Torn

You may have noticed my lack of Couch to 5k updates, or a lack of posts about hiking trails. Things are on a temporary hiatus. I rolled my ankle on the way down Gorham Mountain when Thom and I were at Acadia National Park. At first I thought I just sprained my ankle, and took a week off from running to let everything rest and heal up. After three weeks of soreness and spasming, I went to my doctor's office. My doctor took x-rays and sent me to a podiatrist. What I thought was a sprained ankle is actually a torn plantar fascia tendon, which is the tendon that goes from the heel to the big toe. Mine is almost completely severed. I also have a significant bone spur on my heel.

For the time being, I am in this wonderful ski boot contraption. My doctor is hoping that the tendon will scar over and heal up. At the end of the month, I will be re-evaluated as to what can be done next, which will likely be either physical therapy or an MRI. My podiatrist is aware that I was training for a 5k, and says that I MIGHT be able to train for a November race, my gut is telling me that I am done running for the year. Here's hoping to good news at the end of the month.

Birthdays and Haircuts

Of course the first pre-season game is on his birthday

Thom and I celebrate our birthdays five days apart. It is a lot of fun, and a lot of birthday all crammed into a week. On top of that, my family celebrates my grandfather's birthday as a memorial to him, so my sister flew into town from Florida for the family celebration on Sunday. It has been a very busy few days, but worth every minute.

Thom is going back to school this fall to pursue a degree in business administration. I am so happy that he is going to college, so I decided to use his birthday as an opportunity to make sure he was starting school on the right foot. I bought him a laptop to take to class, in red of course, as well as a backpack to carry all of his gear.

Thom holding his severed ponytail

My sister flew in very early in the morning on Thom's birthday, so the three of us went out to sushi to celebrate the occasion. That evening, we went to my mother's house for a lobster dinner to celebrate my sister being in town. My sister's friend offered to give everyone haircuts, and Thom used the opportunity to cut his hair. For those of you that have been reading my blog, you have likely noticed that Thom used to wear his hair long, tied back into a ponytail. He had been contemplating trading in the long hair for a more conservative haircut, and finally decided to take the plunge on his birthday in front of the entire family. I have never seen my husband with short hair, so I was more than a little nervous. In the end, I am very happy with the results, and I think he looks great for school and all the networking he will be doing. Thom is going to donate his ponytail to Locks of Love.

My camera, wrapped in a myriad of paper from my childhood

Thom decided to give me my birthday present on his birthday so that I would have it for the remainder of the weekend. He bought me a DSLR camera. I have always wanted one, I love taking pictures and a DSLR will help me take the next step in my hobby. I was also badly in need of a camera, my iPhone actually has better resolution than my point-and-shoot camera does! There is definitely a learning curve to a DSLR, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it. I look forward to experimenting with different lenses and seeing how far my hobby can go. It is my goal to have my pictures hanging in a coffee shop some day, we shall see.

My birthday happens to be tonight, and to mark the occasion Thom is baking me a lemon strawberry cheesecake. He is definitely a keeper. After this weekend, I am guessing we are going to have a nice quiet evening in. At this point, I really do not think I would want it any other way.

Thom's new haircut, picture taken with my new camera

Convalidating Our Marriage

Thom and I were married on September 10, 2011 in a beautiful ocean side ceremony surrounded by our best friends and family. It was a perfect day, and something that we will celebrate every year. Thom and I are also Catholic. We are what many refer to as "Cradle Catholics," we were baptized as infants and celebrated the sacraments growing up. During our 20's, for various personal reasons, we both strayed from the church. We decided to go back in the spring of 2011. At the time, we were in the final stages of planning our wedding, and, as far as the church was concerned, I was still married to my ex-husband. We worked with a priest, and made the decision to celebrate our wedding as planned in September and I would seek an annulment for my first marriage. My annulment finalized just before this past Easter. Thom and I are now registered members of our local parish, and we decided that it was time to have our marriage blessed by the Catholic church in the form of a convalidation. 

In order for a marriage to be considered valid in the eyes of the church, it is required to follow a specific ritual that follows church doctrine and tradition. Our marriage in 2011 did not follow this form, so now it needs to be convalidated. Thom and I were expecting the convalidation to be a quick ceremony with a witness or two after mass some Sunday. To our surprise, in order to follow church form, we need to have a full nuptial mass. We decided that since we have to celebrate the entire mass, we might as well invite our friends and family and since everyone will be together we should host some sort of reception after the fact. What started out as a simple ceremony quickly blossomed into an event.

That being said, we are keeping everything low key. Our nuptial mass is going to appear just like a wedding ceremony, because, in the eyes of the church, it is. Our reception is going to be more of dinner party. We are renting a private dining room at a local Italian restaurant and serving a four course dinner. The only music this time will be background music, no photographer, no dj, no fancy cake, we already did that. Although, I am going to wear my dress again, why not get a second use out of it?  Our date is set for Friday, November 22nd, so we decided on a fall theme. The tables will be decorated with leaves and lanterns, the place cards will be fixed to mini-pumpkins, the table numbers will be jars of apple butter, and the favors will be caramel apples. The restaurant is going to serve hot apple cider along with coffee and tea for cozy beverages, and dessert will be bread pudding and apple crisp. I am looking forward to welcoming our faith into our marriage, along with the excitement of what is looking to be a wonderful dinner party with our family and friends.