The Plan: Updated

Last night was my big (free) consultation with the running coach. It started off well, I got there early and quickly noticed I was literally 400 feet (according to the Garmin) from my friend Gerry's apartment so I decided to visit her first. I'm sure she was quite confused about why I was 30 minutes from home on a random Tuesday night but I like to be surprising what can I say?

Overall the appointment was extremely productive. He had me fill out a bunch of forms listing what I normally do for exercise, health problems, running goals, etc. He asked me a lot of questions about when the pain started etc. It felt a lot more like a doctors appointment than a "running" appointment except that he did not focus on my knee at all. He explained that my knee problem probably has little to do with my knee so we have to figure out what is causing it. He did a serious of tests. I had to squat for 90 seconds (which I don't recommend doing for fun), squat with each leg in the air, do some calf stretching, he measured my arch height etc. He confirmed what others have said about my feet which is that they are not the issue.

My issue is apparently coming from my hip, back area. He is the first person to consider this possibility, everyone always looks at my feet! I am slightly imbalanced and lean to the left when I do things. No offense to my body but this is the WORST idea for my body ever since my right side is so much stronger than my left. It didn't sound like there was any miracle cure for being imbalanced but he did say that I can get my body better equipped to handle this imbalance. Also since my right knee does hurt sometimes when I run, the imbalance is not the cause of the problem, but simply the reason why my left knee bothers me all the time.

So, the actual problem? Tightness. He was pushing on parts of my legs and telling me it shouldn't hurt at all and I was about to cry in pain. Apparently, the most important part of my physical therapy was probably the foam roller and it was the part I was least serious about. Sure, I did the foam roller when I was about to work out or do my physical therapy exercises but he said I should be doing it as much as I possibly can, several times a day. Dear Parents, It may sound strange but your 5 year old will be learning a new technique called "foam rolling". Since Ms. Winn has to do it several times a day, we figured what better way to ensure that happens than to make it just as essential to the kindergarten day as reading instruction :)

I have to say, while he is the first to say it, this "diagnosis" is not shocking to me at all. I have never been a flexible person and add that to my overall hatred for all things stretching and you have an obviously injured runner. To give myself some credit, I have been stretching a lot more. I never work out without SOME stretch after. But is it enough? Obviously not.

Enter: THE PLAN.

To Buy

• 1 high density foam roller (apparently mine is not serious enough, go figure)

To Do

• 10 minutes of foam rolling 2-3 x per day
• calf stretches 30 seconds, 3x per day
• quad stretches 30 seconds, 3x per day
• squat and hold 60-90 seconds, 2x per day
• yoga 2x per week

How am I going to fit this in? The plan is to do everything right in the morning, fit in more stretching while my kiddos are at recess (they won't notice, I already do laps around the playground sometimes), do an afternoon session any days when I am home early enough perhaps while I am making dinner and then do an evening session right before I eat dessert at night (I guess this means I'll need some dessert every night ha ha). I'm hoping if I make a habit of it, it will not seem so terrible. I also plan to make the time by easing up *a little* on my PT exercises. I am sure they are still important but not as important as this. Also it was kind of depressing how much I've been working my quad muscles and yet I was still dying trying to hold a squat for 90 seconds.

As for the running coach, we agreed that I would do this stuff for awhile until I am completely pain free. When that happens, I can choose to go back to him to have him help me get back into running safely, or I can try it out myself. The goal right now is to get there. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Workout Motivation

Every time I read a magazine it seems there is someone recommending working out with friends. I have had some great work out buddies over the years including Tiff, Timna and basically all of my college roommates. However, to consistently end up at the gym I have had to be a lot more independent about my work out schedule. Don't get me wrong, I love working out with my friends but we are busy people and if we went by both of our schedules- we'd never work out again!

However, this year I have gotten a lot more into the work out buddy system. It began this summer when me and a friend from work started attending Spinning class on Monday night. Another friend from work joined us and now three of us go every Monday night at 6:20. With the way my Monday's go, I usually don't have time to go home before that class and I have been gone from the house for at least 12 hours by that point. I can safely say since the school year began I NEVER would've attended that class without these girls. I am pretty sure that none of us are really DYING to go to that class on Monday nights but we all go because no one wants to be the "one" who didn't go. It's perfect. Monday always used to be my rest day because I could never get myself up early to work out, or motivate myself to do it in the afternoon. Rest day no more. One of those spinning buds and I also signed up for the kettlebell class on Wednesdays. I never would've thought of taking that without a little pushing either. Since I had to pay for that class it motivates me to go a little more, but it certainly wouldn't be as fun without a Workout Buddy!
Do you guys have workout buddies? Do you prefer working out alone or with friends?

