#GoingAlward

Back in December, we'd gotten a wedding invitation... who do we know that's getting married? Turned out to be my cousin B, on my mother's side. He's about 10 years younger than me, so we never really "hung out" as equals; we were just cousins who saw each other all the time... if that makes sense. 

I stuck the invite in my binder (I carry that binder everywhere!) and forgot all about it.  After our Gasparilla weekend, and how lovely that was, I thought that we should go. It would be nice for the two of us to go out as a couple, NOT for a race, and it would be great to see all of the cousins again (including me, there are eight of us). So, I told Hubby that we'd go, and he groused and grumbled, as I expected him to, but I told him basically just shut up and go, I'd make it worth his while. 

Hits the nail RIGHT on the head for Hubby!

Over the next 2 months, I found a really cute dress (the dress code was Cocktail Attire) and got Hubby a nice new button-down (he hates them!). I ended up getting some really cute shoes on Amazon of all places (this is a bad thing; now that I see how much fashion Amazon has to offer, I'm shopping all the time!). New shoes, dress, and shirt for him all were about $50! My dress was actually a clearance dress, and after a great JC Penney coupon, I got it for (no shit), $15! 

I got a great room at Fairfield Inn & Suites in Tampa. It was a very nice room. It had a cool layout where the bathroom was the first area of the room, and then had a long hall to get into the bedroom area. 

Looking towards the door from the sleeping area

There was a cool closet/kitchenette area. It had a coffee maker, mini fridge, and microwave, and a closet on the other side. A small portion of the closet was an actual closet, then there was a small hook.

Microwave, Coffee Station, Fridge

Hanging Rod, Small closet with hangers, iron & board

The room itself is nice and spacious, with a king bed, a big mirror, a desk, and table with TV.
 

Bed (dual nightstands), table w/mirror, TV/Dresser, Desk w/Desk Chair

Front view of desk, TV, and table area

After a lovely afternoon, we got all gussied up and made our way to the Florida Aquarium, where the wedding and reception would be held. 

We got there early and parked at Channelside Parking (final cost $10) and walked over to the location. We were quickly kicked out and told that they would let us know when we could come in for the event. Kinda wish I knew that... I would have stayed in the car!

Hubby spent the entire time grousing about having to wear a long-sleeve button-up AND a sports coat, so I told him to shut up and I'd go put the jacket back in the car, and he could spend the evening in only the button-up shirt. He was okay with that, but was still expecting the evening to suck. 

Dream Pairs Tiffany Heels from Amazon

My $15 Clearance Dress

Yeah... I look like a lacy green potato

We stood around in the foyer area for a while, then saw my mother and my aunt show up. We talked with them for a bit, and they said that my brother and his wife were going to attend (originally, they weren't going to come, due to financial reasons). Then we saw my cousin J and my cousin T show up, who had just come from the Hooters down the road. Sadly, they said that their brother K or his family would not be attending tonight. This really bummed me out, because - since my brother came - we could have taken another group cousin photo with all eight of us... oh well. 

Just as my feet were about to scream at me for standing in heels (and cheap heels, at that!) for so long, we were soon led through "Ocean Commotion" and "Dragons Down Under" areas (shuttered for the night), where the centerpiece was a MASSIVE aquarium in the Coral Reef Room. The entire wall was aquarium. I was blown away.

Okay, that's an amazing backdrop!

The ceremony itself was very small, not super-religious, but definitely over-the-top in terms of what the aquarium provided. At the point the minister asked, "are there any objections?" two penguins came racing down the aisle towards B and R (bride and groom). Very cute, but hokey.

I love the strings of lights, too

And after the minister introduced "Mr. and Mrs. A," the wall behind them exploded in a million bubbles, creating a Bubble Curtain. Again, very cool, but hokey.

Eventually the entire wall was bubbles

It's a Fame-Whore Shark

I'm sure it made for great photos though. The huge shark sure seemed to like hanging out there!

Once the ceremony was over, guests were able to walk around the Aquarium to view the exhibits, or make their way to the upstairs to the Mosaic Center for light refreshments.

Even though my feet were still hurting from these cheap shoes, we decided to walk around. (Standing hurts more!). We walked around the Sting Ray area, but it was shuttered for the evening, and the rays had gone to bed. We went over to the Bays and Beaches area, and there... we discovered... CLETUS.

Sssssshhhhhh, Cletus is sleeping

Cletus is a Goliath Grouper, and in the 10 minutes we were over there, he never moved from this spot!

According to the signage next to his aquarium:

• He's been at the aquarium since 1995
• He's about 29 years old
• He weighs 275-300 pounds, on his "skinny days" 
• He's 2 inches shy of 6 feet long, and 50 inches around
• He loves to eat herring, sardines, ladyfish, & mackerel
• He also loves sandbaths, bubbles, and his diver friends

A better angle to see Cletus

After our visit with Cletus, we headed back over to the Mosaic Center, picked up our table assignments, and then mingled with family.

