathon with a few of my favorite bloggers this weekend. (yippee!!!)

It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE Disney fanatic, so I’m extra excited about this amazing opportunity.

So excited that I spent 45 minutes in JoAnn Fabrics this evening purchasing costume supplies.

Any guesses what those pieces of fabric will become?!?!

If you’re heading to the Princess Half this weekend as well, check out the meet-up Heather is organizing on Saturday. I hope to see you there!

And another stage bites the dust.

• New Rules of Lifting for Women Plan
• NROLFW Stage 1 Recap
• NROLFW Stage 2 Recap  
• NROLFW Stage 3 Recap
• NROLFW Stage 4 Recap
• NROLFW Stage 5 Recap

Well, that didn’t take long. I swear these stages keep getting shorter and shorter!

Stage 6 is considered the ‘bonus stage’ of New Rules of Lifting For Women. The author gives you the option of skipping the stage and moving straight to Stage 7 or pursuing it with the goal of successfully completing one unassisted pull-up at the end. I was up for the challenge and decided to take Stage 6 head on.

So, with that, I guess the big question is….Did the stage work? Was I able to complete an unassisted pull-up at the end?

Well, no, but I did get closer to completing one than I ever have before. Progress is progress and I bet one more round of Stage 6 (which I debated doing) would have made it possible. Maybe I’ll go back for round 2 once I’m done.

The Workouts

Stage 6 was a little different than the previous stages because the two workouts didn’t match up. Workout 1 (Stage 6A) only had 4 workouts with an A, B and 2 Cs, while workout 2 (Stage 6B) had 5 workouts with 3As and 2Bs. Usually the stages have an A, 2 Bs, 2Cs, and a D. From the outside, these numbers make the workouts seem short, but a higher numbers of reps and sets actually made them longer.

What really, really killed me were the 10 sets of underhand-grip lat pulldowns. Since the reps were low (only 2!) I was able to go heavier on the weight, but 10 sets of the heavier weights (with limited rests in between) were brutal. Plus, I felt kinda funny taking up the machine for such a long period of time. There were times where the rest times had to be longer because I was trading off the machine with someone else or had to stop and explain why I was only doing 2 reps at a time. Ha!

Weights

*Note these are not all of the workouts from the plan, these are just the ones where I could track my weight increases.

There wasn’t too much wiggle room since the number of reps came down only as the number of sets went up.

Measurements

	5/26/11	7/15/11	8/22/11	10/18/11	11/27/11	1/2/12	2/16/12
Chest	34in	34in	34in	33in	33in	33in	33in
Right Bicep	11in	11.25in	11.25in	11.75in	11.75in	11.85in	11.8in
Left Bicep	10.75in	11.15in	11.15in	11.5in	11.75in	11.8in	11.8in
Waist	31in	30.25in	30in	29in	29in	27.5in	27in
Hips	39in	38.65in	38.4in	38.1in	38in	37.5in	37.25in
Right Thigh	21.5in	21.30in	21in	20.75in	20.75in	20.5in	20.5in
Left Thigh	21in	21in	20.80in	20.75in	20.75in	20.75in	20.5in

Photos

(see complete set of photos and stage recaps here)

Not many changes, but it’s always hard to tell in the stage-to-stage shots. Plus, we’re almost to the last stage and I’m genuinely happy with the transformation to my body thus far.

Especially the transformation to my arms and shoulders – which allowed me to rock the blue sweetheart number at my brother’s wedding this weekend – talk about a huge confidence booster to keep the strength training routine up until my own wedding next year.

(p.s. my mom is almost done with stage 1 and looks pretty rockin’ herself! )

Final Thoughts

I had written our a whole two paragraphs here before pressing publish ate everything up. No I’m having a huge brain fart and can’t remember a lick of what I said. Isn’t that how it always go?

I guess I can say that even though Stage 6 didn’t result in an unassisted pull-up – I’m ok with it. That’s just a goal I’ll have to keep reaching for and hope to achieve one day. Until then, I’m ready for the new adventure that Stage 7 will bring and can’t wait to see this program through to the end!

Good morning!

First of all, I owe you guys a New Rules of Lifting for Women Stage 6 recap. I promise to have that up later today. Pinky promise.

Until then, I can give you a sneak peek into stage 7, which I started today.

I’m not sure why, but for the longest time I thought there were 8 stages to NROLFW. I was wrong – there are only 7. This morning marked my first workout in the final stage. Hard to believe it, considering I’ve been following this program for so long now – much longer than the estimated 6 months it should take. Oh, well.

Stage 7 is much different than the first 6. Instead of only 2 workouts that you go back and forth between for 4 or 8 workouts, there are a total of 6 workouts that you go through once, then repeat. There are also more sets with longer reps in each workout. Because of this the first workout of Stage 7 felt like it went on forever.

This morning’s workout was tiring and left both my arms and legs feeling weak – a good sign that this stage is going to be a good one. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the workouts will bring.

After my workout, I came home and made a balanced breakfast of eggs, a biscuit, and a sliced peach.

Two eggs with the yolks cooked all the way through – just the way I like them.

One of the many biscuits I was sent home with from my parents’ with pumpkin butter.

A perfectly ripened peach that sliced like butter it was so good.

