Author: cheriarmour

Coke

| cheriarmour

Wednesday morning, I went for a sweaty, hot, sticky run with some folks through downtown Raleigh.  I’m friendly with the Raleigh Ambassadors of Rock, the name bestowed on the Ambassadors of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Raleigh.  So when one of the Ambassadors stopped by my office and mentioned they’d be running the course for the half for next year as a recon-type thing, I was in!  Any excuse to actually RUN with living, breathing people is one I try to make – sometimes I welcome a run by myself, but for the most part, especially in the summer when I’m not particularly motivated, I love being with other folks.

We started out a little fast for me – consistently hitting just over 8-minute miles, which I was able to maintain for about three miles before I started to fall behind.  At one point, my vision short of shifted, and I realized that my blood sugar was dropping, and that immediately following the run, I would need to grab something to bump the sugar up.

I didn’t really tell any of the folks I was running with because the minute you mention the words blood and sugar together, people start freaking out and running around with their arms flailing like muppets, which I experienced once when I actually fainted in front of a class and came to with folks just standing over me, staring in horror, and not really doing a whole lot of anything else.

But I digress…

So following the run, I immediately hit the gas station, grabbed some change from the bottom dusty part of my purse, and hobbled into the gas station to find the source of all things life when your sugar is low, and popped a can of Coke as soon as I got myself back to the car.

It was really sweet.  Like…really sweet.  And within minutes, I started to feel myself perk up enough to make my way to my couch.  I flipped the can over, and was shocked at what I read.

The can was one of those 16-oz cans, the tall ones, and I’d managed to get a few swallows in, when I discovered what the “nutrition” in one of those bad boys was like.

Coke

The can listed the calories as being over 200 – but that part in itself wasn’t what kinda tweaked me out a little bit – it was the sugar and carbs. In each 16-oz can, there were 53ish grams of sugar, and like 57 ish grams of carbs, which is a pretty decent chunk of carb consumption that you really need to be doing each day.

Mind = blown.

Not that I’m inherently against fun things to eat.  I actually really enjoy sweets and have to reel myself in from going ham on the York Peppermint Patties, but 53g of sugar in anything is really overkill.  And the thought that folks are consuming this along with their meal is really sort of scary.  I mean, I just want everyone to be able to flip over the can, and realize that Coke is being a little unreasonable with their ingredients.

It also made me a little sad.  Back in the day, prior to me conscious of what I put into my mouth, I was a Coke-drinker, and and I no idea what it was that I was consuming.  And it makes me really sad that there might still be old Cheris running around and doing what I did.

What is (or was) your guilty pleasure?

Wedding Wednesday: The Engagement Sessions

| cheriarmour

It’s really fun to do these Wedding Wednesday posts now that I’m married, and I’m not taking any time away from doing any wedding things. Yes, I could be writing some more thank-you notes at this precise second, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

So I have a confession to make.  A big, huge, horrible confession.  A confession that I’m ashamed to make.  But…years and years ago, I asked myself as I looked at a friend’s engagement photos, I thought to myself – “What is the point of engagement photos?”

Even after we were engaged, I wasn’t necessarily sure what the point was of getting these photos done.

Couldn’t we just save the money, skip the photos, create a really cute save-the-date without our faces being plastered all over them?  And I suppose we could have…until we saw the engagement photos of this gorgeous couple I went to school with.  The engagement photos literally took your breath away, and suddenly, as we were gathering a down payment on the house that would be our first home together as a married couple, I envisioned a home with zero pictures of us when we were young and freshly-engaged.  And I couldn’t do it.

So a year after we were engaged, I contacted the gentleman that I knew wanted to do our photos, and explained our weird situation to him.  He seemed open to the idea of it, even a year after our engagement, and he agreed, with all the grace that a human being could have with a silly couple like us.

image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios
image via Blest Studios

And once we spent the afternoon with Cole of Blest, it became extremely clear why engagement photos were important, perhaps even necessary, when you’re getting married.  

  1. Luckily, I knew Cole, and Blest Studios long before I was engaged, and I knew that the quality of his work was head and shoulders above what I’d seen from other photographers.  However, taking this photos really got me comfortable in doing photos with my husband.  You might think you’re really comfortable with someone – until you have to take photos of you making out and groping your husband on camera.  It really, really gets you comfy with each other. 
  2. Taking these photos gets you comfy with your photog.  Especially in cases when you don’t know your photog or his or her work, this can be really important.  I mean, you don’t want someone to eff up your memories, right?  If it takes some money for you to find out that you don’t jive at all with your photographer, why not, right?
  3. They serve as memories of an incredible times with your spouse.  We didn’t take the photos right after we got engaged, however, even after waiting a year, the pics, even taken a month-and-a-half ago, remind me of a beautiful time, where we met up in a park and met up with a friend to take some photos.  I remember being nervous, I remember showing Cole the spot we got engaged at, and I remember feeling so close to Austin as our story seemed to unfold for Cole. I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon. 
  4. You know what you’re gonna be getting for your wedding.  Direction, organization, light, editing.  We got the good stuff – and we knew that. And you will know that with engagement photos. 

