This semester has been inexplicably busy, and I've hardly had time to catch my breath since it started. As a result I haven't posted in weeks and I'm just a few days away from the Chicago Marathon. In fact, I leave on my trip this evening because I'll be giving an invited lecture at another university on Thursday, visiting colleagues and friends in Madison on Friday, and then heading back to Chicago for race weekend.
My only goal for Chicago is to finish. After Seattle, I briefly entertained the idea that I might be able to PR a second time this year since Chicago is flat, and it will undoubtedly be an energetic course. Since then, I slogged through training while traveling. After I got back home, things looked promising for a week or two and then I started dealing with some niggling IT band issues again. While the problem thankfully isn't as severe as the similar injury I had back in 2011 when I DNS'ed Chicago, I have had to dial things back a bit. This hasn't been the worst thing as I've been expending a lot of energy on work these past few weeks.
You never know how things might feel on race day. Things could magically come together, and I'm not discounting that possibility. However, I will toe the line with no time goal in mind and just focus on having an amazing experience whatever that means that day. One of my dear friends from college whom I haven't seen in several years is going to be in the same corral as me so we are going to try to see each other at the start of the race. She's been training like a bad ass in Texas heat so she'll probably leave me in the dust pretty quickly, but it will be good to see her even if it's just for a few minutes before the fun begins. I think most people on my Team are in corrals ahead and the corral behind me, but hopefully I'll make some friends to chat with along the course. I have miles dedicated to amazing friends and family members who have supported me on this fundraising and training journey.
Now I just have to pack, prep my talk, and pick up a few doses of Emergen-C.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Friday, September 2, 2016
August 2016 in Review
It's been a few weeks since I've had a chance to post here. The rest of my trip was a whirlwind of research, seeing friends, playing tourist, frenetic writing, and an academic conference. My itinerary took me from Valladolid back to Madrid and then on to Paris, Leiden, Bruges, Gent, Cologne, and Frankfurt before I headed home. One of the major highlights was going to Moulin Rouge, Versailles, and out for a night on the town in Paris with my friend Adeeb, whom I met a decade ago in Mexico City but whom I hadn't seen in person in almost as many years. While in Paris, I got in a somewhat bewildering 9 mile run that took me through my neighborhood, along the Seine, and around the Eiffel Tower. The addition of Leiden into my itinerary was a bit last minute, but it enabled me to see another friend after far too long and to ride a bike along a Dutch canal.
My academic conference was productive and intellectually stimulating. Plus, it took place in Bruges, where I'd never been. In between papers, I explored some of its streets and churches and ate my weight in waffles, frites, and chocolate. And the beer was more than amazing! It was also lovely to see professional friends. I roomed with my friend John, and we were able to get in a short run together and take a quick trip to Gent for some more church and castle exploring before I made my way to Germany and after two days there back to my corner of the Arctic.
Once I got back home, I had to immediately begin to prepare for the start of the semester since classes commenced on Monday. I also have a big deadline looming so I've been working toward that. I have managed to eek out a little bit of progress toward my goals.
I'm eking closer to my mileage goal for the year, but am likely going to fall short of this one, and that's probably okay. In August I ran 64.3 miles. Of course with my traveling schedule I encountered some challenges in fitting in all my scheduled training runs. However, I only missed one long run on the trip and usually managed to run at least two short runs a week. The same can not be said of this week since I've had a nasty cold and haven't run at all.
Like July, August was quite research focused. I finished up my archival work for the summer and wrote and presented a conference paper. I would like to continue the positive momentum and continue carving out an hour here and there to work on my new book project. I also recently received a revise and resubmit for a journal article that I submitted in the spring and will need to find some time over the coming months to deal with revisions.
Because I rarely had an internet connection for my last week in Madrid and then couldn't get my phone to connect to the wifi in my Paris hotel, I kind of fell off the wagon with my gratitude app. I'm hoping to use it more consistently in September. The bright side of not having internet access meant that I didn't waste time reading way too many comments on the internet so that likely contributed to my over all health and well-being in August.
Also because I was on the go, I didn't have much sustained energy or time for other types of writing. However, I did have a piece of non-academic writing accepted for a publication by a local literary journal! Their fall issue will be publishing a poem that I wrote over the summer.
If you're going back to school, how has the start of your term been? What was one of the highlights of the last full month of summer?
