I promise, I won't turn this blog into a chronicle of weddings, but I have another wedding weekend to post about in here! And it was a fun one. The whole weekend was a fun one.
In addition to everything I posted last week about knowing when you're a triathlete, I guess another thing to add to that list would be when you schedule your travel in order to fit in workouts. As this weekend, I booked a Saturday evening flight to JFK airport in NYC specifically so I could get in a 50-mile bike ride in the morning. Despite the fact that I flew in the evening to fit in the workout, it did not mean I was any less excited to get to the city. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do though. And then we fly.
I landed in New York super anxious and excited to get myself to Manhattan to meet up with KV, one of my best friends from college. We had plans to go out and stay out late and laugh as much as possible and my Uber driver could not get me to the city fast enough. I chose "Uber Pool" thinking it would just drive other people from JFK to Manhattan, but instead it had us pulling off the highway multiple times to pick up random people and drop them off and made my trip to the UES way way way too long for my liking (I was trying to bribe the Uber driver to change it off of "Pool" and just take me right to the city and to my friend.) At least I had a beautiful sunset to look at while I was trapped in his car.
When I finally arrived and met up with KV, we did exactly what we set out to and had an awesome night laughing and dancing and talking. I miss seeing her more often and every time we're together makes me think how much fun it would be if we lived in the same city. [We also ran into her cousin while we were out, which was a fun coincidence!]
In the morning, KV had to be up early and head out of town, so I slept in slightly later then made my way out to the East River pathway to get in an 8-mile run alongside New York City (who was pretty much still asleep on this Sunday morning.) I'm not going to lie and say it was the best run of my life... the lack of sleep and addition of late night pizza and beer left me feeling pretty crappy during these miles, but they were finished.
I met up with KO for an NYC bagel breakfast before hopping on the LIRR and making my way out to Ronkonkoma, Long Island to meet up with my Syracuse senior year roommates for another wedding celebration! Last summer, we had the first wedding of our group, which was an amazing reunion and non-stop party. It was amazing to get back together for the second wedding of the group. Mariel, who undeniably married her soul mate on Sunday, was my roommate for a year in our sorority house (yes, I was in a sorority) as well as a year in an apartment. She's one of the most loyal friends you will ever meet and is non-stop going out of her way to make people feel welcome and comfortable. Her wedding was no exception.
We took a shuttle from the hotel over to the country club where both the ceremony and the reception would take place. At first I was a bit nervous as I was the only one around.
But then my friends showed up!
Every detail of the wedding was incredibly well done. Mariel and her (now!) husband are huge Disney fans and part of the theme of the wedding was Disney princesses. Throughout the cocktail area there were framed Disney love quotes and small details throughout the reception such as the seating charts that brought the magic of Disney to the wedding.
In addition, Mariel is a 3rd grade teacher, whose students were not only involved in her proposal (her fiance surprised her in her classroom and had the students hold up signs spelling out "Will you marry me?") but they also contributed to the wedding. Also in little frames were marriage advice given to Mariel and her husband from the students and it was really adorable.
The ceremony itself was really nice as it was the first time I have attended a Jewish wedding ceremony. The sorority I actually joined in college was a nationally Jewish sorority (despite not being Jewish myself... that's a story for a different day...) so I have many Jewish friends but for some reason had never attended a Jewish wedding. I love experiencing new cultures so being able to experience a different type of wedding ceremony was really fun. Everyone looked absolutely stunning.
Immediately after the ceremony, the eating began. The food was amazing and some of the best wedding food I have ever had. Amidst the macaroni and cheese, asian noodles, beef, calamari, spanikopita, and of course champagne, our friends had the opportunity to catch up and learn about what's been going on in one anothers lives in person. Technology makes it easy to stay in touch but you can never beat in person conversation.
