We've Booked

It's amazing how much can come together in the span of a week.  Although my last post was a while ago, we have been busy with wedding planning.  Lots of emailing & phone calls but it has all paid off.  We finalized a wedding date with our church and we have signed our contract/put our deposit down with the reception location.

Our reception location is officially at Glen Oaks Country Club. And I am so excited!

We're also about to book our photographer, Amy Allen Photography  She's a very talented woman and when  Nick and I met with her last week, she was so easy to talk with.  As soon as we sign the contract and give her our deposit, we'll get set up to take our engagement photos!

Oh and today is the 1 year mark until Nick & I get married!

So many options!

When we were still considering a wedding up north, we were trying to find just one location that would be large enough to house our reception.  Now that we are having it in Des Moines, suddenly there are so many places to choose from.  I'm beginning to wonder if we won't have just as much trouble finding the right place here in Des Moines.

My mom was here this past weekend and we were able to check out a few possible reception sites on Monday.  We both fell in love with the Temple for Performing Arts which I mentioned in my previous post.  Nick got off work and we went back to show him & get his input.  He too loved the space.  He had one concern and one other possible issue.  He was concerned about whether the space could hold the number of people we believe will come to the wedding.  The other issue was that this place lacked an outdoor space, like a balcony or patio.  There is a fairly wide stairwell, however, it wouldn't be conducive to holding very many people.  The location is still on the top of our list at the moment but we need to explore more options.  These include:

Glen Oaks Country Club located in West Des Moines with beautiful grounds, club house and a large patio!

Hilton Garden Inn located in Johnston but right off the freeway.  This location has a typical hotel ballroom available with from what I can tell, a separate entrance from the main hotel area and has access to a large patio.

Renaissance Savery Des Moines which I mentioned in my last post, a great downtown location which of course could be a one stop shop for our out of town guests and has other activities to offer.

I hope that it won't be too difficult to decide.

The other issue that I see us facing is simply whether the location is available.  We're not even a year out and of the places we visited on Monday, they all had bookings in October 2011 and beyond!  We may very well end up finding the perfect location, but we may have issues with availability.  But as with everything else in life, I know it will all work out for the best.

One other side note, I feel so lucky to have my fiance who is genuinely interested in helping plan this wedding.  I've heard so many stories about the groom being a total bump on a log.  Thank goodness I don't have to worry about this! But I know the limits....he could probably care less about flowers...but for the major components, he's there and he's interested.  Just another reason why I love him!  Could not ask for a better hubby to be.

Photo Source

Bridesmaid Bouquets

I love flowers.  I gathered more of an appreciation for them after working in a flower shop for about 3 years or so.  Obviously flowers can be one of the more expensive elements in a wedding.  Unfortunately, I cannot justify spending a significant amount of money on flowers when they're only really used for one day AND they die.  I do still want to incorporate flowers but I'm trying to explore options to keep costs down and still have some beautiful accents at our wedding.  

When we were still planning a rural wedding, I had thought of doing very rustic bridesmaid bouquets featuring wheat, similar to one of the inspiration pictures in my previous post.  However, now that we are no longer having a rural wedding, the idea of wheat in a more urban setting, well just seems kind of silly.  I know we can still incorporate it but not quite to the extent I was thinking originally.  

Recently, I came across this picture via Martha Stewart Weddings:

The idea is to incorporate fresh & dried herbs into the arrangements.  I love this idea and can't help but feel like it would definitely add a very personal touch to our wedding.  Having bouquets with a very natural "just gathered" appearance really appeals to me.  I had already thought of using dried lavender (because it's absolutely my favorite smell) somewhere in our wedding flowers. 

I also want to use as many local vendors as possible.  By way of our downtown farmer's market, I know of Prairieland Herbs.  I appreciate their philosophy and that it is a mother-daughter owned business.  I love the range of products they offer.  Perhaps at the next farmer's market I can stop by to talk with them about their thoughts on this and whether they would be interested in making these bouquets.  

I'm back!

Regular posting attempt # 384,243....etc etc.  Yes, it has been a while.

We're in the beginning stages of planning a wedding.  Originally our idea was to get married in NE Iowa, in the town where his dad & grandparents live.  I loved this idea immediately.  Not only is the church beautiful, but Nick was baptized there, his dad and stepmom, as well as many aunts & uncles were married there.  It seemed a perfect place for us to start our lives together.  But alas, it was not meant to be.  The church itself was available  but when it came to looking for a reception location we ran into many problems.