My academic conference was productive and intellectually stimulating. Plus, it took place in Bruges, where I'd never been. In between papers, I explored some of its streets and churches and ate my weight in waffles, frites, and chocolate. And the beer was more than amazing! It was also lovely to see professional friends. I roomed with my friend John, and we were able to get in a short run together and take a quick trip to Gent for some more church and castle exploring before I made my way to Germany and after two days there back to my corner of the Arctic.
Once I got back home, I had to immediately begin to prepare for the start of the semester since classes commenced on Monday. I also have a big deadline looming so I've been working toward that. I have managed to eek out a little bit of progress toward my goals.
I'm eking closer to my mileage goal for the year, but am likely going to fall short of this one, and that's probably okay. In August I ran 64.3 miles. Of course with my traveling schedule I encountered some challenges in fitting in all my scheduled training runs. However, I only missed one long run on the trip and usually managed to run at least two short runs a week. The same can not be said of this week since I've had a nasty cold and haven't run at all.
Like July, August was quite research focused. I finished up my archival work for the summer and wrote and presented a conference paper. I would like to continue the positive momentum and continue carving out an hour here and there to work on my new book project. I also recently received a revise and resubmit for a journal article that I submitted in the spring and will need to find some time over the coming months to deal with revisions.
Because I rarely had an internet connection for my last week in Madrid and then couldn't get my phone to connect to the wifi in my Paris hotel, I kind of fell off the wagon with my gratitude app. I'm hoping to use it more consistently in September. The bright side of not having internet access meant that I didn't waste time reading way too many comments on the internet so that likely contributed to my over all health and well-being in August.
Also because I was on the go, I didn't have much sustained energy or time for other types of writing. However, I did have a piece of non-academic writing accepted for a publication by a local literary journal! Their fall issue will be publishing a poem that I wrote over the summer.
If you're going back to school, how has the start of your term been? What was one of the highlights of the last full month of summer?
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Chicago is Not For Me
Before you freak out (or more likely shrug in bemusement) at the title of this post, let me assure you that I still plan to run the Chicago Marathon. But after a week of absolutely horrible workouts I needed to throw myself a bit of a pity party and then cowgirl up and remind myself of why I'm doing this.
First a little background, two weekends ago I decided to move my long run to Sunday so that I could go to Cuenca on Saturday and play tourist. This would have been an ok plan except for a couple of things. One: my phone battery died during the night so my alarm didn't go off nor could I receive the texts from my husband (oops! he forgot to send his, but at the time he got a pass) and from my running buddy Christy urging me out the door. Two: after I got home from walking around Cuenca all day on a scorchingly hot day, I then went out to dinner at a friend's house where an inordinate amount of cava and white wine was consumed (considering the planned long run for the next day). When I finally made it out the door on Sunday morning it was already in the 80s and my route along the river just does not have much shade at all. Every minute felt like an eternity. By the time I finished logging my run, I was sunburnt and hating my life choices. Why wasn't I sleeping off the cava fugue and then doing something touristy instead of roasting myself on the pavement. Why could I do nothing all afternoon except lay in front of a fan feeling completely zapped of energy? I mean, I could have been at the Mercado de San Miguel eating olives and cheese and drinking wine.
That long run left a bad taste in my mouth so I didn't run again until I had been in Valladolid for a day or two Because the archive I was using is not in the city itself but rather in a small village about 7 or 8 miles away, I was having to get up early to take the bus so as to arrive not too long after the archives opened. Since they close at 2:30pm, it didn't make sense to dawdle, and a morning run seemed out of the question if I wanted to get to the archives early. So I ran in the evening. It was still above 85 or 90 degrees. It was dusty. When I got a mile out, the area where I was running along the river started to seem a little sketchy and isolated, so I decided to turn around and call it a day. I couldn't push the pace at all. My breathing and heart rate were erratic. Why was I doing this when I could have been sitting on a nice terazza drinking a tinto de verano?
The next day I thought it over and decided to skip running in the evening in favor of a morning run. It was something of an indulgence but I opted to take a cab to the archives. This allowed me to log a few miles in the morning and still get to the AGS in a timely enough manner. Although this run did not suck, I have to honestly say that it wasn't great either, especially the first mile. It was disheartening to see how slow my watch said I was moving even though the temps were cooler. Finally, about halfway through the run, I was able to mentally, if not to physically, shift gears. I finally remembered that Chicago is not for me. I didn't sign up for Chicago without knowing how tough it would be to train over this part of the summer. I signed up because of Bryant's story and Team Deere. And while nothing is set in stone, my only real goals for Chicago were/are to fundraise and to finish the marathon. I needed to get over myself. So I did (mostly) (sort of).
