Birthday

I wish I could say that I have had such a busy and hectic life that I haven't had time to write. It's actually quite the opposite! Our married life has been terrific, but we haven't been up to too much. The main reason for that is because of all the school work I have to do on a daily basis. Yep.. still in school. Getting REALLY tired of it. It is the reminder from my parents and Nick on a weekly basis that I am almost there that keeps me motivated because I simply have lost all my personal motivation. I am so close to the end, yet I dread doing school work every day. It is harder and harder to write my essays because I simply stopped caring about the material I am learning. I don't know how everyone with college degrees completed their schooling! So anyways, I am looking forward to May 16 where I will no longer have to EVER do any school work again.
On a happy note, I just had my birthday on 11/06. I asked for a low key day, so spending time with Nick and my parents was perfect. Nick gave me a super shocking "family" gift: an iPAD! So exciting. I can't wait to download tons of aps on it!

Happily married!!

We did it! We tied the knot! It was an overcast day on 09/17/2010, but it made it a lot better for pictures since we all did not have to squint. It was such a fun day and everything went according to plan. I cried my eyes out during the ceremony, though, so that was a bit embarrassing. I will be posting more pictures when I get them from Nick's uncle (who took all of our pictures and did a fantastic job!!)

Bumps in the road

Not every wedding plan goes as planned. We found out two weeks before the wedding that our florist had to get surgery and would not be able to help us with the flowers. In a panic, I called the venue owner and she provided me with names of local florists. We have an appointment with our new florist (hopefully) on Saturday, only 6 days before the wedding.
Looked at the 10-day weather report and guess what I saw?? RAIN! Wonderful rain! While all say rain is good luck, I am sure that the guests will not enjoy the 30 minute outside ceremony in the rain. I know there are a lot of things that can be done with umbrellas, but I didn't want to have to do that to the guests. ::sigh::
Stepped on the scale and what did I not see?? A drop in weight. I am sure all women can agree with me how frustrating it is to eat ridiculously healthy and exercise constantly and have no weight loss. Grrrr.
Finally, I am done with my school class but I am anxiously awaiting my final grade. I am nervous. It is based on the results from a group final essay.. I don't have much confidence in my group.

Alright, that's the update for now! Until next time

ONE MORE MONTH!

One more month from today! Dum-dum-de-dum! So much planning is involved with a few hiccups, but nothing major. I look at the hiccups as something funny to look back on. Hiccups included:
- Sealing all the envelopes before putting on the stamps on the return envelopes for the RSVP cards. Solution? I bought cute note cards and sent everybody the stamp for the return envelope telling them of my mistake.
-Booking multiple appointments the day before the wedding just to remember that I have to pick up the wedding flowers that morning. I need to reschedule two appointments for another time ASAP!
- I gained 5 pounds. OOPS! I think it's all muscle because I have been eating healthier, running, and have been doing the stair stepper. I sure hope I fit in my wedding dress!

These are just a few things that have occurred but you know what? I'm not perfect! and that is perfectly okay with me.

Stair Stepper

About 3 weeks ago, I had my desk raised for "ergonomic reasons". I quote it because while it is partially true, it was not crucial. It is partially true because I work on two separate computers which don't fit equally into the corner of my cubicle. Thus, I'm always bending forward to reach one of the computers and its keyboard. After awhile, I would start feeling back pain, but not crippling. The main reason I got my desk raised is for health reasons... that's right! I am sick and tired of getting secretary butt by sitting all day! Since I started working at my desk job, I have gained 25 pounds while still eating the same somewhat-healthy diet I've always been on. I decided to take a "stand" against this curse. I had to get a doctor's note to state "Emily needs a standing work station for ergonomic reasons", which was surprising easy to get! No appointment needed. After 3 weeks of having my desk raised and doing standing all day, I recognized I needed to do more than leg lifts periodically throughout the day. Solution? A mini stair stepper with exercise bands! I bought it off of Overstock for $55. I have been doing multiple sessions of 15 minutes daily. Since the stepper makes me stand taller than my cubicle, I have to squat down when stepping, which really makes my thighs burn. Let's see if this stepper actually reduces my thighs rather than make them bulkier (which some exercises seem to do). To be continued..

