Wedding = No Life

I am ready to have my life back... I feel like this wedding is all consuming...

The number of days left is ticking down and I feel like my to-do list is only growing. I have so much left to do! I am trying to get work done on some of my DIY projects, and also follow up with some vendors and get some meetings scheduled.

I keep telling myself that this will all be worth all the work, but I am starting to see why people hire wedding coordinators and/or take time off from work to plan their wedding. Neither of which I can do since money is tight right now.

I've had at least half a dozen people ask to bring a date or their boyfriend/girlfriend to the wedding. Some of the inquiries I don't mind, it happens. But some people are just down right RUDE about it. I feel like no one knows etiquette. And it's irritating, It makes me feel terrible, like I am a bad person (read: bridezilla). I've got so much else to focus on that I can't deal with all of this.

Our RSVP date is September 1st, which is 2 days away and I am missing about half of my RSVP's.... That's a lot of phone calls I don't have time to make! Of course, we know that H2B will be helping out with his side.

Honestly, I feel like I don't exist anymore, that it's just all about the wedding, and I really hate that feeling. I half jokingly said to H2B that we should just get married on a cruise, like I wanted to, but we are so far into this now, beyond the point of no return!

A few bright spots, I had my makeup trial last night and it went beautifully, the technician was lovely and very understanding of my wants to have a minimal face for the day. And really, airbrush is the way to go, it barely felt like anything was on my skin, and from what I hear it's sweat and water proof, and lasts for 16 hours. which is incredible! It was a good experience.

What was a GREAT experience was my bachelorette party!! My gal pals took me to Foxwoods! There was 10 of us in total, and so we drove down to Foxwoods, checked in and got ready for dinner at the uber swanky Shrine. The food was delicious and the scorpion punch bowls were the size of my head! We then did some gambling before hitting the club which is in the lower level of Shrine. As my BFF, Kelli put it all the guys looked like they were from the Jersey Shore. Which could very well have been the case, since Irene was in town and they evacuated the Jersey Shore. After a few hours of dancing we went back to the room for some greasy room service and then we all went to bed!

I woke up about quarter to 5 by by roommates who were staring out the window, Irene had finally hit CT. And they were calling for a Tornado watch, which freaked my friends out. Probably my fault, since I have a app on my iPhone that tells me when severe weather is in my area (whoops)! Well we finally managed to get some more sleep, as we were getting ready the next morning, the power went off and on, finally it was on, but it was generator power, so we couldn't blow dry our hair or iron clothes! We had to search around but we finally found a place to eat (buffet!). Before heading out into the weather.

Let me say that CT got it worse than my town in NH. But I do believe that western NH and VT got it just as bad as CT. I was very lucky and fortunate to know that we didn't get impacted too much at my house/work. But I do feel for my friends / blog readers who may be impacted by Irene and the damage she left behind.

In closing, I love my gals, I wish I wanted (or could of had) a big wedding party, it would have been so great. But I don't think I would change anything, I love that my cousin is going to be my MOH and stand up for me on my wedding day, but I also love that all my gal pals have been there to help with the planning and for all the moments in which I needed to vent or get opinions on.

But I still can't WAIT to have my life back, or at least to be on my honeymoon!

The calm before the storm

I remember Hurricane Bob, and the 10-15 foot storm surge... it moved the fish shack and summer cottages off their foundations and moved at least 50 yards away. Bob was 20 years ago. I remember being a kid, and making fistfuls of money shoveling rocks out of peoples driveways and bringing them back over to the beach. The ocean brought over lots of rocks and other items, including telephone poles... now I don't know where these poles came from, but it was impressive that they made it over the sea wall and into the roadway.

For Hurricane Irene they are talking about 20-25 foot storm surge, I can only imagine what that will do for the shoreline.

There is a bride in New Hampshire who is getting married on Saturday, she was planning on getting married on the beach, but wisely moved the ceremony indoors. But she is a true Yankee and still planning on having her wedding and her day, even if Irene will be crashing her wedding.

I am still planning on having a bachelorette party this weekend, my best friend, Kelli has put a lot of work into this weekend and she's got plans. I give her a lot of credit, all of my friends have kept the details and location a secret, and I am sure it hasn't been easy. I can't wait to spend time with my gal pals! I can't wait to see what Kelli has put together. I am sure it will be super fun! Just like Irene won't spoil a wedding, she won't spoil my bachelorette party. The least she could do is buy a round of drinks!

Today, was the calm before the storm, it was a beautiful day, I took part in the NH Sheriffs Associations Golf Tournament. I was on the NHEDA team. It was great to spend a day with some fun dispatchers, just kicking back and having a good time. We golfed at the Pheasant Ridge Country Club in Gilford, NH. Which is a beautiful course overlooking the lakes and mountain region.

