Wedding Wednesday: Crazy Dreams

Most of my friends that have gotten married warned me that I would have crazy/stressful dreams leading up to the wedding.  I'm a more anxious person and the dreams I remember tend to be stressful, so I'm not surprised to find that I'm having quite a few anxious dreams before the wedding.  All I can do is laugh at how absurd they are!  Here are some of the bad dreams I've had:

- I wake up the morning after the wedding and can not remember any details of the day before. I am confused about this because I did not drink at the wedding so there's no reason why I can't recall any details from the day before. I'm most upset about not remembering my dad's speech.  My dad is not someone who loves the limelight, but he does a great job when he speaks in public.  It's very off-the-cuff (he doesn't write his speech, he tends to work off notes he makes in a small notebook), but he does a wonderful job.  So I was heartbroken in this dream over the fact that I couldn't remember what he said (note to self:  ask someone to record my dad's speech because we aren't having a videographer (because OMG it's so expensive and I couldn't fit it in the budget)). 

- The wedding is about to start and I am not at all ready.  I'm not dressed and my hair hasn't been done and I have yet to see my photographer. I HATE being late so it was the worst feeling ever to not be ready for the wedding!  After this dream I emailed my photographer and set up an appointment to review the day-of timeline because I figured it would help to know that I have a detailed plan for the day.  

- The wedding is about to start and I realize I forgot to pack any contacts so I have to wear my glasses.  I don't like wearing glasses and don't want any pictures of me in glasses so I decide to take them off.  Which means I can't see A THING during the wedding ceremony because I am basically blind without contacts (for other contact/glasses wearers, my prescription is -4.5.  I can't even see an alarm clock next to my bed without glasses unless I squint).  

- My wedding takes place in my high school gymnasium.  Anyone who knows me well knows I HATED high school, so it makes no sense to get married there (plus I never go to my home town anymore since I see my parents at the lake).  This is another dream where I was not ready for the wedding.  The bridal party procession was starting and I wasn't even in my dress yet.  As the dream was ending, I was heading into the women's locker room (which I remember as being a dingy, gross room) to try to track down my dress and get ready.

- We had a groom's cake at the wedding (which is something we aren't doing so I don't know where this came from) and a guest helped them self to 1/3 of the cake!!  I remember walking by this guest thinking - what are they thinking?  I actually remember who the guest was and it's a person that is not even invited to the wedding as I don't know them well.  The cake was gone in a matter of minutes and Phil never got to see it.  Strangely it wasn't a cat shaped cake which is what we'd have if we had a groom's cake.  All I remember was that the cake in this dream was a bright green color. In this dream I also realize at the reception that I had yet to see the photographer and am wondering how the heck she is taking pictures/capturing the event without me seeing her.

That's just a selection of the crazy dreams I've had.  The brain is a strange thing. Phil feels so bad for me. He has ZERO dreams about the wedding.  Actually he rarely, if ever, has stressful dreams so he can't believe that I'm even stressed out when sleeping!  The funny thing is that during the waking hours, I am not super stressed about the wedding.  Yes, there is what seems like a never-ending list of to dos but in general, I feel pretty calm about the wedding and mostly I just feel excited.

Have you ever gone through a phase of your life where you had lots of anxious dreams? 

Podcast, Books, Workouts & Looks of March

Ufda, March was a hectic month!  I'm hoping April feels a bit less chaotic!  Here's my usual monthly recap!

Podcasts:

Chatty Sisters Podcast - As I mentioned in my currently post, my good friend Kelly and her sister Caroline started a podcast!  I have read both of their blogs for years so know them well but even if you don't know them, you'll still enjoy the podcast as they talk about interesting topics such as wedding dos and don'ts, careers, and setting/achieving goals.  I got a shout-out in episode 3 for a book recommendation I made (woo hoo) so that was pretty cool to hear as I wasn't expecting it!

Books:
 

 March was a huge reading month for me as I read 9 books!! It's tough to pick a favorite as I gave many of them 4 stars.  It's easy to pick my least favorite, which was Beauty and Sadness.  I read this book for my postal book club and I did not enjoy it.  Others in the club really enjoyed it so when I finished I wondered what I had missed.  I strongly disliked one of the protagonists, though, and I'm the kind of reader that struggles to like a book when I don't like one of the main characters.

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler - 3 stars
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom - 4 stars
Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata - 2 stars
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon - 4 stars
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen - 4 stars
The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning - 3 stars
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy - 4 stars
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar - 4 stars

Workouts:

I had a strong month of workouts! I did a combination of barre classes, sessions with my personal trainer, 3-4 mile runs, and 21 day fix workouts. My favorite workout of the month was a barre class I took in the western metro that used trampolines (see picture below). It was an amazing workout as we did barre moves at the beginning, cardio on the trampoline in the middle (a combination of jumps, high knees and other moves), and core work at the end.  I was dripping with sweat at the end!  I wish there was a studio that offered these classes closer to where I live. The studio I went to is in Wayzata which is just too far away for me to get there regularly! 