Mom (love the Table Assignment in the bra!), Sister-in-Law, Brother, Aunt

Once we sat down, though, and got a good look at our table assignments, I had to giggle. My brother's name is Jess. Hubby's name starts with J as well (it's a secret!). My bother's last name is NOT Weber (because Weber is my married name). We were all rightfully confused as to who was supposed to sit next to to me. All four of us (me and my hubby, my brother and his wife) ended up sitting at the same table, so no big deal there (they didn't have an assignment; they kind of crashed the wedding).

So... am I sitting with my husband or my brother?

We were seated at the "family, but not really important family" table, along with other cousins T and J, my mom, my aunt (T and J's mom), and a lady accompanied by two men - none of us had any idea who these three people were! When we all sat down, there was a champagne flute at each seat. Hubby and I don't drink, neither do my aunt or my mother. Mystery woman seized them like it was the only beverage on Earth and dropped all 5 in about 2 minutes.  She's a keeper...

Very early in the seating, and you can see all champagne is gone from the table

Mom, Cousin T, and Cousin J (two sons of my aunt)

As usual, there was a lot of pomp and circumstance, the bride and groom came in. There were speeches and toasts. One thing that was very touching though, was that B was able to dance with his paternal grandmother. His mother - my aunt (my mother's brother's wife) - had died about 5-6 years ago from Lupus, and her absence was widely felt. Grandma was very emotional during the Mother of the Groom dance, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when the dance was through.

Grandma could hardly keep it together

The meal was lovely; a buffet of pretty typical wedding food. The bar was open, which led to a lot of drunk people (including my two cousins, as seen in an earlier photo, and the Mystery Trio at our table!)

At one point we were able to get all of The Cousins together (minus K) for a group photo. Unfortunately, NO ONE had a good damn camera with them (where was the wedding photographer!), so they all came out grainy and crappy. This was one of my favorites though... T (the one grabbing me) has always been my favorite out of all of them!

Cousin K, Cousin L, Cousin J, Cousin B, Jess, Cousin T and Me!

We were also able to get a great one with The Cousins, the bride, the Grandmother, my sister-in-law, and my uncle Skip (my mother's brother, B's dad)

Bride, Cousin K, Uncle S, Grandma, Cousin L, Cousin B, Cousin J, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Cousin T and ME!

I took a moment to dip out and head to the ladies room to prepare a special surprise for Hubby. No, not that... okay, yeah, that, but also something else."Our Song" is Enter Sandman by Metallica. There's a long story there, but it's not pertinent to the story at hand. I put this song on my phone before we left home, and I brought a pair of Bluetooth earbuds with me. In the ladies' room, I queued up the song, got the earbuds powered up and connected to the phone, then headed back to the reception. When the DJ called for all the married coupled to come up on the dance floor, we headed up that way. I told him to put the earbud in his ear (of course, he was totally perplexed), I put the other one in mine, and then I hit play. Seeing the look on his face go from perplexed to understanding to love was amazing. We never had a wedding reception, so this was a nice way to be able to dance to our song that way. It was probably the best 2 minutes of the entire night.

After the song the DJ was playing was over, he played a little game. Anyone married a year or less, step off the dance floor. 2 years or less, 5 years or less. He went on and on. 20 years or less, left only Hubby and me, and the parents of the bride. They had been together for 42 years (hubby and I will celebrate 22 years in June). The DJ then asked them for advice for the new couple, as well as the couples who left the dance floor. I don't remember the advice, but I was so proud of us, for being runner's up in the best competition.

After this, the party really began to step up - it got louder and darker; I needed some air, so we headed out to the balcony and ended up bullshitting with my brother and sister-in-law for a while. At one point, The Mystery Trio came out, and headed to an upstairs balcony one level above us. It was chained off, but rules be damned!They stayed up there for about 10 minutes, and then came back downstairs. Mystery Guy 1 damn sure looked like he was adjusting his fly. Mystery Guy 2 looked like he was patting his hair down. And I'm pretty sure Mystery Lady was wiping her mouth. (At this point, we were all pretty sure Mystery Lady was Mystery Hooker).

The American Victory ship (Mariners Memorial Museum) and the view beyond

Hubby and I went back inside and sat for a little while until we could gather all the family at the fun photo booth. As has always been in life growing up, my brother and I tried to outdo each other in the photos. (My brother is the large, hairy guy... not the just hairy guy).

Hubby, Mom, Aunt, sister-in-Law, Brother, Me

The result of that photo shoot

Then it was just Hubby and I. We never pose well, so the first 3 are awkward. Then I shouted Prom Pose! and the final one was cheeky and cute.

