Rabbi and Mr. Alex!

Way, way back a million years ago, I wrote about my friends Alex and Alex, and their engagement party. Well, they finally got married. (ok, it was almost two months ago. I'm behind on life. It happens.) Hurrah!

The wedding was on July 3rd, so I decided to go red, white and blue. As it turned out, my whole family dressed in that color scheme as well, without even knowing it. We were all very adorable and color coordinated. Ordinarily, I would hesitate about wearing this dress to a wedding because some people are very intense about nobody wearing white (even if it covered with giant polka dots) to a wedding, but since there was no bride this time around, it seemed like a good choice. (It is actually pretty old, dating back to my graduation party four years ago, but I continue to love it and wear it when the opportunity arises.)

The cutest

 Guys, this wedding was the best. It was the perfect combo of moving and fun. It also had a little bit of a "last day of camp" feeling, since it was the last time that an awesome group of rabbis who just graduated in May were going to be together for a long time. So at the end of the night, there was a lot of crying. Guys, DON'T FORGET THAT SOME OF US AREN'T DONE WITH SCHOOL YET! PLEASE COME VISIT ME IN THE BEIT MIDRASH WHILE I TRY TO WRITE MY DISSERTATION! All of my friends are leaving me...

Abe tried to teach me to take selfies, but then I couldn't do it so he did it instead.

 Meanwhile, the happy grooms have moved to Ohio, where they seem to be settling in nicely, at least according to Facebook and occasional text messages. A special shout out to Mr. Alex, who is one of the blog's biggest fans, and who is featured up front looking very dapper in his wedding suit. Rabbi and Mr, we miss you in New York! Come see us!

Zach promised he would come visit me at school!

 Anyway. The wedding! It was chill and beautiful and just right for these two lovebirds and the many people who were so happy to celebrate with them. It had a nice pintrest-y feel, which you can see in the pictures below, without feeling precious. Everything felt thoughtful without being over the top-- not always an easy balance to strike.

The happy grooms.

 And of course, most importantly, love was overflowing. The love between the two Alexes, but also among everyone in the room to them and for them. A lot of crying, even more laughing, and dancing until they told us we really had to leave and go home.

truth.

So mazel tov, dear friends! May every coming day be as happy as that one was, for you and for all of us.

In Praise of Rash Guards and Waterproof Cameras

Out of order blog post! I live so dangerously!

I have my reasons. Namely, it is August. For many, it is vacation season. (If you're me, it's "should be writing my dissertation but instead am doing anything else" season.) So this seemed like a good time to write about two of my favorite summer things: rash guards and underwater cameras.

Rash guard, in action.

 I have written before about my love of rash guards. They serve a great dual purpose by being both modest and sun-protecting. But in the case of this one, they can also be super fun! I love me some tie dye, but as I am not 16 and it is not 1965, I feel silly wearing it. However, swimwear is often a great opportunity to wear things I wouldn't wear otherwise. So there you go!

The second cool thing in this post is my underwater camera! I bought it last year and had great fun with it, but this was my first time hardcore using it (in this case, in the pool.) It feels a little against everything you have ever been told about electronics to bring your camera in the pool. But what cool results!

Photo credit: Simon

These pictures were taken in Washington, CT, at the home of a very generous student of mine, who lent us his house for the weekend. The children, who were with us, enjoyed the whole thing immensely and especially thought that the camera was great fun. Leo especially wanted to play with it all day. I put a stop to using it as a ball to play catch with or a diving ring, but other than that, anything went.

Even Maddie got in on the fun. Not on the picture taking, but on the rash guard and swimming in the lala (that's Maddie for pool.) A beautiful weekend was had by all.

I confess that my rash guard is from Lands End. The honest fact of the matter is that their swimming stuff is, in my opinion, better than almost anyone's. Unfortunately, I have been not especially inclined to buy from them since they apologized for featuring Gloria Steinem because of her feminism. Um, hello Lands End. It's 2016. People should be embarrassed for NOT being feminists. Luckily my swimwear was all acquired before any of this happened, so I don't need to have qualms, but I'm not sure I can recommend buying from them right now.

Big feet, little feet. Photo credit: Leo

 However, I CAN recommend my waterproof camera! Totally worth the less than $150. There are other, better models that cost a lot more, but I was pretty happy with the pictures, especially the one of Simon. You can decide how you want to spend your money. You can find it here.

Maddie loves the lala

Enjoy your August everyone! Keep that skin protected, go outside, and take lots of pictures! See ya next week.

SBL2.0: The Running of the Balls

Or, that time I took a picture with a giant testicle.

 Dear readers, if you ever want to feel terrible about yourself, I recommend reading running blogs. These are not things that I usually read, but in the course of my googling to learn more about the course of the Staten Island Half, I found some blogs that wrote about the course. And while I got a little more info about how many hills to expect, the main thing I found myself feeling was bad about myself. Because there's nothing like someone writing about how they didn't get to train because their Crohn's Disease was acting up, so they only had a seven minute mile pace instead of a six minute mile case. Seriously, just kill me now.

ALL OF THE SWEAT

 Well, dear readers, this will never that type of blog! Because here at Curly Hair With Glasses, we want everyone to feel good about themselves, no matter how slowly they run, or if they choose not to run at all!

These pictures are from a 10K I ran on Fathers Day, known (because it raises money for testicular cancer research) as the Running of the Balls. And yes, there was a mascot dressed as a testical. And yes, I took a picture with him. (Obviously.) And yes, it turns out that one of my former students knows him. It's a small world, folks.

The day was sunny but very hot, and we were at Roosevelt Island, which is flat but shadeless. As you can see in the picture above, I was extremely sweaty. I also ran my first 5k too fast (in a little under 29 minutes) and then tired out and took longer on the second 5k. But I finished in 59:57, which I felt really great about. Runners blogs be damned. We are all winners here!

My training is progressing slowly. I'm supposed to do one long run a week, so yesterday I did seven miles. It was one of those days where I felt like I was going to die with every step. But I didn't! Let's hear it for not passing out in Riverside Park! The idea of running almost double that is feeling pretty intimidating right now, but I still have time. And please leave encouragement! I can use all of the cheering I can get.

Me! I finished! Yay!

 One note about my t-shirt. You might notice that it says "Property of Ravenclaw Quidditch", and you might be thinking, What Rachel??? Not Gryffindor? To which I saw, I would clearly be in Ravenclaw, so I'm just being true to who I am, and also does anyone else feel like the Gryffindor people maybe got themselves into a little more trouble than was strictly necessary? RAVENCLAW FOREVER!!!

Time until the half marathon: two months and four days

What I'm wearing: Look Human Ravenclaw t-shirt, Kirkland yoga pants, Adidas sneakers (similar here)