Master Bedroom Dilemma

There is just something about our Master Bedroom that we don't like. After numerous conversations with fiance we decided that maybe we needed a headboard or some type of new bed frame. Of course, I was all for this.....any excuse to go shopping is okay by me!

After countless hours on the internet and searching a few stores we ended up at ArtVan last night. I'm attending some decorating classes there and they had given me a 15% off coupon so we thought what the heck, it's worth a shot.


Well, we started off in the clearance center and we found a couple bed frames we liked, but the headboards were both damaged and even with the clearance price it wasn't worth spending that amount of money on something in that poor of condition. After almost giving up our search the sales associate asked us if we had seen the new models that they just got in. Of course, in my mind I knew we could never afford them but agreed to take a look anyway.


As expected, I fell in love with one immediately but was scared to look at the price. The tag had gotten flipped over from a fan that was blowing on it so you couldn't see the price and I just couldn't bring myself to walk over and take a peek. Well after 20 minutes of talking with the sales associate he stepped away for a minute. Fiance and I kept talking about the bed, but neither one of us wanted to look at the price. Finally, we agreed that if by a miracle it was priced under $400 we would buy it on the spot (considering the prices of the ones in the clearance center that were damaged were over $200). I quickly turned over the price tag and gasped......this was a $1000 bed frame that was 50% off. And don't forget that I had a coupon that I could use toward 1 sale item of my choice. And this was definitely my item of choice. We quickly did the math in our heads and figured out that the discounted price should be around $425.


The sales associate came back just as we realized this may be in our reach and we asked him to please do the math and let us know what our final price would be. Just as we had figured $424.99......oh, the dilemma! I knew I wanted the bed, but I wanted to make sure that fiance was on the same page. The sales associate stepped away again and as soon as he was out of sight fiance turned to me and said "we've got to have this bed. I've never had a bed frame before and wasn't sure I wanted one, but we have to get this". And that my folks, is how we became the owners of this pretty little thing

Edit: Sorry the picture is so big but you get the general idea!

I Did It....

....I bought my wedding dress!! And I love it....I wish I could wear it every day!!

I ended up with a dress that isn't ANYTHING even close to what I thought I would like, but once I put it on I felt amazing. I've never felt so beautiful in all my life.

I know I have found "the" dress, but I wish I could try on more...it was so much fun! I never anticipated buying my dress on my first time out. But, I guess you know when you have found the one, and I definitely knew.

Bridesmaids....My Besties

I thought when I got engaged last October that my most favorite part was going to be picking my bridesmaids, asking them in the most creative, meaningful way to stand beside me and then life would be perfect and the wedding planning would begin! Well, to be honest.....choosing my bridesmaids was the hardes thing I've done so far. I have been fortunate in life to come across an amazing group of girls who have touched my life in ways words cannot describe. I would have been honored to have them all stand beside me on my special day, but once we started the actual wedding "planning" I quickly came to realize that it wasn't going to fit into our "plan" to have that many bridesmaids. My heart was crushed and I stressed over this for months. Almost 8 months to be exact! Until finally it was time to bite the bullet and finalize the wedding party.

I am in no way upset about my decision, but there are days when I wish things could have been different and I could have had all my "besties" standing up there supporting me. I wonder if this will ever settle right in my heart or if I will feel a little regret over my decision up until my wedding day?

I am moving forward and ready to introduce my BRIDESMAIDS to the blog world:

Matron of Honor: Rachel, my older (and much wiser) sister who has been my rock for as long as I can remember. I can't even begin to imagine how my life would be different without her. She keeps me pointed in the right direction when life tends to throw me off path and she is one of the most creative people I know.

Bridesmaid: Sarah, the friend I've had the longest. She has shared more of life's challenges with me than anyone else. We went to school together since kindergarten and everyone has always mistaken us for sisters. In college it was hard to convince people that we were not related. She is one of the funniest people I know and there is never a dull moment when she's around.

Bridesmaid: Megan, another friend who I have known since early childhood. Megan is another hometown friend who has become a "necessity" in my life as I have gotten older. We were friends growing up, but the past few years she has become that friend who you cannot live without. She is one of the most intelligent woman I know and I look up to her for more reasons than I can list on this here blog.

Bridesmaid: Lindsey, She has been with me through almost everything I've ever experienced in life and she has taught me so much (even though I'm the older, wiser one..haha). Her friendship to me isn't one big thing - it's a million little things. She is my key to sanity in an insane world. I can't imagine my life without her by my side.

Bridesmaid: Kerri, who wasn't introduced to me until my adult years, but has been an important person in my life since. She is so outgoing and always comes up with these fantastic ideas about how to have fun. She is strong-willed and I love her for that. She is the friend who will tell it to you "like it is" and won't sugar coat anything. Everyone needs somebody like Kerri in their life.

And there you have it........my bridesmaids! What a fantastic group of girls to have standing beside me on the biggest, most important day of my life!

All the Single Ladies.....

I think I have already shared that I will absolutely not be hurling my beautiful bouquet across the room and really would rather not isolate all the single ladies in an attempt to catch said bouquet. I have been put through this awkward and uncomfortable tradition too many times and the only thing that ever came out of it was me making more trips to the bar in order to blur any memories of the humiliation that accompanies said tradition.

Well, in speaking with a customer on the phone today I was informed of a Turkish wedding tradition that says to have all your single female friends sign the soles of your wedding shoes before the ceremony. It is said that the name which has worn away the most after my trip down the aisle and my signature moves on the dance floor, is the next woman to get married.

Maybe this is something I could do at my bridal shower and/or bachelorette party (although, at this point in my life I don't really have many friends/relatives that are still single. I'm one of the last ones to get hitched). Anywho........what are your thoughts?

Tuesday Blues

I don't know what it is, but I'm having a horrible day! Nothing is going right....how can I come off a 3-day weekend like this? Today was supposed to be a good day...it's Tuesday. Not Monday...Tuesday! A short work week and I'm starting it off like this....totally unacceptable!