Looks:

I've got nothing for you.  March is a transitional month as it's too cold to wear spring clothes and I'm so sick of my winter clothes by this point that I have no motivation to take any photos of what I wore. I hope that April is a nicer month so I can start to wear some lighter spring clothing!

April & May Happiness Project: My Schedule

As I've mentioned in several recent posts, my schedule hasn't exactly been a source of happiness in my life lately. While each thing I say yes to brings me happiness, for the most part, the sum of all of these yeses makes me feel overwhelmed and overtired. 

As part of our marriage prep through the church, we had to complete a questionnaire about our compatibility and personalities.  We scored in the highest quadrant of happiness, contentment, and conflict resolution. But one thing that came up during our discussion about the questionnaire and our relationship in general was my tendency to over schedule. To be clear, Phil is not the kind of person who tells me what I can or cannot do.  He is happy that I am an independent person with a full life.  But he also hears me mentions over and over how overly busy I feel.  And he also wishes that I would work more on relaxing versus filling every single hour with productivity on the weekends.  But I feel like I have to pack so much productivity into weekends because I'm gone so much during the week since I am over scheduling myself! So I need to plan less so I can relax more. 

I've mentioned my need to plan less countless times on this blog, but I have yet to actually do anything about it.  That's because saying I am going 'plan less' is so vague.  I do better with more specific ways of managing my life. 

So I've decided to be really specific with this goal to manage my schedule.  I've decided that I will not say yes to anything that isn't already on my calendar between now and our wedding, which is 7 weeks from today (!!!!).  One caveat to that is that I will say yes to wedding-related meetings and appointments as I will obviously have some details to attend to in the final weeks before the wedding.  But beyond that, I will be saying no to everything else. 

I know this may seem extreme to some, but it's what I need to do in order to go into our wedding week feeling prepared and rested and relaxed.  The last several months have been so chaotic. I feel so exhausted and have been sleeping like crap because my mind just spins with all that is going on. So I need to this for me - and for Phil. 

That doesn't mean that I won't do anything social over the next 7 weeks - I just won't be committing to anything in advance.  If the weekend rolls around and we feel like doing something with others, we'll see if any of our friends are free and get together with them. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel over the next 7 weeks.  This goal will cover the months of April and May as we leave for our honeymoon right after our wedding and get back on May 31st. I think it's going to be so good for me and maybe it will help me learn how to say no without feeling bad or guilty. Because saying no to others is really saying yes to myself, which is important to do. 

Do you struggle with over scheduling?  Do you have any tips or tricks to recommend to a serial over-scheduler like me?

Wedding Wednesday: Our Invitations + DIY envelope liners

Happy Wednesday!  I head to Chicago today for a quick work trip.  This is a headquarter visit for meetings for a project I'm leading on my team. I'll be back tomorrow night in time for book club at 8:30 and will manage to squeeze in dinner with my brother and his family tonight so it's going to be quite the efficient trip!

Now that our invitations are out, I'm ready to share them with all of you! When I first started to look for wedding invitations, I fell in love with this invitation on minted.com - but not the dollar price! They would have cost us $680!  I could not stomach spending that much on invitations but luckily my friend Amanda, who used to work in graphic design, said she could make some invitations using the minted.com ones as inspiration. Here is how they turned out (apologies for the crappy photo quality - I'm too lazy to take new pictures!)

We opted to use postcards for the RSVPs to save a bit of money on postage. I was also pleased to learn that our invitations weighed less than an ounce so we just had to use one forever stamp.  Phil's love language is saving money (ha!) so he was happy about this as well!

Since the theme of our wedding is books and reading, I decided to make envelope liners out of pages of a dictionary to tie in our theme. I did some research and discovered that Paper Source had an envelop liner kit. You can also buy envelope liners at Paper Source, but they cost $5.95/10 liners so they get expensive fast if you have a lot of envelopes (we sent out 120). The kit made them very cost effective as I just paid $13.50 for the envelope liner kit and $2 for a used dictionary at good will.

I can't believe I'm including a DIY project in this post as I'm the last person people come to for crafting ideas or advice...  but this project was so easy so I thought I'd share it with you!

First step:  use the clear plastic template to trace the envelope liner on the paper you'd like to use with a pencil (tip, make sure the paper is big enough!  I had to stop at a couple different goodwills to find a dictionary that was large enough for the A7 template!).

 

After that, cut it out and insert it into the envelope.

