An Adventure

This is a personal shout out post in honor of my PA school besties (holla at a dolla honey boo boos!).

We've been fortunate enough to be able to take time to go on mini-vacays (mini-vacations) and local outings in between our studies and now in between our work schedules. All have ended successfully, but let me tell you - they were not always smooth sailing, complicated often by rain, cranky non-morning people, missed transportation, or other series of unfortunate events. Let me take you on an adventure with a little creative writing of our most recent get-away:

***

With the rolling in of early spring, we were absolutely tired. Tired of winter, tired of work, tired of the monotony that our lives had recently transformed into. It was time. After the success of our last mini-vacay to Florida, we were ready to embark once again. While sitting on the couch at an impromptu and very rare evening get together, Misterious and myself were chatting.

"I'm tired of work, I need a beach," I said.
"I know, we need to go on a vacation," Misterious replied.
"Well lets do it, when can we go? How about June? We don't have our schedules, we can request off now."

With that, Talulah meandered in "What's that?"
"We are going on a mini-vacay, wanna come?" I asserted.
"We are? Where are we going?" Talulah questioned hesitantly.
"Anywhere, lets just go, why not?"

And so the planning commenced. We were each a bit nervous at first if we should all commit to the request, and it took some convincing to get Mr. Napkin Head to agree to take time off, but finally we picked the dates: a Monday-Wednesday in early-mid June. We had the destination, we had our bathing suits, we had the booze (what we didn't have was a promising weather forecast). That Sunday night we settled departure times. Monday morning we woke to a dreary clouded sky with sprinkles of rain in the air. Last minute errands were accomplished and Mist texted me to let me know they were on the way to pick me up. I was in my usual state of last minute rushing trying to play musical dufflebags so all of my belongings, snacks, and sun lotion would fit.

The phone starts ringing, which is also usual when I'm rushing. It's Talulah. "Heyyy..." I answer in my what's up voice. "Soooo... I don't know about making the 12:15 ferry....", "Uhh... why?", "We just got in an accident..." Talulah proceeds to explain to me that no one was hurt (thankfully), but that the guy who hit them is crazy and it might be a while.

1 hour later via text "how you guys doing?", "waiting for the police", "they haven't arrived yet? what's with these bronx po po"

2 hours later via text "po po show up?", "nope, not yet", "what?! that's crazy!", "we just called 911 again"

3 hours later the phone rings. It's Talulah. "Soooo... we just got back to the apartment and are switching cars now, so we should be there in a half hour." Finally we were on our way again headed towards our mini vacay. After a stop for coffee, cash (real cash, no checks), and a run back to the house for a wine bottle opener we hit the highway. After our drive over the bridge and through the woods we made it to Bayshore. We grabbed a quick snack and found the ferry boats - the only visible ferry boats from the parking lot, mind you. It was rush-rush as usual since we had exactly enough time to buy our tickets and hop on the boat before it departed.

After twenty or so minutes of mouthing sentences to each other on the very loud ferry boat we landed at stop 1 and then shimmied over to stop 2 where we departed into the light drizzle. We walked about 30 steps and called the hotel to find out where to go.

(Side note, this is my personal interpretation of the phone conversation that took place since it was not I who was on the phone):
"You're where?!?" The receptionist exclaimed.
"Uh... Ocean Bay Park? Right?" We nodded in agreement.
"Ocean Bay Park, you girls took the wrong ferry!" I hope you are inserting the Long Island accent when this receptionist is speaking... it really makes the translation better.
"Ok...."
"Well, I mean, I guess you have to either walk here or you can take the ferry back to Bay Shore and come back on the other ferry."
"Well, how far is it?"
"A mile."
"Then it seems like it makes more sense to just walk, I guess."
"Alright well just keep walking for a mile towards the water tower and you will find Ocean Beach." We looked around, and alas, no water tower insight. But fortunately we were right next to a bar so Misterious peeked her head in, asked for directions and we embarked on our mile long journey, each with multiple heavy bags, plus groceries in our hands.

As we began hobbling along, our faces sunk. Ten yards away was a puddle the size of a small pond blocking our walkway. We hesitantly glided through the cool water as frowns of concern traversed our faces. What were we walking through? What were we gonna do? We forged forward calculating when our last tetanus shots were through alternating dry and puddled walkways. Some puddles were as deep as our ankles, others we could hop around on the outskirts of the walk. On two occasions we were greeted by extremely friendly deer. The first attempted to follow us until we reached a puddled, the second darted at our bags and sniffed them before trotting off.

