31 in 31 Challenge- Really!

Good morning. Even though it's Friday, I started my morning like it's a weekend, with some mango and banana pancakes! These were inspired by a combination of a random cafe menu I was looking up yesterday (that had mango banana pancakes) and Madeline , who made me realize, wait a second I can make my own mango banana pancakes!

I used Kath's recipe for an oatmeal pancake, including: 1/3 cup of oats (I used old fashioned, it seemed to work fine), 1/3 cup of egg whites, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of vanilla, 1/2 banana mashed, and a little bit of cinnamon. For some reason this cooked a lot faster than I was expecting, so if you try it just be careful. On top I sliced up the other half of my banana and on the side I microwaved some frozen mango chunks from Trader Joe's for dipping :) It was delicious. Depending on how well it holds me over, I may be recreating this very very soon. Like tomorrow? Speaking of tomorrow...

Tomorrow begins May, and in May I will not set the usual goals for myself, though I do want to throw away a LOT (especially in my classroom) and read more books. Instead in May I will take on one giant goal...

Complete 31 yoga classes at Prana Power Yoga in 31 days.

Why?

1. It's fun to do physical challenges. A lot of people run races or do triathlons, but my knee will not allow those physical challenges. So instead I will do a yoga challenge, which will hopefully be more beneficial than harmful as far as my knee (and hopefully my whole body) is concerned.

2. I love Prana. I've honestly never found another yoga class I truly enjoyed until I found this place. Yet of course, like everything, there are always excuses not to go consistently. It's expensive. The times of classes don't work with my schedule. Etc. I want to put all excuses aside for one month. Since the 31 in 31 challenge is hosted by Prana themselves, it is only $4 per class if I make it to all 31 classes. In fact, if I don't make it to 31 classes I have to upgrade to a monthly pass which is $20 more, so I'll LOSE money if I don't go to yoga. Excuse over. Also, I will MAKE my schedule work with the classes. Excuse #2 over.

3. May and June are very stressful months at my job. Transitioning kids on to the next grade is harder work than it looks and includes placement into next year's classes (aka nightmare), report cards, making memory books, planning fun activities, finishing up everything we haven't done yet (oops), making a slideshow of pictures and loading them onto DVDs (obviously with technology problems because why would it be easy?) and probably about 100 other things I haven't thought of yet. Add that to the fact that I have 2 weddings in one weekend later this month, my own wedding to plan and all those wedding related events. Let's just say I might be a little insane in May and June. I know it seems like yoga is adding yet another thing for me to do, but I think it promises at least an hour a day, sometimes and hour and a half that is time to relax and breathe. If I get enough reminders to breathe during a difficult pose in yoga, maybe I'll start breathing during difficult moments in life. Maybe.

4. I talked to a girl at my studio who has done the 31 in 31 challenge before. She told me that I am going to need to remember two things, one: drink water and two: take breaks frequently. This is going to be hard for me. I usually only go to child's pose once at the absolute most during my practice, but when I am going EVERY day I am going to have to become very good friends with child's pose. I'm hoping if I learn to put my pride aside and take breaks during yoga class, I might get a little better at it in life. Yoga = life right?

5. I want to build a bit of flexibility in my body. This has never been my strong suit. When I was in elementary school I use to rock the fitness testing EXCEPT for sit in reach, where I would be in the 20th percentile or something...and I don't think I've actually improved since then. I know how important flexibility is in preventing injuries so, let's get flexible.

Have you ever tried a yoga class? What did you think? What is the hardest physical and/or mental challenge you have ever completed? If I can finish this it will probably be the hardest physical challenge, but my hardest mental challenge was my first year teaching- I hope next time I hit a hard mental challenge I can manage it with a bit more grace :) Happy Friday everyone!

Love for Orange Foods

Well hello friends.

Kelly + Blogs = Not friends this week.

Tonight I wrote you guys a nice post explaining why I was doing my 31 yoga classes in 31 days challenge, and then I went to post it and BAM, it went away forever. This would always be annoying but it's even MORE annoying when that is the second time it's happened to me this week. Grr. I feel like I'm pretty behind on my blog reading because I've been dealing with my own blog so much. And by dealing I mean screaming at, because clearly I've posted less than usual this week.

