Exactly three weeks away

For inviting such a small group of people to our wedding, I have been very blessed to be surrounded by very loving family and friends. Last weekend, my aunt and mom threw me (well, more like "us" since men folk were also included in the invitation!) a bridal shower which included a LOT of family and family friends. There was so much food that I could just feel my two months of consistent work outs just fly out the door! ;) They had the event catered with Filipino and Hawaiian food (they wanted to tie in the fact we are getting married in Hawaii) and a beautiful cake. I told Jon that the cake was prettier than our wedding cake because I am not a fan of fondit. He said, "Don't say that! Our will be pretty." But I know better - fondit makes for a more attractive cake. It's fine, though, because I like the way whipcream tastes more and that's what is going to serve as icing on our cake! Anyhow, I'd love to share pictures but The Man and I are doofs. He had charged the battery for our new-ish camera but when we got ready to leave, the camera didn't work! So we took my trusty Nikon, thinking the battery was charged. When we got there, it crapped out on us too. I'm hoping that my cousin's camera will have good photos. So I only have one photo - it's of me and Kim!

Kim, I hope you don't mind I posted this. I think it's a flattering picture of you even though I'm really shiny!
Well, I actually do have a couple more pictures but they are of people eating (The Man took them) and I don't think it would be nice to post them. So I cropped one to show some of the food :D

This is just a portion of the table and maybe half of the spread.
The Man strongly dislikes social functions because of his shyness but he was pretty excited about the food. I had asked him earlier that day if we could do some yoga when we got home and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Hon, there's no way. I'm going to eat good tonight." Fair enough.
The people who attended were incredibly generous. We couldn't believe how giving everyone was and it was not something we expected. Armi, thank you and Peter Panda for our awesome Fondue Pot. I'm sooo excited to take that out for the holidays!!! Kim, thank you and Ryan for the tricked out Crock Pot. That is going to come in handy when we get back from the honeymoon. Cousin Mon, not sure if read this but your gift was so cute and not nearly as naughty as you think! My mom would have been ok - promise :) We received so much more but I know the givers don't read this little blog! I will say that much of the money we received will go straight to the puppy sitter. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be able to do that because I would become really sad every time I thought of the big fat check I was going to have to cut for our puppy sitter!
As I mentioned, I feel very fortunate to have so much love in my life. After the holidays, my sister was sweet enough to arrange a spa day when she was in town. She invited a couple of friends from the Bay Area to join us. It was a great day of pampering and relaxation. This weekend, the small group of friends that are joining us on our wedding day are throwing me an intimate get together. I know for a fact that it is not mom or mother-in-law friendly. But that's all I know. I'm only a tiny bit nervous! Thankfully, I know my friends enough to know that they don't enjoy strippers so at least that won't happen. (I am not at all a fan of a oiled up guy in a banana hammock trying to throw me up in the air and dry hump me. And yes, I've actually seen that happen to another woman.) I'm sure it will be a lot of drinking and dirty talk - my kind of party! Again, I feel really blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. And holy smokes, it's three weeks away!!!!!

PS: For all you travellers, any recommendations regarding luggage? We need to buy some really soon!

Jam packed weekend!

Says the girl who normally hangs around the house with The Man and their two pups.