With Talulah on the google maps navigator we made it, "The blue ball says we are at Ocean Beach, now what?" We couldn't see anything obvious to walk towards so we called our receptionist friend once again.
"You're where?!"
"Cottage," the name of the walkway we were on.
"Oohhkay, Just turn this way, walk to town, go right, then right, then I'll be looking for you." So we walked to town, and the rains came down. Our clothes began turning see through, our bags became heavier, and I felt as though I needed windshield wipers for my eyes. We got to town and traversed the puddles with Mr. Napkin Head on the phone with the receptionist until we finally made it.

With a great huff she said, "Aww, look at you, the lost girls, let me get you some towels. I guess you've never been to Fire Island before." We weren't quite sure if she thought we were complete idiots or if she genuinely felt for us, but the towels were warm and we were aching from our bags so we went with it. Our journey wasn't quite over, though. We had a two block walk to our apartment through yet more puddles before finally being able to change into dry clothes and lay our our belongings to dry. Once we accomplished that, you can guess what a group of four sensible women like ourselves did - made good use of that bottle opener.

Two Months and Counting

A couple of days ago I passed the two-months-until-the-wedding mark. This is absolutely terrifying - how can this be moving so quickly!!

Here's an update on where I'm at, whats going well, and what has been trickier than I could have thought.

The Dress:
Last time I told you my dress was on the way - well it finally came at the end of July and the alteration we made looks great! It was so great to finally see it again after 9 months of waiting. Time to finalize shoes before my first fitting!

The Shoes:
Speaking of shoes, I found a pair that could potentially work while shopping with my sister for her shoes. Ironically, the shoe we picked for her looked so cute and was so comfortable (for the 10 minutes we spent walking around DSW anyway) that I ended up buying the same shoe. Normally, I have the inkling that this is taboo... but I'm not sure I really care. I like it, its comfortable, my sister likes it, it goes with her dress, what's the harm? I probably will keep my eye out anyway in case I do happen to stumble upon something else... but in the end I'm not sure there's actually a problem with wearing the same shoes as others in my bridal party. I also don't really buy into the concept of wearing shoes all over your house for 3 months straight to break them in so I feel a sense of flexibility with this issue that I think others tend to put more pressure on.

The Invitations and the Guest List:
This is the crux of the stress with wedding planning. The storm has not fully hit yet, but it's coming. We have a family friend writing out the addresses in calligraphy and so we have been sending them out as she has completed them. If you have not yet planned a wedding or if you have the type of budget that you can afford to invite everyone you've ever met to your wedding, this may seem like a terrible thing to say. However, we have a limited budget and there are a handful of individuals we would like to invite that we have been thinking about because inviting everyone may or may not make the numbers borderline unreasonable. This has caused a lot of pressure and stress and hopefully it will pass without any major issues with us being able to include everyone we would want. Once this is settled, the chore of seating arrangements will begin.

The Flowers:
... Are not yet booked. That's right folks! I'm just about screwed when it comes to flowers. I know next to nothing about flowers which made me hesitant to jump into this task. My mom and I went on a trip at the very end of April and had been talking and trying to negotiate a contract with a florist, but by the end of May it fell through. So now I'm scrambling. Part of the reason it fell through was lack of comparison - after talking to this florist and seeing the prices we soon realized that this place was far over priced. After talking to a few friends who have been through wedding planning my realization about price was confirmed. In hindsight, we should have compared more florists at the beginning of our search and, in a perfect world, we should have been more assertive about our budget from the get-go. Unfortunately when working and coordinating multiple wedding plans at the same time in the setting of regular life commitments time got a bit away from us on this one. This week I've contacted several florists in an attempt to quickly negotiate a contract that we will hopefully be able to finalize by the end of next week.

The Tuxes:
This chore I placed directly on Howie's shoulders. If he shows up in khaki's, oh well!

The Transportation:
We've had an idea about what transportation we would like to have, but we just started the research this week ... more to come on this topic once we know more.

The Rings:
This was incredibly easy to finalize. We went to the same jeweler where Howie purchased my engagement ring to select styles. They should be ready for pick up in a week or two (a month total from our visit to the jeweler).

