TGIF

Happy weekend, friends! This week went by pretty quickly, even though I usually think work weeks containing a holiday seem to last longer than normal. I'm pretty excited for this weekend. I've got dinner plans tonight with a couple of WF girlfriends who live in Atlanta, and who I haven't seen in longer than I'd like to admit. Really looking forward to that. Als excited about going to my first, and probably only, basketball game of the year! The mighty Demon Deacons are playing here at Georgia Tech tomorrow, and we are going to check out the new Tech basketball coliseum. We will be a house divided, and I fully intend on wearing as much WF gear as possible. Is my old school Eric Williams jersey circa 2005 too much? I didn't think so either.

For the first time in weeks, I'm actually starting a Friday not feeling worn out and exhausted, but rather like I've accomplished a lot this week, and I feel invigorated! What a great feeling. It has a lot to do with forcing myself to be productive at work and with wedding stuff, and its just been a good week otherwise.

I hope y'all are feeling the same! xoxo

Wedding To-Dos

I finally feel like I've gotten over a big hump of productivity. I have made so many calls in the last couple of weeks, but I do feel like I've got something to show for it. So far, these are the wedding-related things I've already taken care of:

-Set a date
-Booked ceremony venue
-Booked reception venue
-Found an engagement/bridal portrait photographer in Atlanta
-Found a DJ
-Found a potential NC photographer
-Set up an appt to meet with a florist
-BOUGHT A DRESS!
-Picked wedding party
-Set up an appt with a cake baker
-Ordered invitations

Next on the list:

-Book the DJ, florist, photographer and baker
-Find bridesmaids dresses
-Order save the dates
-Have engagement photos taken
-Research rehearsal dinner locations

Wedding planning is a full time job, I swear. But at least its fun! Staying within budget is a constant struggle, but luckily I am financially-minded and organized. I have no idea how anyone would stay on budget if they weren't. My wedding notebook and Knot app on my iPhone are quickly becoming my best friends. There is so, so much more to do, but I feel great having a few of the big ticket items behind me. So excited for my big day--it'll be here so soon!

xoxo

Lazy Weekend

I had another lazy weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This time I was finished kicking the sickness to the curb. I just spent this weekend trying to get my voice back (finally)! John and I went to Alabama on Saturday to visit his sister and her girls. So much fun. I always love to spend family time with them, and I feel so lucky to have them as my future family! I am so looking forward to having a sister-in-law and nieces--so fun! We arrived just in time to help her with a moving/yard sale they were having, and I love nothing more than a good yard sale, so that suited me just fine. Another perk of visiting them, the West Point Shoe outlet, just over the state line from them in West Point, Georgia. I swear they have the absolute best shoes there (not sure how or where they get them, but they're amazing)--designer, tennis shoes, etc. Everything is a one-off pair, so you have to get lucky to find what you want n your size, but when you get lucky, you get reeeally lucky. This time I got some adorable Tory Burch flats with a sparkly bow on the toe for $70. They currently retail on the TB website for $250. I wasn't lying, the place is a-mazing. Other than that, not much happened this weekend. We rested and relaxed, which was so, so nice.

Wedding-wise, I haven't made much progress since last week. I did order a bunch of free invitation samples online, and I think we have found one in the budget that we like! I also found my wedding shoes :) This probably shouldn't be such a big deal because most people won't even see them, but it was a really important thing for me. I will post more about thos beauties later.

Happy Monday!

Progress

I've made a little bit of new year progress so far, so I thought I would update on my first week into the new year. My sickness threw a wrench into some of my plans to start the year off being more social. No one wants to hang out with a sickie. But, I'm hoping to make up for that starting this weekend and next week. I love making plans with friends. My eating has been on track, but the working out has just not started yet. Blah. I also blame this on the sickness. Trying to start my nightly dates with Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis tonight. We'll see how it goes... I'm also on a big purging/saving kick right now, so every night I look forward to going home and weeding out a few more unwanted items from my home. I find it much easier to do this in tiny steps, versus one giant overhaul of throwing everything out. I forsee a big consignment trip in my future!

Wedding planning is coming along nicely too. I still just can't get over what a full time job it is. I find myself thinking about budgets and deposits and tons of little things all the time. But, I think I have found a DJ and I've started really searching for a pricing cake bakers and florists. In case no one has mentioned this before, wedding cakes are EXPENSIVE. Who knew it would cost $1,000 just to feed cake to 150 of your nearest and dearest. I did not realize. But I'm happy to have a couple more things in the works. Now searching for a photographer in NC and GA (please recommend!). Its coming together nicely so far!

Misc

I spent the first weekend of 2013 in bed and on the couch with a terrible virus. What a way to usher in the new year. I basically did not leave the house for 3 days, and even getting up for work today was horrible and I felt a little like death. Blah. Fortunately, I think I'm finally on the mend.

I figured I would do a quick wedding related update for any of you who have a burning desire to know what is going on/if you care at all :) I haven't made too much progress on paper, but I do think that things are starting to come together. Most importantly, we have a contract on the reception venue and we have a date! Hooray!! This is such a relief to me. So, on September 14, I will become a Mrs. I am thrilled about the reception venue too. Very convenient, beautiful...basically the whole package. As long as we (read: I) can keep my part of the guest list in check, we'll be fine. I am also thisclose to gettng my contract finalized for the wedding venue (also known as my high school chapel), but I was assured that our date was open, so its just a matter of some paperwork hopefully. I will feel great once we can get that filed away too. As for other odds and ends, I still haven't found my dream shoes yet, but I think I may have found THE DRESS. Very exciting. I did not have a big, emotional moment, but I did find something gorgeous that I thought looked great on me and is within budget. Now I just need the ok from mom and dad, and I might be making that big purchase next weekend. Now on to photographers, cake bakers and DJs...oh my!

Hope you all had better weekends than I did! xoxo

Long (short) Week

I worked a total of 2.5 days this week, but am still somehow exhausted and feeling like I worked 10 in a row. Thankfully today is my Friday! Tomorrow I'm planning an overdue outlet trip with work-bestie, dinner with a friend and maybe hanging out with other coworkers tomorrow night to watch football. Take that, resolutions! I am being incredibly social.

The outlet trip is primarily to search for wedding shoes at the Kate Spade outlet. Or anywhere really. I'm finding it difficult to find a semi-comfortable low heeled shoe with some pizazz and preferably glitter too. We'll see how it goes. In other wedding news, I think we have a date and a venue and I may have found my dress! Very exciting. Will share more when details are finalized :)

Happy (almost) weekend, friends! Here are a few iPhone photos of my wedding shoe process so far:

Hello, 2013

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you had a fantastic holiday and are easing back into real life. Its hard. I figured the best way to begin 2013 is a post about my resolutions for this year. 2012 was the first year I made real, accountable resolutions and really tried hard to stick to them. The key--having them listed in a note in my phone, and on the side bar here. Its hard to forget about things when you put it right in front of your face, and that's a good thing. So here is this year's list:

-Lose 10 pounds to reach goal weight. This is a repeat of last year, even though I actually lost 10 pounds in 2012 (yay!). I am so proud of myself, and I really believe I can do 10 more, and maintain that in a healthy way. We'll see how it goes!
-Exercise regularly and more often. Also a repeat, because this was a fail in 2012. I need lots of interesting and fun new workout ideas for this year. This is really my number one goal.
-Work on doing hair more often. Also a repeat and 2012 fail. New goal: really do my hair at least once a week for work.
-Save more money. Perpetual goal that I did well on in 2012. I paid off my car and managed to save enough cushion to pay for a lot of wedding related things without dipping into savings. Definitely want to continue this trend!
-Read more, at least one book per month and use library more. Failed in 2012, but really hopefully for this year.
-Buy fewer clothes, and buy quality. Improved tremendously in 2012, hoping to do even better in 2013.
-Take a class. Last year it was painting, this year I'd love it to be pottery or knitting or cooking.
-Cook more and meal plan. Definitely need to work on this, instead of grazing and having awkward meals of random foods in my house.
-Be a better blogger. This post is a start! I'm also planning a revamp of the look and layout, so please look forward to that.
-See friends more regularly. I want to work on this! I can be such a lame party pooper, but seeing friends makes me so, so happy. I just need a reminder to pull myself out of my hermit-mode sometimes.
-Run the Peachtree. Actually run the whole thing (or at least most!).
-Purge unnecessary items. Clothes, shoes, kitchen stuff, etc. I've got to make room for a whole new person and a dog at my house!
-Use consignment more for clothes. This goes hand in hand with the previous.
-Be more productive and proactive. I can be an incredibly lazy procrastinator. Trying to improve on that.
-Enjoy my engagement and not to stress about wedding planning. I am so lucky to have this special time in my life, and I really want to savor it. No bridezilla here. No matter what happens or goes wrong (things will go wrong, I realize), my day will be magical.

So there it is. Daunting, but doable. I am excited to try!

What are your resolutions for the year?