Monday, November 21, 2016

Weddings and mermaids

I had a very nice, relaxing weekend this past weekend. After a hectic few weeks, with more craziness to come over the next couple of months, it felt really good to get organized. I watched lots of TV, knocked out a few house projects, and whirled through at least five loads of laundry.
This was me prior to the weekend.
I realized I'm behind one week again on sharing my workouts, so here are the last two weeks:

Week of November 7 - 13
MONDAY - Run 11 miles (5 with Erin and Chewie; 6 on the treadmill)
TUESDAY - Duo Dash prep
WEDNESDAY - Zumba class, Mobility 101 class
THURSDAY - 10 minutes stationary cycling, 30 minutes strength-training
FRIDAY - Run 3.2 miles (to/from Rock N Roll Las Vegas race expo)
SATURDAY - 10 minutes stationary cycling, 20 minutes strength-training
SUNDAY - Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon

Week of November 14 - 20
MONDAY - Rest
TUESDAY - Rest
WEDNESDAY - Duo Dash
THURSDAY - Strength Max class
FRIDAY - Yoga class
SATURDAY - Rest
SUNDAY - AquaMermaid Chicago class

In addition to all the cleaning and organizing fun, I attended two fun really events this past weekend.

On Friday night, Adam and I went to Tony and Tina's Wedding. If you're not familiar, it's an off-Broadway event based on a traditional (stereotypical) Italian-American wedding and reception. The audience members are the wedding guests and are treated as though everyone has known each other for years.
Adam and me with Tony and Tina
When Adam and I arrived, we gave our names and Adam introduced himself as "Emily's husband." Throughout the rest of the evening, the wedding party jovially called Adam "Emily's husband" without missing a beat. At some point, they shortened it to the initials and began calling him "EH" (pronounced "Ay", rhyming with "hey"). It was hilarious!!!

Many years ago, I had attended a production of Tony and Tina's wedding when both the ceremony and reception were held in Piper's Alley. Now, the ceremony takes place at a real church, with the reception held a few blocks away at a banquet hall, complete with food and drinks. The venues really added to the authenticity of the event!

From the ceremony:
From the reception:
At a lot of weddings, the guests might be shy about getting out onto the dance floor. Not this night! Almost everyone was rocking it out to the chicken dance, the YMCA, the conga line, you name it. 
I had a blast at the event, had so much fun interacting with the wedding party, and couldn't stop laughing at all the attention to details. One of my favorites was a wedding party family member who was sporting a tattoo that said, "He loved me first." Too funny. What a great celebration!!! 

I told Adam afterwards that I had a sudden yearning to watch The Godfather so I could see all the Italian correlations. =)

And speaking of fantasmic immersions... 

Yesterday, I attended an AquaMermaid Chicago swimming class with Erin. As the name implies, this is a class where you learn how to swim like a fish using both legs as a fish tail and using your core muscles to propel forward.
The fish tail bottom was actually quite comfortable to wear.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the class. However, I've been starting to tire of my usual running, lifting/yoga routine, so the mermaid swimming ended up being a really unique and surprisingly fun challenge. It was a great way to shake up the routine (both literally and figuratively!)

During class, we learned how to swim forwards and backwards, practiced swimming through hoops, attempted forward/backwards somersaults both individually and in tandem, and did handstands (tailstands?), tail high-fives, and tail waves. It was quite a workout for both the core and the arms! It was also fun to watch my fellow students doing their moves - the somersaults look really graceful and beautiful with the tail.

The instructors took some underwater photos of everyone which aren't yet available for me to share. In the meantime, here is another photo of Erin and me goofing off on the deck:
In the future I am going to pay more attention to the swimming technique of dolphins and other fish! If I ever watch The Little Mermaid again, I'm also going to take note of Ariel's skills. =)
I've even got a drawer full of dinglehoppers ready to go!!!
Coming up this week... 
I'm looking forward to a short workweek and three quiet days in the office. On Wednesday night, Adam and I are headed to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. I'm running the PNC YMCA Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, which is my final race of the year (thank goodness!) 
I'll be attending one of Adam's high school reunions with him on Friday night. Then next weekend, we'll be jaunting to Maryland to attend the wedding of Adam's cousin, Matthew. (Unlike Tony and Tina's wedding, Matthew's wedding will not be a comedic theatrical production =) ).

How about you? How was your weekend and what plans do you have for the upcoming week?

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Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.

26 comments:

  1. Ah! I love it! You took the mermaid class. :-)

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    1. Thanks Natalie! I knew you would have a strong appreciation. =)

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  2. That reminds me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding too. All the fun and in your face families.

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    1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a PERFECT comparison!!! It's often been said that there's a lot of similarities between the Greeks and the Italians, yes? =D

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  3. Ahh! So you really were mermaids!

