Tempe Wedding Handled

Ben's sister was married this weekend in Tempe Arizona.  Last fall she asked me to be an attendant and I was truly honored.  She and several of the bridesmaids and friends were all up here, in Montana last month for her bachelorette and surprise shower (I did a post a bit ago).  I was so looking forward to the wedding; i love weddings.  I also was looking forward to seeing family and the girls again and being in the warmth.

We all went to a delicious italian dinner and matt drove us in the bus, where matt and hubbee shared a moment! :)
By our hotel was an excellent breakfast place, Devil's diner and we went there several times:

The next day we had our nails done and the final fitting of the dress, and picked up Tiggi's (sp?) ensemble.

This wasn't her ensemble but we had to try this hat on for fun.  She was a good sport.

We ventured to Casey Moore's for a fun meet up/gathering.

The next day was the day to decorate the penthouse for the reception and the day of the rehearsal.  Matt and Jaclyn's friends live in the penthouse and were gracious enough to open their home up for this event.  It was spectacular.  The views, the breeze, the openness of the space made it ideal.

After the decorating was complete it was time to head to the rehearsal.

This is Sarah, the maid of Honor.

This was eva, she didn't know me from Adam but she was quite friendly.

Adam, Colleen, and Larry, now the only ones besides Ben and me on Team Rehmer...

The bride and groom, now Team Howard.  We need to find a way to merge the two...

Sarah and Tim, the maid of honor and best man, and hopefully next couple to marry... :)

Me, with Matt's brother Tyler.  I felt so bad for this guy, he was very sweet and I am so awkward when having my photo taken and he probably was ready to ring my neck.

Star, and i forget the gent's name--horrid I know--but it was his ten year anniversary and he was the sharpest dresser!!  James?

Charlotte with another of Matt's brothers.

Erin and Sven.

Ahn and Chuck, another of Matt's brothers.

kacie and 'Stopher, yet another of Matt's brothers.

The line up of guys.

The lineup of girls.
Then it was off to Monti's Steak house for the dinner.

Suddenly it was the big day.  yes it was suddenly because we were in vacay mode and hit the town with Sarah and Tim and her 'rents and Skeeter.  I don't know why but fortunately I wasn't hung over!! Phew!

We all went to a suite in the same building as the penthouse to prepare.  Jaclyn had these adorable flutes made for us and we each received a unique, yet similar bracelet.  i am only showing pre-made up photos because everyone looked so stunning after! :)

Gwen, Erin and Star all helped with hair and Erin helped with make up and colleen did jaclyn's.  it was fun and relaxing because Jaclyn's itinerary allowed for plenty of time.  Sarah brought up some amazing snacks for everyone and Jaclyn brought stuff for mimosas.  It was festive and fun!

Jaclyn's bouquet.

And our bouquets

I don't have any pics of ceremony because I was in it and obviously couldn't hop about with the camera.  It was at the Secret Garden on the ASU campus. I imagine there are tons and can't wait to see those! The ceremony was great... as we expected matt could barely keep it together, and Jaclyn who is probably even more shy than me spoke so clearly and loud! :) i pulled this off instagram.  
At the reception:

I teased them about matt not knowing how to dance and I said hands on shoulders and hips and shuffle side to side... i was kidding!!!

Adam handed off the Pimp cup to matt!!

The last dance!!  Jaclyn wore the fascinator I made for her bachelorette--I was so happy she liked it!  
The next day we went to brunch at the Valley Ho where I wore my "cocktail"dress and my swimsuit wrap.  It was a great relaxing day after all the festivities.

Our last supper was at a mexican restaurant near our hotel.  It was so fun to hang out with Ben's aunt and uncle.  Linda reminds me of my aunt Lisa and she is VERY fun.

It was a great time and lots of laughs!!

Spring? Not here...

last week's training was rough.  Each run felt like I was full of lead.  I tried hydrating, drank Nuun, fueling properly, stretching, warming up... everything I knew to do was not working.  Yesterday was a 6 miler (i thought it was 9 all week but apparently looked at the wrong week).  I only did 5.25.  I had to do all my itemizations for taxes and spent the a.m. on the computer and working on them.  After about 4 hours I hopped in the shower and then went to meet our tax guy.  Then I went for my run.  no fuel.  I bonked out HARD!!  So I came home and ate and then later did 4 miles on the elliptical to make up for the .75 mile i shorted myself.

Today I woke up and there were several inches of snow on the ground and it was 19 degrees outside and with the windchill a lovely -3. Today was a 5 miler on the books and after yesterday I was nervous.  And then my mind goes to the crazy place:  why am I stressing over 5 miles?  if I can't run 5 (or 6) how am I going to run a marathon?!  since we are in the middle of a typical spring in Montana, I opted for the treadmill.  I put the incline at 2 and ran between 7 and 7.6 mph and FINALLY it felt FANTASTIC!!!!  It has been about 3-4 weeks since a run has felt good.  Sad as that is that is where i have been.  It certainly feels great to be back!!  

Last week I was trying to update my phone and had to delete everything and in the process lost all of my minutes on NTC.  I was at 6660... so now I am working on a comeback in that department too.  I must say I am loving the new Serena Williams workout and Lakey Peterson's beach leg workout.  Both are new with the update and are fantastic.

I think I was mentally stressed out the past few weeks with all that has been going on and I was anxious about the start of marathon training.  I am nervous about the possible sale of our house, etc.  I needed this run today.  What do you do to get your head back in the game? to stay focused? 

Marathon Training begins and Literally a Cocktail Dress

Tomorrow begins marathon training. I will be hopefully running two this year:  Missoula and Smuttynose, july and october.  I have not been feeling so hot the past few days so I laid off the running and did some NTC and Pilates.  I also wanted to get some sewing in since I know I will be pressed for time in the upcoming months.  

At the end of this month we are heading to Arizona for my sister in laws wedding and i am sooooooo looking forward to the warmth.  This month's burdastyle magazine (4/2013) is FULL of items I want to make, and one seemed especially simple and within my skill set (#126).  So I was looking through my stash to see what would work and I came across this fun print:

I had originally purchased it to make coasters for Matt and Jaclyn but the print was too large.  This shift pattern I had chosen would be a perfect way to showcase this fun print!!  I did not have enough fabric to create the ruffles that are featured in the original pattern so I bought some crocheted trim in a butter yellow color and I am so pleased with the result:

This was my first time sewing anything with "set in" sleeves.  This went fine except at first i stitched the sleeve wrong side out, but I have made friends with my seam ripper and quickly corrected it and VOILA!  It took almost longer to trace the pattern off the burda sheets than it did to make this dress.  It came together so fast i began it today and wore it to the in-laws for Easter bbq.  i was a bit over dressed but I wanted to make sure it stayed hemmed, etc.  I can't wait to wear it at the Valley Ho!! :)

I really want to attempt a halter dress in this issue with white eyelet and line it with either gray or teal... time and skills will determine whether it happens.

Anyone else at the beginning of training plan?