February 27, 2015

February Finds

For your Friday morning, here's a list of things I found on the internet this month that I found interesting or funny. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

One of my favorite things to do when I'm having a bad day is do a google image search of 'puppies snuggling stuffed animals.' On a recent exploit into this search, I came across this amazing article of a baby covered in French bulldog puppies.It is amazing and there are significantly more photos than just the ones on this Buzzfeed.

I was on a plane during the Super Bowl but I still caught some of the commercials. This one from Budweiser pissed me off. It's nice to know that a conglomerate is trying to bash small, American-owned businesses. I saw this awesome response on Emily's blog a few weeks ago.


Jenn posted this video a few weeks ago and I was dying watching it!



The hilarious Sarah recently posted "To the Curly Haired Little Girls" which basically meant that she wrote a post to me. Growing up with thick, coiled Latin girl curls was definitely a struggle. To this day, I have a hard time finding a place to get my hair cut because most people just don't know what to do with my head of curls once they see it. I love the message behind this post. #embracethecurl

This post, about authors who regretted their book's fame, made me sad. I was devastated to learn that A.A. Milne hated Pooh Bear, though I thought Annie Proulx sounded whiny and bitter about the success of Brokeback Mountain (which I neither saw or read).

Alexis wrote a post about Starting a Natural Body Care Routine and it definitely piqued my interest. I've been thinking about switching to a castille based body wash for awhile now.

What happens when Downton Abbey stars sort their characters into Hogwarts Houses? Hilarity. The Dowager Countess (Dame Maggie Smith) is obviously a Gryffindor. I think some of these were pretty spot on though Hufflepuff wasn't shown any love and I think that Mrs. Patmore would definitely be a Hufflepuff.

If you have any questions for The Pilot, you only have the weekend to post them!
Happy Friday!

February 26, 2015

Currently...

Feeling... frustrated. One and half miles into my run this morning, my knee flared up and I had to stop. I took last week off, but this is now the 3rd out of my last 4 runs that have ended with knee pain.

Reading... Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It's my book club's pick for this month. I was so hooked within the first 15 pages but then I kind of fell off a little bit. It's at times intriguing and other times confusing. This is one where I have no idea how it's going to end, so I'll keep reading.


Watching... "Downton Abbey." I had fallen behind a few episodes and I caught up over the weekend...only to miss the most recent episode due to the Oscars. Let me tell you...we had been considering getting rid of cable, but moving to our new place, getting cable wasn't an option (our basement apartment isn't wired for it) and I don't like it. I haven't watched any of my favorite shows all season. I didn't watch TV around the clock, but I miss not having cable. I think I'm the only person to have ever said that.

Thinking about... our first anniversary trip. We've had a destination in mind since even before our honeymoon, but lately I've talked to some people who have said they didn't love it. Some research is definitely in order.

Working on... touching my toes. After only three classes back in a studio, I can already touch them in seated! I'm excited for what incorporating more yoga is going to do for me!
This was in June of 2013...right in the middle of my 30 Day Yoga Challenge...
which only lasted 19 days because my knee gave out the week this picture was taken.
Needing... to just be able to run. It's been 2 1/2 years since I first injured myself and I just want to be back to myself again. 

Loving... my new yoga studio. My friend Abby and I went there last night and ended up staying after class for 45 minutes talking to the owner, one of the instructors and another student. The studio opened up last week and I adore it. It's such a gorgeous, friendly, welcoming space. It's my new happy place.

Excited about... a possible trip to Ikea this weekend...if it doesn't snow again!


February 25, 2015

Wedding Pictures: The Details

We didn't have wedding colors. We had a theme. I got so tired of everyone always asking "What are your colors?!" because we didn't really have any. There wasn't really anything that fit into a color scheme...sure my flowers had blue accents, and the bridesmaids wore blue, but those were about the only things that matched. I scoured the internet for ideas of how we could incorporate our theme, and to be honest, my searches came up pretty short. So, I had to get creative. 

You've already seen our boarding pass invitations and passport programs, but here they are again: 


My sister, Tatiana, designed our invitations. She designed the logo in the upper right hand corner with our initials. The QR code on the boarding pass actually scanned to our website! Our reception and accommodations card had the same design as the invitations and were stuffed into a little sleeve with a luggage tag as an RSVP card. I loved them so much!


