Author: marathonmelissa

Monday Update

Life is kinda crazy lately. I’ve been traveling for work and all of the sudden things are moving ahead with wedding planning and I just want to crawl under a blanket and hide until someone tells me it’s time to walk down the aisle. Because THAT would just be easier. 

But I digress.

I prefer bullet points, so that’s how we’re doing this.

  • I LOVE the dress I’m wearing. I got it at the Kate Spade Outlet while I was home for Christmas, for only $60. It was regularly $270 so I think I got a decent deal. 
  • I signed up for a bridal show and ended up winning a FREE Engagement Photo Session! YASSS!! All the praise hands emojis! My fiance and I were literally looking for photographers and pricing them, so this is a HUGE weight off. 
  • I’ve been faithfully tracking my food and eating well for 3 months now. My weight has gone down 6 pounds, only to go back up 3. My coach tells me that since I lost weight before, science says it’s going to be SUPER hard for me to do it again. Well super. No wonder I feel like an abject failure this time around.
  • However, I have not been good about consistently working out. So that ended today. I got up and tried to run (more on that later) and ended up doing a spin class instead. 
  • Wedding planning is stressful. We may actually do my dream and get married on the beach with a party after. Because we are looking at 300+ guests easy that would attend and the logistics of renting a tent, food, etc are starting to get CRAZY. I wish I had millions of dollars.
  • My treadmill died this morning. I actually wore out the motor. I have run hundreds, and for sure into the thousands of miles, since 2005. It survived three moves, including a cross-country one, AND falling out of the back of a pickup when I told my friend he needed to strap it down! I think I can actually replace the motor, so we shall see if I can resurrect it.
  • I went to Binghamton last week for work. I had to go to an Emergency Management Conference. Binghamton, NY is basically down by Pennsylvania, where I live is about 45 minutes from Canada. It was a long trip.
  • My sweet Charlie boy (ignore the toilet) has a large lump in his neck that we just felt last night. My boo took him to the vet and they think it could be his lymph nodes so they are treating that first, then we’ll do more tests. I love that goober so much so any thoughts and prayers you’d spare for us would be very much appreciated.

On that note, I think I’m out! Have a good one friends!

Tuesday Things

The struggle was REAL to go back to work this morning. I hadn’t been to work since December 21 and wished I was independently wealthy so I could continue that trend. As I am not, I drug my butt out of bed and managed to make my way in. But I will assure you that I don’t wanna.

  • I had a great week back in Nebraska. It was wonderful being with my family and friends and I needed that recharge. 
  • My entire family (8 of us) went to see “The Greatest Showman” Friday night. And I am OBSESSED. I loved the music and even paid to download the soundtrack. I have probably listened to it about 25 times in the days since. #noshame It is THAT good.
  • I sat next to my oldest nephew, Jon, in the recliners at the theatre. He and I are very close and he’s the sweetest kid. He held my hand the entire movie and it made me feel so special and loved. I love all three of my nephews, but my sweet Jonathan is just the best. 
  • I went to look at wedding dresses with my mom while I was home and was incredibly disappointed with how it went. We went to David’s Bridal. I had an hour and a half appointment and got to see 5 dresses. The lady wasn’t listening to what I wanted and how I felt in the dresses. She also told me that she worked on commission and kept pushing the $1800 dress. Not bloody likely lady! I can’t afford to spend that much on a dress that I will only wear once. My mom and I now have a better idea of what I am looking for and will go to the local shops when I go back for another, longer trip home in July so that we can hopefully get the dress and other details figured out then.
  • My “friend” from college texted me on Sunday, wishing me a happy new year and congrats on the engagement. Then asked if we had set the date (July 2019) and proceeded to tell me that despite the fact that she only got a promise ring for Christmas, she would probably be married before me since we have such a long engagement. RUDE. What do my engagement and wedding have to do with yours? The answer to that is nothing. Absolutely nothing.
  • My former Spin Studio back in Lincoln is having a 20 in 30 challenge. Just go and complete 20 workouts in 30 days there for a prize. I obviously can’t do the workouts there, but I can do my own on my spin bike with my Peloton App! So that’s my new goal. I am also going to start lifting again. I have 6-8 months before I will have to order my wedding dress and I don’t want to have to pay for a lot of alterations if I can help it, so let’s do this! #bridalbootcamp

I hope 2018 is a great year for all of us, friends! I know that I have a lot of goals and can’t wait to crush them all!

