This morning I wore my Fitbloggin t-shirt by Thriv to work out, and I have to tell you, it is soooo soft. I actually wish I hadn't worn it to work out so that I could wear it now and to bed. I gave it a true sweat test, and while it did wick pretty well, I think my lululemon ones absorb a wee bit better.

I also gave these little guys a try...

I never realized how much socks can impact a run, but they are critical in preventing blisters. I learned this last year when getting properly fitted for running shoes, and I haven't looked back. So when I got a free pair from New Balance (because these babies don't come cheap), I was thrilled! They even have a little left and right letter on each them - how cute is that? In all seriousness though, good socks can really affect a workout.

I thought it was going to be a tough workout/morning being that I couldn't breathe, but this odd contraption pretty much saved me!


Have you ever used a Neti Pot (this video KILLS me by the way)?Well, it certainly isn't the most glamorous device, but it works wonders on the sinuses. It really helps me clear me up, and I think I will be perfect in time for my flight on Thursday.

Tonight, Jared and I met with our florist Karen Lock. She is such a joy to work with, and she really gets our vision. She showed us our centerpieces, and we went over what flowers will be going where. I just loved it all! Her ideas were so helpful and she really pulled everything together.


Karen offers such a beautiful, simple touch, and thank god she knows the names of flowers, because I certainly don't. I think I can now officially say, flowers - check!

The past two days have been a whirlwind, but it was such a fantastic time! Friday night Kathleen met me at my house, and we headed down to the Waterfront Marriott for FitBloggin' 2010. As a little background, the FitBloggin’ Conference is for anyone who blogs about fitness, wellness, good food and a healthy lifestyle – regardless of where they are in their journey. Obviously, this blog is wedding-related right now, but I have been addicted to healthy living blogs for a few years now. While my blog isn't totally focused on food, I think it will be a bit more healthy-living targeted once the wedding is over as this is where my true passion resides.

Last night, we checked in, got our swag (oh my god, the swag), and went up to the room. We were upgraded to a harbor view, and all I can say is I have never seen Baltimore look so beautiful. I am so glad we decided to stay over night, even though I live 25 minutes away. I was completely blown away by the free New Balance shoes and shorts, and we also got to keep our gruve pedometers (which we initially thought we had to give back after the conference.) Needless to say, we were both in swag heaven. Check out the goodies below (totally took this picture after I got home, hence our bedspread).

Yes, you can see some awesome New Balance socks (you never realized how important good socks are until you run try good ones and your feet don't blister), a food scale by Eat Smart, the cutest little bowl and spoon by Green Lite Bites, a super comfy and organic blend FitBloggin' t-shirt that is made by thriv, a 10-minute solutions DVD by Jessica Smith, an awesome water bottle ( I hoard good ones) from LA boxing, POM juice, a Weight Watchers pedometer with points tracker, a new balance and 10-minute solutions USB (can never have enough of those), an adorable POM recycled bag, mints from yoga tune-up as well as a coupon for free massage balls, a few samples from pure 2 raw, a sample of Click espresso protein drink, a Skinny Cow towel and magnet, and some coupons which included a free bottle of tide sport detergent. WHEW!
 
We even hurried up and tried on our shorts and shoes as soon as we got in the room. I am not a huge running shorts fan as they tend to ride up and fit weird on me, but these were awesome. I am definitely taking them with me on the honeymoon, along with the shoes, which are the 740's. They are perfect for running (I even wore them on the 5k - more on that below), and I am a VERY harsh critic when it comes to running shoes. My feet are fragile, and I never skimp on running shoes, and these totally won be over. My arches didn't scream at me once.



After the swag fest, we headed down to the POM Wonderful cocktail reception, and it was great to finally put some faces to the names. The health blogger community seems to be such a great group of supportive, strong women, and it's very inspiring to all be in the same room. Because the pom-tini line took so long the first time around, Kath and I headed out for sushi for and called it an early night. We had to get up early for the 5k, and we both knew our grandma bodies couldn't handle otherwise. Of course, we made sure to cap our night off with a glass of red wine...in bed, right next to our water bottles. So typical.


Saturday morning, after a lot of tossing and turning (I think I was worried that I wouldn't wake up, and I had a nasty cold brewing), we awoke at 6am and got all dressed for our early run. We ran around the Inner Harbor, and it was the most perfect morning! Kathleen had to pace me because I severely lack in the running department, but she stuck with me, and I did it. :)

After showering, we packed our bags and headed down to breakfast for oatmeal and fixins'. The agenda for the day went like this:

• Don't Write About Junk Science: How to Critically Evaluate Research - Presented by Scott Stawarz
• Wordpress from .com to Self Hosted: An in Depth look into one of the most popular blogging software out there - Presented by Jim Doran.
• LUNCH - it was so delicious!
• POM presentation
• Beyond the Blog: Getting Published with Charlie Hills, Linda Konner, Jennette Fulda, Caitlin Boyle and Brett Blumenthal
• Making Money From Your Blog: Should You? Could You? How? With Esther Brady Crawford, Ted Rubin, Emi Hofmeister and Brett Blumenthal. 
• Closing keynote by Dave Grotto, author of  101 Foods That Can Save Your Life.

