Three more weeks...sort of

So we actually passed our three week mark yesterday, but I was so busy I forgot to post. We've gotten all the big stuff done (we got Larry's suit and it fits him really well so we can officially cross that off the list). I've discovered now it's down to the tiny details, like timing, and scheduling, and getting everyone to where they need to be when they need to be there.

I'm so happy this weekend is a three day weekend, we're busy super cleaning the house (with carpet cleaner and all). So that when my brother comes home (whenever that may be) and he stays here at least it will be clean for a second :) Plus I'd like to leave for our honeymoon knowing it's already cleaned up.

I'm such a nerd I've already made my schedules for each day from here till we leave for the honeymoon...there's a ton of stuff to get done. There were things I forgot I wanted to get done before now and so I'm in a rush trying to figure out when I can get it done...it's hectic. But I'm really excited for it at the same time.

It's finally hitting me that it'll be OUR day here soon, not that I'm another bridesmaid there for someone else on their day, it's going to be me and Larry they all look at, that part makes me apprehensive though so I try not to think about it.

Well Larry just woke up now and this has turned into a ramble post, so guess we should get back to cleaning...can't wait for these three weeks to fly by already :)

The Final Countdown!

We have completed EVERY big thing for our wedding! This includes: Reception/Ceremony location, photography, videography, invitations, food, linens, cake, the dress, the suit, getting line information set (flower girl, sign girls, who is walking who down the aisle, etc.), the officiant, hair and makeup, photography timeline (ish), videography timeline (ish), music, honeymoon, flowers, and I think that might just be it. We had my shower (of which I've posted on) and I got Thank You's out from that, we've done our registry (which I'm constantly updating), we've gotten almost all our favors ready. The only things I think we have left is paying everything off (which we could do now and I may just mail checks out this week so I can cross it off the list), buying my garter and some little baskets, getting money for tips together, and then getting my hair touched up for pictures. Then it's all pictures, rehearsal, eating, and enjoying the rest of our time together.

I can't even tell you how excited I am at this point! I think it's because all the stress is subsiding for a while (now that I don't constantly think of everything we still need to do). I'm so excited that this weekend is a 3 day weekend which means I'm doing a major clean up of the home so that I just need to do tidy-ing before the actual wedding and then it will stay clean while we're on our honeymoon. I've already printed off every form I'll need to change my name so once we get back from the blissful vacation I'll be doing everything I need to to change my name and get that done and over with.

I've even had enough time to plan some more trips we'll be taking over the next year, of which I can't wait. We've got hiking King's Peak at the end of August/beginning of September, Bahamas cruise + Disney World in October and then I'm also planning on doing New York next October (I've always wanted to go and since Larry and I decided we'll be traveling for our anniversary each year rather then get a gift it's perfect timing!).

So that's our lives right now, super excited, much more chill, and time just rushing on by! Can't wait till the wedding now, only 26 more days!

Motivational #2

Okay, I'm not going to call this Motivational Monday since it's only been on Tuesdays now, but here's my newest one:

If you couldn't tell, the topic this time is reaction. This is a HUGE problem of mine. It's actually come up a few times just today where I didn't react the way I wanted to, or should have, and afterwards I felt dumb. I have a horrible habit of not reacting the right way to certain things. In fact, if I'm ever criticized, even for something small, I often revert to being young and suddenly so vulnerable. It's definitely something to work on.

 

I think I should take a page from a couple celebrities that I can think off the top of my head now that do well with reactions to things (one people will agree with, I'm sure; while the other people will make fun of me for, I'm positive): Kim Kardashian and Ellen DeGeneres. I'm sure people are rolling their eyes at Kim's name (and I know Larry's probably closed the window by now-he HATES her), but there was a recent happening in her life that I know no one agreed with her decision (I'll say it had to do with fashion, but leave it at that) and I often check her blog when I'm bored and I saw she posted about it saying it was gorgeous and she loved the look. I agree with everyone that it was hideous, but the fact that she doesn't care that people knock her for some of her decisions. Sure, she can be a little TOO into herself and too spoiled, but I think she does well with all the criticism coming her way, especially lately, and I wish I could put on such a strong attitude like her.

 

Now with Ellen, I'm just so jealous that she seems to march to her own beat. She literally dances like no one is watching, and loves like she's never been hurt. She does things with her all, she's hilarious, and she cares so much about people and animals. She is definitely an inspiration and everyone seems to love her for being herself. THAT'S definitely a characteristic I wished I possessed! If there was one person I could be like, it would be her!

 

So that's my lesson for today: most of what makes our day is our reactions to other's actions, you can choose to react the positive way and move forward, or let it bring you down and ruin your whole day!

Have you ever eaten a Dragon Fruit?

So today Larry and I went grocery shopping at Smith's. Well they've been upgrading the one by our home to make it look nice and clean, which means they've moved stuff around, which means we walk around the whole thing looking for what we want. Which also means we stumble upon new finds such as this:

Now in case you are wondering the yellow one in the back is a Kiwano (aka "horned") Melon, the weird red/green spiky one is Dragon Fruit, the yellow dinosaur egg looking one is a Pepino Melon, and the one in a bag is called Star Fruit. We decided why not try something new? We have a new spiffy blender to try new smoothies so why not see if any of these are smoothie ready?

