I'm Baaaack!

Hi! I've been married for exactly 14 days now. (Past midnight right now in EST time zone.) The ceremony and reception was perfect. The ceremony was a beautiful blur and the reception was really fun. Thank goodness I have tons of pictures from friends and family who went crazy with their digital cameras. Other brides have told me that the wedding day goes by super fast and I told myself to note each and every moment. But I guess I didn't do a very good job... I do remember waiting to walk down the aisle and next minute we were getting ready to leave the wedding site. But, I loved having all the important people in my life celebrating our union together. Not everything went according to plan but I guess that's what made it charming. The best part is that I am now married to the most wonderful man ever. (Please excuse my hyperbole and opinon! ;-)

Our honeymoon in Costa Rica was amazing. We stayed at the El Siencio Lodge in the central volcanic region and then at the Punta Islita Hotel in the Guanacaste region, off the coast of Pacific Ocean. It was the perfect honeymoon, combining the lush rainforest in the mountains to the hot and balmy coastal resort scene. Did I mention that both of these places are listed on Conde Nast's top 10 hotels to stay in Central and in South America?? I would go back to those two places in a heart beat. Not only were these hotels luxurious and totally unique but I loved that the sister hotels were very eco-tourism oriented, conscience of how much carbon foot print they were all elaving behind. Both places encouraged everyone to recycle and reuse... At El Silencio Lodge, they had a complimentary tree planting ceremony for their guests to plant a tree in their name. D and I fully took advantage of this opportunity and planted a regional avocado tree on their private land... hoping to attract more local birds to the area. I felt really great having something good for the environment while we were on our honeymoon!

Today, also marks my 2 weeks of none running. Yikes. I took my running shoes with me to Costa Rica and both places had places to exercise but I didn't even consider it. Bad Julianne, bad! I do need to get back into running. Not only to shed the extra pounds that I put on during my vacation but also because I have a half marathon coming up in about 7 weeks! I'm in Indiana for a few days for work. Flew into South Bend yesterday due to a work emergency and not happy about leaving D. I literally had to fly out a day after we got back from our honeymoon. How cruel is that? Oh and I also didn't bring any running shoes with me... Planning on flying back home tomorrow afternoon.

Ps. The wedding cake turned out WONDERFUL. It was good as it looked and it was a hit. Even D admitted it was a great choice. Here's a photo of our beautiful and delicious wedding cake. :-)