The Centerpieces:
We have decided to do these ourselves. Costhelper.com states moderate flower centerpieces are about $50 per table, and the price can quickly go up. We are expecting to have 13-15 tables. I'm not a girl who's really into flowers anyway, so we decided to do an arrangement of vases and floating candles for a little under $20 per table. We were very fortunate that our venue offers a few extras which include 10-inch flat mirrors for each table with 3 votive candles. We also plan to add flower petals in the same colors as the flowers in the bouquets once those are finalized. Other than the petals, this task is checked off the list!

The Honeymoon:
We were a little late to the game on this too, but for good reason. On average, couples book their honeymoons 3-4 months before their wedding. We held out because of flight pricing. We had a dream honeymoon location, but due to the costs and our position in life, we'll have to postpone that trip. Instead we just booked our honeymoon location in a different spot we had not previously consider and we are incredibly excited! We still have to organize our schedule with the various excursions included and book our flight. But overall, its a trip on a better budget for us with the same balance of excitement and down-time we were looking for. We are keeping it a secret (as best I can) until we depart, but it will involve beach, adventure, and relaxation!

The Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party:
While this was not something I was an integral part in planning, its still an integral part of preparing to get married. We did both events in one weekend to ease planning with my friends and my work schedules and it was a blast. The shower was perfect and the bachelorette party was absolutely crazy. I couldn't have asked for a better time. Shout out thank yous to my sister, my bridesmaids, and my besties for all your help with this!

More to come soon on flower finalizations, transportation, engagement photos, favors, and seating plans! Bring it on! 

Yoga: Why you should think about doing it

In my quest for health (which, if you have been a consistent follower, you will know from my commentary last summer I began taking my health and fitness seriously and *pat on the back* I've kept it up) I've recently stumbled upon yoga. My routine last summer was pretty consistent: running 5-6 days a week. Once the cold kicked in, however, I had to get more creative. I have reactive airways (my lungs act up like an asthmatic under certain conditions) and the cold is just not my friend. I kept up my running until the end of October after my second 5K and then it was time for a bit of recovery. I took approximately two months off from running busying my time with a few weight exercises and Kenpo X here and there.

{Kenpo X is a disc from the famed P90X series... up until recently it was the only disc I would indulge in - 45 minutes of cardio in the form of mixed martial arts, primarily boxing/kick-boxing like exercises}

Shortly after the massacre in Newtown, I learned of a 5K at the end of March to support the victims families and immediately signed up. This meant I had to jump back into running. I joined a gym in January and resumed my running with more vigorous weight training than I had previously been doing. I ran my 5K and then fell into a bit of a slump. With my new career it was very difficult for me to work out with the frequency I had previously been used to since I work an odd schedule, and now that I wasn't tied to an upcoming event I lost my motivation to run.

As if it was a sign from the heavens, my mom called me one day and said "I signed up for yoga!" My whole family was shocked since we had all been ragging on her for years that she needed to get involved in some kind of physical activity because her body wasn't going to get any younger or stronger without it. She told me about it and insisted that I would probably enjoy it too. I knew P90X had a yoga disc, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to stray from my Kenpo X to attempt Yoga X.

The "X" I discovered really does in fact mean "intense". Of course I knew Kenpo would be intense since it is a full body cardio work-out, but I still felt the X was a silly name attached to all the discs for the sake of the series. However, Yoga X is freakin' hard, people!! The first time I tried it, I could barely make it through the first 20 minutes of the work-out... which is a whopping hour and 45 minutes long. However, I really felt like my inner core was strengthened by even that measly 20 minutes. So I continued to attempt, and re-attempt the Yoga X. While I still can't do the entire disc at once, I've significantly improved and I really feel like it has enhanced my strength and endurance. And while the P90X instructor really doesn't focus on the mental health aspect that yoga claims to also enhance, it really does help clear the mind if you focus on the breathing while timing the stretches with the breathing as instructed. It brings your mental awareness to yourself, your body, your breathing, and brings you to the present moment.

Basically, it all boils down to the following reasons why I advocate for this form of exercise: 1. It's challenging and gives you a real work-out, 2. It builds your core strength and flexibility - which will enhance your overall athletic ability, 3. It can serve as a fabulous form of "you time" to workout your body and mind. So if you are looking for an alternative work-out to add to your routine, seriously consider adding yoga! Ohmm.

As an extra tidbit, if you are curious about yoga, I recommend you purchase a $10 video on amazon before you decide whether or not its something you really want to commit to at a studio. Studio yoga classes are ridiculously expensive and you can get a well guided workout from a video.