Anyway, I don't have the time or energy tonight to re-post about my yoga challenge so I'll try to do that while I eat breakfast tomorrow morning. But for now, here is my nice and orange dinner...

That's delicious sour dough bread from Panera (is it just me or is their bread just AMAZING?) with roasted red pepper hummus, carrots and roasted sweet potato. So apparently I also love roasting. Or is it just that once I get my oven on I like to really use it? Tonight was actually my first experience making my own hummus and I think it turned out pretty good actually. I love homemade hummus.

Anyway, what's your favorite food color? What foods do you love that are that color? Orange is definitely my top favorite, but I also love red foods especially apples and strawberries. I know this goes against the rules of healthy living but I love white foods too, bread, pasta, potatoes and vanilla ice cream!

I'll catch you guys tomorrow. At least I fixed my Etco spacing issues. There are not too many problems google cannot solve. Now if only it could tell me why all blogging software seems to enjoy deleting my posts this week?

Everytime I Hear That Song, I Go Back

What is with me and having Kenny Chesney song titles...and blog names?

What can I say? I have a bit of a country music obsession. It will become clear later in this post if it wasn't already. By the way, I saw Kenny Chesney in concert when he opened for Tim McGraw in 2000...I liked his concerts a lot more back then, I can't handle the insanity now...mainly the seven hours of traffic to get to them, not exaggerating.

So anyway, I have a new favorite frozen product from Trader Joes. My friend from work introduced me to these- thanks Kathy!

As I said last night, I am generally an avid label reader, especially when it comes to frozen foods (obviously ice cream not included...oops). You get 7 potstickers for 230 calories, only 3.5 grams of fat and 13 grams of protein. Not terrible, especially considering these are perfect for a take out craving and only take a few minutes and one pan to cook. Okay fine you caught me, there is one nutrition downfall...640 mg of sodium, 27 percent of your daily value (which by the way...do you even want that much?). All I can say is I only eat 5 of these at a time rather than 7 and I make sure my sides contain little to no sodium.

Mashed potato and carrots on the side. Yum.

I've mentioned before that I participate in a Blogger Book Club over on Emily's blog and this month we read Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a pleasure read. Anyway, because the book spans over multiple decades many songs are mentioned as being important for the main characters in the book. Today I am going to take part in "Music of My Life" as part of our Blogger Book Club and list the soundtrack of my life. Here it goes...

The Childhood Years

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper ~ apparently this song was playing on the radio when I was coming home from the hospital :)

Cotton Eyed Joe, sung by a bunch of different people~ just reminds me of dancing with my cousins in New Hampshire

Sugar, Sugar, The Archies

The Sign, Ace of Base

Middle School

Wonderwall, Oasis

You Outta Know- Alanis

Wanna Be, Spice Girls~ Me, Tiff, and another friend of ours made up a crazy dance to this in 7th grade, I still remember some of it

Just the Two of Us, Will Smith

That's What Friends are For, Dionne Warwick

High School

Semi Charmed Life, Third Eyed Blind

Crash and Burn, Savage Garden

Ride Wit Me, Nelly~ I still remember the first time I heard this song and one of my guy friends was singing along with it and I was like "have you ever heard this song"? And he was like "no but it just keeps repeating hey, must be the money" haha, quality music

A Thousand Miles, Vanessa Carlton

College

Two Points for Honesty, Guster

Where Would You Be?, Martina McBride

I Go Back~ Kenny Chesney (and probably Keg in the Closet too haha)

The Waitress, The Waifs~ This is an Australian band that I loved while I was there

Here's a Love Song, Syd

Hips Don't Lie, Shakira

Post-College

A Feeling Like That, Gary Allan

Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney

Alright, Darius Rucker

I love music. I can't sing it, or play it, but I absolutely love it. My brother and sister make fun of me because I'm a major lyrics girl- I have to love the lyrics to love the song. That's why I'm having such a hard time picking instrumentals for my wedding ceremony :)

So, tell me what are some songs of your life? Could you name your favorite song of all time? (I don't think I could!)

