I'm here, blogging by special request.

Nothing too exciting happening in my life recently. It's mostly wedding stuff. We're sending out invites today. I'll actually be going to the post office in the next hour or so. Today I signed my lease for our new apartment. It's kind of scary in a way, especially since I've been in the same place for so long...three years! And lease are just kind of weird legal documents. But I'm sure everything will be fine. We decided on a two bedroom apartment. It's got a washer and dryer (WOOHOO!), a "sunroom" off of the kitchen, and a giant walk-in linen/hall closet. Plus we are on the bottom floor so we've got a walk-out patio! No enclosed patio for us; it's all outside! Trip is hoping to get a grill for next spring/summer so we can cook outside.

Oh! We finally got a results for the 5K -- my total gun time (which is probably off by a little bit ) was 31:48, with mile splits of 10:16. It was actually a little bit faster than the 5K in June (gun time 32:05 with splits of 10:20) which is pretty awesome. It was a heck of a lot hotter in August, especially on the asphalt roads, and we had a couple really big hills to go up. Trip kept saying that Angela and I would break 30 minutes at the next race. I'm not sure if that'll happen -- maybe if it's a really, really flat course, but I could see us getting our mile pace down to around 10 minutes!

So...that's about it. The weather has been crappy lately, so I haven't been up to much. I should run this afternoon, but I'm not sure how motivated I am! I'm looking forward to Labor Day weekend, not because I'm doing anything, more just to have two days off in a row! I also decided to take next Wednesday off for no particular reason -- just because I want a day off! Everyone at work has taken at least a week off for fun reasons and I will not be doing that until October. So I just wanted a day off. I am thinking that I will get my oil changed and look for a salon to have my hair and makeup done. Fun stuff!

This week has been busy, especially at night.

Trip and I got our pictures taken for our church directory last night. We're having them put in together, even though when the directory comes out in September, we won't be married yet. But it was fun. I found out that I really don't like pictures where people are staring off into the distance. It reminds of the poster from the 40-Year-Old Virgin where Steve Carrell is staring oddly off into space. It's just kind of creepy. But we get a free picture for ourselves -- how pretty!

We've also started to look at apartments. I think it'll be an interesting process, trying to decide where to live. There are just so many factors to consider -- if we live in the city, car insurance would go up, but the cost for my commute would probably go down. If we live in the county, we need to be near public transportation AND an easy way for Trip to get to work. Plus I really want to live somewhere with a washer and dryer in the unit and ideally we'd like a fitness center (this is if we go with an apartment complex). It's enough to drive me crazy!

I'm starting to get excited for my trip to Boston. It should be fun -- I'll have the conference on Thursday and Friday and will get to spend time with Jenny H. over the weekend! I've been to Boston before, but this time I'll be on my own for a bigger portion of time. So I'm working on familiarizing myself with where things are located in relation to my hotel. Fun stuff!

Also, TRAVIS put out a new album and they are touring! They're in the D.C. area in July, but tickets are $40 (a little pricey). Trip says they're in Philly a little earlier and tickets are only $27.50, but I wonder if the drive to Philly will be worth the extra $12.50 we'd save on tickets. I don't know... But yay! Travis!!!

Here's a fun goal for the month of June/July: I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series. I've already made it through the first one and started the second one. I should also watch the third movie, since I've never actually seen it. The books are quite entertaining!

I did not go into comfort food overload last weekend. I didn't even end up making pasties, but I think they'll get made on Sunday this week. We ended up eating a fritatta on Friday night, going out for dinner on Saturday day (pizza with shrimp and calamari, tasty!), and having Chinese at church on Sunday.

This week I've been busy working on deciding what kind of flowers I like and coming up with the name of some to contact. I've got two appointments in early May. I like the idea of doing wine, copper, and cream for the flowers. I think cream might work well for people whose clothing isn't selected by me (i.e., moms and readers). Plus it'll look pretty with the red and copper flowers!

Trip and I are also going to be meeting with a potential photographer on Tuesday. I think they'll probably be the ones that we end up going with, but he's investigating other possibilities too. Fun stuff!

I've started watching Lost (Trip's evil influence) and I really liked last night's episode. A Desmond episode! Where we learned all kinds of fun things, including Korean ghost stories. What else is new in television news...not a whole lot. I'm looking forward to the new season of Project Runway (whenever it starts!) and tonight's episode of Ugly Betty.

The other items that I've started to think about is apartments. We don't have to start seriously looking for an apartment until June/July, but I'm working out where the best location/neighborhood to look in will be. I'm also getting fussy -- I want my apartment to have a washer and dryer in the unit! I hate doing laundry for just me; I can't imagine how I'd feel doing another person's laundry as well. Public transportation should be a major factor (the library is pretty close to all the reliable modes of public transport here in Baltimore), but I like where I live now, which is not the most convenient for taking the light rail or metro, and the bus is slightly less reliable. So who knows?