Celebration

There is always so much to celebrate in life. Whether it be anything from winning a contest to simply finding the shirt you wanted on sale. With our hectic lives, it is good to take the time to celebrate. I have written a blog before of what I am thankful for, but the true definition of celebration is "to observe (a day or event) with ceremonies of respect, festivity, and rejoicing". Reasons to celebrate for Nick and I over the past month:
- I completed my last class of Statistics with an A-. That was quite the struggle for me since Statistics is hard for me to understand and I was not able to ask questions and have them quickly answered. Celebration for this: Taking a night off of homework to relax and watch a movie with Nick.
-Nick and I filed for our marriage license. While we still have to go pick it up, this makes it all that much more real that this is happening!! Celebration for this: a wedding in 72 days.
- Our country's independence day. We went up to South Lake Tahoe to our friends' new house that they bought a month ago. We spent the time with 5 other couples and cooked some great bbq and went on long hikes. This was a fun weekend. There was lots of wedding talk because two of the other ladies that were there are also engaged.. with one getting married on 09/04/10 and the other getting married in 08/2011.
- Nick and I have been lacking on the running, but we are starting it back up again. Celebration for this: more running!!
- We have great families and friends, so everytime we see them is a celebration in our hearts.

Heat wave

What a great weekend this has been. The weather has been warmish/hot (75-80) until today, which is 90 degrees! Yikes! On Friday, Nick and I both took the day off and went to Half Moon Bay. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at a popular cafe (yet I've never heard of it) then walked along the pier and looked at all the boats. We then drove to the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. GORGEOUS!! Who would think that off of highway 1 there is a gorgeous hotel that is massively huge but with outstanding staff. Usually when I go to nice hotels, I feel like the staff thinks "she possibly does not have much money to tip us, so we should only give her minimum service with a forced smile"... not here at the Ritz. Every smile was genuine (I think) and they were all asking how they could make our time there the best possible ("would you like a glass of water while you sit here and enjoy the beautiful ocean view?").. and we weren't even guests there! I can't wait to stay there on our wedding night and the night after (courtesy of the woman that we have house sat for many times.. that I wrote about in last year's blogs). Then on Saturday, I went to go get a body wrap with Sarah and then went to the Nordstrom rack. I bought the cutest Maggie London dress for $29! I love great finds. At night, Nick and I decided to stay in and make dinner and watch a movie. Perfect date night in my opinion. Today, we went to see our friend's booth at the La Honda art fair. The fair was small, but cute. The rest of the day has been spent in front of the fan, trying to complete homework. :) I am very much looking forward to the coolness of the night breeze tonight.

First weekend of June

The year has flown by so fast. We are so happy to finally get some sun here in "sunny" California! It has been nonstop rain when it should have been hot, but the great weather started last Thursday. We enjoyed a weekend of 75-80 degree heat with a light breeze in the shade. On Saturday, we were able to spend some time at our friend's new house in San Mateo. I felt bad for the most part, though, because I had to bring my laptop to do homework over at their house. :( Only 10 more classes until I am done with school! Then on Sunday, Nick and I went for a long run and then went on our way to BFD at shoreline. The event started at 10 AM, but we decided to get there at 5 PM to cut back on time in the sun and avoid the heat stroke! We were able to see bands like Hole (not a fan), Silversun pickups, deftones, and our favorite: Sublime. It's interesting how a band that loses their lead singer can find another singer that sounds almost the same as the deceased singer. While it was fun to hang out at the concert with our friends Nick and Adrienne, getting home at midnight was too late. Working the next day is tough on so little sleep. I tease my mom a lot saying "don't you wish that in High School I thought 10 PM was late for going to bed?" I guess I'm growing up

Running and Wedding progress

Nick and I are continuing to prepare for our wedding while improving our running endurance. I am checking off things on the wedding checklists (provided by the knot.com) that will get me closer to being prepared for the wedding in September. I think we are fully registered, I have updated our website, Nick has gotten fitted for his tux, the bridal shower date is set, I have chosen the bridesmaid dresses, I bought my wedding shoes, etc. Can you tell I am excited?