I used a glue stick to glue the liner to the envelop. It worked best to old the liner down and apply glue to the liner (versus applying glue to the envelop and pressing the liner to the envelop).

And voila!  Beautifully lined envelopes!

We received several compliments on how cute our invitations and book page-lined envelopes are.  So those compliments made it worth the extra work.  And all in all, it wasn't that time consuming of a project.  I made the first 40 on my own and then enlisted the help of a good friend to help with the other 90 (we made 130 total).

I am very lucky that I have a friend who has been able to do all of our paper products for the wedding. If you are ever looking for someone to do invitations or other paper products, I can put you in touch with her!  She's using my wedding stuff to build an Etsy shop so I'll eventually have a store to share.

I looooove our invitations so much, especially that scripted font, which we are using on other things like our rehearsal dinner invitations, signage at the wedding, the program, etc. It's such a dreamy and sophisticated font!

Shouldless Days: March

After a super hectic month, I really needed a shouldless day!  Luckily I was able to set aside Sunday as a commitment-free day!  It was wonderful!  Here's how I filled it!

I woke up without an alarm around 7 am and came downstairs for a breakfast of yogurt + banana and coffee.

Then I plugged in my electric blanket and settled in to start a new book!

Phil came downstairs when Face the Nation started at 9:30. This is our favorite Sunday morning news program.  

After that I threw together this crockpot chili.

Phil left for his mom's around noon, so I watched an episode of Suits while eating lunch.  I'm slowly working my way through this series and am really enjoying it!

After that I did something I rarely do - I laid down on the couch and took a nap. I have been so tired lately and haven't been sleeping great, so when my body was telling me it was tired, I decided to listen.

An hour later, I did some prep work for the sheet pan chicken and vegetable dinner I'm making tomorrow night.

Then I headed to barre with a friend. One of my favorite instructors was teaching it and it was an extra tough class. I love barre classes!

Then I headed home and had chili for dinner and portioned out leftovers for the week ahead.

The finished product! This is one of my favorite chili recipes. I substitute browned ground turkey for chicken breasts as I think chicken can sometimes get dry in the crockpot

After dinner, I addressed rehearsal dinner invitations while watching 60 minutes. DON'T EVER BUY the shiny gold envelopes from Papersource.  They are awful to address since they have a bit of a sheen to them so you have to use a ball point pen as loose ink pens doesn't take to the envelope. Thank goodness we didn't use gold envelopes for our wedding invitations!

Addressed envelopes, ready to be stuffed with invites

Phil got home around 7:30 and we spent the rest of the night relaxing together and catching up on our days.

When was the last time you had a relaxing, laid back day?

Currently: March Edition

Hello, Friday!  This was a doozy of a week. My calendar was jam-packed. I know I've said this multiple times lately but I really need a quiet week soon!  Fingers crossed that April is quieter. The most time-consuming wedding to dos are done so that should help, I think!

Reading:  The Turner House by Angela Flournoy.  There's been a lot of buzz about this book as it was a finalist for the National Book award last year and it was the runner-up in last year's Tournament of Books (which is the book equivalent of March Madness). I am really enjoying it! It's about a large family of 13 kids that grew up in the Detroit area. Aside from delving into family dynamics and the different personalities, the book also addresses the decision about what to do with the parents' home which is way underwater (the book is set in 2008 during the housing crisis). I'm really impressed that this is a debut novel.  

Loving:  mangoes and cottage cheese (but not together). I haven't eaten mango much in the past, but 2 recipes I made this month (jerk pork with Caribbean salsa and blackened fish tacos with cabbage mango slaw) called for mango in the taco topping so I bought mangoes twice in one week. I snacked on some while making these recipes and was reminded how GOOD mangoes are. I need to buy them more often! I'm also loving cottage cheese as a snack.  It's so high in protein and a good way for me to get some calcium (I can't stand milk so get my dairy primarily through yogurt).

Feeling: overwhelmed. My calendar is out of control these days, as evidenced by the picture of my March calendar below. Some of the things on my calendar are workouts (e.g., barre and sessions with my personal trainer) but it's all stuff that requires me to be at a certain place at a certain time.  

Thinking: about the seating arrangements for our wedding. Figuring out how to divvy up the guests between tables is quite the puzzle! But I love a good puzzle, so I will figure it out.  RSVPs aren't due until 4/21 so I won't be able to finalize things for several weeks but I wanted to get a head start. 40 people have already RSVP'd and we sent out invitations last Friday!

Anticipating:  my wedding showers in April! My college friends are hosting one in Minneapolis on April 9th and then the following Saturday I'll have my family one at the lake over Easter weekend. My family and friends are putting a lot of thought and work into planning these special events so I am looking forward to seeing what all they have up their sleeve! I'm one of the biggest planners in my family so it's been weird to not be involved in the planning but also wonderful to just show up and enjoy it!

