We have been lucky enough to not hit many snags along the way. At six months out and only a few headaches, I considered us the lucky ones.

So you can imagine my frustration when I received an email yesterday from our venue coordinator saying that she was quitting her job. Suddenly our semi-stress free wedding had turned into a tornado of turmoil.

Dramatic? Yes. And let me just add that we have a meeting with the coordinator next week and will finalize all the details so that they can be passed on to the new hire. It will probably all be fine. But I am a perpetual worrier so bring on the stress.

Add this to the fact that we are trying to collect addresses and finalize a guest list for Save the Dates and you have some not so fun wedding planning going on.

I’ll be the first to admit that it could be worse and in the grand scheme of things our wedding will be amazing no matter what happens. But again, I’m dramatic and also in the midst of trying to learn a new job so ya know…

Marcus got a new baseball bat tonight and suddenly our night in front of the Guest List spread sheet turned into a game of wiffle ball in the house. From the office, I pitched Marcus balls into the living room and he hit them back to me. Bill shagged, aka chased the balls under the couch.

Wedding stress, work stress….it all disappeared. Marcus is my best friend and taking wiffle ball batting practice in the house is one of the many reasons I love him. He makes any situation fun and always makes me laugh.

And who can hold back a smile with this little guy around?

Life is good, despite my flair for drama. Have a fab one!

Happy Easter! May your day be filled with love, family, sunshine and…

tulips! Have a good one!  

Last night, Lindsey and Stef came up and we hit the happening town of Occoquan.

We have fun everywhere we go. We drank. We danced. We wore our sunglasses at night.

This morning, Sam arrived and we met mom at David’s Bridal for Bridesmaids’ dress shopping. I had four dresses in mind and wanted to narrow it down to two.

The girls tried on various dresses of similar styles to my top picks. We decided on the David’s Bridal one shoulder dress for Lindsey, my matron of honor.

My other three girls (Maeghen couldn’t make this trip) will be wearing this strapless David’s Bridal dress. The best part about this dress? The pockets! I love them!

All of the dresses will come in truffle which is a really rich chocolate brown. My dress will include a ribbon of brown that matches, and the Groomsmen will be wearing vests in the same color.

The bouquets of gerbera daisies will add nice, bright pops of fall color.

I originally wanted to find burnt orange shoes for the girls, but had a hard time finding shoes in the right color of orange. So I may do a more neutral color to stay with the fall palate.

I’m getting these shoes for myself.

They also come in ivory. I think they would be pretty with the brown dresses and bright flowers. Plus they match my shoes, which would make for cute pictures.

But I may just let the girls pick whatever shoes they want. They all have good style and excellent judgement, so I know they will look great.

I loved having my friends here and being able to share in the wedding planning with them. They all looked so pretty in their dresses. It made the wedding a little more real and got us one step closer the big day!

We are making some big progress with the wedding. I hope it continues to go smoothly. I am enjoying crossing things off my list and watching the plan slowly come together. Six more months until we say, “I do!”  

Wine lovers rejoice! Trader Joe’s now sells boxed wine. It comes with a nifty hand slot and spigot for easy wine pourage. It comes in red and white. I was lucky enough to get a box of red this morning. They were almost sold out! I love you, Trader Joe’s. You never disappoint!

We both read the Hunger Games trilogy last year and have been hooked ever since. And I am happy to report that the movie did not disappoint! The book was better, of course. But I was super happy with how the movie turned out. They stayed pretty true to the book and added lots of little details that would only really make sense if you knew the books.

I wish there was a little more relationship development. In the books, I love Katniss’ relationships with Prim and Gale and her will to do anything for her family. I also love Katniss and Rue’s friendship, and that was a bit rushed. But it was a 2 hour and 20 minute movie. They only had so much time. Going into the movie, I was Team Peeta all the way…I still am after the movie! Josh Hutcherson is such a cutie!

I also thought Jennifer Lawrence did awesome as Katniss. Katniss is kind of a hard character to like because of her social awkwardness and inability to connect with most people. Lawrence did a good job at being protective and strong but also a little hard to love. I can’t wait for Catching Fire!

In other news, this is how DC looks in the spring. Such an impressive city!

Mom took these pictures of the cherry blossoms. Aren’t they amazing?

My best friend’s wedding shower is tomorrow. I can’t wait to see everyone! Have a fab weekend!

All I have to say, is thank goodness for Sam. She kept me going through so many times moments when I was struggling. She was a rock star and powered through the whole 13.1 miles – even the crazy rolling hills.

But bad run (on my part) aside, it really was an awesome race. I was skeptical. Rock n Roll is notorious for overselling races and really just being in the business to make money. I knew it would be crowded. I knew the Metro would be a mess. I knew we would need to be patient.

