The Time Has Come, Bitches!

The final countdown – we have reached it. The last few days as a “single lady.” Using the term loosely – because Nick and I have been together for eight years. I know I have talked about this before – the dreaded wedding dreams – the anything that can-go-wrong, will-go-wrong, and you WILL wake up from your sleep completely convinced it’s real kind of dreams.

It’s happening quite often to me. Maybe because we are only 8 days away at this point, and it’s all becoming so much more realistic… the wedding, not the marriage (the marriage is already real).

But I can’t believe it is here. The day we have been spending the last year and a half planning for is HERE. We are just about ready – sans the marriage certificate people forgot to remind us about. But that should be taken care of in the next day or two.

Maybe that is why I am having dreams about being so unprepared… there are little things that we need to wrap up.

I’m nervous, anxious, excited! So many emotions all rolled into one. I’m sure all brides feel this way about their wedding day, and when it arrives, it is completely amplified. I just hope I am not an evil bitch or a weeping mess next Friday.

But, this will be my last post as a “bachelorette.” I will soon be a “working wife,” and I will leave the single lady posts to Colleen and Kendal.

It’s awesome to be able to spend each day with these ladies of the blog, chatting, gossiping and getting ideas, and mostly SUPPORT related to marriage items.

I am happy to say they will all be present next Friday for the hitchin’ as well.

So there you have it – the final countdown. One more stressed out-not sleeping-anxiety filled week. I can do it!

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Almost There

The bridal shower: the “almost there” point leading up to your wedding. Last weekend, I was lucky enough to have a BEAUTIFUL shower hosted by my best friends in the whole wide world! Which means, we are almost there! (less than 60 days)

The bridesmaids have very important duties. Being a bridesmaid a few times myself, this, I know. And really, all women know -- showers aren’t fun. It’s something you do because you love the person you are honoring and you grin and bear your way through the toilet paper dress making, eye-spy, and a plethora of other ridiculous games.

That was my #1 stipulation for my shower – other than this, I gave no input. I wanted NO stupid games! None. I’m sorry, but as I said before, no one actually likes them, unless you happen to be the 10 year old junior bridesmaid or flower girl.

And in my case, more than 130 invites went out for the shower! How on earth do you keep that many women entertained for a couple hours? For real. In actuality, around 80 attended.

Separately, the venue was decorated amazingly – props to my MOH and BMs. I continue to receive compliments.

But brides, and brides to be – being the absolute center of attention in a room full of women, some of which you have never met in your life – is a bit intimidating. There is nothing more awkward than the moment you open a card and gift from an individual you have never met, and quickly scan the room to do a quick thank you. Now, really, I am thankful for the gift, and I appreciate you getting all my towels, but “From Jill & Jack” on a card just isn’t going to cut it. I need last names people! Make a note to yourself next time, for the bride’s sake, if you are attending a wedding shower - sign your last name (unless you happen to be the BFF).

Now, maybe for people who have had smaller showers, this won’t be a big deal, but how on earth do you get to say hello to everyone. 80 women? Sheesh! I could have spent the two hours wandering from table to table to see how everyone is doing (and perhaps meet “Jill”), but it’s impossible. I feel terrible knowing that I barely got to spend any time with my family members who made it in from out of town just for these three short hours.

Another note – watch your choice of outfit. I was super pumped to purchase a new, cute dress for the occasion, even got me some sweet, new kicks to go with it! But it is a fine art being able to finagle heavy boxes and tear through wrapping paper in 5 inch stilettos and a short dress, all whilst trying to keep your legs crossed and be a “lady.”

Opening the gifts is fun. It’s like Christmas, but only with kitchen and household appliances. And you never realized how much fun a margarita machine can be until you have one (buy one, you don’t know what you are missing).

Ladies, if you are planning a shower for a friend – get in touch with my friends for tips, they did a fabulous job. I had a family member tell me that my MOH should quit her day job and take on event planning full time! If you are a bride to be, like me, soak this day it. It’s your “almost there” point. The final countdown has begun!

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Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Funny how things work out sometimes, and how sometimes - before you know it - the day has slipped away. Welp, that's what happened to me yesterday. I dropped the ball. It was my day to blog, and I just never had five whole minutes to myself to do so. I know I have talked about this time and time before – the concept that as you get older, the days get shorter, the years fly by… and it’s true! Maybe for me, it is the fact this this year is jammed-packed with exciting/life changing events.

Priorities and time management. I’m struggling. This is usually an area in which I have always done well. I did the most important things first and the least important things last. Why now is this so hard? Is everything THAT important that I can’t prioritize?