Throughout all this planning, I have been trying my hardest to run daily. After boot camp finished, I had to take a week off from running due to some horrible shin splints. I purchased the new Kayano 16's and put in some new gel insoles. After running this last week, it seems that new shoes and insoles really help. I also bought Nick some new Asics, but not the Kayano's. We try to run everyday, at least 2 miles. It is slow progress, but hopefully I can stick to it.

The devil which is named STATISTICS

For the past 5 weeks of school, my class has been Research and Statistics. It's not bad enough that I have an extremely hard time understanding all the equations (remembering them or understanding how to do them), I also have had a professor that is no more than a robot. I say this because there is no teaching involved. Throughout my online school career, I have never once had to be in a physical classroom, but yet I have had teachers post weekly informational "lectures", provide responses to the discussion questions that request for you to think more deeply, and correct essays with advice of where you can improve. This professor's only responses to the discussion questions to everyone are 1) "You need to cite your sources" or 2) "Please provide more information". As for the assignments, all I get is a low score and the comment of "please refer to the syllabus for reason of this grade". The reason this response is so frustrating is because I did everything that was requested on the syllabus. Finally, I have had to do group assignments with classmates who are just as lost as I am! After countless nights of staying up until midnight, hoping the professor will answer our questions we asked 3 days prior, we all surrender to turn in a less than satisfactory essay or presentation. I am glad the 5 weeks with that professor are over. He really reiterated the fact that you can't always learn something you're not interested in by reading alone. I have to take another 5 weeks of Statistics that will add on to the previous class, but it looks like this professor is here to help us all out. I am crossing fingers that I will get some sleep over the next 5 weeks.

Boot Camp

For the past 4 weeks, I have been doing boot camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6:30-7:30 AM. It is held in the San Mateo Central Park. The original idea came from Sarah who said that we should do boot camp to get me in shape for the wedding (since all I was doing was complaining about how out of shape I am but not truly doing much about it). Here is a quick break down of each week:

Week 1 day 1: Wow.. I was so out of shape that I was doing worse than anyone else. Pushups, squats, and running.. oh my!

Week 1 day 2 (Wednesday): This was fitness training. I did a 10:04 minute mile, 24 pushups in one minute, 54 crunches in one minute, and a 1:05 minute wall sit.

As the next 3 weeks went on, we did loads of ladder exercises, jump rope, squats, running around the park, bleachers, etc. The first two weeks were tough, but on week 3, I was looking forward to waking up to go to boot camp!!

At the fitness test on Week 4 day 2 (Wednesday): I did a lot better! I did a 9:40 mile, 36 pushups in a minute, 72 crunches in a minute, and a 1:42 minute wall sit. Much better!!

I must also applaud Nick who came one of the Friday mornings on guest day. After seeing what I had been doing for an hour 3 times a week, he definitely understood why I was always so tired around 7 PM.

Since I had perfect attendance and I turned in a weekly food journal, I was awarded $25 to use towards future classes. Sooo tempting, but I can't afford it at the moment. I have a wedding to buy stuff for!!

Done with wedding faires!!

I went to a wedding faire yesterday and realized I am done going to them! I originally went so I could get ideas on flowers, invitations, pictures, cakes, etc. Now that I have the venue, food, flowers (ideas), invitations (I think), and pictures figured out, I only went yesterday to look at hair, makeup and cake. Trying to avoid the other stations, however, seemed near impossible. I felt hassled as I told the vendors that I already have the service they were providing. Nobody would take no as an answer. I even got a "if your vendor fails, you can use us!" Way to scare me! So with new bridal magazines in tow, I left the faire within 45 minutes. I am officially done with wedding faires.

First race!!