I can admit when I’m being kinda rude, and kind of judgey.  Engagement photos?  Worth it.  

Check out Blest Studios, whether you’re engaged, pregs, celebrating an anniversary, or if you just want some gorge photos of yourself.

Annnnd they’re not paying me to say this.  I mean, it would be cool if they were.  And I’m opening the floor now for some payment 🙂 but Blest is just that good. 

Did you do engagement/pregnancy/anniversary photos?

Running at Night.

| cheriarmour

So first things first (I’m the realest). I’m sorry, I had to.  Couldn’t help myself.  But I hope you all had a really great Labor Day.  I woke up at some point really early in the morning to my husband yelping that one of that cats was ricocheting his feline body off of our end tables.  It sounded sort of like a demon had been released in our room.  So we remedied that by putting the offender in question in the guest bedroom, where he proceeded to rocket around the room like a big cat, but we managed to get some sleep, at least for a little while, which I’m not sure we’ve enjoyed since we got married last week.

I was able to convince Austin to take me to the WaHo (the Waffle House, for those of you not well-versed in all things breakfast).  And for those of you who’ve known me ever, you know I love southern breakfast food, so it’s really nice to treat myself to that once in a while.  So I was able to convince the hubs to take me there with the promise that we would hit up the run club to run a few hours later.

Now if there’s something disgusting on the menu somewhere, there’s a good chance that my husband will order it.  With that in mind, look at this monstrosity that my husband ordered.

BreakfastI believe that is an ENTIRE plate dedicated to hash browns adorned with jalepeños, ham, cheese, tomatoes, hot sauce, and I believe onions.  And he ate ALL of them.  (He ran twice yesterday to make up for it.)

We topped off breakfast by going into my job for a little while for me to catch up on some emails and for me to move the cycling bikes back into the studio for the week after we got the floors refinished, and ended the day with a long, hot run through downtown Raleigh.

Running at Night

I was at the coffee shop writing, right by the windows, when I saw her.

She was tiny, gorgeous, and fast, and she was running.  Nothing wrong with that quite obviously – I run like I brush my teeth, I sort of feel like it’s necessary for me to function like a normal human being, but I was struck by the fact that this tiny girl was running at night.

My first instinct was to think, “She shouldn’t be doing that!? Is she dumb or something?!”

And then I had to pull it back.  I should be able to run out night – she should be able to run at night without me thinking about how stupid of a girl she must be.  And unfortunately, a few stupid, horrible, sick guys have made it so that we can’t even do what we do at night without fearing for our safety.

So me?  I don’t really run at night.  Sometimes, during the winter especially, it’s unavoidable, but running at night, while exhilarating, makes me nervous, and takes away from my run.

Ladies, what do you think?  Do you run at night?

Doomsday Preppers

| cheriarmour

Have you guys ever seen this show on Nat Geo?

image via http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/
image via http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/

It’s kind of like Hoarders, in that it’s sort of freaky to look out, but you really can’t look away.

So the premise of the show is that these folks, usually the male heads of households, are prepping for whatever disaster they think is going to befall our society.  Now, I think preparedness is awesome – there is nothing worse than being that idiot who doesn’t have any candles or a flashlight that works when the electricity goes out.  But these folks are the extreme cases – they’ve stockpiled ammunition, dehydrated food, coffee, alcohol, weapons, and usually built some sort of underground bunker as well.  Usually, their teenaged children are extremely embarrassed, and their wives pretend to go along with it, but wish their husbands were into normal things, like paying $50 to be a part of an imaginary football league.  

By the way, I’m going somewhere with all of this…

So, in the course of planning this wedding, I managed to get nearly 200 mason jars together, most of them purchased from folks off of good ‘ol Craigslist.  Since we’re moving to the new house soon, I needed to move some of this stuff quickly, so I threw up an advert on Craigslist, and got a response from a man who seemed normal.  In fact, we’ll just call him Mason to be safe. 

So I played it really safe, I had everything packed up for him, had one of the neighbors watching out for me, and let my husband know what time, and where me and Mason were meeting up with the jars. 

Here’s where stuff gets weird. 

Mason and I met up to do the exchange of goods, when I made the fatal mistake of asking him what it was that we was doing with all the jars.  Now, you have to imagine this in a southern accent to make it legit.

Mason: Ya ever heard of preppers?

Me: ::incredulously:: Yeah…so…but what is it that you’re canning?