I Must Have You.....

During my lunch hour today I began browsing the Target website and stumbled upon these beauties!!

I must have them.....one of each please!

Okay, Okay, I know that's a lot to ask, so maybe just this one for my living room....mmmkay?

Weight Watchers - Week 13

I almost forgot to post this week.......Good news, I lost 1.4 lbs this week. That puts my total weight loss at 19.8 lbs. I JUST WANT TO HIT THE 20 LB MARK AND IT'S KILLING ME!

When I first started WW my fiance asked me how much weight I thought I could lose and how much I planned on losing. The first thing that crossed my mind was "I want to lose 20 lbs" I wasn't very convinced that I could do it, but it sounded good when I said it. So here I am .2 lbs away and it's killing me! I mean come one...what exactly is .2 lbs anyway? I think my engagement ring weighs about .2 lbs....OMG, why didn't I think of that? I need to start taking off my ring before weight in!

Let's hope this holiday weekend doesn't do too much damage because I'm going to hit the 20 lb mark next week if it's the last thing I do! Bring on Week 14.......and bring on the hot dogs, macaroni salad, pie, pasta.......errrrr wait a minute....that's not going to help me lose weight at all!

Wedding Industry Can Suck

I've talked numerous times about how happy I am with our revised wedding plans. And still to this exact moment I'm more excited than I ever thought possible. I'm still okay with the fact that my wedding will not have grand chandeliers, a gigantic dancefloor, and a ballroom that is picture perfect. It's the meaning behind our new wedding plans that make my heart flutter.

In the beginning stages of my wedding planning I stalked every wedding blog I could find, I over-saturated my senses with inpiration photos. It seemed like we were planning the perfect wedding with perfect details because that's what the wedding industry had led me to believe. Don't get me wrong, I'm still detail oriented and I know our wedding will be beautiful. But, it will look like us, not like it came straight out of a magazine.

And as far as our wedding budget is concerned, I'm content with what we have spent so far. I'm content that we are concentrating more on why we buy certain things and not listening to the wedding industry who is telling us what to buy. The wedding industry also encourages you to buy, buy, buy like there's no tomorrow....because you should, because you have to!

Hopefully five or ten years down the road we will still reflect on our wedding and not have any regrets. I hope we will still think our "simple" centerpieces were cool and our cheap (but creative) favors were awesome.

And this is why I'm loving every minute of planning our non-budget, casual, backyard wedding.

My New Favorite....

Yes, I'm still stalking wedding dresses.......here is my new favorite! Go here to see details

DIY Flower Trial

I'm sure you all remember my decision to use silk carnations as my flowers for the wedding and reception. Well my inspiration picture (see below) has been taunting me for weeks now.

I am so in love with the idea of using these as some of my centerpeices, so I finally decided it was time for a "trial run". I went to Michaels's Craft store and bought all my supplies and headed home to figure out this glue gun thingy.

I am not a crafty person (I leave all of that up to my sister) so I wasn't sure how this project was going to end, but I was praying nothing too bad would happen. If I managed to stay away from the emergency room I knew I would be on the right track. I seriously kept imagining burning myself (or Don) with this glue gun. They put so many warnings on the package and I was nearly scared half to death.

After 30 minutes of cutting stems (1/2 of that time Don had to take over because I broke the wire cutting scissors). I told you I wasn't "crafty". It took about 30 minutes for me to meticulously put all the carnations on.......someone with OCD should NEVER attempt these types of projects......I could have been there all day working on this thing. It was finally Don who said "Enough is Enough"........Here is the finished project

It didn't take long for me to realize that the 6" ball that I used was way too big for most of the stands I had purchased. I ran back to Michaels and bought some 5" and 4" spheres and those seem to be the perfect size. I also was able to purchase the white milk glass vases that I've been searching for this weekend. I hit the jackpot at Salvation Army and Goodwill. I still need more, but I will keep searching.

Here is a picture of the 5" ball next to the 6" ball. In addition to the size difference you may also notice that the 5" isn't as "tight" looking. We decided to space the flowers out a bit more so we didn't have to use as many (cost savings).

After making a few trials we finally started to get the hang of this. I think we did about 6 of these and by the last one, we had it down to a science. I knew it would only be a mattered of time before we perfected it. Our only problem now is that I hope we can remember all of our "tricks of the trade" by the time it comes around to making the rest.

We also messed around with some mock set-ups of our reception tables. My pictures are all horrible because I think I was too exhausted by this time, but you get the jist of what we are doing. Black tablecloths, damask table runners, white china with red napkins, and red, black, white accents as centerpieces.

And please don't anyone point out the fact that one of the votives is not in the right spot. Little Miss OCD almost died when I pulled up this photo this morning.... And also please note that the only reason there are so many red carnations on the table is because we ran out of white ones. We were simply trying to get and "idea" of what we were doing. And lastly, don't mind the couch in the background....it was the only open floor space at the time.

You will notice in the pic above that all of the red carnation balls will be in the white milk glass vases and all the white centerpeices will be in clear china.....it looks so awesome in real life!! I'm getting more and more excited every day!

Now, I'm on a mission to find more white milk glass........keep your eyes peeled for me :)

Besties......

One of my best friends happened to be in town last Friday visiting her parents, and so I got the chance to meet her for lunch. I sometimes forget how much I miss her.......but we have that relationship that allows us to jump right back into things as if not a day had gone by that we didn't see each other.

She has been with me through almost everything I've ever experienced in life and she has taught me so much (even though I'm the older, wiser one). Her friendship to me isn't one big thing - it's a million little things.

She is a part of my past, will be beside me on my road to the future and she is my key to sanity in an insane world.

Thank you Lindsey for being the best friend any girl could ask for!

