That is how much I have to do this week, including what has already been done since Saturday.
This is my last week of summer school...THANK GOODNESS! I can't take anymore. I love school and my dietetic program but I think I will go crazy if I have to do another assignment, take another exam or do another group project...all on the Internet! The online school is great for managing my time and studying but it requires a lot of time, discipline and commitment. Sometimes I fail and I have a late night of trying to cram in some studying or finishing an assignment but for the most part I am just trying to stay calm with everything and get stuff done on time.
After the race on sat there was no time to relax. I rushed home (1 hour drive), showered (I was covered in fire ant bites and mosquito bites and 1 shower wasn't enough to get rid of the itchies) and get into the car for the cake tasting appointment. Karel and I have been looking forward to this for a while, not only because we get to eat cake but we get to design our wedding cake!! To offset any spikes in blood sugar since all I had after the race was grapes, a fig newton and 1/2 bagel I had some nuts and yogurt on the car ride to the bakery.
As soon as we walked into Chef Nelson's studio we were given a plate of samples of cake w/ samples of creams and icings. YUMMMMMMM! I wanted seconds and as much as I hinted that the cake was SOOO good, I only got one plate of cake pieces.
Chef Nelson is one of the vendors I can use as part of the wedding package for Bon Appetite (reception in Dunedin) and once I saw his website I knew Chef Nelson was the one for Karel and I! Chef Nelson was not only on Bridezillas (a wonderful show for a bride-to-be) and in the future he will be on Dr.Phil for a wedding special, but Chef Nelson specializes in healthier options for cakes. With a background in dietetics, Chef Nelson was perfect for our wedding! He is so passionate, dedicated and just plain excited to be around couples who are planning their wedding cakes.
Without spilling any details about our cake, it is going to be awesome! Karel designed the whole thing and there will be lots of special touches which have to do with the wedding theme. What I can tell everyone is that the cake is completely Green and vegetarian friendly. We wanted a yummy cake but not an unhealthy cake. As one of his specialities, Chef Nelson was super excited to make our cake with no saturated fats and unhealthy sugars. There will be all natural ingredients, no egg yolks and no high fructose corn syrup. To make a healthy cake, Chef Nelson uses real fruit parfaits, egg whites and other natural ingredients. Karel and I have three tiers and three different types of cakes...which will all be super yummy. Ok, that's all I can spill about the cake. You will have to wait until Oct. 26 for pics and not even Karel and I will see the finished cake until we are married!
So after eating cake, Karel and I headed home around 2pm for breakfast. Yeah, so our day was a little thrown off but we still needed to eat. We watched a movie in the afternoon (Awake was sat's movie and fri night we watch The Debaters) and relaxed.
Sat evening we had plans at Carraba's with the Gearlink gang. Just to tell ya how great these people are and how good of friends we have, an email was sent at 5pm on friday that we were in town and 20 people showed up for dinner!! All the gearlink guys brought their wives and Karel and I had the best time laughing, chatting and catching up. The gearlinkers were all interested in how our wedding planning was coming and how we were doing in JAX. Ok, just to get a good laugh the waiter tapped all the individual bills together and handed it to Karel and I. Apparently, Karel expressed at that moment that he does not speak English and that he and I needed to take a quick bathroom break. Everyone had a big laugh that Karel and I were supposed to pay the $550+ bill but then all was good when I told them that we would have no electricity, water, cable or gas in our cars for the next month. hehe :)
I just love our friends and I'm so thankful that we have people in our lives that will come to dinner with us on a drop of a dime (or email). Thanks to all of them for being in our lives!
Sunday came quickly and Karel headed to San Antonio for his hilly group ride. A hard, fast and challenging ride but I guess Karel was feeling good since he and two other guys broke away and eventually it was Karel and another good rider in the final sprint. As for me, I joined the Gearlinkers for the sunday morning ride which starts at Publix at 7:30am. I barely made it on time since I was riding 13 miles from home but the wind behind me helped during the last 5 miles. Some of the gearlinkers were surprised to see me and I was so excited to see some more familiar faces. Compared to before we moved to JAX, I couldn't believe how great I felt on Seduza when riding with the guys. There was 10 of us and I rode 45 miles with them. We each took turns rotating whenever we felt like dropping back from pulling. Maybe it was my Zipp race wheels on Seduza but I think it was my confidence in the bike. I had Karel in my head telling me to stay on wheels and to not be scared and I think it worked. After the 45 miles I made my turn to my parents and instead of running outside, I took advantage of my parents treadmill and ran 30 minutes w/ a few pick-up intervals. Next came the pancakes and egg whites and then a jump in the pool. Karel came home a bit later and after he had his whey protein and milk he joined me in the pool. Smudla was a little concerned about the water getting on her princess paws so she stayed as far away as she could from the pool outside. As for my parents cats, they want nothing to do with Smudla.
The rest of sunday was a little of everything. I worked on assignments for school, I cleaned my car (vacuumed inside) and did laundry. Karel headed out for JAX around 5pm and I picked up my parents at the St.pete airport at 6:30pm.
So now I am doing wedding stuff with my mom and squeezing in assignments for school. I think I will survive this week but being away from Karel for two days and having lots to do here at my parents, this is one tough and busy week!