The Pilot wore airplane cufflinks with his tux. We had been searching around for a pair for months, but I finally found some on an Etsy shop


At the ceremony, we stored our passport programs in these adorable little suitcases which I found at Home Goods. Post-wedding, I've even repurposed them into a bar case in our new apartment!


Once the guests walked into the reception, they were greeted with a "Flight Check-In" section. Instead of doing escort cards and table numbers, I made a seating chart and pinned each table to the city in the world where each guest was sitting. The tables were named after cities The Pilot and I had been to. Our table was Greece, our honeymoon destination!


Our card box was another one of the cases we used for the programs.


For a guest book, I blew up one of our engagement photos and had our guests sign around it. It's currently hanging in our apartment, and it's fun to walk past it every day and read the well wishes that our friends and family wrote to us!


I was so happy with the way the tables came out. I didn't want to spend a fortune on floral centerpieces so I made the centerpieces using globes I bought at World Market, with bases we made from PVC.


For the table names, I used vintage airline posters, printed them out on 5x7 postcards and laminated them. This was one of my favorite projects, and I'm looking forward to finding a creative way to use them around the house! The Pilot loves them!

Our San Francisco table
At each table, we included a few Polaroid shots that I printed with Polaroid Foto Bar. I love these! They're about a 1/4 inch thick so they aren't flimsy and everyone loved looking at pictures of us in all of the different places we've traveled to together! These were a ton of fun when "Hey Ya" came on and my sister ran back to the table and everyone started grabbing pictures and shaking the Polaroids on the dance floor!


Our food was phenomenal. Old Ebbitt is, after all, DC's most famous restaurant! To start, they served a Tomato Gazpacho, which was incredible.


The next course was an Apple Salad with arugula, walnuts, and goat cheese.


The entree was roasted chicken with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, snap peas, and roasted carrots.


The food was incredible and everyone loved it! I don't know why everyone kept telling me to make sure I ate. I think I ate more at our wedding than I ever have! After dinner, of course, was the most important part...dessert! We had a full dessert bar with miniature key lime and pecan pies, nutella macarons, chocolate and vanilla cake pops, and oatmeal cream pies.



We even had little to go boxes so that those who were too full could bring some desserts home!


I've already shown you pictures of our miniature cutting cake, which had an adorable little fondant plane flying off the cake, trailing the words "Oh the places we'll go."


The cupcakes were from Georgetown Cupcake, the store featured on DC Cupcakes. They're definitely one of my favorite cupcake shops in DC.


The cake/cupcake stand was one of the more difficult DIY projects I did. My mom definitely saved me on this one. I had bought the stand from Amazon and took an old road map to decoupage it. In the end, I loved the way it looked. It wasn't all that time consuming, but it definitely needed a little TLC from mom when I was finished with it. I loved the little airplane designs they made for us!


So, there you have it! All of the little details of our travel themed wedding here in DC!

If you missed any and want to revisit them, feel free to go back and check them out!

The Dress (that my mama made!)

If you have any questions for me about planning our wedding or anything related to it, I'd be happy to answer them, feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Lastly, I've said this before, but I have to say this again. Our photographer, Chris Zarconi, and his assistant/girlfriend, Abby (my new running buddy) were so much more than photographers. They contributed something to our day, and I'm so happy that we hired them and so grateful for their talent, their skill, and more recently their friendship. If you live in the DC area and are looking for a photographer for any event, I highly recommend Chris. 

Thanks so much for reading along with all of these posts! It has been so fun reliving our wedding day  with you, and your comments have all been so sweet! 

February 24, 2015

Training Update: (Less than) one month to go

This used to be a running blog. Being sidelined by injury for over a year started to change that and I've realized that despite the fact that I'm running more and more, I haven't really talked about my running much here on PTRS.

I'm hoping that changes with this post.

This weekend marked 4 weeks until the DC Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. One of my New Year's resolutions, or non-resolutions, as I should probably call them, was to actually train for a race with a printed out, taped to the fridge training plan the way I used to.

I haven't done that and I need to. So, with less than 4 weeks to go, it's time to officially start training for this race.