And just because...

That's me and my grandfather, Pops...cute huh?

Tomorrow morning I think I'm going to go to my last normal yoga class before the Yoga Challenge begins. On Thursday I'll tell you all about why I am going to attend 31 hot power yoga classes in 31 days. Absolutely insane, I know.

(PS. Anyone know why I am having major SPACING issues with Ecto? lol)

Let's Try Again

Well hello friends. Sorry about my slight disappearance there :) I spent at least an hour last night writing a weekend recap post and then it wouldn't post. That's happened to me once or twice before but last night it really annoyed me more than usual. I guess I was just thinking about all the pleasure reading and blog reading I could've done if I hadn't wasted my time writing a post that wouldn't publish. Anyway, it still won't publish now so I finally gave up and switched from Blogo (what I used to use for blogging) to Ecto, so I'll let you know how I like the swap in case anyone is interested in a new blogging software!

The main point of my post last night was to say that...

#1- Lots of people want doctors and lawyers in the family. I say you are really missing out if you don't have a landscaper in the family. If you did, you could come home to this...

Yes, beautiful pink and purple tulips. Last fall my sister's amazing boyfriend Chris was mowing our lawn while Eric worked a million hours a week teaching and coaching football. I knew he was doing a little extra at the time, but I had no idea he was planting tulip bulbs all along our fence, right at the spot that I stare at every time I pull into and out of the driveway. I saw something popping up before we left for vacation but I didn't really think much of it until we returned home to gorgeous tulips. Did I mention I love tulips? And I think we know my feelings on anything pink right? Like I said, you want a landscaper in the family, trust me.

#2- I went to my first Sox game of the season yesterday. The weather was calling for rain, but it stayed clear for the entire game (and all day today for that matter- which was also supposed to be rain, awesome).

I love Fenway, really I do. Add that to my list of happy places.

WIt was a fun game to watch, even though our bullpen totally blew it in the end, but hey, at least their was some excitement right?

Besides, you can never complain on a day when you get visited by Wally, Blades and Lucky all in one day haha

Lots of Boston sports pride all in one place. Gotta love it.

Speaking of loving it...I don't know if this is because this is the second time I have written this post but I think I am going to like this Ecto thing, speed blogging haha.

Anyway, today was back to the grind with the kindergarten kiddos. I went in with an optimistic attitude about it being close to the end of the year and the fun time of the year and all that, but my stomach ruined all optimism by absolutely killing today. I honestly cannot pinpoint the culprit as I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary yesterday, or this weekend at all. But I will say that I am less than impressed with one of my new ice cream treats. I doubt it is 100 percent to blame for my stomach today since I've had them before, but I doubt it helped.

Last night I was enjoying one of my Skinny Cow Cookies and Cream treats and I started wondering how they manage to have so much less fat in them than the Edy's small cups of ice cream (they have only 2 grams, and Edy's has 5- I know that's not huge but in very similar ice cream, I have to wonder). I was also a bit curious how Edy's frozen yogurt Double Fudge Brownie has 40 more calories than Skinny Cow's ice cream version. Suspicious is all I can say. Well, just call me the victim of not reading my ingredient list. I NEVER forget to read the ingredient list, but I probably figured ice cream isn't good for me anyway, why bother knowing how bad it is?

Well I should've bothered. Check it out...

At first glance, Skinny Cow seems great...it has only 150 calories per ice cream cup, where as the Edy's brand only manages 150 calories in their plain vanilla, and has closer to 180 or 190 in most of their flavors (this is in their 1/2 the fat versions by the way, the regular versions have over 200). Skinny Cow also has 2 grams of fat compared to Edy's 5 or 6 grams. BUT Skinny Cow has a lot more sugar, 22 grams compared to 17...not that either number is awesome. But hey, it's my dessert so that alone doesn't bother me that much. It's two ingredients in particular in the Skinny Cow, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup. Neither of those ingredients are found in the much shorter Edy's ingredient list.

