A list of sorts

There is nothing in particular I want to write about today, but I still want to write. Why? Because it's the end of the month and to get four posts in in one month is pretty good for me. Also, I have nothing to do (well, that's a lie, I have about one hour's worth of things to do). Also, there are things that I'm doing (and not doing) in my life that I feel need attention.

• I am not going to write a review of The Hunger Games as previously promised. If you haven't read it already you're an idiot. And if you have read it already--ohmygod did you hate the ending as much as I did?!?!?!?!?!? And are you going to the midnight showing of the movie???!?!?!?
• I am no longer training for the half marathon. I know. Quitters suck. I was getting to the seven mile point and two things happened. One, I was extremely bored. Tommy stopped running with me and I couldn't do an hour and half alone so I could only do it on my parents' treadmill while watching Mad Men. Two, after those long runs I would be sore for the ENTIRE week. I never recovered. And then I would have to do it again. The way I see it, quitting was probably for the best. I HATE failing at something. And there was no way I was going to be able to run that thing alone. There was no sense in beating myself up about it. So the only logical thing to do was quit. Maybe next year...
• On the wedding front: we've gotten the tux's--off-white dinner jackets by RL paired with black pants--for a steal. Let me tell you. A local company, Tuxedo Junction had a one week offer: for $70 you could get any tux in the store. We jumped on it. We didn't have to get the tux's right then, we just had to pay up front and we'll get them in August. Wheeeeee! 

This is kind of a stupid picture, but whatevs. Source

• Also on the wedding front: we almost have a florist! I say almost because I'm pretty sure we're going to make the decision today. We've spoken to a couple of vendors, and both really understood my "vision" (hahahahahahaha my "vision" is not too fancy, no roses, no red, casual, wildflowers but absolutely NO rustic elements--mason jars, etc. This isn't Little House on the Prairie people). The one we picked is mostly based on price. They came in about $500 below the other, and had a better selection of flowers--not too shabby.
• Last night I made this version of French Onion Soup. It was...ok. It was easy to make (albeit time consuming) and it tasted fine, it was just a bit vinegar-y to me. I like my FOS to be a bit more savory. But if you like vinegar and not a lot of hassle, this soup's for you!
• I haven't walked to school at all this week because I suck. Sorry, earth.

And that's it! I guess for now. I really should do that bit o work I do have so I can just go home. Tommy's really sick, and I think I'm starting to get it. My nose is runny and itchy as hach ee double hocky sticks and my throat is getting a tickle. I downed some vitamin C but I've also been hanging with Tommy for about 65 of the last 72 hours....whoops!

Bridesmaid dresses!

Sometimes I forget that I'm keeping this blog to document my life happs and not just my mood swings...

So with that in mind, I thought I'd share with you the bridesmaid dresses we picked out! We're still sort of in the planning process, but I'll bring you up to speed so far.

When I first got engaged I knew immediately who I wanted to be up there with Tommy and I. My sister, of course was going to be the maid of honor. My best cousin Courtney and my three best friends from college, Brittany, Allie and Julie. It was kind of hard not picking girls from high school, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the college girls know Tommy. They've been with me since the beginning. They lived with me for that year we were apart. They apparently were taking bets on when we were actually going to get engaged (when I called Julie and told her, she said "YES! Allie owes me ten bucks" before she said congrats....haha). It just makes sense to have them up there with me because they went through it all. I love my high school friends dearly, and have obviously known them longer, but in the end I went with my gut and picked the girls I did.

Now, while I was sure of my bridesmaids, I was unsure of what they would wear. In case you haven't noticed, most bridesmaid collections are ugly. And they're expensive. And they definitely aren't modest enough for my one LDS bridesmaid. Oh, and did I mention that they're UGLY?!?! So I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what they would wear. I toyed with the idea of convertible dresses because everyone could find a style that suited them the best plus they were relatively cheap plus they looked FANTASTIC in my friend Tiffany's wedding. However, when I tried one on myself, all the styles were fine except the modest one. The one with sleeves was hella annoying. You really couldn't raise your arms up without the sleeves popping up over your shoulders and staying there. That just doesn't really work when you're wearing garments. Believe me.

I also considered choosing just one color and having the girls pick their own dress out. I wasn't terribly concerned that they all wear the exact same shade, in fact I like the look of different dresses, like this:

Source

But my mom was kind of concerned that paying for them would be tricky. Since we are covering the costs of the dresses, and EVERYONE lives out of state, the easiest is to go online. I reluctantly agreed, though not because I didn't like the look. (I really like that look).

Next, I decided to pick my bridesmaids' brains. That's what they're there for, right? I asked them to send me a dress that they thought they would look great in. My idea was that I would get all of their ideas for the "perfect" dress, and go out and hand pick one for each of them online but still have the above look. Well, that kind of backfired. I'm still not sure why. No one really responded. Or they sent me dresses and collections they thought I would like. Not a single one was like, "I look really really good in strapless cocktail dresses" or "don't you dare put me in a one sleeved dress, I hate that!". It was really weird. And that was about the time that things with school started to really ramp up, so I just sort of gave up.

