What's been going on...

Now that I've told you all about my wonderful shower/bachelorette weekend, I can catch you all up on what has been happening since.

A week and a half has gone by, so I won't get too detailed. Let's do this recap "picture style" shall we?

Farmer's market with friends!

Rose and Will

Anna and Bipul w/their new compost

Bipul was in town for Andy's bachelor party! (same night as my bachelorette) - he's such a good friend. :-) Although not pictured, Lisa, as well as Anna and Lisa's mom, Sharman, were also at the market!

Fire-pit roasted marshmallows!

Bipul and his fire

Andy and Will

Anna and Lisa

Will - using a gentler approach

World's most amazing movie theater!!!!

We saw Maleficent - it was ok

Will and Rose moved! And we helped!

Rocky could tell something was up...

The happy new home owners!

Things have also been reaaaaaally slow and boring at Jobs #1 and #2.

We get in trouble if we put anything on this counter, so obviously we decided to put ourselves on it ;-)

And the biggest news....

I FINALLY beat this level I've been stuck on for weeks!!!

There you have it! Now what these pictures don't show is that I've been out of control with food. Why is it so hard to go back to eating healthy when you stop? UGH.

So with that confession I will now reveal my new plan. I started this blog to track my marathon training. Since the marathon ended it's sort of turned into a "here's what I'm up to" blog. Well... I'm sure I'll sneak some of that in, but for now I'm going to use my blog as a public food and exercise journal. I'm sorry if it will be boring or if it makes me seem pyscho, but I need to do something and I think this will help. Stay tuned!

Bachelorette Party!

I realize it's taken me way too long to post about this, and you're also probably curious what I've been up to lately, but before I can post anything else that's going on, I must give you my bachelorette party recap! :-)

To put it shortly, I had a BLAST.

Before we get to the party, I'll back up and give a quick recap of the day's events leading up to party time.

The morning started with a workout led by Carrie. Sheena and Andy joined too!

2 mile run + Tabata

Workout Complete!

Sweaty and tired, Andy, Sheena, and I headed out for a grand tour of Rochester. First stop, coffee.

New Coffee Shop - pretty cool

Andy and Sheena waiting for coffee

Once properly caffeinated we stopped by Eastman so Sheena could see where we went to school. Then it was off to the Public Market!

Sheena and Andy hit up the empanada stand

MMMMMM

Yummmmm

I had some cherries

Once we'd had our fill of the Market, we headed out to Lake Ontario - Sheena desires to see all the Great Lakes, so we were able to cross one off her list! Then we headed from a natural body of water to a man-made body of water - hello laying out by the pool at Job #2! It was heavenly.

Now onto the bachelorette!

We started off at a pole dancing class. Yep, that's right. 

I have zero arm strength, so I was impressed that I made it up this far.

Elizabeth!

Carrie and Sarah!

Sheena! Who was disturbingly good...

Our instructor... this was horrifying, but made for a pretty funny picture.

A few words on pole dancing.

1) It is an amazing workout. All of our arms were SUPER sore the next day. Those girls are STRONG.

2) If you do attempt pole dancing, know that you will wake up the next day covered in bruises.

3) If I ever lose my job, I do NOT have a second career in pole dancing. Sheena might though. ;-)

Once that was over, we quickly changed... then went out for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in town.

That's a good lookin' group of ladies!

Babs and Carrie :-)

After a delicious dinner it was time for.... karaoke! Sheena is the queen of karaoke, so she got the party started.

She was so great!!

I was up next.

Obviously I sang Brittney Spears

The the biggest surprise of all...

I have no idea who that woman is.

A complete stranger serenaded me with a lovely Celine Dion song. What more could you ask for?

Tara and Elizabeth sang too, and all in all I think everything had a genuinely good time. 

Tara and Elizabeth - "I think we're alone now!"

Sarah and Kristin!!!

Towards the end of the night, someone unsuspected showed up...

Is that.... yes it is!!!

Andy Brown!

I seriously cannot remember the last time I had so much fun. Thank you to everyone who was a part of my shower and bachelorette. I had THE BEST TIME EVER!!!!! xoxoxo

Bridal Shower

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!! My weekend was AMAZING and packed full of fun, so to make this slightly less overwhelming, I'm going to break it up into a few different posts. Let's start with my shower!!!

Sheena flew in on Thursday night - woohoo! We spent all day Friday getting ready for the shower, which obviously included doing a workout dvd, getting mani/pedis, and stopping by Lululemon and TJ Maxx for fun. ;-) Then we headed over to Anna's to get ready for the party!

Anna and her mom had the place looking AMAZING! I cannot express how thankful I am to her for opening her doors for my shower. :-)  Many hugs and kisses to Anna!!! xoxoxoxo!!!! Ali and Sarah came over early to help with prep too!

Ali and Sarah

Sheena's making whipped cream!

Anna got us these cool hats haha

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought I had a pretty amazing (and very healthy) spread!

Delicious!

Dessert and Drinks!

Pretty decorations

Rose's GORGEOUS cake!

Beautiful flowers provided by the Steltenpohls!

Everyone arrived around 7:00pm, and we spent an hour eating, drinking, and talking. I was so excited for my friends to all meet each other, especially Sheena since I tell her about all of them on a daily basis. I was really happy with how friendly eveyone was. :-)  

Then it was time for shower games!!! Sheena created a game called "How well do you know Barbara?" where she asked everyone a million questions I had given answers to.

Sheena - game master

Everyone hard at work answering the questions

And the winner.... it was a tie!!! Sarah and Anna know me best. Gee, how am I not surprised. ;-)

After that it was time for.... TOILET PAPER BRIDES!!!!! Sheena divided the girls into teams, then everyone got crafty!

Kristin, Marcia, and Anna

Rose, Carrie, and Ali

Sharman, Tara, and Elizabeth

Jeanne, Lisa, and Sheena (at least her left hand)

Team Sarah (with Laura and Cindy)

Once they were all ready, they put on a fashion show, haha. I took a video of it, but for some reason it won't load to my blog, so if you'd like to see it, send me an email and I'll send it your way!!

Anna's cat Otis also got in on the action too.

Otis and his beautiful veil

With games out of the way, it was time for dessert. We all LOVED Rose's gluten/dairy free cake. It was seriously delicious.

Cake time!

That meant there was only one thing left to do....

OPEN PRESENTS!!!!!! hahaha

What a pile o' loot!

I was a little nervous before the shower about opening gifts in front of everyone. From what other's had told me, it's an odd experience to have everyone staring at you. I'll admit... I loved every freaking second of it!!! 

In all seriousness though, I have an amazingly loving and generous group of friends. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by people I love and care about so much, and I know that will only be multiplied on the actual wedding day. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS FOR AN AMAZING SHOWER!!!!! It will stick with me as one of my most happy memories. :-)

The girls from Job #2 :-)