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil = trans fat = raise bad cholesterol, lower good cholesterol. Thanks, but no thanks. Research (and media!) is conflicted on high fructose corn syrup, but it's a known trigger for IBS so I avoid it all costs and since no one is claiming it's actually healthy (well except those commercials that try to convince us it's like corn...um sure...) I figure I'm not missing anything.

I'm not saying never eat a Skinny Cow product, I think they have their place in the "diet foods" world, especially if they are replacing the giant bowl of 500 calorie ice cream someone may have consumed instead. I think in moderation most things are okay... However, this was an important lesson of: if it seems to good to be true with food, it probably is. For my tummy and my overall health, I'll take an extra couple of grams of fat and 30 calories for the Edy's brand :) I just wish they would make a few new flavors. But I do have to say I was SHOCKED at how amazing the Vanilla Bean flavor is. I'm not a big plain vanilla person, but it reminds me of Brighams vanilla ice cream, which is clearly the best.

Have you ever had an "oh shoot" moment when you realized the ingredients in something you like to eat? Do you avoid certain ingredients or just try to monitor the amount of "bad" ingredients you eat?

Testing Again

Trying a new blog software, don't mind me :)

Blog Troubles

Hi all. I know I haven't posted since Saturday and it's not because I don't love you :) Last night I spent awhile on a post and then it wouldn't post. Don't you hate that?

Anyway, I'm posting this now as a test. I'm not sure what the problem is, so if you are reading this...it's fixed and if you aren't, well then I don't know.

Be back with a normal post as soon as everything is fixed!

Crossing Things Off

Good morning! It's the weekend! For once this is actually bad for me because it means vacation is over, but I'm guessing it's good for you so I'll be excited for you guys.

We are in the wedding planning zone down here, crossing things off the list. Maybe I don't love wedding planning but I do love crossing things off any "To Do" list! Anyone with me on this one?

Yesterday we started the day meeting with the florist. Pre-all my friends getting married I'd say I wasn't really in to flowers, but the more weddings I go to the more into them I become. I still don't know the names of most flowers, but I'm completely sold on the insane amount of pink that will be present at my wedding. My mom and the florist had already done most of the work so yesterday we just went through and made a few easy changes. We made my bouquet a bit more hot pink (obviously) and we added some new color to Caroline and Katie's bouquets so they can be a little extra special as my fabulous Maid and Matron of Honor.

Later in the day was the famous hair and make up trial. I actually had a little issue with the woman who was supposed to be doing my hair and make up (as in, I thought we were locked into the date, she didn't, oops), so I switched people and I was very nervous. But like so many near disaster situations like this, the new hair and make up people ended up being great and so fun to work with, which I feel like is key when it comes to your wedding day. I am already high strung enough, I don't need anyone stressing me out!

*If you are attending my wedding and don't want to see what my hair/make up are going to look like, stop reading now!!

Hair Fun:

You get the gist right? Haha. It will look a bit different at the wedding because they will blow out with my hair and all that. Here comes the make up...
(PS. I hate make up haha, but I look more like myself than usually when make up is on me so, I'll take it)

Fun, huh? I'm usually not a huge fan of having my hair and make up done but these ladies were fun and Katie came to offer her educated opinion too so it was just fun times all around.

So this morning is all about paper products- programs, favor cards (we are donating) and place cards. Once we get those done (and invitations sent) we are going to be smooth sailing to July 10th. Wishful thinking?

I still have a lot of big things left like deciding what shoes to wear, getting dress fittings, water bottle labels, bridesmaid and parent gifts.

Right now my top priority is finalizing the ceremony. I can't decide on music because I am torn between taking the easy way and just using traditional music (Here Comes the Bride, Wedding March etc) and using something non traditional that would take more time and effort to figure out.

Also, since I wrote the ceremony myself I'm still fine tuning it. I have two of my cousins doing readings and I'm 100 percent sure on the first one, but up in the air on the second one. Wedding readings are just so CORNY! Anyone have any non corny readings? Please send my way! I'm also debating between just having her do an Irish Blessing and/or adding someone else to do an Irish Blessing.