Dinner itself was incredible as well as cake, ice cream bar, and the fact that Mariel had flip flops for everyone so I didn't have to try to attempt the night in heels. Another little detail that I loved and was so Mariel, was that she had wedding themed coloring sheets for the kids and also special cookies for a few of her guests that were either celebrating weddings or anniversaries the weekend of her wedding. As someone who attended weddings the past two years on her birthday weekend, I thought that was SUCH a sweet touch to have her acknowledge those special days in her guests lives. Plus - the cookies were made at the bakery owned by Kristina, the sister of our college roommate who had gotten married the year before! Kristina, who couldn't be at the wedding since she just gave birth to her second daughter - joined us via Snapchat as we all missed her.
We danced and laughed and had an amazing night.
There was no after party since we are all apparently super old now and the "after party" consisted of the two girls who were bridesmaids laying facedown on the hotel beds and me pulling all of the bobby pins out of their hair. I did this job for my friends the weekend before and I must say that I am pretty good at it.
Monday morning, which was the actual fourth of July, we joined the bride and groom and the rest of the guests for a morning brunch before sleepily taking the train back to NYC. I don't know if it was all the food I ate or the workouts from Saturday and Sunday or the lack of sleep or what - but I felt like I had gotten hit by a truck on Monday. It was a rough day and I wasn't even drunk the night before!
After hanging out for a bit in the city and enjoying my friend's rooftop views from her apartment, we head to JFK and all got on planes heading in different directions. Back to Atlanta for me and to a break from weddings for a couple months. It was so wonderful to get to see so many people who were special to me in my life over the past few weeks. From seeing all my home friends at Teenie's wedding, to now seeing all my college friends in NYC and Long Island (if you include Ariel's visit to Atlanta in June) that's all my best friends from those two times in life! The summer is shaping up to be pretty incredible.
I was a little bit bummed about not doing anything "Fourth of July-y" on the holiday. But on the way home, as we landed in Atlanta at around 10:00 p.m. I could see not one, but TONS of fireworks shows for miles around setting off. It was an incredible sight and I literally had my face pressed up against the window like a little kid (which also made me laugh since I had yelled at one of my friends earlier in the day for pressing her face up against the NYC subway pole.) It was an amazing way to end the weekend and there is no way that pictures could do it justice.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!
In addition to everything I posted last week about knowing when you're a triathlete, I guess another thing to add to that list would be when you schedule your travel in order to fit in workouts. As this weekend, I booked a Saturday evening flight to JFK airport in NYC specifically so I could get in a 50-mile bike ride in the morning. Despite the fact that I flew in the evening to fit in the workout, it did not mean I was any less excited to get to the city. Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do though. And then we fly.
I landed in New York super anxious and excited to get myself to Manhattan to meet up with KV, one of my best friends from college. We had plans to go out and stay out late and laugh as much as possible and my Uber driver could not get me to the city fast enough. I chose "Uber Pool" thinking it would just drive other people from JFK to Manhattan, but instead it had us pulling off the highway multiple times to pick up random people and drop them off and made my trip to the UES way way way too long for my liking (I was trying to bribe the Uber driver to change it off of "Pool" and just take me right to the city and to my friend.) At least I had a beautiful sunset to look at while I was trapped in his car.
When I finally arrived and met up with KV, we did exactly what we set out to and had an awesome night laughing and dancing and talking. I miss seeing her more often and every time we're together makes me think how much fun it would be if we lived in the same city. [We also ran into her cousin while we were out, which was a fun coincidence!]
In the morning, KV had to be up early and head out of town, so I slept in slightly later then made my way out to the East River pathway to get in an 8-mile run alongside New York City (who was pretty much still asleep on this Sunday morning.) I'm not going to lie and say it was the best run of my life... the lack of sleep and addition of late night pizza and beer left me feeling pretty crappy during these miles, but they were finished.
I met up with KO for an NYC bagel breakfast before hopping on the LIRR and making my way out to Ronkonkoma, Long Island to meet up with my Syracuse senior year roommates for another wedding celebration! Last summer, we had the first wedding of our group, which was an amazing reunion and non-stop party. It was amazing to get back together for the second wedding of the group. Mariel, who undeniably married her soul mate on Sunday, was my roommate for a year in our sorority house (yes, I was in a sorority) as well as a year in an apartment. She's one of the most loyal friends you will ever meet and is non-stop going out of her way to make people feel welcome and comfortable. Her wedding was no exception.