Last week, I ran 7 miles on Monday...and I haven't run since. I took Tuesday off and Wednesday I wasn't feeling great. Thursday, the temperatures were so frigid, and after running in that on Sunday and Monday, I opted for yoga instead. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I was sick.

Whenever I get sick like that, I always like to ease back into things, so last night, I went to yoga at my new favorite place, East Side Yoga. The studio just opened last week in Capitol Hill and I purchased their introductory pass of 3 classes for $15. My friend Abby and I went to a class last Thursday and I went again last night.

{L} The walkway leading up to the studio {R} The practice room, with its firefly sky
It was incredible. This studio is absolutely stunning. It's the most beautiful studio I've ever practiced in. I feel so focused just being there, and Alia, the studio owner is amazing. She's so inviting and friendly that you feel like you're going over to someone's house, rather than to practice yoga.

So, it's good that I'm getting back into yoga, but let's talk about what I'm going to be running this week.

Tuesday (today): 4 miles. I'm not sure if I'm going to do these inside at my office gym (depends how crowded it is after work), or if I can try to tackle them outside. It's so unbelievably icy in my neighborhood right now. Barely anyone shoveled their sidewalks during the weekend snow storm and just walking to the Metro feels like I'm walking across a skating rink.

Wednesday: Back to yoga.

Thursday: 4 miles.

Friday: 4 miles, depending on how I'm feeling. My PT advised me last summer to only run every other day. I've noticed, since I've been back running, that I almost always experience knee pain on days when I run back to back, so we'll see. I just got new shoes, that might help. If I don't run, I might take the day off.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 8 miles. This is the run I was hoping to do this weekend. Since I didn't get it in, I need to do it this weekend. I was planning on using this week as a step back week anyway, so I'm not really all that concerned about it.

At this point in my training, I'm feeling pretty good, but I'm still really nervous. I felt great about my training going into last year's Nike Women's Half and my knee blew up at Mile 8 after an entirely pain-free training cycle.

My only goal for this race is to finish strong and pain-free, so that I can finally start to feel like a runner again.

I'm hoping that this week brings me the confidence I need to feel like that will happen. 
Are you training for anything this spring?
How's your training going?

February 23, 2015

10 Random Facts about Me

I was sick this weekend. Saturday involved something that my have been food poisoning and Sunday I woke up with a temperature of 100.1. Needless to say, I slept more than I've ever slept in my life and the most moving I did was from the bedroom to the couch...and even that was a struggle sometimes.

I'm feeling much, much better today. Since I don't have much of a weekend update to give, I thought I'd offer a list of random facts about me...because who doesn't love those.

1. I was a Girl Scout. I love Girl Scout cookies. When I moved to New Jersey and tried to join my school's troop, they wouldn't let me because they were "full" so my mom and another mom took the troop leader training and started a troop for all of the girls that the other troop wouldn't let in. It was kind of awesome...especially because we 'bridged' before them. I wish I had stayed a Girl Scout longer, but I didn't. I get irrationally angry when I see DIY Girl Scout cookie posts on Pinterest. The money goes to a charity. Just buy the cookies.
2. I fell into nonprofit development by accident. It wasn't something I ever wanted to do but I love it and I'm good at it, and I know it's the perfect career path for me to focus on to get to where I ultimately want to be.
3. I harbor fantasies of getting my PhD one day.
4. When I was 5, I used to choreograph roller blading routines to the Aladdin soundtrack and perform them in my driveway.

This was pre-roller blade days, but you get the picture.
5. I also had an imaginary friend named Jamie when I was 5.
6. After grad school, I worked at lululemon for a few months before moving to DC. They made us come up with a list of our goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. One of my 1 year goals was to be able to touch my toes. I had to have a "talking to" because that wasn't considered a realistic goal. It's still a goal of mine.
7. I gave up soda for Lent when I was a freshman in high school. I've never looked back...except for when I was in India and it was so unbearably hot that Coke seemed to be the only thing to quench my thirst.
8. I'm not a fan of the peanut butter/chocolate combination.
9. I stopped eating meat the summer after my Freshman year of college. I've gone back and forth with periods where I do and don't eat seafood...but every year, my mom roasts a pork on Christmas and I eat it. We call it lechon. It's tradition.
10. The first concert I ever saw was NSync, BB Mak and Jessica Simpson. I cried when BB Mak came on stage.

