Garth. Freaking. Brooks.

There are moments in life that you look forward to so much, that you've built up in your mind for so many years, that once it actually arrives there is no possible way for it to live up to your expectations. Last night was not one of those moments.


The day began with me having an allergic reaction to some fruit salad at a cookout. My tongue swelled up, blisters formed, and I thought to myself, "I'm not dying before I see Garth Brooks."

After a benedryl I wasn't dead, thankfully. I had the remnants of that feeling you get when you drink something that is too hot, too fast but after a few hours the swelling went down.

Then I of course burned my hand on a curling iron (which was really awesome when it was too hot and I immediately put all my long, wedding locks up in a pony tail almost instantly upon arrival.)

A bunch of tiny little mishaps had me in a terrible mood, because THIS was the day I'd been waiting for my entire life. Seriously. From the moment I was born, I was a Garth Brooks fan. I lived and breathed his music every day of my life and today was suppose to be perfect.


To give you a little backstory, Garth was my dad and I's thing. We'd drive around in his truck listening to him, we'd tape his concerts off TV onto old VHS tapes and watch them over and over again. It was one of the strongest aspects of our relationship, and I guess I'd always assumed I'd see Garth with him.

As Fate would have it, that's not how it worked out when Garth arrived in Knoxville. So I got tickets for my best Garth-sing-a-long friend, and we decided to go with the people I consider my second parents. I also got my mom a ticket for Mother's Day, and was really excited we'd get to share this concert.


My mom was an hour late to meeting us for the concert. I hate when people are late. She showed up, and was completely incapacitated. (Most of you can read the subtext here.)

So she couldn't go, and I was completely heartbroken. Such a huge day, and it obviously wasn't important enough.


I called Eric and even though he hates country music, he went with me since I was pretty much devastated that none of my family was going to share this with me.


We parked in the fort and walked our boots across campus and into the arena to find the "TBD" level of the arena was actually the 100 level, and it was behind the stage.

Now, that arena is a dry campus, and it's a good thing everyone in that area wasn't under the influence because they probably would have had a riot on their hands. We were all pretty pissed to be on the back side of a concert that we'd all fought for tickets for and waited you know OUR WHOLE LIVES.

It didn't help that the concert started almost an hour late, but the opening act, Karyn something something (I actually really liked her and knew most of her songs, but I can't for the life of me remember and it's too early to be looking that up) only played three songs.

We all expected Trisha to come out, since that's what we'd all heard happened next, but she didn't. It was just three songs and then BAM. Garth came roaring out with an epic introduction that involved an insane light show and a silhouette build up that gave me goosebumps and almost made me fan-girl cry.



From that point on, I couldn't remember any of the crappy things that had happened up to that point. He was EVERYTHING I imagined him to be, everything I had watched on shitty old VHS from-tv recordings, every documentary and award show...he was all of it.

Funny, wildly energetic, interactive, and humble. He was definitely older, and it showed, but other than his face you'd never had guessed this wasn't his millionth concert.

He played with a fanatic frenzy and joy, as if he'd never seen a crowd go THIS crazy over his songs.

You could tell with every smile, every interaction that he loves his fans, and he's doing this because he loves to perform.

The most impressive part, for me, was when he said, "I'm just like you. I've paid my money to see the people I love, and when I am in those seats I want to hear the old stuff."

Which, may be a silly thing to be impressed by, but DAMN! YES! Thank you Garth!

I fucking want to hear the songs I grew up listening to! I want to hear the songs that made me cry after break ups and the songs my parents would sing me as a baby! I want to sing along with you and this arena, and I can't do that if you're only playing your new stuff.

I freaking appreciated that SO much.

And boy, did he play them. He played every. single. one.

Yeah, he played some of his new album. But for a career spanning 25 years, I honestly have no idea how he managed to play ALL of my favorite songs, including Standing Outside the Fire which I never in a million years guessed he would have played.


He played all the songs I could have asked for, and hearing the entire TBA singing to the River in the darkness was hauntingly beautiful. I'll never forget that moment and the chills it sent down my spine.

He knew what we wanted, and he gave it to us. And he did it in a way that made us feel like we were fueling him, asking him to go on and play them...which fired us up beyond reason. The guy next to us actually ripped off his shirt during Shameless. Not kidding. It was that intense.


There were moments when I was completely speechless. He is a true performer, and his talent is so evident. He still has a voice, and so does Trisha, who joined him on stage for a brief time.