1. Capacity: By the sheer number of people in our families, we could not have a small wedding.  Finding a local venue to house between 200 - 225 people was just about impossible.

2. Lodging: Although there were many Bed & Breakfasts in the area, we weren't sure there would be enough to house all the people coming into town for the event.

3. Food: I don't know if you would consider us "foodies" but we definitely have a love and appreciation of good food.  And let's be honest, from a guest standpoint, what is the thing you're going to remember the most...whether the food was good.  In rural Iowa there are not many vendors who would be able to provide the quality of food we are looking for.

I finally had to check in with myself about whether a NE Iowa wedding could be a reality. I asked myself a few questions...Would I be asking too much of my guests?  The answer, probably yes.  In addition to having to flying in to Des Moines or even Minneapolis, people would have to travel an additional 2 - 3 hours to get to NE Iowa.  The next question I asked, does it really matter what church we are married in?  The answer, no in fact the only important thing about that day is the commitment that Nick & I will make to one another in front of our beloved family & friends.   The decision had to be made, wedding location: Des Moines.

Having a Des Moines wedding opens up a huge array of choices.  From reception locations to cake bakers.  This can be both good and bad.  But I'm looking forward to the planning process.  I am very much a planner and always have been.  And I strive to make our wedding day as headache & stress-free a day as possible for the two of us.

Our first task is finding a reception location.  Here are just a few places we'd like to look into:

Scottish Rite Tapestry Room

Hotel Fort Des Moines

Renaissance Savery Des Moines

Temple for Performing Arts Grand Hall

Sticks

There is a lot to consider, cost (we want to keep it as inexpensive as possible), logistics, cost (haha).  Ideally if we could find a barn somewhere in the more rural outskirts of Des Moines that we could make work...I think that's the way we would go.  But I'm sure in the end it will all work out and we will find an affordable venue that we love.

I'll leave with some of my inspiration photos gathered from The Knot.

Murphy's Law

On some mornings it just feels like the world is conspiring against you.  No matter what you do things come up and if you weren't already running late then you definitely will be after.  I had that kind of morning today.  But I haven't let it damper my mood. There is a part of me that thinks maybe the universe was conspiring against me since I did not work out this morning. 

I am extremely sore from my workout efforts thus far and opted to sleep in and give myself a day of recovery.  I will resume my workouts tomorrow evening after work where I will torture myself (in a good way) with the newest workout dvd in my collection, Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training.  Let me just say, this is not easy.  In fact, it will kick your butt!  There are muscles sore that I believe my body had completely forgotten about. However, I think it's a fantastic workout.  The dvd is very fast paced.  It's broken down into segments for various body parts (arms, chest, back, quads, hams, etc)  Each of those segments features three 1-minute exercises.  At the end of those, the 3 exercises are put together in a power burn.  The total body work out takes between 40 - 50 minutes. You're absolutely exhausted by the end but it's over so quickly, I couldn't help but push myself to complete each section.  I did this workout Monday after work since I was off from my 2nd job. 

Tuesday morning I woke up early to complete a 3-mile "walk at home" dvd.  It's still cold & rainy here, not to mention at 5:30am it's dark (even though I doubt anyone would mess with me if I was walking Lady, she's not exactly a lap dog) so I wasn't about to take the dog out in that mess.  This dvd, Leslie Sansone Walk at Home - Walk Your Belly Flat, is a new one to my collection as well.  I like this one because you get a good cardio workout without doing anything too outrageous.  Especially when I am still somewhat stiff from sleeping all night, easing into this workout takes little effort to start and can really get your heartrate going if you give it all you've got.  It's a dvd suitable for people of all fitness levels. 

The extra sleep did me good this morning.   For the past 3 weeks or so I have been working a second job in addition to my regular one.  My total work hours have been around 60 or so.  Which in some sense doesn't seem all that bad.  But when I wake up by 5:30am in order to work out and do not get home until approx. 9:30pm, I'm here to say that it's rough. haha  

I have to say that despite the long hours, sore muscles and the like, I am feeling good.  I always feel better when I am working out and I often ask myself why in the world I stopped in the first place.  At any rate, I still maintain that the hardest part is the beginning, I'm happy that part is behind me now.

Okay

So I cannot count the times that I have "started over". Starting over has been a theme, whether it's regarding weight loss...keeping a journal...a knitting project, you name it.