Another big workout motivator for me is the workout playlist. Knowing I have great music to listen to can motivate me to do basically anything. During the triathlon we were not allowed to have ipods and I was REALLY missing it during the running portion. There was a girl who happened to be running in the middle of the tri, but wasn't in it. She had an ipod and I seriously considered stealing it. If I thought I woudn't get disqualified I definitely would've done it. My awesome sister helped me create an awesome playlist this afternoon that I am looking forward to using during my next work out. Here is my newest playlist:


There are a few songs I don't know, but I think that's even more fun because it will take longer for me to get sick of them! I have kettlebell tomorrow, but I am hoping this will be my motivator on Thursday! It's showing up small on my computer but if you can't see the song names, click on it and it will open bigger. Sorry about that technical glitch.

Okay, I must be going- I have a meeting with my running coach tonight! Does that make me sound like a serious athlete? Anyway, really its just a free consultation with a running coach to see if they can fix my knee. Can you tell I am one of those people who does not give up until I find a solution?

Oh and finally- thanks for the positive comments yesterday! I have not been officially diagnosed with Celiac, I just *may* have it, and hopefully don't. I think it's going to be a little bit until I know anything so I will keep you updated, but in the meantime we are going to talk about more fun stuff :)

Another Manic Monday

Mondays are an insane day for me. But today it was made better by the fact that Eric had the day off for Yom Kippur which meant I came home to a clean kitchen, dishwasher emptied and our brand new silverware cleaned and organized. Oh how I love non-football Eric. Also, on the same note- the little girl I tutor on Mondays celebrates Yom Kippur which meant no tutoring. AND although I did not have the day off school, they did not schedule a faculty meeting so BAM- free time. Of course I did have a doctors appointment but something about sitting back and letting others do their job is a bit easier than me doing it. I got to end the day with spinning with 2 of my friends from work. One of the guys in the class was trying to get the instructor to do leg isolations for LONGER. My friend noted that he is totally like that guy in grad classes who is STILL asking questions when class is supposed to be over. Seriously. What is wrong with these people?

So today I had my first stomach doctor appointment. I probably should've had one of these 2 1/2 years ago when I was diagnosed with IBS...but I didn't. I was finally convinced to go this year by my primary care and it turned out (after having random blood work done) that I had some liver levels (lol, that is so not what it is called but I have a very un-scientific mind sorry) that were high and I had to see this doctor anyway so perfect that I already had an appointment. My doctor's operation was: figure out stomach problems, figure out liver problems. My operation was: figure out why I am 25, eat healthy, exercise frequently and have more health problems most older people I know...

The doctor said the most likely connection between stomach and liver issues (specifically mine) is celiac. NOOOOOO. Seriously no. I refuse to give up bread. I was READY to accept that diagnosis 3 years ago when I was feeling terrible all the time. Now I get IBS...let's just have IBS. I like my bread, I like my pasta. I do not like the gluten free versions of these. And so, let's hope it is not celiac. The good news is: 1. I was already tested for celiac and it came up negative (of course, the doctor said the test is not used anymore because its not that reliable- but still) 2. Celiac would not explain why my stomach gets worse with stress. The bad news is, if it is celiac I might cry. A lot. But then after that I will find all the bloggers who eat gluten free and I'll experiment and eventually I'll learn to deal with that too. Of course.

On another note, I have started writing articles for this online magazine type of thing. Check out my first 2: Pumpkin Math and Breakfast Ideas for IBS (even if you don't have IBS, they are still healthy!).

I'll update you guys tomorrow on the blood test results (or at least as soon as I know anything).

PS. Does ice cream have gluten in it?

Over the Top

Today was a pretty relaxing Sunday. I started with a trip to the gym for 35 minutes on the elliptical and some leg exercises from Physical Therapy. Then, Eric and I went to run some errands where I got my first pumpkin spice latte in years! As I've mentioned, my stomach does not like caffeine, so today I tried a decaf one. I still think my stomach was not thrilled but I survived it and it was delicious. I was going to text Ash who drank pumpkin spice lattes with me all through college but then I remembered she is on Seattle time this month and she probably would not appreciate a text message at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning!

The rest of the day was spent getting some work done and writing a million thank you notes. I actually am temporarily done with thank you notes for now. I am out of stamps and I think Eric needs to take a turn, haha. I am so supportive of his lack of time right now I know. Speaking of Eric, he made a ridiculously good soup this afternoon. He says it was made with sweet potato, apple, onions, garlic, olive oil, honey and white beans. It both smelled and tasted amazing. I made myself a little side of eggplant fries. I got the idea from Meghann. Basically all I did was slice up my eggplant and cover it with egg whites and panko bread crumbs. This healthy dinner was just what my stomach needed because I've been snacking on not-so great food most of the day, oops!

