Santa Speedo Run 2011 Wrap-Up

I just realized I never updated you all on the Santa Speedo Run. My apologies about that! Here's how it all went...

Morning of the race, I woke up and started baking breakfast (my oh-so-famous sour dough stratta with tomatoes and greens). I wrangled Dana out of bed and Kelley showed up. We hung out for a while, had some mimosas and a a great breakfast. Then around 10:00 a.m. we headed downtown to Boston. When we arrived, we checked into the bar and entered the sea of bodies in speedos singing Christmas carols and getting merry. We mingled, ooed and awed at the costumes, and made a game plan to be one of the first ones out of the bar this year.

Last year, we pre-gamed in the basement of the Lir. The race started and there were so many people in the bar that we were one of the last ones out and the race had already started quite some time prior. The BEST part of the race is the beginning of the race when everyone piles onto Bolyston street and jumps up and down in the cold singing Christmas carols before the gun goes off.

So this year, at 10 minutes prior to the race start time, we (Erin, Dana and I) headed to the entrance of the Lir. While waiting there, we met a lovely gentleman named Steve who asked to join us during the run. The more the merrier! At 5 minutes to the race time, they hadn't started sending people out into the street yet so we decided to just do it. As we walked out of the Lir, the typical shock of cold did not overwhelm me. It was chilly, but not COLD like usual. I believe it was 43 degrees that day. Which is not bad at all. Being the first ones out, the media went crazy. We were being photographed by a swarm of "paparazzi." They were more thrilled that it was a bunch of girls hanging outside (sorry Steve!) in their bikinis and went crazy taking photos of us. At the start time, a few more people came outside (5 or so) and we hung out in a circle dancing and singing Christmas carols. I believe this went on for another 20 minutes. The race hadn't even started yet! There were some problems with the police arriving late and blocking off the streets. All the while- we hung around outside having a ball and egging on the crowd. Finally, after a police officer arrived, a few more people started piling out of the bar- and we decided to take the initiative and start the race without the gun. There wasn't an official start or anything set-up it seemed. So off we went! At the red lights, we'd stop and do push ups or jumping jacks. We high fived the crowds that lined the street as we went by. We chanted Christmas carols to the people in the crowd and the shoppers on Newbury Street. Along the route Kelley and Courtney waited. The caught some photos of us and I gave Courtney a full bodied bikini jump hug. And then we finished the race.

Unfortunately, I lost Steve somewhere on the run but later connected with him over e-mail. We will have a new addition to our group next year!

It's such a blast and we had so much fun. Then we all went to lunch afterwards. Here are some photos from the run. We were also featured on the main page of Boston.com for 2 days straight! I'm telling you, the cameras loved us! :)

Grandma's Cats & a New Addition to Our Family!

Happy Holidays! We have some exciting news.... we have a new addition in our pet family! While we currently have two cats, Alta and Targhee, we have adopted the third and final member of our pet family, TomCat. TomCat comes from Farmville, Va from my Grandma's home. Grandma passed last month leaving behind three sweet little kitties. Zimba, Tinkerbell and TomCat. Zimba and Tinkerbell are 18 years old and 20 years old and are still looking for homes if you are interested. Please let me know!

And now for TomCat's introduction: TomCat was a stray that my grandma took in sometime in 2009. When Courtney and I met him in October 2010, we couldn't get over how sweet of a cat he was and personable for being a stray, and we also couldn't get over his "problem". He had previously been hit by a car (or so the vet thinks) and his jaw and teeth were all screwed up and infected. He couldn't really eat, but somehow managed to get enough food in him to stay alive. Even while at my grandmas. Grandma didn't really know what to do with him even though we suggested taking him to the vet. It wasn't until this past summer after my dad frequently visiting grandma while she was getting sicker and sicker, that dad decided to do something about his "problem". Dad took TomCat to the vet, who eventually underwent surgery and had all the teeth on the left side of his mouth removed. He is no longer in pain, and has healed up nicely! TomCat, all the while had no name. So it wasn't until shortly before grandma died did she (or my dad?) named him TomCat.

