The running bride

Went to the Billiards club last night for Bryan's birthday. It was a pleasant experience being there, seeing old friends and having a good time. We were approached by a kid asking us to dance who was born in 1991. It made me feel old.

Wedding planning is going well. Everyone has been asking me how things are progressing, so I figured I would post about it. That way, this time next year, I will be able to look back at these days and laugh... or cry.

Invitations are finished, now just a matter of sending them out. I am aiming to hand deliver most invitations, however I expect that some will have to be mailed to those I rarely get a chance to see. I am struggling with not letting people bring dates. I want to make it clear that we simply don't have the room to have people invite dates whom I have never met. Any suggestions on what to write in the invitation would be more than welcome!

Mom has this epic slide show made. I am looking forward to seeing it! We're looking at 20 minutes of T.J. and Jodi goodness!

We're going shopping for rings today. Should be fun. I am not going for anything spectacular. I really like my engagement ring, but would like something in a wedding band that I could wear while traveling and not be perpetually worried about getting mugged.

Speaking of traveling... Kinda... Running is going well. I love running. Really odd considering that only a few months ago I hated and feared the thought of running more than a couple blocks. Angela has joined me at the Running Room. We are training for our first 5km, though I think I will be running a 5 Km with Cindy on Saturday.

All of my running is geared towards a 1/2 marathon (approximately 21 km run) in Las Vegas in December. I know that it is a really big goal, and there are some people who have warned me of how high I have set my sights, but you know, I have never set my sights on something and not done it. So I will take this dedication and apply it to running, and complete my half marathon.

And who knows? Maybe we'll do a marathon next year!

Articling is winding to a close. I am planning my bar call, and how life will feel like when the other students show up and I actually have words of wisdom for others in the firm. Should be great!

It's April and I don't have exams! Talk about a wonderful feeling. I can walk through the city, smell the hot dogs at the stands, look up at the clearest blue sky imaginable, and not want to be anywhere but here. Edmonton is beautiful in the spring... a little dirty from the remnants of winter, but once the first rain comes, there is no prettier place on the planet.

Today, we golf!

A monthly review

So March has flown by. Seriously fast. I have blinked, and it is spring. It is light out when I leave work now. That makes me happy (though the increased daylight means I can work longer without noticing).

I love the fresh smell of spring. That clean smell after the first rain begins to wash away the crap that has been collecting on the city streets for the past 6 months. I don't like the spring winds that pick up all the dust and dirt lingering on the roads, and look forward to the first major deluge that will wash away the dirty remnants of winter.

We went to Jasper on our firm's ski trip last weekend. Talk about fun. No, I did not ski. Instead, T.J. and I walked into the Jasper townsite and spent some long-overdue time with the Jayminator (who, incidentally, is going to be an auntie to a little girl soon!)



I have started my training for the 1/2 marathon in December. I find myself thinking I won't make it, and how awful that would be. This disturbs me, as thinking this way is totally the wrong mindset, and may very well be the reason I have spent the past year struggling with my weight despite "dieting" constantly. The fear of failure prevents the mind and body from doing what simply needs to be done to meet a goal. Food for thought I guess.

So yeah, the first class I looked like a piece of work - showed up 5 minutes late decked out in my suit and high heels only to open my bag and discover that I had left my brand new running shoes at home. Needless to say, I didn't run at the first clinic. I have, however, been running on my own outside, which is a big step for me. I have ran 7 km this week, and anticipate that this will almost double next week. I can't believe it, I am a runner!

Let the 1/2 marathon training begin! Those of you looking for a challenge, feel free to join me.

Its time for dancin!

You know, there's just something about dancing... I remember my first dance, at DA Ferguson in Taber, being all nervous, with the girls on one side of the room, and the boys on the other, only coming together at the last minute.

I remember grade 10 math class when Mills would yell out, "it's time for dancing!" and we would all squirm in our seats, just for something to do.

The other night, I had just finished a great run! I did 5 km in 41 minutes, and was heading home. Wait, I have to back up a second...

I have a confession to make.

Every time I play my Ipod I have this almost uncontrollable urge to start dancing. This happens whether I am in the office, on the treadmill, and especially when I am on the train!