Nick and I completed our first race yesterday (04/11/2010). We ran the 10K in Santa Cruz. Let me paint the picture for you. 8 AM we arrive at the race. 20-30 MPH winds, 4000 people all at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, dark clouds threatening rain. Our 4 friends (Adrienne, Dave, Jamie, and Sarah) ran the half marathon, so they started the race right at 8 AM. Nick and I started with the rest of the 10K runners at 8:15. The first two miles were alright. Nick and I were keeping a good pace. Pretty much around the 2.5 miles, though, I popped my ankle stepping awkwardly. Needless to say I experienced pain until I stretched my ankle. Near the end, the ocean waves were splashing against the rocks, spraying all runners with loads of salt water. Nick and I ran through the finish line at 1:09 hours. That averages out to 11:15 minute miles. Not too shabby for our first race. We were really thankful that we got finished before it started raining. While standing at the finish line while waiting for our friends to finished, a massive amount of rain came pouring down. I'm sure the people running in shorts and tank tops must have hypothermia by now. Nick and I are proud of ourselves for running the race and hope to continue "training" for our unplanned future race!

The pain of running

This weekend was a great weekend for us. The work week was standard, but the weekend is what really was a mile marker. On Friday, I cooked something other than spaghetti for my friends. I made stuffed manicotti along with garlic bread and caesar salad. We had our good friends, David and Jamie Orr, Sarah, and Liz. We were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and eat outside. From there, we went down the hill to sleep. On Saturday, we went on a 10 mile run... YES! A 10 MILE RUN... with Dave, Jamie, Sarah, and Megan (on her bike). I can't believe we actually did it, and it hurt so good. When we got home at 3, Nick slept for 6 hours while I iced my knee. we were able to watch one movie together, than went back to sleep.

Today, we went to Nordstrom (to return some very cute shoes that were too expensive for a soon-to-be bride) and then crate and barrel to update our registry. I hope to win the lottery and buy another house so we can have two houses to have all the cute crate & Barrel stuff. :) (one can only dream!) Then homeward bound to do another run. We were only able to go a mile since our legs are SCREAMING! :) I love spring weekends. If only we didn't get the sad news of little Claire Calhoon. :(

Engagement photos

This weekend was a beautiful weekend up at our house. It was in the mid-70's and sunny! What a great time for engagement photos. We are very fortunate to have Nick's uncle, Larry, be our photographer for our wedding! Larry has taken gorgeous pictures throughout the years. He has been on many hikes and captured the morning sunrise just right on the lake, morning dew on a fully bloomed flower, etc. He was thrilled when we asked if he would be our wedding photographer. On Sunday, Larry came over and had us do all sorts of fun and cute poses. Unfortunately, I did not have too many ideas for engagement photo poses, so we were all trying to think of past engagement photos we had seen and imitated them. I wore three different outfits: a blue dress, jean capris with a blue and white silk shirt, and a burgandy formal evening dress. The photos took a course of 5 hours, with a few breaks in between (dinner, watching of the health bill discussions), but I think we got some quality shots. I will post the pictures when we receive them from Larry. My total evaluation of the day: Nick looks awesome in blue, engagement photos are tiring, and I am so grateful that spring has sprung!

Caterers

Wedding planning. So fun! So much to do! People have said numerous times that simply saying "wedding" in front of catering equals instant price increase! Finding a caterer has been difficult for us. We have tried a few places, each one seeming pretty good. The one we really like is located in the East Bay, so we would be charged an extra $400 just to pay for everyone to drive from the East Bay to the coast (anyone ever heard of carpooling?). Then, a place in San Mateo called Espostos seems like it has a fair price point, good food, and friendly staff, but people on Yelp say differently. The reviewers say that the food was dry, the service staff was lazy, and they were running a bit late. Even with these bad reviews, this place still offers the best price point. Maybe there's a reason for that... Then another service contacted me today. They are priced high, but all 15 reviews on Yelp gave them 5 stars and rave about the quality of the food and the service. We shall see what price they quote us.

At the venue, you don't even have to have a caterer, but it would make it so much easier....

Sorry to keep you waiting...

Sorry to make you all wait. What has happened? four holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Valentine's day).. most importantly, the engagement! To find out the information about our wedding, please visit our website http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/EmilyAdams&NickZontos
Other than that, life has been busy with work, school, and wedding planning. Venue is booked, dress is purchased, veil is borrowed, rings are chosen, caterers have been sampled (but no decisions yet), etc. Fun Fun Fun. We are also doing a race on April 11 in Santa Cruz. Although it may be only a 10K for us, it is our first race!
Stay tuned for more info!