After grandma's passing, I knew how much this cat had helped grandma in her last moments here on earth being there for her when she was home alone recovering, and I knew how much my dad took a liking to him and really cared for his well being, so we decided to explore the option of adopting him. He is 8 years old (not too much older than our cats- now 1.5 years and 1.3 years old) and he was so personable and sweet so he will likely get along with them. So the day my dad told me he had TomCat in the car and was driving him to PA where he would live for 3-4 weeks in the basement (dad is allergic to cats), was when I called SouthWest and booked TomCat his first ever (and hopefully last) flight home with us from our Christmas vacation to PA.

And so, what I consider one of our best Christmas presents: Welcome to our family, TomCat! It is a pleasure to have you!

DIY- Lace, Twine and Satin Ribbon Candle Holders

I'm going for a vintage, rustic, romantic look for our wedding. I've seen a lot of DIY candle holder ideas on the wedding blogs, but nothing that was unique. As I got day dreaming about candle holders (yes, candle holders) and the look of a candle shining through the glass, I came up with the following candle pattern.



Supplies:
Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Wide Lace Ribbon (this is from Michael's and found in the wedding supplies aisle and cut it in half lengthwise)
5/8 inch ribbon of choice of color (these are 3 yard spools from Michael's $1 ribbon crate)
twine (any)
clear glass votive holders ($34.87 USD for 72)






Start by wrapping the lace around the candle holder to figure out the size to cut for the lace. Allow a small portion to overlap, this is where you will glue later. Do the same for the ribbon for the amount of candle holders you want to use ribbon on. Cut as many pieces as you need.



Measure out twine long enough to tie a bow around it. I cannot give exact measurements because everyones candle holder could be a different size. Cut enough pieces of twine for as many candle holders as you would like to use it on.



Take the candle holder and apply a small zig zag of glue going from top to bottom on the candle holder (or high enough for how you cut the lace). Immediately place the end of the lace on it. Be careful not to burn your fingers. Wrap the lace all the way around the candle holder and apply more glue over the overlap of the lace in a straight line and glue the end of the lace down. Apply the same technique to the ribbon.

If using twine, simply wrap the twine around the candle holder and tie in a bow. Apply a small amount of glue to the back of the bow to either the candle holder or lace. Hold down for a couple of seconds (and be careful not to burn your fingers on the glue).



And there you have it. Gorgeous rustic lace votive candle holders.



Now, I am trying to figure out to go with the battery operated candles or real tea light candles.... Thoughts?

First Dance

When Courtney first asked me the main things I wanted out of our wedding day, the traditions or events I wouldn't want to give up, one of my answers was the first dance (along with a father/daughter dance). Every girl dreams of that first dance with her prince charming after tying the knot.

Courtney and I kind of have "our song". When we first started dating, we went to Las Vegas to attend a wedding of Courtney's childhood friend, Kim. It was a beautiful wedding, with good company and a beautiful setting. During the reception, the first slow song that came on was one of my favorite songs- Eric Clapton, wonderful tonight. Through the corner of my eye, I peaked Courtney getting out of his chair and was so excited for him to ask me to dance- but instead, I watched him stroll across the dance floor and ask Kim to dance. While I sat there, I enjoyed watching him dance with Kim (it was really sweet), but inside my heart was breaking because all I wanted to do was to have my first slow dance with my boyfriend. Let alone to one of my favorite songs. But all was good. A little later Courtney asked me what was wrong (because then I didn't really want to dance) and I told him that I had hoped he would ask me to dance to that song. A little while later I came out of the bathroom down the hall from the banquet room and the hall was empty with Courtney standing there, as I came up to him he put his hand out and asked me for this dance. As he pulled me in close to him he told me to listen, and there it was- the muffled sound of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" coming down the hall. We slow danced in the hallway, my first slow dance with my love and it was so perfect and sweet. He had requested it to be played again. After our moment was over, we walked back into the banquet hall and the DJ then saw Courtney and played it AGAIN! Apparently Courtney told him the story and told the DJ to play it when he saw me come back from the bathroom but ended up playing it right after Courtney asked while I was in the bathroom. Now whenever this song comes on no matter where we are, we drop everything and slow dance to the song.