On Saturday I went to get my dressed altered. Again. I think I must have been so focused on the fact that my dress needed to seriously be hemmed that I didn't look at anything else. Then a few days later, I wanted to see how the dress looked with the necklace I had made. Thank goodness I did that! I realized that my straps were too loose and my V-neckline was very low. How come I didn't notice this before?! Well, one fixes the other so that's why I brought it back to the tailor on Saturday. He is also going to fix the bustle (is that the spelling?) so that it doesn't show. After I dropped off my dress, my friend and I went to the St. Patrick's Day parade in San Francisco.
Earlier last year, I vowed to myself that I would partake, at least one time, in many of the festivities that make the Bay Area a fun place to live. Well, this one was a doozie. Oooo-weeee, talk about a lot of drinking! There was beer EVERYWHERE! And I think every Irish person in the Bay Area made a showing which is fantastic since I don't see too many where I live (Little Mexico. And yes, I'm allowed to call it this because my Mexican friends nicknamed it.) I'm all about diversity. So the beer was flowing which was great for the beer drinkers but not so much for me. My friend and I ordered a big Diet Coke at Burger King and then went to the nearest liquor store, bought some rum and dumped it in. What a little piece of heaven.
You can take the girl out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the girl.
Although, in its concealed Burger King cup, at least we didn't throw caution (and good taste) into the wind and drink out of a paper bag. After we made our concoction, we made our way back to the Beer Garden and that was a ton more fun! Truthfully, I didn't see a lick of the parade. We were with a group that wanted to stay in the Beer Garden and so that's where we stayed. I think the Beer Garden was designed so they can have people legitimately drink right outside of City Hall and not get in trouble. Sweet! What was also great was that the St. Patrick's Day parade brought out everyone. Of course, there was little brown me who was obviously not Irish. But I also saw a Chinese Bagpipe player, an entire Hispanic family dressed in green and many other ethnicities tht wanted to help the Irish pay tribute to their day. Fun!
Thank goodness it was a daytime activity because on Sunday, today, I had a three hour yoga workshop. Starting at 6:00am. Back in the city.
Oh sweet baby jeezus, it was REALLY hard getting up at 4:00am. I was meeting back up with my friend on the Peninsula at 5:00am and then we were carpooling back up to San Francisco so we could be there by 5:30am. I know I've been waking up pretty GD early to workout but even 4:00am was a little extreme for me.
But back to the yoga workshop. OK, I do not claim to be a true blue Yogi. I really enjoy the classes I take at the gym but haven't been a regular at a yoga studio. And I most certainly haven't attended a three hour workshop. This class KICKED MY ASS. The room was set at a comfortable 70 degrees but quickly warmed with the 70+ people in the class. I was drenched in my own sweat. This was a little uncomfortable but I felt like I was getting a great workout. What was not at all great was that other people's sweat was everywhere. I am not exaggerating. We had to do inversions using the wall so people were walking all around the room to stake claim on a piece of the wall. There was enormous amounts of foot sweat on the floor. And some people didn't think it was rude to step on other people's mat. With their foot sweat. Anyway, because we were using the wall to support us for handstands, there was also sweat on the wall from feet as well as hands. Yes, there was literally sweat dripping from the walls.
Maybe you don't recall my hang up with bodily fluids but I am very uncomfortable being in contact with other people's sweat. I don't enjoy being splashed with it, rubbed against with it or touching it with any parts of my body. And while I was pretty distracted by how physically challenging the class was, I still noticed all the sweat around me. When I finally walked out of the class three hours later, my feet were dripping with my and many other people's sweat. I just can't get over something like that. I wish I could, I wish I didn't care, but that really grosses me out.
I am very happy to go back to the little cold studio in the gym that I belong to and do my yoga there. With sweat free walls and floors. Because even though I feel like I just ran a marathon and got one of the best workouts that I've had in a good long time, I just can't get past the sweat. It's a hang up of mine that I wish I could change but I can't. And it's really quite a shame since my mom's profession was microbiology and all she did was deal with bodily fluids. But I fear that I will always be this way which means limited or no yoga classea at yoga studios. And I am A-OK being an Amateur or Novice Yogi.

Pee in my cheerios. And a $48 torture contraption.

