Sunday, October 16, 2011

Married Life!

*Note: One post cannot cover everything wedding and honeymoon-related, so I am going to try to post things in a chronological order, and hopefully catch up to present times soon!*

Well, we did it! We survived an awesome wedding, and we both had a blast (and I think most of our guests did, too!). The weeks leading up to the wedding were a little bit stressful. There were so many little things to do, and it felt like there was so little time to do it all in, but somehow everything got done. In the weeks after my last post, I ran a half marathon, interviewed for a job in Boston (at Harvard), and had a Philly bridal shower. Things got a little bit busy there for a while! Haha! Everything turned out great, though. The half marathon was great - great weather, flat course through downtown Philly with rock and roll bands every mile or two, and a fiance who biked all over the city to cheer for me all over the course. It was my first half marathon, so I had no idea what to expect. The first 10 miles were a piece of cake, but those last 3.1 were really hard. I finished in 2:22, which is not too bad for a first timer, and I blew away my 10 mile PR by 7 minutes, so I know I can improve my half marathon time, too.
My interview in Boston went really well (at least in my opinion). I took the train to Boston, which was beautiful, and I was able to wander around Harvard campus for a little while before the madness ensued. The interview was a lot of fun. Great meetings with the lab members and the PI, a really interesting seminar and two delicious dinners in the Boston area - can't really ask for more! I have a couple more interviews coming up in November, and then I am hoping to make a decision as to where to go next - really exciting stuff, right?
Then, all of a sudden, the wedding snuck up on me! We were packing our things, and making a getaway to CA so fast. It was amazing that we could pack all of our things and get them on the airplane. Even the taxi driver who took us to the airport commented on all our luggage (and we had even MORE coming back, haha!). The trip out was fantastic, as my lovely parents had donated some miles to us, so we travelled first class - can you believe it? I felt so far away from Alex in that big, old seat - we are so used to traveling coach. It was such a treat to be treated so nicely (and to have a bathroom mostly to ourselves!). I, of course, spent the time arranging tables and seating and watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", which is a WONDERFUL movie, I must say!
Once in CA, we hit the ground running. Alex and I worked on the last final details, like picking up tuxedos, grabbing a few last minute things for camping, and making place cards, table names, and programs. We were also writing our ceremony (literally up until the day of the wedding!), and running through checklists of things to be done. When family started to arrive, things started to slow down, which was great. Alex was able to spend some time with his family, and I was able to de-compress a bit with my parents and my Matron of Honor, Randi. Then, all of a sudden, it was the Rehearsal and the Rehearsal Dinner and we were on our way! The rehearsal was hysterical, because nobody knew what was going on, a wedding had just happened a couple hours before, and they were still taking pictures in the ceremony area. We practiced walking the aisle, listened to the coordinator, Pam, trying to tell us what to do, and showing our flower girl, Kaitlyn (Alex's niece) how to toss dry leaves out of her Daddy's hat. It was too funny! The rehearsal dinner was awesome! Alex's Mom, Clare, did everything, and she did an amazing job. There was more food than you can imagine, beautiful fall decor, an amazing sunset (complete with visible islands!), and lots of good times. It was great to relax, meet everyone in the families, catch up, and just hang out. I had a blast and I almost didn't want to leave! Except, I knew that I had to get my beauty rest (haha!). I headed upstairs to my ridiculous suite of rooms with my girls, Randi, Lisa and Betsy, We had a lovely time chatting, hanging out, eating M&Ms and just catching up. It's so rare to be able to hang out like that anymore. With all our busy lives, things just get insane. It's so nice to sit down and have a real conversation with people who live all over the country. When Randi and I were kids, we used to have sleepovers every Friday night. We would stay up late, watch scary movies, eat Oreos, talk about all sorts of things, and play. It's honestly such a bummer that doesn't happen anymore! So, my last night as a single woman (as my Mom would say) was spent being nostalgic, which was a blast. And now, I will leave this long tale here, and say that it's to be continued.....