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atypical60 · 5 years

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Far be it to not take advantage of Oona’s pre-wedding events to not make it about me. OK?

Remember. It’s all about MOI!!!!

Anyway, last weekend I flew to Cincinnati for Oona’s Bridal Shower. You saw a sneak peak at my last blog post but I’m gonna elaborate more on the weekend.

And boy was this a fantastic Bridal Brunch!!

As the Mother-of-the-Bride naturally.

Number 4 is the only one Oona has stressed. I did that at her shower when we all introduced ourselves. My sense of humor got the best of me as I introduced myself as “…..as Oona exited my Origin of the World…” immediately, I was pulled aside and warned in a kind way to NOT say anything like that at the wedding. (shhhh–don’t tell but I don’t follow rules!)

I took Friday off from work because I wanted a true three-day weekend. That’s the thing about working in a low-level clerical position—you need permission to get a day off. In my other places of employment, it was much easier to finagle time off as a freebie—trust me. I also worked my schedule out to accommodate leaving early on Thursday afternoon so I could fly from Philly to Cincy and enjoy a few extra hours of fun time.

I also took Friday casual to Thursday! I travel in comfort, but not like a slob! J. Crew and Gabor wigs assisted me! Mother-of-the Bride travel attire!

It’s not how it started out though.

For some reason, either I hit horrific weather or I have a displeasure of a delayed flight whenever I travel. I kid you not. And about 45 minutes before we were to board the plane, an announcement was made that the flight to Cincinnati would be delayed.

Welcome to my jet-sit world. I spend more time waiting than flying! I have to say though, that Delta made every effort and boarded us very quickly when the plane arrived!

Besides having an inner hissy-fit, I dealt with this issue by stress eating not one pretzel, but an additional bucket of pretzel nuggets. Fresh and hot off the press. The carbs were murder on my gut but felt so good going down. I also ate a giant bag of peanut M & M’s. And read trashy magazines.

And an added surprise was that these nuggets of carbs were also drenched in greasy melted butter. I wonder why the scale isn’t giving me nicer numbers!!

The plane finally arrived and this Mother-of-the-Bride landed after ten in the evening to rain! I was two for two. A delay and rain. It was shocking that a snow storm hadn’t hit!

Cincinnati here I come…

To rain and a delayed flight….

Now…upon departing the flight, one would think I ran to the airport exit to see Oona and Sam. No. CVG is a GREAT airport. It’s so clean and spacious so I couldn’t resist dawdling (now we know where my son, Roman, acquired the gift of dawdle…). I came across a cosmetics vending machine! But I didn’t buy anything!

Why couldn’t I find this at Philly airport during the delay?

Then I came across my favorite part of the airport! Them bones!

Some stop to smell the roses. I stop to take photos at airports of skeletal treasure!

But it was great to be back at Oona and Sam’s and playing around with my grand puppy, Gracie.

My boo, Gracie. OMG. She’s so well-behaved..

Oona and Sam are such great doggie parents…I KNOW they will be fantastic human parents!

Friday brought sun and clouds and brisk weather but it didn’t matter. There’s something comforting in knowing that your daughter and her future husband can brew a great cuppa coffee. They make it strong—just the way I love it. And we sat around gabbing before getting ready and heading out to run errands.

The Mr. Coffee is far better than the grandpa Mr. Coffee we have at home.

Even little Gracie was beggin’ for some!

Ahhhhhhhhh…cawfee!!!

Oona had a nail appointment, and since my nails were looking fine, I passed but kept her company while we discussed family and the wedding preparations.

This freakin’ nail salon! It went on for days! I was jealous–but then Oona told me the price of a mani-pedi and I was glad to be living in the Northeast where nail salons are plentiful….and far less expensive!

Next stop was Marshalls –Oona picked some workout clothing (I didn’t –I’m lazy). And I headed for the cosmetics. Glory be to Gawd—I found two great eyeshadow palettes!

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More on these palettes for my next blog post but boy….at $7.99 each, these palettes were a steal!

We did some food shopping—Sam’s birthday was Friday and his family was coming over for dinner. Oona looked pensive as she realized time was of the essence—she had to head back to the airport to pick up her best friend and maid-of-honor, Lauren.

Did I say food shopping? I sent this pic to Bonaparte to validate that Pennsylvania is the worst state in the USA because of the State-run, Mob-type Liquor stores! You can by this at Trader Joes in Cincy!

And that’s where mom comes in—I assured her I could take care of the cake and she could head to the airport for alone time with her bestie!

