Popping back in (picture HEAVY, wedding and honeymoon)

Where to even begin.
Well I guess I can start with the fact that I GOT MARRIED!
Hopefully you follow me on instagram and have seen some of the incredible pictures.

Our wedding day could not have gone more perfect, our honeymoon was incredible, and we want to start saving for our next cruise.

Our honeymoon consisted of the following
- flying to LA and staying on Venice Beach

- Getting tattoos by a famous person (his show is on the oxygen network)
- Went on a rollercoaster in Santa Monica ( I have such a fear of heights, this was note easy)
- soaking in as much of the pacific coast that we could
- flying to Seattle to catch our cruise ship
- going salmon fishing, where we caught 4 salmon, which they then filleted and flash froze to then send to us in NY
- Meeting awesome people while on the cruise, one couple GAVE us tickets to the Seahawks game
- Drinking WAY too much
- laughing every day
- already planning out next cruise
- getting back to Seattle
- Going to the Seahawks game where we sat 6 rows up.  From the end zone.  I could practically hear the teams calling the plays
- Going to the original Starbucks
- Hating my life as everyone else slept on the overnight flight back except for me

That pretty much sums it up.
I always get these ideas of what to blog about, then never do it.  I couldn't during wedding planning.  I was traveling every week, and then going crazy trying to make sure everything was perfect (which is seriously was).

So I will be around more often, just can't say that every other day, or week, is even reasonable.
For work, this week I am in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and then back home.  In a week.  Road.Warrior.

So thank you for stopping in, and hope to see you all soon.

Weekend fun (I already miss my iPhone)

Spring and Summer weekends make me happy.  Unfortunately it won't last long, as we are getting EFFING SNOW TOMORROW.  Not happy.

I actually did pretty well with my challenge last week, and kind of lost it this weekend.  I mean, when your fiance offers to buy you a garbage plate, you can't say no.  You just can't.  

I am officially no longer an IPhone owner.  Ryan and I were up for upgrades, and the galaxy S5 was buy one get one free.  In these money strapped times, can't beat a deal like that.  If anyone has any tips on using a galaxy, I am all ears!

Saturday was absolute madness at the dog daycare, but they are just so darn cute.  I don't think I have ever left there mad.  You just can't. So I pretty much came home and passed out like an old woman.  and loved it.  

Sunday after work, it was way too nice to stay inside and veg.  Baine and I headed over to a local park and Baine just macked it up!  He rocked his first time in water, but we didn't get deep enough to swim.  It was fine with me because the water was freezing.  We have been living in a polar vortex.  

He tends to still get nervous around strangers, so we did a ton of work on it.  By the end of it, he was so tired, he could care less who was petting him.  We will get there!

I am going to be all adult over here and make some goals for this week.  

1.  Get 4 points for the challenge at least twice this week.

2.  No alcohol at night until Friday.

3.  Continue to eat clean even on the road.  

4. PR my bench press (which I rocked tonight!  115lbs)

5. Pick out a quote for my tattoo.  It's only a couple weeks away!

Hope you all had a fabulous Monday, ready to rock this week!

The challenge

I am never going to be an every day blogger.  I just can't fit it in to EVERDAY life.  I want to be.  Some days when I am traveling, and it becomes a 12 hour day, blogging is on the back burner.  Not that it is what has kept me away the past few weeks, but it is a reality I need to accept.

I am also joining for a small NSV for this week.  More on that later.

I have had a crazy couple of weeks.  I have been traveling a TON, working out a bunch, and trying fun new recipes.  Of course snuggling with my dogs.

I had a fantastic St pattys Day down in NYC visiting my MOH.  

                                   

        

                        

We also have a grassless back yard, so we have been dealing with some flooding issues.  If any has any experience in making a french drain, it would be much appreciated!

I am still working at the dog daycare on the weekends, but I have so many obligations (like showers, bachelorette's, and WEDDINGS) this summer, I had to take off most weekends.  I had to take some off just because.  Working 7 days a week is not easy.  

Baine will be sad when he doesn't go to daycare anymore.  It is his happy place.  He can't get enough of just romping around.  

People, not so much.  After we left daycare one day, I went to Petsmart to buy him a new collar.  He was so nervous around people.  He is going to be 150+ pounds, it is not ok if he is nervous around people.  There was a group of kids that wanted to pet him and he ran behind me, shaking and cowering.  

