Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Naperville Triathalon

I have always wanted to do a triathlon. Not a real Iron man one, just a small sprint one to test the waters. My friend from work, Holly, and her sister-in-law Michelle and I decided to sign up for the US Women's Triathlon Series in Naperville IL. The event was scheduled for June 14th, a Sunday. I had a difficult time with the training due to my getting bronchitis halfway through. This put a bit of a damper on my training, but still I was psyched to complete this. Considering I already signed up and couldn't get any refunds, there wasn't an option! The course was a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Now, I am an exerciser to begin with, but just that. I typically would work out 3 times per week, and usually run and lift weights. The swimming was going to throw me, but I would muddle through it. My normal swimming is this...I don't! But since I was going to have to swim a 1/2 mile, I figured I'd better practice. So, I went to the WAC about 1 or 2 times each week and just swam my half mile. This usually took me about 25 minutes or so. A week or so before the tri, Holly and I looked at last years times for each event, and noticed that nobody took longer than 30 min to swim....WHAT?????? SERIOUSLY???? I was a bit worried, but would somehow have to swim faster than that. On top of that, we were "highly suggested" to wear wet suits, since it had been like 60 degrees out for the past week and rainy.
Jeff and Maddy came with to cheer me on, that was the best part. It was fun to look for them at each transition. Overall, it was an awesome experience. I did SOOOO much better than I thought...and now am compelled to "tri" another sometime down the road. I guess I should better wait until I feel better. I now am stuck at home with mono, that SUCKS!

This is a picture of the day before the event. We had to pick up our race numbers, get our arms and legs marked with our numbers! It was fun.





The next few are on the bike! It was quite hard to get a good picture, since I was going sooooo fast....hahaha







This is where we swam. It was a man-made quarry, but more like a pool. Which made for an easier swim than an open lake!



Hooray! We made it!



Thanks for cheering me on Maddy!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Wedding time!!

Oh how I miss weddings! There was a period of our lives when I swear we had a wedding to attend a few times each month. That might be a slight exaggeration, but still, there was a lot! Now we are heading into work-friends weddings. These sometimes make me feel old, but I still have tons of fun none-the-less. I classify myself in the mid-range category. No longer single, but my kids aren't quite out of the house yet. So, i am not really THAT old. Only in how you perceive yourself I guess. My friend Michelle asked me to do her flowers for the wedding. Just the wedding bouquet, bridesmaids, and table decorations. I was really excited, and a bit nervous, maybe a lot nervous, but I was excited! For those who do not know, I have taken a few floral design classes, and done a few arrangements for work, but never a wedding. This was all laid out on the table, but still we agreed:)
It is crazy how much florists make for weddings, it obviously takes a lot of time to do all the arranging, but still, its a lot of $$$. I was able to order the flowers for about $300, which under normal circumstances, a florist would likely charge 1000-1200 or so. The bouquet was a red color, made up of red roses, Burgundy calla lilies, black baracarra roses, and red hypercium berries. I was happy with the turn out, would change a few things for next time, if there is a next time, but otherwise I was happy! And Michelle too! I will have to get some pics of her with her dress. She looked like a princess!!








The bridesmaids arrangements were very simple, 9 white spider mum, with a lemon leaf border. They were cute and fit well with the dresses.



The table arrangements were very simple, but elegant. A single long-stemmed red rose, with white daisies surrounding it. At the bottom of each vase, were red stones that complemented the roses and rose petals. 3 votives were on each table with red rose petals strewn around (courtesy of Jeff). He was a HUGE help with the table decorations. Thanks sweetie!!



The wedding itself was a blast, lots of dancing and fun! I don't think I sat down for 15 whole minutes. It was a lot if fun, and I look forward to being "those girls" at the next work wedding. Good Luck Alyssa!!!