Color My Run 5k Recap and We Have an Officiant!

Hi all,

A sunday post today is a perfect time killer while my mango white cake is cooking in the oven. Yes, that's right folks - mango white cake. My fiancé and I started a lovely tradition with our best friends in Charlotte to have a Sunday dinner together followed by watching our favorite Sunday night tv shows - either Walking Dead or Madmen depending on what season it is.  Tonight is Madmen! What will happen!!?
We always make something healthy together and tonight we are making pasta with olive oil and vegetables. MMM..

I was in charge of the dessert so I looked at what we had in our refrigerator that we needed to use. The answer - mangos. So I am excited to say I am currently cooking a homemade white cake with a mango glaze for on top!

Here is the recipe:
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almond milk

and the glaze is brown sugar, butter and vanilla in a pan on a low simmer with a whole chopped mango.

This will be a lovely way to end the weekend after our first 5k in the Charlotte heat! Dwayne and I ran the "Color Your Run 5k" with our friend Kat on Saturday. Kat is in our wedding party if the name sounds familiar. For those of you who don't know - this race was for Levine's Children's Hospital in Charlotte. Everyone wears a white tshirts and gets colored powder to throw at each other. It was so much fun!

Here are some before shots. Notice Dwayne just hitting me with the yellow powder as the bottom shot was taken!


My lovely fiancé pre-run



Our bridesmaid Kat Lim!

 

 

We looked like a beautiful rainbow of color after the Run! With a final time of 25:50!

 





As far as wedding announcements go - we have a big one! Dwayne and I had said from the beginning that we would feel so much better having someone we know be our officiant. There is just something more personal about something who has seen your relationship grow, knows at least one of us very personally and honestly supports our marriage because they believe in it and not because we are paying them to be there. Luckily, our friend Dan Ross has agreed to become ordained and marry us. He went to high school with Dwayne and they have been great friends for a very, very long time. We could not be more excited that he is willing to do this! We know that he will do an amazingly heartfelt job with our ceremony and give it the personal touch we were looking for!

 

This wedding is really coming together and I feel excited to know that a lot of our major decisions are out of the way and also, are going to be exactly what we wanted for our special day. 

Rehearsal Dinner Venue and the Next 30 Days!

Hello all!

Memorial day weekend was absolutely wonderful and ridiculously busy! The fiance and I drove back up to Pennsylvania to spend the Memorial Day long weekend with my family and friends. We went back to Warren PA and it just so happened to work out that one of my best friends from highschool was having her bridal shower this weekend. I was so happy to get to see my old friends from highschool! I even won a scarf for being the winner of "bridal bingo."

Congrats Emily!

Do you want to know what the best part is about being in my home town? The parental treatment! It's funny that when you live with your parents, you can't wait to get out but when you have to do everything yourself, even something as simple as waking up and coffee and the newspaper being put out for you is awesome!

 

 

We spent the majority of our time eating and playing games with my family before heading back to Pittsburgh for the last day before returning to Charlotte. The day was jam packed but I think the coolest thing was that we may have found the perfect venue for our rehearsal dinner! We are looking at a place called PaPa J's which is in Carnegie PA. Carnegie is about 15-20 minutes away from our wedding venue and they had a beautiful space in the back that would facilitate a buffet and people mingling over drinks. I think it was perfect and it was available! We may have one more decision made!

 

While I was home with my family, I had some of the local wine and realized that again it made me feel out of sorts after only a small amount. I wasn't sick this time (thank goodness) but I felt tired, cloudy and not myself after probably 10 oz (2 -5oz portions) . Anyone that knows me or follows this blog knows that Mackenzie and alcohol don't mix without sickly results. At times 1 glass of wine with dinner will leave me spinning and feeling sick. I have been told before that I might have developed an allergy to alcohol or perhaps I lack an enzyme needed to efficiently break alcohol down. This awfulness hit its peak when I was in college with the final straw being the time I went to dinner, got a glass of wine and ended up spending the next 24 hours spinning in my bed and getting sick. After this happened, I went to the doctor and stopped drinking anything for almost 2 years. I started slowly again and could handle it better but I still don't do more than 1-2 drinks in a week. However, I can see that this terribleness is creeping up again and so I talked to Dwayne and decided that I am going to not drink for the next 30 days and see how much better I feel. If the difference is considerable, it might be something that drops out of my life.

 

Sorry Homer - It's gotta go!