For the past three Valentine’s Days, I’ve had Chip to celebrate with, which I guess is almost as good as indulging in lots of chocolate with girlfriends. Kidding! Chip and I have lots of fun celebrating Valentine’s Day together. Our first was in 2010. We went rock climbing together then made a surf-and-turf meal and shared a bottle of red wine. This was back when Chip did not have a real kitchen table. As you can kind of see in the picture, he and his roommate used a small patio table that had slits in the top. Red wine + a table top with holes in it = disaster waiting to happen. Yeah, we totally spilled the wine. It went right through the table onto the white carpet, and we had to pause our romantic dinner to do an emergency clean-up. Chip proved to be the more domestically skilled one when he quickly grabbed a big container of salt and dumped it on the puddle of wine. The salt soaked the wine right up, and the carpet beneath was unstained after a quick scrub. Crisis averted.

For V-Day 2011, Chip and I decided to try something we had never done before– making our own sushi. We love sushi and eat it frequently, especially since there is a reasonably priced sushi restaurant about a mile from (then his, now our) apartment. Making ourselves was a fun challenge, and our rolls looked pretty good for a first attempt!

homemade sushi with salmon, mango, and cucumber

 This year was actually the first year we’ve gone out to dinner for Valentine’s Day. We celebrated a few days late because Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday, and I had a Medical Genetics midterm on Friday. So after my test was finally over on Friday night, we went out to a restaurant called Ecco. Ecco is known for their fabulous cocktails, amazing selection of cheeses and cured meats, and fresh seasonal menu. All the food we ate was incredible!

I didn’t take any pictures (despite the fact that I brought my camera AND it was actually charged for once), but I found some pictures from the restaurant online that look way better than I could have taken anyway:

the interior

meats and cheeses

piquillo pepper with braised beef....WE HAD THIS AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Ok, this post turned out way longer than I meant it to. To recap for those who don’t want to read all my ramblings:

1. I like Chip enough to give up my eat-lots-of-chocolate-and-do-other-girly-stuff-with-my-single-friends Valentine’s Days.
2. We went to Ecco this weekend and were in foodie heaven for a couple hours.

First stop: BarcelonaThen to San Sebastian in northern Spain for surfing:And finally, on our way back, a night in Paris!A big thanks to both of our Dads for donating frequent flier miles to make this trip possible. Our first trip together as husband and wife is going to be spectacular!

2. Chip scored us a lightly used washer and dryer for a hundred bucks, so we can now do laundry in our apartment! No more dragging our dirty clothes to the laundry mat and paying per load. This is a huge deal. I know, our lives are so thrilling. Be jealous.

finally!

3. We finally ordered Save the Date cards, and we will send them after Christmas. In the meantime, you can check out our Wedding Info page. There is not really any new and exciting information, but it no longer says “Coming Soon”, so that is progress, right? Let us know if there is anything you would like us to add.

4. Countdown to the wedding = 149 days! It would have been cooler if I had posted yesterday and could say 150 days. Oh well.

5. Sometimes, Chip is sweet and decides to cook for the both of us. Maybe one day I will make tons of money as a physical therapist, and Chip can stay at home to clean, take care of the kids, and have dinners like this ready for me when I get home:

spinach salad with tilapia and mango salsa. and a shock top belgian white beer.

That would be the life. But seriously, we try to take turns cooking for each other, and it works out really well! Tonight, we are having another couple over and I am making red pepper risotto. I think it will be delicious

One of my favorite blogs recently did a post on non-obvious things that she was thankful for. I thought this was a great idea because while I am extraordinarily thankful for my wonderful family, friends, etc., you probably already know that (I hope!).

So here is a more random list of things I am currently feeling thankful for this Thanksgiving:

I’m thankful that I live in the South, so I can enjoy 70 degree weather in November. I would not survive in the North!

I’m thankful to be in a graduate program that challenges me daily and makes me excited about my future.

I’m also thankful for coffee (and other caffeinated beverages) that allow me to survive grad school.

I’m thankful for my past running injuries and how they have taught me to take better care of my body. I’ve learned how to listen to my body and how to know when push myself and when to rest. And I’m really thankful that I am not injured now!

I’m thankful that I’m marrying someone tall enough that I can wear high heels whenever I want without it looking awkward.

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise? Not as lucky...

I’m thankful for AAA and the many times they have recused me from car trouble, including this morning when Elizabeth and I had a tire blow out on the way back from the half marathon, and they arrived 10 minutes after I called them to change a tire for us on Thanksgiving morning. Thank you AAA for your prompt and friendly service so that I may get through life without ever having to learn how to change a tire.

