What I've Been Up To Lately

Man, I've really fallen off the wagon with this blog. I mean, considering this is a running blog and not much running has been going on..

So, what have I been up to? Well, I'm still trying to keep up my mileage by increasing it by percentage.

October 20:

October 23:

October 25 (in Austin, in 80 degree weather! Woof!):

We were there for the weekend to witness one of my best friends from high school get married!

Back in Bellevue, I used Mapmyrun because Nike+ kept crashing (and I kind of love how it shows splits!):

On Halloween, I ran my last run of October:

I went to a Halloween party, as Wednesday Addams (JW was Ace Ventura!):

I even made little witches' brooms (pretzels with string cheese) and "pumpkins" (oranges with celery sticks)!

Basically I've been cruising along and have really been surprised by how quickly time is passing. I mean, November? Hi. Long time no see. But still, wow. Can't believe you're here now. It's definitely fall now.

November also brings NaNoWriMo, the 50,000 word novel-in-a-month challenge of which I've made multiple attempts and always failed. It started yesterday and I realized within the first hour of working on my novel idea that it just wasn't going to work. Haha! I'll spend the next few days thinking of something else, but if nothing sticks, then I'll just try again next year. I'll crank out a novel one of these days. :)

Amanda's Ceremony and Reception

Saturday evening, April 5, began with Amanda's wedding ceremony, at 5pm in the LBJ Pavilion of the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. It was a little chilly, but I wore JW's coat and was comfortable!

The beautiful bride entering the pavilion

A sweet moment during the ceremony

Married!!

The wedding ceremony was immediately followed by a cocktail hour, where guests could mingle with various champagne drinks (one was a mimosa, one was a basil & pineapple champagne drink, and one was a pomegranate mimosa - all delicious!) or they could choose to go back to their room and freshen up. JW and I partook in about 15 minutes of the cocktail hour and headed back to our room to warm up - though I had JW's coat, it was still a little chilly!

An hour after the ceremony ended, the reception started in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt. We loved that it was inside :)

Party favors (chocolate) and menus

Gorgeous ceiling decorations

Centerpiece and table decorations

Posing with the married couple!

Sarah, Philippa, and myself at the reception

We're getting married in less than month, y'all!

The Bride and Groom Cakes

Cutting the cake

Then, the most awesome part of the reception happened - the bride and groom's first official dance together. It was choreographed! I thought this was SO cool. They were so coordinated and happy and I could just feel the love everywhere :)

Bride & Groom's first dance

The male wedding party members dancing for the bride and groom

All the wedding party and family dancing for the bride and groom

Exit with sparklers!

We had a GREAT time, stayed until well past midnight, and danced the night away! It was a wonderful way to end our trip in Austin, and I wish Amanda and Anand all the best in the next chapter of their happy life together :)

Amanda's Rehearsal Dinner

Friday evening began with Amanda's rehearsal dinner, held in the Pavilion of the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort.

JW and I

I got suckered into getting some henna :)

Sarah and I waiting to bless the bride to be

Old Roommates!

The bride's beautiful henna on her feet

Friday evening then ended at Barbarella, a bar in Downtown Austin!

:P

Out at Barbarella!

JW's old roommate Kevin and Trang, who are getting married in October!

Fun times :)

<3

Next up: Amanda's Wedding Ceremony & Reception!

Good Eats, A Bad Run, and A Longhorn (Hook 'Em!)

Helloooo, world! I'm back from Austin after a whirlwind trip and have finally found the time midst all the wedding planning, unpacking, and laundry folding to blog a bit!

I wanted to round off my Austin trip with a few pictures I took of the last couple of days that we were there.

We left on Wednesday- JW and I made it to Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, and I had a delicious waldorf salad with some roasted garlic bulbs for appetizers. It was SO GOOD.

We met up with our friends John and Ashley, who we were staying with that night, and met their cute dog Ronnie:

She and JW bonded immediately.

(She's curled between my legs!)

And that night, we went to Salt Lick, where I had never been! It was AWESOME.

BYOC (Bring your own... cider :P)

JW, John, and Ashley

Me and my old roomie Sarah :)

Food, glorious food!!! This was plate 1 of 2. 

I was SO FULL after that meal - oohhh man. I usually am never that full but I'm telling you, Austin just has the best food. Ever. That night, JW and I shared a twin bed and had the worst sleep ever, haha!

The next morning (Friday) we got out on the road to head towards the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, where my old roomie Amanda's wedding would be held. It's about 40 minutes away from Austin, and the rehearsal dinner wasn't until 7:30 Friday night, so we stopped by the mall to walk around. Of course, we ended up at CPK because it's delicious.

Yummy Quinoa & Arugula  Salad, with added chicken (not pictured)

After that, we headed out towards the resort. It was tucked behind these winding roads and we even saw some deer!!!

I've literally never seen this sign before!

Deer!!

Getting ready to jump!

After we checked in (and saying hi to Amanda and meeting her fiancé Anand!), I attempted to run around the resort. Unfortunately, fueling and sleep are everything when attempting to run- and neither of those things were very healthy on Thursday and Friday. I wanted to run for an hour because JW had an important phone interview, but I could only make it for 2 miles.

I felt so exhausted after this- I felt like I was going to throw up during the last mile. Also I couldn't really find a good place to run - I was just kind of running on the sidewalks, dodging the golf carts and people checking into the resort. So I just decided that 2 miles was enough, after running 12 miles in the last three days.

Feeling verrrrry tired

I sat on this bench for a while before I felt well enough to get up and walk around, and then remembered that there were some longhorns on the resort, so I walked over to say hi.

The guy in the above picture kept badgering the longhorn and trying to pet him - and the longhorn hit him a couple of times with his horns! It was so crazy - I kept telling the guy to step away from the fence, but he wouldn't listen to me. I wonder if he was day drunk. You can see him in this picture gathering grass to give to the longhorn to try and "build trust" (his words), but then the longhorn would just turn its head to try and hit him. It was so bizarre!

Next up: Amanda's Rehearsal Dinner!