Author: marathonmelissa

Where did the summer go?

I blinked and suddenly it’s almost Labor Day. The kids (I can call college students kids because I could be their teen mom) come back this week and classes start Monday. How did that happen? What have I done over the last three months?

  • We had to switch back to normal hours from summer hours yesterday. I really can’t complain too much because I honestly don’t work a 40 hour week anymore, (8:00-4:30 during the school year, 8:00-4:00 during the summer, with an hour lunch) so I work what, 37.5 hours a week most of the year? Not too shabby, but those 30 minutes made a difference!
  • Planning a wedding is stressful. Planning a destination wedding in another country is also stressful. Planning a destination wedding while your fiance is medically retiring from the Army and job hunting in two locations while you’re both dealing with some health issues is VERY STRESSFUL. But, as he told me this morning, there’s no one we’d rather go through this with.
  • My health stuff is a post for another day when I have more answers for you.
  • In better news, a couple of girlfriends and I are going to Montreal in min-September for a mini-bachelorette party. I’m not a drinker but I love being pampered, so we’re going to a spa for the weekend. I can’t wait! The spa, Bota-Bota http://botabota.ca/en/ has been highly recommended. We’re getting an hour and a half massages, facials, and doing the water circuit. Give me ALL the pampering!!
  • I firmly believe in self-care and whatever form that takes for you. So in the past five months, I have been getting regular massages and it has been so good for me. 
  • The wedding has gone back down in price again. Not quite as much as the first time, but much better than before. The question is, do I book on Expedia and pay the whole trip now, or do I pay about $300 more and use the travel agent like my boo wants? 

Ok, I should get back to work now. Have a great week, friends!

The Last Mrs. Parrish

By Liv Constantine

I could NOT put this book down. I tore through the entire book Sunday afternoon with a fervor that even surprised me. It is a fast-paced psychological thriller. It’s a Reese Witherspoon book club pick and it is GOOD.

Go check this one out. You won’t be disappointed. 

Rules: Repost and answer the 20 questions and tag 20 people you want to get to know better.

Tagged: @morningmiles

Nicknames: Mel, Meliss, my last name, and Emmie (my nephews gave me that one)

Height: 5′9

Orientation: straight

Favorite Fruit: Watermelon. I can eat one by myself in about 5 days.

Favorite Season: summer and spring

Favorite Flowers: Hydrangeas and peonies

Favorite Scent: freshly cut grass, coconut, & lilacs

Favorite Color: bright blue

Favorite Animal(s): Dogs

Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate: Of those three–hot chocolate.

Average Hours of Sleep: 7-8

Cat or Dog person: Dog!

Favorite Fictional Characters: Elenore Shellstrop from The Good Place and Liza Miller from Younger

Number of blankets you sleep with: Comforter and another blanket on top

Dream Trip: Greece or Bora Bora

Blog Created: May 2011

Number of Followers: I just checked–1278

Random Fact: My left thumb is shorter than my right, by a significant amount. 

Favorite Breakfast Food: French Toast

I’m tagging @two-o-nine and @keepgoinggreen and @davidbowietoldme

Monday, Monday

The +/- edition. 

+ Rio and I got up and ran this morning. It was a struggle to get out of bed when I was awake for about an hour at 2:30 this morning. I hate when that happens! But we got up and got the miles in before the heat advisory sets in today. It was already 74 degrees at 6am and very humid (for this far upstate NY) and we were both hot and sticky after that run. But it’s done and that means pool time when I get off at 4pm!

– Last week, my future MIL told me to wait to book the wedding trip because the prices might go down more (they were down $300/person) and she wanted to chat with her travel agent. So I did. Then the online deal ended and they went back up and have stayed there. So now we’re going to pay more for the trip and I’m super frustrated. I had a gut feeling to just book it, but my fiance wanted to follow his mom’s advice. I should have just done it. Lesson learned.

+ We drove the hour and a half to Ottawa, ON Saturday to go to the movies (they have the theatres with the recliners in Kanata, ON, we have crappy chairs at our theatre here) and we stopped for sushi and books. I LOVE going to Canada right now because that exchange rate favors us so much (I got 4 books for $16 CN, which ended up being just under $13 US). $3 is $3!! Also SUSHI!! (there isn’t a sushi restaurant here for miles and it makes me so sad).

-/+ I dropped my phone Saturday and cracked the screen protector pretty good. Thanks to Amazon another one is on its way.

+/- I am still reading I’ll Be Gone in the Dark at a feverish pace. On Friday I wasn’t too far in, but today, with minimal reading yesterday, I have only a few chapters to go. I am both excited and sad to reach the end. Up next are a couple of fiction books, including Wishful Thinking by Kamy Wicoff. Should be a nice respite from the rapes and murders in the previous book!

Ok friends, I should get back to work. Have a great day!

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark

I know, I know, I’m a bit late to this party. But have you guys read this book yet? It is SO GOOD! If you are a true crime buff I highly recommend it. I just started it Wednesday evening and while I am NOT reading it right before bed, (just trust me on this) I am devouring it at a frenetic pace. Like I am reading it while I eat my lunch, as soon as I get home from work, even before I went to work this morning, etc. I just can’t get enough!

I recently got a library card here and it has come in quite handy. While the town I am in is small, they are part of a network of libraries so if one doesn’t have the book, likely someone does. I just put the book on hold and a few days later it shows up and they text me to come and get it. I dig it.

Hump Day Happenings

You guys. This is a REALLLLLY good angle for me. I’m not even going to pretend that this doesn’t make me look about 20 pounds thinner. Smoke and mirrors man. I’ll take it.

I got this dress for a wedding 3 years ago and have worn it to another wedding last year, and that’s it. But I love it so much (it’s even one of our wedding colors!) that I decided it wasn’t too formal to wear to work. If it is, whatevs, I’m bringing style to the office today.

Rio and I went for our morning run today and it was a struggle. 74 and sticky at 6am. I felt super gross but so glad that my exercise was done before 7am!

We are just about to book our wedding trip to Mexico and I was looking at Expedia and the price has dropped about $300 in two weeks! We were planning on going for 8 days, but I decided on a whim to make it for 10 and the price only increased by $40 total sooooo….we’re going for 10 days now!! 

My wedding dress arrived yesterday and despite the dreams I had that they ordered the wrong dress, it was the right one and it is perfect! It was even more beautiful than I remembered. 303 days to go!

Have a great rest of your week cats!

Never miss a Monday

  • 3 miles with my girl. Rio and I enjoyed 63 degrees and sunshine for our run this morning. It was the perfect running weather.
  • I’m going walking with my friend Madison after work, and we’ll take the pups so Chalie can get his exercise in too.
  • My wedding dress is on its way! It was shipped to the Lincoln store, so they are sending it to me so I don’t have to fly with it twice. I only need minor alterations (the straps need to be shortened, I need cups put in, and the hips let out a skosh) so I’m going to have a seamstress here do those for me.
  • Tomorrow marks 10 months to go until our wedding day!! Time is flying by.
  • All the gray in Rio’s face is making me sad. She isn’t allowed to get older, doesn’t she know that?? There are more random gray hairs popping up on her back and head as well. I don’t like it.
  • Have a great week, friends!

Who wore it best??

I got that dress for $1 at a consignment shop and I love it. I did realize that I look like a Dilophosaurus–made famous in the first Jurassic Park some 25 years ago. 

I did the move above to my coworker and she nearly spat out her water laughing. I added a screech (no spitting) which made us both laugh harder. I have officially lost it.