But I'm not 100% sure I want this song to be our "first dance" song. I would kind of like to start a new tradition. With that being said, I'm trying to talk Courtney into one of these three songs:

1. Van Morrison- These are the days- This song makes me think of Courtney- it's so beautiful and talks about the moment being here and now. And to appreciate what you have. Love, love, love it!



2. Rob Thomas: Little Wonders - another beautiful song



3.Christina Perri- Thousand Years- No, this has nothing to do with Twilight's Wedding scene. Well, okay, maybe a little. It is a wedding scene after all so it must be a good wedding song, right? Well first off, it's a beautiful song, and second off, Christina is an old friend of mine so it has more meaning to me.





Anyhow, these would be my top 3 picks. I'm not 100% sure what Courtney's are, but I guess you won't find out what we actually pick until July 7, 2012!!

Processional Songs/Recessional Songs

Finally, the fun part of the wedding planning is here! All the fine details, the decorations, the cake, the songs, the food, the drinks, the officiant, the ceremony spot, the lighting, and all the other fun things!

This post, however, is about the ceremony songs.

Besides my heart being dead set on Pachabel canon in D performed by my brother, Stephen, on a piano for the bride processional, I've been considering some other songs for the wedding party processional and the recessional songs. All these songs have some sort of meaning- whether it was Courtney playing the song to me and telling me it makes him think of me. Or the spontaneous slow dance in the living room, or the song Courtney played in bed before going to sleep or waking me up with.

Let's meet the contestants!

1. Processional: City and Colour- The Girl



2. Jack Johnson: Better Together



3. Joshua Radin: Only You



4. The Pixies: Here comes your Man (no personal meaning behind this one)



5. Fergie- Finally



6. Mick McAuley & Winifred Horan - To Make You Feel My Love




Recessional:

1. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: Home



2. Queen: You're my Best Friend (no personal meaning behind this one)




3. Ingrid Michealson: You and I (no personal meaning behind this one)



This is the tentative list and we may add some more- but I have a feeling that it will end up being one of these songs for both the processional and the recessional.

What were your processional and recessional wedding songs? The more inspiration the better!

The Smart Girl's Guide to Buying a Wedding Dress

First off, I'd like to start this post with mentioning that Priscilla of Boston Bridal is going out of business and so they are having a 70% everything sale- dresses (gowns), brides maid dresses, jewelry, flower girl dresses, etc. Courtesy of my friend Erin bringing it to my attention! And of course, I asked the question- how are THEY going out of business? One of the biggest names in the wedding industry is going out of business? Is it maybe because of their extremely overpriced gowns? $6000 for a gown, sure! No problem!

Me, I've had my dress for quite a while now. Here's a tip to you ladies preparing to walk down the aisle- try on dresses and LOTS of them! Better yet- try on loads of dresses. Try on dress designs you don't think you would normally like. Go to different bridal shops. Mark down your favorites (or in my case, take a photo of the tag with your phone) so you can reference it later.



Say, you found the dress of your dreams? That's great news. Sleep on it. Your dress will never be the "last chance to buy this dress so you better act now." In fact- call 3-6 months later and see if they still have it. Most likely they will and it will be discounted. Also, you may be engulfed in all the wedding dress shopping and excitement that you may be persuaded by others about a particular dress, you may put down the deposit day of finding it, and then have nightmares about how wrong of a dress it is for you. Just sayin'. It happens. Then you are screwed.

Or you can take the thrifty, smart- think with your head- route when purchasing your wedding dress. Just like I did... Take that photo of the tag you snapped in the dressing room, and GOOGLE it. You may find that dress listed on some second hand wedding classifieds websites, eBay, etc. But trust me, stay away from the website with the low resolution photos that say you will get a dress "like" the one in the photo. Those come from China and are knock offs. I've read reviews where people were happy with their dress they ordered from one of these websites but also read where people were not happy- got a totally different style, bad fabric, etc. Be smart and don't take chances. But you may just so happen find your very dress at a big discount on one of these other legitimate websites. Make sure that if it is second hand that you ask if it has been altered at all and get the details of the measurements of the dress to make sure it will fit you. If it's too large- that is better than being too small because you can alter it.



