Feel-Good Friday

Now this is the story all about how my wedding dress got twist-turned upside down. Now I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you about the time my dress would barely zip over my butt.

Yeah. That happened.

I have spent the past, oh, six months being nervous about my first dress fitting. My body has fluctuated a lot this year and I’ve spent probably too much time thinking about it and being frustrated with it. So I was equal parts anxious and excited for my first fitting.

I packed up my shoes, veil, and jewelry, got caught in a massive rainstorm, and arrived at the bridal salon looking like a wet — but eager! — rat.

The very nice seamstress had me step into the dress, and…we struggled to get it over my butt. There was no way the top was zipping.

I stood there sort of in disbelief. I may have gained some weight or “shifted shape” a bit since getting the dress in January, but enough that the dress wouldn’t even zip?? I was trying hard not to cry or panic as the seamstress told me there was only so much she could do, and that I would essentially need to “come back closer to the wedding” to try again.

In other words, go lose a bunch of weight, and come back when you won’t look like a partially squeezed sausage leaking out of its synthetic casing.

Then, before I left, I thought…something isn’t right.

And I asked the nice saleslady to check the tag in the dress. I was just curious.

OH RIGHT, IT DIDN’T FIT BECAUSE THEY ACCIDENTALLY ORDERED MY DRESS TWO SIZES TOO SMALL.

So no kidding it didn’t fit. My “size 8” was actually a size 4.

Talk about breathing a sigh of relief. Clerical error FTW! Back to Nutella crepes for breakfast!

My correct dress is now being rush ordered, and I hope it will zip. But whoa baby, what a short-lived un-fun experience!

I was going to post a Thankful Things Thursday yesterday, but after that frazzling turn of events, I decided to lay down in air conditioning all night instead.

Still, I have some happy thoughts worth sharing, and I’m never one to let an opportunity for alliteration pass me by. Welcome to the first-ever (and probably last, because consistency is not my strength these days) Feel-Good Friday! Where we share things we feel good about! You can play, too.

I am sick, but not death-bed-level sick! No real changes on the health front. I’m still Crohnsing, but it’s contained to stomach-only sickness. Lots of time in the bathroom, urgency, blood. But no fevers or night sweats, which makes a huge difference. I am tremendously grateful for the mildness of this flare. It sucks, but not as much as I know it can suck! Perspective.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday, and his thought was that the study drug may be wearing off. Huge bummer. He made a comment along the lines of “your body is stronger than the drug.” Boom! If only that were actually a good thing. I did a full round of bloodwork, I have to do another less-fun sample-style test (I’m sure you can figure it out), and I am going in for a colonoscopy next week. He wants to see what exactly is inflamed, where the disease is acting up, and just basically poke around inside because that’s a fun day for everyone.

I have a new pair of shoes and they’re amazing. The HOKA ONE ONE Clifton 2 is even prettier than the original, and just as cushion-y and soft and light. I’ve only been able to run in them twice so far because, well, running hasn’t been happening as much as I’d like. But if you haven’t tried HOKAs yet, maybe stop waiting? They really are game-changing shoes.

I went to New Hampshire for a few days to visit my parents and do wedding things (no sales tax there!) and go for runs and jump in a pool after. It was a very nice, productive visit. I am not at all a DIY-type of person, but my mom and I did do some crafty things…

…and I went to bed early and I got to play with baby goats.

All good things. Usually I go home and my mom and I just outlet shop and run errands the whole time.

This time we told my dad we would also participate in activities that would make him happy. That went well…

I have a new backpack, and it makes me want to go back to school. I’m part of The North Face’s #TNFLocals crew, which means I get to test some cool products (The North Face is also affiliated with November Project!). They sent me this sweet backpack the other day and I used it for my trip to New Hampshire.

I usually feel sort of dorky with a backpack, but it feels a heck of a lot better than lugging around a 200-lb. shoulder bag. (The North Face is currently running a promotion through the months of July and August called #GivePack. All packs purchased this month will help Big City Mountaineers mentor underserved youth on wilderness expeditions. Pretty cool.)

I have been dancing a little bit lately. Well, not so much since I started feeling sick. But a few weeks ago I finally took a “Beyoncé Bodies” class, which was a blast. We learned a routine to “Who Run the World?” I’ve been performing it at home ever since. And I finally tried AKT In Motion, which is super fun, but also crazy expensive, so…two classes will be it for a while.

I have gold sunglasses. Definitely real gold. Noooo, they’re not. My friend (and November Project co-leader) PaulLeak found them under a set of bleachers one day, and I saw him wearing them and said, “THOSE ARE AWESOME OMGGGG,” and he gave them to me. #SomethingBorrowed

I’ve been seeing a lot of really good puppies lately. Turns out, when you’re walking and taking breaks instead of running, you get to see a lot more stuff!

The other day, Tyler was telling each person in our family who they got to be if our lives were Frozen.

My dad is Olaf and Abby is Sven and I get to be Elsa. See? Dreams do come true.

Speaking of that…

Our honeymoon is booked! And it is going to be everything I ever dreamed of. I never really dreamed about my fantasy wedding or a picture-perfect dress. But since my youth, I’ve had dreams of going on an African safari. And that is what we’re doing. I can’t really believe it. Needless to say last night I Googled, “How to emotionally prepare for an African safari and seeing giraffes in the wild.”

The agreement was that I would plan our entire wedding if Brian would plan our honeymoon. I am good at a lot of things — writing neatly sometimes, making sure the Brita is always full, keeping my phone fully charged at all times — but I am not good at planning trips. So after I “tried to help” and booked us at a pretty disastrous hotel in Vermont over Memorial Day for one of Brian’s bike races, he was basically like, “You will have nothing to do with our honeymoon.” That was my plan all along. Mwahaha.

With that, here is my parting gift to you. Glamour Shots circa 1996, and a seriously creepy love letter to Zack Morris. You. Are. Welcome.

YOU DO IT, TOO! What’s something you’re feeling good about? Racing this weekend? Sleeping in this weekend? Nutella crepe-ing all weekend? Do tell.