Ah, yes. The honeymoon.

Finally, something exciting.

Josiah and I have been trying to figure out where we are going to go on our honeymoon. We've actually talked a lot about it (mostly through wishful e-mails at work when we are feeling particularly down). To say the least, we both need a vacation badly. Preferably for a really long time. Like a year? Or the rest of our lives?

Anyway, here are a couple options we've come up with.

1. Sweden/Netherlands/Denmark

One of our good friends lives in Sweden, and it was a no brainer to have this be a major contender. It would be really great to see him and Scandanavia in the process. I've just really romanticized that part of the world and I'm not sure why. Plus ... TULIPS!

2. Czech Republic/Austria/Hungary

I really know nothing about this part of the world. Everyone says Prague is the coolest city ever. I'll take their word for it. Josiah is really enticed by Prague for some reason, so there's that.

3. The United Kingdom

I'm of the opinion that English speaking countries are a bit boring. I can't say that this would be at the top of my list, but I know it would be sweet. Plus, there would be a ton of good soccer matches to see. Glasgow is pretty much the capital of indie music, so I think that would be a lot of fun.

4. Northern Italy/Switzerland



I spent two months in Italy during the summer of 2007, and it was an amazing experience (of course). I am really conflicted though. Part of me is screaming, "Go back, now!" while the other part wants to explore other parts of Europe. The compromise would be to see northern Italy, which I did not travel to at all during my Italian studies. So, it really wouldn't be a compromise at all. A lot of war-era Italian films took place in the north, as poor Italians moved up to Switzerland to obtain jobs and survive. The area is just so drastically different than the rocky south and the central Italy that is typically thought of -- rolling hills, wineries and cypress trees.

5. France



I hate France and don't want to see it. The Tour de France is enough for me. Josiah wants to go there though, to live out his literary fantasies and follow Hemingway's expatriate footsteps. Icky.

Ideally, we'd bring our bikes to whatever place we end up going. That way we could ride around in the cities and do some light touring. I'm not really sure if the logistics would make sense for a "quick" trip though. And I think it'd depend on which place we go to. I can't say I would enjoy cycling through the Dolomites in northern Italy. We'll see.

So much napoleon in my mouth

Holy cow. What a whirlwind of a week ...

So, I went to Baltimore. I made it on the second flight, which was excellent. The weekend was filled with a lot of dessert, a lot of laughs and a lot of jumping. I figure I'd upload some of the pictures here for your viewing pleasure.


In Amanda and Jaren's swanky Baltimore high-rise apartment. Puts my decrepit house form 1912 to shame!


This is us jumping in the mouth of a megalodon (dinosaur shark). If it was eating us I'm sure we'd be this ecstatic.


It was 40 degrees and raining the whole damn time. So. Cold.


We seriously took like 84 jumping pictures. This is the best!

All in all: a great trip. It was quick and involved a lot of travelling (I spent 14 hours in the airport/flying on Monday), but I am so happy I got to spend time with Amanda ... even if we didn't do any wedding stuff haha.

On to more good news: I kicked ass at my weigh in this morning.

134.4. That's right. This is the first time I've weighed under 135 in years. Like 5 years. Freaking crazy.

I ate a crap ton of bad food this weekend, of course (though I tried to be somewhat good), and I weighed myself on Monday to much horror. Granted, it was at 4 p.m. and I usually weigh myself at 9 ... so it was going to be higher regardless. But still, it was back up to 137.badnumber and I was pretty pissed to have gained back the weight I lost last week. So I was a stellar eater and exerciser this week and somehow made a victorious comeback. Also I didn't eat breakfast this morning because I wasn't feeling well, so not sure how much that would affect today's results.

Week one (10/9): 137.2
Week two (10/15): 136.0
Week three (10/23): 134.4

Because of my shortened week, my goals are a little odd. Since Tuesday I've ridden 55 miles, which is pretty good for three days. Last week I did three resistance workouts, so good for me. I did another one on Tuesday and am going to work out in a second over here.

Tonight the Central Slayer alleycat hosted by Hot City Destroyers. I'm hoping all of my training pays off.

Last but not least ... I haven't been doing any wedding stuff. I suck. This weekend I am going to post a checklist of what I've done so far on our timeline. Hold me to it.