I am looking forward to the leftovers of that soup for lunch the next few days!

Stay tuned this week for my first ever meeting with a stomach doctor tomorrow, and my first ever meeting with a running coach (to try to help my knee) on Tuesday.

On another note, I got a Blog Award today WOOOOOO!

I got this award from Sneaker Teacher which is a huge honor because I LOVE her blog, and I really admire her because she just moved with her husband to Germany and she has been living out of a hotel room for months! Also, she is an amazing teacher with lots of great ideas. In order to accept this award I am supposed to answer a bunch of questions with only 1 word answers...um yeah- that alone was impossible for me, but here is how I did:

1. Where is your cell phone? bedroom

2.Your hair? curly

3. Your mother? caring

4. Your father? Social (and caring…haha)

5. Your favorite food? Icecream (haha is that cheating?)

6. Your dream last night? ?

7. Your favorite drink? water

8. Your dream/goal? book

9. What room are you in? living

10. Your hobby? blogging

11. Your fear? Losing (specifically losing kids at work but losing in general haha)

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mom

13. Where were you last night? here

14. Something you aren't? OCD

15. Muffins? blueberry

16. Wish list item? purses

17. Where did you grow up? Lex

18. Last thing you did? write

19. What are you wearing? pink

20. Your TV? on

21. Your pets? none

22. Your friends? amazing

23. Your life? lucky

24. Your mood? happy

25. Missing someone? always

26. Vehicle? honda

27. Something you're not wearing? socks

28. Your favorite store? staples

29. Your favorite color? pink

30. When was the last time you laughed? Okay I have to break the 1 word rule (again)- I just laughed out loud because they were interviewing Matt Ryan and they asked him if he purposely wore a maroon tie as a tribute to BC and he was like “um….well, no (clearly just noticing he was wearing a maroon tie haha) but yeah…good game yesterday BC”

31. Last time you cried? ?

32. Your best friend? CKAT

33. One place that I go over and over? work

34. One person who emails me regularly? Caroline

35. Favorite place to eat? out

That was WAY too difficult for me...seriously! Anyway, now after that serious challenge I get to pass this blog on to 6 bloggers. It's hard to narrow it down to 6 and I KNOW I am going to leave out blogs I love, but here it goes...

SimplyFabulousNow- I just started reading her blog but I already love it. She is also a teacher and just got married so we have a few things in common.

DaretoTri- I have been reading this blog since the beginning because I need triathlon tips. However, now we share a common FRUSTRATION with the knee! Hopefully both of us will love our knees by the end of 2009...a girl can wish, right?

GirlWithTheRedHair- Honestly, I just love Amber. She writes about basically everything and even when it's completely random I am always like YES I totally agree with that haha.

PBandJenny- Jenny eats and posts a ton of delicious foods (obviously she has good taste with peanut butter in her name). She just did a crazy awesome post on all the things to add to oatmeal!

Chasing the Kenyans- Lindsay's running is way out of my league, but it's fun to read about.

LisaYarns- Lisa is running her first 1/2 marathon on Halloween! So jealous :)

Yeah, that didn't even begin to touch all the blogs I read and love, so I guess I need to get some more awards so I can pass them on, haha :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Restaurant Review: Picco

My weekend has been seriously uneventful due to the fact that I have been fighting one of the 1 million colds the kiddos bring in my classroom, and Eric has been (of course) at football :) I have worked out but I haven't done much else so I thought I'd do a restaurant review I forgot to do last week.

I love to go into Boston for dinner so I was excited to try out Picco in the South End of Boston. It seemed like a reasonably priced restaurant, which can be difficult to find in the South End. We took Eric's mom and headed into Boston. There was a parking garage behind the restaurant that cost about $12 (something to take into consideration when planning to dine downtown).

First, the atmosphere: Picco has the feel of an upscale pizza place with a lot of brick, and open kitchen and a pretty large bar area (considering it's a small restaurant). They also have a beautiful outdoor patio, but it was too cold for us to sit out there. They do take reservations and I would consider making them because we ended up with one of the last tables available even though we were fairly early in the night. It definitely seemed like a kid-friendly place and there were many children around when we arrived. At the same time, it also had the downtown, hip feel.

Eric ordered the pumpkin curried soup for an appetizer. I am not a fan of curry, so I did not particularly enjoy it, but Eric thought it was delicious and was already pleased with the restaurant before he had received his meal.

