Let's Be Honest Here...

I'm about to be real honest here with you folks. About to get real frank on this blog. I'm about to drop some knowledge on...well you get the idea. I figure where else can I write my true innermost thoughts if not on a public forum for everyone to read!? So here it goes!

If I was not getting married at the end of this year...I probably would still be a chubby girl with no intent on losing weight. Now I won't say I'm fat, because I'm about 20 pounds over the healthy limit for a girl my age/height, 20 pounds is super manageable and shouldn't be a problem to lose it right? Wrong.   Maybe for some people, some really disciplined focused folk, but not for me. I am ADD (not really), I'm all over the place, and not easily entertained. Therefor running on a treadmill for half an hour gets real boring real fast. I try attending my aunt's cardio kickboxing class (LOVE IT) but on top of an MCC fitness class I'm taking it's too much. So since I'm being graded on one, the other had to go.

So Monday-Thursday you can find me working out in the MCC gym for almost 2 hours. Thank God I have the motivation of getting an A in a no brainer class, otherwise it would be another workout-less summer for moi. And thank GOD that I am getting married this December and will be wearing a strapless dress. Another little motivation to get my booty in shape.

Working out is no no no fun for me. Nor is dieting. I love me some food, of course the food that is the worst for me. But I am trying to train my taste buds to enjoy the leafy things people seem to think is so good for me (the jury is still out on that one). Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have lost some poundage, and then hopefully by the big day I will be at my goal weight! What are some workout/diet tricks do you guys like the most? What do you find works the best for sticking to a goal?

Do I Really Have to Say Yes?

When I was around 15 I became obsessed with a TV show, and that show was Say Yes to the Dress. Every Friday night you could find me plastered to the TV in our living room watching girl after girl try on oodles of gorgeous gowns until they finally said (now everyone say it with me now), "Yes to the Dress". I never grew tired of it. Even when girls on the show began trying on the same dress as an episode I had seen before, and even when the drama became tired and boring, I still remained devoted to Randy and the crew at Kleinfelds. Never daring to miss an episode or delete one from our DVR until I had viewed it at least twice. And when the show branched out to include a new dress store, Bridal by Lori in Atlanta my love for the franchise was renewed, especially since this store was located in my beloved Georgia. The southern twangs and crazy southern moms (and even crazier southern belles) had me entranced every week. And then Say Yes to the Bridesmaids came on and I just couldn't get enough. TLC may be lacking in their other shows, but I remain faithful to my bridal shows. 

When I started dating Matt the love for these shows intensified, well at least I became more devoted to watching it. My poor roommate Melissa was subjected to watching these shows every Friday whether she liked it or not. I even went as far to looking up and saving the directions to Kleinfelds just in case a certain someone got down on one knee and asked me a certain question. I even knew how I would convince my Mom to make the trek out to New York so I could fulfill my dream of trying on dresses in the famed store. My room was cluttered with magazines with tons of little yellow post its of every kind of dress I had a tiny bit of liking for. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted when it came time to the dress of my dreams. I was obsessed with wedding dresses. My cousin and I knew that when we had a girls night that that would include visiting different bridal salons to try on dresses. Now we're both on the road to marriage and it was time for me to pick out my wedding dress for real. If only I knew the tear filled, chaotic, stressful road that searching for the perfect gown would take me. 

About a month or two after I got engaged, I went to David's Bridal with my Mom, sister, and cousin. I was very excited and emotional about trying on wedding dresses for real, with an actual intent to buy. I brought in a list of dresses I wanted to try on, but I also had to no inclination to actually buy a dress from that store. I merely wanted to try on dresses to actually get an idea of how different styles looked on me. Well dress after dress, I became increasingly discouraged. I thought I looked terrible in all of them. My bad body image was on over drive and I was near tears when I tried on a dress I really loved and I looked awful in it. And then came the "Kate Dress". It was styled after the dress Kate Middleton wore for the royal wedding and I really just wanted to try it on for the heck of it. Well when I stepped out, my Mom cried, my sister cried, and my cousin cried. Then the consultant told me how amazing I looked in it, and everyone in the store came over and commented on how well I looked in it. I figured, well that must mean that this is the one. So I said yes to the fifth dress I tried on, in the first store I went to. Well it didn't take long for buyers remorse to set in. I tried to think of everything I could do to change it. And nothing felt right. So I did what I could considering the stores return policy and exchanged the dress for another one. And still I'm not 100% satisfied with my dress. It's definitely not my dream dress. But I am wearing it because I won't be that crazy person who goes in a third time to exchange a dress. It won't really matter what the dress is that I'm wearing since I'll still be marrying Matt and at the end of the day I'll be married to my best friend. 

Still, girls take my story as a cautionary tale. Shop around...a lot. Tell yourself in the first store that you go into that you are NOT going to buy a dress today. Even if you do fall in love with a dress, unless it's the last dress in the world and it's on clearance, step away from it. Sleep on it. Odds are that it'll be there still when you go in again and if you still feel the same way you did when you first put it on, by all means go for it. But I missed out on a HUGE opportunity that I had been looking forward to since I was a teenager, to go to as many stores as I could to try on as many dresses as I could bare before falling in love with my dress. Don't say yes to the dress too soon, think about it, sleep on it, and really make sure it's the dress of your dreams. Dress shopping is supposed to be a fun and exciting experience, make sure you get the most out of it! 

Who would say yes to this dress??

Crazy Beautiful

I always wanted to be a married lady. There was something about planning a wedding and being married that always sounded, so right to me. When I was 7 a David's Bridal catalog came in the mail and I ran to my room and holed myself up there until I had my whole wedding planned. I picked a halter style ball gown that I thought was the most beautiful dress I have ever seen, I assigned my bridesmaids long hunter green dresses and I picked out a song for every pivotal moment in my wedding. From that moment on weddings sort of became my life.

And planning my wedding had become a yearly tradition for me. Almost every year I planned my wedding and almost every time my wedding was completely different from the one I mapped out before. I had a million different ideas for the flowers. I always had a different idea of where and when I'd want to get married. And I never could decide on a single style of wedding dress. That was my life from ages 7 to 20. I loved weddings, I adored weddings, I wanted to be as involved in all things wedding as I possibly could. I volunteered at my church with the wedding ministry and completely immersed myself in the wedding world. But as I got older, and I continued to be the constant single lady I began to believe I would never be able to actually plan my wedding. Well that all changed when I met (and fell in love) with Matt DeBall. 

I met him and almost immediately my life changed. I went from being a me and became a we. I stopped using I and began using us. In an instant I became someone's other half and I honestly could not be happier. And now I am planning my actual wedding. And now that I'm planning my wedding for real, I have begun to notice something. The wedding that I am actually having, is 100% unlike any wedding I ever imagined. Instead of a summer wedding with pink peonies everywhere, me wearing a frothy ball gown, my girls wearing short and elegant light pink frocks, and a star lit reception...I am having a winter evening wedding. The flowers are all a dark purple and ivory, my girls will be wearing floor length dark purple chiffon gowns, my dress as of now is completely up in the air, and instead of a star lit reception I am planning a cozy indoor party for our amazing families and closest friends. Sometimes I think I am completely crazy for planning a wedding while working two jobs, finishing up my senior year at college, and trying to lose some pounds before the big day. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. Life is crazy beautiful and my journey to becoming Mrs. DeBall has been nothing short of crazy and beautiful. 

My love and I