I’m thankful for chocolate. Duh.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

It was great racing weather– sunny and in the low 50s — and a very flat course, which was refreshing after training on lots of hills in Atlanta. Unfortunately, Chip, Elizabeth, and I were all feeling under the weather with a cold, but that was not about to stop us from running!

The morning of the race, I was not feeling my best, and it was definitely not the most fun half marathon I’ve ever done… the first 8 miles felt pretty good, but after that it got really, really difficult! I ended up finishing in under 2 hours with my physical therapy school friends, with our pace getting faster as the race went on. The only explantation I have for this performance is that I wanted that race to be over so badly! I was also feeling too sick to indulge in the free beer after the race (what?!).

Chip had to modify his time goals because of being sick and having IT band pain. He ended up finishing in just under 4 hours, which is very impressive for a first marathon! When Chip and I first started dating, I used to drag him on 4 mile runs runs with me. He gradually got hooked on running, and once he set his mind on doing a marathon, he improved ridiculously quickly!

We were excited about the race being on a Saturday instead of a Sunday like most races, so we could go out and celebrate in downtown Savannah that night. However, being sick combined with running the race really wore us out, and we ended up sleeping the rest of the day. We only woke up to eat dinner, and then went back to sleep! Not exactly how we envisioned the weekend, but we did get a chance to visit with some of Chip’s good friends in Savannah. We stayed with Machi on Saturday night and got to spend some time with his adorable 2-year-old boy, and on Sunday we had brunch with John and Joey and their girlfriends before heading back up to Atlanta.

Since then, I’ve been studying nonstop for my physiology test, but now I am DONE and enjoying a glass of red wine while waiting for the salmon and veggies that are in the oven to cook .

And in case you missed it, here is a sampling of our engagement pics up on our photographer’s blog!

UPDATE: Just ate the dinner I had in the oven, and it was fantastic! I spread Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter over Alaskan salmon before baking for an interesting twist on maple glazed salmon, and it turned out even better than I expected! Go find some pumpkin butter and make this soon! Seriously.

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

That was the 3rd wedding that we went to in October, and unless one of our friends gets engaged and plans a wedding before ours, it looks like we are next!

In addition to all this celebrating, Chip and I have been training hard for the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon/ Half Marathon in Savannah, which is now only a week away! I will be doing the half marathon, and Chip will be doing the full marathon…his very first one!Chip has already completed his 20 mile long run and is now tapering his milage, but his training came with some challenges. He has been having a lot of pain in his knee, mainly due to a tight IT band, a very common runner’s injury. He recently started going to a physical therapist at Emory, and while I haven’t been able to ever go to his appointments with him due to my class schedule, it’s been interesting and educational for me to hear about the treatments he has been receiving. So far, the therapy has been very effective, so hopefully race day will go smoothly!

As for me, I ran 10 miles last week, which is the furthest I’ve run since 2009 before I got injured! I’m not quite in the shape I was in my triathlon training days, but I’m slowly gaining my endurance back. I’ve also found a few girls in my physical therapy class who are also training for half marathons (2 or them will be with us in Savannah!), so I’ve had some great running buddies for my long runs .

Our Goals:

Me: My half marathon personal record is 1 hr and 45 min, but at this point, my goal is just to finish! Hopefully, I can finish in under 2 hrs and 10 min…

Chip: Originally, his goal was to finish the marathon in under 4 hrs (a 9 min/mile pace). Then, he heard that my dad finished the Chicago Marathon in 3 hrs and 42 mins (about an 8:30 min/mile pace). So now his new goal is to beat that. Watch out dad .

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Wedding Updates:

• Chip and I frolicked around UGA’s North Campus last Sunday and got our engagement photos taken. The photographers said that they would have some pictures up on their blog next week and that we should have all the final digital copies in 3-4 weeks.
• We have officially booked a band for our wedding! So get excited for dancing at the reception .

Ahhh, that’s better. Now I am free to write whatever I please. As you may have guessed (seeing as the URL to this thing is tylerandchip,) I am engaged to be married to the brilliant and beautiful Tyler Tredway. I am sure you have already heard about the venue, the date, and all the other details that you have to pretend to care about so I am going to focus on other things.

Tyler started PT school during the summer at Emory. I am super proud of her for pursuing what she wants in life. It was not an easy road for her at all. Like so many these days, she graduated from undergrad and really didn’t know what she was going to do or where she was going to go. She made her mind up and totally committed to the process of getting into a program. First, she had to prepare for and take the GRE. Needless to say, she slayed it. After that she had to knock out some prereqs at GSU and began applying to PT schools. She was not sure that she was going to get in anywhere but ended up getting into her first choice, Emory, which is a top ranked program. Emory is of course very expensive and very challenging but I am sure that it will all be worth it in the end.

