What I Wore Sunday (Volume Dos)

Reporting live (or 34 hours after the fact). We had a muchly much needed relaxing weekend. I am facing a gargantuan deadline at work this week so I needed the weekend to recharge. This Saturday I am heading back to Maryland (I know! I was just there!) for some more family time, sans Will again. But I cannot miss Grandma's big wedding!!! (Cue: Go Grandma! It's my birthday. Get married like it's my birthday!) Yes, my 82-year-old grandmother is tying the knot next Monday, which also happens to be my 26th birthday.

Without further ado, linking up with Fine Linen & Purple. I don't know what's with the pose. Will is still learning how to use the DLSR, so I have to be at the ready at any moment! I never know when he has the thing in focus and the camera will snap. I must be extra vigilant. It's a sweaty experience. Anyway, I've heard that having a W I D E  S T A N C E makes you look more confident. You be the judge:

Do I look extra intelligent and formidable?

Shirt - Marshall's, Skirt - Marshall's, Wedges (hidden) - Marshall's, Scarf - Urban Outfitters. 

I've found that a lightweight scarf (used as a shawl) is much more suitable for covering up at church during Florida summers. It lets some air in and is more flexible for the level of coverage you need. Scarves for the win. Here is aforesaid scarf, up close, since you asked.

It's my favorite, coziest, lightest, most comfy scarf of all time ever. I wish I bought it in more colors and designs. 

In other very important news, we are now proud owners of a Ninja. This bears proclamation on the blog. Very excited about this impromptu Walmart purch. I like to buy produce like bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and spinach in bulk and freeze them since it's cheaper and I make smoothies every day for breakfast. The Ninja destroys all those frozen goodies in seconds and doesn't emit a smell as if it's dying a slow, painful, rubbery mechanical death. Two thumbs up for the Ninj.

Gratuitous dog pic. Now you can't even think about calling this post awful. 

Have a wonderful week!

What I Wore Sunday & Some Shots from Saturday

Well, here I am for my What I Wore Sunday debut! I've been enjoying/lurking from afar for too long to not join in. I present to you my Mass uniform: 

Cardigan - Target, Skirt - LOFT, Stunna Shades - Publix! Stolen borrowed from the husbo. Wedges (hidden) - DSW (to ellooonnngate the frame—just keeping it honest!).

I'm hoping joining this linkup helps me branch out a little. I wear a variation of this outfit, or, this exact outfit, almost every week. Also, it's getting a little too hot in south Florida for cardigans—even in our air conditioned church! Maxi skirts for life, though. The sermon at today's Mass was really excellent. The priest used the reconciliation-themed readings from today in combination with Father's Day to deliver a pro-life message to our parish. That's as far as my reflection for today goes ("the sermon was excellent, way to go, Theresa"—baby steps), but I will direct you here to see why writing in-depth reflections can be tough for me!

———

All in all, it was just another relaxing weekend with these two: 

In the past, Daisy has been pretty good catching frisbees, so we thought we'd buy one of those special dog frisbees at Walmart on Saturday.

It was mostly this: 

Derp. Ace doesn't even know what is happening.

And resorting to normal old-fashioned fetch. Ace is no Bo Jackson. He only knows tennis balls:

Here is one of our few successes:

Of course, the dogs didn't last long in the heat, so there was more of this going on:

Just resting and recharging! 

A little of what we all need from time to time. 

Shots from Sunday: Swim, Bike, Run

Sunday morning greeted us nice and early at 4:15 AM as we headed down to Key Biscayne for Will's second triathlon. We had a bunch of friends competing in this race so it was fun to see everyone and get together. I typically do not advocate such an early wakeup time but this sunrise was pretty spectacular.

What can we say, we are still rebelling against the triathlon machine so we refuse to invest in a decent road bike. Will still uses this hybrid Schwinn, and he will fly by you in your $7,500 road bike, too! 

#schwinning

Ahem, where was I? Will's heat was the first to head out. He did the international distance, which is about twice as long as everyone else who did the sprint. Glutton for pain.

This might be the greatest photo I have ever taken.