We took a shuttle from the hotel over to the country club where both the ceremony and the reception would take place. At first I was a bit nervous as I was the only one around.
But then my friends showed up!
Every detail of the wedding was incredibly well done. Mariel and her (now!) husband are huge Disney fans and part of the theme of the wedding was Disney princesses. Throughout the cocktail area there were framed Disney love quotes and small details throughout the reception such as the seating charts that brought the magic of Disney to the wedding.
In addition, Mariel is a 3rd grade teacher, whose students were not only involved in her proposal (her fiance surprised her in her classroom and had the students hold up signs spelling out "Will you marry me?") but they also contributed to the wedding. Also in little frames were marriage advice given to Mariel and her husband from the students and it was really adorable.
The ceremony itself was really nice as it was the first time I have attended a Jewish wedding ceremony. The sorority I actually joined in college was a nationally Jewish sorority (despite not being Jewish myself... that's a story for a different day...) so I have many Jewish friends but for some reason had never attended a Jewish wedding. I love experiencing new cultures so being able to experience a different type of wedding ceremony was really fun. Everyone looked absolutely stunning.
Immediately after the ceremony, the eating began. The food was amazing and some of the best wedding food I have ever had. Amidst the macaroni and cheese, asian noodles, beef, calamari, spanikopita, and of course champagne, our friends had the opportunity to catch up and learn about what's been going on in one anothers lives in person. Technology makes it easy to stay in touch but you can never beat in person conversation.
Dinner itself was incredible as well as cake, ice cream bar, and the fact that Mariel had flip flops for everyone so I didn't have to try to attempt the night in heels. Another little detail that I loved and was so Mariel, was that she had wedding themed coloring sheets for the kids and also special cookies for a few of her guests that were either celebrating weddings or anniversaries the weekend of her wedding. As someone who attended weddings the past two years on her birthday weekend, I thought that was SUCH a sweet touch to have her acknowledge those special days in her guests lives. Plus - the cookies were made at the bakery owned by Kristina, the sister of our college roommate who had gotten married the year before! Kristina, who couldn't be at the wedding since she just gave birth to her second daughter - joined us via Snapchat as we all missed her.
We danced and laughed and had an amazing night.
There was no after party since we are all apparently super old now and the "after party" consisted of the two girls who were bridesmaids laying facedown on the hotel beds and me pulling all of the bobby pins out of their hair. I did this job for my friends the weekend before and I must say that I am pretty good at it.
Monday morning, which was the actual fourth of July, we joined the bride and groom and the rest of the guests for a morning brunch before sleepily taking the train back to NYC. I don't know if it was all the food I ate or the workouts from Saturday and Sunday or the lack of sleep or what - but I felt like I had gotten hit by a truck on Monday. It was a rough day and I wasn't even drunk the night before!
After hanging out for a bit in the city and enjoying my friend's rooftop views from her apartment, we head to JFK and all got on planes heading in different directions. Back to Atlanta for me and to a break from weddings for a couple months. It was so wonderful to get to see so many people who were special to me in my life over the past few weeks. From seeing all my home friends at Teenie's wedding, to now seeing all my college friends in NYC and Long Island (if you include Ariel's visit to Atlanta in June) that's all my best friends from those two times in life! The summer is shaping up to be pretty incredible.
I was a little bit bummed about not doing anything "Fourth of July-y" on the holiday. But on the way home, as we landed in Atlanta at around 10:00 p.m. I could see not one, but TONS of fireworks shows for miles around setting off. It was an incredible sight and I literally had my face pressed up against the window like a little kid (which also made me laugh since I had yelled at one of my friends earlier in the day for pressing her face up against the NYC subway pole.) It was an amazing way to end the weekend and there is no way that pictures could do it justice.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!
It was awesome to see you KTB :-) especially when we filled out the activity pages meant for children lol
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