    Can you believe I've never seen Tony and Tina's Wedding? Hasn't it been around like forever?

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    1. Mermaids, at your service!!!

      If you haven't seen Tony and Tina's wedding, I say now's the time to go check it out! I think they were around for a long time, took a hiatus, and have come back bigger and better. =)

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  4. That wedding event sounds fun. Kind of reminds me of an event my sister and I would always do, it was a murder mystery where the cast interacts with you all weekend. And one year the theme was a wedding. That mermaid class sounds fun. That sounds a lot more fun than the aqua class I had to take this past week.

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    1. Thank you so much! Ah yes - I've heard about those murder mystery events. I've never tried them but they sound like a lot of fun! I think that would be a great comparison! I'd love to hear more about your aqua class???

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  5. Sounds like you had an awesome weekend! Tony and Tina's wedding sounds like so much fun! What a fun improv show! So cool that you were a mermaid! I had never heard of that. What an interesting way to work out your core and arms!

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    1. Thank you so much, Sharon! Yes - Tony and Tina's wedding was the ultimate in improv! I'd never heard of the mermaid classes until this one, either. Definitely a great way to mix up the routine!

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  6. Now you have me interested in Tony and Tina's wedding. Did not realize it was in two separate venues. How long is it? I wonder if the cast is exhausted from having a "wedding" every day of the week!? Very cool that you and Erin were mermaids! Were you nervous about not having both legs free to kick? Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and have fun at the Turkey Trot! :)

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    1. Go check out Tony and Tina's wedding - I think you'd really enjoy it!!! The total production runs 2.5 hours. Yes, I thought about how it must be difficult to have a wedding every day of the week, sometimes twice in one day. That's a lot of celebration, right? =D Yes, I was definitely nervous about not having both legs to kick but thankfully the giant fin conducted the water very easily. =) Thanks again Pete, and happy Thanksgiving to you too!!!

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  7. Ha! That's pretty neat (the mermaid swim class)! Have fun at the Turkey Trot!

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    1. Thank you, Amanda!!! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!!! Are you Turkey Trotting, yourself?

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  8. That mermaid class looks simultaneously super cool and super terrifying. I would NOT like to have my legs stuck together like that in a pool! Not being able to use my legs would freak my out big time!

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    1. It's funny - I was a little worried about the lack of leg mobility, but the fin at the end gives a lot of good water resistance! It reminded me of swimming while kicking both legs in tandem, if that makes sense. It gave me a lot more appreciation for dolphins and other aquatic creatures' ability to swim. =)

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  9. You always have the best adventures!! That play sounds like so much fun! now I have to look for it!

    And you also try out the most awesome work outs! last time a bootcamp and this post a mermaid swimming lesson! How fun!!

    have a good trip in my state!! enjoy the Turkey trot!

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    1. Thank you so much, Ana!!! Yes, all hail to new and exciting methods of entertainment plus fitness!!! Anything to mix up the usual routine, yes?

      Hurray for Pennsylvania!!! I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!!!

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  10. Lively is the perfect word to describe it! I hadn't known about mermaid swim classes until learning about this one, either. Yes, this is about as unique of a way to mix things up as you could possibly imagine, right? Thank you so much, Karen - I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, too!!!

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  11. Thanks Kelly!!! Ah yes, I had my fair share of pretending to be a mermaid as a child, too, especially after watching "The Little Mermaid." It's amazing how much these fairytale stories can influence our thinking while we are growing up, yes?

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  12. I live right near NYC so I have been to an interactive play before, it was called my Aunt Silvia's funeral. It was very funny. It was about a Jewish family.

    I never heard about this mermaid swimming lessons. It sounds like so much fun.

    Happy THanksgiving

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    1. Oh wow - I have never heard of My Aunt Silvia's Funeral but will definitely keep that in mind for the future! My husband's family is Jewish so I bet he would get a real kick out of it!!! Thanks for the suggestion. =)

      Yes, the mermaid swimming lessons are a new concept, I think Aqua Mermaid just got started fairly recently!!!

      Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!!!

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  13. Both of your events this week are so out-of-the-box. WOW what fun! How do you find these things? I went to an off Broadway place once that was mildly interactive but nothing like what you described. I'm thinking I must now channel my inner Ariel. What are those tails made out of? Thanks for linking, Emily!

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    1. Thank you so much, HoHo!!! I follow a lot of local sites that share off-the-beaten-path explorations, and they really pay off. =) The tails are made of material similar to bathing suit material, so they are very stretchy. =) Thank you for hosting the link-up, as always!!!

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  14. Those mermaid classes look so interesting!

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    1. Thanks Maggie!!! I bet you would really enjoy the classes if you tried them!!!

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