Hey. What’s Up? Hello!

Yesterday, I called to make an appointment to get a spray tan — my first spray tan ever, very reluctantly — because I have a bad case of “summer running” on my back and my wedding dress is not, in fact, in the shape of a Lululemon Cool Racerback top.

The nice woman on the phone, Barbara (I miss Carol), asked, “When is your wedding?”

And I said, “next week.”

That is a thing that is happening. We got engaged last week, and now our wedding is next week. Time flies when your life is reduced to a series of to-do lists.

But here I am today. Blogging. And if you came here for a coherent post, I suggest stopping by another time. Instead, today is a big ol’ life update brain dump. It’s more fun that way…maybe?

BUSINESS FIRST…

Thank you to everyone who entered the HOKA ONE ONE Clifton 2 giveaway! I was so excited to see so many people interested in trying out my fave shoes! But only one of you could win, and the winner is “Jen C.”

Congratulations, Jen! Check yo email. I sent you a little something. It’s…an email.

Confession: You know how one of the super loaded questions on the giveaway was with whom (grammar!) Rory should have ended up at the end of “Gilmore Girls?” Well, I haven’t exactly seen the entire series.

I loved the show in high school, then stopped watching at some point, and recently started DVRing the episodes on ABC Family during the day and catching up on them. But I’ve sort of tuned out, and yeah Dean ends up cheating on his wife and is pretty lame, and apparently Jess turns cool and mature but I haven’t gotten to that yet, or I skipped over it, and I don’t find anything redeeming about Logan, but some of you do. The point: I’m completely unqualified to take a stance on this topic. But that’s America. We do that a lot. #burn

NOW ONTO HEALTH-RELATED MATTERS…

I am getting a little bit better. Kind of. Slowly. But I’ll take it! I had to stop eating jicama, because I realized I always felt horrible after I had it. VERY sad.

Maybe because I went away for a little while? Brian had two bike races on back-to-back weekends: The first in New Hampshire, the second in Vermont.

Instead of doing that long ass drive back to New York in between, we stayed with my parents in NH for a few days. It was downright blissful. We worked outside, we rode bikes, and in Vermont we stayed at a horse farm with actual horses, both large and miniature.

And then I went for a run! After taking several weeks off on account of the ol’ stomach situation (remember The Situation from “Jersey Shore?”), I worked up the courage to try running again! I loaded myself up with Imodium and a Zip-loc full of TP and hit the hilly roads of Vermont for a trial run. Most of my runs up there were very short and didn’t go very well, but I did get to run the day we were in Burlington, which is one of my favorite days of the whole year. I love the path along Lake Champlain.

I haven’t run much since being back in New York, in part because I’m busy and just haven’t been able to cram it in, and in larger part because I’m scared. In Vermont, you have woods everywhere. In New York, you have Starbucks, which now has keypads on all its bathrooms and insists you must “buy a coffee first” to get in. Don’t get me started.

I am really glad I’m not running a fall marathon. This is my first season not training for something, and wow! Who knew it could be so freeing not to follow a training plan or “have” to run?! I’m sure I’ll be sad come race day(s), but not having to schedule in 20-mile runs has been pretty liberating. I can do whatever run I want. I can sleep in! I love marathon training, but choosing not to race at the same time I’m planning a wedding was a good call.

AND SPEAKING OF WEDDING PLANNING…

Brian and I are basically married. We got our marriage license this morning! First, we went for a bike ride together in Central Park. I felt like this was important.

It was unexpectedly one of my favorite things we’ve done throughout this process. The Office of the City Clerk is the happiest little government agency there ever was. There were so many couples there getting married and there were people selling bouquets, and I wanted to get matching rhinestone hats that said “The Bride” and “The Groom” but Brian kept pretending he didn’t hear me when I brought it up. Four times. It was a surprisingly fun morning in downtown Manhattan! (And really easy: We arrived a little after 10 AM and were done by 10:35.)

Brian took his first yoga class. It was the free yoga in Bryant Park, and now he says shit like, “ommmmm” and “open yourself up to the possibility of being relaxed.”

So I’m not sure whether it was a good thing or not. But he was really sore the next day, and that was gratifying for me. Because I wasn’t. Mwa ha ha.

I’ve been working really hard on my Wedding Watch list. It’s another project that’s proven to be fun. And since I wrote the episodes out in list form, it’s actually technically a productive task.

The highlights:

• I’m saving Jim and Pam’s wedding from The Office for the night before the wedding, because it’s my all-time favorite.
• Monica and Chandler’s wedding from Friends isn’t on there because I actually don’t like that episode! Monica wouldn’t have done her own hair and makeup, and the ballroom isn’t Monica’s style at all. Phoebe’s “James, James Brolin?” line is one of my favorites, but other than that, not the greatest episode. Plus I’ve seen it 138 times.
• Leslie and Ben’s wedding from Parks and Recreation (and the episode when he proposes) and April and Andy’s wedding are tied for my second favorite. They are both perfect.
• I can’t find Zack and Kelly’s Las Vegas wedding episode anywhere and it’s stressing me out. I also can’t find 90210. Help.
• While Father of the Bride has always been one of my favorite movies (because yes, all of our dads are Steve Martin, but my dad is Steve Martin, especially during the grocery store hot dog bun freakout scene), but watching it having planned (most of) our own wedding? Totally different. Brian and I were laughing hysterically the entire time, because we could relate to all of it so much more. Namely the part when George Banks thinks he misheard that “you said $150 a head…that can’t be right!” And the response is, “No no, $250 per head.” Exactly.
• Bryan Mackenzie from Father of the Bride is Charlie from Scandal. IS YOUR MIND BLOWN? Mine was.

I never did any of the pre-wedding workouts I said I was going to do. Literally not even one of them. Boxing and Brooklyn Bodyburn and barre classes? My bad.

I miss getting RSVPs in the mail.

I’m at the point where the main stressors are behind me, and now it’s either, “I can handle that” or “F it.” Mostly the second option. Dance lessons? No time. Too busy trying to find Donna and David’s wedding in watchable form.

We threw Brian an “Office Bachelor Party.”

I plotted with his employees and we got him fun little gifts and, well…it was a Puppy Party.

We hired six puppies to come play with us for an hour. It was awesome. And Brian was so surprised when he came out of his conference room and saw the office filled with excitable pups.

Somehow I just wrote so many words, managing to say very little along the way. I am happy to be feeling a little better. I am happy to be getting married next week. I am happy our ceremony and reception are going to be very personal, with lots of personal touches along the way afterward (like choosing to serve only red and pink Starburst and not the crappy flavors — thank you, Fave Reds).

What’s new with you?

I love you.