Now enjoy these pictures and remember all of the good times we have shared....Love ya!

Express Yourself....

We have the luxury of having "family" marry us. My fiance's, sister-in-law's, father (are you still following?) is going to be marrying us. He is a wonderful man and I can't wait to meet with him (soon) to go over our ceremony and see what kind of input he has. I also can't wait to start our "marriage classes" with him. Unlike my fiance, I'm looking forward to these classes. I want to learn how to have the best marriage possible. I know the basics of marriage, love and family, but I have so many other unanswered questions. My parents are divorced, my fiance is divorced and I've seen a lot of divorce happen around me and I DON'T WANT TO BECOME A STATISTIC......

I think at this point in our relationship we have a few things that we need to work on during these marriage classes....Actually, probably 2 major things. The first being, we need to learn how to fight. Yes, I do believe there is a proper way and a wrong way to fight. I feel that when we fight I tend to say what needs to be said, I listen to what he has to say, and then I just need some time to take it all in and then I'm wiling to offer my apologies (when needed) or to accept his apologies (when needed). I'm a pretty calm fighter as long as I can have that quiet time afterwards to replay what just happened and come to a conclusion on how to make it better and make sure we resolve the situation in the best way possible. I don't like to fight over the same topic more than once. If we are continually fighting over the same topic then it's obvious that our solution hasn't worked. We need to try harder at finding that middle ground in order to make both of us happy. My fiance, on the other hand, is a terrible fighter. He tends to start arguing about one topic and then decides it's the perfect time to throw in a dozen other issues all at once. So what started as one little disagreement can quickly turn into an all out brawl between us. He also tends to speak before thinking. His mentality is that he wants me to be more hurt or more angry then he is, so he tends to say very hurtful things (whether he means them or not) in the heat of the moment. He always tries to take them back or apologize, but by then the damage has been done and those words he has said to me tend to stay with me for a very long time. This, in turn, causes us more issues because now I'm not only angry but I am so terribly hurt....and as we all know, sometimes the emotional damage caused by someone is the worst kind.

The second issue I hope to touch on in our classes is S-E-X......I will take full blame for this issue. I'm not a very intimate person. My family knows this, my friends know this, but trying to get my fiance to understand this is a whole other story. To be honest, I would like to be more intimate with the one I love, but I fall to pieces whenever the situation arises. I have had some horrible, horrible relationships in my past (which I won't get into) and I think that I have learned to associate sex with these horrible memories I have. I have convinced myself that if someone truly loves me, they should love me for the mental part of me not the physical. And even typing this now it sounds silly to me, but I don't know how to re-train my brain to think otherwise. I've lost a lot of weight recently and my fiance is head over heels with the "new me". He wants to constantly touch me or try to love on me and it really almost makes me ill. If I know that we are going to "get intimate" I get almost physically ill. My stomach ties itself into knots and it takes everything I have to not burst out into tears. It's a horrible feeling and it makes my fiance feel so inadequate. It's not something I choose to have happen, but I don't know how to make it better. I love my fiance with everything I have...I've just learned over the years that this is how I'm supposed to feel. It has been embedded into my brain that sex=horrible things!!! Is this how my life is going to be?..........I want to change.....I NEED to change! Our future together as husband and wife is dependant upon this change.........

***I apologize if this post was TMI...but I needed to get it off my chest

I'm a Happy Girl

I just mentioned to my fiance that my drive to work yesterday morning was intense....I'm not sure what was going on, but I was having deep, deep thoughts the entire time. What was I thinking about? Mostly about how happy I am :) I can't quite put it into words or explain what I'm feeling but I can honestly say that for the first time in my life "I am truly happy". I have everything I could ever want at this point in my life. Sure, I've been "Happy" before, but even when I think about those times, I still remember I was always yearning for something more. I was always wishing for something bigger and better. And for the first time...EVER....I can honestly say that I am not yearning for anything at this moment. I feel so fulfilled and my heart runeth over with love for everyone around me.

I'm eating better which has led to me feeling more healthy and I've lost almost 20 lbs which would make anyone feel better about themselves. I seem to feel more motivated to make the most of my life, to make the most out of each day. I am proud of who I am and what I have to offer. You could say that I feel free....free from the depression and anxiety that used to consume my world....and being free feels so euphoric. It's this freedom that has allowed me to "change". To see how wonderful life can truly be. To relish in the excitement that in less than a year I'm getting married to the most wonderful man I have ever met. To know that life's possibilities are endless!!

I think most of my life has been spent getting caught up in the world of those around me. It was much easier to be happy because they were happy or sad when they were sad. But I never allowed myself to feel what "I" was feeling because their world always seemed so much better than mine. In their world I didn't have to face my own issues. Well, today I'm finally living in my own world.......and it's not too shabby. There is a new house, a big yard, a kitchen full of fiesta ware, and an incredible man to wake up to each morning. My world is Perfect (okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away) How about this...My world is just the way I want it!!

Wanna come to my world and hang out?

Weight Watchers - Week 12

Wow, can you believe that it has been 3 months already? I'm so happy with my progress. This week I lost 2.0 lbs......yahoo!! I know I promised myself last week that I would start tracking my points again, but I didn't. For 2 weeks I have been slacking and it's just not acceptable anymore. Today starts a new week for me and I WILL TRACK MY POINTS, DAILY......

I've declared it to the world so maybe I'll actually get my butt in gear this week.

Total weight loss = 18.4 lbs

Ceremony Issue

I finally took the time last night to work on our ceremony. I had tried doing this a couple weeks ago, but my mind wasn't in the right place so I decided it would be better to put it off....until now!