And then, just last week we got a phone call. Well, my mom got a phone call. One of her friends just happened to be walking downtown and passed a store, Lily & Iris, that specialized in bridesmaid dresses. Not just from one designer either, but from many. And really surprising, given our locale, they weren't an LDS shop either (not that there's anything wrong with that, I do have an LDS girl in my wedding, it's just that in Utah, 90% of the bridal stores specialize in LDS weddings because there are SO. MANY. LDS weddings here. So many). My mom said she "had a feeling about this place" and we decided to check it out the next day.

The place was fantastic. OHMYGOSH I can't remember her name, but the woman who helped us was sooooo helpful. She didn't push us into anything at all, she answered all of our questions about alterations (because unfortunately, we're still going to have to alter one of the dresses to be more modest), and she didn't mind when we kept asking to see more and more styles. In the end we picked out five colors from one designer, Alfred Sung, and we're letting the girls pick their own styles. Here are the colors (all photos from www.dessy.com) :

Cerise

Fruit Punch

Majestic

Paradise

Strawberry

The colors don't show up too well on the computer, but believe me, they are all very different. Like I said, I'm still waiting on style choices, but you get the idea. Now, this may seem like a big jump from our original wedding colors plan, but just think of it as a fancier version. There will still be plenty of locally grown, in season wild flowers, and the dresses match that, but we're just upping the classiness of the thing. Make sense?

In other wedding related news, I got a dress! But I can't tell you what it looks like because my mom and sister would kill me. Sooooo there's that.

Some thoughts

Well wedding colors are picked out...that's exciting! We picked them loosly based on a wildflower bouquet we found in a magazine. Think deep purples, sky blues, hints of pink, marigold and green.

We also went dress shopping and may have accidentally found my dress (whattt????) Yeah no shit. It's cray cray fo shizzle. My mom and I went impromptu shopping and the second dress I tried we both really liked. And it was hella cheap. And I'm not super committed to getting the perfect dress. Like, really omg?!?!?! Yes, I am that kind of bride. If it looks good and the price is right....I don't know what's stopping us!

Next news. Thesis. And real world. And job searching annnnnd yeah. I'm already snoring too. And if I think about it too long I start eating my hair and sprouting pimples like it's my JOB people. UGH I should have gone into petroleum. Or pre med. Or gold digging or or or

KELLY STOP IT, says my split personality. GET YOURSELF TOGETHER WOMAN AND TALK ABOUT THAT MARATHON YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND-I MEAN FIANCE ARE PLANNING. JESUS. CHRIST.

Ok, you're right split personally (NO SHIT). Today I figured out that Tommy and I are 23 weeks away from the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. WOOOOO. But we're following a 12 week training program, so we're taking it slooooooooow. We're doing each week twice through week 6. Then weeks 7 through 10 three times in a row, and then 11 and 12 as normal (since they're cool down weeks). Hopefully by the time the actual race comes around we'll be soooo ready for that shizzle. Unfortunately Tommy's legs and feet hurt about every other run he goes on so that's kind of a downer.

Also, winter is here and I hate it butttttt trying to be bright and sunny in my personality to make up for it (YEAH FUCKING RIGHT).

Really trying to get back into the habit

Hello there blogger world! I'm really trying to get back into the habit of blogging regularly--especially since there's so much to do these days! Between marathon training and wedding planning and thesis writing (how, oh HOW could I forget about that?!?!)....

For some strange reason I've also been on a cooking kick. Which is fine. It's been fun so far.

Anyway, Tommy and I completed week one of the training schedule, ending yesterday with a four miler. We took Bandit to the dog park and ran around it four times. Best. Run. Ever. Not that I would run there again (can you say boring? I prefer one big loop--constantly changing scenery!), but I just felt so good. I'm excited to see if I can do two-four milers this week.

In wedding related news, WE BOOKED A VENUE YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Deer Valley here we come! There are some beautiful photos by the lovely Pepper Nix that really highlight the venue we have chosen. I just love the idea of getting married outside in the mountains, but luckily for us, if the weather changes, they have a beautiful indoor space too.

I also really really wanted to get married in Park City. Not that we have any special bonds with the place, but because our out of town guests will have much more fun in PC than SLC. They can easily get around without a car, there are things to do--shopping, galleries, museums, hiking, biking, site seeing, spas, etc etc etc--and since most of our guests are of the out of town variety, I just know they'll be happier there than our lovely capital city *cough*.

And now that we have that out of the way I can begin all of the other stuff too! Before we booked a venue I felt like I was getting too ahead of myself thinking about colors (what if they don't match the venue), bridesmaids dresses (need the colors first!), flowers (again with the damn colors!), food (half the potential venues provided it), etc etc etc. This huge weight means I can start planning everything else. And let's get real, planning is like my favorite hobby (Tommy says I have special planning hands--whenever I'm about to tell him of some special plan--say for the evening, or next weekend, or what I'm going to do with my day, I apparently [ok, I actually do it] clasp my hands together under my chin). So let the planning begin!!!!!

Wedding wedding wedding!

So....BIG NEWS: Tommy and I are engaged!

So far I only have a pinterest set up--not too sure how I feel about it yet but.....

Other than that, stay tuned for more wedding related fun!