I have a feeling she wasn't feeling well or had lost her voice, as her set was really, really short. But we still got to hear three of my Trish favorites!



Sometimes you build someone up on a pedestal because they've been a huge part of your life. It seems weird to say that a country music star changed my life, but he did. This was number one on my bucket list, and my hopes could not have been any higher.

I don't know how, but he blew my expectations out of the water. There is nothing at all he could have done to make that show any better, any more memorable, or any more of an incredible experience.


He is a true performer, and a true artist.


After the concert we hopped in a cab with two guys from California and showed them the Joe and Waffle House, and they met Jackson. It was really just a perfect night, and I'll never forget it.


Thanks, Garth. You did damn good.

The Maestro of the Big Day and What Middle School Taught Me About Love

I'm going to start this blog off by saying if you're considering not getting a DJ, I need you to reconsider.


Music is one of the most important parts of your big day, and trust me, you do not want to be stressing out over an ipod!

Our DJ is a close friend of ours and a freaking DJ rock star, Jim Ogle of Ogle Entertainment. All of their DJs are the bomb...but he's the best EVAH.

Here is him and his gorgeous family.

And you need to know that the DJ is not just playing your music...he's the Maestro of your symphony. He's going to be directing the flow of the evening and getting the party started. It's important to have a professional who can handle your drunk relatives requesting Free Bird for the millionth time, and someone who can deal with anything that might come up.

Ogle Entertainment definitely knows how to make a wedding a huge success, and I honestly couldn't see anyone else being there for us on our wedding day.

That being said, Jim has already been awesome handling my over-obsessive, super picky music issues and also has helped calm me down with things that are not even wedding related. He told Eric he's the back up when I get too out of control, and he's already been called to the front line. PS....we're still SEVEN MONTHS AWAY.

Anyway, if you're thinking about opting out of the DJ part of your day, reconsider and check out Special Notes by clicking here. 

That being said, here is how I came to pick our music.




I grew up with a bizarre musical environment.

My mother played oldies and country, as well as barbershop. My dad played rock and roll, Ozzy, and Hank Williams Jr. while we drove around his red El Camino.

I didn't really hear any pop music until I was in my teens, which eventually transformed into angsty pop punk in my high school days.

Music has always been a huge part of my life, and unfortunately I was cursed with the inability to sing a note so I turned to band.

I played saxophone for 16 years and attempted lessons in guitar, lap harp, and violin (without much success).

I'm the type of person who has to pull over on the side of the road when I hear certain songs because they make me bawl my eyes out, and if a movie has a good score you can bet I'm going to be a wreck by the end of it.

So picking the music for our wedding has been...challenging. How do you choose your defining songs??


From the time you're born, music tells you exactly what love is and you use it the rest of your life to express heartbreak and butterflies and all the horrible, wonderful phases of love.


At every phase of my life there was a song that defined every moment of my relationships.


When I was in elementary school, I hadn't been in love but thanks to Garth Brooks I knew exactly how it was suppose to go down and how I felt hearing what it was like to have your heart broken. I felt prepared. Thanks, Country Music.
 


My freshmen year I had about a million feelings about everything, and Bright Eyes seemed to sum them all up perfectly. #angst

 
Yasssss, Conor. Tell me about love!


In high school a boy made me a mix that had a Dashboard Confessional song on it that I listened to on repeat that entire summer and was convinced I was madly in love.

 
Ohh, teeeeenagggeeee loveeeee. 


And then two people pummeled all over my heart, and I couldn't listen to music for about eight months. So I fell in love with NPR and it helped me through life until I could be a real person again.

My first rebound to that relationship was maybe not the best decision, but we did dance in the kitchen to 1940s jazz, and I'll remember that night forever.




In college I found someone I believed to be my soulmate, and I sobbed hysterically as we said goodbye to each other on the stairs of someone's house after a pool party.

He played Summer Skin as we sat together and cried, and I was certain that at that moment in time, my heart just burst into a million pieces and it would never come back together.
 



But you know, it does eventually and then you meet someone and you dance to Grease and the world changes.


 

The weird thing is, when you find it, you realize that all of those songs were background noise. You hear the right song with the right person, and it all seems like you were just changing the station and then BAM.


So I spent the past few months searching for the right songs for us, because all of my all time favorites seemed to fall short of saying everything I felt, everything I wanted to say.

It was a super struggle, until I heard it on the radio one day.


