The slackiest of slackers

Wow. One post in December? I lose at blogging.

AS you can probably gather... things have been fairly busy if I haven't blogged AT ALL since December 1st. That would be an understatement. Work has been increasingly busy (which is good) and wedding planning has gotten a touch more stressful. I'm officially under 6 months away from the wedding, and it's creeping closer and closer to 5 months. I still have a lot of details to work out!

But it's okay. I'm not stressing out. I'm not. I'm going to make it through these 5 months and a few weeks without turning into a crazy person, and without having one or many panic attacks. I'm going to be just. fine.

Instead I'm going to focus on the more important things in life: my desk at work. We're renovating at work currently. For two whole days (during the first bout of snow we had in the middle of December) I had no windows. Sure, there was plastic over the window. You know how insulated a plastic tarp is? Not very. I had three damn shirts on at work! Now that I have new windows, they tell me that I'm moving.

My desk is turning into a closed lockable office. I am moving on the other side of the cubicle wall... which means I'm on the same side as Gzilla. We'll have to stare at each other all day. They had to sit us down and ask us permission. It was kind of hilarious. But now I have construction guys building walls next to me... and building a door in my way... and it's slightly distracting. I'm kind of looking foward to my new desk, despite the fact that I'm going to have much less space in my new work area, but that's all right. I'll be on the side of the cubicle wall with all the people I like.

Now I just have to figure out how to not have any snags in this wedding planning business so that I dont have some kind of epic meltdown.

It just keeps getting longer and longer...

I feel like every list I'm keeping right now has been doused with Miracle Grow and it's going to turn into the world's largest cucumber soon. For example... wedding stuffs. When we figured out the budget (read: when my dad said I have this much money to give you) we crunched the numbers and figured out that the magic number was 180. 180 total guests. That's it. Right now? My number is 192.

It was 186... which is okay because we're anticipating a few people declining (like my aunts who already booked their July 4th beach house in Florida... my cousin who lives in Texas... and a few of Gzilla's relatives who are across the country) but then my dad had a few additions. I forgot my two aunts who divorced my dad's family(these two are very smart women--just as my mom). At first, Daddy Dearest was unsure about inviting them, and since he's paying... if he's uncomfortable, I feel awkward saying "No, they are my aunts whether or not they have my last name anymore or no" but he finally caved on that one. And then he adds that he wants me to invite my uncle's new wife's two adult children (did you follow that?)

Now, I have no problem with these two people... but if we're trying to limit the numbers, especially since the ONLY friends that I'm inviting are in my wedding party, I don't exactly feel comfortable not inviting the women that I lived with for years in college, but I can invite these two people who are practically strangers that I've met all of twice. But, again, my dad is the one paying for the reception... and he already mentioned it to his brother... so they're on the list. And he's right, it IS a nice gesture. But these are the side of my family that I'm trying to distance myself from, so it's hard.

The other list that's growing is the things I need to pay for. Trying to fit Christmas in the midst of all the wedding payments is a bit difficult this year to say the least. But, Gzilla and I decided to set a limit on our gifts, and then we'll save up to go to a fancy dinner in Philly. We'll probably go back to 10Arts and have Jen Carroll from Top Chef make us dinner again. That place was amazing...

Anyone have lists that keep growing and growing?

PC Prison Recap

Well, Gzilla and I survived. Actually... we had FUN. I know. Inconceivable! But we did. We even made friends with another couple. I was really worried about the whole roommate situation, but it ended up being fine. There were 11 couples on the retreat. All the women stayed in one house and the men stayed in another, and each house had 8 bedrooms... so only a few people had to share a room, and I wasn't one of them!

The one thing I will say is that I'm TIRED. We were on retreat from Friday night at 7 until Sunday afternoon at noon. We didn't actually get home until 1:30 or so because we hung around for a bit and then stopped for groceries on the way home. We were very ambitious in our cooking that evening. I made NY strip steaks with carrots and parsnips for dinner (by the way... parsnips are flipping awesome) and a pot roast for the next night. I was going to put it together this morning and we could eat it tonight. Except I didn't know that I have to work tonight. So I made it last night... we put it away this morning, and we're going to eat it on Tuesday. My house smelled amazing this morning. However I was up cooking until around midnight, after an emotionally draining weekend. To say that I'm tired is a huge understatement.

I feel a bit silly because I was so worried about the retreat, but there ended up being nothing to get worked up about. We liked it so much, and think that we got a lot out of it, that we're considering being 'team couples' for future retreats and leading some of the discussions.

I'm gonna do it this time; I swear!!

I mentioned that Gzilla and I joined the Y last month... well, it took us a month to get there. We went for the first time on Monday for a personal training type meeting, and then we went a second time separately to learn the different machines.

I've been trying very hard to be supportive without pushing Gzilla into doing anything. He's unhappy with his weight, and it's gotten to the point where he's having back problems because of it. I think that finally got him motivated to actually try. Before he's complained that he needed to change his eating habits, but what that really means is that I have to change his eating habits for him. And whenever I try saying "Hey, let's get a salad for lunch today" I get shot down because that doesn't sound like a very good lunch (i.e. it's not Wendy's).