Or, let's say you know what style of dress you want or the designer of the dress (thanks to all those visits to the bridal shops with family and friends) and try setting up a saved eBay search (which emails you daily with new items listed that day). At the moment, I have multiple searches set-up for email reminders and I get them daily which make my inbox look like this:



Guess what- I actually check them daily to see all the new dresses listed! These listings include second hand dresses, brand new with tags dresses, brides listing their 2nd option dress (a dress which was bought first and the bride changed her mind for a different dress and decided to wear the other dress), bridal shop closeouts, etc. You MAY be lucky and find the dress that you want or one close to the style you want at a much better price!

And with these eBay searches, I snagged my wedding dress- brand new with tags from a bridal shop going out of business for a WHOPPING $75 bucks! (plus $25 for shipping). I am a LUCKY girl! And you can be too if you just play it smart. I have faith in you! No more spending unnecessary money on overpriced wedding dresses!!!

Update 8/4/12: Here is my beautiful dress!

Santa Speedo Run 2011

Every year since I have moved to Boston I have been participating in a charity run that typically falls on my birthday weekend in December. It's a 1.5k run down the ritzy shopping streets of Boston. Starting at the Lir and ending in front of the Lir. Every year, I always have so much fun doing the run and really enjoy having my friends get together to participate with me. I also even appreciate the ones who simply stop by to cheer me on (*ahem, wimps*) But also the continuous support of my fiance, Courtney, I am grateful for all he does every year for the run for me.

This year, I am running again on Saturday, December 10, 2011 with Dana, Meghan, Andrew, Possibly Erin and possibly Bobby. I am super stoked! Even if it is below freezing like it has been some years. It's fun, and it's for a good cause. What's not to love?!

However, in order to run this charity event, I need to raise at least $400. That is the bottom limit you have to hit in order to run. And this year, I really need the help of family and friends to help me achieve the goal.

This years donations go to the Play Ball Foundation:

*In the Fall of 2009 and Spring of 2010 PlayBall! has funded the first new sports for Boston Public middle school students since 2003.
*81% of the students from the four PlayBall! Football league schools are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. The state average is 29%.
*The disparity in after school sports offered in middle schools in the Boston Public Schools versus those offered at a neighboring suburb’s public school.

If you would be so kind in donating to charity (which by the way is a tax right off) and sponsoring my run this year, please check out my fundraising page here.

A special thanks to all those who have donated in the previous years. And thank you all in advance for your donations this year. I will be sure to update you how the run went!





And lastly, a newsclip from 2008:

Wedding Venue

As you all may have known- we've gone through numerous wedding venues. We've searched high and low for something we liked and that was in our budget. What we came up with was zip, zilch, zero wedding venues in our budget. We looked at wedding venues that cost $2000+ (in the off season) and being that that is half our budget and we'd have to get married with snow on the ground, we didn't move forward with any. There was one we were particularly sold on, but because of a few events in our life, we decided to cut the budget in half which pretty much took this venue out of the running. We were sold on Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming. A gorgeous destination wedding with the Grand Tetons in the background. But time went by and we had to give up on the search. At this point, Courtney and I decided we'd rather elope than spend a ton of money on one day when it's really truly about us getting married. Not throwing a party.

Of course, that idea would not fly with our family. So a few weeks after we were sitting on the idea, my brother and sister in law came over for dinner. That night, after they listened to us ramble on about our search for a wedding venue on a low budget and all the stress and problems we encountered, they so graciously offered for us to use their barn.

I'd honestly always secretly hoped it would come down to their barn if we didn't decide on a destination wedding. So of course I couldn't help but smile and thank them and tell them we will discuss it. And of course, Courtney was all aboard with the idea to- so we FINALLY have decided on a wedding venue. And besides renting tables, chairs, etc- this wedding venue will cost us zip, zilch! Of course, we'll pitch in to help tidy up the place and help with plants, etc. but all I can say is, yay!!! It only took us 7 months, that's right, 7 MONTHS to find and decide on a venue. Typical, right?