BTW, this cake is gluten-free, chemical and preservative-free, sugar free, and lower-fat! Oona added Sam’s favorite candy–Reeses Pieces which are NOT lower fat nor sugar free! But it was a tasty Birthday cake!

Friday evening, Sam’s family came over for a birthday celebration. Being with Sam’s family is like being with……………. family!! We all had a great time and I was introduced to a spectacular aperitif/cocktail: The Aperol Spritz! This concoction of Aperol, Prosecco, and Seltzer with a slice of orange is the most refreshing drink I’ve ever downed!

You read it first. Moving forward, the Aperol Spritz will now be called “Mother-of-the-Bride”. There will be an open bar at the wedding but I may smuggle my private makings! There’s only 148 calories in one of these!

I drank a lot of them during the weekend. In fact, as I write this now, I informed the Frenchman that I’ll be stopping at the store for Aperol, Prosecco and seltzer! He is a bit upset that I am forgoing the beloved Kir Royal but the Aperol Spritz has less calories and with the wedding countdown, every calorie counts!

Saturday was a full day!

Let me tell you something. Oona and Lauren spent a long time getting their hair perfectly coifed. Lauren is great with styling and she styled Oona’s hair in perfect beach waves.

I plopped my Jamison wig on—and had extra time to loll around in bed! Oh, the beauty of wigs!

Jamison and Lilly Pulitzer. You can’t go wrong!

The shower/bruncheon was at LouVino, a Southern-inspired restaurant and wine bar downtown Cincinnati. What a great place! The celebration was downstairs in a private room and Oona’s friends, coworkers, future sisters-in-law, mother-in-law and relatives were in attendance.

The upstairs wine bar at LouVino’s. I’m recommending this place to out-of-town guests for Oona’s wedding!

The downstairs room where the brunch was held…

Thanks to Sam’s sisters, the table settings were beautiful..

Mimosas kept us refreshed and hydrated!

Oh yeah, and water (in the background) also kept us hydrated. The food was so great that I never took a pic–I was too busy shoveling the Warm Brussels Salad into my mouth!

We played girlie games. I won Scattergories. But the best game was where Oona had to guess answers to questions that Sam answered in advance. For ever wrong answer, a wad of bubble gum was placed in Oona’s mouth! It was a riot!

It was only natural that I took myself out of the “Guess the Age” game. I’m no cheater!

Miss Oona getting ready for more bubble gum! She actually did a great job. Out of 30 questions, she got 2/3’s correct!

The prize for the Scattergories win..a cute mug and a Starbucks card!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the gifts. Crate & Barrel is very popular–eh???

Happy little wine glasses…

Happy little Oona!

The baking girl was thrilled to receive mixing bowls. Did I mention I gifted her with a Stainless Kitchen Aid Mixer…just like mine? I swear the baking is genetic!

This. This was on Oona’s wish list and she was so happy to receive this! (Hmmmm maybe she’ll give me her Mr. Coffee machine…)

BFF’s. They’ve been friends since middle-school. Two beauties!

This photo of us was taken after I was crying…

..and this is why. Lauren, Oona’s BFF and Maid of Honor, gifted Sam’s mom and me with embroidered hankies. Both moms were crying because it was just a touching and generous gift! I’m crying again!

I was very happy to be in attendance. Oona didn’t want a shower in Philly simply because she felt that asking my side of the family and her Northeast friends, was asking them to spend too much money—what with the travel to Ohio and the hotel, she wanted to keep expenses down for everyone. You know—I was very proud of her decision. I think I raised a very conscientious young woman!

And the fact Sam’s family has welcomed Oona really made me feel warm and fuzzy inside!

May I present the future Mrs. Butts. Coming from a very competitive family, it pleases me to have my daughter’s future last name be greatness such as this. When/if they have children and their children are in competitive activities, they can hashtag: #MyButtsgonnakickyours or… #Buttsbekickin’

Some after-brunch fun. Isn’t that dress adorable? It’s a Lilly Pulitzer..and those shoes! The daughter has great taste..and she’s gorgeous!

By the time we got back to the house, the rain came and it was time to head to Sam’s mom’s home for a casual, laid back and fun dinner!

And more Aperol Spritzes!

The recipe? Three parts Prosecco, Two parts Aperol, One part (a splash) Seltzer and an orange slice to make it nice!

Sunday morning brought forth a bit of a hangover and the flight back to Philly. Isn’t it funny how when you wish for a delay, the flight is on time?

Gracie was sad to see me go. I was sad to see me go!