Overall, it was an information-packed day, and I can honestly say that I learned a so much. Ronni sure outdid herself in planning this conference. So much of what I learned could be applied personally and professionally, and I am so excited to continue down this blogging path. One of my favorite presenters was Jim Doran, and I didn't realize until he started speaking that he is a Hopkins employee as well. He was so down to earth, but incredibly smart. He definitely has me thinking about making the switch to Wordpress. I actually wanted to start this blog on Wordless, but the fiance create it, and I didn't want him to have to do more work. :)

With all that said, I think my body has now decided that I need to rest because a mean, ugly cold has taken over me. While I usually push on through these stupid colds, I am honoring my body and letting it relax because I have a BIG BACHELORETTE WEEKEND coming up in Florida. That's right, another jam-packed awesome weekend ahead. I can't wait!

Cheers!

While in my head 75 days seems like a lot of time, when I think of the time we have left to plan in terms of weekends, it's not all that much. Next weekend, I will be devoting all my time to fitblogging, and I am even staying in a hotel downtown with my friend, Kathleen. Because we are going to run a 5k early Saturday before the conference starts, we thought it would be best to have a place we could get ready quickly. I mentioned the conference a few months ago, and I am so excited it's finally here. It will be great to finally meet some of the bloggers that I feel like I already know, plus test out some of the gear they are offering to attendees. Expect a full recap next week.

The following weekend is my bachelorette party in Florida - WOOHOO! I seriously can't even believe it's so soon. Granted, I have no idea of the activities we will be partaking in, I am sure it will be absolutely perfect thanks to the wonderful planning of my bridesmaids. :) I really could use some sun. I will be parking my very pale body right in one of those chairs.

During the time we are there, our invites are supposed to go out. And...I haven't actually sent in my final list yet to the printers. EEKS! But, she said it shouldn't take more than a week to turn them around, so I'm not that worried. The good thing, though, is that our designer said she already started printing the invitations, RSVP card and return addres labels, so printing out the envelopes shoudln't be too hard. I can't wait to see them; I can't wait for everyone to see them!

Then, the weekend after that is Easter (and my first dress fitting - whaaaaa!), and then the one after that is my shower in Pittsburgh. It's going to be a crazy, but wonderful few weeks.

One of the things I seemed to overlook is outfits for the Pittsburgh shower, rehearsal dinner, the bachelorette party and the honeymoon! Being that I have a love of clothes, it's one of the fun things that I couldn't believe I put last on the list. Not to worry, though, I did find some adorable dresses (and no, they aren't all from Anthropologie), but they are cute. While I won't share the outfits I bought, I thought it would be fun to share some of the accessories I found to compliment some of the outfits. :)

I mentioned a while back that I was going to start taking my health more seriously, and I meant it. I would say about five months ago, I finally decided to make an effort to 1) stop the fat talk 2) eat more whole, clean foods 3) keep exercising, but add in more things I enjoy for fun.

Stopping the “fat talk” was really difficult as it’s something that has become so mainstream; however, knowing that it is detrimental to me and everyone else around me motivates me to zip it. It's very easy to slip into when you aren’t feeling 100% with yourself, but it's important to remember just how crippling it is. When I started paying attention to it, I couldn’t believe how often I did it. I wanted to slap myself. But, I can now say, I rarely do it. Don’t get me wrong, I have some REALLY bad days where I am not feeling so hot, but bashing my body is totally unnecessary. My body allows me do a lot of amazing things, and I am doing my best to eliminate all the negative banter.

To really understand the types of food I needed to become stronger and get more energy, I actually sought the help of a nutritionist, Ana Goldseker, of Mindful Nutrition. While you would think it would be as simple as picking up a book on healthy foods, it wasn’t to me. I wanted to understand why I felt sluggish at certain times of the day and why I got lightheaded so often. Turns out, I am hypoglycemic and basically eating all the wrong foods at the wrong time of day.

My family actually used to tease me as a little girl because I would complain that I was getting “shaky” when I was hungry on a long road trip. But, it’s because my blood sugar drastically drops when I don’t eat for a few hours, and it makes me 1) shaky 2) cranky 3) super lightheaded and weak. With the help of Ana, I now have a better understanding of what to eat and when. It has made a remarkable difference.

