I Have The Best Groom Ever.

Honestly, I don’t know how I talked this guy into being my husband — but one thing I do know is I hit the jackpot with this groom!

Before I get to his pure awesomeness I just want to point out how crazy my peanut butter tooth has been today:

Everything peanut butter within reach has gone straight in my belly (Said in Fat Bastard voice).

And I’m now eyeing some peanut butter chocolate.  I feel like this girl (love her…i feel like we should be bffs) Restraint with the PB Ashley!

Once again, moving on:

Zach: The World’s Greatest Groom

I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’m thankful that I did.

Ever since we got engaged about 15 months ago, Zach has been beyond supportive, excited, and interested in wedding planning.  Honestly, he has made me ENJOY wedding planning, and given me the opportunity to soak up ever second of being a fiance. 

(we got engaged after a long run and bike ride,hence why I look like poop. He knew what he was doing, so he showered.  I didn’t. Even when he asked to me shower, I didn’t.   Don’t judge… it was the best day ever, and  I’ll give the full engagement story a different time).

Zach has an amazing eye and found our venue in no time once we made it to Denver.

Boettcher Mansion

Zach was all about going to every vendor preview we needed to in order to find the perfect photographer, food, cake, band, everything.

(Not our cake, but I really like it)

Zach has been there to design the save the dates, invites, programs, place cards, everything stationary.

(not our save the date, but that’s the design with a different date and minor color changes)

Zach became our primary financial adviser and took it upon himself to make an excell spread sheet and follow along with our spending vs. budget.

And as of recently, as we’re hitting the home stretch, Zach has taken on most all of the mundane projects that haunt the final weeks of wedding planning.  Setting up final walk throughs, vendor meetings, hotel blocks, shuttle.  Everything.

And tonight,  Zach is taking it upon himself to take his work computer out, finalize guest counts, seating arrangements(YIKES) , and contact vendors, just so I can enjoy much needed girls night.

So, this is why I have the most amazing Groom in the world.  He has made being a bride the dream every girl hopes it will be. And to be honest, I couldn’t be more excited to marry this man.  31 days and counting!

Thank you, Babe.  Love you more than you  know!

Swooning over Juan Pablo

Good morning!

We spent the bulk of the evening enjoying chocolate chip cookies and struggling to watch the Bachelorette  finale.   I absolutely adore Chris and think she ended up with a good guy, I just wasn’t a huge fan of Des this season.  She seemed very naive, and I lost a bit of respect for the way things went down after Brooks left.

That doesn’t take away from the most exciting part of that whole series though: JUAN PABLO IS THE NEXT BACHELOR!

I guess I will be stuck watching a third season of Bachelor. . . swooning over Mr. Pablo.  With Zach. Swooning.

Moving on…

This mornings workout was strength based:

Workout of the Day

This video of strength training for runners, done 3 times (it’s about 20 minutes long)

It was really nice to not have to think and just be instructed what to do on my workout.  I miss the class settings that you have in real gyms, but I just can’t justify spending on the money on a membership when I have what I need at my apartment.

This Morning

The rest of the morning was pretty standard, get showered, ready, and to work.

More excited were today’s (and yesterday’s for that matter) breakfasts and snacks

Yum!  I have a new flavor for today, Strawberry and Creme. And of course…

I can’t keep my grubby little hands out of that Peanut Butter Granola. YUM!

(Notice I said breakfast AND snacks…seriously I can’t stop).

Tonight

I have plans tonight to head to a friend’s for a small girls night of appetizers, dinner, desserts and wine.  Looking forward to it! I never have enough girls nights 🙂

Have a great day everyone!

Question of the Day:  Is there a snack that you have that you seriously cannot STOP eating once you start?

For me, it’s granola, or any yummy cereal, trail mix, chips, or any chocolate/sweets.

Amazing

The post I wrote this afternoon came from a struggle I’ve been having for a runner most of this Spring/Summer season.

To be honest — it felt really good for me to use the blog as an outlet for my thoughts and frustrations.  I have loved everything about blogging in the short time that I’ve jumped into the game, but this was the first time that my putting it out there on my blog really helped me.

After I wrote that post, I felt like I  needed to be accountable for putting those words out there.  I can’t put it out there in the blogosphere, and then do nothing to work on it myself!

This afternoon — I took that inspiration and decided to put my words into action.

This afternoon I did my first speed workout outdoors. 🙂

Seems like something so small, but it really did feel good to just do it.

Workout for the Day

Run outside 🙂  Speed work:

• 15 songs total
• 2 songs warm up running
• 10 songs, sprinting during the versus, recovery run through the rest of the song
• 2 songs cool down running
• 1 song walk

I didn’t take my Garmin as I wanted to just be outside and enjoy the run, with having to worry so much about speed/distance every moment.  But by using Gmap-pedometer, I was able to guestimate the run at about 5.7 miles in about 50 minutes, give or take.

As I was out on my run today, I brought my camera along in hopes that I would capture the moments that were a reminder to me as to why I need to get my butt outside.

 

As I started the run, it was spitting and raining.  I was beyond tempted to turn around and not risk the elements. . . but I stuck it out. And thank goodness that I did.

 

Ultimately the rain cooled down the warm summer temps and made the challenging run a bit easier.  What didn’t make the run easier:

 

A water fountain at song 12…that didn’t work.  Torture.

Ultimately — I came  home geeked out thanks to pushing myself, and feel a (hesitantly) new fervor for getting my butt outside.

 

Dinner

Ultimately, my run was the highlight of the evening, absolutely.  I came home right as Zach came home from his long mountain bike ride, so we were both running  on endorphin highs…and B.O ;).

With that said, we showered up and prepped a pretty solid dinner.  Lamb chops, garlic toast, and side salad for me/beans for Zach.

Zach prepped the lamb with EVOO and fresh herbs (basil and rosemary) from our garden

 

I enjoyed my chop with a wonderful, fresh salad and crunchy piece of toast to soak up the extra dressing and grease 🙂

 

Zach and I ate our dinner while toasting to our awesome workouts

All that is left for the evening is a little Bachelorette finale

And of course, cookies.

Have a great night everyone!