Chris and I took a quick trip to New York (Long Island and the Bronx) to attend his cousin’s wedding over the weekend.  Traveling is exhausting, especially the sort of traveling where you get to your hotel at 1:00 am, the toilet doesn’t flush, the heat doesn’t turn off, and you have to wake up at 5:30 am to catch your return flight home.  And you tossed and turned for most of those 4 hours due to having eaten SO much at the wedding.

So I count that as 2 to 3 hours of sleep.  Then 2 hours of sleep on the airplane, followed by a GLORIOUS 3 hour nap.  Now I am trying to psych myself up for a short run before rehearsal.  I suppose I could always just make it a walk if I’m not feeling the run. 

The bride was beautiful, the food was delicious and ridiculously plentiful, and all in all it was a wonderful time!  I’ll share more later this week, after I recover a bit more!  We got some ideas for our own wedding, of course, and it made us really excited for January 2!

Remember, the bake sale is going on RIGHT now over at Running Ricig’s blog.  All proceeds go to charity.

Don’t forget to read my "30 days of Thanksgiving" post if you haven’t.  You too can make it a thankful November.  Or send out Thanksgiving cards :) 

Favorite question I got asked over the weekend (several times):  Why are you getting married in January? 

Um…because that’s the best time for us?  Believe it or not, having a wedding in the spring (the general suggestion) would not work as well for our schedules.  Grr. 

That’s Chris and I at my (parents) house for Leslie’s high school graduation.  We’d been dating for three months!

Same day, different meal?  And that’s Carrie’s head peeking out.

April or May of 1999 at my old apartment, 1961 Ford, in Cleveland.

I feel so old looking at these pictures!  I scanned some into my computer last night working on a wedding related project.  I mean, seriously, this was before digital photos 😉

Leslie and friends waiting on a street corner in Tempe, Arizona, for my dad.

There he is!

He even wore his American Southwest Bike Jersey in honor of the trip!

Leslie and Dad.

Eating breakfast.

And that’s the end of the line…

Want to review my dad’s trip?  Here are my previous posts:

Bike Trip

From South Carolina to Phoenix by bike

Cross Country solo bike trip, continued!

Bike Trip FAQ

89 Miles to Phoenix

It’s crazy to think he’s done!  I bet he is relieved to not have to ride back.  Maybe Dad will get a 3340 sticker for his car now?  Or a 3340 tattoo??

Hard to believe!  It’s been a long month since my dad was here…and he’s been on the bike the whole time.  Leslie said he plans to be there Sunday morning.

I hope he bikes through “Top-Of-The-World”.  The roads weren’t showing up well but if you go to the map you can zoom in and imagine what route he might take to Phoenix…

What’s going on in my life:

Running Stuff:

1.  Sunday:  Go! St Louis Halloween 10K.  Probably not wearing a costume exactly, just a Halloween t-shirt and socks. Oh, and shorts.  Just that the shorts won’t be Halloween themed.

2.  Next Sunday:  Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  After this, then I’ll get another medal for running two Rock and Roll events in one year (Phoenix in January), woo hoo!  Also Jen and a variety of people I know are running it!  I might even have convinced Chris to come cheer along the course.

3.  November 6:  St Louis Track Club Half Marathon (it was super cheap to enter, maybe I’m mildly insane.)

4.  November 20:  St Louis Track Club Marathon Relay (STL people, I need one or two more runners to make a team of four!  Email, tweet, or comment if you are interested!!)

Blog World Stuff:

1.  I signed up for a “foodie pen pal” at the Lean Green Bean.  I sent my package to my “pen pal” today and actually received mine in person the other day.  I’ll explain it all on October 30, but it’s basically a food “care package” of your favorite stuff.

2.  I’m participating in a bake sale at Running Ricig’s blog on October 30 to raise money for charity.  I’ll be donating a loaf of my “world famous” pumpkin bread.

3.  I volunteered to be a cookbook tester for “Melt:  the Art of Macaroni and Cheese.”  Basically I will get a recipe or two and try them out at home.  This seemed like a no-brainer—I love macaroni and cheese, especially cheese, and I’ll get a credit in the cookbook.

4.  I sent a little package to Jordan at Food, Sweat, and Beers today as well.  I might be getting something from her in a few days as well.  I’ll probably tell you about this later too.

Other fun stuff:

1.  Chris’s cousin is getting married in the Bronx and we are going, yay!  I have new shoes and new earrings, but a dress I’ve worn before.  Not in the Bronx though.

2.  Mark and Julia’s Pumpkin Party is coming soon.  I mention this simply because of my great love of all things pumpkin.

3.  Ben Folds concert with the St Louis Symphony.

4.  Chamber Project St Louis has two more concerts coming up, November 3 and 4.  Come out to see us play, St Louis readers.  I’m only on the second half this time, playing a Mozart Piano Quartet, which means I will be less stressed out and more likely to be able to say hello.

5.  I’m getting MARRIED on January 2.  (Oh, you already knew that?  Hmm.)

Today in my workout with Mike he really pushed me.  He told me he had decided ahead of time to make me work really hard rather than us just standing around chatting between reps.  This meant lots of sprinting. 

It turns out I can run over 9 mph for about 20 seconds.  Afterwards I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up for the next ten to fifteen minutes.  But nonetheless, I ran for 20 seconds over 9 mph.

The faster I run, the better my form is, evidently.

If I keep this up I’ll be having lots more pictures in the air.

In other gym news, there’s a really tall middle aged man who calls me "shortie".  I find it hilarious.  He tends to workout when I am there and says "Hey, shortie, how’s it going?" every time.  Mike didn’t understand it, but today the man came over to explain, it’s because I’m short in comparison to him.  I had explained this to Mike previously, but now he really understands.  (If you don’t know me in real life, you should know that I am 5’11", pretty tall for a woman.)

I feel like a true gym rat now that I have a nickname!

Next step:  friends.