learning to embrace the impromptu.

 I have a confession. Yours truly, the queen of meal planning, logging miles and taking at least an hour to make my grocery list, exercise schedule and "life plan" for the week, is writing to you today with absolutely none of the above figured out. I am plan-less. [Enter famous SVU "dun dun!" here]

I've been complaining (who, me? never) nonstop lately about how I need a break. How I need to stop focusing so much on input versus output, calories, miles, points and bootcamps, and just take a moment to breathe and enjoy life. Fortunately, I was given that opportunity this weekend. My best friend got married (yay!), and in addition to all the wonderful things that come along with weddings, celebrating and the whirlwind that is "I do," it was also such a blessing to my obsessive compulsive exercise and eating tendencies. Food became secondhand to catching up with old friends and helping my best friend and her brand new husband celebrate in style, and I was given the ultimate test: implementing my healthy attitude WITHOUT planning ahead first.

I'm pleased to say that, despite the delicious cake and one macaroni and cheese mistake at Panera, I successfully made the right choices, got a 9-mile run in on Saturday morning and managed to come out of the weekend unscathed. I took yesterday to rest and recoup, and got back to my morning runs this morning. We ate relatively well last night, despite not having grocery shopped all weekend and having NO meal plan for the week, and I'm not recovering from a weekend-long hangover. Apparently miracles do really happen.

But I learned a lot this weekend, both from my friend's wedding and from my own experience with eating and exercise. Proper planning and preparation, paired with some flexibility and willingness to embrace the impromptu, will result in boatloads of success with a relatively sane frame of mine. Obsessing, worrying and trying to control the uncontrollable? You guessed it - gets you absolutely nowhere except rocking in the fetal position in the corner of a mental hospital. Seriously.

There were so many things that could have gone wrong this weekend - weather being the scariest of these - and the beautiful bride learned that there are bigger and more important things than whether or not it rained on her big day. No one was there to binge drink bottles of wine on a patio in the sun - they were there to watch their friends get married, and that can be done in rain, snow or shine. As it turned out, the weather was absolutely beautiful - sunny, and cool enough to make their outdoor wedding the perfect setting to start their new life together. And what would worrying about the rain have done? Sent her into a downward spiral of panicky emotions, of course.

She had a flower mishap that, given time to think about it ahead of time, would have made her crazy. But considering she faced the situation head on and couldn't take time to panic or obsess over what choice she'd make, she just acted. She made a decision, and made the best with what she was given - and ended up loving it better than her original arrangement. Sometimes, it's best to not sit back and predict any and every small thing that could go awry. Sometimes, all you can do is prepare and plan as best you can, and let the cards fall where they may.

The same can be said for your eating and exercise habits. I had panicked thinking about how I'd handle this weekend - how I'd get my exercise in, what choices I'd make at restaurants, how much alcohol I'd drink. But when put right in the moment, there was no time to think. I made the best decisions I could - chose things I knew to be good for me, including a super early morning wakeup call for a 9 mile run before our busy day started, and in the end, I came out on top, both mentally and physically. I also allowed myself to put MY healthy lifestyle second to celebrating my friend's big day. Moments like that don't come but once in a lifetime, and there was no way I was going to miss out just because I "couldn't eat there," or "had to go home and run." In doing so, though, it was a true test as to how I'd act in the moment. And I'm so proud to say that I still made the right choices.

For the past couple weeks, I've been worrying about how I'd handle the entire summer. With her wedding, my birthday, the Fourth of July, my bridal shower and bachelorette party, it's safe to say that wedding season is in full force, and with that comes so many delicious meals and celebrations. But this weekend was proof that you really can have your cake and eat it too - you just have to log some serious miles to do it. But the extra exercise I'll put in is more than worth it to enjoy the time spent with the people I care about - enjoying my life IN the moment and not worrying about what the scale will say the next day.

Here's to living, eating and running in this beautiful life that is, right now, full of so many wonderful changes and absolute perfections. And the biggest congratulations to my very best friend and her very best friend on the biggest and most important day of their lives :) Here are some of my favorites from this weekend's festivities!