Well tonight we started with the Dragon Fruit (FYI we had to look up how to eat ALL of these just so we knew). In case you wondered, this is what it looks like throughout:

 

It looks like some sort of sea creature, tastes like a mix between kiwi and a pear. It's REALLY easy to cut through and scoop out. If you do try any make sure not to eat any of the skin, from what I read it's not healthy and can contain pesticides (aka poison). It's super juicy, in case you couldn't tell, but the taste is a teensy bit bland. I might try it with something, but not by itself. Larry ate most of it though, so maybe he's really the one to ask :)

 

Next up is the horned melon, which should be interesting. For TV buffs: that one is in an episode of Friends (Monica has it in a bowl on her table and Chandler and Joey both wonder what it is-Monica says she doesn't know), just a little nifty tid bit of information!

Anyways, the moral is it's always fun to try something new, I encourage everyone to do so.

Bridal Shower

So today was an awesome day, wedding-wise! We had my bridal shower at my grandma's house and then afterwards Larry and I went and did a second engagement session with our new photographer. If I haven't said so already...I LOVE HER! She's so what I wanted this whole time and I'm so glad we found her! Anyways, starting with my shower-we're definitely spoiled. I mean look at all we got today:

This really doesn't do what we got justice. The bags are stuffed with things too, if I took it all out there definitely wouldn't be room in any picture I could get to show all of it. We definitely lucked out for sure. We had a nice turnout to the shower too, mostly family (of course), with a few friends. I wish more of Larry's family could've came, but his mom was out of town and I think his grandma didn't want to come by herself so Jena was the Bradsby side representation-she did a good job of it though :)

Hopefully those that took pictures will send them to me so I can make some sort of collage or something for the blog.

As for our second engagements, we did them at Thanksgiving Point and I really can't wait to see how they turn out. With Natalie she didn't seem to want to do a lot of the shots I was kind of excited for, but the ones we did get came out fantastic so I can't complain too much, but with Jena (V-the photographer) she did so many shots that I was thinking "oh there, that'd be pretty" or she'd bring up shots that I didn't even think of but after she pointed them out I loved the ideas. I can't wait till my bridals now.

We're down to 5 more weeks left!!! Can you feel the excitement we got?! Haha

Oh and don't forget tomorrow is Mother's Day, make sure to send some love to your mom :)

Truth

This is me...ALL THE TIME!

Motivational Monday...on a Tuesday

So I will admit, I care entirely too much what people think, say, and do. It affects me and my self esteem way too much. After a recent mini-meltdown I was talking to Larry about it and decided I really needed to find ways to calm down a bit. I then saw this quote on a website:

 

 

After seeing it, I decided to make it a motto-so I wrote it on a post it and stuck it on my computer at work to remind myself that I need to make my life-show great, and only I can let people in to change it in some way (whether positive or negative). To tell you the truth, it reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies: The Holiday (if you haven't seen it-DO!) where Kate Winslet's character (Iris) is talking with her temporary elderly neighbor (Arthur) about a guy that treated her like dirt back home and the following conversation happens:

 

Arthur: So, he's a Schmuck

Iris: As a matter of fact he is...a huge schmuck. How did you know?

Arthur: He let you go. This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Iris: You are so right. You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god's sake!

 

That inspired this quote for me, making me realize I need to be the leading lady of MY own life! This also inspired me to do a Motivational Monday post every once in a while to keep reminding myself that things aren't as bad as they seem sometimes. You know when you read a quote and it really means something to you vs. when you read a quote and you think "well that's nice, but doesn't feel like it applies to me"? Well I'm definitely only working on putting the former on here. I can't promise it'll be every Monday, but I will aim for at least once a month. It will be my goal to make sure I keep the positive in mind and not to get too down in the dumps over something that really won't matter in a day or so.

When doesn't something happen these days?

So let me say this wedding is coming on full force, I'm pretty sure every time I talk to my mom 20 more people get added to the guest list. I'm not complaining (anymore), because it's nice to know so many people WANT to come to our wedding, I just hope they have enough food for everyone (it's a buffet though, so I'm sure they will).

It seems every single weekend is FILLED with wedding stuff or something to just cross of my list so I don't have to worry about it once we get closer to the wedding. We are officially at the 6 week mark and it hits me how much more we still have to do every day...the stress pimples love showing their ugly faces!

So with all that I made a little list of things I'm looking forward to after this is all done with:

• Not having an alarm set for my weekends (I don't see not having one every single weekend up until the 16th of June).
• Finally getting to eat the chocolate I've had stored since Easter!
• Not feeling like I need to check myself on the scale every morning to make sure I'm still on track.
• Finally saying my family has met Larry's family in an official manner and while they all looked so nice :)
• Getting rid of all the wedding junk we're storing in our wedding storage room *ahem* guest room.
• FINALLY getting to relax here (photos from TripAdvisor):

(Yes these are different hotel pics from when I posted on our honeymoon last time, but these are the right ones. I decided to change the hotel and we've officially booked this place now)

 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm so thrilled to be getting married, but it really takes a lot out of you. I remember one weekend drive in the beginning I was talking to Larry about how I read this article about how to get through wedding planning while keeping your relationship in tact, or something like that, and one of the pointers was to make sure one day was free of all things wedding (no talking, no planning, nothing to do with it) and I made a joke about how we maybe only dedicated one day TO wedding planning at that point and so I doubt we'd have that problem, and then one day that problem reared it's ugly head and now we talk about it ALL. THE. TIME! I'm pretty sure we have at least one day without it, but it just all gets so mashed up now that I never really know haha. I guess I just can't wait till it's here, finally, and all the weird dreams can go away, and all my fears will be gone with, and I can just smile super big and be so happy to see everyone.

 

...6 more weeks, 6 more weeks, 6 more weeks...