southhampton girls weekend

Home from the most incredible girls' trip at Sara and Brian's lovely home in Southhampton. We ran the Hamptons Half-Marathon, went surfing in Montauk...and hung out a CASTLE. Talk about an epic weekend. I love these ladies!

my life lately...

...has been all about wedding, surfing, working, and running. Yup, I'm pretty much going to sound like a broken record this summer. To that end, thought I'd do a little check-in on each aspect of my life:

Wedding: Getting soooo stoked! The other day Erik admitted to me that he was getting excited for it, too...huzzah, success. :) My favorite part of planning is that our wedding truly a collaboration between the two of us: There's going to be a boombox DJ and drumming (him), photobooth and bright colors (her), and Chino-Latino grub (them). Plus all of our favorite peeps!

Surfing: Meet my new board (above). The super rad guys at Breakwater sold me their demo board for a great bargain, and I'm smitten. She's a 6-ish Greenlight Subway Series. A little harder to paddle into waves, but she's very wide so I'm stable once I'm up. Plus, it's so much easier to turn, not to mention carry on the subway.

Working: Oh, man, keeping busy. I've worked non-stop around-the-clock these past few months. (Can't remember the last weekend I didn't have to write.) But, I can't complain. I'm really enjoying everything I'm doing, and it's nice to frontload since I know I'll be hectic in the fall.

Running: The only thorn in my side. This heat is brutal. I've kept up with my long runs, but swapped out some of the midweek runs for swims and surfs. Oh, well...I'm not trying to win this thing. Just want to finish. :)

surf musings

When I was surfing with my buddy the other day, we decided to try to catch the save wave so he could take a picture of the two of us on his Go-Pro. "This one?" I asked, eyeing a growing bump in the sea. "No," he replied. "Not scary enough!" The perfect wave, he explained, needs to strike a little twinge of fear in your heart. "This one!" he shouted. As the large swell came towards me, I hesitated a second (eek!); enough to pace me behind the curl and cause me to purl. "What happened?" said Michael, after padding back out. "Aw, man, I blew it," I laughed. As cheesy as it sounds, I've been thinking a lot about this scene as an analogy for life. Hear me out: Most of truly important things in life involve risks, and that's terrifying. But you've got to just go for it, or the wave will just pass you by. And you have to commit, without hedging or waffling. More often than not, you'll get a sweet ride. Once in a while, you'll nosedive, get washing-machined around, and maybe break something. But at least you'll know that you tried!

Pic: My first busted board at Rockaway! I feel like it's a rite of passage. Photo by Vanessa. :)