Family Pictures

I don't think I have ever gone into the issues we had with our photographer after the wedding. Long story short somehow he lost all of the pictures that were taken at the church right after the ceremony. He probably took about a hundred formal shots from the end of the ceremony to the time we left the church and we have none of them. None of Jason and I. None of us with our families or Jason's Grandparents, two of who have since passed. None of Millie giving me kisses on the steps of the altar. Our photographer's explanation of what happened? One minute the file was on his computer and the next minute they were gone. Now, I understand that shit happens and he didn't lose them on purpose, but the way he handled the whole thing was unprofessional and really just made Jason and I hate this guy. He basically tried to hide the fact until we called him out on it and then could never give us an explanation and barely mustered an apology. I could go on on and about this - it still makes me mad! - but I won't. In the end he did compensate us, but we will never get those pictures back or ever have the opportunity to capture those moments right after we were married again. Those family pictures were some of the most important of the day and they just vanished.

I had the idea of having a family portrait taken to try and make up for the lost pictures. Lauren was in my sorority in college and through the blogosphere I discovered that her husband was starting up his own photography business. I checked out his pictures and discovered that he is super talented! I emailed Lauren to get in touch with Mike and he agreed to do the pictures for us. We gave Jason's parents a gift certificate for Christmas and decided to wait until warmer weather to schedule our session. Turns out the weather was much warmer in the middle of July!! But we braved the heat and headed to Frontier Park in St. Charles, a great location for pictures. Mike also knew of some cool urban looking areas so we took pictures there too. Jason made the point that we had similar locations for our wedding pictures so it all tied together well. Mike did an awesome job and now we have some great pictures of the immediate Griesenauer family. I'm hoping I can talk my family into doing something similar the next time we are all together. Check us out on Mike's blog - and take some time to check out his other amazing pictures!

1/2 Marathon Training Week 3

I can't believe how far I've come in just 3 weeks of training. Yesterday I ran 5 miles without stopping and while it was challenging it actually felt good! I finally made my way to a nearby park, Tilles Park. I am familiar with the park and felt comfortable running there by myself. The park has a loop that is about 2/3 of a mile so while I was still running in a circle it was much more scenic than the high school track. There were some other runners and a few bikers but the park was pretty quiet and with lots of big trees there was plenty of shade so it wasn't too hot. I wasn't sure how I would do with a 5 mile run but my goal was to run the whole way and complete it in an hour. I accomplished both coming in at just under an hour with a time of 57:13. Again, I'm not winning any races but I feel confident that I have found a pace (11-11 1/2 min/mile) that works for me and that I can sustain for long distances. I'm hoping that week by week as I add mileage I can keep my pace approximately the same. I used my Garmin watch again this week and really like it. I figured out how to set it so it will give my splits for each mile and I've been uploading each of my workouts onto my computer so I can compare them. It's a great tool.

I have found throughout training my body has been put under quite a bit of stress. After a run I noticed that my knees would be stiff and my heels would be a little achy. I have been taking Advil and that seems to help. I know I need to stretch more before and after running. A trainer at my gym also recommended taking glucosamine to help with joint stiffness and pain. I bought a bottle at Walgreens and started taking it yesterday. We'll see if it helps. The other weird thing happening was that my left foot was falling asleep during runs and would go completely numb. This was incredibly uncomfortable. I did some research and apparently it's not uncommon in runners. There could be a couple of culprits. One being the obvious - shoes. I loosened my laces close to my toes making sure to still have them secure around my ankle and this seemed to help. One guy also said that when he feels the tingly feeling come on he runs up on his toes for a minute and it goes away. Sure enough this has helped a lot! The motion of going up on your toes stretches your foot and tendons and gets the blood flowing again. Whatever works and keeps me moving!

3 weeks down, 9 to go!

1/2 Marathon Training: Jason's POV

So maybe I've taken a little sabbatical from blog posts and maybe it appears to the rest of the blogosphere that I have dropped off the face of the planet. No worries, I'm still here. Thank you for your concern.