While I can't tell you what our first dance will be, because that's a surprise...I can tell you the sound I've found that we're walking down the aisle to.


You can click here to hear it.


Songs about love are all different at different moments in your life, but they're all important in making you who you are, and what sweet music it is to hear the song of the person you're meant to sing and dance with forever.

I think nine year old me, and sixteen year old me, and 90 year old me would approve of my chosen love song.

He's pretty swell.

#bodyborabora

Prepare yourself for a blog adventure of fitness we've deemed Body Bora Bora.

 

Yeah, I know. BUT I'M DOING IT ANYWAYS.


My brave and supportive fiance has agreed to do this along with me, and although I can't speak for him, I can give you an account of what he said and what he looked like via GIFs.


Day 1
Against my stern warning, Eric insisted we have dinner pre-workout.

He ate entirely too much sushi and drank too much sake, and when we got home he hopelessly attempted a nap to help his situation.

Pro-tip...it didn't.

I actually made it through all 30 minutes of the work out for the first time, and although it was painful, it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time I tried.

Results:

Marvyl Eric

Marvyl "Ok, I'm not dead."
Eric "YOU DID THIS TO ME AND I FEEL HORRIBLE." <--How I felt two days ago



Day 2
Honestly, I didn't expect Eric to continue to day two but I guess my delicious fruit/protein smoothies convinced him it might be worth it.

The second day of the program is a three mile "steady run".

I haven't seriously run in probably six years, and the combination of my knock knees and asthma usually make it a horrifically painful and miserable experience.

Now, I don't know if it was just the fact my body could barely feel anything from the prior day or if my lungs were too tired to panic, but I made it through the thirty-eight minutes of running (yeah guys, that's like a 13 minute mile) only walking for a minute and a half of it, much to my surprise.

Results:

We were both really sweaty.
 



I was pretty ok until the middle of the night last night when I woke up and couldn't bend my arm. Like, legitimately couldn't bend it.

I was just laying there with a heating pad wrapped around my dainty weakling arm. Eric would have helped, but he couldn't roll over because he was too sore to move, so we just laid there and moaned in agony.

 



Today is a rest day, thank GOD.

To see some awesome smoothie recipes we've been trying, or to see some healthy foods we've been attempting, check out the blog board. You can also see the app we've been using, which you can also find here.


  Follow Marvyl's board To Be Triscritti on Pinterest.

Perfect to the Last Bite

Despite me spending a lot of my time planning other people's wedding menus, when it came to my own I had absolutely no idea what I wanted.

 

Maybe it was because I knew too much, or maybe it's because I love literally everything we make.

Thank goodness our Event Coordinator (and the angel who taught me how to do my job), Diane, was there to save the day.

This is her, and she is a wonder woman. 

By day she's teaching America's future generation of teachers and by weekends she's an Event Coordinator at Bradford Catered Events. 

I've talked about the people I work with before, but I'll say it a million more times. These people are incredible. They live to serve and will stop at nothing to make sure every event is perfect. 

It's humbling (and honestly exhausting at times) to work with a company where every single person is totally dedicated to service. It's definitely made me a better human being, and I'm glad that Diane came to the rescue when I completely panicked over our wedding menu. 

She sat down with us and really helped us nail down the vision for the evening. We both wanted something wintery, with it being in January and all, and we also wanted to make sure we pleased everyone-which mean having chicken AND beef on the menu. 

I had certain Bradford favorites that HAD to be included, like the sweet potato biscuits. spinach dip, and the caprese picks, even though they are like wayyy out of season. 

We also knew that we wanted it to be a little fancy, so we opted for a plated dinner. Which even though logistically I didn't want to do (because I have worked plated events and didn't want to stress anyone out) Diane forced me to stop thinking about work and think about what I wanted as a bride. (Thank you for that, seriously. I was freaking out.)

 

So at the end of our long meeting where we changed our mind about a thousand times, we came up with this as our wedding day menu:

 

Cocktail Hour:

Cheese and Fruit (Italian themed cheeses and fig jam)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Caprese Picks

Dinner:

Caesar Salad

Chicken Stuffed with Cranberries with White Champagne Sauce

Sliced Top Round Beef

Stuffed Bell Pepper (For my lovely vegetarian Maid of Honor)

Company Mashed Potatoes

Winter Squash Medley

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Homemade Potato Yeast Rolls

 

I can't freaking wait. 