I am happy with what we came up with, but I am a little worried that it may be longer than what I had anticipated. Since the ceremony is in my parent's yard, we are only seating our family members (and the elderly) and everyone else will be standing around us. I'm just afraid that maybe this is too long for them to stand. I wouldn't be happy as a guest standing in the heat for 20-30 minutes, would you? I don't know what to do.......I guess I will wait and discuss this with our officiant when we meet with him in a couple weeks. I think where I went wrong was thinking that the ceremony would only be about 10 minutes long. What I didn't take into consideration was the time it would take for the processional. I have 5 bridemaids so it will take another 4-5 minutes for the bridal party to make their entrance. Plus, I added a small "family" portion to our ceremony that I hadn't been planning on before.

What to do.......I really don't want to have to rent 100+ more chairs in order to seat everyone, but I guess if I need to then I will. Not to mention that the space where we plan to have the ceremony just isn't quite big enough for that many "seated" guests.

Uurrrggghhhh.......I hate when I don't take all the little details into consideration when I'm planning.

Is it August Or October?

It's a little chilly here in Michigan today.......60 degrees and
W-I-N-D-Y
Oh how I wish I had one of these lovely numbers from J Crew to throw on

Weight Watchers - Week 11

I was all prepared for a "gain" this week considering I pretty much fell off the wagon last week and was happily surprised to see a .4 lb loss.

It was my fiance's birthday Saturday and we had 3-4 days of celebration which didn't involve ANYTHING to help my weight loss. We had cake, strawberry pie, pizza, chinese, cook-outs, wine, beer, liquor, etc.

I think last week I reached a "mental" plateau. I stopped "working the program" and became very relaxed. This relaxed attitude may be because I am "getting comfortable" with the program and stopped tracking points and stopped measuring portion sizes. I think I got to a spot where I felt pretty good about how I look and felt like I could "take it easy" for a few days. I know I am in no position to be taking it easy since I am still 15 lbs away from my goal weight, but I gave in! I also feel like maybe I used people's comments (you look great, OMG how much weight have you lost, etc) to justify some extra food/alcohol intake.

Well, as of today, I am back on the wagon! I will start tracking my daily points again will put the program back to work.

Bring on Week 12......

I'm losing it....

Forewarning....this may turn into the most random post ever!

Do you ever feel like you have SO MUCH going on in your head that you have trouble doing even the simplest things? Like your brain can't stop turning long enough for you to remember how to tie your shoes? My brain is so chuck full of "stuff" lately that I can't seem to accomplish even the simplest of tasks. Today I managed to spell my name wrong.....who does that? I've had the same name for 33 years now and today I couldn't even manage enough brain power to get that right. You would think it was pretty easy A-M-Y.....how hard is that? And it's not just my name that I'm messing up. I feel like I'm screwing up at work, I'm screwing up at home...I just can't focus! I hang up with people after speaking to them on the phone and I can't even remember what we just talked about because the whole time they are talking to me I'm going over about a million things in my head. Even as I'm trying to post this I can't stay focused long enough to make complete sentences (I apologize now for my imperfect grammar if there is any due to this issue).

I'm thinking (hoping) that maybe if I list some of the things that keep revolving in my brain I might feel better. Maybe by seeing it on paper it will make me realize that this is just plain silly. There is nothing on this list that is worth what I have been going through. Don says that I'm even talking about it in my sleep. I've got to clear my brain and stop with this nonsense.

Okay, so here is a short version of some of the things that continuously go around and around in my head:

• Start tanning (I want to start wedding dress shopping soon and I want some color before I do this)
• Buy softener salt
• Fill out the contract for our DJ and get in mail ASAP along with deposit
• Set up appt with rental company to finalize contract (note to self: remember to remove salad plates from rental contract)
• Get oil changed in car
• Clean out car
• Get wire fencing put up out back before dog realizes he can crawl under neighbors fence
• Buy something to get rid of Moles in back yard
• Call officiant and set up appt to discuss ceremony
• Pay bills (note to self: add new bill pay info for refinanced car loan and remove old loan info)
• Add Don to savings account
• Clean out garage
• Record weight watchers points
• Workout
• Drink more water
• Faucet handles in tub need replaced
• Need to get baseboard for basement carpet
• Get groceries
• Put more water in the fridge to get cold
• Buy cat food
• File pets "micro chip" information in home office
• Change federal withholding back to normal on my payroll checks
• Get chicken out of freezer to thaw
• Balance checkbook
• Pluck eyebrows
• Download pictures off my camera
• Update my blog
• Shampoo carpets
• Find out why automatic car starter isn't working
• Take comforter to dry cleaners
• Put additional cat litter box back in spare bedroom
• Give the dog a bath
• Order more checks (note to self: change address on checks)
• Schedule engagement pictures
• Update wedding binder and remove any unnecessary paperwork
• Buy face cream

Breathe Amy....Just breathe!!!

This is just a short glimpse of the list that encompasses my every thought. And this list doesn't even include anything about work.....I won't go there! I've already made a fool of myself so I don't want to make it any worse.

Have I ever told you that I have a mild case of OCD? No? Well, I guess we'll save that post for a rainy day!

Happy Birthday Love...

Happy (belated) Birthday to the most wonderful man I know.

We had quite the birthday weekend. Saturday we got together with some good friends for a night out and Sunday we hosted a cookout for Don's family.

I must say...I'm a wee bit tired this morning after the weekend events.

Weight Watchers - Week 10

Today I reached my 1/2 way mark.......I've lost 16.2 lbs so far and only have 15.8 lbs to go. I'm still so motivated and can only hope that the next 10 weeks go as good as the previous.

I've been really slacking on my exercise and need to get back motivated. It doesn't do any good to lose the pounds if you don't tone your body. It just seems like life is so hectic right now and I can't seem to find the time to dedicate to my workouts.

I try not to get down on myself because even though I'm not working out, I'm still losing the weight, which is why I started Weight Watchers to begin with.

I feel healthy and I look amazing (if I do say so myself) so I'm going to continue with what I'm doing and let things happen as they may.

Bring on Week 11.....

Yahoo....