Lauren has been updating you on our latest marital challenge: a half marathon. While a lot more fun than the roof that recently had to be replaced due to squirrels turning it into a veritable tooth sharpener (another story for another day), it is definitely not a walk in the park (pun intended).

I've been a runner ever since I started tagging along on my dad's runs when I was in middle school. I then graduated to the Cross Country team at Duchesne High School and have been hooked ever since. At the time, my teammates and I observed that we were voluntarily participating in an activity that all of the other sports teams used as punishment. I've continued to run the occasional 5K (3.1 miles) race with 4 mile runs (almost) every morning before work. I've considered running a half marathon in the past and even had the occasional thought of doing a full marathon. For various reasons, I've never signed my name on the dotted line. But now, thanks to a request by my sister, Erin, its official and Lauren and I are in the midst of preparation for 13.1 miles of agony...I mean fun.

It has been fun to have a running partner since I haven't had anyone actually want to run with me since college. I'm also enjoying have a race day to build to and train for. I'm looking forward to marking this down as an accomplishment and I'm excited that I get to share it with Lauren. Now, it remains to be seen if she will continue to want to run with me after we finish this adventure of suffering.

1/2 Marathon Training: Week 2

I am starting to feel much stronger and really focused on finding my pace this week. I was able to successfully complete all of my runs including that dreaded 4 mile run on Sunday! I did so much better than last week and this was after spending the weekend in Chicago consuming lots of food and beer! We opted to go in the evening this time - I'm finding this is key in July in St. Louis - and it made such a difference. I didn't stop once during the entire 4 miles and while I was definitely tired at the end, I kept my breathing under control the whole time and maintained a steady pace - not a fast pace but one that I feel I can sustain. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

This week I also introduced a new running partner to my training, the Garmin Forerunner 205.

An early birthday present from my parents, this watch gives me what I've been missing from the treadmill. Numbers! It not only times my runs and shows me my distance, but it shows me my current and best pace as well as calories burned. It has tons of other features that I am still figuring out. There are alerts that can be set for distance/laps, you can enter courses, and there is even a virtual training partner to race against. I am certain that this will help me immensely. It stores my runs so I can see how/if I'm progressing each week and even came with software that allows me download everything to my computer and analyze the data. I've only used it twice but so far I love it!

Up to this point, I have been primarily running on the track at the nearby high school. I thought this would be an easier way to transition to outdoor running then heading straight out to a park or neighborhood where uneven pavement, hills and traffic are all factors. I also liked the fact that I knew exactly how far I was running based on the number of laps I did. Now that I feel comfortable running outside and have my trusty Garmin to track distance, I'm ready to change it up and plan to go to a park tomorrow for my run. I'm ready for a change of scenery and not just going around in circles! Two weeks down, 10 weeks to go til race day!

Restaurant of the Month: F

After narrowing down several restaurants, this month I chose Flaco's Cocina for dinner club. Flaco's is located at 170 and Delmar and features Caribbean and Latin cuisine with a South Beach flair. Or in simpler terms, Mexican food. I will say though that Flaco's is different than your traditional Mexican restaurants in St. Louis like Hacienda or El Maguey. The food was very fresh and light - not greasy at all. There are a lot of fish and seafood options on the menu in addition to the standard chicken or beef which I liked. The restaurant itself is not very big but is colorfully decorated with local artwork and has a good sized covered deck on the front which is where Kelly and I sat.

We started off the evening with drinks and their home made guacamole. Kelly had a margarita and said it was very tasty while I enjoyed a glass of the sangria which was also very good, although a little sweet to drink very many. The guacamole is made to order with big chunks of fresh avocado and tomato. I love guacamole and really enjoyed this chunky version. We also enjoyed a complimentary basket of chips and salsa. The salsa was also good. Not the best I've had, but good.

For dinner, Kelly had the Lobster Empanadas, flaky empanada ravioli stuffed with lobster, shrimp, and scallops, drizzled with a saffron coconut cream sauce. I tried a bite and they were delicious! I opted for the special that night: an organic zucchini stuffed with shrimp, scallops and lobster (I think) with a romesco sauce. It was served with saffron rice and black beans. It was similar to a Chili Relleno, only made with a zucchini instead of a green pepper. It was awesome! It was fresh and light. The seafood inside was cooked just right and the sauce was not overpowering.

