Big excitement!

(If you've ever seen Drop Dead Gorgeous...that was the inspiration for this post's title.  I was sitting here all happy and excited and trying so hard to think of a cute and clever title, and that moment from the movie just shot into my brain!)

I probably write this every single year, whether in this blog or my own journal, but I love fall.  I can't possibly overstate how much I absolutely love this season.  I love spring too, and summer is always a blast and it's sad to say goodbye to the beach, but I think fall is my favorite because, without fail, it always gives me a boundless sense of enthusiasm, energy, optimism, and desire to be productive and awesome.   (And it apparently inspires even more run on sentences than usual.  Sheesh.) A few years ago, while journaling, I referred to September as "my second January."  That about sums it up!

As a result of all this excited energy, I have about 80 billion things I want to write about, and don't really feel up to writing about any one particular thing in depth.  Hence - hodgepodge blog!

They were married in a rose garden by their good friend Red

The most important thing to mention is that I gained an amazing new family member - my big sister married Jeremy Arel, her love of nearly three years.  I loved Jeremy from the first time I met him and felt he and my sister were a perfect match.  Their wedding was beautiful, the vows were heartfelt (I think every single picture I'm in of the ceremony I'll be crying my eyes out), and they had the most amazing after party ever.  You can't top bowling and karaoke!  I'm still waiting for that video of the group doing Bohemian Rhapsody to show up on Facebook...

Husband and Wife!

And as a quick plug - if you live in the Charlotte, NC area or near Ft. Mill, SC or are every there for any reason, you should definitely check out their amazing school for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Great Grappling.  Jeremy is the professor (he earned his black belt in Brazil a couple of years back) and Megan runs the show.  The space is beautiful and they even have a room for the kiddies to play while the grown-ups grapple!  I'm so insanely proud of this awesome burgeoning business they've worked so hard to build.

Tears of joy!

Megan's wedding was the last event I had to travel for after a seriously travel-heavy summer.  Although I've been mostly able to keep to my half marathon training plan, some aches, pains, hard runs in the heat, and too much homemade moonshine at the wedding's afterparty knocked me slightly off-kilter.  This week has been about getting back to a comfortable place in my running (I run the longest I've ever run in my life on Sunday - 7 miles!  Ack!) and more importantly, reconnecting with my own yoga practice.  This year I've been teaching and working so much that I really stopped prioritizing fitting in my own yoga practice and taking yoga classes just for me, and I definitely prioritized running over yoga while traveling in August.

Thankfully, with Karma Kids opening for kids classes on Monday, I've had some open spots in my schedule this week and just got back from my third yoga class in five days.  This is a huge deal for me these days and I can't express how amazing I feel.  It's obviously important for me to incorporate yoga into my life to help balance out all the running, but the most important thing is how yoga helps me to cope with everything life throws at me, good and bad.  It helps me let go of resentments I've been hanging onto, helps me keep a cheerful disposition, and it reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for.  It's hard to whine and complain after a great yoga class!

Finally, I wanted to share a little something.  One of my friends at Athleta emailed me the image below and asked me to please share it with my readers.  Check out their website to learn more!

Happy September, everyone!