You can see some of the items we're having on the blog board: Follow Marvyl's board To Be Triscritti on Pinterest.

And you can head over to the website to see how we can make your menu just as freaking spectacular by clicking here. 

In Sickness and In Health...

You find out a lot about a person when they're sick.

Like, for instance, I'm a huge baby that refuses to listen to doctor's orders until I'm on the brink of dying.
 

I can never decide if I need all the cuddles or I want you to leave me alone so I can sleep for eternity, and I only want to eat and drink Sprite and cheap chicken noodle soup and for my mom to take care of me.

On the other hand, I am a PRO at taking care of someone who is sick. I know just how to make you feel better, and I'll wait hand and foot on you until you feel better.

Which is great, because Eric becomes instantly unable to care for himself the moment he's sick.

He doesn't get sick very often, but when he does, it's really bad and he's down for the count.



Seeing someone when they are most miserable does a lot for a relationship.


And honestly, I love having got to know that Eric is the ultimate angel when it comes to me being sick.

He fulfills all my requests, even if it means driving to the store in the middle of the night for Sprite because I am certain that the only thing standing between me and health is that can of soda, and makes sure I have everything I need to feel better.

And he lets me take care of him when he is sick, which satisfies my over-obsessive nurturing needs.



We're both insanely sick right now, but I'm happy none-the-less. The point of entering a partnership is knowing that no matter how crappy you feel, someone is going to deal with your misery and help you through it, even though you may or may not be overly dramatic about it.

 



In actual wedding updates, we've decided to spend two days on the way to Bora Bora in Sydney, so the honeymoon board is updated with ideas on what in the world you do in the Down Under. Follow Marvyl's board Honeymoon! on Pinterest.



Also, we should be getting our engagement pictures back soon-ish so everyone BEAR WITH ME BECAUSE WE'RE ALL FREAKING OUT.

As always you can follow the blog board here: Follow Marvyl's board To Be Triscritti on Pinterest.



Annnd soon I'll be sharing our wedding menu, ceremony info, and alll that jazz!

Feel the Burn...and Know It Never Gets Better

Dear people of Facebook,

I get it. You're super fit and you love running and you look and feel fabulous.

AND I HATEEEE IT.

I just want to be all...

But really, I love you people.

I love you have determination and motivation and all the "tions" I generally lack in life.

I love seeing your success pictures and your smiles, and I'm one of the few who genuinely want to cheer you on.

Among my favorite people to stalk/admire are Carrie Waller who like a boss juggles kids, boy scout activities, a job, and life in general while tackling an intense fitness routine that she somehow manages to maintain.

Also, lookin' flawless 24/7.

She's currently on day 128 of her goal to be Fit by Forty and her goals and routines make me simultaneously want to work out and die.

Get it girl.


Also, my bestie and MOH, Melissa Toms is a bad-ass DC producer who also runs a million miles every day despite working over night shifts and coaching high school rowers.

No one should look this good after running. 

She's run like a gazillion marathons and somehow finds time to work out like a beast in between Greys Anatomy and life.
 



But the point I'm making about these lovely ladies, is they just make no excuses. Which in general makes the rest of us lazy Netflix bingers feel terrible, as we should.



So anyways, the one glaring item on my wedding to do list has been this fitness plan.

I admire the people who have it in their blood to be like, yeah! The gym!


I am not one of those people. I have not time nor energy for that nonsense, and have been dreaddddding doing it.



But here I am, after trying to attempt a work out provided by a free Nike app...miserable. Sore. Hating life and everything about Nike.

It was only a 30 minute work out, but after the first seven minutes this is how it was going:

I managed to BARELY make it through 16 minutes of the workout and then died on the couch.


I woke up unable to move and pretty ready to just let my cats eat my eyes since I was dead and all.




Even though I'm HORRIBLY out of shape and definitely sick of the "It gets better!" line, (because it doesn't, I know that from 4 years of band camp YOU LIARS! You just have something genetically wrong with you. Ignorance is bliss you psychos!) I've reluctantly created a fitness plan through this app.


Which by the way, is free. If you want to torture yourself along with me, you can get the Nike Training Club app.

It's pretty awesome if you're into punishing yourself.

It's got tons of free workouts that guide you through everything with timers and videos, and if I liked this kind of stuff I would say it's amazing.

Needless to say, I'm starting this four week program tonight.


If I don't make it, tell Eric I love him and this was all so I wouldn't have bingo arms at our wedding.