The service was great. Our waitress was really nice but not annoying. The owner came around to the tables on the deck checking to make sure everyone was enjoying their meals. I will definitely go back to Flaco's the next time I am craving Mexican. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a new Mexican spot in St. Louis!

1/2 Marathon Training: Week 1

I mentioned in my list of 32 "I" statements that Jason and I recently signed up for a half marathon in October. What was I thinking you ask? Well, I'm beginning to wonder the same thing myself! Yesterday marked the completion of my first official week of training using this training schedule. I went into this thinking it would be a great challenge and that it would provide me the motivation I need to get back into shape after boycotting the gym for the past couple of months. And so far that has been the case but I think I underestimated just how big of a challenge this is going to be for me.

My ultimate goal for the half marathon is just to complete it. That in itself will be a huge accomplishment. But I've also set another goal for myself - to run the whole thing. This is where the biggest challenge is going to come in and something I'm already questioning if I can actually do. I'm used to running on a treadmil and incorporating walking breaks as needed. I've never really tried to keep running continuously for more than a couple of miles. Now, I'm training outside (when the weather permits) which is taking some getting used to and trying to not allow myself walking breaks other than a warm up and cool down. I'm doing pretty good and this week was able to run 3 miles consecutively (on the treadmil) on two of my training days. Then comes Sunday, which is reserved for the 'long' runs. These long runs are crucial to training and increase in mileage the closer you get to race day. My longest run will be 10 miles. They say that adrenaline will take you through the last 3.1 miles the day of the race. This week the long run was 4 miles. No big deal. If I can run 3 I can easily run 4. Eh, not so much.

Jason and I decided to head out for our run at 2:00 Sunday afternoon. Mistake number 1. It was HOT! After two and half miles I was convinced I wouldn't make it. I was breathing hard and I think I told Jason my body was on fire and that maybe this was mistake. Jason being the good coach and training partner that he is told me to take a water break and get my breathing back to normal. We walked about a tenth of a mile and then picked it up again, but at a slower pace this time. I had started off too fast - mistake number 2 - and combined with the heat it really caught up with me. I was able to finish the remaining mile and half running at slower pace. Let me tell how happy I was to be done with those 4 miles! At this point, I can't even imagine what it will feel like to complete 13.1.

So week 1 done! Week 2 is a repeat of week 1 so I will face those 4 miles again next weekend. I am really hoping that it will be a little easier next time and I'm hoping I won't have to take a break and will be able to run the whole thing. I have to learn to pace myself without the numbers on a treadmil. I have to learn to listen to my body and find that magic pace that I can sustain. It's not going to be easy, but I am up for the challenge! Hopefully I will look like this by the race day!

Happy Birthday Merrill!

I can't believe my niece, Merrill, turned 1 this weekend! It seems like just yesterday that we were introduced when my sister and family moved back to St. Louis when Merrill was just 3 weeks old.

I got to spend lots of time celebrating with Merrill this weekend. Friday was her actual birthday and that evening I met up with Shannon and Scott and the girls for dinner and then a trip to the zoo for Jungle Boogie. Merrill loved dancing to the music and seeing the animals.

Saturday was the official party. Merrill looked adorable in her party dress.

I got Merrill these little bowls. It was the first thing she opened and she was completely uninterested in opening anything else. Who knew bowls were so much fun?!


That is until she saw her new baby from Lanie! They couldn't get it out of the box fast enough.


She eventually realized she had lots of new toys to play with!

And chew on ;)

Playing the drums

Lounging in her new lawn chair

The ball pit was a hit!


Merrill was very dainty while eating her cake and insisted on using a fork. Such a little lady ;)


Today we all got together for dinner at my parents house to round out Merrill's birthday weekend. It was great to spend time with the family and celebrate Merrill's first year. She is such a sweet baby girl and her smile makes my day. She is so affectionate and gives the best hugs and kisses. I'm so happy that I get to see her everyday and be a part of her life.

Happy Birthday, Merrill!!