Similar to Tyler, I graduated from GSU MBA in December of 2009. I started looking for a job while I was still in school but it became a full time job when I graduated. I sent out hundreds of resumes, did so many interviews, and got rejected more times than I could count. At one point, I started putting the rejection letters up in my room. In May of 2010 Mom and Dad told me that my job search was over which translates into we are not giving you anymore money. Who could blame them, I was nearly 30 for God’s sake. Early in May, I took a temp position at a Sub-prime auto lending firm at 10 dollars an hour. I secured full time work with them after 2 weeks. A week after that the Department of Education called and told me that they wanted me. The actual interview was in March so I had completely written it off. That phone call was in May. I didn’t actually start with the Department until August so I had to bide my time at Auto Finance knowing the whole time that I was leaving.

Since then, things have been great. I have been with the Department for over a year and have been promoted. Tyler is in school and doing well. We went on vacation with Tyler’s family over the summer and I asked them for their consent to marry their daughter. I proposed in June on our 2 year anniversary. Currently we have not had that much time to hang out and socialize with our buddies because we have both been so damn busy. Tyler studies constantly and I am training for a marathon. For the last 4 months, with like 1 exception, I have forfeited my Friday nights in order to get up and do a long run on Saturday. Two weeks ago I started fighting an injury that I was afraid would take me out of the race but now it looks like I am going to be fine. Tyler, my sister and I are running the Savannah rock and roll marathon on November the 5th and I can’t wait….. They are doing the half and I am doing the full.

Updates that no one will read to come.

Chip

The other can of pumpkin was used to make some pumpkin turkey chili using this recipe from Serious Eats. Chip made the chili one night while I was studying, and we really enjoyed it! The only change to the recipe we made was using a 28-oz can of Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes instead of a 14-oz can of regular diced tomatoes. More tomatoes = better. And Muir Glen’s fire roasted ones are pretty amazing. I highly recommend them. And no I’m not getting paid to say this online, unfortunately.

October is apparently not only the start of pumpkin season, but it has become the new wedding season. Chip and I have a wedding to go to almost every weekend, which is awesome. We had a blast at Kristen and Ryan’s last weekend, and despite my best intentions to take lots of pictures that night with old high school friends (including the bride! whoops.), I ended up with a only few blurry failed photo attempts and this one of me and Chip:I’ll try to do better next time…

Wedding Update:

Chip and I are getting our engagement photo shoot done in Athens, GA on October 23rd! This will be meaningful to us since we met in Athens two summers ago, and I lived there for the first 6 months that we dated. Also, I think I wanted an excuse to visit Athens . We will probably choose a photo from this shoot to go with our save the dates, so hopefully we will get those out before the holidays roll around!

Fun Fact: Back in high school I made a list of all the fun things I thought I should do before I turned 25. As if after that, my youth would be over, and I would automatically turn into a “real adult.” According to my high school self, I have one more year to go sky diving, run a marathon, travel to every continent, and some other crazy things I can’t remember right now. I’m pretty sure getting married was not on the list– that was supposed to happen sometime between 25 and 30– but here I am anyway. I wonder what 16-year-old me would think…

Other Updates:

1. We celebrated my white coat ceremony last Saturday. I passed my first semester of physical therapy school, and I have an official Emory School of Medicine coat to prove it!2. As part of his marathon training, Chip ran “only 11 miles” before my ceremony of Friday. My ultramarathon running classmate was delighted to hear someone else say the word “only” before “running 11 miles” while everyone else rolled their eyes . This weekend, Chip will run a 16 miler, his furthest distance yet! I promise I will make him write a post about his running soon.

3. I had my first physiology test this morning. It was mostly essay questions, and it took me the entire 2 hours that were allotted. It was fair test, but it covered a ton of material. After the test, I learned that the teacher considers this test to be more like a “quiz,” and the midterm will be comprehensive and 4 hours long. What have I gotten myself into?

4. Well, I guess I do like PT school most of the time. This afternoon, we got to play with lasers in interventions lab (they can be used to reduce inflammation and promote healing) and then we got to touch and examine a human brain in neuroscience lab. Tomorrow, one of the professors is bringing in her toddler age twins, and we are assessing their motor skills. If only PT school was all labs…

5. Mom and I met with a wedding photographer last Sunday, and we have now officially booked them! Engagement photos are included, so expect to see some of those in the near future. So we now have the venue, the wedding dress, and the photographer. Next up: a band, bridesmaid dresses, save the dates/invitations. Can we just skip to cake tasting?

*UPDATE* I made a last minute appointment to look at a trunk show for bridesmaid dresses, and dragged Caroline along to model. We found the ones we wanted within 30 minutes. Bridesmaids dresses -> check!