This weekend we went to Nate and Kayla's awesome wedding.  On Friday, everyone was super worried because the forecast showed a lot of rain and it was an outdoor wedding.  But, by some miracle, it didn't rain a single drop and the wedding went absolutely wonderfully!  It was great outdoor ceremony with a private lake as the backdrop.  The colors for the wedding were pink and orange and it was very pretty.  The bridesmaids wore sleeveless, flowing dresses - some in pink and some in orange. The groomsmen wore navy suits with pink and orange ties.  After the ceremony there were lawn games and lemonade instead of a cocktail hour - it was very fun.  The kids there loved the homemade cornhole and laddergolf games.  The reception was under tents and there was homestyle southern food served by Kayla's family.  All of the decor was very earthy and incorporated elements such as burlap, wheat, lace and wildflowers.  Kayla's friend made the cake which was half carrot cake and half strawberry cake with cream cheese icing - it was fabulous!  I think this was probably the best outdoor wedding we've been 

Sorry I've been sporadic lately...I've been pretty busy at work which has made me very tired and un-productive in the evenings.  I'm hoping to get into a new groove/routine next week.  In the meantime...

For anyone not watching basketball...the NCAA basketball championship tournament (aka March Madness) started Thursday.  In the first round, 16 Games are played on Thursday and 16 on Friday.  I am always cheering for University of Kansas Jayhawks and Ryan is always cheering for University of Florida Gators.  Fortunately both teams won their first round games with no problems. In the 2nd round, 8 games were played on Saturday and 8 today.  Both UF and KU played this evening.  We watched the UF game and it was fun to watch because UF won...well they didn't just win, it was a complete blowout with no fear at any point that UF might lose.  Right after that game ended, the KU vs. Purdue game started.  It has been a nail-biter the whole game...KU has been playing terribly and shooting terribly.  We are down to the last few minutes and they are still down by a few points.  AAHHH I can't take the suspense...

Holy crap, KU just scored to take the lead then stole the ball and scored again.  They are winning by 3 points with 2.5 seconds...one more possession left...it's all or nothing now.  KU doesn't really deserve to win it but boy do I want them too.

AND THEY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now don't get me wrong, KU has had an excellent season and I can't wait to see how they do in the rest of the tournament but holy cow they really played terrible tonight.  I thought for sure they lost it.  I actually feel a little bad for Hummel (one of Purdue's players) he was absolutely amazing.  That guy is like a machine, he made a ridiculous amount of three pointers.

March Madness also means that I got basically nothing done on Saturday or Sunday. I did do a little bit of work on my Easter shoebox swap crafts but not much...and the house is still a mess...and I didn't get any work done on Gwen's quilt...and I'm not ready for our weekend in Tallahassee.  Okey dokey off to bed since it's way past my bedtime...hopefully I'll be productive since the next round (Sweet Sixteen) isn't until Thursday and Friday.

A few weeks ago, Ryan decided he was going to try out a version of “polyphasic sleeping”.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the idea behind polyphasic sleeping is to get the same amount of REM sleep (the sleep that you actually need) while minimizing your non-REM sleep so that you get the same amount of rest but spend less time sleeping.  There are several different versions of polyphasic sleeping; in the most extreme version you only take 4 naps (30mins each) spaced every 6hrs so you only sleep for 2 total hours per day.  Ryan decided to try the least extreme version to see how it worked: you sleep 6hrs per night and then take one 20min nap sometime during the day.  At first I was pretty skeptical but I was excited after a few days because it meant that Ryan and I got to stay up a little later but we went to bed at the same time and we got to spend time together in the mornings.  Normally he is still asleep when I leave for work so it was a nice change.

The hardest part of this type of sleeping schedule is finding the time to take a nap.  I can't really take a nap during the work day (and I only take a half hour lunch so I can't really do it then either).  The next best option is right after work.  Which works ok, as long as we aren't planning on going for a run right after work.  If we were to try to take a nap and then go for a run and then eat dinner...it would be so late by the time we ate!  So, sadly, I think Ryan is already giving up on it.  I tried to convince him to run before work with me and then we could nap after work but he doesn't like running in the mornings.  Now I guess we're back to trying to find a schedule for running, sleeping, etc that works for us...

Ryan also found a really neat product (that i really want!) called WakeMate.  It's basically a soft bracelet that you wear at night that monitors your sleep to see when you are in REM sleep.  Then you set an alarm for the morning and it will wake you up no later than the alarm time but up to a half hour earlier based on your REM cycles - the goal being to not interrupt your REM cycles. It looks really neat and isn't that expensive but it's always out of stock!  For anyone who's interested here's what wikipedia says about polyphasic sleeping (there are also some great blogs out there about it):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleepAnd here's a link to the WakeMate that I really want: http://wakemate.com/