If you live in Irene's path, please take appropriate precautions. If you follow my blog, you know that I work in emergency services, and you should heed the warnings. Hurricanes are no jokes, we've gone several years without any real issues. I have a app on my iPhone that sends me severe weather alerts, and it's been going off for the last day of weather alerts, so please stay safe and take care. 

Darn Irene....

Well the fitting went super, the dress fits fantastic, I am still in LOVE with my dress, and my mother and stepmother managed to be in the same room and get along. I think I am most in shock about that last one. It's funny that weddings have a way of either bringing families closer together or driving a wedge between families. Thankfully, it seems to be drawing us closer together. Or at the very least where they can be civil to one another.

My stepmother is my mom, she raised me, her and I are great friends, but I also admire her for everything that she's done and sacrificed for my brother and myself. It made me so happy to hear her say that she loved my dress and that it was very flattering on me, and that she wasn't just giving me lip service, that she really liked it. I value her opinion.

After the fitting, Kelli and I went to dinner to have a session... I love my sessions with her.... LOL. As she put it we never have a shortage of topics.

I am so excited for this weekend, it's my bachelorette weekend!! My gals are taking me, where? I don't know. All I've been told is to pack an overnight bag. I know that we are going out dancing, one of my friends bought me a little black dress... I can't wait to see where we are going and what we are doing! I love my gals, they are so good to me.

One slight problem, Hurricane Irene.... she's forecasted to blow into the New England region beginning on Saturday and through Monday.... I talked to Kelli today, and we discussed things... but it's still on. I've been looking forward to this weekend and so has she. She's also put her heart into this and no one could plan on this happening...

Like I said on twitter the other day, I don't know how Irene got invited to my bachelorette party but I hear she blows.... we are still going to have a great time no matter what we are doing.

I'm sure I'll have pictures and a post after this weekend, filling you in on everything ;-)

Tonight's the night...

My fitting is tonight! Wish me luck! I am picking up my new, smaller bra tonight and then rushing over to the bridal store to put the look all together... seems a bit more real now!

Over the weekend, H2B and I were able to secure new catering, finalize our wedding bands and dropped off my engagement ring to get fixed, there were 2 loose diamonds, and I wanted to get those fixed before much more time went by.We had a productive wedding weekend.

This coming weekend is my bachelorette party, I still don't know what's happening or where, but I know I am going to be out with my gal pals and enjoying a fun weekend, I can't wait.

The local weight loss challenge is ending on Thursday this week and unless there is a big upset, I won't be winning, but even after everything this weekend, I stepped on the scale at 309 this morning, still recording a loss in this challenge, I will take it as a win... no matter what happens.

The Dress!

So the other day my friend came over with her wedding dress, she wanted to try it on. The dress is beautiful and she will be stunning in it.

She asked if she could leave it at my house because she lives with her fiance, and I said, sure... no problem. We hung it up in the second bedroom and thought nothing of it. We went off to find another bra for MY wedding dress.

Ben came home and just happened to go into the second bedroom and saw the said dress. Instantly he panicked, he thought it was my dress! He said he only took a small look at it, and saw what it was and didn't look at it any further. When I was able to explain to him the situation he breathed a sigh of relief. Now granted he only saw her dress out of the corner of his eye, but both of our dresses have some similarities.

I said, don't worry, my dress is safely tucked away at the bridal shop. One week from tonight I will be trying it on for the first time since November when I picked it out. I am so excited yet nervous. I hope I am as in love with it as when I first bought it.

What about you, do you have any wedding dress horror stories? Do you believe that the groom shouldn't see his brides dress before the wedding day?

Weight Loss Update

So is this a weight loss blog or what... well actually no, it's not, it's about my life in general. Right now my life is consumed by all things wedding... but one of my goals was to lose 30 pounds by the wedding. And how am I doing with that goal...

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Not so good. I've made some progress, but not as much as I would have like to have seen by this time. A loss is a loss, and I'll take it. But in these last 8 weeks before the wedding, I really would like to remain focused on my goals.

One thing that may help, is that my friend, who recently got engaged is looking for a gym buddy, and we all know I can use the motivator. The work is mine and mine alone, but it's nice to have a motivator to help be the nudge that gets you through the door.

I may struggle, but I will remember my NSV's and remain focused.Emily from Fit and Free Emily had a post awhile back about being a fat bride and accepting certain things. I have to totally agree with everything she says in her post. I am ok being a "fat bride" like I commented in her post, women are forever trying to lose weight and get back to their wedding day weight. Emily and I will just be the lucky bi*ches who take it a step further and achieve our goals of being fit and happy and lighter than our wedding day weight.