Wednesday Things

Hello friends! Things are so quiet at work right now, so you get a post and a selfie. Hooray! Let’s do this, bullet style:

  • I am going back to Nebraska for Christmas, and I am so excited! I will be home for a week and can’t wait to see my family and friends and spend some time with my people.
  • We leave Friday early morning to drive across the state to Buffalo (where my boo is from) and I will fly out of there while he spends Christmas with his family. I am having a hard time wanting to work this week as no one is here and I don’t have much to do. The struggle.
  • I lost my voice Friday night amid the engagement excitement and the head cold I had since Tuesday. FIVE DAYS LATER I am finally starting to have more than just a squeak mixed with a whisper. I sounded a lot like the Godfather for several days. So that was fun.
  • I actually did my hair for the first time in awhile and I got ALL the compliments. Which leads me to believe that I might look like garbage most of the time. Whatever, I just like sleep more.
  • One of my favorite parts of Christmas is giving gifts that I know people will love and that they are expecting. It makes it so much fun! I have several gifts for friends and family that I can’t wait to see them open! I just love Christmas.
  • As of this morning, I am at my lowest weight since starting with my trainer! I am down 5.6 pounds and have lost each day this week. I can’t explain it, as I have had several food days and holiday luncheons this week and eaten more sweets than usual, but I will take it!

Alright, that’s all I got. I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Thank you for the good wishes, friends!

Friday night was such a whirlwind…I had NO idea that he was going to propose then (I knew it was coming sooner or later, but not that night!) And it was so lovely and romantic and even though I didn’t cry when he did it, while telling the story and watching the video our friends took of the proposal, I was thisclose to bursting into tears. 

I truly appreciate that you all were there for me with this big news! I know I haven’t blogged much of anything substantial for months. In fact, on Thursday I actually started a post about how I haven’t been a good blogger and I got sidetracked and there it sits, in my drafts.

So how about a life update? (Other than the obvious!)

  • I’ve been living in upstate New York for just over 5 months now. I’ve been in this new position (Director of Media Relations) for 3 months now. I am still learning a lot about it, but things are going well, and I am settling into a routine.
  • I started working with a trainer/nutritionist a few months ago. My weight has basically stayed the same despite tracking calories and macros obsessively, though, after I looked at my weight chart, I am down 5 pounds from last month at this time, so I guess it is working! I just want progress NOW!
  • Where we live is such a small town that they don’t have much to offer in terms of gyms or specialty fitness studios. Lincoln, with its nearly 300k people has a lot more to offer so I desperately miss my spin classes and boot camp that I went to there. So a few weeks ago I bought a spin bike for $100 from a lady selling it on Facebook (it works perfectly, she was just too short for it!) And I bought I bike computer online and pay for the Peloton app, so I’ve been taking 4-5 classes a week through that with my favorite, @two-o-nine !! 🙂
  • HOWEVER, I have not worked out since last week as I have a horrible cold that went from my sinuses to my throat, to my chest, to my voice! I have had no voice since Friday night! Not long after we got engaged it started to get crackly then it was done. Just gone. I can sometimes get words out, but mostly can whisper, which is not good for laryngitis, apparently. So that’s super fun.
  • I leave Saturday to go back home to Nebraska for a week for Christmas with my wonderful family. I can’t wait. My precious nephew, who is 11 now(!!) has been texting me, counting down the days until I come home. He’s my favorite kid, and he’s just the best.
  • It is currently snowing here and has been for a few hours. Conversely, it has been highs in the 50′s and 60s in Nebraska, and while I do love snow for Christmas, the single-digit temperatures that we’ve seen here the last few weeks will NOT be missed when I go home!
  • Again, thank you for all the sweet comments on my post. I’m over the moon and beyond thrilled about this next chapter with my boo. As a girl who rarely wears much jewelry, this ring feels kinda odd, but I LOVE it! 🙂

Hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season and have a very Merry Christmas!! I promise I will do better about posting, and not just about wedding planning stuff! LOL

WE’RE ENGAGED!! With the snow falling gently over us, Jessie got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was perfect and romantic, and I cant wait to spend the rest of my life with you boo! Guys, I have a fiance!! 💍👰 #shesaidyes #heputaringonit #alliwantforchristmasisyou (at Potsdam, New York)

Big changes for me this week: after two months I’ve already been promoted at work from a Development Writer to the Director of Media Relations. I wasn’t looking to change jobs so soon, it just kinda happened, and you have to seize opportunities when they come up!

It comes with a lot more responsibility, but a salary that makes it worth it! It was a stressful move with my boss being angry that I was leaving to go to another department and a lot of people talking about things they don’t know about, but ultimately I’m in a job that will position me to keep climbing that corporate ladder, and make me even more marketable!
My boo is beyond excited for me, and my family and friends are so proud. TBH, I’m pretty proud of myself!