For meals, Eric and his mom went with pizza and I went for the homemade pasta with tomato sauce. They had some more creative options, but we are pretty simple eaters. I think it says a lot about a restaurant when they can do simple things well, as well as the signature meals. Eric ordered the Alsatian pizza with garlic, shallots, cheese, onions and bacon.

They cook the pizza "well done" so Eric asked for his lightly toasted. Eric's mom ordered the Margherita pizza.

The reports on the pizza were good and I have to say my pasta was soooo good. It was definitely North End style (Italian section of Boston) and it tasted very authentic Italy. There is something special about homemade pasta that just cannot be replicated with the store bought brands.

But...it does not end here. I have to admit that the real reason I got Eric to come all the way into Boston with me even after football practice was with the Adult Ice Cream Soda. There was no question we were going to order dessert with this on the menu. It was made with Belgium Lambic (a raspberry flavored beer) and vanilla ice cream.

That is Eric's look of "do I really have to wait for you to take a picture to dive into this amazing treat?" Obviously, I tried it too so I can vouch for how amazing it was. Plus, it's fun to have a beer float!

I also ordered my own dessert- Toasted Gingerbread with Vanilla Ice Cream. Delish.

Overall I think everyone who lives in, or is visiting Boston should visit this place for the Adult Ice Cream Soda alone. However, you might as well eat your meal there because the food was delicious and very reasonable. It came to about $60 for the 3 of us, and we all ordered a meal and dessert, plus Eric's soup. Not too bad for the South End neighborhood.

Beautiful Fall Morning

It's a gorgeous fall morning here in Boston and I heard it's going to rain tomorrow and with fall comes winter, so I have to enjoy every minute of it. I woke up late (for me, 8 o'clock haha) and I greeted my day with Jillian Michaels, Level 2 Shred. I can't do any of the cardio moves because of the knee, so I do my Physical Therapy exercises during the cardio parts. Then I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes watching the first episode of Grey's Anatomy from Thursday night. I don't think I can watch that show anymore, it's terribly depressing and the only part I really enjoyed was when McSteamy was asking Lexie why so many hot girls liked George. That to me was amusing, the rest- seriously? I am all for a little drama in any show but that one just feels like miserable event after miserable event. We'll see if I even watch the second episode from Thursday...

I continued the pumpkin craze with some oatmeal this morning.

This oatmeal contained:

1/2 cup of oatmeal

1 big spoonful of canned pumpkin

a few frozen strawberries

1 banana

It was delicious. I have been really sick of oatmeal lately so I have been trying to spice it up when I do eat it.

Now I am off to watch one of the little girls I tutor play soccer. Sounds like fall to me!

If you have not read my post on Wedding Pet Peeves, check it out and tell me what YOUR wedding pet peeves are.

If you have races this weekend, good luck and remember: I am so jealous! (so no complaining allowed ha ha).

Wedding Pet Peeves

This week in kindergarten we learned what the word “opinion” means. Since I began planning a wedding I’ve noticed a lot of people have very strong OPINIONS about weddings. There is a lot of traditional etiquette that some people love to follow, and others love to hate.

We all have those things about weddings that drive us crazy. Mine are:

1. I hate when people do not put both names on the invitation. Obviously there are times when “and guest” should be used, like when you literally have no idea who the person will bring. However, if someone has been dating someone a while, ask what their name is! And in the days of facebook, friend them and you will have their name forever! If you have met them before, know their name and still choose not to put it...well that is just ridiculous. I promise if by some stroke of luck they break up with your friend before the wedding, they are not going to show up!

2. This is going to be controversial but here I go: I don’t like when people are against honeymoon registries. I have put a HUGE amount of effort into understanding this point of view and I do get it better now, but I still disagree. I’d rather pay to help someone go on a cool trip than to upgrade their already perfectly good kitchen appliances. In the end, I want to give the couple what they most want, not what “tradition” says they should want.

3. I personally think it’s really rude when people attend only the reception of a wedding. SO rude. Obviously there are certain circumstances (particularly Friday night weddings) where there is no other option. But people who are like, “oh sorry there is a gap in between and I don’t want to wait, so I just won’t attend the ceremony” are obnoxious. Yes, we all enjoy the reception better. But you should not get to participate in the party if you don’t watch the true “marriage” of the couple. I say this as someone who is going to have a 10-15 minute ceremony, the reception is definitely the priority to me. This is not true for everyone and as a guest I don’t think I get to decide. I attend every aspect of the wedding that I can, even if I have to wait in between.