Rock n Roll ended up pulling it out. The crowd control was great. The corrals allowed for a decent, wave start.  Yes, there were lots and lots of runners. But I think it was a very well put together race, especially for being ran completely in DC. That meant lots of closed roads, lots of police and volunteers, and lots of logistics and planning.

Our day started nice and early. In order to get to the Metro right when it opened at 6, we left my house at 5:30. The Metro ride was long since we got on at the first stop of the Blue line. By the time we got to the Stadium Armory stop, the Metro trains were packed to the last inch with runners.

As soon as we got off the Metro, we got in line for the porta potties. There was a lot of waiting that morning. While a wave start is good for crowd control, it also means we didn’t cross the Start line until 8:30.

My race was bad but everything else was great – the course, the support, the volunteers. There was never a time that there weren’t people cheering us on and there was always something interesting to look at. I have never run a race with such an exciting course. I am a total nerd for DC so it was so fun to run through neighborhoods and see lots of awesome architecture up close.

There were lots of water stations, plenty of volunteers, and every runner I encountered was super nice. The best part of the race was running through the tunnels and neighborhoods. There were SO many people cheering, giving out high fives, pouring beer for the runners, and blaring music. At some moments it felt like we were running a legit race, like it was the New York Marathon or something.

I wish my run matched the atmosphere. That would have made it the perfect race. But some runs are bad and some are good. I snagged a PR, ran with my best friend, and at the end of the day, I still love running.

The finisher’s chute was pretty amazing. They had LOTS of food for the runners and the band, Switchfoot, was rocking and rolling. I was majorly dehydrated (it was an unseasonably warm day for March, almost too warm for a spring run), and we were both starving, so we made our way back to Springfield and immediately drove to Chipotle.  It was the perfect ending to our morning of running.

After the endorphins set in, all I could think about was the next race. Next up is the George Washington Parkway Classic in April and the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in May. All of these races are getting me prepared for the big daddy of em all – Marine Corps Marathon in October. This race showed me that I have a long way to go. Fortunately, I have a few months to train and lots of races in between.

I will definitely run Rock n Roll USA again. Hopefully, Rock n Roll Virginia Beach in September will be just as organized and fun.

Oh yeah, Bill had fun too!

Rock n Roll DC, here I come!

Oh, and Bill is adorable…that is all.

I also found out how ridiculously bad I am at knowing where I am going in the city. Let’s just say, I spent the better part of an hour walking in the wrong direction after bravely deciding to de-train at Union Station (which was different then my usual stop). For now, I am sticking to familiar territory, especially when I need to be at work on time.

Other than the new job and getting prepared for my 7th (!!) half marathon this weekend, we have also made more moves on the wedding front. Since Marcus is half Ethiopian, we want to incorporate some of the traditional customs into our wedding .

We are going to serve Ethiopian food along side American food, and play some traditional songs so that everyone gets a taste of the culture. Over the weekend, we visited a few shops to try to get an idea of what Marcus and his groomsmen will wear.

The coolest part of combining the cultures is the fact that Marcus’ groomsmen are going to participate too. I think it will look really unique to have four men of all different races, plus Marcus, wearing a traditional Ethiopian outfit that we created just for the wedding.

We talked a lot about it, and I think the guys will look awesome standing next to my girls in their chocolate brown bridesmaids’ dresses. The guys will be wearing white tunics with matching pants. The outfit is made of lightweight material and should be very comfortable and easy to wear. We are also going to have vests made in our colors so that they match my girls. Marcus will have a slightly different vest so that he stands out as the groom. We are having everything made in Ethiopia and sent here before the wedding.

I am sooo excited to see how everything turns out. I think it will come together really well. And when it’s all said and done, we will have represented and celebrated our families and upbringing.

I promise to blog more soon. It is race week, after all. And I have one BIG piece of info to share. But that’ll come later. For now, it’s bed time!

It’s only been three days, but I like the new gig. The fact that I don’t have to drive to and from work is probably the best part. I LOVE taking the VRE and not having to worry about traffic or other drivers. I just get on the train and relax for 40 minutes. Then I have a mile walk from the station to my job. I could take the metro or bus instead of walking, but I really love my walk.

I mean with views like this how could I not?

I hope I never take this beautiful city for granted – so much to see and do. I am SO psyched to be working in DC.

My coworkers are all super nice. I like the location of my office and I think once I get in the groove, I will really enjoy my job. I know there will be stressful times. Working on a constant deadline can be a headache, but at least every day will be interesting and busy. I like to stay busy.

So far, so good. I am excited to see what the future holds!