Since then running has not been easy - I've been having some hip issues, and the night before and after my 15 miler this past weekend I woke multiple times with cramps in my calves - but it's been easier. This morning I was even able to pick up the pace a little bit and run a couple of faster intervals.
I have two weeks left of this trip. My training goals are pretty simple for the rest of the time I'm abroad. I want to run one more time here in Madrid, once in Paris (a long run), at least once in Belgium, and once in Germany before I head back to Anchorage and hurtle toward the start of a semester.
First a little background, two weekends ago I decided to move my long run to Sunday so that I could go to Cuenca on Saturday and play tourist. This would have been an ok plan except for a couple of things. One: my phone battery died during the night so my alarm didn't go off nor could I receive the texts from my husband (oops! he forgot to send his, but at the time he got a pass) and from my running buddy Christy urging me out the door. Two: after I got home from walking around Cuenca all day on a scorchingly hot day, I then went out to dinner at a friend's house where an inordinate amount of cava and white wine was consumed (considering the planned long run for the next day). When I finally made it out the door on Sunday morning it was already in the 80s and my route along the river just does not have much shade at all. Every minute felt like an eternity. By the time I finished logging my run, I was sunburnt and hating my life choices. Why wasn't I sleeping off the cava fugue and then doing something touristy instead of roasting myself on the pavement. Why could I do nothing all afternoon except lay in front of a fan feeling completely zapped of energy? I mean, I could have been at the Mercado de San Miguel eating olives and cheese and drinking wine.
That long run left a bad taste in my mouth so I didn't run again until I had been in Valladolid for a day or two Because the archive I was using is not in the city itself but rather in a small village about 7 or 8 miles away, I was having to get up early to take the bus so as to arrive not too long after the archives opened. Since they close at 2:30pm, it didn't make sense to dawdle, and a morning run seemed out of the question if I wanted to get to the archives early. So I ran in the evening. It was still above 85 or 90 degrees. It was dusty. When I got a mile out, the area where I was running along the river started to seem a little sketchy and isolated, so I decided to turn around and call it a day. I couldn't push the pace at all. My breathing and heart rate were erratic. Why was I doing this when I could have been sitting on a nice terazza drinking a tinto de verano?
The next day I thought it over and decided to skip running in the evening in favor of a morning run. It was something of an indulgence but I opted to take a cab to the archives. This allowed me to log a few miles in the morning and still get to the AGS in a timely enough manner. Although this run did not suck, I have to honestly say that it wasn't great either, especially the first mile. It was disheartening to see how slow my watch said I was moving even though the temps were cooler. Finally, about halfway through the run, I was able to mentally, if not to physically, shift gears. I finally remembered that Chicago is not for me. I didn't sign up for Chicago without knowing how tough it would be to train over this part of the summer. I signed up because of Bryant's story and Team Deere. And while nothing is set in stone, my only real goals for Chicago were/are to fundraise and to finish the marathon. I needed to get over myself. So I did (mostly) (sort of).
Since then running has not been easy - I've been having some hip issues, and the night before and after my 15 miler this past weekend I woke multiple times with cramps in my calves - but it's been easier. This morning I was even able to pick up the pace a little bit and run a couple of faster intervals.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
July 2016 in Review
July went by quickly for me as I was preparing for my research trip to Spain during the first part of the month and then on said research trip during the second half of the month. Where am I at goal-wise? Let me quickly recount.
Goal 1 part A to run my 3rd marathon and to PR while doing it has been accomplished. Goal 1 Part B to run 800 miles during the process of training for this and my fall race is still a work in progress. In July I ran 68.95 miles, which brings me to 404.51 miles for the year. Right now I'm still off the mark for part B of the goal, but we'll see how the next couple of months go.
My second major goal for the year was to make significant progress on other research projects. July has been very research focused as I have been in the archives for 2.5 weeks now and prior to that I was doing quite a bit of transcribing of things I have digitized or copied already and taking notes on secondary literature reading. I'm still trying to see the shape of these forests in the midst of many trees, but I think one major project and potentially two smaller (article-sized ones) have begun to emerge from the stacks of manuscripts I've been working my way through. I will definitely need to come back to the archives in Simancas and possibly those in Toledo and Madrid before I will be able to get too deeply into the writing of my second sole-authored book. Can I say I've made progress? Definitely. Will this be a project finished in the next few months? No. In the meantime, over the next week or so, I'll also need to put my feet to the fire and make progress on an upcoming conference presentation.