Went shopping today for dress slacks for work. I'm currently at a point in my weight loss that everything is TOO BIG!!! I have dropped 2 pant sizes since I've started Weight Watchers. It's only been 9 weeks and I've made a huge progress towards my goal weight!

I can't stop smiling....today was a good day!

Flowers, Dress, Veil....Oh My!

Before I begin this post, I would like to apologize...I do not have the source to many of the pictures below. They are from my wedding file I started long before this blog. If anyone knows the source please let me know and I will add

Flowers
Last night I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with my FMIL and we had such a good time. We did nothing but talk wedding for about 3 hours. She gave me some much needed input on my flowers so I was much appreciative. I've decided I'm going to try and do some test runs involving silk carnations and see if I can come up with anything that resembles this.....

Dress
I also got a chance to show her some of the dresses that I am drooling over these days. I was a little worried she may not like my choices, given that I'm going rather casual due to our change in venue. But to my surprise, she was drooling almost as much as me. This dress by Alfred Angelo is still my top contender and my FMIL agrees..

We also took some time to look for a Mother of Groom dress for her and she was having a blast. She found 2 great contenders from Nordstrom's Dress Shop.

J Kara Beaded Dress with Bolero Jacket in Navy/Silver

JS Collections Bead Lace Chiffon Gown in Black/Nude

Veil

I've been in love with this veil ever since I saw it on The Perfect Palette.

And much to my surprise my FMIL loved it too. She thinks it will look fab on me...and I agree!

Wedding Dress Infactuation

I'm not the kind of girl who always dreamed about their wedding dress. To be honest, I haven't thought much about it the entire time I've been engaged....that was until last week. Something about changing our wedding plans, changing the venue, changing the wedding date, etc has somehow caused this major infactuation with them. I spend a majority of my day searching online for "the perfect wedding dress". My style is all over the place. I am love with dresses that I never thought possible. I've found so many dresses that I "love" that I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed.

I'm hoping to start dress shopping in the next month or so and I wanted to have ideas in advance, but I'm coming to the conclusion that maybe I have "too many" ideas and I won't even be able to explain to the advisor at the wedding boutique what I'm actually looking for.

I guess I need to settle on a few that are my favorites and go from there. A good advisor will be able to pull out a selection based on what I show her, what she thinks looks good on me, and will hopefully take into consideration our wedding theme.

Did any of you guys go through any "infactuations" while wedding planning? Mine started out with centerpieces...I could look at them all day and never tire. Then I moved onto wedding vows...I would read thousands of sample wedding vows trying to decide on the perfect ones. And now I AM INFACTUATED WITH WEDDING DRESSES!!!

Weight Watchers - Week 8 & 9

I forgot to post last week's progress....oops!

Week 8 - Lost 1.2 lbs (no excercise)
Week 9 - Lost 1 lb (no excercise)

I am currently at 15.2 lbs lost and it feels wonderful. Last week I was able to fit into some clothes that I haven't worn in a while and it was great. This week I put on a pair of my dress slacks for work and had to roll the waist because they were so big......I can definitely see some changes in my body and boy oh boy does it make me happy.

My goal for this week are to begin excercising again. The doctor said I had to wait at least 3 weeks after my procedure to start any physical activity and I am finally there. To be honest, I'm looking forward to walking again! It's so relaxing and a great time to clear my mind.

Bring on week 10.......I'm ready!

JK Divorce Entrance

I'm sure by now all of you have seen Jill & Kevin's Wedding Entrance



but have you seen the spoof called JK Divorce Entrance?



It's a must watch........

Oh, Happy Day....

I had a terrible start to the week with losing my cat and all, but I must say....today has been an incredible day.

Last night we met with the rental company and picked out our canopies, tables, chairs, linens, china, stemware, etc and it was so much fun. Seeing everything in real life finally made all this seem real. But, the best part about it was that our rental costs came in about $3,000 less than what I had intended it to be....CHA CHING!!

Then today the DJ company called me back and oh, what a story this is. I'll try to give you the short version in hope that I won't confuse you too much. Well, the owner of the DJ company called me today and he began the conversation by asking about our wedding/ceremony, the atmosphere, the theme, what we were looking for, what was our vision, etc. He has 12 disc jockeys and he wanted to make sure that we were matched up with someone who fit our needs and personality. When he told me the name of the person we were matched with I couldn't believe it. We were matched up with someone I know......what a small world!!

Back in the day, (when we used to not have a care in the world, when we didn't need to be in bed before 10pm in order to function the next day, when we didn't have house payments or husbands, when traveling to see good friends and listen to great bands wasn't so expensive or tiring, when sleeping on the floor of your friends apartment only seemed natural, etc) we used to follow this band called Oregon Dreamchild (they are awesome). Well, to make a long story short (as I said I would do in the first place) one of my girlfriends and her boyfriend (at the time) stayed in touch with the lead singer, Rich. He actually played at her wedding this past year and oh, what a great time we all had. Well, Rich is the "match" that the owner of the DJ company set us up with. I couldn't be more excited.

I also got in touch with the caterer today that we would love to use, and he was such an awesome guy. He had a great personality and boy oh boy is he giving us a great deal! Next week is our tasting so I'm excited. If we decide to go with his company we are going to save about $1,000 versus using his competitor. Another CHA CHING!!

We are not doing a wedding cake, but instead using cupcakes. I am 100% sure that I want to use one of the local bakeries (regardless of the cost, which we will discuss in a second). They are amazing and I don't think anyone around could compete as far as flavor. Well, I call them today to set up an appt. to discuss what we want, but they aren't accepting any orders for 2010 until January....bummer! I will be sure to be the first one on their doorstep in order to make sure that my wedding day is reserved. Now, back to the cost....I am saving over $3 per person by doing cupcakes instead of cake.....CHA CHING!

Well, that's all I have for today......

ID Tag or Microchip??

