Flower Files: White Spring Wedding

Growing up my mom used to take me around her yard, quizzing me on what types of flowers were in her garden.  Although I have living houseplant for more than a few months, her love of gardening had to rub off on me somehow.  Due to my love (or rather, my mom's love) for flowers, I have developed a hobby of arranging wedding flowers.

Kari, the sister of a friend of mine, had a beautiful but simple wedding and the flowers she chose certainly reflected that!  She got married at the beautiful Shade Tree and Evergreen in Frederick, MD.  Her bridesmaids carried small white tulip bouquets and she had a mix of white tulips, rananculus, and calla lilies.  They were beautifully captured by Kristen Thomas Photography.  Kari reminds me of my own younger sister in some ways so it was an extra joy to be part of their special day!

Lessons Learned while Marathon Training

Due to a series of fortunate and unfortunate events, I am running my first marathon in less than two weeks.  It's the Marine Corp Marathon, which is supposed to be a good one for beginners.  For all the other beginners out there, here are some tips I have learned along the way:

• Don't run a marathon unless you want to spend your entire weekend running, or thinking about how you have to spend so much time running.  I lazily put off my "long runs" (such a relative term), for Sunday mornings, which inevitably means I spend the entire day Saturday dreading the run, and then the entire day Sunday actually running.  "Alright honey, I'll see you IN FOUR HOURS.  What's that? My mom wants to take me out for lunch? I can't because even if I leave at 8 am, I won't be able to meet mom until dinner time."  Obviously, your significant other needs to be on board since you will no longer be available for golfing, brunch, or anything else more fun and relaxing.

• Don't run a marathon if you want to look good.  I know other people can do it, but seriously, I do not look good while running.  It's not that I can't also wear cute, matchy running outfits, but I really don't see a point in buying matching stuff when the non-matching stuff I already have will do.  Also, in order to keep my hair out of my face, my body running on proper nutrition and hydration, I wear a bright blue sweat band to hold my hair back and my navy blue shorts with bulging pockets filled with snacks, holding a water bottle in one hand and ipod in the other, hair going crazy despite my sweatband.  Add leggings under my shorts for cold days and the fact that sometimes I trip and you get the picture.

• Don't run a marathon if you want to lose weight.  I was a little excited when I started training at the though of getting in what I though would be the best shape ever of my life.  Turns out that all that running makes me really hungry - as in I am hungry all the time for the next THREE DAYS after my longer runs.  Another pitfall for me is that for some reason when I have 2-3 miles left to go, I start thinking about how good a donut would taste.  I blame it on the fact that my body actually does need to have refined carbs and sugars at that point (so I've heard).  However, because of this, I have actually ended one of my runs by going straight to the cupcake bakery by our house.  Needless to say, I have not lost noticeable weight and potentially have been gaining.

• Do have a good playlist. I am telling you this because I do not.  Since it's a little hard to always be shuffling through songs on the go, I end up listening to either the Beastie Boys or TobyMac every weekend for hours because I need something with a beat and they are the only "rap" music I have.  They were good choices for a few weeks, but they are also now in my top most played itunes list.  I am kind of wishing I had thought to load an audio book onto my ipod as I could have learned a new language by now.

I often wonder to myself how this became a hobby for so many thousands of people when the event is named after the legendary Greek runner who ran so hard to deliver the message that the Battle of Marathon was won that he died.  I also often wonder why this is a hobby for me in particular when my goal for finishing is simply not to die.  Well, that and to beat that girl whose matching outfit is so my  cuter than mine.