Wedding Wednesday: E-Session!

Minh and I are blessed with some pretty awesome friends. They’re all incredibly nice and helpful and usually fun to be around.. and as a bonus, they’re well connected. Take for instance our engagement photos… Minh’s groomsman Chris N. hooked us up with his friend Robert Yee for an engagement photography shortly after we got engaged. We finally got around to scheduling an appointment with Robert, and had our e-session last Tuesday (July 19). Robert is incredibly talented, and also super nice and easy to work with.

 Click here to see a little slideshow!

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot…

On the Trails – Peters Canyon

The team has been arranging Wednesday night rides throughout the summer. I like going because (1) they’re easy enough and (2) it gets me out on the trails. I also like it because it introduces us to all sorts of different mountain biking trails around Orange County. The trails are usually beginner to intermediate, and are taken at a nice social pace. Unfortunately, “beginner” and “social” doesn’t always translate to “crash-free”. Take, for instance, the Peters Canyon Ride we did last night…

Mandatory Pre-Ride Group Picture

Peters Canyon is one of the EASIEST mountain bike rides around here. It’s not too technical and has some nice climbing. It’s actually a great place to learn how to mountain bike if you’ve never been on the trails before. For me, though, Peters Canyon is like my nemesis. I’ve ridden more difficult trails with steeper climbs and more technical descents, but for some reason, I ALWAYS crash at Peters Canyon. Last night was no exception…

Doesn’t show up too well in the pictures, but I’m pretty dirty and a little banged up… I washed out on a steep little downhill section that used to be littered with rain ruts, which were recently covered with “nice” loose sand. I’m not sure exactly what happened… all I know is that I tried to correct myself from losing control, and ended up over-correcting and completely wiping out. Slid quite a few feet down the trail and ended up covered in sand. Plus two “little” scrapes (one on the elbow and one on the knee) to add to my collection. I’m just happy this happened on Wednesday, and not before we had our e-session.

Wedding Wednesday – Color, Color, EVERYWHERE!

One of the first tasks I’m trying to knock out early for the wedding is the color palette. Not an easy task for someone who pretty much loves every color known to man… even split pea soup can work in the right situation. I’ve narrowed it down pretty much to the following color schemes (Thanks to Inspiration Daily by Ez over at Creature Comforts… LOVE that blog!). You can see the general colors I’m going for… should be FUN!

Girl on Bike by Krisatomic / via Creature Comforts

The Stories We Tell by Alicia Bock / via Creature Comforts

Gorgeous Photography by Judy Park / via Creature Comforts

I’m hoping these will work well with the venue…

Race Report: XTERRA Renegade (San Dimas, CA)

So.. I realize that it’s been a LONG TIME (over three months!) since this race, but I’ve only just now decided to put together a race report. The number one lesson out of this race (as it has been for nearly ALL of my races this year) is a lesson in PREPARATION (or lack, thereof). I’ve been really BAD about race prep and training this season. It’s  a mix of a lack of motivation, of wanting to do other things, of wanting to “have fun” rather than train… I know it’s a bad excuse for poor performance… but in reality, I don’t think I did THAT poorly. I’ll just blame it on the fact that I had very strong competitors.

Getting transition area set up...

Swim went off without any surprises. A swim is a swim to me, and I’m usually just happy to get it over with.

Done with the swim!

The usual routine for T1.. blow nose.. spend 5 minutes trying to get wetsuit off..

Coming out of T1

The biking leg was another thing altogether. Minh and I had previewed the course, and decided that the best place to make up time would be on the “road”. If I could tuck down and haul-it on the road section, then I would be able to close a significant gap between me and the girl who swims faster than me. Pretty good advice, and I think it worked pretty well… only the girl who swims faster than me also bikes faster than me… I ended up throwing up on the bike (that took up at least five minutes.. probably more).. on the first lap, about half way up on the first big climb (not the walking one). That almost took me out of the race, but I was able to recover reasonably on the rest of the lap and decided to power through it.

First Lap... My typical riding position.. hunched over and head down.. :-/

 

Pretty butterfly Minh saw while waiting for me to finish riding..

End of the second lap on the bike... head up this time..

I felt decent getting off the bike, but I knew that the run would be PAINFUL. Honestly, before this race, I hadn’t REALLY run since December (XTERRA Crystal Cove 21k) – what with shin splints and laziness and all… So the run was mostly a walk and a slow jog. I tried to keep a decent enough pace, and tried to finish pretty strong, but I finished knowing that I probably didn’t podium (and I didn’t).

Last turn for the run.. homestretch...

Smiling because I know the race is almost over... (note Minh all the way in the back...)

Overall, I enjoyed this race. The course didn’t change too much from the year before, and I had a pretty good time. Granted, I wasn’t completely prepared for it, but they run a good race (Renegade Racing). And.. of course… I had a great time rocking my new Run Team Sparkle Skirt:

Wedding Wednesday – Date? Check!

June 30 2012

That’s when Minh and I will be married! The church is booked, but I’m still trying to get the venue reserved. Hopefully, it won’t be a problem. I should find out later this week.

It’s a little less than a year away, but I know that the year will just FLY by. There’s a lot to think about and do, but luckily for me, I’m surrounded by helpful and talented people.

Allergies

I recently had an allergy test conducted, for curiosity’s sake. If anyone out there is thinking about getting one done, I would NOT RECOMMEND doing it. You find out that you’re mildly allergic to all sorts of things that you never would have considered before.. for me, it’s BEANS (kidney, lima, pinto, string, etc etc), DAIRY (not surprising for an Asian), and Wheat (only a slight allergy, but not full-blown Celiac’s). The naturopathic doctor recommended that I cut these foods out COMPLETELY from my diet. Is he CRAZY? Does he not realize that all I eat is pasta, cheese, and string beans?? (Ok.. maybe that’s not ALL I eat, but it’s a good part of my diet).

The nutritionist was a little bit more reasonable. She suggested that I experiment a little bit by cutting out each of the three things for one week and see if it makes any difference. A quick note.. these aren’t full-blown crazy allergies where I’ll break out into hives or go into shock. These are just mild food allergies that may cause discomfort (bloating, indigestion, etc). It might be an explanation as to my occasional acid reflux, excessing gas (burping, mostly), and horribly indigestion every so often.

The first thing to eliminate is dairy. So.. starting today, I will not have dairy for ONE WEEK. Here’s to hoping I survive a week of no cheese, yogurt, icecream, milk, or cheese. ::le sigh::