They changed the course last minute so the swimmers would be going with the current. This seemed to help Will's swim time immensely. Him finishing was not on my radar whatsoever, but I managed to accidentally snap this photo of him coming out of the water during a test shot.

"Captured!" Holla.

My camera was not ready whatsoever so it took a lot of editing for this final product. And it also kind of explains why his beard looks so red like he is a leprechaun swimmer. 

My friend Katie and I headed over to the bike transition area. Look who we finally spotted....

A real life astronaut! Wait, no, that's just David. You remember David?

Will was schwinning so hard he blew me a kiss.

We proceeded to the running area to watch all of our friends finish the race. 

Wow, looking comfortable there, David! Don't know how he does it.

This photo definitely wasn't taken an hour after he really finished his race.

Then came the newlyweds! It was both of their first triathlons. Yay Sweden!

Will brought up the rear. Behold the beard.

It's 90% natural. 

I must admit, I am jonesing to do a triathlon now. If I can find a bike to borrow, and, like, learn to swim, I am game. Watching all these crazies has at least motivated me for marathon training. I haven't pushed so hard on a run in a while like I did today! (More on that later, probably.)

Until next time, folks.

Home, Sweet Home

Over the weekend, I took Friday and went for a quick trip home to (drumroll . . .)

The main reason for the trip was my little sister's high school graduation. But I also squeezed in a half marathon 12.7 miler and was able to go to my cousin's graduation party. It was a busy weekend and now I am paying for it with afternoon venti iced coffees. Totally worth it. 

Also, my flight was $108, round trip! Say what you want about them, but I love Spirit Airlines. You can pay a lot for a carry-on, but I can pack for an entire three-day weekend in one so-called "personal item." Not to mention I brought my laptop, my DSLR, and several work documents. I was pretty satisfied with my work and 'grammed it for all to see!

First on the docket was my little sister's graduation. She is basically a Nerdy McSmarty Pants and graduated something like 5th in her class of 250. She was the kid reading novels by book light in the corner of the restaurant during family dinners. So she better turn out smart or we all got problems. Kidding! She's a gorgeous former child star/model and it weirds me out to see her grow up. 

Well, there she goes. Graduating and such. Congrats Class of 2013!

The next order of business was the ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon. As you may have guessed, the course was short. It ended up around 12.71 miles, according to my Garmin, but who's keeping track, right? Oh yeah, everybody! The race organizers were pretty quick to apologize for the error (there was a miscommunication with the police department).

Packet pickup was Friday afternoon at the Loewe's Hotel on West Street. I decided to walk around and snap some photos of DTA (aka downtown Annapolis) for my budding amateur photography career. Feast your eyes!

Not all that impressive, I know. I wish I had the energy to walk about a quarter mile and photograph our wedding reception venue. Perhaps during the next trip!

On Saturday, DTA was pretty hot and humid (read Tina's recap for all the deets). I came out feeling strong, under an 8:30 per mile pace, but after about mile 4 (just before the Naval Academy bridge), I realized this course was not going to give me a PR, so I took it easy the rest of the race. It was much hillier than I was anticipating. I finished in about two hours at a 9:30 minute per mile pace overall. It worked out perfectly, because I was able to run about half the race with my old college roomie, Sam, and I had plenty of energy for the day's activities ahead. Here's a grainy photo of the group after the race!  

Me and my madre like to match.

After the race, Sam and I headed to my cousin's graduation party. Congrats to E-Mac on a Master's Degree from Georgetown! The after-party was at Pusser's in Annapolis.

Me and my dad.

I am very grateful that I can make trips home like this on a somewhat regular basis. (Thank you, Spirit Airlines!) I was able to spend time with a lot of important people in my life in addition to eating lots and lots of delicious regional foods (i.e., Utz chips, crabcakes, seafood). Because it's not a trip home without a stop at Ledo's pizza. Ledo's Pizza plus photo-editing app plus tired of reading transcripts at work equals:

I'll leave you with that image and the rage inside your heart you may be feeling toward me since you are now craving Ledo's pizza. 

Until next time!