DAMMIT! The beautiful, gorgeous, and thick yoga mat that I bought is USELESS! I had inherited my old mat so I have never gone mat shopping before. I checked the reviews on Amazon and everyone loved it. So why, OH WHY, did my mat fail me when I took it to class? I'm not a huge perspirer but I was losing traction on my hands and feet. Seriously, my groin muscles should not hurt when I'm in warrior positions (but they did because I fought not to end up in the splits.) I even gave it one more chance at another class but I was slipping and sliding so much that I turned the mat over, hoping to get more traction. I didn't. OK, so I'm not crying but how annoying! Anyway ...
I bought my wedding undergarments today at Nordstrom. First I tried on Spanx. OH LAWDEEE!!! Those are some intense pieces of underoos! It was the first time I regretted choosing a sheath for a wedding gown rather than a puffier dress. I wouldn't have to deal with underwear lines with a nice tulle and petticoat number! Spanx definitely did the job, keeping everything in. But My main concern was lines and making sure my dress didn't go up my butt (something I didn't even think about until my Sister mentioned it. And, let's face it, it's pretty funky when you see a gal's butt practically munching on the dress. Nasty, I know but what a visual, hm?) Anyway, I was able to see the lines from the Spanx through my dress. Well, that defeated the whole purpose of getting bodyshape wear. (Under my dress, it looked like I was wearing biker shorts, Steve Urkel-style.) I should also mention that Spanx are HOT. I needed someone to fan me after getting into one of those contraptions. And then wearing it over a period of time? How was I going to survive in Hawaii?!
Then my friend unearthed the Body Wrap from another rack - she had mistakenly thought she had worn Spanx at her wedding but it was actually Body Wrap. Ooh! It was a much lighter fabric (imagine panty hose verses biker shorts.) But when she gave this undergarment to me, it looked like it could fit a toddler. No lie, it was about a foot and a half long. Then she told me that it will actually stretch from the bottom of my bra to a little below my knee. Serious?

Yes, oh yes, that is the Body Wrap. Pretty sexy, right? But I honestly can't knock it. It's light, it doesn't roll down (I hope!) and it keeps everything in order. It doesn't necessarily slim me down but it holds everything in place. Plus, since it ends below my knees, there are no lines on my dress. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was show The Man. I held it up and said that this is what I'm going to be wearing under my wedding gown and we would be makin' babies after he saw me in this.
He looked at it, a little confused at first (it looks like it could may one of our puppies) and said, "How much did it cost?" I pretended I didn't hear.
Whooohooo! One more thing checked off the To Do list!

Small but happy purchase ... and heart healthy soaps!

I am now hopped up on decongestion medication and allergy medication because I don't know what's what anymore. I save my special codeine cough syrup for the evenings. Anyhow, now that I'm somewhat back to normal, I'm trying to go back to my (as of lately) normal routine.
Well, I woke up at 1:30am today and couldn't go back to sleep. I hope to not wake up so early moving forward. But with the pups moving around and my nose being stuffed up and runny at the same time, I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got out of bed around 3:00am and did some work and surfed the 'net. Thanks for the wee early morning chat, Jen! I even ate a little bit of oatmeal before I headed out to the gym.
I haven't been to the gym in seven days. When you're supposed to be going six days a week, that's been a loooooong time. I didn't even try to go on the treadmill. My trainer had to lighten up my weights because I was weaker. I felt like a wheezing old biddy. Who coughed a lot.
Anyway, it looks like I will be OK enough to go to yoga tomorrow. I love yoga!! Specifically, vinyasa or power yoga. OK, no one may care and I may lose anyone who was thinking about reading this entry. But I do! I do love yoga! It makes me feel strong and peaceful at the same time. I feel focused and energized. I wish I was a true yogi but I'm not. I'm not in it for the meditation. I like the challenges and using my own body for resistance. I love it. Well, except for Plow. If you don't do yoga, this is plow:


I hate this position. I feel like my stomach (muffin top) and boobs are suffocating me. My "cushion" even prevents me from getting my toes to the ground. The Man tried doing this position once when we did a yoga video together ... it made him feel a little tubby. I have to admit, it made me feel better that I wasn't the only one.
I had done yoga for about a year and then had to take a year off because of my previous employer - yet another reason why I hated that job. Anyway, I started my yoga practice in November and am back in love. But it is time to get a new mat. See, I had inherited this mat a little over two years ago:It's done right by me. Two years ago, I didn't know if I'd like yoga but I wanted to give it a try. I was still working at a gym and one of the guys I worked with told me there was an unclaimed new-ish looking mat and mat bag that had been there for a while. I think you all know how I feel about other people's sweat. Specifically, other people's sweat touching ME. But it did look like new. I had taken the mat and bag home and put them in the wash. Good as new! And the mat and bag have been great to me ever since.
Well, maybe it's just because, or maybe it's because I'm going into my 30s, but I realized recently that I need more cushion for my knees, elbows and wrists and my 1/8" inch mat just isn't doing it for me anymore. I mean, how am I supposed to comfortably do this?

