A beautiful weekend

A newborn.

A wedding.

Horseback riding. A 5.2 mile run / walk that still has my muscles reeling. A home cooked, wholesome and nutritious meal.

Life is beautiful.

Marathon chili + Body movin'

The Lakefront Marathon was today, and the weather was awesome. Congrats to all of the runners.

Last night, Ben and Beki's wedding was great!

It was wonderful to be a guest at their wedding reception, which was located inside a historic park building in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood. Beki was stunning in her lace wedding gown, and Ben looked sharp in his tux. It was really fun to dance with them and to celebrate the beginning of their married life.The decorations and place settings were elegant, and it was great to catch up with some of Zak's friends from his MIAD days.

I was having such a good time that I didn't get too many photos. Let me tell you though... we were all dancing like nobody was watching. The dance floor was burning up!

After the reception ended, we headed to a night club near our home and continued to dance into the wee hours. I woke up feeling very stiff, and my feet are achey from wearing 5 inch stilettos all night... oops. Worth it though!

Do you like to dance at weddings?

I was curious about just how much burning happened on the dance floor, so I did a quick number crunch on HealthStatus.com.

There were, um, many styles of dancing that were "interpreted" last night. Including the electric slide, cha cha slide, attempts at swing dancing, jitterbugging... um, ballet jumps, African, moonwalking, you name it. Can I say it again - I love dancing? Based on the HealthStatus categories, I estimate we did about 90 minutes of modern, 30 minutes of ballroom slow, and 45 of ballroom fast.

Drumroll please... the calculator estimates that I burned...

... 993 calories! Considering that I was indulging in a few glasses of wine, I am not sure what my net burn would be, but that's a substantial workout :-)

A quick recap of the eats before the wedding... oats with 1/2 chopped apple, walnuts and brown sugar.

This was so good that even Rufus wanted some. Go and make your own, cat!!

The other 1/2 of the apple with Port Wine spread and a few whole grain crackers.

This afternoon after the Marathon and being outdoors for 3+ hours, I was ready for a warm and healthy dish: chili. I experimented with using cubed sweet potato, it actually tasted pretty good!

This included chili beans, garbanzo beans, onion and tomato paste in addition to the cubed sweet potato.

On the side, I made cornbread (off the recipe on the canister). Turned out pretty bland. Next time I will try jazzing it up with fresh jalapeno pieces.

Any favorite cornbread recipes out there? Recommendations?

Weddings are delicious - Part 1

How's your Saturday going? Mine has involved shopping for a dress to wear tonight, and taking photos of Zak and the groom's party in their tuxes.

Here's a little preview... Zak is one good looking guy but WOW does he clean up nice.

Hubba hubba... I am a lucky gal!

Last night was Ben and Beki's rehearsal dinner. A very nice time, including the awesome spread...

Green beans, spinach salad with pasta and pine nuts, cabbage and cranberry salad with walnuts (I have got to try and make this soon - delicious), potato salad, fresh fruit, pickles and olives, crackers and a wheat roll. I had seconds!

Wine was a lovely pinot grigio, chilled to perfection. I had this glass plus another 1.5.

For dessert, there were several different pies to choose from. I selected a piece of French Silk.

Mmmmm.

A few hours later at home, I was still a bit hungry, so I had a slice of whole wheat toast with 1 tbsp of peanut butter and about 1 tbsp of mini chocolate chips.

Can you believe I got to take home one of the centerpieces? A gorgeous fall bouquet. Can't wait to see the arrangements at the wedding reception today.

Time to make some lunch and get ready for the wedding!