You know how people write on their resume applications "detail orientated"? I don't. ever. write. that. Kelly = big picture orientated. Can't say I care much about details and weddings = 1 million details. But the good news is, if they aren't done on that day, I won't care. See? I'm easy to please.

Okay time for paper lady. I hope you enjoyed this wedding planning update. Have I convinced anyone to elope yet?

I hope you guys have a great Saturday :)

A Special Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday to She Wears a Red Sox Cap!!!
I couldn't decide if my blog would prefer a cupcake or a cake, and so...

One year ago today I was also on vacation, at the Cape, and decided this was the year to do a sprint triathlon and this was the time to start a blog to make sure I would really do it.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into... in a good way.

The joke among those who don't blog is that blogging is narcissistic, that I must love myself so much that I think everyone would want to know my thoughts every single day. I have no such illusion actually. I'm sure lots of people have busy days and don't bother to look at my blog. I'm sure lots of people find my blog once and never want to come back. That's okay. I don't blog because I think I'm great. I blog because I think you guys are great (though I'm not bad either ha ha).

My readers are my friends and family, who stay updated on my random life happenings when there just isn't time in our busy lives to talk every day. My readers are other bloggers, whose blogs have inspired me, given me fantastic ideas and opened my mind to the lives of people in Florida, Canada, Germany and everywhere in between. It's safe to say that I have tried more new things (foods, gyms, workouts, events etc) in the past year than in any other year in my life. I have you guys to thank for that.

My blog has changed a lot since that very first post, but I really love where it has gone, and I can only hope that it is still alive and well for birthday number 2 :)

A special shout out to some faithful readers who have been reading my blog for almost the entire year (and are not my family members haha): Anais, A Leo, Amber, Lisa, Gina and Katie!

I've asked this before, but I'm asking again...what is your favorite thing about blogging? what is your favorite thing about reading blogs?

Tomorrow I have a meeting with my florist, and a hair and make up trial so it's going to be a wedding related day, aka my favorite. I kid, I kid. If I disappear for the day, you'll know why, but I promise to be back to normal blogging by Saturday. <3

A Day Trip to Newport, RI

Why are vacations so infrequent, and yet, so much better than working?

Why do I insist on planning vacations like I plan a kindergarten day?

Why do wineries often have this gorgeous rustic feel?

Why are wine crackers so delicious?

Why did Eric look at a random 2 family house in Newport and ask me, "are these the mansions"?

Real mansions look like this...

Why can no natural beauty ever compare to the ocean?

Why do self timed pictures never quite come out right?

Why is Red Parrot the first restaurant I've seen that thinks to put the bread on top of the tomatoes so bruschetta does not get soggy?

Why did I love Newport Storm blueberry beer more than any of the wine I tasted today?

Why does a restaurant with this wall win me over before I even try the food?

Why is something seemingly random like 3 fried 3 steamed chicken and rice dumplings at an Italian restaurant so perfect for Eric and I to split?

Why does "no the stuffing in the mushrooms does NOT have anything other than lobster and crab meat" mean actually it has cheese but you can find that out after you order it because everyone loves cheese and everyone's stomach loves cheese even more than they do, right?

Why after hundreds of restaurant failures do I still not get that I just need to say I cannot eat cheese, even if I'm actually worried about mayo, but no matter what I should just say cheese, who knows what they may put cheese in? Why do I continue to expect that menus will say cheese given that according to USA Today, sixty percent of people are lactose intolerant?

Why can't cupcakes have the same amount of calories as celery?

Food Memories (and Chia Seed Winner)

Hi all. It's Day 2 of Cape Cod Fun. Today involved a group trip to the gym and some 18 hole Par 3 action. Par 3 is the only kind of golf I tolerate, because otherwise it takes me 10 strokes just to get my ball to the green. Today, like usual, I had my up and down moments- one of my ups was hitting off the tee to...
here

Sweeeeeet. I'd love to tell you that my normally fantastic putting skills were on target today, but I totally missed that putt. BOO. I guess I can't have it all when it comes to golf. I did get to wear my yoga pants to play today, that brings golf up a few points in my book. Just a few. There is still a long way to go.