In addition to rearranging my eating habits, I started relying on my favorite food bloggers even more. I have always read health food blogs (and was totally made fun of for it too); I actually started with Cristin from Eat Like Me, and then branched out to Kath Eats, Carrots n’ Cake, Eat Live Run, Healthy Tipping Point and Oh She Glows (who introduced me to the Green Monster that I drink every single morning). There are numerous others as well, but these are the ones I read on a daily basis. While I don't have my own food blog because I don’t eat as nearly as attractive foods as they do, I am extremely interested in it. It's a HUGE time commitment taking photos of each and every bite, and I don't know if it would be beneficial for me at this point. I am interested in having a healthy living blog, though.

My profession is in the health care industry, and I was so happy when my boss said they would front the fee for my ticket to the upcoming fitbloggin’ conference, hosted in Baltimore (woohoo!) So often these are held in other (read more glamorous) locations, but for once, one is being held in my town. These bloggers and blogs give me a great source of encouragement. It totally makes my day when I discover new fitness bloggers in the Baltimore area, like Ashley of Daily Goods, because it’s great to “meet” someone else desiring the same healthy path.

In regards to exercise, I used to be a dancer, and I didn’t really have to work out to stay in shape. It was honestly the best exercise I could do for myself. Once I graduated, though, that all changed and I felt myself losing muscle and strength. While I like working out at the gym, nothing gave me the rush I got from dance. I even began working out with a trainer this year that really pushed me in the weight training department. I have cut back on my appointments now, but I have a whole book of workouts to keep me going. (We do have wedding to pay for, after all).

I decided after some time, though, that I wanted to start incorporating a greater variety of exercises in my routine. The most notable of those was hot yoga. It’s incredible. It reminds me so much of dance, and I will challenge anyone that says it’s not one of the most intense workouts they have done. I have noticed the sweat factor does change within 5-7 degrees, but as long as you challenge yourself with each and every pose, you walk out feeling like gold. It is – by far – the most amazing workout in terms of mental and physical strength, and I thank those at Charm City Yoga for adding something so great to my life.

All in all, I think I have made some great first steps in the health and wellness department. And, no, it’s not just for the wedding. These are principles that I plan to carry on forever as I would never want to put a deadline on my health. It’s a lifestyle; and as long as you are realistic with yourself, it is incredibly rewarding.

I think it is pretty normal to hear of brides doing crazy diets and starving themselves before the big day. Obviously, I would like to do whatever it is to make me feel the best I can on our wedding day, but I want to do it in a healthy way. Starving myself has never been never an option, and anyone who knows me knows that I get HANGRY if I don't eat for an extended period of time. But, it is becoming increasingly important to me to not only lead a healthy life, but to have a healthy mind.

First of all, coming from a dance background doesn't exactly give me the best body image. You are judged on not only how you dance, but how you look. Fact. Try doing that for 20 years and see where that leaves your body perception. However, it is in my power to make sure I take the necessary actions to make sure I look and feel my best in a healthy way.

In addition to reading my 239,982 style, fashion, social media, wedding and design blogs, I also read healthy food and exercise blogs. Recently, one of my favorite bloggers, Caitlin, from Healthy Tipping Point created her own health mission called Operation Beautiful. (She actually started her blog when she was preparing for her wedding and called it "See Bride Run.") Anyway, Operation Beautiful's crusade is to end "Fat Talk" and leave little post-it notes of inspiration in random places (fashion mags, the gym, dressing rooms, etc.) It is a small action that can make a HUGE difference. To me, my body perception is 100% different when I hang around body lovers as opposed to fat talkers. It shows me it isn't all about the numbers or sizes, it is about acceptance and appreciation.

To make my healthy mission even more focused, I was able to go to one of my favorite stores, Lululemon, yesterday. While it is extremely pricey, there are a few reasons I love it. First of all their workout pants are the.best. I have a pair that I wash and wear at least 3 times a week and they are in the same condition now as they were two years ago. Durable (and super cute) is an understatement. But, most importantly, I am delighted and obsessed with their manifesto. They strive to not just be a store, but a culture. And I can say that whenever I go in their stores, read their blogs entries or read stories of people who work there, Lululemon has succeeded. Again, their mission is "creating components for people to live a longer, healthier, more fun life." And, isn't that what it is all about? I have their manifesto on a little postcard that I keep by me at all times and look at it when I need that reminder to "sit back, relax, take it all in stride, be active and let life happen."


So, in other words, I will probably be trying to make health a more prominent priority in my life, but it's not just because I want to look good in a wedding dress. It's because I want to feel content and proud of my strong body and positive attitude. To me, that truly is everything.

Stepping off my soapbox now. Happy Monday!