Weekend Elaboration and Happy Birthday, Mom!

First off, I apologize in advance for the insanely lengthy post.

I was hoping to wait until there were more pictures to share, but I did want to elaborate on the weekend's activities, since this past weekend was such a big one for me (regardless of the disappointment that followed this week).  

This weekend was my friend, Michelle's, wedding, and I had already set up with her to coordinate her wedding reception.  Michelle and I had met a few times prior to the start of the wedding to get everything organized and planned.  As I've mentioned before, Michelle and her new hubby, Jason had planned to do a LOT themselves, so I knew this one would keep me pretty busy (I had no idea how busy).  On Friday morning, we headed down to the reception venue, Drexel Hall, with some of Michelle's family and friends to get the big stuff set up.  At this venue you had to set everything up (chairs, tables, etc.).  They did provide the tables and chairs, but they all had to be set up.  I was most grateful for help with this.  We got almost everything set up Friday (which wasn't really what I thought or planned, but later ended up being grateful).  Then Saturday around 1, I came back down with more stuff and to add the finishing touches (flowers, light candles, touch up everything).  I initially thought I'd have lots of time to kill (although vendors were arriving, so I had to be there).  I'm so glad, though, that we were there early because several of the coolers were leaking all over the floor.  The B and G had bought some from our church rummage sale, but not all had plugs in them.  Unfortunately, the G and his groomsmen didn't realize this before they poured the ice in them.  We spent the first few hours cleaning up water and Matt (who had thankfully come down with me) went to Home Depot to buy some things to plug the coolers.  During this time, the cake (AMAZING, by the way- wish I had a picture) and food arrived and I started getting things set up.  I cut flowers for the centerpieces, organized the bar area, and made sure everything was in order for the start of the wedding.  Thankfully, Matt was able to fix the coolers, and we had the DJs (technically their friends) stop and get ice on their way.  Since both Jason and Michelle work at the church, they had Sherri, another church employee who does church events help with the food (since it was subs and a few other things).  I got to spend a good portion of the night helping her, which was not really what I expected, but I did learn a lot about the catering world.  The one other scare we had prior to the start of the wedding was that the bartender had locked her child in her running car.  Her dad had come to pick him up, so no, she wasn't bringing him to work :) but it was scary for a minute.  Thankfully they got him out and the wedding got going a short time later.  Thankfully, once it started, everything seemed to go off pretty well.  We had some slight lighting issues, but other than that, I have to say, I'm pretty proud of my first solo wedding.  I spent most of the night helping Sherri, checking in with the bride and groom, helping cut the cake, cleaning as we went, and making sure we were on schedule with the wedding events.  I was so thankful that after the wedding, their great friends and family helped get things cleaned up, since EVERYTHING had to be out and all by 1 a.m. (or we'd have to come back the next day).  I don't know what I would have done without their help!  I'm so thankful.  The wedding was lots of fun, and I'm so glad I got to do it.  It was so great to be a part of such a special day. I do have to say that I was utterly and completely exhausted and my feet were so swollen, but I was still so glad I did it! It did make for a much tougher morning for the 5k the next day.

Here are the two pictures I took on my phone of the centerpieces.  We look these the day before so I'd know what they should look like.  The colors are red and kind of an aqua blue in case you can't tell from the pictures. 

 

This is the "groom's cake"- the Nebraska football stadium made out of Rice Krispie treats, made by the Mother of the Bride (day before the wedding, ignore surrounding trash).

 On to the 5k... I got to bed Saturday night at around 1:45 a.m. and got up Sunday morning for the race around 5:30 a.m.  I was BEYOND exhausted when I woke up and the pads of my feet were so swollen it hurt to walk (since I was on my feet for 12 hours straight the day before).  Regardless, I decided to get up and give it a shot.  I rode downtown to the race with Patricia for our 2nd 5k together.  It was early, so thankfully it wasn't nearly as hot as I expected.  When we arrived, we parked and walked to meet our Movin' for Mary team and took a few pictures and started to the finish line.  I decided it might be easy to recap the actual race in positives and negatives (negatives first, we'll leave the best for last).

Negatives:

-No real defined start or any start excitement... we didn't figured out we had started til like a minute or so after

-No mile markers (worst part, I thought)

-Mostly hills (hey, that's pretty good that we still did it, though)

- Sweat in the eyes (thankfully this was only in the last stretch of a minute or two, but so painful!)

-Clock at end was inaccurate and I'm not sure when the start was, so no official time (although I have some idea- I did same or better than last time)

Positives:

- We BOTH finished (that morning, I had totally expected to not be able to do it)

- It was not nearly as hot as anticipated

- After about the first 2-3 minutes, my knee stopped hurting, and I didn't even notice my sore feet (thank GOD).

- There were live bands playing throughout the race.

- The course was in a part of town I never run in (we ran by Union Station and through Power and Light for KC people), so it was very distracting in a good way.

-Raised money for a great cause (Susan G. Komen foundation to benefit Breast Cancer Research/treatment)

-Yummy brunch at First Watch after the race with our team (and got to hang out with my former roomie and great friend, Morgan)

All in all, it was a great race, and I want to definitely do it again next year.  I would have to say, though, that I'd either like to be in the competitive runner group or the start of the non-competitive runner group (the group I was in this year), so I'd know my official time at the end and not have to dodge a million walkers along the way (another slow down).

Last but certainly not least, I'd like to wish a very Happy Birthday to my Mom! She's Amazing and definitely a role model for the woman, mom, wife, sister, daughter, etc I want to be in my life.  I wish Matt and I could be there to celebrate with her today, but I know she's having a great time at the beach anyway, so at least I know she's one happy Birthday girl!  I love you, Mom, and miss you very much!

Kind of an old picture, but one of my favorites- Me and Mom on my Wedding Day

 If you're still reading, it's a miracle... happy Thursday!