4. It annoys me when people say it’s rude for the mom and sister to throw the bride a shower. That’s who really wants the shower so they can pay for it! Who cares who is asking for gifts? I still have to buy one either way…haha.

Those are my wedding pet peeves, what are yours?

Fall Clean Up

I am not going to go ahead and make crazy claims such as: Eric and I are clean freaks.

That would be a lie.

But I think both of us do have a mutual appreciation for a certain degree of cleanliness. Sure, we don't clean up every mess immediately and sometimes my dresser does look like it has thrown up (next time it happens I'll post a picture, it really looks like my dresser is throwing up). However, both of us do have pretty quick breaking points when we decide to clean up. I just feel a lot less stressed when my space around me is clean. I'm sure most of you can identify with this.

However, this week we reached our biggest mess since moving into our house last January.

And...

That pile in front of the door would be mail. I swear I do look at it everyday, I just choose not to spend time throwing away the junk...good I know.

I blame this disaster on two things #1- engagement party gifts, all of which I love, none of which I know what to do with at the current moment. #2- Eric's football/masters/work schedule that means I am the only one doing any housework but I still have a full time job + tutoring so I can only do so much also. But, alas- the mess was not making me feel any less stressed and I had a "day off" (this is what I call days when I don't have to tutor- Katie told me I should stop calling 9 hour days "days off" so I am going to work on this) so I decided to tackle it. Here are the results:

And...

Not too bad right?

As predicted, I feel 100 times better and am ready to sit down and write 1000 more thank you notes tonight, whoa hoo!

With my newly cleaned kitchen, I made a fall treat. I got the inspiration for pumpkin pizza from one of my favorite bloggers It's A Wrap Teacher. She often puts pumpkin on her pizza and I figured since it's fall I would give it a try.

To make pumpkin pizza I used:

• pizza crust from Whole Foods
• Libby's canned pumpkin
• cooked mushrooms
• Trader Joe's black beans
• 1/2 of an apple

I wish I could transport smell through the blog because it smelled like I was baking some delicious fall dessert instead of my dinner. It tasted pretty good too, although I really miss tomato sauce when I have pizza without it. Yum.

Okay I suppose I should resume thank you notes...

End of Year Resolutions?

This morning I got to reading Tall Mom's post about having goals for the last 98 days of this year. I can't believe there are only 98 days left in the year!

2010 will be a big year for me. I am getting married and hopefully going on a fantastic honeymoon to Hawaii! However, 2009 has been huge so far too- I ran my first 5k, did my first sprint triathlon, got my Master's degree and got professional status at my job (tenure). I actually got engaged in 2008 technically, but I certainly have celebrated it in 2009!

Even with all of those accomplishments, there is still a lot more I want to do in 2009 before the year is over. Some of these will depend on outside circumstances, but some I can do if I put my mind to them!

End of Year Goals for 2009

1. I want to run another 5k. I STILL cannot run due to my knee, but I am hoping SOMEHOW I can still do this. If not, I will settle for a bike race of some sort- if there are anymore since racing season in Boston is definitely coming to a close right now.

2. I really want to commit to one week where I will post every single thing I eat in my blog. I would try to post 3 times a day, and include everything I eat for a snack each day. I have never done this before because of time constraints and because I tend to eat the same thing all the time. However, I wouldn't be doing this to show you variety in my diet, but rather to have you guys critique me. I want everyone to tell me what I am missing and I want to encourage myself to try new things. My diet is somewhat limited because of my stomach, but it shouldn't be lacking in nutrients or boring. I also think it may help some others with tummy troubles to get some ideas for meals. I am hoping this week may come in October, but we'll see :)

3. I would love to go somewhere I have never been before. It doesn't even have to be far, or expensive just somewhere I have never been. Any ideas for weekend trips from the Boston area? Maybe we will go to celebrate Eric being done with football (hmm...although it will be December then which could make for cold trips!).

Those are my top 3 goals. What are your goals for the end of '09? What better day to make end of year resolutions than today?

I miss coffee.

My relationship with coffee began senior year of high school. Caileen and I would stop at Starbucks on the way to school for frappes and mochas. It continued throughout college and when I first began teaching. However, when I started having problems with my tummy, I learned that coffee was hard on your stomach so I stopped drinking it. I switched to green tea but then came to find out caffeine in general was doing me no favors. It has been almost a year and a half since I last had coffee or tea with caffeine in it.

