Craziness!

I tell ya, my schedule has not slowed down one bit! If anything it's picking up some major speed and not stopping for anyone or anything! whew.
Last weekend was busy busy busy! I spent all day Saturday with my friend Christie doing wedding dress shopping - we had a great time giggling at some of them as well as some good "oohs" and "aaahs" :) We were, however, disappointed with the way one of the most popular wedding shops here (coincidentally named "The Wedding Shoppe") treated us. Perhaps our standards were set a bit high from the first shop we went to, "Grace Bridal" in Excelsior where they had very beautiful dresses and the owners were so very attentive to my needs, listening to what I wanted/didn't want, etc. We found some awesome dresses let me say...but...they come with a "not so awesome" price tag! Seriously! I tried on a dress that was $7500!!! (I can send you pics if you wish, I just will not post them here as I cannot let my man see them ;) ). When we got to St. Paul to the Wedding Shoppe...the woman there basically took one look at Christie who had our lunch in her hand (and we scoped the place for "Do not eat" signs but none were seen!), and the lady says "With a samwhich?" We promptly asked if it was OK and she busts out into a hideous laugh, so we decide "it's ok". She leads us to this room up some stairs and says "Ok, I'll show you some dresses and you can pick out what you want to try on." She then takes us to some other room, Christie finds some really good dresses (she's REALLY good at this!), and we head back to the "fitting room". Our "attendant" --- let's call her Mimi because she looked like the character from Drew Carey --- Mimi takes us back to the room and says "you have enough here now", so we wait for the next step in the process...Mimi to help me put them on. Nope, Mimi leaves the room. Christie and I are like...um, ok...so we start putting them on and come to one with a corset top (one where you tie it in the back). Mimi comes back in and literally yanks on these laces to the point where I think I'm going to be as blue as Mimi's eye shadow from lack of oxygen and Christie is wondering if she's going to have to pick me up from out side of the window since I'm being thrown around like a rag doll. Whew...we get through the corset tops and I'm praying we don't find anymore that are like that. Mimi lectured me on how I'm looking for a dress way too late in the ball game, blah blah blah. Whatever. She can bite me. We did find a couple of dresses we liked...so, if we go back through that store, we'll be sure to request we don't get "Mimi" - speaking of her, she never gave us her real name --- wonder why????

Sunday, Christie and I get to go do a walk to benefit Breast Cancer patients, survivors, research, etc. Such an emotional and moving event for me...seeing one of my best friends and how she does this for her mom every Mother's day moved me to tears. Then I put myself in her shoes, and I did the same for my mom...it was emotional to say the least.

After the walk, which I have to add was more like a herd of cattle moving at a snails pace because there were over 55,000 people walking in a 5k course, Christie and I were going to meet Nadine for some mimosas and brunch! YUM! We had a bit to eat and drink, then we were off to do our own things for a bit...mine included a 10 mile run to train for the marathon. Finished that and felt pretty good.

The week was uber busy as well - my BFF from high school, Jill, was in town for a couple of days for work, so I got to hang out with her and get a work out in at the hotel :) LOVED that! After we burned the calories, we headed out to the 5-8 Club for a Juicy Lucy burger (if you haven't had one - next time you are in town, we will!), and then to Pepitos for a margarita or beer for dessert! mmmm!

Wednesday - oh boy was this super fun - I went to a canoeing class with my buddy Paul! Seriously! I "learned" how to canoe. The only way I've ever canoed before was with a cooler of beer and no real intentions to get anywhere fast. With the Border to Border race looming over our heads, we decided we needed to get some lessons on competitive paddling as well as some time for our muscles to get used to the motion. Man that was fun! 2 hours of riding through canals and channels that connect the lakes in the city of Minneapolis together....it was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done in Minneapolis to date! I loved it!

Thursday was ANTM night with the gals - man did we have a blast! I was in charge of nibbling food while Nadine did the beverages and Christie was in charge of bringing Bruno and the good times --- let's just say we all executed perfectly and it was a fabulous night!

Friday Thom and I went to the Home Show...wow was that a bust!?! Free tickets made it worth while, and perhaps we "could win $10,000 towards some windows!" We'll see if they disclose the winner...ha! We did get a good lead on some good windows anyway. Now I just need to get them to give me a good quote - one I can afford!

Saturday was a Marriage Retreat for a few hours - that was a lot of fun to see some more information about ourselves and our relationship...nothing really new uncovered, but good and healthy none the less.

Sunday I woke up early and headed north to Circle Pines to meet my friend Becka for some good training. We loaded our bikes onto her roof rack of her car, then drove down to Savage to meet Paul for a good HILLY, 36 mile ride. I enjoyed every minute of it, and that was the first ride of the season. After we finished the ride I might title "Idenify the Road Kill" (I could identify skunk, deer, coon (x2), and there was one mystery meat I didn't know...), we headed back north to her house to do a 12 mile run! LOVED the trail she took me on and enjoyed the nature we ran through...the lilacs are in full bloom and the smell was SO beautiful....ahhhh. I hope the marathon is as beautiful ;)