So here are some sneak preview photos of the barn (turned yoga studio) and some photos from my brother and sister-in-law's wedding two years ago!






A big thanks go out to my wonderful family for offering their property to help us out! Love you both!

Foyer Makeover

We've put up with our foyer being an empty hole for the past one and a half years. It's been used as a daily dump off, the dirt collector, and bike storage. After looking at the disgusting peach walls all this time, I've decided it's time to keep my eye balls from burning every time I looked or walked through the foyer- which happens at least 4 times daily.

A few things to note about our foyer:

1. It has a radiator just hanging out right next to the front door, taking up space. It's kind of pointless- because it doesn't even work. Maybe that could be the next project- getting permission from our landlord to remove it. Or figuring out how to actually make it work. But with the draft from the door, it's pretty pointless to try and get it to work. How to fix drafts from doors? Hmmm..

2. The "beautiful" dark wood trim. I HATE dark wood trim. I've tried to persuade my landlord to let me paint it white, and she refuses. It would really open up the foyer space and make it light and cheerful if we could paint it white- but instead we have to work with what we are given. Gloomy "beautiful" dark wood trim.

Being that this is an apartment and I can't totally have my way- here is the makeover of our lovely little foyer.

First, we started off with a great craigslist find. I am a huge fan of craigslist and most of our furniture are second hand steals found on craigslist. We responded to an ad for a dresser being sold for $40. The photo was blurry on craigslist but I decided to give it a shot. When we showed up to an empty house being remodeled and walked into a room with just this dresser- I knew immediately it would be perfect. My whole idea was to get a piece of furniture for the foyer to house ALL our heaps of piles of ski and winter gear. This piece was large- but also had interesting carvings and shapes to it. Sold! We packed it into every little inch of the car and drove 30 minutes home with the two front seats pressed up against the dashboard. It was the longest and most uncomfortable car ride ever. But we made it home. Knowing we were going to paint it, Courtney immediately took the sander to the furniture to prepare it for painting. We later purchased knobs and handles at the Home Depot to update the antique metal pulls that were on it.



No longer will I have a 4:00 a.m. wakeup call on the days I am not going skiing with Courtney. No longer will I wake up to him fumbling through drawers looking for ski gear. Now he gets to make all the noise he wants in the foyer looking for whatever he needs!

While Courtney sanded, I painted the entire foyer a sand color. Courtney was also so kind to primer the dresser the day I left for Orlando- so I came home to a dry piece of white furniture. A blank canvas to paint! We took a trip to home depot and after several arguments about what color to paint it (I wanted to go with more of a gold green and Courtney didn't want gold or green), we settled on a forest green. And so, I took a couple hours each night after work painting the dresser.



To be honest, all the inspiration for the foyer makeover came from this post from Young House Love. I wanted an excuse to try the unique stencil design which cost me less than $15 in supplies. All you need is a piece of cardboard, a small stencil brush, small can of paint, music and patience. This blog has given me great inspiration and I am happy I found it after a recommendation from my sister-in-law, Jamie, who told me to check out their wedding on a budget. It gave us some great ideas on how to save and we will be re-creating a similar reception as theirs!



We also managed to snag a $40 brand new in box $300 chandelier. Another great craigslist find that we picked up on the way home from camping and attending Ullr fest in Vermont. The car was so packed with camping gear we were nervous it wouldn't fit- but we were lucky and it did.



I purchased the rug a few weeks ago on ideeli.com- a rue-la-la and groupon type of site with flash sale deals. While the rug is originally $800, I got it for in the $200 range. It was a bit more than I would have liked to spend but let's just say it was an impulse buy with no returns on the label.

And drumroll please for the almost final product....


I say "almost final product" because I would still like to get a large mirror to hang on the wall above the dresser and an antique looking clock to put above one of the doorways so we also know what time it is as we try to rush out the door...

Oh and a special thanks to our little helper!



To be continued.