Most days I don't mind. Some days I even like it because its nice to be able to wake up and go, not worrying about making coffee or stopping somewhere to blow $3+ on a coffee. However, today- when I was at school around 6:30 am, and I will be back at school at 7 tonight (I lied last night when I said 8, it was 8 last year but this year I am on at 7, yay! we switch every year the K-2 teachers do one time and the 3 & 4 teachers do another time- this way no one has to be late every year). Still, 7 is not early for me and last night when I was half falling asleep on my couch at 7:30 I was thinking- wow I'll be talking in front of a group of parents at this time tomorrow night whoa hoo. My goal is to get home before 9 tonight. Even with the earlier night this year I'm sure I'll still be exhausted the rest of the week. However, it has to be better than last year where my principal actually had to kick one of my parents out of the building because she would not stop talking to me and my principal was literally CLOSING the building. Ridiculous. Anyway, I miss coffee today. Also it's hot and humid out, my hair is SO frizzy and I don't have time to shower (and dry hair) before going back so...here's to a frizzy haired teacher...Mrs. Frizzle haha.

Anyway, this week at school is PACK week and I thought you guys would be interested. During PACK week, the kids are encouraged to pack fruits and vegetables of different colors all week. The point is to get them to try new foods and consider bringing new foods to school so they can have healthy snacks and lunches. Monday was purple day so some kids brought grapes, raisins, dried cherries, blueberries etc. You could also eat eggplant on purple day, but nobody brought it :) Yesterday was white day so I had to open about 15 bananas at snack, but I will say at least that is a healthy snack I don't mind opening! One girl even brought cauliflower.

Today was red day, so there were LOTS of apples (I brought an apple I admit it), some cherries, and even red peppers. Tomorrow is orange and yellow day so I am going to bring some of my cooked carrots, but most squashes would fall into these categories too and I eat a good amount of summer squash and butternut squash around this time of year. Friday is the easiest as far as veggies are concerned because it is Green Day!

I am very impressed with how into it my kids and parents have gotten this year. One of my friends from work and I are teaching an extra curric class started in October this year called "Fit and Fun." We wanted to do an active activity and provide a healthy snack, but snacks are not allowed because of food allergies. The parents didn't want us to give up the idea of healthy snacks completely so we are still going to provide ideas for parents. We are hoping to go with the different colors like we did during pack week but add some whole snack ideas such as ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins on top) and other fun kid favorites to make snack time more fun and healthy. If you have any fun and healthy kids snack ideas, send them my way! I promise to post all the ideas we come up with. They will be great if you have kids and even if you don't, lets be honest, we can all eat some kid foods now and then!

Engagement Pictures Take 2

Sorry about my lack of posting yesterday, it was a very manic Monday! (and Tuesday). This is going to be a short post because I am in the middle of thank you notes (okay fine I have only done 8 and my hand hurts so I had to stop). Still, I promised some more engagement party pics so here it goes:

Asking Courtney (little cousin) to be a bridesmaid-

Asking Shannon (also little cousin) to be a bridesmaid-

I love these girlies and I'm excited for them to be in my wedding (I also have four other bridemaids- my sis, Katie, Tiff and Ash- all of who have made frequent appearances on the blog). I also asked 2 of my other cousins (Kristen and Kate) to be readers. Now I just have to figure out what they are going to read...haha. Me with them- (and drinks flying everywhere!)

With my BC girls-

Dancing with Timna- (yes we started the dancing haha)

We rock.

Alright that's all for now. I have to get to bed early because tomorrow night is "Curriculum Night" which means I have to tell the parents what I am going to do with their kiddos all year. I don't mind doing that at all but I do mind doing it at 8 o'clock at night. I am NOT a night person especially not after a day of kiddos! Hopefully I'll have a chance to blog tomorrow but no promises. I have to miss my kettlebell class too, boo!

Engagement Party, Part 1

Back when Eric and I first got engaged, my mom and I decided that bridal showers were really not my thing (all girls? eh. open presents in front of everyone? ah!!). I have since come to enjoy throwing them for others, but we decided an engagement party would be more Kelly and Eric. Yes, we did get engaged 9 months ago, and some people plan their wedding in less than 9 months but not us :)

I am not going to post all the pictures right now because I only have pictures from my camera and I know my sister and others have some great pictures but I'll start anyways. First of all, the "details" that I hate to plan but love to admire. Luckily my mom and sister are detail people so they took control.

The amazing picture on the cake was taken by our fabulous wedding photographer, Kelly Hike, during our engagement session.

All these weddings have really made me into flowers, and I am actually starting to learn what some flowers are called. These came out awesome, thanks Mom!

If you remember my birthday/engagement party that Katie threw me, I developed an obsession with candy with our names on them when Gerry gave us pink and green m + ms that said Kelly and Eric. So awesome. My resourceful sister found these online and ordered them. She rocks.

