Shake-Out Run and AllSeated For Your Events

Everyone handles the day after a race very differently. Some take the day off, some opt for an easy shake out run or cross training session in the form of a walk, yoga class, light stretching or elliptical-type machine.

I have yet to take a complete day of rest after a race because I find it more beneficial for recovery to move around, loosen up and get the blood flowing.

Aside from slight soreness in my upper hamstrings, nothing really bothered me or felt as though I ran more than usual so I chose to go for an outdoor easy run.

It was gorgeous outside, I kept the pace around 10:30 min/mile and my mood was all sunshine and unicorns.

I reflected on the race and then thought about my blog.

I love this little blog. I love writing, I love making myself laugh, learning from my own posts and having a place to store all of my thoughts, recipes and memories.

What I really love though is interacting with all of you. It’s amazing how many friends (yes, I consider all of you my friends) I have made through writing every day and how many of you I feel as though I know so personally without actually meeting face to face.

I am always fascinated (and thrilled) to see my blog demographics.

Not that I am old (about to be 36 thank-you-very-much) but so many of you are in your twenties; a time in my life that flew by oh so quick yet was jam-packed with so many major life milestones that I can’t help but get excited for all of you about to (or currently going through) the same fun times.

I loved my wedding. I loved finding my dress, registering for a china pattern, picking my crystal and silver along with the towels and gadgets and all of those extra things that are still sitting in the boxes at my parent’s house.

I realize that I am divorced now but I can still look back fondly on my wedding. In fact, if men are good for anything, they are terrific for making you a bride worthy of prancing around in a big white wedding dress and tiara on your head.

I was the happiest bride not stressed at all by the planning. I have always had that knack for balancing things and keeping a healthy perspective in all areas of my life but I realize I am pretty unique in that respect.

It is much more normal to stress the plans, struggle to determine the proper venue, floral arrangements, band, music, dress, invitations and keep it all organized….am I stressing you just by bringing this all up?

The only person who stressed my wedding was my father. He was consumed by the seating arrangements. I didn’t care in the slightest who sat where but he needed to map it all out.

So  I let him. It was easier to let him draw up the floor plans and seating arrangements and fax them to me relentlessly (to my office fax machine no less) than try to tell him to chill out.

This was back in 2001 when we thought fax machines were the highest form of technology. Things have changed so dramatically since then, haven’t they?

It was a big deal back then to be able to view your wedding registry on the computer.  I never could have imagined the additional organizational tools that would become available, and,  if you want to know the truth, I am kind of jealous of you all who get to play with Pinterest for your events.

Organization is super critical when it comes to smooth planning which is why I want to talk to you about a company called AllSeated.

AllSeated simplifies your event by keeping track of your guest list and  allows you to play around and finalize the perfect seating plan all in one place with instant access from anywhere.

My father would have loved this!

Important facts about AllSeated:

*AllSeated offers exact floor plans to scale, guest lists, and seating arrangements. Event data updates hosted in the cloud, provide instant access and perfect coordination with hosts, event planners, venue managers, and vendors.

*AllSeated is available FREE of charge. Use it to view your venue map, build your guest list, and seat your guests.

*Instead of countless phone calls, faxes, and emails, simply invite the people you want involved with my planning and in seconds, they are part of the planning process.

*Everyone involved in planning the event has access to the service from anywhere, at anytime enabling them to make time-sensitive decisions based on the most current information, eliminating unnecessary errors, and time-consuming mistakes.

*Its ease of use means you can import your guests from your social networks and email accounts, creating your guests list in minutes.

The AllSeated website is extremely user-friendly. Once you sign up on their site, the screen prompts take you around to fill in all of your details including your event date, location, guest list and floor plan.

Many venue floor plans are already loaded in their library. If by chance your venue is not in their library, it is really easy to have the PDF uploaded to the site.

And, if that can’t happen for some reason, the amazing people behind AllSeated have assured me that they can draw your floor plan to scale and load it on up for you.

They even offer live chat for people like me who sometimes struggle to fully grasp the easiest of internet sites.

I may hate technology at times but there really are some terrific advantages to allowing yourself to indulge in such fascinations of modern organization.

I do hope to get remarried one day but in the meantime, I may focus on using AllSeated for my son’s Bar Mitzvah which by the way, already has a date set for 2016. Where did my baby go?

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Do you run or rest the day after a race?

Who is currently planning a wedding?

What internet tools do you use to keep you organized?

AllSeated and I will be working together for future posts in regards to healthy living and event planning. This was the first post of the series and when relevant, I will share the additional posts here on my blog.