On the way home from golfing Eric and I stopped a local country store with all sorts of cute gifts and a fantastic candy section. Seeing the baskets of 5 cent candy brought me back to being a kid at the Cape. We used to come down to the Cape once a summer and stay in a rental house. Biking distance away was a little market place with a candy shop. I used to ride my bike down and get tons of candy. I loved candy when I was younger.

My candy memories could probably go on forever...

-buying Skittles from the vending machine at summer camp
-getting strawberry candies from Market Basket when I went grocery shopping with my mom
-once my babysitter gave me $5 for my birthday? and I decided to buy candy...I was AMAZED at how much candy I could buy with $5 (this proves my mom indeed was monitoring my candy intake and even though I thought I was eating a ton, I really wasn't)
-working at a chocolate store in high school and somehow not gaining 300 pounds (I miss my high school metabolism)
-making Reese's Pieces soup in college made out of a tiny amount of vanilla frozen yogurt and tons of Reese's!

I could go on.
I know that as a kid I ate really well most of the time. My mom always made really nutritious meals for me, and I do remember snacking on grapes and cantaloupe, making tuna sandwiches with half yogurt and half mayo, etc. However, so many of my food related memories involve candy or cake (specifically delicious ice cream cake from Carvel) or lemon meringue pie made on my Dad's birthday or chocolate mouse cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory eaten with friends or my mom's delicious oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips.

What is it about these less healthy foods that provide more lasting memories? Is it that they taste yummier? Is it that we tend to eat them when we are celebrating? (holidays, birthdays etc) Is it that we eat them less frequently?

Think about your food memories, especially those from your childhood. What foods do you remember? Why do you think those specific foods stick out more than others?

By the way, I did not forget my chia seed giveaway (well I did, but only for a second). The winner, according to the random number generator is Lisa from Lisa's Yarns! Lisa, drop me an e-mail with your home address and I'll get you your chia seeds! Can't wait to hear how you use them. Maybe in that cereal for infants? haha.

The Love/Hate Relationship

I had to tear myself away from my book, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, but it's time for my nightly ritual of TV watching and blogging so reading will have to wait. It's a really good book though, even though I have at times in the past 400 pages wondered if I loved it or hated it. I'll let you know when it's over...

So Day 1 of Cape Cod relaxation is coming to a close and I find myself about as exhausted as I was last night. Oops.

It started with my plan to bust out a 22 mile bike ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. It took me close to 2 hours because something was up with my bike chain and I kept stopping to try to fix it. I even stopped at a bike shop and I thought they fixed it, but my bike went back to not switching gears in a few minutes. Oh well, I didn't get stranded 11 miles from my car, so it was a success.

The ride itself was good. It was a bit cold out, and I followed the usual progression of "I love biking" and "I hate biking" throughout the bike ride, but in the end it was a good ride. However, I have to say my knee hurts now, and I think I am going to take a definite hiatus from both running AND biking to see if I can heal my knee once and for all (maybe after my 30 mile Cycle for Autism?). My sister has been telling me that biking is bad on knees forever now, but today was the first time that the pain felt like I had gone for a run (though I have to say it takes 22 miles on a bike for my knee to hurt and less than 2 minutes of running to do the same thing...but still).

Post bike ride Eric and I decided to do what we do best- be touristy. We headed to Sandwich Heritage Museum and Gardens. We've never been before and with 3 museums and lots of gardens, it seemed to have a lot to offer. The first awesome surprise? Teachers get in FREE (saved $12 each!) with our Mass Teacher Card. Amazing. I am the teacher and student discount queen. What's better than fun touristy stuff? FREE fun touristy stuff.

Our first stop inside was at the Automobile Museum. It was basically a giant circular room with tons of antique cars and interesting information about the year they were built, how much they cost, how much the average yearly income was then (usually much less than the cars!) and other interesting facts about each car- some were owned by presidents!

How would you like this "fire truck" to be saving your house?

Eric and I know we both have new cars, but we couldn't resist driving one away...

Hehe.
The two other museums were also cool too, one was a history museum and the other was an art museum. In the history museum we got to do our own rubbing of gravestones...