Probably the first dressed up couple photo we've had in over a decade!

The party by now was in full swing - loud, dark, drunk - so it was time for us to leave. We said our goodbyes to everyone and finally, we were gone, back on our way to the hotel for the evening. I couldn't wait to peel that dress - and the 87 layers of Spanx - off of my tired old body!

Sunday, we lazed around for a while - yeah, you know what we did - then headed to Red Robin at the mall for lunch. On the way home, we made a pit stop at the Russel Stover Outlet for leftover Easter Candy ($25 for TONS of candy!), and made it home safe and sound.

I'm so glad I decided we should go. It was a lovely weekend that didn't involve parenting or running or any other types of responsibilities. It was just him, and me, and being together.

Who Gives out PENS at a Race? - Gate River Run 15k Race Report 2018

After skipping out on many recent big races of mine, The Kiddo decided to come along to this one. I'm sure it was totally for moral support for ME, not for lunch afterwards... yeah, I'm gonna stick with that.

On our way to Jacksonville, both Hubby and the Kiddo realized there would be no where to grab some breakfast while they waited for me, so we went to a Pilot truck stop and they grabbed some junk food, while the local yokel with 3 teeth looked me up and down in my running skirt and asked me if my legs were cold. Yeah, Bo Duke, they were cold. It's 6am in March!

We finished our trip, entering Jacksonville via Normandy Blvd, which makes it a lot easier to get to the stadium, and to parking. We found a spot in the parking lot by the parking garage, and walked over to packet pickup. I got my packet, my goody bag and my shirt, which was a really pretty teal this year. We got a pint glass again, as well as a really nice magnet (I love these - I stick them to my work filing cabinet, like magnetic medals of honor).

3x V-neck Gender Specific Tech Tee

Sling bag, Pint Glass and Magnet

We made our way to Wave 3 and then parted ways. They would be on the other side of the Start Line, and I told him I'd give him my jacket as I passed. It was still slightly chilly, but I knew I wouldn't' want it for the full 9.3 miles.

I love these head boppers!

Once in the corral, I walked around to warm up, went potty, got some water, went potty again, walked around some more and did some stretches. It's so boring in corrals!

Wave 3 is the biggest, and so boring

I also took advantage of the chill time to eat some breakfast. If my stomach allows me to grace it with food, I love eating BelVita. Does it give me a good amount of fuel? I don't know. But it gives me SOMETHING so that I'm not running on an empty stomach.

belVita - the breakfast of finishers

Soon, Wave 2 had gone, so it was our turn to scoot up to the line. It went better than last year - when everyone broke free of the wave and just went willy nilly (yeah, I did too). I passed the family and gave the Kiddo my jacket, telling her there was 1/2 a pack of belVita still in the pocket (she love 'em, but she totally forgot they were there!).

Movin' on up... to the start line

Mile 1 always comes very quickly, I think because you're agonizing about the first bridge.

Hello Mile 1

I love taking "Action Shots" on the bridge, because Hubby is afraid of heights, and the Kiddo is afraid of falling, so neither of them would ever come up here with me.

I decided to bust out the Zensahs to see if they'd save me a little bit (they did)

I see you, Green Monster... I'll be there in a few hours!

After you exit the bridge, you're over in a different part of Jax, near the Lexington hotel. That is the hotel that hosts WasabiCon, if you're interested in that type of thing.

Water Stop

Mile 2 (hard to see in the sunspot)!

You come around a corner and make your way into another section of Jax (I think this is San Marco?) This is also where the 5k split is! Yay, I'm a 1/3 of the way done!

5k Split (55:43 officially)

There was a cute pair of kids handing out water in this area!

Yay! Kids!

Oh nothing... just a tiny infant staring at me

Once we passed the 5k mark, we usually would turn to go down River Road, but instead we kept going straight! A lot of people were confused, but I remembered a story I'd read a few months back (when I was trying to figure out why this road had an ugly fence at last year's run): the people who live in this area are pissed that people come to the park and get all up in their way and their personal space, so the city is, I think, going to install gates or something... I don't remember the specifics, but it was something like that.

Hey wait... we usually go down there!

This is all new to me!

Once we passed this area, we were back on track.

Oh, okay, we usually come OUT of there

Good to see the community still handing out The Official Donut Snack of the Gate River Run - Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins! (Okay, so maybe it's not the Official Donut, but damn, people in Jax love them some Dunkin'!)

Mmmm, Chocolate Cake Munchkin™

 Oh, Lord... it's only Mile 4. Nah, I'm feeling okay, let's get going!

Mile 4, with some shade

Soon, we turned onto whatever road this is that has all the heavy traffic.

Hey, there, traffic jam sufferers!

She's wearing a ball gown (or at least ballgown skirt)!

