I am feeling a bit overwhelmed

I have been trying to stay on top of wedding planning. For the most part I feel I have done a good job at this. I have complete the following things:

Booked:
Photographer
Officiant
Venue
Florist (have not sent in my deposit yet, but I know who I am going with)
Day of coordinator

Done:
Save the Dates
Found my wedding dress
Picked wedding party
Picked colors
Have possible bridesmaid dress

But according to the "Knot" I am starting to fall behind on things. If any of you have planned your wedding you know what I am talking about. They have a checklist for you to refer to and it reminds you of things you should be doing this month. Well this month I have 6 things I am late on and like another 5 I still need to do. WTF? I thought I was totally ahead of the game and now I am way behind.

So as of now I am working on finalizing my florist, think I am going to go with the lady I like the most even if it is not the cheapest. I am making appointments with cake bakers (which if any of you have recommendations let me know) and looking into reception DJ's and ceremony music.

In the meantime what are your thoughts on a non-traditional layout of a ballroom? I had a vision of using long tables from the hotel and lining the dance floor on three sides with tables. My contact at the SFA sent me some pictures of a wedding that was a bit bigger than mine but had a layout like what I want. They used the whole ballroom, not just half like I had originally planned, I am not 100% sold, I like it though for sure. My other option is traditional rounds. What do you think:

 

 

My chairs would pretty much look like that, and then I have brown overlays for tablecloths. I am also not going to have as many flowers on the table, I dont have that kind of budget. So, does it look funny? Do you think the room looks cozey and warm and inviting? That's what I am hoping for.

Yankee Deep Thoughts: Walking in the "cold"

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Today I had to run over to the SFA for an appointment for the wedding (we are going over wedding layout options as I am not sold on the whole round table idea) and I actually considered driving there. It is less than 5 blocks from my office to the hotel and I was going to drive. Why? It was "cold" out! All my ladies in the north that read this should be laughing right now because it is 50 out today. In my Yankee days 50 would have been a nice spring jaunt though the city. Now, I actually considered driving 5 blocks so I would not get "cold"...really... I did this, and I am ashamed.

I deceded I would walk there and I am glad I did. I got some WW bonus points and got to wake up a bit in the cool air. It was really nice. I was one of maybe 2 people out walking downtown today. Guess I am still a little bit hard core?

Weekend Recap

This weekend was super productive if I don't say so myself! My future mother in law came to town to do Christmas with us. We had a lot of fun spending time with her. Friday night I attempted a potato leek soup. It has the potential to be great but I think I need to change it up a bit. Maybe add another potato or some sour cream. It was just not thick enough for my liking. I did however buy myself an immersion blender. LOVING that thing. It makes blending soups so much easier and I am planning on looking up other ways to use that thing because it was so much fun to use. I also whipped up a batch of my chocolate chip cookies for a night cap.

Then Saturday morning I made WW strawberry and cream cheese french toast. OMG all of you  need to try this. It was super easy. Basically make french toast (I made it with egg whites, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, and a touch of milk on nature's own whole wheat bread) but before you dip the bread in the mixture put cream cheese and a strawberry fruit spread (I used WW cream cheese and fat free low sugar strawberry spread)  on two slices and put it together like a sandwich. Then cut in half, and dip it into the egg mixture. Then make just like french toast. It was super yummy and the total points used was about 6 points for two halfs of sandwich. Can't beat that!

We then went on a mission to get WF some new ski gear for his upcoming bachelor party ski trip.We did really well at REI. They are having a winter sale and we were able to buy him new ski pants and new jacket as well as new long johns to keep his Texas butt warm on the slopes (he actually loves the cold and is a great skier, I still like to tease him). Anyway it totally made me want to go skiing, they have lots of cute ski clothes. Future mother in law said I should try, and I said or I could look cute on the slopes and drink hot coco! :) I think we found some great stuff and he will look like quite the stuff on the slopes!

Here is what we bought:

Both images from REI.com

We then came home and had Honey Baked Ham Co. for dinner, and opend our presents. I got lots of little kitchen gadgets that I would never buy myself, wich is really nice. And I got a bamboo steamer! I NEED one of those, I have so many great ideas on how to use that. AND I even got a cookbook for that is specially for bamboo cooking. I am so excited to break that thing in! I love doing Christmas with WF's family. They wrap everything and make it so much fun. We finished of a fun weekend together going to the pancake house for breakfast, you must try this place. It is on Parmer Lane and Metric. THE BEST!