I'm letting him set the times when we go to the Y and exercise... but the one thing that I'm highly suggesting that he do is keep track of his calories. I found a really good calorie tracker at www.livestrong.com and has the nutrional value of a lot of brand name things already in there. And! you can create your own recipes so that you don't have to enter "tomatoes, 2... steak, 6 oz" every time. It's fancy!

He told me that his goal is to lose a pound a month. Which would mean by the wedding, he would have lost 8 pounds. When I set up his livestrong account... I set it at a bit more than that, because my options were "1 pound per week, 1.5 pounds per week, 2 pounds per week, or maintain current weight." So I set it at 1 pound per week.

I have some goals for myself, too. I just want to strengthen and tone what I already have. Every single person at the Y so far has brought up the pilates classes, so I think I'm going to do that... and I think I might do a Zumba class, too. When I go in the mornings with Gzilla 3x per week (I think that's good to start off) I'll concentrate on cardio and some weight training... and then I'll add on a few classes here and there. I think that since we have each other to keep motivated, we'll keep up with it... but we'll see. It's one of those things where if I blog about it...then y'all will hold me accountable. So please, feel free to yell at me if I slack off. Because it's not just me slacking off, it's Gzilla now, too... and if this extra weight is doing a number on his back, I don't want to think about what it's doing to his heart.

For a moment... I'm going to be a girl.

Not just a girl. THAT girl. That girl who is obsessed with shoes.

I bought my wedding shoes the other day. From this website Rue La La where you can designer stuff discounted. Sometimes it's last season stuff... sometimes it's sample sale. I belong to another one called Gilt Group, but I'm starting to like Rue La La a bit more.

Anyway, a few days ago... they had my favorite designer. kate spade. I LOVE kate spade. I actually have a bag of hers that I bought at a charity store for $39 (because I'm awesome and know how to shop). Lately I haven't been looking at the Gilt Group or Rue La La pages because I'm saving for the wedding and all that jazz, but this time I thought "Well... let me just SEE if they have any shoes..."

THANK GOD I DID. I found my wedding shoes. And I bought them. They were sold out of every size except mine and a few others... and I thought about it. I even asked Gzilla, but he was of no help. So I texted becklette and she convinced me that HELLO I should buy them. And I did. Now I'm $129 poorer, BUT I HAVE KATE SPADE SHOES FOR $129. I'm going to wear my favorite designer's shoes on my wedding. And they're THE PERFECT shoe. Perfect.

See? Perfect wedding shoes. I can't wait until they get here.

All my m's sound like b's.

Well... you know how I'm supposed to be going to "Pre Cana Prison" this weekend... sharing a room with a stranger... sharing my relationship with 9 other couples... and all that fun stuff?

GUESS WHO HAS A NASTY COLD? this guy.

I currently can't breathe through one side of my nose... I sound like I have a clothespin over said nose... and my throat hurts. Luckily, I haven't lost my voice or anything yet. It's just sore.

I'm doing all of those things you're supposed to do when you're sick. Drink lots of water... drink lots of tea with honey... take cold medicine... use an entire box of tissues per day... surround myself with hand sanitizer... use my neti pot a whole lot... but I'm really worried that it isn't going to do anything! I have to stay in a room with a stranger this weekend... and I'm totally going to get her sick. I'm going to be that person that everyone thinks in their head, "I hope I'm not rooming with THAT GIRL."

Any other cold remedies I should partake in to try and bust this cold before Friday?? Staying home and sleeping is not an option.

Nervous Ambitions

I have all these grandious ideas of what I want in life. Yes, I love working in radio... but do I see myself in radio for the rest of my life? I don't know. I really have no idea. I wanted to be an actor for so long that I never bothered to see if I was good at anything else. But there IS something else that I was always good at... I'm just terrified to do it.

I can tell a good story. And I can tell a good story with a lot of words. I've been talking about writing a novel for the past 5 or 6 years? But I've never actually DONE it. I've talked about it. Thought about it. Even outlined a novel! But I'm so critical of myself that I don't actually DO anything. I have 2 great ideas for a novel that are both grounded in things that have happened either to me or to people around me, and Gzilla pointed out that maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time. I need to start with something that's entirely fiction before I start borrowing.

Then I remembered that November is NaNoWriMo. Only problem? I haven't written a single word. If I started on November 1st, I would have had to write 1667 words a day to get to 50,000 by November 30th. Since now it's November 4th...that gives me 26 days instead of 30 days, so that means I have to write 1924 words every day to get to 50,000 words. It's not going to happen. Especially since I lose two whole days because of "Pre Cana Prison" next weekend (that's what I'm calling it. You better believe I'll have a full report after next weekend!!!).

Anyone else doing/did do NaNoWriMo? I can do this, right?