I bought a bag of his favorite treats and then gave each of the children give him treats and pet him.  As more people came through the door, I asked them if they would give him a treat and pet him.  By the end, he was better, not great though.  I am going to make this a weekly activity for us.  Beef is a people dog, where as Baine is a huge dog's dog.  

After that quick view into my life, I am doing a challenge at my gym!

The owner of the gym wanted to do something fun, that would also really kick us into gear.  It is a team challenge, so there were 8 of us that wanted to do it, 2 teams of 4.  

Day 1 started this past Sunday.  We get points for different things we do throughout the day.  If we eat perfect, we get 1 point.  The diet is a paleo, which is different than the clean eating which I had been "following" (loosely).  

The hardest things to cut out:

-Cheese.  Love me some Mozz

-Glass of wine at night.  

-Hummus.  Chickpeas are out.  I am not sure why, but they are

-Peanut Butter-  My afternoon snack has been almonds and peanut butter.  Almond butter has been a great alternative

-Creamer.  Almond milk does not taste the same in coffee.  I am trying it black, still not great. 

-CARBS.  It is only week 1, but I am craving carbs.  A nice piece of bread, a cheesy quesadilla.

We also get points for activity.  A work out at the gym is 1 point, a workout outside of the gym is 1 point, mobility stretching for at least 15 minutes is 1 point.  Maximum points per day is 4.  We get 1 cheat meal and drink per week.  If we don't eat clean or drink more than that 1 time, it is a negative point.  I already know I am going to get negative points on the weekends.  If I drink with Ryan on Friday night and then want to go out with my friends on Saturday, I am going to.  I will just have to make up that point somewhere else!  

It is a 5 week challenge.  We were weighed and body fat indexed on day 1.  We also did a typical Crossfit work out.  We will do the same work out at the end of those 5 weeks and however many seconds we improve our score, we get that number in points!  

I am pretty pumped about this, and I haven't drank all week, and it is Thursday.  Weekday drinking is a bad habit that I want to get out of. 

That is my NSV for the week!  I tend to take days off and say "It is just one glass of wine" or "I worked out today, so I deserve one."

I have earned 3 points every day since we started.  

So far, so good.  

 I didn't travel this week, which helped.  Next week will be more difficult.  Facing those awkward moments when the others order a glass of wine and I order water.  Not ordering a wrap from McDonalds because it is easy, but going in a getting a salad.  

One day at a time, and by the end, it will be very much worth it.  Yesterday, I made two awesome recipes that I found on PaleOMG.com.  They are amazing!  I will be sharing those tomorrow.  

Baine is ready for some playtime, so I am off!

Have a great Thursday!

Changing my last name

I have mixed feelings about this topic.  I read an awesome post from this lady who rocks, about changing her last name.  She has not changed it.

I have worked really hard with that last name.  While I have a pretty unique first name (most people remember Merchon), there goes all of your word of mouth.  That is maybe exaggerating, because people will (hopefully) know you by more than your last name, but it is an odd thought to change all of that.

What do people think of your new last name?  I can't go ANYWHERE in my hometown with out someone knowing my fiance, his brothers, or his parents.  It is like I am marrying the freakin Mayor.  While they have laid an amazing path with that name, when you are in a place with as many tentacles as his family has, you make enemies.  I don't care because OBVIOUSLY they are in the wrong, but you never know the relationship when you say the last name.

I am excited to me Mr. and Mrs. though.  I am excited to be his wife.  One of his friends called and during conversation, somehow the conversation came up that I will always be Ryan's wife.  His family has such an enormous web in the city we live, that is what I will be.  I have to be ok with that.

While I will do incredible things for my career, for my family, for our life, for my web, there will be so many people who will know me as Hammer's wife.  That is his nickname from lacrosse, FYI.

In the end, does it really mean anything.  Are we more married because we have the same last name?  Is he not my family because we don't share a name?  When I asked Ryan about it, he completely understands me not changing my last name.  It doesn't offend him at all and he understands what work I have put in with my last name.  

Can you keep your name professionally but change it socially?  Does that get too confusing?  My mom hyphenated her last name, which might be a decent medium.  Professionally, you still keep the name you worked with, but socially people will probably not use both names.  It seems a little redundant and long.  