Mason:  Oh EVERYTHANG.  I already have dehydrated food, enough for 4-6 years….

Mason went on to share the following.  

  • He has 60-70 guns STOCKPILED on his property somewhere.  He also gives stuff to his son to hold onto when he runs out of space.
  • He does not drink, but that he is thinking about starting to stockpile alcohol.  It is very multipurposeful and could be a good bartering tool.  However, should disaster befall our society, he “might not be in a sharing kind of mood” <-direct quote
  • He recently built himself an assault rifle that fits nicely into a tennis racket.  However, he does not carry it in his car because it makes police officers really nervous, and he doesn’t want the hassle of trying to get it back if it gets confiscated.
  • He has a lot of ammunition in his car just rolling around in the backseat.
  • That he needs to stock up on fishing line in case he needs to do some emergency surgery on anyone when doomsday comes.

And THAT is my one and only interaction with a real-life doomsday prepper.

Now legit question – all weirdness with Mason the prepper aside, how prepped are you and your family for normal emergency situations?

I witnessed a fantasy draft.

| cheriarmour

So wayyyy back when we were looking at wedding venues (it feels forever ago now,) we almost got married on the 6th of September.

I say almost because Austin took one look at that date, and said something along the lines of “Babe, we can’t get married then because I might miss my fantasy draft!”

I was dumbfounded – NFL is not really my thing, and I had so much fun with this wedding, I literally thought he was kidding when he said he couldn’t have it then.  Then I realized how serious it was when a friend of ours got married on a Sunday mid-September.  Austin begged for me to see if I could get the televisions at the venue turned on (absolutely not), and then left the wedding with like a millions guys in tow to find a television to watch the game.

Well, I witnessed a fantasy draft on Friday night, and it was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen.  12 men sat around at a table.  They hung up this…paper poster thingie on the wall and they had printed stickers of all the players.  They each brought in $50 for the pot.  And then, for three hours, three hours, they went around the table, drafting players, while I looked on in astonishment.  I have never seen 12 men so attentive and focused on anything in my entire life – and it was incredible.

Apparently, this fantasy thing is kind of a big deal?

Engagement Photos

So, this a little bit of a right turn, but instead of being a normal couple, we waited over a year after our engagement, just weeks before the wedding, to do our engagement photos.  I’ll talk more about that on Wedding Wednesday, because the entire process of doing the engagement shoot was really interesting and fun.  But originally, we weren’t going to do the whole engagement shoot thing, but I got a little sad when I saw how beautiful a friend’s turned out and blah blah blah you get it.

So anyhoo, one of the best gifts I received on our wedding day that I forgot that I was going to get was a beautiful jump drive with ALL of our engagement photos on it – and lucky day – I’ll share a couple of them with you!

Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios
Photo via Blest Studios

Obviously, I have well over 100 photos, and I will gladly share them with you via email if you’re curious, but these were my faves!

Happy Labor day, beautiful people, and stay safe! 

Getting back on track.

| cheriarmour

Since we got married on Saturday, I think there are a few days in there that I haven’t run or worked out.  Friday, before I drove down for the rehearsal and the night before the wedding, I managed to sneak in a short run, but Saturday, the day of, and Sunday, not only did I not run, I ate like I had never seen food before in my life.

Usually in my life, I try to be conscious of what I put into my mouth, without being obsessive.  I flip over labels, check to make sure that high fructose corn syrup isn’t the first ingredient, and I’m loving that they put calories on the menus now, so I’m far less liable to put something in my mouth that doesn’t belong there.

Friday night, I noshed on some delicious food at our rehearsal.  Don’t worry, I have some gorg pics on my camera, as soon as I figured out where that camera is.  Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, I ate biscuits from a little joint North Carolina has to offer called Biscuitville, with no shame or remorse.  I didn’t have my first run until Monday, and quite honestly, I’m feeling a little funny about it.  The run itself was a dream – it was my first run with my new husband, but I felt weird about the fact that I skipped out for a few days.

I can’t honestly remember the last time I’ve gone so many consecutive days without a good run, and consecutive days of eating crap.  I think sometimes, my fear is that if I go too long without working out, that I will start drinking cokes, and suddenly become disinterested in working out.  But it doesn’t typically work like that, does it?

But, I’m taking these next few days to get back on track.  Get back to my runs, my yoga, my cycling sessions.  It’s a feel-good thing, not even a weight thing – and I hate the sloppy, slow feeling you get after a few days of not treating yourself right.

Oh yea, also, I had to bathe my cats again – as the weather cools down and the fleas start to make their way back into the apartment, I have to wash/clip all my pets….on my honeymoon.

Wash Cat
Note the pile of wedding pressies behind the wet cat, who broke my blender and went for the money maker as he was escaping the sink…

How long is the longest you’ve gone without working out?  What did you do to get yourself back on track? 