Wedding stress and a surprise!

So since the last wedding update a lot as happened. The biggest news, is that we lost our caterer, 2 months before the wedding.... This caused a minor major freakout, we specifically planned our wedding to secure services early on so that we wouldn't have to run around at the last moment planning. As it turns out, this is what we ended up doing. Ugh. Thankfully, Ben being the super duper awesome man that he is took on the challenge of finding a new caterer 2 months before our wedding.

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He quickly emailed some other caterers including one that we were originally considering. As it turns out they have never taken us off their calender. So our wedding date was still available! What luck! It is going to cost us more money than we had originally budgeted. But that this point, we really do not have a choice. I am just thankful that this potential big problem, was still a big problem, but quickly managed by my guy.

Today I decided to walk to the post office, I do so every now and again, I should do it more often, but I walked to the post office, and low and behold, there was a package for me. Now this made me laugh out loud. You see, every time I drive to the post office, there is maybe one or two pieces of mail for me. But whenever I walk to the post office, there is ALWAYS a package for me. Not that I don't mind getting fun packages in the mail. Today's was a wedding shower gift!  I also got 3 RSVP's. So excited that things are coming along for the wedding. So I joked with the girls in the office, that it's their way of making my workout more intense for me!

One of my good couple friends got engaged over the weekend, and after going out to dinner with the female half, she asked me if I would be her Maid of Honor! And I am so excited for their wedding, but also very honored that she asked me.

Today, she came over and I decided to try on my strapless long line bra for my wedding. This was the bra I bought for my best friend's wedding 3 years ago. It didn't fit... it was too big! Now the size was 50 D. Nothing what my usual bra size is. So we drove over to the store and tried on some new ones. I ended up ordering a 46 D! And even then, it was on the tightest latch possible.

I also tried on a bridesmaid dress for my friend, so she could see some color combinations, BTW, her ideas are lovely.... and the dress was a full size smaller than the dress I bought for my friend's wedding 3 years ago.

All in all this makes me so happy. Not meeting my goals to be a thinner bride is disheartening. But knowing that I am smaller than I was for my friend's wedding 3 years ago is a unexpected surprise and a happy one.

Wedding, wedding, wedding...

It's all I seem to think about these days. And guess what went in the mail this weekend....

Certain details omitted for those who like to stalk me.... 

Yup, the invites are in the mail. And it makes me think that this is really happening. It seems as though on my to do list is mostly comprised of wedding related tasks.

But it's great to have the invites in the mail! One more item on my list and one more completed task closer to our special day!

Next big tasks to complete are ordering wedding favors, getting a timeline and sample photos to the photographer and working on ceremony and reception music. 

A girl's work is never done when she's planning her special day!

Book Review: Joy Bauer's Food Cures

I was pleased to have been given the opportunity to review Joy Bauer's new book Food Cures. The tagline is: Treat Common Health Concerns, Look Younger & Live Longer.

She starts out with her motto, "Life is hard... food should be easy" and I couldn't agree more with her!

The book instructs you to calculate your activity factor and calorie calculations. This will help you find the best match for your body, activity level and goals you want to achieve. From there you can start to get an idea about how many calories you should be consuming every day.

Each of Joy's meal plans fall into the 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day range. She suggest eating every 4-5  hours to help keep your body happy and in a digesting mode. Also to eat protein with every meal, as it can boost your metabolism.

She offers customized menu plans for each condition discussed, but also allows the individual to develop their own menu plan, by using her formula.

Each of the health concerns she outlines has a four step plan:

• Step One: Start with the basics - which outlines the general considerations regarding the condition/health concern you have
• Step Two: Grocery List - this is a list of foods from which you can "shop" from in order to create your menu plan. Or your shopping list when you do go to the grocery store. 
• Step Three: Going Above and Beyond - steps you can take to maximize your results, or minimize your condition (depending on what you are trying to accomplish)
• Step Four: Meal Plans - one of the core values of Joy's plan is meal planning, this set's you up for success when you can plan ahead. She also offers many options of planned meals for you. (It's like she's done the work for you!)

I like that she has the four step plan and that she outlines it for every health condition she has listed in her book, It's pretty set forward and easy to follow. It's also easy to substitute something different just by following her outlines for healthy eating. 

And if you go over to her website, you will find a host of other information, what I love about her website is the recipes, and how she has the nutritional information already there for you as well as what "conditions" it's good for. 

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All in all, I think that the book is a great tool to add to one's weigh loss tool chest, but also takes into consideration other health conditions, like type 2 diabetes, insomnia, celiac disease and having healthy hair just to name a few. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the product mentioned above for free for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC.