it's flying by

When we got engaged nearly 2 years ago, I had grand plans to really savor each moment of our wedding planning process. My mom bought me a journal for all my wedding plans and ideas. I've used it, that's for sure, but have I used it to write really descriptive entries about what I'm thinking, feeling, wishing and hoping for? No. I've jotted down music ideas, floral ideas, little thoughts here and there. I have a huge excel spreadsheet on my computer at work full of my plans: guest list, budgets, seating charts, group events, vendors, and more. It's my wedding-planning bible.

Planning a destination wedding has been a really neat experience - one that I would not trade for anything. I know our wedding will be incredibly fun and unique. I feel a little sad that I haven't chronicled it the way I'd imagined. Now that we are 33 days away from our I Do's (!!!) I want to somehow capture it all so that I will remember it in 5, 10, 15, 20 years. I know that is not an attainable goal right now - with so many other items that need to be crossed off my to-do list. Not to mention my last-ditch effort to lose a few pounds before the big day! I definitely have a full plate for the next four and a half weeks.

So. I am making a commitment to capture as many details of our wedding week as possible. I want to recount it all on this blog - from the day we arrive in Disney until the day we leave. Here is a quick snapshot of what that week should go:

Friday: Arrive in Orlando around 10:00AM, head to our resort to check-in, pick up our tuxes from Bell Services and make sure they all fit, get together all of our wedding items and deliver them to Franck's (the wedding studio by the Wedding Pavilion), and maaaybe if we aren't too exhausted, hop on the monorail and head into the Magic Kingdom. That night we have our first group event - dinner reservations at my parent's resort with 14 of our guests.
Saturday: sleep in! We are heading to Epcot around noon to kick off our second group event: Celebrating Around the World. We are planning to hit as many of the countries in World Showcase as we can to sample food and drinks. Yum! That night John and I have reservations with his best man and one of my bridesmaids at an Italian restaurant.
Sunday: Our rehearsal is at 9:30 in the morning and from there we go straight to our rehearsal brunch with our wedding party. After that we are inviting everyone back to our resort for an afternoon of lounging around the pool. Hoping to keep it low-key and relaxed...I know I will be a bundle of nerves with the wedding the next day!
Monday: WEDDING DAY! Cosmetology will arrive around 6:30 in the morning, the photographer & videographer arrive around 9:00, and we head over to the Grand Floridian Resort around 10:30 for bridal party photos. Wedding is at 12:00, cocktail hour at 1:00, reception at 2:00, and our Epcot dessert party is at 8:00. It will be a long day but I think it's going to be incredibly amazing.
Tuesday: sleep in! We have breakfast reservations around 10am, and then we'll see where the day takes us. We have our farewell dinner at the Polynesian that night with 26 guests.
Wednesday-Sunday: Other than our dining reservations, we have no concrete plans. We'll probably go with the flow and try to hang out with as many of our guests as we can before everyone heads back home. After all, how many chances will we ever get to be in the happiest place in the world with the people we love the most? Nada!

So that's my goal: when we get back, I am going to bore you with all the little details of our wedding events! While I am sad that I have not chronicled my planning thus far, I really want to make sure I write it all down afterwards. Plus, I am sure it will help with the post-wedding blues - I won't know what to do with all my free time!

BTW - we have a new addition to our family. Coming up in my next post!

making an effort.

I am tired, my eyes feel heavy, and all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and watch TV. (Maybe not the TV part. There is a hockey game on tonight so that's what will be on our TV. Hockey on TV = boring!)

Instead, I am going to get my butt into my gym clothes and head out into the freezing cold air and drag myself into the gym.

I've done awesome this week as far as eating goes. I've been to the gym twice. I made it a goal to go at least four times a week. It's going to snow tomorrow night. If I have any chance at meeting my goal, I have to go tonight and Saturday.

Soooo, to the gym I go.



Post Edit: Really glad I went!

2011

I am getting married this year!!!

Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way...

Hello 2011, where did you come from? 2010 flew by so fast. I say that every year but this year it really flew by. When we got engaged in the summer of 2009 so many people told us that our engagement would go by very quickly and I remember thinking "yeah, right." It's amazing how right they were. I was going to do a re-cap of 2010, but I didn't really blog enough during the year. Instead, I think I'll post my resolutions for 2011. Maybe putting them out there will help me stick to them??

1. Focus on my health. This has always been a resolution of mine and it's gotten me in trouble before. I am not overweight but I am at the top of my healthy weight range and I'd like to be more in the middle...so part of this goal is to lose between 10 and 15 pounds. I struggled with an eating disorder for several years during high school and college and even though I no longer severely restrict my calorie intake or throw up everything I do eat, it's really difficult for me to "go on a diet." When I was hospitalized in 2006 I gained a lot of weight and I have not been able to lose it in a healthy way since then. Part of the reason is due to the eating disorder... I have several problems with my digestive system as a result of all the purging. Erosions in my esophagus and stomach make it really difficult to eat certain foods. I have gastroparesis - my stomach muscles don't work to push food out the way they should, so food sits in my stomach a lot longer than it's supposed to. I've also developed lactose intolerance and soy intolerance. And obviously there are still the emotional reasons to deal with - restricting my food intake is really difficult because it's very easy for me to go back to counting every single calorie, which leads to restricting them even more, which leads to behaviors that I worked so hard to avoid. I can't just see food as something that I consume to give me energy, it is so much more than that to me. It symbolizes every failure, every mistake, every wrong decision. It is something to control. In all reality, it controls me and that it why I have to work so hard to be aware of my behaviors when I "diet." My goal for 2011 is to make healthy choices, to see food as something to fuel my beautiful life, to respect my body, to move my body, to cook more dinners at home, and to continue to work on keeping those dangerous ED behaviors at bay.

2. Be more open minded. I am very stubborn. I see things in black and white - either something is good or it is bad. There's no middle ground. I really want to try to see the gray in life. There have been so many times where someone says something and I have an immediate reaction without really thinking about the situation. I want to learn to see things from other perspectives.

3. Keep my house cleaner. My lack of organization around the house drives John up a wall. I leave dirty clothes in a pile in the bathroom or bedroom when I should just throw them in the laundry basket. I leave mail and wedding papers all over the dining room. Empty glasses on the coffee table. Pieces of paper and wrappers on the sofa. Clean laundry sits in the basket it was folded in. It drives him crazy - me, not so much. I'm not sure if I am just absentminded or lazy, but I want to try to keep things neater for him. I think it will be easier when we own a house and everything has it's own place but for now we have to make do with what we've got.

4. Blog more. I slacked on blogging this year. Big time. My goal is 10 posts each month, except for May since we'll be away for almost 2 weeks. I don't care what I write about, I just want to chronicle my life. This year is a huge year for us and I really want to remember the little things.