Work isn’t slowing down, wedding plans are mounting, house projects are never-ending. The nice weather is here, so that means more riding, training for this marathon relay and getting exterior house work done.

There are only so many hours in the day, and clearly not enough for my liking (namely on weekends). I am in desperate need of some “me time.” Really, all I want is a Sunday to lie in my pajamas and catch up on American Idol and maybe paint my nails. Is that too much to ask? Apparently.

I need more time to do all of my fun wedding crafts. I need more time to clean the house and organize our basement. I need more time to plant flowers outside our landscape-lacking home.

I need more time. But how can I do this? How do all of you other working wives and/or bachelorettes do this? Heck, how do any of our male readers do this?

Truthfully, life is so jammed-packed that I asked Nick to take the lead baking the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes last Friday night for our friend’s going-away party. Now, he did an awesome job (minus the icing I had to re-make), but the cupcakes were the sh*t, none the less. But Nick shouldn’t have to turn into Betty Crocker because I’m pressed for time. I’m lucky he is capable enough to help me out quite often, but I STILL need more hours in the day. (PS – these were AMAZING, and IF you have TIME, you should make them)

Sadly, we won’t even have time to visit our new niece until mid-April. This makes me sad. But just look at this face – we need to meet her!

So much to do, so little time.

4 months until the wedding! 33 days until the marathon! 5 days until Easter!

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Can I Stay Dedicated for the Next 7 Months?

I’ve been intrigued lately by a relative of mine who has made the change in her life to go vegan. She is not a PETA vegan (she carries a leather purse and owns UGGs) but she made the choice to improve her health. In less than five months she has transformed, all by changing her diet.

Now, her measures to cut animal products out of her diet completely may be drastic to some, but to me it shows discipline and dedication.

We all talk about losing a few pounds here or there, or trying a new “fad” diet plan, but how many people are dedicated enough to make these changes permanent?

Dedication is something you have or lack throughout your life. Some things in life might come easy to you, and these changes benefit you in the long run. Other times in our lives, we are quitters – giving up because it is “too hard” or you lack the discipline to keep going at something out of your comfort zone.

We have all been there, faced with new challenges that turn and we tackle head on. But then the going gets tough, and we retreat. Sometimes it’s just hard to stick with something new. It’s easier to go back to the way things were.

I could never be disciplined enough to do what my cousin is doing. I admire her dedication to creating a healthier lifestyle. I’m accustom to eating a box of Oreos weekly. Cutting sugar out of my life would place me straight into that uncomfortable zone, and I would quit. I can almost guarantee you that.

So where can we find this dedication and discipline. Does it show up when we need it most?

There have been plenty of times that I have thought about making positive changes (starting small) – attempting to implement a workout plan (Workout Wednesdays, ladies), changing my diet by not consuming AS MUCH crap, and especially not eating after 9:00 p.m.

But here we are – going on weeks of abandoned Workout Wednesdays and I snacked on brownies and chocolate covered strawberries at lunch. My challenge list might seem minimal to most, but to me a healthier lifestyle has to start somewhere.

Now – to find the dedication and discipline. It is only 7 months till the wedding (EEEK!)

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"I will never ask you to wear an ugly dress, as long as you're my bridesmaid!"

Well, the wedding nightmares have begun! I’ve heard it happens; I just didn’t expect them so soon. With so much going on at the new house and moving, I thought for sure my dreams would surround kitchen and bathroom renovations. But, I guess because my next big venture is the wedding, it IS on my mind.

Last week I took some of my bridesmaids to look at dresses. Who knew this decision would be harder than picking my own dress?! There is something about the unfamiliarity of choosing a dress that someone else has to wear that makes it so nerve-wracking. Will their dresses compliment my dress? How will they look with the guys’ suits? What kind of shoes? Short? Long? UGH!!! It was certainly more confusing than picking out my own dress.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I’m not the girl who has been dreaming about her wedding since kindergarten. I have a vision, but it is incomplete. And my indecisiveness about everything wedding-related stems from that. I must have had my girls try on close to 20 dresses – anything they liked, anything I liked. And from that 20, we might have a top five, or a top two (depending on the day).

Everyone says, “It’s YOUR day, pick a dress you like and that you want them in.” The thing is, I don’t know what I want. Again, I have a vision, but it is incomplete. Also, I will not be the one wearing the dress. Not all dresses look good on EVERYONE (we all know that), and I value the opinions of my friends and I want them to look good.

Just for shits and giggles - check this out!