As you know from my 2 previous posts....One of my cat's got outside and I was forced to put up Lost Cat posters everywhere. If you're a cat lover you can empathize with me on how difficult it is when you see one of these posters. Nothing can approximate the emotions playing hopscotch through the mind of someone who has lost a cat: fear that you'll never see him again; fear that you will see him again-- a broken corpse thrown to the side of a road; paranoia that someone has stolen him; anger at the cat for escaping; guilt and remorse for allowing him to escape; hope that any minute now you'll hear that familiar "meow" (or squeak) and he'll be waiting patiently at the front door; and that heavy, dull, empty feeling of loss.

Whether cats are of the indoor only variety or indoor-outdoor, the fact is that at one time or another, given the right conditions, they may disappear--for a few days, or for forever. My first thought was that there was nothing I could do.......my mind has been racing trying to come up with a better way to identify my cat if he ever comes up missing again. Using "black cat, yellow eyes, red collar, approx. 9 lbs" fit the description of about 3-4 cats in our neighborhood so I needed a better solution.

All cats need an identity. It does no good for a kindhearted neighbor to take in your freightened, lost kitty if he/she doesn't know how to locate the owner. Proper identification could increase the odds that your pet will make it back home.

Both of my cats wear a collar so maybe I could add an ID tag containing my name and phone number along with veterinarian info. The pro's to this idea are that it is inexpensive and I can do it at home but the con's are that they are limited to the amount of information they can hold, they can be easily removed by someone with theft in mind, the collars could break and fall off and the jingly noise of the tag could very well put me over the edge.

Another idea is Microchips. Your veterinarian implants the microchip just under the skin between the shoulder blades. The chip's memory circuit contains a unique number registered to your cat, which can be read by special scanners found in many veterinary offices and shelters. The pro's to this idea are that the microchips are permanent. The chip cannot be dislodged and has a lifetime of 75 years. It's quick (less than a minute), there is no anesthetic involved, the cat is not bothered by the implant and it may deter theft. The Con is that this is more expensive than ID tags and not all people will know to take a found cat to the vet for scanning.

Are any of you familiar with the microchips? What are your thoughts on what I should do?

Missing Cat Update

GREAT NEWS..........My baby is home!!

What a day yesterday was.........I woke at 5am to find my cat Walker meowing like crazy. He jumped up into bed with me and I noticed that his collar was missing. Then I began to notice that he was covered in dirt and his paws were muddy.

Walker

Once I finally got myself awake I got out of bed and then realized that Tucker was missing. I had my fiance get out of bed to help me look for Tucker and that's when we realized that they had broken through the side vents of the air conditioner that's in the window and gotten out. I immediately threw on my bath robe and the search began. I called my mom about an hour into the search and she came over to help us look. We finally found Walker's collar hooked to the fence in our backyard. (Both cats wear a safety release collar so that if they ever get caught on anything the collar will release that way they don't hang themselves or get hurt).

We looked for the cat until about 8:30am and then finally made the decision that it was time for us to take a break. I needed to get to work and Don needed to get ready for an appointment.

Being at work and knowing that Tucker was somewhere out in the world alone and probably scared was horrible. My mind had convinced me that something horrible had happened to him. I can honestly say that yesterday was one of the l-o-n-g-e-s-t days of my whole life. Knowing that there was nothing I could do just killed me. But, being the great fiance that he is, Don continued looking for him all afternoon but was never successful. He drove around for hours on end calling out for the cat, but nothing!

While at work I printed off about 60 missing cat fliers that I could pass out once I got home. I also called the local vets, animal control and humane society. I felt so helpless!

Once I finally got home from work my mom came over and we drove around posting fliers on every telephone pole, putting them in mailboxes and passing them out to everyone we saw. Still no luck!

Mom had to go home but I continued to search. I drove around looking for him and would park my car and walk up and down each side street calling out his name. As the hours passed by the reality started to kick in. He was gone and there was a chance he wouldn't come back. Did someone take him? Did he get hit by a car? Did he get injured and is lying somewhere? Did he get too far away from the house and can't find his way back? I was an emotional mess. About 9:45pm I decided to give up looking for the night. It was too dark to see anything and obviously Tucker wasn't coming to me calling him so it was basically useless at this point to continue. Once I stepped foot in the door I lost it. I cried harder than I've cried in years. My heart actually ached and the pain was too much for me. If you know me, you know that these cats are MY LIFE!! My world revolves around them. They are my kids....my family!

So as I'm in the bathroom having an emotional breakdown, Don decided to go sit in the garage to see if he could hear anything. It was late so the neighborhood was finally quiet. Maybe just maybe Tucker would meow (and when I say meow I really mean squeek. He is such a silly cat).

And the next thing I know Don is screaming for me...."Amy, Amy get out here quick" I come busting through the garage door to find Tucker sitting there! Hallelujah!! I scooped him into my arms and cried and cried (and then cried some more). I quickly got him in the house so I could look him over to make sure he wasn't hurt. And once again....everything in the world was right again! My "family" was whole! The pain in my heart quickly subsided and I thanked God over and over for answering my prayers.

Tucker

WELCOME HOME TUCKER!!!

Tucker....Please Come Home!!

My cat's got outside in the middle of the night by breaking through the air conditioner screen......Walker was smart enough to come home, but Tucker is still Missing. We looked for a couple hours this morning with no luck..........

TUCKER PLEASE COME HOME!! MOMMY IS WORRIED SICK.......

Practical and Comfortable.....

So now that the wedding date has been moved up....I'm feeling a little fire underneath me to get moving on things. Probably the one thing I am most excited about is shopping for my dress. Which is funny because 2 months ago I remember the mere thought of having to put on a wedding dress made my stomach churn. Thanks to weight watchers I am feeling much better about my self image and I'm looking forward to showing off the new bod. Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go, but I'm confident that by July next year I will be at my goal weight.