Did you miss my post on Friday? This week, The Pilot will be answering your questions about what it's like to be a pilot! You can leave your questions on the comments page of this post.

Whar are some random facts about you?

February 20, 2015

Ask the Pilot

A few years ago, The Pilot agreed to answer some questions about what it's like to be an airline pilot.

It was a fun post to work on together, so I thought I'd put up another one to give you another chance to ask him any and all questions you may have.


Nothing is off limits here, you can ask about his schedules, his routes, favorite airports, getting through security, what it's like being married to me, whatever you want! I'll leave this post open for a week and you can leave your questions in the comments!

I'll post the questions (and answers!) next Friday!
Have a great weekend!

February 19, 2015

Currently...

Feeling...under the weather. I'm not sure if I'm just tired or getting sick. I wouldn't be surprised by either. Running in the cold this weekend was probably not my smartest idea.

Reading... I'm about 10 pages from finishing The King's Curse. Next up, I'll be reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, which is our next book club pick.


Listening to... Pitbull. Not normally my choice for a morning song, but "Feel this Moment" came on my Pandora this morning and that song brings back so many memories of dancing on our wedding night, so Pitbull it is. 

Watching... "The White Queen" on Amazon Prime. It was a BBC/Starz miniseries based on the book series I'm reading. It only recently became available on Prime and I've suckered The Pilot into watching it with me. 

Thinking about... Lent. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and I went to a new church. It was a great service and I spent a lot of time last night thinking about the readings and reflecting and writing about them. 

Working on... a new evening/morning routine. I already feel more productive. Last night, I did all of my dishes and this morning, I put them all away! There's obviously more to the routine than just dishes, but drinking a cup of warm lemon water while putting away dishes was a nice start to the morning, rather than just jumping into getting ready!

Needing... to get back to yoga. It's only been about 10 days since my last time on the mat, but I don't want to go much longer than that.

Loving... my new blog design. Do you? I started working on it a few months ago and never got around to finishing it. I'm hoping to add a few more elements by the end of the month. Let me know what you think! I'd love your feedback!

Excited about... that the snow turned this week into a 3 day week and for an Oscars party on Sunday!

February 16, 2015

28 and Feeling Great

This weekend was my 28th birthday!

I kicked things off on Friday with drinks after work with one of my new co-workers. Afterward, The Pilot and I headed out to a Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood that I discovered last weekend. We ordered decadent sizzling fajitas and then headed home to watch TV.

Saturday, we woke up and started doing some stuff around the house before heading to Eastern Market for brunch. It had been ages since I'd been there for brunch and it definitely didn't disappoint. After the movie, we headed to E Street Cinemas to watch "The Imitation Game." It was so good! I absolutely loved it! Benedict Cumberbatch was incredible and I found the movie to be really well told.

After the movie, The Pilot and I headed to Sona Creamery for dinner. We had gone there for my birthday just after they opened last year and, while the cheese was amazing, the service was really disappointed. While we were eating, the snow really started coming down so we had a very snowy walk home!

Cheese is the way to my heart.
Sunday, after sleeping in, The Pilot made me some banana bread and then we put on 17 layers of clothes and headed out for 3 cold, windy miles around Capitol Hill. It was miserably cold and I definitely wasn't up for running any longer than that.

Mmm banana bread

We treated ourselves to salads at Sweetgreen after our run and then spent the rest of the day lounging, doing some stuff around the house. Oh...and this happened.


I had a guaranteed entry code that I had until February 28th to use. I was really unsure as to whether I wanted to run Cherry Blossom given my past history with the race (only running it once out of four times being registered), but I decided to give it ago. Holly is coming for the weekend so it'll be fun! We'll see what happens!

I'm so happy I have the day off today! I booked myself a massage for the afternoon and I'm excited to see what the rest of the day has in store!

If you're off today, I hope you enjoy your day too!
Happy Monday!

February 12, 2015

Currently...

Feeling... Productive. I'm having a good week.

Reading... The King's Curse. I'm debating whether I should reread Philippa Gregory's series on The Tudors after this. I read them in high school and kind of want to read them again. I'm half way through this one and what I can't seem to understand is why everyone sympathizes with Ann Boleyn...


