Post-Wedding Weigh-In

Wednesday means we're half way through the week, and only two more work days before we reach a  3-day weekend! That makes me a very happy girl. And since today is Wednesday, we all know that means I hopped on that scale this morning, and snapped a quick picture to share. Today's Weigh-In Wednesday post will once again actually be pretty quick and easy, because there's not too much to share. And of course I'm linking up with Erin and Alex too!

Check out those awesome flowers from my pre-wedding pedicure! They're so cute and I like them so much :)

Initial Starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last Week, May 15 = 188

Today, May 22 = 189.2

And yes, that's a gain. But you know what? For once, I'm not too worried about the gain. Because it happened after celebrating my sister's wedding! And that's OK with me for this week. I mean, I ate a ton of delicious food from Thursday all the way through yesterday, and we still have reception leftovers at my house. I'll just have to switch from the yummiest of leftover things, to the leftover fruits and veggies instead. Oh, and I should probably leave the rest of the leftover wedding cake alone too ;)

Also, I haven't worked out since last Tuesday because of all the wedding craziness. I mean, I was very active during those days (packed and moved Meg to her new house on Wednesday, lots of set-up and decorating on Thursday, errands on Friday, wedding on Saturday...) but I never actually ran or worked out for real. So the combination of eating pretty much whatever I wanted, mixed with no real workouts, of course means a little gain for the week. But I know once I reign my eating back in, and begin with my exercise routine again, I'll be back on track in no time!

And come back later today around lunch-time if you want to see some pictures of Megan's ceremony!

Practice for The Big Day

(If you missed it, I already shared about the Bridesmaids Luncheon yesterday.) So on Friday night, we all did the usual rehearsal and rehearsal dinner all together. A very long time ago, Megan and Bo had asked me and Zach (Bo's brother) to sing a song together during the ceremony. So Friday night, we got there early to practice one more time and run a sound check. Then once everyone else was there, we got that show on the road! Megan had hired a wedding coordinator, and she did a great job to help with all the planning along the way, and definitely the night before and the day of the wedding. She ran things so smoothly! 

After the rehearsal, we all went to dinner together at Bo's favorite restaurant, Marie Livingston's. We enjoyed yummy food, and fun times, and celebrating the upcoming nuptials for my little sister and her very-soon-to-be husband! 

It was a good night of family and food and fun, and we all had a great time together! Afterwards, Megan and I went home, and we packed up all we would need for Saturday. Then we had our last sleepover as two single sisters. I put this up as my Facebook status late Friday night, and I want to share it here too:

"This all still seems so strange - tonight by baby sister goes to sleep for the last time as a single woman; the last night we share our last name; the last night we share the same roof. So I'm glad we're spending this night in the same bed together too :) When we wake up in the morning, it will be her wedding day, and the start of a new journey for her as a wife, with her new husband. So strange, and also so exciting! Love this girl with all my heart, and I'm so excited for tomorrow!"

For tomorrow's post, I'll be sharing pictures of all the girls getting ready on Saturday morning, and a sneak peak of the bridesmaids' photo session! Lots of prettiness in tomorrow's post :)

Princeton, NYC & Elizabethton - FFTL Link-Up

Yesterday I took the day off work for an extra day of wedding recovery. It was much needed, and definitely a good thing for me, but I really wish I could have taken another day or two still! I'm back at work today, but absolutely wishing I was still at home. At least this coming weekend is a long one! I am excited to be back in the blog-world though, because I really haven't been since this time last week! So let's dive right into our normal Tuesday post, with my weekly link-up, From Firsts to Lasts!

Today's topics are:

First thing I do when I get to work

First vacation without my parents

First thing I do when I get to work

Unload and unpack all that I brought with me that day. Sometimes I bring in my bag of workout clothes, that's also loaded down with snacks and who knows what else. So I gotta put all that away somewhere! Then I head to the water fountain to fill up my cup of water - and then I'll do that at least four more times during the day. (And then I'll have to pee about six more times during the day...) And then I finally get my computer up and running, and get going on all the emails! I answer a public inquiry inbox for my department, so I'm always answering emails from the public. It gets real old, real fast, but at least it's pretty easy most of the time.