Watching:   the second season of Love on Netflix. This is a fun and quirky show about the relationship of 2 20-somethings in LA. As I've mentioned before, Phil and I have different tastes in shows but this is one that we both enjoy!

Working: on figuring out a strategy to prevent myself from over-scheduling. I sound like a broken record as I keep saying I need to plan less.  But obviously saying I'm going to 'plan less' isn't working. I think something more specific. More on this in a post coming next week.

Grateful:  that I get to marry my favorite person in less than 2 months.  Life feels pretty chaotic right now but I sure love coming home to Phil at the end of every day and look forward to doing that for as long as we both shall live!  I'm also grateful that so many of our friends and family, both near and far, are coming for the wedding. I'm so excited to have so many special and important people in one place!

Listening: to the Chatty Sisters podcast that my friend Kelly and her sister Caroline launched this month.  I've been friends with Kelly for many years so it's fun to hear her voice on a regular basis!  And I got a shout-out in episode 3!

Wishing: that the weather would warm up.  March is typically not a great month in Minnesota as it can be quite cold. But I'm just ready for warm, springy weather.  I'm so over my winter wardrobe and winter jacket.


What are you loving, watching, and grateful for these days?

Wedding-Planning-Free Weekend!

Happy Monday and Happy First Day of Spring!  I hope everyone had a fun weekend.  Did you celebrate St. Patty's Day?  I can't say that we did, but neither of us has any Irish blood in us so we don't feel compelled to celebrate.  After 2 weekends full of wedding-related to dos, we were due for a wedding-planning-free weekend!  Here is how we filled it.

On Friday night we had Phil's mom over for dinner. I made these fish tacos along with guacamole. The archdiocese gave a dispensation on Friday that allowed Catholics in my diocese to eat meat in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, but it felt like 'cheating' to eat meat since I wasn't celebrating the holiday. Plus fish tacos are so good! I used tilapia and they were so tasty (sorry, no photo!).  I think the best part was the mango slaw, though.  I'll definitely be making that again! After dinner we played a couple of games of Yahtzee.

On Saturday morning I drove out to the west metro area to go to a barre class with a good college friend. It was nice to start off the day with a good workout! After the class, we grabbed breakfast at a cute diner in the area and then we stopped by a new French restaurant that opened up called Bellecour. The restaurant has a cute bakery so we stopped by for a macaron (which was delicious!). It was great to catch up and spend some time with my friend's daughter.

Heidi, her daughter Elle, and me enjoying a macaron!

Saturday afternoon we cleaned the house which is one of my least favorite chores.  It helps that we divide and conquer, though!  In the late afternoon we went to Phil's college friend's couples baby shower. It was fun to see some of Phil's college friends!

After the shower, we headed over to hang out with one of Phil's best men and his wife. We hadn't hung out with them for awhile so it was fun to spend Saturday evening with them! They have an adorable little guy, Leo, who is 16 months. My friend snapped this photo of Phil and I reading a book to Leo.

On Sunday morning I was up early so I could go to mass at 8:45 before heading to my personal training session at 10. The training session was soooo hard!  We did a bunch of different strength training circuits and he had me run some intervals for 10 minutes in the 2nd half of the workout.

Phil went to his mom's for the day and he took Oscar out there for the week (his mom loves having Oscar's company so we bring her there every other month or so). I missed having Oscar around but still enjoyed having day to myself at home. I haven't had a plan-free day in so long so I relished being able to stay home all day. I spent a good chunk of Sunday afternoon working on meal prep for the week.

Sauteing veggies for the egg bake

Sauteing peppers for my salads

Chopped fruit and veggies for snacks

It feels good to have breakfast (veggie and chicken sausage egg bake), lunches (salad with jerk pork and veggies) and snacks taken care of for the week.

The evening was spent relaxing and reading. And I course watched 60 minutes. I love that show and Face the Nation! I also watched a little bit of March Madness basketball but both mine and Phil's brackets were busted yesterday as the teams we picked to win the tournament lost (Louisville and Duke).  Womp womp.

This is another jam-packed week as we have a tasting tonight for our dessert table (!!!) followed by barre class (if we get out of the tasting in time), then tomorrow I fly to NYC for a day full of meetings in New Jersey on Wednesday. I'm squeezing in a dinner with my friend Alli and her husband on Tuesday night which I'm excited about!  Thursday night I have a kick-off meeting for the 2017 community garden season and Friday I have a personal training session right after work.  I reeeeeally need a plan-free week night badly but don't see that happening soon since I travel again next week (this time to Chicago).

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

What were you up to this weekend? Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?