Minimal dawdling on the return. There was no delay. WAIT! Does that say Air France? Yeah…but it’s the plane back to Philly…

And despite the timeliness of the flight home, I did manage to get this sweatshirt as a reminder of a great weekend!

I arrived back home Sunday afternoon. When Bonaparte picked me up, I’m not too sure he was happy to see me because he kept mentioning how tired I looked. He was right. I had a bad hangover FOODover, because of all the food I ate.

Yeah. I pretty-much crashed when I arrived home. Funny how I still think I’m in my twenties sometimes!

Do you ever get sad when you leave someplace and someone? I was incredibly sad to leave but after I arrived home and unpacked and got to telling the Frenchman about the weekend, the sadness lifted and I felt really happy. Happy that I was able to enjoy the weekend with my daughter and her future family! And happy to be back sitting next to my husband on the sofa!

And she’s the reason the weekend was a stellar one! My baby is getting married!

More Mother-of-the-Bride Fun! Far be it to not take advantage of Oona’s pre-wedding events to not make it about me.

#Bridal Showers #Cincinnati #LouVino OTR #Weddings

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flamepoint-runner · 7 years

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My first marathon: race recap

[Ridiculously long post ahead....]

Hoo boy - so one week ago I ran my first marathon - Revel Big Cottonwood. I had signed up for the race in April, and as you know (if you scroll back through my posts) i’ve been very on-again, off-again about actually running the damn thing. I finally truly committed to it at the start of August after some not-the-greatest training this summer, and I managed to pull it off and cross that finish line. Here’s a recap below the cut:

Firstly, it was a long week at school leading up to the race. It didn’t matter that our training (tapering) runs were only 2, 3, and 4 miles. We had to get them done in the early mornings before school. That plus after school commitments meant for some very long days leading up to the marathon. Friday afternoon we drove in for packet pick-up and took some time to check out the out-and-back portion of the course. I finally got home that evening close to 8pm and had to set my alarm for 2:30am Saturday. Not a lot of time to sleep...but it is what it is.

Saturday morning: up at 2:30 to eat something, make coffee, and get myself ready. My friend L picked me up at 3:30 to drive in - the race was about 45 min drive away from our town. We got there and boarded one of the buses to take us up the canyon around 4:30am. Once on the bus I was like, “okay, this is it. You’re really committed now...!” Yikes! It took us almost an hour to get up the canyon to our starting spot. We were behind one of the half-marathon buses and had to wait for them to unload at their starting spot, then drive another 10 miles up the canyon.

It was cool out, but not super-cold while waiting for the race to start. We both got in line for the porta potties right after getting off the bus. Then we just found a place to stand along the road and kinda keep moving while waiting. Had a banana and finished my sports drink thing (I forget what it’s called right now, but it’s supposed to help you mentally focus as well...) Got back in line at 6am for a last porta potty use - then it was time to turn in our drop bags and get ready to go!

The race officially started at 6:45am. It was kinda weird. No national anthem - no energizing music, and not even a countdown (that I could hear). Just...people starting moving towards the start line, and then running once they crossed the timing mat.

It was really crowded for the first few miles, and i had a hard time regulating my breathing. A combination of anxiety and adrenaline I’m sure. I ran with L until about mile 3 when there was a steep uphill part. I knew by looking at it that I wouldn’t be able to run the whole thing - especially with my difficulty breathing at this point - and that’s where I lost L. I was hoping to run more with her and not be so far behind at the end....but yeah, that dream died on this hill.

ANYWAYS. So I knew from here on out, I was near the back of the pack of marathon runners. Fine. Deal with it. You’re still running the damn thing, right? After the uphill at mile 3, we did a little loop and came back down the steep road which was nice. I saw a person carrying a big flag heading up the hill and i think this was the back-of-the-race pacer person. I think. So I saw that...and thought...I gotta keep ahead of him. My main goal was to finish this race in under 6 hours, which was the official cut-off time.

The first 18 miles of this race are down and out the canyon. Some parts are steeper, and sometimes it flattens out a bit...but it’s mostly just a gentle downhill. Aid stations every 2 miles - I always walked through and grabbed water. I was able to keep my pace around 11-12 mins per mile which is a bit slower but still okay I guess. I stopped once to use a porta potty but other than that I just kept moving. I’d say I ran 95% of the canyon part - just a few short walking breaks to stretch out my back, or walking the aid stations.

