My weekend: A Wedding Induces Some Deep Life Thoughts

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!  I just got in from a 5 day trip to Pennsylvania to visit family and attend a wedding.  Can I just say, I can't BELIEVE July 4th has come and gone already.  And for that matter, what happened to the entire first 6 months of this year?  I don't know if it's just because of my current circumstances and how much my life has changed from January to now, but this year is literally just flying.  I wonder if anyone else feels that way?

If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my Frog Fuel giveaway here!  I haven't received the samples yet so I can't write a review, but as soon as I do I will put it up. 

Now, on to this weekend.  I arrived back home at the end of last week to find Pennsylvania just as hot and humid as Baltimore.  I still managed to get a few workouts in but the HEAT was intense!  I am a summer girl all the way and love hot weather but I think what has been killing my outdoor workouts lately is the humidity.  It's been at or over 75-80% for the past 2 weeks.  Running in that kind of humidity is just plain harder.  If I am already soaked the minute I step out the door, I know I'm in for a beast of a run.  Anyway, I did manage to get in a nice long bike ride one day, a 5k run the day of the wedding and I swam some laps at the neighborhood pool yesterday as well. 

But despite the humidity, the weather really was gorgeous and my cousins had a beautiful summer day to celebrate their wedding.  I always hoped to be a summer bride so if/when I ever get married, I hope I get a hot beautiful day just like this!  The festivities started out on Friday evening with a welcome dinner that included a live Mariachi band!  My cousins are from Texas, and his bride-to-be is of Mexican descent.  She had a lot of family that traveled from Mexico to Pennsylvania for the wedding which was pretty awesome.  So, Mariachi band it was.  And they rocked it! 
If only I knew how to salsa.  Coincidentally, that is actually how my cousin and his new wife met (salsa dancing).

 

 

The wedding the next day was gorgeous as well.  It included a half-Spanish half-English ceremony followed by a reception at a picturesque country club.  It was in fact, the same country club my sister's wedding took place at 3 years earlier.  Being back there evoked some pretty strong memories and feelings which I'll talk about below.  But first some pictures.

 



The newly married, happy couple.  She was a stunning bride.

 

 

Family photo - missing 1 sister who couldn't make it up from Atlanta.  As my friend said, I apparently missed the memo to wear black.  What can I say, I like to be different :)

 

 

There is nothing quite like a wedding to give hope to the world that true love really does exist...and remind you just how single you are! HA.  Three summers ago when my sister was married at this very same place, my life was drastically different.  I was with someone back then, and when you attend weddings with a plus one it makes you think a lot about the day you might get married.  Not so much when you are flying solo.  Almost all of my close friends, sisters, cousins, etc are now married and many have kids, and it is on occasions like this that I can't help but feel kind of sad and left out.  I've been attending or been part of friends' and family members' weddings since about the age of 21 so that's a good solid 13 years of watching other people get married, being a bridesmaid (I swear I am like Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses - I have THAT many bridesmaids gowns!), planning bridal showers, then planning baby showers, and I can't help but wonder "When is it my turn?".  I don't think 10 years ago I would have thought I would be at the place I am now, but I guess that's the thing about life, you never really know what is going to happen, do you?  Even the best laid plans can get foiled. 

 

I've done a lot of work on my life and on myself the past two years and trying 'figure out' my life's path.  But I started thinking this weekend, why do I have to have my entire life figured out before I get to meet my 'person'?  Sometimes it's just hard and lonely going life alone and I wish there was someone else along for the ride.  I'm not sure why some people meet their person in high school or college and get to figure out life together, and I have to do it alone right now, but there must be a message or a purpose I'm missing. 

Upon recommendation from Chelsea over at Life is a Sunset, I started following and receiving emails from Mastin Kipp at The Daily Love.  He is an Oprah-type motivational speaker who has really struck a chord with me.  I have really been taking his messages to heart lately.  He recently spoke about enjoying the journey, taking life one day at a time, embracing the small victories and not letting the influence of others crush your dreams.  I try to keep all of these bits of wisdom in my mind when I start comparing myself to others (a very dangerous thing).  When I look at my life in a different light, not at what don't I have, but what DO I have, things are a bit rosier indeed.  At this point in my life, I am literally not tied down by anything.  No job, no house or mortgage, no family, no children.  There is really nothing but myself (another thing Mastin talks about - don't allow yourself to get in the way of your dreams) holding me back from doing whatever I want right now.  And isn't that incredible!  I've been putting a lot of thought into what I want my life to look like - my next 'job', where I want to live - and feeling like I really need a change.  I have a lot of memories in Baltimore, some good, some painful, but I think in order to really start fresh, I am going to need a change in location.  In terms of how I end up making a living, I can't ever see myself diving back into the cubicle farm.  I don't even know how I survived nine years of that!  I am really yearning for a new direction in my life, and I don't want to have finally made it off the hamster wheel just to jump back on again.  I'm hoping my next destination in life is in a warmer climate, and somewhere I've preferably never lived before (West Coast maybe?)  I think if I stay true to the voice inside of me, instead of comparing my life journey to everyone else's, I will find my way.  But that is so much easier said than done...

 

Wow.  That was a lot.  Hope I didn't lose anyone there with that somewhat depressing interlude.  The wedding and the venue this weekend released some repressed emotions and thoughts that I suppose needed to make their way out.

 

So, on a lighter note, for my next adventure I'm thinking of signing up for this.  Spending a month sans clothing in the wild sounds like a good time...

 

 

 

Has anyone else seen this show on Discovery?!?!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend, and that your lives are going in the direction of your dreams...