This is one of my most favorite poses. Except I don't dare do it in white biker shorts and sports bra.

Or this?

I like this pose because it reminds me of when I did gymnastics as a kid. Plus it's easy for me.

I need some protection for my poor joints and limbs! So I perused through amazon.com (a favorite of our household now) to shop around for my new yoga partner and found this lovely mat:

So pretty! Just like the ocean with all the different shades of blue and aquamarine (is aquamarine a shade of blue?) And it's 1/4" thick. Double the thickness - hallelujah! I am hoping that my cough continues to subside and that my nose running is kept to a minimum so I can go back to yoga tomorrow morning. And use my lovely new mat! See? A small purchase but it made me very happy.
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A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SUBJECT BUT ON THE SAME DAY ...
Oh my gosh! So you know how I love my j-o-b? Not only do I really enjoy my work but I also think very highly of the company. I just received an email letting me know that one of our campaigns, Go Red for Women, was featured on General Hospital!
Soooo, long story short, I used to be addicted to soap operas. Seriously. I watched since I was a baby (I don't blame my mama, it's just how it was) up until I started grad school. 23 years of watching soap operas. How is this possible? Didn't I go to school?! My mama taped them. While I was doing my homework, I would watch One Life to Live, General Hospital and Days of our Lives. We would get done around 7pm. Every week day, from when I was in diapers all the way to senior year in high school. And then I would do my best to catch some if not all when I was in college. It was a struggle.
I even wrote a thesis on a qualitative study of soap opera audiences because I realized it affected the way I thought about relationships. No joke. My therapist and grad school professors helped me figure that out. Anyway, I used to be addicted. I stopped watching all together (the thesis and therapy really opened my eyes.) But I do have a fondness for "my stories." And I loved, loved, loved General Hospital! So imagine the GLEE I felt when I found out "we" were on GH!
AHA visits ABC’s General Hospital
The Feb. 27 storyline of ABC’s General Hospital was created with one goal in mind: inform women about their risk of heart disease. The episode features Go Red For Women messaging and includes appearances by AHA volunteer survivors Maria Kisska and Evan McCabe, as well as Molly McLellan, AHA’s corporate events director in Los Angeles.
In the episode, General Hospital character Epiphany Johnson, a heart attack survivor, takes part in a Go Red support group meeting and talks with other heart survivors, including Maria, Evan and Molly. Go Red signage can be seen in the background.
How cool is that?! I'm so proud of the company I work for and all that my colleagues and our volunteers do. Anyway, now you know! The importance of living heart healthy and my complicated views of soap operas! My thesis rocked, by the way. Do you doubt? Think the topic was too frivolous and trite? It won an award for Best Writing in my graduate studies the year I graduated :) BIG shout outs to my kick ass (non paid) editors, Kim and Darwin.

SICK

I am a weenie when I'm sick. Usually I just try to sleep for a couple of days and, for the most part, it goes away. Not this time.
I have been sick since Thursday night.
I slept through a beautiful weekend. I saw the sun through the drapes but was too congested and my throat was too sore for me to care.
And then it GOT WORSE on Monday. So I saw my doctor and she recommended I take it easy for a couple of days.
I feel like I'm behind at work. I had to reschedule four meetings to when I am less or not contagious.
I haven't worked out since Thursday. I cancelled my training session on Friday. Backed out of yoga on Sunday. Cancelled another session on Monday. Didn't go to yoga today. For a gal that has been committed to working out six days a week, I feel like a blob. A snotty, congested, bleary-eyed blob. Who finally has the right medication.
Bless the codeine.