Thoughts for food

I actually had every intention of sharing a recipe with you in this next post. I then forgot to take pictures of said recipe so I decided I would wait until the next day and share a different recipe. Alas, my work week started and so I became even more forgetful during my evenings and have no pictures. So you will all have to wait until I make something worth sharing again to get an actual recipe post.

Instead, let's talk about cooking. Let's talk about the joy and peace of mind that comes from designing a recipe, committing to it, and perfecting it. Even taking a dish that was passed down, or a recipe found online and tweaking it to meet your own tastes lends a certain satisfaction to an "everyday-chef" that is sometimes hard to find in the fast paced lives we lead. Its a mental release - the way reading is for some and music is for others. While effort is required, it is certainly worth the reward.

Learning to cook well demands a certain passion for food in general. Personally, it took me a long time to get to this point. I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I didn't start gaining an interest in food until college, which my friends started pushing me to try new and different things. My world expanded, and it was good.

Getting older and wiser has only allowed my interest in food to change and grow. Learning to create the type of cuisine you grew up with is one thing. But being able to expand and experiment with new styles of cooking is even more exciting.

Not only does creating a new meal provide a therapeutic escape into creativity, it actually poses a challenge to eat better, more well rounded meals. Or, rather, it dares you to eat better. Putting effort into making something productive drives you to make something you can feel good about in the end. Making a meal that tastes good is only enhanced when it also happens to be good for you. I feel significantly better about myself when I make a good meal, both inside and out. Any anyone who knows me knows a happy belly equals a happy Jessie (same way a Snickers makes Joe Pesci turn into a party bro). 

With 95 days to go....

... I still have a bunch to do! Getting married is a LOT of work. Let me fill you in from where a left off as a sort of sequel to my last post about getting up to speed.

Here is what's happened since where we left off:

The Save-the-Dates:
This caused some mama-drama with guest lists and who needed to receive save-the-dates. I'll spare you the details but we designed them ourselves and printed them through 123print.com. They were very inexpensive and we chose to send them as postcards. We ended up sending them primarily to family and the extras went to friends who lived away and were not part of our everyday conversations. I highly recommend this website for this detail since, lets be honest, who wants to break the bank on save-the-dates? If you are money conscious, this is a great way to go.

The Dress:
I knew I wanted to get my dress at a local boutique. My mom had a budget established for how much she was willing to pay, so we called around the neighborhood and found a few shops throughout Westchester County that had dresses in our range. I had perused several magazines and websites looking for styles I was interested, but being the indecisive (though I prefer to say open-minded) person that I am, I wasn't sold on anything particular other than the fact that I did NOT want strapless. I did not want to have to even think about being worried about having to pull my dress up all night. Of course at each store I visited, the sales ladies found a way to attempt to put me in a strapless dress, and each time the dress was beautiful, but not worth the worry. After two separate outings I found it! I wasn't sure it was the one at first, so I left it behind. But I couldn't get it out of my head for the following 2 days so I went back to try it on again and was still attached, but still nervous. There was one detail about it that I didn't love. After some discussion with the owner of the boutique, we inquired with the designer whether we'd be able to change the detail I wasn't fond of. It was possible, though it would push the cost from being under budget to slightly over budget, my mother agreed to it and we put the money down! After a long wait (since September!) it should be arriving by the end of the month.

The Bridal Party: 
This was challenging for me. I dragged my feet and waited until the last possible second to select the individuals I wanted to be in the bridal party. I have about 10-15 close close girlfriends and that's it. I'm not the type that has expansive groups of friends from here and there and everywhere. With that, I knew that I felt 10-15 bridesmaids would be far too overwhelming for me, so to pick and choose gave me quite an emotional roller coaster. My advise: give yourself time, breathe, and follow your heart. If you are choosing people for the right reasons, your friends will understand.

The Bridesmaid Dresses: 
We did this primarily online, we wanted to find something that would be comfortable, cocktail length, styled well on girls with different body types, and would be easy to coordinate purchase with some of the girls living out of state. We hunted online for a designer we liked, looked what stores the designer was sold in, and went from there. When all was said and done, we ended up ordering the dresses from the same boutique where I got my dress and it was a fairly painless process.