First vacation without my parents

Well, I went on a ton of trips to church camp and cheerleading camp and mission trips and stuff all through my middle and high school years. But I'm not sure I would really consider that a vacation. So I'm gonna say that the first vacation without my parents was probably The Great American Road Trip (The GART) that I took with my girlfriends in August 2010. Three of us (me, Jenni & Cally) started in St. Augustine, FL, drove to Charlotte, NC, to pick up another girl (Hollis), and then drove to Elizabethton, TN, to stay four days with one of our married couple friends (Megan & Dan). Then me, Jenni, Cally, Hollis & Megan all drove to Princeton, NJ, to stay with another couple of our married friends, Kaley & Zach. From there, we went into New York City for a day, and had a great time there. 

It was a 10-day long trip (maybe a little longer, I can't remember), and we had such an amazing time!! We laughed so much, and explored everything we could. We played tons of games, and went shopping, and saw a Broadway, and wore funny hats, and hiked part of the Appalachian Trail. And generally, we just had a freaking blast! We haven't been able to do a trip like that again since then, but we're hoping we can one day!

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics & link up with us!

2. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

3. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

4. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

<center><a href="http://penguinspastapolkadots.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Firsts%20to%20Lasts" target="_blank"><img alt="First Things First" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFNj40GVx7AP9lraT1humdBRP4sPomeZ4oguCN66q29JzJjlpc-OGntw64ux7ruFcLcYzj_cczAnHhqf7lqCfH98cbM6N2UYQjPLVmUzbsB2FRCj10gkHiz2CEoROFWYqwDUKlvQs85A/s1600/Firsts+to+Lasts+-+1.jpg"/></a></center>

And if you'd like to prepare for next week's link-up, the two 'first' topics will be:

First blate you went on (or who you like to meet if you haven't done this yet!)
First blog you visit on your blog roll or RSS feed

I'm silly and forgot how to run my own link-up, and that next week is actually the last  week of the month, which means it's also the first time we'll write about our lasts!  So don't write about those firsts I gave you before, you should actually write about:
Last book you read
Last movie you saw in a theater

Party Chicken for the Bridesmaids

I'm back from a crazy wedding weekend for Megan! It was exhausting and fun and crazy and amazing. And I can't wait to share it! Since so many things have happened over the last five or so days, I'll be recapping all of my sister's wedding events in a couple of posts over the next few days. So today we'll start with the bridesmaids luncheon from Thursday!

My Aunt Suzanne hosted it at her house, and she did such a beautiful job. Everything was seriously so gorgeous, and we all loved both the decoration and the food! So let's just show the pictures now :)

"Isn't this chicken called something fancy?" ... "Um, it's just Party Chicken!"

Megan & her Jr. Bridesmaids, Abby & Anna

Silly bridesmaids, minus one

Megan & Aunt Suzanne

Megan & Mama

It was a beautiful lunch and we had a great time! Afterwards, we all went to the church and started decorating for the reception, and we got a lot of work done! Once we were basically done there for the day,  it was time to head out to Megan & Bo's new house in order to start setting up for the bachelorette party! Those pictures will have to wait though (until later - hopefully), because the pictures were all taken on Megan's camera, and now we sadly can't find the camera... :( But we're still searching, so it'll show up eventually!

Tomorrow's  post will be the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, so get ready for that too :)

Pace is So Crazy, Race is So Worth It

It's incredibly strange and weird and amazing and fantastic that today is my little sister's wedding day!! While putting this video together, I had so much fun looking through these old pictures, but then balled like a baby when I put the music in and then watched the whole thing as an actual video. It was extremely emotion, and it definitely got to me!

I really wish I would have had time to go through our super ooooolllddd pictures to scan in, and include those too. But I didn't start this project soon enough, and just ran out of time! But even still, these pictures date back to circa 2004 or so, about the time when she was 13 and I was 16 years old. Such great memories.

And the first song on this video is one that we used to looooved singing along to. Aly & AJ were some of our very favorites back in the day. We would blare them so loud in my first car, and drive around town together singing at the top of our lungs. One time, Meg even drew me a picture of us two in my car, with these lyrics written around it. It was so cute and so sweet. I wish I could find that now! I know I saved it somewhere, but I'm just not sure where.

I'm so happy for my little baby sister, and I am so proud of the grown-up woman she has become. She is my absolute best friend, and I'm so so glad and thankful for the relationship we have. I wish you all the best in the whole wide world, Meg! I will always be here for you, no matter what. I hope you know that. You mean so, so very much to me! Happy Wedding Day, Mabie!!! I love you!!