Where it really gets confusing I think is when we have children.  What would their last name be?  I know that Ryan would never change his name and probably expects that our kids would share his last name.  I definitely had a dream last night that I had a baby.  Like gave birth and then was all of sudden a mother.  It was a little scary.

When Ryan and I were just "dating" (I say it like that because we were living together but just boyfriend/girlfriend) I thought about our wedding and babies and married life in the sense that I knew it was going to happen, but not all that soon.  Well next week marks 5 months until the wedding, and then we start talking family.  It is crazy how life becomes a roller coaster.  You know that hill is coming, just once you hop on it comes a lot faster than you realize.  

I have also realized it is not helpful to try to write posts while watching the real housewives of anything.  I get so caught up in the drama and their lives I completely lose my train of thought.  

I am contemplating a tattoo

This may or may not have something to do with the fact that when I was stranded in Boston, I watched the entire Best Ink marathon.  It is really impressive what a really professional tattoo artist can do.  

I then went into the tail spin that is thinking about my life and my journey.  

I started thinking about how I got to where I was.  All of the times that I put myself out there.  All the things I did that scared me, but I am so happy I did in the end.  Here are a few.

I went on a trip to Italy and Greece by myself.  Trip of a lifetime.  It was literally breath taking. 

I decided to jump off of the teaching train that I had put my college career and then the following four years into creating.  Scary.  I now am doing better than ever, so happy in doing so many fun things in sales.  I get to work with my incredible father and learn every day from my mentor.  I have met really interesting people, made presentations in front of CFO's and COLD CALLED A TON.  And succeeded!  

I gave Ryan my number because I had such a crush on him.  It was my last day of student teaching and I figured, what's the worst that can happen?  He doesn't call me?  I will get over it.  So I left him my number, he called me, and now in 5 months, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!  

PS, I am having some anxiety of getting rid of my last name.  Anyone else go through that?

Although not quite as big, I went to a Caveliers game when I was working in Cleveland because the Heat were in town.  I bought a ticket for myself and enjoyed the experience by myself.  Awesome!  

There are many things that I haven't done and who knows where those would have lead me.  

Even when I am traveling for work, there are so many reasons that you can come up with to not put yourself out there.  You have to hear a lot of no's before you hear a yes.  If you never put yourself out there for the no's, you won't ever get to the yes!

As I am thinking all of this, my wheels were turning into "how can I turn this into a tattoo?"  My sister is a very talented artist so I asked her to draw something up for me.  While the actual drawing is still being worked on, here is what we have so far. 

"In order to reach your dreams, you must first take a leap of faith" 

Under that will be a bird jumping off a branch spreading it's wings getting ready to fly.  

I am so excited!  Now where to have it tattoos on my body....

Just another manic (mastiff) Monday

I had one of those awesome nights where your brain has no OFF button.  I had a crazy week last week with work.  It was an amazing week, but exhausting, overwhelming, and adding a bunch to my plate for the next couple weeks.  More travel, more meetings, hopefully more sales!

Did I write the meeting time down for Thursday?  When did I schedule that pick up for?  When should I call that prospect?

What is next on the wedding list?  What if I can't match the vests to the dresses?  What if my dress doesn't fit?

When am I going to do my laundry?  Should I stay home and just clean tomorrow?  That sounds horrible.  When am I going to grocery shopping?  What should I even buy, since I am traveling?  When am I going to work out this week, I just paid my gym bill?

NEVER-ENDING.

I almost went for a run after dinner, and should have.  Also, my nap was a little long this afternoon after work.  Most of my sleepless night was self induced.  My uncle keeps a pad of paper next to his bed for moments like this, so he can write everything down.  Happening. 

Then my amazing little dog named Beef decided he didn't really want to sleep either, unless it was in our bed.  One of my favorite traits of our lovely St. Bernard is his stubborness.  He normally wins the game of who gives up first, but last night after 30 minutes, I finally won.  I mean he has his own full size HUMAN bed for goodness sake.  Spoiled.

So now here Monday is, and back at it again.  So putting on my big girl pants and doing it all over again.

I was able to have some fabulous cuddling sessions with my boys though.

Let's rock this week!