The Great Wedding Chop

Let it be known that there is a secret "To-Do" on every knot.com list for brides. A little past the 'Enjoy your day and enjoy your honeymoon' and even past the "write your millions of thank you notes." Oh yes, it's there in secret writing: chop off any hair that you may have grown since you got that rock on your finger.

It's the great wedding chop.

I assume (and you know what assuming does...) that most brides choose to do the GWC because it may feels like a huge weight lifted off your shoulders when all your wedding is done. Or maybe it's because they were never ones who felt right with long hair.  Or in my case, they were tired of it getting caught in your armpits while putting on deoderant or caught in your bra or panties (yes panties) leaving you with random hairs to pull out at the most convient times.

Stringy pony no more.

Either option of reasoning they choose, it all comes down to a fateful meeting of hairdresser and former bride. And one big chop.

Is that a rat tail? Nope, just a bunch of ratty hair.

 Yep... I went in, with thoughts of just a few inches off and maybe some bangs. Nothing too big...I really didn't want to be that bride who just went in and chopped it all off. Um....

And I was also instructed by my husband that he doesn't like hair any shorter than the shoulders.

It doesn't go back on....I tried.

Well, it kind of touches my shoulders...

And obviously a change this big needs a photo shoot.

However, I do now have a super cute pony.

Tyson didn't know what to think of the old pony.

And he decided he wasn't that interested.

And he really didn't want me to pretend it was his pony.

However this face makes me wonder if he would have really eaten my hair.

Proof that it's not tucked in the back of my shirt....and obviously my model face.

Because one picture wasn't enough.

So I may not have followed Tony's instructions to the T. However the former ratty tail is being donated to Locks of Love. Which I feel great about - and my hair will regrow.

For now, I'll stick with my cute little pony that doesn't sneak it's way into my armpits and work with this sassy do. Even better: I won't have to wash my hair for a few more days....BONUS! And I can finally mark off that final To-Do on the knot.com.

In other news: I'll probably need to re-work this little title now that I can no longer call myself a bride, in public, Tony will be losing all of his hair in May, and we have been having a little "Clark Griswold" moments at our house.

Did I grab your attention? Good...now I just have to remember to write about all those things.

Toilets and Stairs

Our road trip was a success.  The actual race, is still TBD. I will say that we are at least all alive and I'm moving somewhat. However, I have developed two new nemesis' after this weekend. Toilets and stairs.  Oh yes, something as simple as sitting on a toilet to do your business or flying up the stairs because you forgot something now seems to be laughable.

The very thought of doing any action that resembles those two simple tasks could bring on tears of frustration, hand shaking (similar to fist pumping but without the excitement), and a very strained face that is not photogenic, nor appealing to the naked eye.

And what do we have a lot of in our house? Stairs. Even at work, stairs. Everywhere I turn - and then every time I realize I have to use the loo, I revert back to my opinion of adult diapers.  Could they really be so bad? I mean, the mere thought of squatting could be worth the sagging pants and swish swish sound of the plastic.

However, I also realize that sounds crazy coming out of my head and while I did have the thought, it will actually never happen. Unless I earned $500 to do so...and then maybe I would think about it.

Okay....now that I've thoroughly grossed out all 3 of my readers, on to why I detest two very simple, yet needed products in the human life.

5.9 miles. Very slow, very windy miles. Oh yes, asthma be dammed, I ran, jogged, barely lifted my feet one in front of the other to get those 5.9 miles done, all to earn a medal.

We survived - and all had a defining moment: training would have made this run a little better. Unless you're Jen - who somehow blew our minds and sprinted into the finish line - I think she's been training and not telling us.  Or her long legs really do take her miles further than the rest of our short legs.

Any how - we all have medals, some of us can't walk (ok, just me) and we'll probably all do it again next year. But now onto pictures and a little road trip re-cap.

*Editors note: My pictures are all wack-a-doo and somewhat out of order. Use your imagination and pretend they are in the correct order. Please and thank you.*

Guido Tony ready for the car ride.

 And me, being a cheeseball.

 We "carb-loaded" the night before, Tony even joined in and had some huge meatball. *Insert 6th grad humor here*

Fast (Wanda) Sara sprinting by....

 

 The girl in the green shirt I thought was Sara - every time she passed. I might have yelled out, very loudly, THERE SHE IS! And yet it was not her.

 Pre-race Sara, with her running fanny pack.

The girls, pre-race and accessorized. Okay, so that was only Jen -but we are colorful.

 FYI: Drinking coffee in the dark on Tulsa bumpy roads might lead to coffee spillage.

The first hand off- which Sara sped by and started running Lauren's leg...Silly Sara.