Back to my story - I took the train to Clareview, T.J. picked me up and my ipod was playing a song too great to be ignored (Toto's "Africa") so I just kept on listening. Then I had to do dishes, and before I knew it, I was dancing my heart out in my kitchen to music that no one else could hear.

Now that's happiness.

March 5th

When I was younger, every March 5th I would sit down and take a yearly stock of my life. In university, I was either too drunk, hungover, or furiously writing term papers to take the yearly stock too serious.

Why March 5th? I dunno. It's as good a day as any.

I'm looking for some profound insight that I can take with me for the next 365 days, and all I can think of is how good the weight watcher's banana bread I just baked tastes.

I understand now what most people mean when time flies by. I am headed into the final stretch of my articling year (OK, just passed the half way mark, but I choose to pretend it's actually longer). Time has flown by, and I have hardly noticed. This week, my body recognized spring, and the lengthening of the days subconsciously before I had even figured out that it was March already.

Every year I used to take stock of goals that I was working towards. As I sit here now, it is truly sick for a 13 year old to be taking such stock of life. Oh well, at least I can tell T.J. that it was learned from a young age! One of the most fundamental shifts that I have found going from school to the working world is that you can easily lose your goals, and get caught up in the "daily grind." Up until this year I was sure that the daily grind meant 3 to 4 hours of classes, and a 100% final every once and awhile. I was spoiled. The workaholic in me can easily see how the skyscraper, the sea of files and terrible office decor can suck one into believing that is all there is to life.

So today I take stock of my goals, to remind myself that, though work will be an integral part of my life (that's why I spent 8 ungodly years learning a profession, and will spend a lifetime perfecting it), I have to keep extra-curricular Jodi alive as well.

I am looking forward to running my half marathon in December. OK, who am I kidding, I am very scared that I will not be ready in time. Someone once told me that fear of failure is a terrible motivator (though it seems to have gotten me through articling OK.) In keeping with the spirit of a very good point, I choose to be not scared, but excited instead, as I have never been that good at running, and by the end of this year I will be damn good. And I will get to drink my face off in Vegas. This looks to be a good year.

I am getting married, if anyone didn't know. To a wonderful man. We have our differences, I guess if we didn't, I'd be marrying myself, and that wedding day would be remarkably awkward. I don't know if this classifies as a goal, though I think it was a goal for most of the girls that I went to high school with. Meh, I got a man for life, check that one off the bucket list.

I am finishing my EPIC European scrapbook. It is 63 pages long, and I am on day 14 of 50. I find this remarkably soothing after a hectic day at life. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't marvel at how long ago that was. I think the trip changed me significantly, and my thirst for traveling is stronger than ever before. My only sad thing is that I didn't enjoy the trip to the best of my abilities. I spent a lot of my time shy, or nervous, or lonely because I lacked the courage to be me. I also regret not drinking more.

All in all, life is going well. I'm adjusting to life in the working world. The paychecks were the first thing I adjusted to! Now to the rest that goes with it. I have to smile that I am actually working a full time job, with a real career, when it seemed like a speck of light in an endless tunnel of 8 AM Evidence with Royal only one year ago!

I must confess I am not as happy as I usually am. This year has had it's emotional highs and lows, that's for sure. I still hear songs and cry over lives lost, and moments that exist only in my memory now. I have severe attacks of homesickness, the likes of which I have never felt before. It must be something about actually working, and building a life in Edmonton, beyond merely attending the U of A. Sure took awhile to get homesick!

But... I will survive. The days are getting longer, and I can already smell the barbecues being lit up around the neighbourhood. Soon will come the dog days of summer, the camping and the Taste of Edmonton. It can only get better from here!

Time goes by

I'm very tired.

I will skip the apologies to my oh so many readers for my lacklustre blogging as of late.

Down to the grit.

Articling is quite the test. I laugh, I cry, I swear that surviving to September will be a feat in and of itself, then excitedly ramble on about doing this for the rest of my life. I work lots, I seem to have files where I have accomplished very little.

Dad's right, the job is not causing me stress, I am causing me stress. Life has changed quite a bit, and I'm just keeping up.

Wedding planning is going well. There are things that I have begun researching far too early, and somethings far too late. Still on a photography hunt. They are a dime a dozen, but very expensive!

There will be great surprises at our wedding! Going to be one hell of a party!