Interesting, huh?
The highlight of the art museum was the American flag made out of things that washed up on the beach...so cool!!!

I am not a huge art museum girl, but I can appreciate really different, creative things like that.

In between each museums we got to see beautiful gardens, lots of signs of spring...

And we got to see a cool labyrinth...

...which, by the way, is a "maze" except there aren't like dead ends and tricks like a normal maze.

Cool stuff.
Now I'm going to go back to Little People Big World. They are on a European vacation and I am so wishing we were going to Europe instead of Hawaii on our honeymoon...ugh, I knew deciding on a destination for such a big trip was going to be impossible for me!

I'm done.

Oh, and Happy Patriot's Day and Marathon Monday!!!

Beat.

This weekend kicked my butt. My head hurts, my stomach hurts and I'm ready for bed at 8:02. Pretty scary considering towards the end of May we have two weddings and one rehearsal dinner in one weekend...I need to start training for that weekend!!!

The main events of this weekend were a jack and jill bridal shower + a surprise 30th birthday. Other than that we mainly just ran errands, cleaned, packed and drove to the Cape. Somehow it felt like a ton of stuff.

The 30th birthday party was for one of Eric's friends. I think he was completely surprised which is great, and he was completely appreciative. Obviously he's an awesome kid since he completely filled up a whole house just with friends that wanted to celebrate with him.

Here is Eric and the birthday boy. It's a terrible picture of both of them but oh well...

Looks like Eric has had a few too many beers huh? Yeah, two...that's our limit these days apparently.

The best part of the party was definitely the cake...

Sorry about the weird photo, but Dave's super amazing girlfriend managed to get it from the Cake Boss place. Cake + my tummy are not normally good friends, but frankly I was going to at least taste the Cake Boss cake. First of all, the cake itself was set up to be my favorite. It was yellow cake with white frosting, my favorite- but then just to add a bit of greatness in between the first and second layer was some chocolate frosting. Chocolate and vanilla frosting on one vanilla cake = heaven. Well worth any stomach pain today. It's not just any day that you can eat a famous cake :)

Of course we sung Happy Birthday too, with no cha-cha-chas (this is a big thing in kindergarten, the kids get to choose if they want cha cha cha in their birthday song or no cha cha cha- this makes me classroom assistant nuts as she HATES cha cha cha...party pooper!)

Dave was the first of Eric's friends to turn 30 which means there are probably going to be a lot more parties to come...and a lot more of their girlfriends, fiances and wives making fun of them since most of us are a few years away from 30 :) All in good fun though, they are still young at 30!

Today was Eric and my first Jack and Jill bridal shower experience. I was semi looking forward to introducing Eric and his friend who was going with us to the world of watching people open presents, but they did it SO quick at this bridal shower that I don't think they quite got how painful it can be haha. Not too mention that I'm not sure either of them were aware presents were being opened at any point...

They also had wicked cute chairs to sit in haha

And cute favors...

They promised to put their chair covers at their head table at the wedding next month. I hope they do! Especially since I'm going to need some entertainment...Eric and his friend, the only people I know at the wedding, will be sitting at the head table. Stay tuned for pictures of me sitting at a table with lots of people I don't know. I wish I had a dollar for all the new friends I've made at wedding related events. I'd be a rich.

In case anyone was keeping track of my wedding related opinions (which grow each day) my thoughts on head tables are: they suck. The bride and groom aren't at their table anyways so please let your poor already-done-enough-for-you bridal party sit with their dates and friends. If you don't like sweetheart tables, sit with your maid of honor, her date, best man and his date. Those are your only options in Kelly-land. But it's cool, I enjoy making new friends.

So anyway, we are finally at the Cape and in major relaxation mode. Ready for a week of fun, relaxation and a healthy dose of wedding appointments and planning, but not too much.

How was everyone's weekend?

Good luck to all the awesome marathon runners tomorrow!!!!

Random Fun Fact of the Day: Last April vacation I was also at the Cape. That was when I decided to do a sprint triathlon and when I started my blog :) What will I do this year?