Goal 3 focused on establishing a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. I will preface these remarks by saying that I have spent far too much time the past few weeks reading comments on news sites and feeling absolutely vile afterward. I really need to be more disciplined about just reading the stories and not the comments. Aside from that and having to explain what's going on right now in American politics to a number of Spanish friends, I've had a lot to be thankful for. I've been seeing old friends here and making some new ones. I've been getting to do one of my favorite things about my chosen profession five days a week. I used my app 21 days in July. I do miss my spouse, but I am so grateful for our relationship.
Finally, I wanted to write some non-academic things this year. Over the past month, I made embarrassingly little progress on the short story I started in June. It's been challenging to carve out time to write in other genres when I'm trying to take full advantage of my time in Spain to work in the archives. The switch has not been flipping easily after a full day of reading early modern manuscripts. In my free time, I've been wanting to see friends, go to museums, visit new places, run, stroll, read a novel on the train or in the park, etc. Hopefully, I'll have more interesting news or at least some suggestion of progress to report in this category next month.
What's something you really enjoyed in July? What are you looking forward to in August? Have you ever had a Marilyn Monroe moment while crossing a bridge?
Goal 1 part A to run my 3rd marathon and to PR while doing it has been accomplished. Goal 1 Part B to run 800 miles during the process of training for this and my fall race is still a work in progress. In July I ran 68.95 miles, which brings me to 404.51 miles for the year. Right now I'm still off the mark for part B of the goal, but we'll see how the next couple of months go.
My second major goal for the year was to make significant progress on other research projects. July has been very research focused as I have been in the archives for 2.5 weeks now and prior to that I was doing quite a bit of transcribing of things I have digitized or copied already and taking notes on secondary literature reading. I'm still trying to see the shape of these forests in the midst of many trees, but I think one major project and potentially two smaller (article-sized ones) have begun to emerge from the stacks of manuscripts I've been working my way through. I will definitely need to come back to the archives in Simancas and possibly those in Toledo and Madrid before I will be able to get too deeply into the writing of my second sole-authored book. Can I say I've made progress? Definitely. Will this be a project finished in the next few months? No. In the meantime, over the next week or so, I'll also need to put my feet to the fire and make progress on an upcoming conference presentation.
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| Selfie on the way back to the train station in Toledo from using the archives |
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| Archivo General de Simancas -- yes this archive is in a fortified stronghold! |
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| In the Royal Botanical Gardens |
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| Cuenca: I took this picture right before I had to deal with my skirt nearly blowing up over my head |
What's something you really enjoyed in July? What are you looking forward to in August? Have you ever had a Marilyn Monroe moment while crossing a bridge?
Friday, July 29, 2016
Postcard from Spain: Running and Picnicking in Retiro Park
I had hoped to stay in a friend's typically empty flat during my trip to Madrid, but because he's having renovations done that wasn't possible this time. As a result, I ended up renting a little attic apartment close to the Atocha train station because I knew that neighborhood would be convenient for commuting out to Toledo to use the archives there as well as allowing for easy walking or public transit to the national library and the archives I'd be using in Madrid. The bonus: being close to the train station means being close to Retiro Park - one of my favorite spots in the city. Although running along the river or in Casa del Campo makes more sense for longer runs, nothing beats a short jaunt just a few minutes out the door.
I ran here one evening during my first week (which was not a pretty run as I was so hot each moment felt like a hellish eternity and I was having trouble getting my heart rate under control) and then on Monday and Thursday this week in the mornings (much better). I hope to do so again before I leave for the next stage of my research trip in a couple of days. I will say that, although I see lots of diversity in the people walking or enjoying time in the park, the runners in the Retiro (unlike the Madrid Rio) do still definitely skew toward the fitter, the faster, and the male. Nonetheless, I have seen a few other women running in the park. Also promising: so far I haven't been on the receiving end of any catcalls going to and from the park in my workout gear. Nor have I heard or seen any other women runners getting harassed during my runs. This all gives me hope that the running culture in Madrid is developing/has developed to a much greater extent than I would have dreamed possible eight or nine years ago.
