How my random act became a devious plan

As many of you know, I got engaged several months ago. To my surprise, both of my parents immediately became obsessed. My dad had dreams about who should be invited. My mom had lists of lists. I became more laid back about the whole deal. :)

One night while I was home, Say Yes to the Dress came on. Mom came in and watched it with me. She was astonished at how much people were paying for dresses. (I think one girl had a budget of $5,000.) Apparently, Mom was also hooked on the show. A month ago, I found out she'd even gotten Dad to watch an episode or two with her. This is a major deal; my father only watches sports, stocks and the Weather Channel. Dad told me he couldn't believe how snooty all the sales girls were on the show. Both of them watched the premiere of Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta (the shop is about ten minutes from our house).

Yesterday, I went dress shopping. I'd gone once in Atlanta with Mom, but hadn't decided on anything yet. I had time and the urge to try on dresses, so I went by myself. I found a dress I liked, snapped some photos and emailed them home. Here's a sneak peek.

AVERT YOUR EYES, JAKE!!!!

The dress is a bit more than I wanted to spend. Here comes the devious plan. By watching Say Yes to the Dress, Dad has become hardened to the costs of wedding dresses. Anything under $5,000 seems like a good deal to him! (This dress is WAY under that.)

Stay tuned to see if I buy this dress!

A bad run and some knowledge

My run today was no bueno. I had a big salad for lunch, with romaine, steamed broccoli, tomato, and some chickpeas. 2 hours later, my stomach felt a bit wonky, so I had a glass of water. 30 minutes after that, I headed out on my run.

Oh dear. I seriously thought I was going to throw up at some points. I ended up walking about 1/3 of the time. My salad was sitting in my stomach like I'd had a double serving of beef bourginon. The last five minutes I realized that if I can run with this, then my 5K in less than two weeks shouldn't be a problem. That's right, I'm running the Komen 5K on Oct. 3. I'm very excited to buy some pink running wear!

Side question: what do you wear to run outside when it gets cold? I started running in late April and was just wearing old yoga pants and long-sleeved shirts. I'm hoping I can keep running outside for most, if not all of winter in Denver. I'm worried about the dry, cold air aggravating my asthma. Any suggestions?

Low Key Saturday

Yesterday was lovely. Very low key and relaxing. I woke up and made Jake's favorite breakfast - Polish breakfast. This involves potatoes, onions, sausage, eggs and cheese. It ended up being tasty, much better than last weekends attempt at pancakes. After letting the heavy breakfast digest for a bit, I went for a run. I didn't run as far as I'd like, but am still proud I dragged myself out.

The afternoon was spent hanging out on the porch, being jealous of the kid's birthday party next door (complete with bouncy-castle!), baking brownies, brewing beer and playing video games with Jake. Not exactly the most exciting Saturday night, but delightful all the same.

On the schedule for today, a trip to the farmers' market.

Have a great day!

Abandonment Issues

Yesterday a dear friend moved away. True, she moved to a fun city, near her family, and with a great job. However, she is no longer available to be my Indian buffet date and this saddens me.

Her leaving wouldn't be so bad, if three other girlfriends hadn't also moved away since June. That's right, 4 out of my 6 female friends have abandoned me. Bagel moved West. Ches moved back East. Lizzie moved North and Kim moved South. I pout.

Really what this means is that I need to work on making friends. I've been in Denver for over a year now and am really loving the city. I am looking into joining some groups. This will be my first experience trying to make friends outside of a school setting. We'll see how it goes.

Nobody else is allowed to move away for at least a year!