two

I will...

Two years ago, on the most perfect day that ever was and in front of our family and friends, Matt and I joined our lives in marriage.

We exchanged promises. Vows of love on that day and for every day. Hopes for building a home full of love and peace together.

I gave everything to my best friend. And received the same in return. It truly was the most perfect day. The party we threw after it all wasn't too shabby either. Under a blue moon, we danced the night away. Even the local wildlife couldn't stay away!

It's been two years. And yet, it seems like it was almost yesterday. I am just as happy today as I was that day. Through these two years, we've seen ups and downs. Relished in the highs and supported each other through the lows. We've laughed, we've cried. We've been made all the better.

To my Matt: I love you. Then, today, always.

[ Photos by Melissa Plantz Photography ]

I am on Vacation!

Or, not quite, but soon enough.

I am sitting here today, counting down the minutes until 5:30 rolls around and I can run outside and throw myself into the car as Matt rolls down the street and we can set our GPS to take us west. We are leaving tonight and I imagine Matt is frantically packing the car while I am at work. Yes, we're driving. All the way to Colorado. Gasp! Get over it. We do it every year. We haven't died and/or filed for divorce yet, so we must be doing something right!

You guys, I am so freaking excited. This is my first day off (aside from normal holidays like Easter (oh wait, that's on a Sunday) and Memorial Day) in 2009. This is practically a sin in my world. And, the fact that it's not just A day off but 10 glorious days of vacation makes me a little bit giddy. We're taking the dog. And the motorcycle. And our mountain bikes. It's our TWO YEAR anniversary. It's my dad's birthday. AND our friend Jayme who relocated to Denver last fall will be making an appearance for a few days! It's going to rock. Kick some serious bootay, if you will. Yes, I am excited.

So, this is Sierra, out.

See you on the flip side.

Overslept

This morning, I overslept. The usual hour and a half that I spend getting ready in the morning turned into about a half an hour. UGH! I hate that. I hate scrambling in the morning and I hate being late. I have a very set schedule in the morning and I know exactly where I need to be and what I should be doing at each time. For instance, the time I woke up was the time I should already be starting to dry my hair.

Anyway, Matt was a saint and totally helped me out by making my coffee, breakfast and lunch. He doesn't drink coffee and doesn't know how to make it. But, he did. He also tried to make me PB&J for lunch. Which, REALLY? I hate PB&J. But, I intervened just in time and I ended up with Peanut Butter and Honey instead (which I love).

But the best part was that he even cut my sandwich in half for me. Too cute! I had a silly grin on my face during all of lunch because of it.

Oh, and I wasn't even late to work today. Magically (and through much prodding and help from my husband) I walked out of the door earlier this morning than I did yesterday.

on swimming

Re: the swim. It's been tough so far, I won't lie. I won't say I hate it, because I don't. But, it's certainly the most difficult part of this triathlon that I'm up against.

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news about my horrid swimming is that I've finally figured out what I am doing wrong. Which, in my opinion, is pretty huge. I can't improve if I don't know what to fix, right?

The bad news is that I cannot for the life of me fix it. I KNOW what I'm doing. I know what I need to do. I go over it in my mind. I practice standing in the pool, bent over in the water. I feel like I can do it. And then I start moving and I can't do it.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I can fix it, it's just much, much harder than I thought it would be.

I've been in the pool at 5:30 a few mornings a week. Each stroke, I am making a conscious effort and thinking about everything I have to do. I curse the swimmers that make it look so easy! This morning, however, I felt like I had improved since Tuesday when I last jumped in the water. I was really focused and there were a few moments in which swimming was actually kind of easy and fun. Of course there were many more of the typical Sierra Swimming Moments (SSM's if you will). The ones that I can only imagine cause the rest of the swimmers to stop in their lanes to gawk and possibly wonder if I'm drowning.

I take comfort in the fact that I know I can swim the distance needed. It may not be pretty and I may use a variety of different strokes, including backstroke, to get the job done. But I can get there. What I am worried about is getting through it with enough energy to still complete my bike and run. I absolutely cannot burn it all up on the swim and I refuse to let it happen. So, I will continue to work at it and eventually, I think I can get there.

Anyway, any sort of improvement in the swim at this point is a positive and while I still have a long way to go, I will take these baby steps and try not to run with them.

time to move the beast down the page

Okay, it looks like the bat has been at the top of the page for long enough. Time to send him down. Unfortunately, it's going to be a few random thoughts flying through my head.

First of all, Matt and I spent last Friday night with our favorite couple, Larry and Renee. They are moving back to Kansas City at the end of the month. Actually, he already left Sunday and will come back at the end of the month to move everything with her when she is done working. While we knew that they would be moving at some point in the next few years, we were really surprised to hear that it was happening NOW. It was all so sudden. We could not be happier for them, as they have a great opportunity awaiting them, but I think I speak for both Matt and myself when I say that the selfish sides of us are really, REALLY sad. We are going to miss them so much!

That's about the extent of the sad stuff that I can post. I don't handle that well.

What in the bleep is up with the weather? It's JUNE, Wisconsin! Or didn't you get the memo? It's supposed to be warm and sunny. Not 50 degrees and cold. Let's get with the program, eh? I've got a farmer's tan that still needs evening out and my sanity depends on spending time at the lake.

Speaking of the weather, someone at work today told me that she heard from her sister who heard from her neighbor across the street who heard from his maid that saw on the news that we're not even going to get summer. Something about too many cold fronts coming through and it will never really warm up this year. I am too terrified it could be true to try to go and confirm this ridiculousness.

At least it looks like it will be nice on Saturday.

I'm about a week and a half into my official triathlon training. To be honest, it's really all that I have going on. There are days in which I'm all "YEAH! This is great. I can TOTALLY do this! I am sooooo going to own this!" and then there are other days in which I'm like "dude, this is going to kill me. For serious. Or, if it doesn't kill me, the next event will. WHAT was I thinking?!?!". I realize that I'm going to have good days and bad days. And, some of the events (ahem, running, biking) are much easier than others (swimming, I'm looking at you). It truly doesn't matter if I'm good at running, because I have to get through the swim and bike before that. This has all confirmed what I've read over and over that 1+1+1=1 when it comes to triathlon. It's so true and I find myself having those "AHA!" lightbulb moments during my training.

I have an appointment tomorrow with a personal trainer at the gym. My membership came with a few free sessions and I decided to take them up on it. I'm not really sure what I'm hoping to get out of it, but I did tell them that I'd like to begin some sort of weight routine. I really think that lifting regularly will help me overall, not just with my training. I just hope she doesn't kill me. My appointment is after work, but I will have already gotten a swim in before work, so we'll see how I feel. I've also requested The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess from the library. It's received rave reviews on a few of the forums I lurk on, so I figured I'd at least thumb through it.

We're going on vacation in a little over two weeks! I'm pretty freaking excited if I may be so bold. We're loading up the car and trailer with our dog, our mountain bikes and the motorcycle and heading west to Telluride. We will be gone for 10 glorious days. Who knows, maybe I won't come back. No, I'm kidding. Of course I'll come back. Or am I?