The Menu: 
This was super easy because everything is being done by our venue - we did not need an outside caterer. We scheduled a day, taste tested the menu, and decided. Done. A word to the wise: While you may find a venue that you LOVE for its space and aesthetic, please please please seriously evaluate if you can find something just as gorgeous that has their own caterer. If you need bring in your own caterer it will load on an excessive amount of research, budgeting, and time you will have to devote to finding a caterer in addition to finding all the other things you need. In short: pick a place that does it all! 

The Cake:
We have not finalized the cake itself, but we did go on our tasting trip already. We went to two bakeries and they were INCREDIBLY different. Thank goodness we made the effort to take the trip and see multiple people. It matters - just do it. Of note, I'm sure this sounds like a "Duh" suggestion, but keep in mind we are planning our wedding from away, so every in-person meeting for us is a big effort. I'm sure we would have tasted more bakeries if we lived closer to the venue.

The Registry:
FUN FUN FUN!! This was my favorite part. It took me approximately 4-6 weeks to put it all together because of my obsessiveness with finding exactly what I want. I registered at two common places, no Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel for us. However, I am extremely excited about the items we selected. Give yourself time to indulge in this - look online, go to the store, plan to do it in multiple stages. At first it can seem incredibly overwhelming with the multitude of options you can choose from and the number of things you may or may not need.

The Invitations:
I am IN LOVE with my invitations. We got them from a shop recommended to us by a friend. My mom and I went through several huge invitations books in one sitting and narrowed it down to two. We went home to sleep on it, and I dragged Howie out a week later to make a final decision. We picked the invite and then selected the fonts. We got our proofs within a week and the final delivery within two. It was super easy and I would recommend this shop to anyone... so if you live in the great NYC area and are interested, let me know!


That just about covers where we are up to now. Stay tuned for more wedding adventures as we begin to tie up all the loose ends! 

Let's get up to speed

Its been a while. I admit I miss writing. I also miss sleep and structure. I've been working as an internal medicine PA now for 5 months; its gone by amazingly fast and I still feel as brand new as the day they let me off my training leash. My job is hard. Harder than I could have anticipated - and for that I love it. I am being challenged, truly challenged, and in the long run it will make me so much better. However, for now it makes me incredibly lazy on my days off and with Howie being on a completely different schedule its hard for me to stay strict with my own needs. The temptation of staying up with him to watch TV and sleeping until 11:00am on days off is too much for me to say "no" to. And since I no longer have homework and studying hanging over my head, I become a slave to my couch. Clean the kitchen? Eh, it can wait. Go shopping? I have a computer. Socialization is the only thing I can motivate myself to do, but even that is hard with my friends being on such different schedules. 

I've been telling myself its time for a change for a couple months now, and I've been mildly successful. I've devoted more time to wedding planning. I exercise 3 times a week ... though I miss having the motivation to work out 6 times a week... I send myself articles that I sometimes read. All in all, this is not where I want to be. I want to be productive and frankly I feel unproductive. So I have to find a way to hold myself accountable. I started this blog last spring. My goal: To revive my drive, to resume regular posts, to increase my work-outs, to read more medicine, to cook more meals at home, and complete wedding plans in a more timely/organized fashion. Once I do that, I have more goals to add, but I wouldn't want to bite off more than I could possibly chew so soon. Let's start small people! Here's to ambition and, hopefully, achievement! 

In Mourning

My hometown was paralyzed Friday, December 14th. I'm still feeling a bit paralyzed myself, grieving as I would someone I knew personally. This was an anonymous poem I received in an email and I feel I need to share it too.

"Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

When 20 darling children stormed through heaven's gate,

Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air,

They could hardly believe the beauty, of all that they saw there,

They were filled with such joy, they knew not what to say,

For they remembered nothing, of what happened earlier that day.

"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse,

"This is heaven." said a boy. "It's Christmas at God's house,

"When what to their wondering eyes did appear,

But Jesus, their savior, and the babes gathered near,

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same,

Then He opened forth His arms, and called them each by name,

In that very moment, was joy that heaven will bring,

Those children all flew into the arms of their gracious King,

And as they lingered in the glow of His warm embrace,

One small girl turned and looked right into Jesus' face,

Then as if He could read all the questions she had,

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of Mom and Dad".

Then He looked down on earth, the world so far below.

He saw and wept for all hurt, and all the deep sorrow,

He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now my little children, let me show you all around".

Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.

All displaying exuberant joy that only a child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"In the midst of this darkness, I am still the light."