Listening to... I've put Invisibilia on hold while I'm reading my latest book, but I definitely plan on picking it up and catching up on it.

Watching... I haven't turned my TV on in about a week...so nothing.

Thinking about... our apartment. It's starting to look awesome...at least, the living room and kitchen are. The bedroom needs help. That might be this weekend's project. I'm thinking shelves...new bedding and some pictures on the wall.

Working on... our apartment, my blog, sorting through our wedding photos...lots of stuff.

Loving... this picture that Abby took of The Pilot and I with Peyton after he got home from a week away. I plan on blowing it up and framing it because it's perfect.


Needing... new running shoes. Mine are starting to wear pretty thin and the only other pair I have bother my knee. I'm starting to think about investing in a pair of Hokas...as ridiculously sized as they are, I've heard a lot of people say that they can eliminate knee pain. Anyone have any luck with them?


Excited about... my birthday weekend and the massage I booked for myself on Monday afternoon! Oh hey 3 day weekend!

February 11, 2015

Wedding Pictures: The Reception

I was so happy that we attended our cocktail hour. We had already seen everyone at our wedding and now, it was time to party. The venue staff escorted all of our guests down to the main reception space at Old Ebbitt while the bridal party hung around upstairs and I ate all the oysters.


We spent a lot of time thinking long and hard about what our entrance song would be. We wanted it to be something fun, that everyone would know but not something trendy that would be overplayed in a few weeks.

Enter The Backstreet Boys.


Old Ebbitt's atrium, where we had our reception space, is about 12 or 13 stories high, so the space had insane acoustics and when we walked out to that song, everyone was cheering and I felt like a rock star taking the stage. It was incredible.

This is my brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law cheering for us as we entered the reception.

From "Larger than Life" and our guests going absolutely INSANE for us, our awesome DJ slowed things down and got a little bit country as Kenny Chesney serenaded us through our first dance. 



Our first dance was perfect. I have always wondered what couples talked about during their first dance, and I can honestly say, I don't even remember what we talked about but I do know this..despite the fact that we were surrounded by 140 of our closest friends and family, there was no one in the room during those few minutes but us. 

After our first dance, everyone sat down for dinner. I wanted everyone to be eating when the speeches were made, so the first course was served and my mom kicked things off.

Mama
Danielle, my Maid of Honor and the first person I ever told about The Pilot
My sister Tati, my Matron of Honor
I've said this before, but once the speeches were over, my mom and aunt opened up the dance floor before dinner was even served!


And then we danced. I come from a Latin family, where we dance all.the.time. Christmas, New Year's, birthdays, whatever. We like to party. And that's just what we did. Our DJ never let the music die down and it was just one amazing song after another. It was the best party of my life.

My brother and his wife, getting their salsa on.
My dad and my Abuela, getting their salsa on.
The Pilot and I
My brother and I...getting our merengue on. 
Eventually, Chris, our amazing photographer, tore us away from the dancing to remind us that we needed to cut the cake. I had picked a cake cutting song (because I could) and we cut our cake to Meiko's "Stuck on You" because the opening line of that song says, "...when I wear this dress, I feel like dancing the whole night with you" and I couldn't not play that song while wearing the most gorgeous dress I've ever worn.

We had a cupcake tower, with a little bitty cake at the top that had a plane flying off of it,
carrying the words "Oh the places you'll go"

After we cut our cake and opened up our dessert bar, it was time for...you guessed it, more dancing.

My Daddy and I. We missed out on our traditional father-daughter dance, but this was so much more fitting. 
Yup, we had a Pharrell hat at our wedding. It was amazing. 
My sister Sammi and I.
This picture is everything. 
I wasn't paying attention to what time it was, I was just having a damn good time. Our wedding, was the best night of our lives, and while I never wanted it to end, at some point, I looked around at everyone I loved, and I looked at The Pilot and I said, "Hey, let's get out of here." It was only about 15 minutes before the party ended, but everyone was having way too much fun and I didn't want to stop that.


 So that's that but I'm not finished sharing our wedding with you! 
Next week, I'll be showing you all of the fun little details that made up our travel-themed wedding!


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