And then we made it to Mile 5! Woo hoo, we've finished an 8k.

8k Done!

A-ha! I had been wondering where the Booze and Sausage was... they moved to a bigger location! As you can see, I did not partake this year. More booze and sausage for other people.

As you can see, this is a very popular spot!

Okay, so you guys know I love picking up swag or gimmies or whatever, right? When I'm at an expo, or some other event where there's tables with candy, or stick notes, or whatever, I grab some? Yeah...

What's he got? Candy? Booze?

Chris John, Accident Attorneys, had a table set up, giving out swag! Before I could stop my hand, I grabbed three pens and continued on my merry way!

Pens... he has... pens.

Mile 6 and a water stop!

Yes! Water!

10k Split (Officially 1:52:06)

A lovely family in this neighborhood was handing out homemade Rice Krispie Treats.

Sorry, lovely family... they weren't really good.

I'll stick with sausage and beer

Oh shit... my Garmin has started yelling at me... my battery is low.  Please, God of Garmin, please let my battery last 3 more miles!

Spoiler Alert: It Didn't

Mile 7!

This is pretty much the last time we'll see shade

I love this little creek. I'm sure it has a name, but I'm not a local, and I never remember to look it up. It's become my pre-Let's-Do-This photo (you can just see The Green Monster in the background over my left bopper).

Soon...™

Here we go!

Uphill, bitches! Knees up, head down!

Gasp... gasp... Mile... gasp... EIGHT... gasp... gasp...

Eight Miles... Not even at the damn bridge!

Goin' up the bridge! Lookin' good girl!

Why the hell am I smiling? This is miserable!

SUCCESS! I'm dying inside, that's supposed to be a smile, but I'm at the top, bitch!

I DID IT!!!!

Move! I want a picture too! One mile to go!  And it's all downhill from here! Literally!!

Mile 8.3, Now with 300% More Old Ladies

Downhill! Downhill!! Mile 9! This isn't technically a Motherfucker Mile™, but I still gave it my all.

Everyone move! Fat Chick Running Downhill!

Once you get to the end of the road, all you have to do is hook a quick left and you're in the finisher chute (much better than the firs time I ran it!)

Finished! I look so chill

My official time was 2:52:21 (pace 18:32). 5k split was 55:43. 10k split was 1:52:06. 8.3 mile split was 2:33:14. Final Mile took 19:08. I beat 393 people, coming in 12,255th out of 12,648 people.

We walked through the huge after-party, but - as usual - there was nothing left for the slow people. I think we were able to score a banana and a few muffins from Publix.

Our parking spot is beyond this throng of sweaty bodies

Once back in the car, I changed into flip flops, and then set the Garmin to take us to the best seafood place not-in-town, Safe Harbor. It's actually way out in Mayport Village, close to the FLGA line, but it's worth it!

Now, last time I was here, it was probably 11am, so it wasn't very busy. This time, we got there closer to 1pm, and the difference in crowd size was dramatic!

Line Out the Door - Photo taken at 1:06pm

It took 10 more minutes just to get inside to this sign!

This was a bad idea... my feet were KILLING ME! Perhaps waiting in line this long right after a huge race wasn't the smartest... but the food is soooooo good!

See the TV way over there? The cashier is in that area

It took almost an hour to get up and order our food! When we got closer to the front of the line, we sent The Kiddo out to snag a table, while Hubby and I ordered. It was chilly outside, so the table she got wasn't awesome. Luckily we found another one inside the patio.

Seated, waiting for our food, at 2:07pm

Hubby got chicken fingers, the Kiddo got shrimp and I stuck with the bay scallops. Our meals, and three drinks came out to about $38, which - for locally caught seafood - is a pretty awesome price for the amount of food you get!

Finally FOOD! At 2:09

We stuffed ourselves silly! Both hubby and the kiddo were impressed - which is hard - and said they would both come back again.

On our way home, we hit up a WaWa (so glad Jax has some WaWas now!!). When I got home, I vegged out with a good book until it was politely late enough to not feel bad about going to bed!

However... as I was doing what ya do in the bathroom, I looked down at my feet and noticed something... a little, white, squirmy things on the bathroom rug... Oh, good Lord.  It was a maggot...

I will spare you the absolutely disgusting details and the hell we lived in the following week, but apparently something died in our attic. Something big enough to have a LOT of worms (yeah, let's go with worms... it sounds less disgusting!). And because of where the critter was situated when it died, we were getting worms falling from a light socket in our master bedroom AND from the baseboard/wall in our master bathroom. And since we don't have a true attic, we couldn't just go up there (or hire a guy) and get it out... we had to leave it there, or cut a huge hole in our ceiling... Let me tell ya, I will forever be a Shark™ customer. I was sucking up worms here, there, and everywhere with that thing.