However, I can’t say I am much further along in this decision making process than I was a week ago. I’ve now seen what I like and what I don’t like, I’ve seen cute dresses, ugly dresses, formal dresses, long dresses and short dresses. And I’m still confused.

I knew the minute when I found “the one” wedding dress. It was that feeling that every bride gets. But am I supposed to feel a certain way about a bridesmaid dress? If so, I don’t think I’ve felt it.

P.S. – 8 months until “the big day”
Holy Sh*t!

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...I'll get to this later

Procrastination - putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention. Yes. I am very good at procrastinating. I always have been. I wrote the best papers in college the night before they were due. Something about that last minute pressure brings out the creative perfectionist in me. Even now, in my “big girl job,” I will be the first to admit, I’m a procrastinator. It is certainly not a personality trait I am proud of, I have to say, it has never really come back to bite me in the ass… yet.

On Monday, I had a “holy crap” moment. I realized that in only 10 months I would be getting married! 10 months! So much to do, in suddenly what feels like very little time. Between trying to move into our house, being busy at work and getting ready for the holiday season (Yes, it’s freakin November), I’m feeling very overwhelmed, and for the moment, wedding planning has taken a back seat to the rest of my life.

I don’t want to be a procrastinator when it comes to my wedding (although I did wait months to actually choose a date). I want to have the most fun, most beautiful, most memorable wedding there ever was – and that surely takes some planning and preparation. There is no pumping out a wedding the night before, that’s for sure.

But I think part of my problem is that wedding planning takes a lot of time and research, which means a lot of time Googling on my computer, which is the last thing I want to do when I get home from work after spending an entire 8 hours in front of a computer.

Also, I am not that little girl who has envisioned her wedding since the day she was five. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of ideas and I am REALLY excited to marry my best friend, I just need to get some motivation (or pressure) to get the ball rolling on making appointments and such.
I do have a few of the big items crossed off my list…

ü Venue (Succop Conservancy)

ü Caterer (Medures Catering)

ü Dress (purchased from Bridal Beginning)

ü Photographer (my cousin and amazing photographer, Elizabeth Cayton)

ü Save the Dates have been sent

But, clearly for anyone who has been married... I have so much more to do.

I came across three secrets to overcoming procrastination:

1.Do it, delegate it or dump it! Don't wait till you feel like doing it; the feeling will come when you start doing it.
2.List all the things you have to do and then prioritize the list. Start with the things that are necessary; then those that are possible; and suddenly you'll find you are doing the impossible!)
3.Create a vision of the result and be motivated by the vision of the outcome, not the thought of the process.

Now, to stop procrastinating and follow these rules.

Any brides out there struggling with this? Motivation is kindly appreciated!

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The Marines

This past weekend I had the honor of being in my husband's cousin's wedding. Her and I are wonderful friends and have been since my husband and I first started to date. A fellow Marine of my husbands was lucky enough to be the groom (I say it like I picked him out of a crowd) and so other Marines were invited to the wedding. It was such a great time, however this story is not about the wedding, but instead, about the Marines.

My husband and I met in college about a year after he had returned from his deployment overseas with the Marine Corps. He still had a couple of years left in his contract, so I had the pleasure of getting to become friends with some of his comrades. Let's just say they are all unique. I could go on and on with hilarious stories, but this posting is to tell you about the love of a Marine, and no, not towards me or the bride, but for each other. And not the Don't Ask, Don't Tell type of love either.

At the wedding, two full rows of pews were filled with Marines in their dress blues, looking as sharp as ever and the groom stood tall in his at the alter marrying the woman of his dreams. Directly after the ceremony, I watched all of the Marines walk outside and stand in formation waiting to do a ceremonial sword detail when the bride and groom walked out. It gave me the chills.

These Marines range anywhere in age from 21 to no older than 30 I would guess, who have been through a war and have seen all kinds of things that some don't even speak of. But what brought them together on Saturday's wedding was love.

There are all kinds of male groups that you could argue have great times together, whether it be the frat guys, sports guys or what have you, but I guarantee you have never met a more brotherly group of guys until you have met a group of Marines. They care for each other, through thick and thin, even though they may not have seen each other for weeks, months or some even years. At the reception, they all acted like it was just yesterday they were all together going through probably the hardest times of their lives.

I know my husband will make fun of me for this post, but he and his Marines have formed a bond that I am sometimes jealous about. I haven't been through what they have with any of my girlfriends and they will tell you nothing will come close to it either. Seeing them all together this weekend really brought the feeling of thankfulness that they are still with us, for their service and for their love. Because if a Marine didn't love, we would not be where we are today.

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