I will give you all an update on the bridal show on another post. It was a lot of fun though, and I still have sugar shock from all the cake tasting. :)

My horns are still up! Hook 'em anyway!

I am a bit bummed about the game last night but it was still fun to watch it with friends and relax a bit. I used ALL of my weight watchers bonus points in one night. OOPS! I have to say I am most upset about the idea we will never really know what could have been about that game. If McCoy did not get hurt would we have won? (I am pretty sure that is a yes) The great news is we know we have a great quarterback for next year!

This weekend my future mother in law is coming to town so we are going to be hanging out with her. We are doing Christmas with her and then maybe going to see a movie. I am making some yummy meals for all of us of which I will be sure to let you know how they come out. I am also hoping to make it to the container store for some fabulous new storage containers for our Christmas stuff. We really have TOO much stuff but we are going to at least get it organized. And by we I mean me, I am going to get things organized.

I am also going to brave the bridal extravaganza this weekend with Janet. We are going to try and find some deals and meet with a couple of our vendors. I have some main things I still need to figure out and I am hoping to get inspired!

What are you all going to be doing this weekend? Any fun plans I might need to crash?

Weight Watchers Wednesday

Yeah I am going to hop on that bandwagon, deal.

Anyway, I weighed in officially for the first time this year. I actually was not as bad as I thought I would be. I only gained a total of 3 pounds, no to bad considering towards the end of the holiday season I was eating Chick Fil-A like it was my job. I also considered a half a block of Monchego cheese just a snack before eating a whole bag of cookies. So yea 3 pounds was not too bad.

I love the women that go to the meetings and last night was no exception. Last night's topic was about the importance of writing down everything you eat. One of the best comments was made while we were talking about the greatness that is Costco on Sundays. All of us agreed it was amazing you could go in there starving and walk out stuffed for absolutely no points, because well snacking does not count. One of the ladies then proceeded to say, "I figure I am walking, so it counter acts the fifth round of crab dip" LOVE IT.

This week I have already made Gina's WW Chicken Parm for WF and I. It came out so yummy. He even said he would pick that over the one at Olive Garden (I am pretty sure he was trying to score, but I am shallow that way). I made cheese ravioli with peas and shallots last night. Only 7 points! Not too bad. Tonight I am thinking I will be winging it but maybe some sort of fish dinner. I will let you know what I come up with. Is anyone else doing WW anymore?

Hate to break it to you, BUT

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... we are having a small wedding. WF and I chose a while back to have a fairly small wedding, only maybe 50 people will be in attendance. We wanted to keep it to really close family and friends. Well I sent out save the dates to only the people we know for sure we want to be at the wedding. It was a way for me to guarantee some people come. Well there are a few people that are on our so called "B" list. People who we love and care about but we are not sure if we should expand the wedding invite to that next ring of friends, you know? I have been torn about these few people but I recently got smacked in the face with the reality that these people, who may or may not be invited to the wedding assume they are! I HATE that. I did not even assume I was invited to some of out closest friends weddings last year out of courtesy to the bride and groom. You know a no pressure kind of thing.

Well these people write on my wedding website, "Can't wait to see you at the wedding!", and stuff like that. REALLY? I am stuck now because it was not like I was NOT going to invite them but now I feel like I MUST invite them.I hate that feeling. Am I being weird about this?

Just in case you were wondering, the annoying lady, has been doing her thing this whole morning, 16 times in the time it took me to write this post. AWESOME

NYE 2009: A Night I Forgot

NYE was fun this year. I was lucky enough to spend it with some great friends. We went to a Vickers and Tarts Party with a big group of our friends. It is usually a great crowd, and the night included a shot block and a confessional with video to record your sins, of which I am pretty sure I made out with WF on camera for all of our friends to see.

I did end up drinking to much champagne and put my self to bed in their guest bedroom. FAIL. All in all I would give the night a B. I wish I had not drank so much and I wish I could remember more of what happened. Fortunately they recorded a lot of the party so I am sure I will be embarrassed of myself at a later date.