Scooby says good morning too.

The poor guy is homesick. Yesterday at 4:30pm he started getting really antsy. That’s about the time my Dad usually gets home and Scooby’s normal routine consists of going outside and waiting for him in the front yard. He started whining so I gave him a treat and took him for a walk every 20 minutes or so because that seemed to be the only way to stop him from whining. Finally, when Derek came home after 6:30, Scooby got the BIGGEST grin on his face and was just so happy that he was home – like Derek’s grand entrance was replacing my Dad’s usual grand entrance. After that he was happy as a clam just following Derek around.

I’m hoping he’ll be a little better today.

Maddie is just happy to be home and enjoy showing Scooby the ropes.

She’s so excited that she won’t even pose for the camera. All I got was butt this morning.

Typical Maddie.

Do you have any tips for making Scooby feel at home? We’re trying to take him on extra walks and give him some extra lovin’ while he’s here, but I know he misses my mom and dad.

So… umm… funny story.

The majority of the bridal party and the bridal party’s family stayed at the hotel the night of the wedding. There was an ‘after party’ in the hotel’s pool, but I was sound asleep at 10:00pm (what? we started the party at 4!) and wide awake at 7:30am ready for breakfast. At first I called my parents to see what their plans were, then my little brother called and asked everyone to meet him and his new bride on the top floor before we all walked to iHop to eat. I was the first one ready (Derek and I shared a room with Kelly and Anthony) and told the group I would meet them upstairs.

I ended up running into my parents in the hallway and took the elevator with them upstairs. At least, that’s what we attempted to do. The elevator went to the sixth floor, paused for a minute, then made it’s way back to the second. It took a couple of more times of us going up and down before we realized the door wasn’t opening and we were stuck. Dang it.

I opened the call box and rang the front desk for help. We got a very static-y reply of what we think was someone telling us help was on their way. We waited about 5 minutes before we heard someone outside the elevator tells us they were going to get us out. Then we went up again.

I knocked on the door and heard a knock back before getting a very soft ‘Mom?’ in return. I guess my mom was able to get a text through to Ben and Ashley letting them know we were stuck. Ben had pressed the call button for the elevator seeing if he could get it to open. It didn’t, but luckily the maintenance workers were able to find us again on the sixth floor and force the door open. Fifteen minutes after stepping onto the elevator, we had finally made it to the sixth floor.

That was my first time ever being stuck on an elevator and I have to say that I was not a fan, especially when my Dad started making some not-so-nice Tower of Terror references. Not cool. The good news is we were only stuck for 15 minutes and had a fun story to tell over breakfast.

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? How long did it take you to ride another one again?

After finally making our way upstairs, we had to make our way back downstairs to walk down the street to iHop. By this point, I was more than ready for food.

Check out the newlyweds sporting their new bling. It’s still weird to see a ring on my brother’s finger. I knew he was getting married for over a year, but it wasn’t until I saw him with a ring on his ring finger after the ceremony that it finally became real.

For breakfast, I ordered the spinach, tomato, and mushroom omelet with swiss cheese, fruit, and rye toast.

The omelet was good, but I’m not a fan of iHop’s fruit. It’s as if they coat their fruit in an unnatural sugar syrup that is just blah. :/

We ate breakfast, then took our time packing up the room and heading back to Tampa. Along the way we had to drop the tuxes off and pick the dogs up. We also ended up with a stowaway.

Derek and I are watching Scooby while my parents are skiing in the mountains for the week. I know Maddie is happy to have the company.

Subway…

and a kidnapped cupcake made for delicious road food.

Despite a few detours, we made pretty good time getting to Tampa. For dinner, I made simple fajitas using pre-seasoned steak and veggies from Publix and paired them with a spinach salad and plantains.

Easy.

This morning I ran 5 miles and had a big bowl of cereal for breakfast.

• Caramel Oikos
• 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Crisp
• 1/2 cup Quaker Oatmeal Squares
• Strawberries
• Chocolate Sommersaults
• Walnuts

Pumpkin ravioli with fresh spinach, marinara, and parmesan cheese for lunch.

Apple slices and carrot sticks with honey peanut butter as mid-afternoon snack.

Dinner was a little more fun, thanks to the BOGO deal for pizza dough at Publix this week. I froze one and had the fun idea to turn the other into calzones for dinner tonight.

The fillers:

• apple slices
• roasted acorn squash
• thinly sliced red onion
• almonds
• mozzarella cheese

I divided the dough in half and created two calzones with a little bit of the fillers in each.

The calzones baked for 15 minutes at 425.

Derek walked in just as I was pulling them out the oven and said ‘Wow’ when he saw the finished product. Even I was impressed with this one.

Check out that center. Yum.

The calzones were huge, so I ended up taking half for dinner and saving the rest for lunch tomorrow.

Served with marinara sauce for dipping.

I LOVED the calzones. The apples and acorn squash made them slightly sweet, but it wasn’t a terribly overpowering sweetness, especially when paired with the marinara sauce – it was just right.

Our plates needed some green.

Tow pieces of Valentine’s candy for dessert.

Today was a major catch-up day, it’ll feel nice to return to normal tomorrow. You know – until our next adventure!

Good night!