Before the actual party, we took some pictures outside. We had the party at a golf club that has a lot of family memories for me. My grandfather was a member so a few of my aunts and uncles got married there, as well as I had a big 7th grade birthday party there. Not to mention the summers of golf, tennis and swim team there. And just for the record, I really was not a fan of golf even then- I don't just dislike golf just to annoy Eric :) At some point I will have to scan in a picture of my 7th grade birthday in my sparkly purple dress. Hopefully I can find one of me and Tiff since she was there then and last night!

My brother Jake just started college in Connecticut 3 weeks ago, but he took the long train ride to be back for the party (and gave up a night of serious partying I'm sure), thanks Jake!

I thought that would be the last I saw of Eric for the night because normally we are TERRIBLE at staying together during our own parties (too many people to talk to) but actually we didn't do too horrible last night. Still might need to glue ourselves together for the wedding...

Me, Eric, Caroline and Chris. Chris = Caroline's boyfriend, aka my second brother, aka my current landscaper, aka amazing DJ. He wears many hats what can I say? Last night Caroline and Chris were in charge of the music/dancing portion and I must say they were way better than any DJ I know! Caroline has been working on this playlist for weeks and I don't just mean she added some songs to playlist. She add some songs, then reevaluated, then reevaluated again, then started running to the music to see if it was good dance music, then reevaluated again- etc etc. It ended up being awesome and we had a ton of fun dancing too it.

Those are me and my beautiful bridesmaids, minus Ash- who has made lots of appearances on this blog in the past but lives in Chicago and had to work this weekend (boo med school) so I missed her! From left, Shannon, Courtney (both cousins- who I asked to be in the wedding last night, I'll post more about that later), Katie, me, Caroline (sister) and Tiff.

Me + my fam

Eric + his fam

The blog is starting to freak out a bit about all of the photos I am adding, so I am going to leave with you some dancing and singing...I promise to post more later :)

Caroline's First 5k!

I woke up SO early this morning because I was just TOO excited about my engagement party tonight to sleep. I am not normally the type of person who likes all the attention to be on me, so I am a bit nervous about making sure I say hi to everyone etc but I am hoping the fact that it is for me AND Eric will help. Plus I have been to so many wedding related events for people lately that I haven't had a lot of time to see my own friends and I have had to make a lot of small talk with people I don't know. I'm excited that I will know every person there tonight! Yay :)

It was okay that I woke up so early though since I was headed to watch Caroline's first official 5k today. I headed over to BC around 8 am and I was reminded how beautiful BC can be on a Saturday morning when most of the students are still asleep. I missed college a little bit. Not as much as I missed RUNNING though, ah!!! Here is everyone getting ready for the race. You can see the gold eagle, GO BC!

As they got started, I turned my stopwatch on so I would know when to look for Caroline at the finish line. I got a very blurry picture of her passing by at the beginning.

She is all the way to the right with the shamrock Boston College shirt, which I want to steal haha. As she headed off I speed walked to the BC Bookstore, aka heaven on earth. The only thing that could make it more heaven is if everything was free. However, I did find a gorgeous and soft BC fleece in bright pink for $20 which I had to buy.

The only thing that was weird is that the size small is like HUGE on me. There was no XS. The only logical explanation I can think of is that they are mens sizes, but really- what guy would wear this? Maybe they make it in black? Still seems girly... But it's incredibly comfortable and it still looks nice even though its a bit large.

I wandered back to the finish line at about 17 minutes and some of the top people were starting to come in. The top girl came in about 19 minutes. Soon later my speedy sister came running in...

She did it in 25 minutes and 25 seconds. Her goal was 26 minutes so WOOOO she beat it! Here she is running in with the timer behind her:

Yay!!! And finally we got a picture of us. And yes I am aware that I look like it is winter. I swear it is not THAT freezing here (yet) but it was a little chilly in the shade this morning.

I am not really sure why this picture is blurry. The good thing is, my new camera has been really blurry lately so I used my old one cuz I was getting annoyed. I guess my old one was blurry too and I just never noticed. The pink camera will be back in action tonight! Speaking of tonight...the dress:

So excited! Stay tuned for tomorrow's post :)

Mood= Happy!

One full week of five year olds has left me completely exhausted but I am also SO happy and here is why:

• It is Friday!
• My engagement party is TOMORROW woooo! (yes I did get engaged about 10 months ago...but we are still going to celebrate).
• Cristina is here from NY!
• Caroline is running her first 5k tomorrow (unless you count the fact that she ran a 5k at the end of our sprint triathlon, hmm)!
• I absolutely LOVE my kiddos this year. Sure, there are a few minor annoyances, but they are also incredibly adorable and listen MUCH more than my kids from last year ever did. Hopefully this will continue, I don't want to jinx it.
• Eric has Sunday OFF from football- whoa hoo!!! I figured I must still have a fiance still we are having an engagement party tomorrow but I certainly don't see him too often.