The beauty about an informal wedding is that you can get away with a casually styled dress. Ideally, I'm looking for a short wedding dress, as they offer affordable comfort and practicality versus traditional gowns.

Short dresses are practical and comfortable to wear and won’t threaten to trip a bride up as she walks down the aisle....and we all know that if someone is going to fall, it's going to be me! Short dresses are also usually cheaper than a traditional gown due to simplicity of styling and less fabric used, so that's music to my ears (and checkbook). I also prefer a short dress because the weight of a long dress is simply too much to bear. It's going to be hot so the less dress I have to lug around the better. And probably the most important reason for me wanting a short dress is so I can dance, dance, dance!

I love this dress from Nordstrom's. You must go here to see it in full detail....amazing!

Found this one here and I love, love, love the tulle flowers.

But this one by Alfred Angelo has to be one of my favorites. It looks so comfy! Not to mention the chiffon, the rhinestones and the beading are to die for! I want it........badly!

It's Official..........

We are having a backyard wedding at my mom's house!! And to top off that wonderful news....we have changed the date from October 9, 2010 to........(drum roll, please)........July 10, 2010! I'm so excited I'm having problems putting anything into words. This morning I started the day with 444 days until the wedding and now I only have 353.......OMG.....I must start planning. I can't believe that I'm less than a year away from MY WEDDING DAY!

Gotta go.....my checklist needs updated, save the dates need made, engagment pictures need scheduled.....and the madness begins!

Weight Watchers - Week 7

I lost 2.2 lbs this week! That puts me at an even 13 lbs lost....YES!

The Wishing Wall

Most brides, including myself, want to personalize their wedding day. They want something that is different than every other wedding they have attended. Well, I have decided to forgo the guestbook and instead use this Wishing Wall.
You have your wedding guests write a wish for the happy couple and then tuck them into the Wishing Wall. It also comes with a keepsake WishChest that you can store all your wishes after the wedding.

Below is a picture (very blurry picture) of the Wishing Wall.
And here is an enlarged picture.

Product Review:
I'm so disappointed in the appearance....I wish I had read the description better when I ordered!! It is made of 100% recycled cardboard, which is great, but it is actually made out of plain cardboard.....it's going to need a little work. Hopefully, my creative sister will find a way to "spruce" it up a little bit to make it more presentable. I love the whole concept of this item, but it does not look like it cost as much as I paid for it.

Note:
This could also be a great product to find new ways to keep married life fun....both partners can take a moment once a week or so and scribble down a thought, phrase, observation, or stupid movie quote and tuck them away. When either of you are having a bad day or need a good laugh you can pull a note from the frame.

And we start over.......

So after declaring to the world last week our newly revised wedding plans we basically had to start over from scratch. And as much as you would think that the idea of "starting over" would be stressful, it has actually been so much fun! I feel so much more at ease and I'm having so much more fun with the whole process now. I am 100% certain that this is how wedding planning is supposed to feel and I LOVE IT!!!

Step 1: Find a location. We checked around our city for some outdoor venues but as of yet we have come up empty handed. They are either too far away, don't allow alcohol, don't allow tent/canopies or are not handicap accessible. So we are currently hoping and praying that my mom's house will be the ideal location. I have a company meeting me there tomorrow so they can measure and get a visual of the location and then tell me if this spot will be do-able or not! I don't know if I've ever prayed so hard for something, but I want this to work....I need this to work!

Step 2: Decor. In some ways we are keeping some of the same ideas. I will still be using black, red & damask which will allow me to use the damask table runners that I already purchased. (thank god, because I love them) The only major change might be the centerpieces. I don't think I will be doing such large, formal centerpieces as I had once planned. I love the casualness of the outdoor wedding so less formal is okay by me. And cheaper too.....so many good ideas I just need to decide on one and go for it. I found some black felt candelabra's yesterday at Micheal's that are PERFECT for my damask theme but they only had 4...I bought them immediately. I also am going to pick up the 1 they have at the Michael's in the town where I work. But that only makes 5.......if any of you have a Michaels near you and would be willing to help a girl out......let me know!

(FYI ~ this is NOT the same one I bought, but you get the idea)

And since my mom's yard is full of tress, why not hang some paper lanterns??

Step 3: Food. Okay, I have to be honest.......I can't wait to decide on the food (probably because I love to eat). But really, we are thinking more of a BBQ type setting with pulled pork, ribs, potato salad, mac n cheese, green beans etc. I think the food will reflect the personalities of not only us, but also our family and guests. Some of my most favorite memories are those which contain a backyard BBQ for the backdrop.

Step 4: Dress. Before we changed our plans, I was totally picturing myself in a princess ballgown, but now that things are less formal (and outdoors) I'm really not sure of the type of dress I want. I'm thinking along the lines of something shorter that will show off some fabulous shoes (and won't drag on the grass the whole time).

I'm really loving this little number by Alfred Angelo

Now if only my legs could look like that models............

Well, that's about as far as we have gotten on this whole planning process........now we just need to finalize some details and keep forging ahead!

Revised Wedding Plans

So I just might have made one of the most grown-up, responsible decisions to date......We have completely changed our wedding plans and hopefully with this change it will save us about $10,000 (or more). I've been bouncing ideas around for quite some time but just recently decided to voice them and when it comes right down to it.........It just doesn't sit well in my stomach that we were going to spend such a large amount on the wedding. We've got a new house and our project list for improvements keeps getting bigger and bigger as we find more ways to build equity. I think I would rather take the money we would have spent on the wedding and put it into home improvements. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I've got to do what feels right for me (and Don).

So as of last night........we have decided against the grand hotel, crystal chandeliers and ballroom that takes your breath away. Instead we are going to have an outdoor, down-to-earth, more casual event. Even up to the last minute I wasn't sure if this decision was right, but when I woke up this morning and felt like the earth had been removed off my shoulders I knew this was the right thing to do.