 

Our wedding.

| cheriarmour

If you’ve ever gotten married, you understand why I’ve been disappeared for the last week or so.  The lead up was crazy – but I don’t even need to get into that right now.  You want to get into the good stuff right?  The stuff I’ve been talking about for the last year or so?

We got married on Saturday!

I will break down the whole thing a little more in detail in a few days, but I will give you guys a little taste of what we did this weekend.

Our wedding was gorgeous.  It was perfect.  It went off without a hitch.  And I am officially a Mrs!

  •  I heard from someone at the venue that our food was the best.  We did fried chicken (tofu for me), collards, mac and cheese, potatoes, and biscuits.  It was straight-up as southern as it gets.
  • My dress.  Ahhhhh that dress.  It was delicious, and I never ever wanted to take it off.  After we got back, I kinda flopped down on the bed in our suite for a good 20 minutes before I had to take it off.
  • I danced literally for 100 hours.  I had to shower after.
  • The day was perfect, and I love my family – my family family, and my new family – new husband especially!  Feels cool to finally call him husband!

A few photos to tide you over until I do the FULLLLLL recap?

photo 5
This was a quick screen grab that stopped me in my tracks. We actually got into a tobacco field for this one. Photo via Blest Studios.
photo 4
A drunken groomsman who charmed the pants off of all of our parents snapped this quickly at sunset.
photo 3
A guest snapped this as my father escorted me down the aisle. He’d been talking about wearing this tux for months and it TOTALLY came together. Love it!
photo 2
This was us, the HOT day of the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner.
photo 1
All lined up to practice walking down the aisle!

So, this is just a little taste, as I ease back into my life.

What I can say, however, is that I feel SO loved – by friends, by family, by my husband and I’m looking forward to years and years of celebrations like these.  I love you all, and thank you all for an amazing weekend.

That said…what did you do this weekend?

More reality tv!!

| cheriarmour

You ladies k?now I love trashy television, right?

There’s this one…

Nene

This.
KK

 

Oh.  This too.

Teen MomAnd then there’s been Real World, Road Rules, Taking the Stage, Real Housewives of All the Places,  Total Divas, Below Deck, Botched, Shah’s of Sunset, Flipping Out with Jeff Lewis, Party Down South, and that’s about it.

Until I was watching Party Down South, and stumbled upon Steve Austin’s (yes, the wrestler guy) Broken Skull Challenge on CMT.

Now, while a Broken Skull Challenge doesn’t sound like a jolly ranchin’ good time, this show is awesome.  It’s American Ninja Warrior meets wrestling – lot’s of dirt, lots of heat, and some running.  What’s not to love?

What’s your latest reality show obsession?

 

Fitness Gods.

| cheriarmour

The best thing happened to me yesterday morning.

Let me back it up.

******

So I’ve been teaching Zumba® Fitness for almost 5 years – taking for longer than that.  And the entire time I was taking, and the entire time that I was training, I had a total fitness crush on my trainer/original teacher Koh Herlong, and then Tanya Beardsley, with whom I had the pleasure of taking a master class before she retired from the company to do her own thing.  I loved the way they taught, I found myself tearing up when they made a connection to their classes, and I’ve always strove (striven?!) to bring the same to my classes.  I love to teach, and I hope that comes through to my classes.

Yesterday, I was working in my office on the schedule when the kid from the fitness desk downstairs called.

“Yeah, there’s no one here to teach the 4:30 step class.”

Shit.

By the grace of God, I’d already planned to take a cycle class, and was already in workout gear.  I literally jogged downstairs, strapped the mic on, broke the news to the class that I would not be teaching Step, but a Cardio Dance class, and went for it.

“Whew, it’s over,” I thought 45 minutes later!

“The teacher that teacher this class always teaches the toning class after.  You’re teaching toning, right?”

Of COURSE!  I found a CD that was like 140 BPMs (a little fitness inside thing) with Miley Cyrus featured, and I WENT FOR IT.  I stepped out of my little Zumba box, dusted off my AFAA certification, and played my role of Fitness Director perfectly.  I had an awesome, awesome time, and after, a few of the chicks in class walked up after, and told me how awesome the toning class was, and how I’d kicked their butt! (Thank you Body Pump™ training!)

Which brings me to this.

******

Body PumpI’m still working through some of my team teaching for Body Pump, and was super nervous to teach with this beautiful goddess, Monica, who introduced me to Body Pump.  She’s a flawless instructor, and radiates a really unique sort of beauty and professionalism in her classes.

This morning, she allowed me to team teach with her, and following the class, she gave me a hug, complimented my connection with the students, and said that I was ready to teach.

I have died and gone to heaven!

Do you have any fitness crushes?  Spill!