Oh, I had a great 1:15 run today. I just felt so great and fast and I don't know what it is about my body right now but I feel super strong :)
This is my last week of summer school...THANK GOODNESS! I can't take anymore. I love school and my dietetic program but I think I will go crazy if I have to do another assignment, take another exam or do another group project...all on the Internet! The online school is great for managing my time and studying but it requires a lot of time, discipline and commitment. Sometimes I fail and I have a late night of trying to cram in some studying or finishing an assignment but for the most part I am just trying to stay calm with everything and get stuff done on time.
After the race on sat there was no time to relax. I rushed home (1 hour drive), showered (I was covered in fire ant bites and mosquito bites and 1 shower wasn't enough to get rid of the itchies) and get into the car for the cake tasting appointment. Karel and I have been looking forward to this for a while, not only because we get to eat cake but we get to design our wedding cake!! To offset any spikes in blood sugar since all I had after the race was grapes, a fig newton and 1/2 bagel I had some nuts and yogurt on the car ride to the bakery.
As soon as we walked into Chef Nelson's studio we were given a plate of samples of cake w/ samples of creams and icings. YUMMMMMMM! I wanted seconds and as much as I hinted that the cake was SOOO good, I only got one plate of cake pieces.
Chef Nelson is one of the vendors I can use as part of the wedding package for Bon Appetite (reception in Dunedin) and once I saw his website I knew Chef Nelson was the one for Karel and I! Chef Nelson was not only on Bridezillas (a wonderful show for a bride-to-be) and in the future he will be on Dr.Phil for a wedding special, but Chef Nelson specializes in healthier options for cakes. With a background in dietetics, Chef Nelson was perfect for our wedding! He is so passionate, dedicated and just plain excited to be around couples who are planning their wedding cakes.
Without spilling any details about our cake, it is going to be awesome! Karel designed the whole thing and there will be lots of special touches which have to do with the wedding theme. What I can tell everyone is that the cake is completely Green and vegetarian friendly. We wanted a yummy cake but not an unhealthy cake. As one of his specialities, Chef Nelson was super excited to make our cake with no saturated fats and unhealthy sugars. There will be all natural ingredients, no egg yolks and no high fructose corn syrup. To make a healthy cake, Chef Nelson uses real fruit parfaits, egg whites and other natural ingredients. Karel and I have three tiers and three different types of cakes...which will all be super yummy. Ok, that's all I can spill about the cake. You will have to wait until Oct. 26 for pics and not even Karel and I will see the finished cake until we are married!
So after eating cake, Karel and I headed home around 2pm for breakfast. Yeah, so our day was a little thrown off but we still needed to eat. We watched a movie in the afternoon (Awake was sat's movie and fri night we watch The Debaters) and relaxed.
Sat evening we had plans at Carraba's with the Gearlink gang. Just to tell ya how great these people are and how good of friends we have, an email was sent at 5pm on friday that we were in town and 20 people showed up for dinner!! All the gearlink guys brought their wives and Karel and I had the best time laughing, chatting and catching up. The gearlinkers were all interested in how our wedding planning was coming and how we were doing in JAX. Ok, just to get a good laugh the waiter tapped all the individual bills together and handed it to Karel and I. Apparently, Karel expressed at that moment that he does not speak English and that he and I needed to take a quick bathroom break. Everyone had a big laugh that Karel and I were supposed to pay the $550+ bill but then all was good when I told them that we would have no electricity, water, cable or gas in our cars for the next month. hehe :)
I just love our friends and I'm so thankful that we have people in our lives that will come to dinner with us on a drop of a dime (or email). Thanks to all of them for being in our lives!
Sunday came quickly and Karel headed to San Antonio for his hilly group ride. A hard, fast and challenging ride but I guess Karel was feeling good since he and two other guys broke away and eventually it was Karel and another good rider in the final sprint. As for me, I joined the Gearlinkers for the sunday morning ride which starts at Publix at 7:30am. I barely made it on time since I was riding 13 miles from home but the wind behind me helped during the last 5 miles. Some of the gearlinkers were surprised to see me and I was so excited to see some more familiar faces. Compared to before we moved to JAX, I couldn't believe how great I felt on Seduza when riding with the guys. There was 10 of us and I rode 45 miles with them. We each took turns rotating whenever we felt like dropping back from pulling. Maybe it was my Zipp race wheels on Seduza but I think it was my confidence in the bike. I had Karel in my head telling me to stay on wheels and to not be scared and I think it worked. After the 45 miles I made my turn to my parents and instead of running outside, I took advantage of my parents treadmill and ran 30 minutes w/ a few pick-up intervals. Next came the pancakes and egg whites and then a jump in the pool. Karel came home a bit later and after he had his whey protein and milk he joined me in the pool. Smudla was a little concerned about the water getting on her princess paws so she stayed as far away as she could from the pool outside. As for my parents cats, they want nothing to do with Smudla.
The rest of sunday was a little of everything. I worked on assignments for school, I cleaned my car (vacuumed inside) and did laundry. Karel headed out for JAX around 5pm and I picked up my parents at the St.pete airport at 6:30pm.
So now I am doing wedding stuff with my mom and squeezing in assignments for school. I think I will survive this week but being away from Karel for two days and having lots to do here at my parents, this is one tough and busy week!
Oh, I had a great 1:15 run today. I just felt so great and fast and I don't know what it is about my body right now but I feel super strong :)