My medal! Which I will now frame and hang in our house as artwork or as if I ran in the Olympics and won the silver.

Pre-hand off - can't you see my excitement.

Lauren doing some figure 8's or handing me the sweaty tracking device.

Moving quite slow - but my calf muscles look good.

Trying to find the girls - it was all a blur of people - but then I saw Jen waving wildly

Jen putting on the sweaty ankle tracking device and a nice picture of my booty and very spasm-y legs.

Only in Oklahoma would there be a McDonald's on top of the highway.

Our "We'Re off like a Prom Dress" Relay Team - and a sweet shot of me in lots of pain.

Road Trip Warriors

We're about to make a first here folks: Our first married road trip. Yes, we have taken road trips before as boyfriend/girlfriend and engaged couple. However, this is our first official road trip as Mr. & Mrs.

And while we've been pretty good road warriors before - this one will be a pretty interesting trip. We're headed down to Oklahoma so I can die, or rather run in a marathon relay with friends. Yes, indeed, apparently my failed attempt to even run a 5k before the wedding put a great thought into my head that I should now try and run 5.9 miles - almost a full 10k with little to no training.

And when I say little to no training, I pretty much mean it. My training this week was unpacking my new treats from Crate & Barrel, actually putting on my leggings and running shoes and drinking red wine.

I'm so ready for this race.

Luckily, T is headed down with me, just in case my lungs decide to give out, I fake an injury, or I get run over by the marathoners, who may or may not try and trip me to get out of their way. Wait, what am I really saying? They will probably all pass me, wondering who let the "special kid" run this far?

I've even tried to psych myself up by reading a runner's blog - and all it has really done is given me shoe, running short, and vacation envy. That and maybe a little inspiration. However, I don't think that little amount of inspiration will get me through 5.9 miles - maybe .5, but that's pushing it.

So as we pack up and start our trip to Tulsa - our road game may consist of "How is Caitlin going to run 5.9 miles without dying" or "how many ways can Caitlin injure herself in this race."

You're more than welcome to play - just text in your answers. Until then, it's back to training I go. Tonight's training "run" - sushi with the hubs.

Its a good thing we're waiting

So I was goofing around at work today and well, reading a runners blog for inspiration, and found this little gem. And while we are into this marriage thing a whole 2 weeks, and have yet to get the question of when we are having kids, I believe this will be our reasoning:

Meet Little Stanley.

For your sake, we'll wait a little longer before Stanley greets us.

Post Wedding Blues

It was probably bound to happen. The slight sadness that comes when you realize you can't really get away with wearing a big white dress around the house or talk about the type of centerpieces you will have or making to do lists that consist of calling the caterer, buying loads of alcohol or getting your make up done.

And while we had the best time of our lives, and we heard that our friends and family were exhausted (or just plain hungover) after our big day, we got to leave reality for a bit and lay on the beaches of Mexico.

Ahhh, Mexico. The land of cervezas, margaritas, tacos and hard working people. It was all in all perfect. And while we didn't do much partying, we had a great time and were able to soak up the sun (with SPF of course) and eat to our hearts content. And of course waking up to this everyday:However, paradise couldn't last the entire rest of the year - I mean we would probably try if we could, but then instead of having drinks delivered to us, we would be the one delivering drinks. And while TGI Friday Tony could have been fabulous at that position, me not so much - my clumsiness would totally set in and I would not be getting in tips. Maybe I could be the hostess at the one of the restaurants, I've done that job before and wasn't too bad at it.

Anyway, I digress. We came back obviously, and lucky for us we didn't have any problems getting home. Nor did we feel like we were going to die. Sidenote: last time we vacationed to Mexico, Tony and I thought it would be a great idea to have a fabulous time the last night we were there, which did not fair so well on the plane ride home. The short version: me in middle seat of plane=not good, backed up line for the air plane bathroom, and we spent too much time in the Dallas customs bathroom. I wouldn't have been surprised if they stopped to question us.

What? Too much information? Sorry - I keep getting side tracked. It happens, I will keep blaming it on my vacation mind, but let's face it, it's been almost two weeks, I have to get back in the KC state of mind.

And while I get back to the norm, and realize I actually have to work and cannot be a stay at home mom to Tyson (which I am still working on that), I have a few things that are keeping my post-wedding blues at bay.

You know I have a list right? Let's be honest here, so far on my new iphone (YES! I finally got it, I'm beyond excited and already think I need to upgrade my data plan...which obviously means I need to get off the phone....whatever) I have at least three or four lists - and I have an app that helps me MAKE LISTS! Could this phone be any better?? I think not.