After the canyon was the out and back part. More uphill. Along a road next to a gravel pit with trucks going in and out and stirring up dust. Yuck. A lot of people were walking at this point - both ways!! So I was somewhat encouraged because I was walking most of this chunk too. My hip hurt and I knew I had some awesome blisters on my toes and feet...but gotta keep moving. I saw L coming back down the out and back, and i knew she’d probably finish the marathon in under 5 hours. [I am super-jealous and thus hate myself a little bit more at this point...]

Mile 20.5 was the turn-around and here I tried to take a gel. I had my gatorade chews with me and had been having a piece or two as needed. They seemed to be the only thing my stomach can handle on long runs lately. But, I was really hoping I could get some much-needed caffeine from the gel here. Tried one little sip/squirt and NOPE. Not gonna work :( Pitched it, took some more water, and headed back on the other side of the road. Positive part: there were a good number of people behind me yet! I got to see (and count) all these people as I was heading back towards the main road. Felt encouraged that I wasn’t the absolute slowest person.

At this point, the clouds were moving in pretty good and i was thankful. It was somewhat sunny in parts of the canyon earlier and i knew I would have been absolutely miserable to be running (walking) this last part in the sun. Clouds plus a few rain sprinkles = perfect. The last 4 miles I would run a chunk, walk a chunk. No specific number of minutes or distance - just whatever i felt like I could do. Right as I finished mile 24 there was a nice downhill part again that started off kinda steep - good momentum - and then slowly leveled out. I was able to run that pretty well which felt good. I was also getting pretty emotional by this point - and actually trying not to cry - like, I was just overwhelmed with thoughts: “oh my gosh I’m almost done - running a freaking MARATHON!”

When I could see the finish line and hear the announcer - it was so exhilarating! I’m almost there! Of course...it’s little bit uphill into the finishing chute (WHY PEOPLE, WHY?) but I ran that stupid little thing and FINISHED! Still a good number of people at the end, cheering you in, etc. It was good. I got a bottle of water and someone put the medal around my neck...and I’m thinking “Wow - I just ran for XX time and went 26+ miles!” There was a bit more rain coming down now...and the finishing line festivities were kinda packing up. I got my drop bag and went to change into my recovery sandals and some clean/dry clothes. L and I took pictures in front of one of the cool backdrop pictures with our medals and grabbed some free mixed-soda drinks (yay sugar!) and then walked back to her car to head home.

My emotions kept flipping between glad “yay I did it” and crappy-annoyed-depressed sort of thoughts for the rest of the day and weekend. Like...I did enjoy running down the canyon and I had some really blissful moments. And yes, I’m proud of running 26 miles in one go. But I’m also super-pissed that I had such a crappy finishing time (compared to L) even though I’ve got legit reasons like my hip slowing me down. It’s super-dumb, I know, and i need to let it go and just be happy that I did a marathon. But I kind of wish L hadn’t run it as well...so I wouldn’t have anyone to compare to (and the other teachers/friends at my school wouldn’t be able to compare us as well).

My mindset when signing up and wanting to run a marathon was to do it just for me. It was a BIG fucking goal and I wanted to like...prove I’m a runner by doing it. Of course I wanted a good finishing time. But really, any time should be good enough for your first one. So it just kinda kills me inside that L can just decide to “oh yeah sure I’ll run a marathon, why not” more casually, and then finish a fucking hour ahead of me like...no big deal. And her attitude just kills me as well. Because it’s easy to say “Oh our times don’t matter! No one needs to know” when you’re the one with the better time. I used to be the better runner. I used to just LOSE her when running down the canyon for our casual runs. But now I’m fatter and slower. And I know she’ll never say it to my face, but I get this sense that she really enjoys beating me in every race we do and every training run we did. And she’ll say “good job” when I catch up sometimes - and that just pisses me off more.

YES IT’S STUPID, I KNOW. I need to stop being so jealous and just do my own thing, and focus on myself becoming a better runner. Which is the plan from here on out. I’m not going to sign up for races with her. I’ll plan out and do my own. I’m not going to do any specific training with her. Maybe, every once in awhile, we can run on a Saturday morning. But not every week. Just once in awhile so I can check in with my progress. I’m going to beat her someday. I have her marathon time burned into my brain, and I’m going to fucking beat it. I know I can. [I just need to get my hip issues sorted first] - and i can train better.

I’m going to sign up for this marathon again next year. And maybe a different one before then - who knows? At least some other half marathons. But definitely going to do this one again - and I’m already looking forward to it - gonna crush my time by A LOT.

If you’ve read all this...holy cow. Thanks. Definite brain-spilling going on.

#my running #my marathon #personal #mental struggles #long post

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