If it's even possible......I'm even more excited for our wedding today, then I've been the past 8 months since we've been engaged! I'm proud of Don and I for having the courage to stand up and do what is best for US........

Weight Watchers - Week 6

Whooo Hooo........another loss! A whopping .4 lbs.....haha! I'm so happy with this loss considering I haven't worked out in a week due to my medical stuff going on. Also because my food choices haven't been the best with me not feeling good. I'm staying within my point range, but my meals are lacking any nutritional value.

My main goal for this week is to DRINK WATER!!! I only drink water, but it seems like the past week I just haven't drank enough.

Surgery Update

I would like to note here that this post may become graphic and it definitely contains "too much information". Stop reading if you have a weak stomach.....this is your only warning.....

Where do I begin? So much has happened in the past few days.......

Let's start with Thursday morning, 3am....Take double dose of Cytotec. Cytotec is a pill that is used to induce labor. For me it was going to start dilating my cervix for the implant. This phase was horrible. I don't even know how to put it into words other then I was basically "in labor" without actually being in labor. There were contractions which started 30 minutes after each does that started about 5 minutes apart and would get down to about 2 minutes apart. This would last for about 4 hours after each dose (which I had to take 8 doses over the course of 3 days so you can imagine how fun that was).

Thursday was the day of my procedure and things went fairly well. The doctor dilated my cervix and implanted the laminaria. Laminaria is a thin rod of seaweed used to slowly dilate the cervix. It is mostly used to induce labor but in my case we just needed it to dilate the cervix. The rod is inserted into the cervix and over the course of several hours (or days, in my case), they slowly absorb water and expand, dilating the cervix. The procedure went as planned and I felt fairly well for the remainder of Thursday (other than cramping and the "contractions" caused by the cytotec).

Friday was a recovery day and the day that I would remove the laminaria (there is a thread/string attached to the implant that I just pull and it comes out, similar to a tampon). Friday evening couldn't come quick enough....I just wanted this thing out!! So I pull and pull and nothing happens. My fiance then assists me to try and pull...nothing happens. 30 minutes into this process I am in excruciating pain. I ask my fiance to pull one last time with everything he has and........the string breaks off! By this point I'm screaming, crying and in more pain than I have ever felt in my whole life. Immediately it was decided that I needed to go to the emergency room. So here it is 9:15pm and we are loading the car and heading to the ER.

After 40 minutes of the ER physician attempting to get the laminaria out....he finally gets it. Mind you.....I'm screaming and crying through this entire process. I've never experienced something so horrible in my entire life. I have physically never felt such pain (and to be honest, I didn't think it was possible). I was in pretty bad shape at the ER so the doctor decided to give me some morphine for the pain. I will forever be grateful to him for that decision. It was the first time in 48 hours that my body was able to relax. The pain subsided so quickly and all I could think of was going home and getting some sleep...........WRONG!!! My body reacted to the morphine like it was "crack" or something. I was wired ALL NIGHT LONG!! I finally fell asleep around 6am Saturday morning. So, needless to say, by today I was pretty exhausted and I can't wait to get to bed early.

I spoke with my original doctor on Saturday and we are going to set up a "check up" appointment for this week. At this time he will check my cervix to make sure there was no damage done by the ER physician and we will also discuss what our next step is. At this point, the implant was unsuccessful! It never dilated as it was intended to and in the short amount of time that it was in, my cervix had already started to close around it.

I will post another update after meeting with my doctor this week. To be honest, I'm so worried that at some point he's going to recommend a hysterectomy.......please God, I'm not ready to make that decision yet!!

Prayers

I don't want to go into too much detail, but 5 years ago I was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer. I had surgery and ALL the cancerous cells were removed. I have been "cancer free" according to my doctors for 2 1/2 years (I'm not sure how they do the math, but it has something to do with the length of time I've gone without any bad cells showing up). As a result of my surgery 5 years ago I have been diagnosed with Cervical Stenosis which is a narrowing of the cervix. I will be having surgery today for this reason. Please keep me in your prayers that all goes well. Thank you!

People Irritate Me.........

Okay, so it's not like planning a wedding is easy.....or cheap!! In our case we are spending $30-$40 per person for dinner alone. It is for this exact reason that we keep narrowing down our guest list, which is not an easy task. There are people we would love to invite, but just don't have the funds to make it work, but we know they will understand.

So, I get a message on my Facebook from a woman who is the mother of a classmate of mine and they also used to live down the street from me while we were growing up. I haven't spoken to this woman or her daughter (my classmate) in over 15 years and she has the audacity to send me a message telling me that she is counting on an invite for the wedding and she'll just be crushed if her (and her family) are not invited.........seriously, is it just me or is that totally inappropriate for someone to do???

To be honest......there are about 300 other people who would be invited before her!! I'm just so irritated! Urrrrgggghhhhhhhhh...................

Weight Watchers - Week 5

I lost 2.2 lbs this week (10.4 total)........and praise the Lord above because I don't know how!! I ate like it was my J-O-B this past weekend. For the first time ever I used all of my extra weekly points along with a few activity points.

I worked out 4 times and met my goal from last week and I also tracked every point. However, I did not do so well on planning ahead for meals and BBQ's. It will be so nice to get back on track this week. I hate when my life gets out of whack and my daily schedules are all messed up. I need order in my life and tend to "slip up" when I don't have it.

Wish me luck for Week 6.........bring it on!

Independance Day

July 4th isn't necessarily one of my favorite holidays, but I can't tell you how excited I am for the holiday this year. I will be surrounded by family and that makes my heart skip a beat. My mom's brother and his family from Ohio will be here tomorrow along with my grandmother, my sister and her family and possibly a couple of my brothers. We will watch fireworks, watch the hot air balloons, cookout, swim and just be together hanging out! Who could ask for a better weekend?

Happy 4th of July!!