Life is amazing with you on the ride, Megan!! Love you!!

Prompt #17 - Favorite Photo & Why

Day 17 - A favorite photo of yourself and why...

Well first of all, I'm cheating and including two pictures, because I love them both so much. These photos are both from our engagement session last month (with the amazing Phil Pullen Photography!) and I just love them both so much. 
A few reasons why: One - my sweet fiance is adorably cute, so of course I like that :) Two - they were both taken at Flagler College, where I went to school, and I just loved it there. I love the beautiful campus and the education I got, and mostly the amazing friends I made while there. Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, is a special place for me, and for Jeff now too since we've visited there so many times together! Three - these pictures are a obviously just a great way to celebrate our engagement!

These photos are special to me because they celebrate not only our engagement to each other, but at the most basic level, they celebrate our love for each other. And that is so special to me. He is such an amazing man and I love him so much, and I am just so stinking excited to marry him in October!! As much wedding planning as we still have to do before then, I also just can't wait for that day to be here. 

But before we get to my wedding - it's my little sister's turn to get married!! Her wedding is TOMORROW, and holy crap how did it get here so fast? She's been engaged since last June, and at times it's felt like forever, but mostly it seems to have gone by pretty quickly. I just can't believe it's finally here for her, and that she will now be Mrs. Walker! Craziness. There's a special post already scheduled for tomorrow morning, so come back and check that out, for some mushy gushy lovin' on my little sister, complete with lots of old pictures of us :)

Paleontology to Plantation

Last week, my blog-friend Kristen posted about using Wikipedia as a boredom-buster game. She suggested you start on one page, and click through to five different links, reading a bit about each one as you go, and just see where you end up! Well that's fun, but I play that game a little differently. I was first introduced to this my some of the kids in my youth group over two years ago, and I even wrote a little post about it! (Back when I had like 11 readers, all of which were my friends and family.) But I'm gonna talk about it again today!

So here's the deal - it's like Connect the Dots with Wiki articles. I can't remember right now what it might be called though...? You randomly choose two words (any words you think might have a Wiki article) and see how many clicks it takes you to get from the first word to the second word. The goal is to keep the number low!

So for example - let's start with "Spaghetti" and try to get to "The Holocaust."

Go ahead. I want you to try it. Really!

It takes a bit of reading, and figuring, and making strategic clicks. Think about how you can get from a food to an event, and that makes it seem a little more manageable. You may have to scroll through a bit of the article before you find something that seems like a good idea. Don't just click on things all willy-nilly without thinking it through though!

So have y'all tried it yet? How many clicks did it take you? It took me only TWO! But I'm a pro at this point, honestly. I had people text me their challenges with word combinations while I was bored at work. I spent quite a bit of time on Wikipedia that summer I first learned this game ;)

Here are a couple more that I just randomly challenged myself with. And of course I want you to try these as well. Let me know how many clicks it took you on some of these!

Paleontology to Plantation (I can't actually get this one!?!)

Lampshade to Penguin (6)

Meatloaf to Computer (4)

Globe to Soybean (5)

Kelly Clarkson to Fax (4)

Body wash to Outback Steakhouse (10)

So how did y'all do with those? Did you beat my amount of clicks? Or maybe did it take you twice as many clicks as it took me?! Did you at least have a little bit of fun?! I did :) Except those first and last ones were really hard. I never could figure out the first one, and the last one took forever! There's got to be an easier way to connect body wash to Outback, right?! Oh, and here's another helpful tip - I like to read over the ending term a little bit first, to get a couple ideas on how I might be able to make the connections. Learn a little bit about it, and it'll be easier to figure out how to get there.

Anyways, I always love random games. Can y'all think of any good combinations that I should try? Maybe I'll send a little prize to the person who's suggestion takes me the most amount of clicks! So let me know which combinations you think I should attempt!

Oh, and in case you're wondering how I did the first one, here's how:

Spaghetti - scroll down to the section labeled 'Consumption' and find the link for World War II in the first sentence. Then scroll wayyy down to the section labeled 'Impact' and you'll find the link for The Holocaust in the last sentence of the second paragraph.

Spaghetti > World War II > The Holocaust = 2 clicks. Boom.