Anyway - on to my list of things keeping the PWB's away:
-Tyson, although he's a drool monster who is always needing attention, I still missed him
-Wedding gifts. Come on, you new that would be on here! I do believe that I actually said "It's like Christmas morning, but just for me!" I know, my last bridezilla moment, I had to have one.
-Organizing everything! Oh yes, I have been dying to not only open the wedding presents, but also get into those drawers and throw out, or rather put all of our old stuff in a garage sale.
-And of course, seeing those little monkeys, who were afraid of getting near me during the wedding. Oh yeah, apparently wearing a big white dress is a frightening thing for 2 year olds and 22 month olds.

Which ends up with my nephews looking at me like this:So on to my lists I go, and next on my list, will to be find my funny. I know my darling husband will make some comment about how I was not that funny on this post.

Is this what marriage is? Great. This is why his stuff ends up in the garage sale.

Just a few Minor details

Let it be known that writing To-Do lists on pieces of paper, random post-it notes or calendars, does not necessarily mean all things will get done.

Examples of such lists:
-Workout
-Brush Tyson's teeth
-Paint nails
-Laundry

We all know that things like working out and laundry will probably fall onto many lists in the future and will most likely be the most important things to do. Such things exist on Wedding To-Do lists. And while I had a tendency to re-write my lists over and over again, and generally had the same to-dos on them, somehow one got missed. One little detail that might have been pretty bad to forget.

Get marriage license.

Yep. You read that correctly - the one HUGE item on my list, besides pick up wedding dress and buy waterproof mascara was the marriage license. So you can understand my shocking response of "Holy shit!" (sorry Mom) when Tony called me the Thursday before the wedding and said, "Hey, don't we need to get our marriage license?"

Yes, first there was the 'oh crud' moment, followed by thank 'thank goodness your friends just came in town and asked how all the details were' going moment, and finally the 'omg, can we still get it and what time does city hall close' as well as the 'where the heck is city hall in Missouri?'

Really, normal thoughts that went through my head and seemed to be appropriate at the time. So after running through some errands (which is a post for later) Tony and I booked it down to City Hall and searched for a parking spot.

Ugh. You know how people always complain about how horrible parking is downtown? Well, they were not actually lying. I believe we circled the block at least 4 times - having quite interesting "discussions" on where to park and which way to turn and why that street is a one way. There was a lot of annoyed sighing going on in the passenger seat.

However, we even survived that - our marriage is meant to last. And while most things during our process of marriage were long and tedious - i.e. the marriage classes - getting an actual marriage license was quite easy. If I had any desire to get married again, I would totally do that first and let all the other things fall by the wayside.

But that desire to get married again does not exist - you are quite welcome Mr. Ginestra. Especially since they ask you the question of whether or not its your first marriage. Luckily, I was able to answer for Tony - to which the woman giving us our license found it funny.

Done and done with the license, I of course wanted to document the situation. And while it would have been odd to take a picture in front of city hall or ask the nice security guard with the large gun to take a picture, I opted to wait in the car. Every so carefully making sure that I did not bend the ever important Marriage License.Ahhhh! Doesn't it just look all shiny and new to you?? No? Just me?

But of course the documenting this special occasion doesn't stop - I asked Tony to give me his "we just got our marriage license and we're getting married in a few days" excited face. Behold:

Cheeseball, yes; but excited, absolutely.

And finally one together as one of our last engaged couple pictures - no turning back now!
And yes, I was that girl in the car taking pictures- don't worry Dad, we were at a stoplight and you can see in the photographic evidence that Tony is indeed wearing his seat belt.

Sidenote: If you can count the number of times I used 'marriage license' in this post, I may have a treat for you. Not really - however I believe I have now been able to spell 'license' correctly after writing it so many times.

So Wifely Duties Begin When?

We're back! Yes, we have survived the longest-fastest day of our lives and then had a great time being bums and taking the only opportunities to sip on girlie cocktail drinks and get away with it. And while I have many things that need to be blogged about, I'll leave you with this one little ditty.

On the plane ride out to Charlotte to connect to Cancun, Tony and I realized we get to say 'my husband' and 'my wife' now instead of just fiance and girlfriend/boyfriend. And while we both just got used to saying fiance, its now time to change. But we tried it out on the plane ride, and this is what Tony came up with.

Tony: "My wife...Yeah, my wife likes that picture, she wants that."
Me: "What picture?"
Tony: "You know, whatever picture there is."

Right. So instead of just saying things for this example like, "Hi, this is my wife, Caitlin." or "Let me check with my wife on that." or even, "My wife and I are going to a quaint, candlelight dinner tonight."

Nope. Apparently as a wife, I like pictures.