The Retiro is not just a place for running! I also was lucky to be able to attend the birthday picnic of my friend Carlos in the Retiro after I got out of my yoga class on Tuesday evening. His Retiro picnic is a tradition but one that I haven't been able to participate in since 2007. It was a lot of fun to briefly catch up with an old friend Sophie there and to meet some of the new amigos Carlos has made since I moved back to the states. We enjoyed drinks and food and two kinds of cake to celebrate the fabulous birthday boy.
Have you noticed changes in running culture in a location you frequently visit? When was the last time you went on a picnic?
I ran here one evening during my first week (which was not a pretty run as I was so hot each moment felt like a hellish eternity and I was having trouble getting my heart rate under control) and then on Monday and Thursday this week in the mornings (much better). I hope to do so again before I leave for the next stage of my research trip in a couple of days. I will say that, although I see lots of diversity in the people walking or enjoying time in the park, the runners in the Retiro (unlike the Madrid Rio) do still definitely skew toward the fitter, the faster, and the male. Nonetheless, I have seen a few other women running in the park. Also promising: so far I haven't been on the receiving end of any catcalls going to and from the park in my workout gear. Nor have I heard or seen any other women runners getting harassed during my runs. This all gives me hope that the running culture in Madrid is developing/has developed to a much greater extent than I would have dreamed possible eight or nine years ago.
The Retiro is not just a place for running! I also was lucky to be able to attend the birthday picnic of my friend Carlos in the Retiro after I got out of my yoga class on Tuesday evening. His Retiro picnic is a tradition but one that I haven't been able to participate in since 2007. It was a lot of fun to briefly catch up with an old friend Sophie there and to meet some of the new amigos Carlos has made since I moved back to the states. We enjoyed drinks and food and two kinds of cake to celebrate the fabulous birthday boy.
Have you noticed changes in running culture in a location you frequently visit? When was the last time you went on a picnic?
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Postcard from Spain: Running Madrid Rio
Greetings from Madrid, where it is hotter than blazing Hades at the moment! I arrived into a city that I love and that I once called home on Friday evening for the first stage of a research and conference trip that will take me to Toledo, Valladolid, Paris, and Bruges in addition to Madrid. After an exhausting 20ish hours of travel and a 10 hour time jump, I had just enough energy to unpack my suitcase, eat a chocolate bar (saved from my airplane dinner), and tumble into bed (carefully, as the flat I've rented for the first two weeks of my stay is an attic with slanted ceilings).
My plan was to get up early on Saturday morning and do a 40 minute run. Saturdays have been my long run days for the past several months, but this last week I did my long run on Wednesday in order to buy myself a little bit of time to acclimate to the heat before doing a run of any significant length. I admit to being incredibly relieved to not have to log 10 miles Saturday morning, as I was feeling jet lagged, and it was already sunny and warming up by 7am.
Even so, I was determined to get my training on this trip off to a good start by doing the 40 minute run that I would have done on Wednesday had I not run long. Training in Madrid is something I've been a little bit anxious about for the past several weeks. I'm signed up for Chicago and I'm running for a charity, so I don't want to be undertrained when I get to the start line. That being said, I have not had a good track record when it comes to running when I'm traveling in the summer for research. On past research trips, it has been common for me to run only once or twice a week -- sometimes even less -- and to log runs in the very short 2-3 mile range. There are both valid reasons and a category of sorry excuses for this. I'm determined to navigate the obstacles set up by the former and overcome the latter on this trip. My goal is to do at least 12 runs and 3 long runs during the first stage of my trip, which includes archival work in Madrid, Valladolid, and Toledo.
While I ate a few calories and drank some water on Saturday morning, I debated just running in Retiro Park since it is close to my flat, but I opted to head down to the awesome paved trails along the river to get my sweat on. I've enjoyed running a couple of miles there a couple of times in summers past. Saturday was like running in a toaster oven, but I was happy that I got my 40 minutes in and was only a little bit slower than I have been the past few weeks.
A few years ago I posted about how I had noticed quite a few changes in the running culture of Madrid. I'm happy to report that these trends appear to have continued. Each year it seems like there are a lot more people running than when I lived here just over a decade ago. It's nice to feel like I'm not the only slower runner or the only woman getting her sweat on in this lively city. While greeting other runners still doesn't really seem to be a thing, I did get one "hola!" from a fit fellow while he was zipping past me on the trail.
Do you run/exercise when traveling for work? When traveling for pleasure? If any of you have any route recommendations for Valladolid and/or Paris, please feel free to share them in the comments!