In my life, weight has always been (or at least it feels that way) something that I have struggled with. There are many reasons for this and I have decided that I will not be posting them here. For one, I don't wish to dwell on things that in essence are excuses, sob stories or the like. The other is that if someone does read this I do not want put anyone to sleep. I suspect topics may come up from time to time as I post and that's fine, but I didn't want to begin with BS.

When I first moved to Iowa in May 2007, I had just had major surgery a few months prior, I was fresh out of a relationship and ready to begin life in a new city. I was motivated. I began to work out, I began going to weight watchers in June or July and by December had whittled my way down to a size 4 and 130 lbs. The lightest I had EVER been in my life. I worked out 6 days a week, ate relatively healthy and enjoyed my indulgences of beer and dinners out. I will be honest in saying that I was insanely proud of myself, I felt fantastic and was pretty darn confident.

I met the love of my life in December 2007 and everything changed. As it happens when you first begin dating someone, you want to spend as much time with that person as possible. My workouts went from 6 days a week to maybe 4 and as time went on, I was hardly working out at all. Inspiration (seeing a photo of us when we first met) or Frustration (having clothes no longer fit) would push me to make a half-hearted attempt at working out again but the result would be more sporadic.

My eating changed too. Many nights out for happy hour, appetizers and/or dinner. It was like I was in college all over again. I still say to this day, I had a lot of fun putting the weight back on.

Here I am, 2010 and I weigh the same that I did in 2007 when I moved to Iowa. I am so tired of feeling like crap about myself. Tired of being back at the point where I have to figure out what sweater I am wearing with my outfit because I feel too self-conscious to go without it. I have once again, reached my F-ing limit.

Time to get my ass in gear, big time.

Here are my goals and/or requirements for myself:

1. To remain positive. Losing weight is challenging and I would be silly to think otherwise. I will think of at least 1 positive choice that I made that day. I will try to post them as much as possible on this blog. Might as well start now, today I made the right choice and did NOT eat a donut that was in the breakroom. I also swapped out the chips in my lunch for baby carrots; go me!

2. My weight goal is 135 lbs. I have set smaller, short term goals for myself as well. I will focus on the smaller mostly but that larger goal will always be in my mind.

3. I will work out a minimum of 4 days a week. My ultimate goal will be 6 days but I am establishing a minimum for myself.

4. I will keep a food journal, I am focusing on a hand-written journal but I may share it online as well.

5. Alcohol is limited to consumption on Friday - Sunday only. Without sounding like an alcoholic, it's not like I get drunk daily. But I have found that from time to time I'll have a beer with dinner or a glass of wine while relaxing with Nick after a hard day at work. It's empty calories that I can avoid during the week. *The exception: a major holiday, because St. Patrick's Day isn't always on a weekend.

6. I will establish a minimum blog posting criteria of once a week. Simply put, I won't blog every day. I just know I won't. I will blog as much as I want but I don't want to promise something and fall short. I know that my blog will often be devoid of photos because well, I am frankly bad at uploading them from my camera...mostly because it's not convenient.

That's all that I can think of at the moment but I know that things will be added or amended in the future. Just so I am clear. I won't always blog about diet and exercise. Sometimes I will talk about movies, my dog, trips that Nick & I take together...in essence about life in general.

Feel free to comment, if I know you're watching there is more accountability and that's always a good thing. :-)

Latest Loves

YouTube
Whereas, I've always occasionally gone there to find video clips and such, now I actually subscribe to various channels. Most of the channels are food, hair and make-up related. What I love about this is just the fact that the people posting these videos are just like me. I've been throwing around the idea of starting my own channel with my baking endeavors. Hasn't happened yet... As a favorites list within a list here is who I've been following on YouTube:

kandeejohnson - make-up/hair/awesomeness guru. Puts you in a good mood and always gives you a smile. She's doing incredible costume make-up tutorials right now. I <3 Kandee!

panacea81 - you'll love her accent & her make-up tutorials. Ab Fab! I also bought one of her make-up palettes (now available @ Sephora), amazing!

DepressionCooking - Clara is the best, she makes me miss my grandma.

recipesfromahat - she chooses three ingredients from a hat and has to incorporate them into her next recipe. I wish I had come up with this idea. You'll also occasionally get a German lesson too!

bettyskitchen - love her accent, simple tips and warm heart. The minute I subscribed she sent me a message to thank me and subscribed to my currently non-existent channel. I promised to tell her when I've posted my first video. :-)


So visit YouTube and these channels, I enjoy them. And with those chilly winter months rapidly approaching, it's a fun way to cuddle up & get inspired!