I leave you with an adorable kindergarten quote:

J: Who is that? (points to picture)

me: That's my fiance?

J: What's a fiance?

me: that means the person I am going to marry- will soon be my husband

J: (with an absolutely shocked look), YOU ARE NOT MARRIED YET? I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!

Haha, apparently he thinks I am like 80 and clearly should be married by now. Stay tuned for a recap of Caroline's 5k tomorrow and then a recap of the engagement party on Sunday :)

My New Obsession

I have always been a big fan of the tuna sandwich. However, when I first got IBS I noticed I could never eat tuna, probably because of the mayo which bothers my stomach A LOT. Regular tuna is just not as interesting so I basically have not had tuna in 3 + years. The other day I just randomly decided to try mixing tuna with Greek yogurt. My mom has always made tuna with a mix of mayo and plain yogurt and I always enjoyed that. It turns out that I LOVE the greek yogurt and tuna combo. I feel like I don't even need mayo because Greek yogurt is SO creamy and good. I know I shouldn't eat too much tuna because of the mercury content, but I just can't get enough lately! I had run out for a few days so I went to the store today to get more and made myself a yummy tuna and yogurt sandwich.

Then I add some of my other obsession on the side: Baked Lays. Yum.

And finally, an old obsession from college when Ash used to buy GIANT boxes of these at Costco...

I am definitely and obsessions girl when it comes to food. This is definitely not a good thing since it leads to getting really sick of everything I eat and then I end up in food ruts. Oh well...What are your food obsessions?

I think the kid germs are getting to me. Time to take medicine and get into bed very early!

Kettlebell Take 2

Tonight I had another successful Kettlebell class. It was much harder this week but still do-able. We learned a few new moves including "The snatch" which is when you move the kettlebell from a lower position to above your head with your arm extended. If you are familiar with kettlebell at all it's another one of those exercises where improper form will result in smashing your wrist with the kettlebell, which inevitably happens to me every time. It is similar in this way to the "clean" which also bruises my wrist haha. We also learned figure eights where you bring the kettlebell around each leg in a figure eight fashion. I liked those.

After we learned our new moves, we completed a work out. Our instructor (who is actually a high school student kettlebell instructor in training, being monitored by an older more experienced kettlebell instructor) wrote out what we had to do and taped it to the mirror. I felt like a massive teacher but I LOVED THIS. I am such a visual person and I love seeing the itinerary of the work out so I know what is coming. My principal (who advocates us doing this for every lesson) would be SO proud of me for saying this. Between each set of exercises we were supposed to do jumping jacks for 30 seconds which was our active rest time. I immediately went into panic mode because my knee does NOT like jumping jacks. I thought about asking for something else to do but all I could hear in my head was "for those of you looking for the modification for a jumping jack, look elsewhere, I've got 400 pound people who can do jumping jacks, SO CAN YOU, you want results? you have push yourself..." etc. For those of you who are not PSYCHO 30 day shred addicts, that is what Jillian Michaels says during the jumping jacks. Fortunately, my instructor is NOT Jillian and he gave me a non-impact cardio move to do instead. I looked ridiculous but my knee will thank me later. The work out was great and I may actually be sore tomorrow :0)

At the end of class the personal trainer who is watching my instructor offered to watch me walk and run and see what may be causing my knee pain. Even though I've had at least 4 different doctors and physical therapists watch me walk, I figured why not? He said I have a pretty good stride and only point my foot out a little when I walk. He is the first person to ever even mention ANY turn of my foot at all. He also thought my patella was really pronounced compared to most people and he said that may be why my knee strap provides some relief....interesting. When we got outside he watched me run back and forth in the parking lot. He said again my stride is not bad but there are some things I can do to take pressure off of my knee. He showed me how to lift my knee way up behind me, come down in front with my toes pointed up and then hit the ground in a more efficient way. Of course I was terrible at actually applying it but I will still work on it. He also recommended a running coach to me at Boston Running Center. I put in an inquiry online for a free consultation. Of course the coaching is INSANELY expensive. While I am willing to try almost everything, I am hesitant to try another thing that may not work and will also drain all my funds in life. I figure the free consultation can only help so I am going to do that and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

I am so excited... 3 days til my engagement party! Yes, I know I've been engaged for like 8 months but we are a little slow and still ready to celebrate that fact. Whoa hoo!