My plan was to get up early on Saturday morning and do a 40 minute run. Saturdays have been my long run days for the past several months, but this last week I did my long run on Wednesday in order to buy myself a little bit of time to acclimate to the heat before doing a run of any significant length. I admit to being incredibly relieved to not have to log 10 miles Saturday morning, as I was feeling jet lagged, and it was already sunny and warming up by 7am.
Even so, I was determined to get my training on this trip off to a good start by doing the 40 minute run that I would have done on Wednesday had I not run long. Training in Madrid is something I've been a little bit anxious about for the past several weeks. I'm signed up for Chicago and I'm running for a charity, so I don't want to be undertrained when I get to the start line. That being said, I have not had a good track record when it comes to running when I'm traveling in the summer for research. On past research trips, it has been common for me to run only once or twice a week -- sometimes even less -- and to log runs in the very short 2-3 mile range. There are both valid reasons and a category of sorry excuses for this. I'm determined to navigate the obstacles set up by the former and overcome the latter on this trip. My goal is to do at least 12 runs and 3 long runs during the first stage of my trip, which includes archival work in Madrid, Valladolid, and Toledo.
While I ate a few calories and drank some water on Saturday morning, I debated just running in Retiro Park since it is close to my flat, but I opted to head down to the awesome paved trails along the river to get my sweat on. I've enjoyed running a couple of miles there a couple of times in summers past. Saturday was like running in a toaster oven, but I was happy that I got my 40 minutes in and was only a little bit slower than I have been the past few weeks.
I ran at the river again yesterday morning. This one felt even hotter and tougher, but I got it done. I'm planning to do a number of my runs there as the path stretches 10 kilometers along the Manzanares and it only takes me about 15 minutes of walking from the door of my apartment building to get there. However, I will likely switch things up by doing some of my Madrid workouts in Retiro Park and the Casa del Campo as well.
A few years ago I posted about how I had noticed quite a few changes in the running culture of Madrid. I'm happy to report that these trends appear to have continued. Each year it seems like there are a lot more people running than when I lived here just over a decade ago. It's nice to feel like I'm not the only slower runner or the only woman getting her sweat on in this lively city. While greeting other runners still doesn't really seem to be a thing, I did get one "hola!" from a fit fellow while he was zipping past me on the trail.
Do you run/exercise when traveling for work? When traveling for pleasure? If any of you have any route recommendations for Valladolid and/or Paris, please feel free to share them in the comments!
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Thursday Threads: Wedding Guest Attire
I am in the midst of preparing to leave for a research trip, so I thought I would just do a short post this week in the Thursday Threads category.
It's been a couple of years since I've been invited to a wedding that I was able to attend. This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to the wedding of one of my former students with whom I've since become friendly through a book club. Mark and I took the opportunity to get a little bit gussied up for the occasion.
After a mostly grey and rainy week, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding -- sunny and warm (80 degrees). I felt like I had fully restocked my body's supply of Vitamin D after my long run that morning and the wedding that afternoon. Elise was a radiantly happy bride.
Since Elise requested guests not take photos during the ceremony, I put my phone away and don't have a lot of shots. It was a sweet wedding with some cute Star Wars themed and other charming details, including a tree planting. They had set up a large Chewy cutout with which guests could take pictures before and after the ceremony. The processional was the Star Wars theme song. Their officiant made several references to the force.
Have you attended any weddings recently? Do you enjoy "dressing up"?
It's been a couple of years since I've been invited to a wedding that I was able to attend. This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to the wedding of one of my former students with whom I've since become friendly through a book club. Mark and I took the opportunity to get a little bit gussied up for the occasion.
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| Dress - Anthropologie, Shoes - Anne Klein, Earrings, Necklace, and Ring - Gifts, Bracelet - Asha Handicrafts |
After a mostly grey and rainy week, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding -- sunny and warm (80 degrees). I felt like I had fully restocked my body's supply of Vitamin D after my long run that morning and the wedding that afternoon. Elise was a radiantly happy bride.
Since Elise requested guests not take photos during the ceremony, I put my phone away and don't have a lot of shots. It was a sweet wedding with some cute Star Wars themed and other charming details, including a tree planting. They had set up a large Chewy cutout with which guests could take pictures before and after the ceremony. The processional was the Star Wars theme song. Their officiant made several references to the force.
Have you attended any weddings recently? Do you enjoy "dressing up"?
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