I know, I know, I haven't posted in forever. I got a new position at work again and typing logically on the computer is the last thing on my mind when I get home.

Wedding planning and details are coming along pretty well...I just hope that we're able to pay for it all :) I'm a tad bit worried that we'll run a bit short on something with other life expenses that keep coming up. Like now, I have to pay for a formal dress for a work event next week when I had that money earmarked to pay for the last bit of my wedding dress. Waiting another two weeks won't kill me, I guess!

We just received our wedding invitation proofs yesterday and so they'll be in to send by the beginning of next week! I think they are cute and a bit different! They are from the new pocket collection from Carlson Craft...no pictures are available online yet, so here's a little sneak preview. The first picture shows the invitation itself (with the pertinent info removed), and the second one kind of gives you the idea of what it will look like inside the black pocket. It has a little circle where the R peeks through.





My aunts are throwing me a wedding shower in a few weeks. We just finished our registries for Target, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Kohl's, so I think this should give people quite enough ideas for gifts!!! This event is what I'm dreading the most (well except for the dancing at the reception)...I hate being the center of attention and having to make small talk with relatives that I barely know! At least, I'll have enough of my work friends there to loosen me up. I've heard rumblings about some work people also wanting to plan a bachelorette party for me (since my MOH is younger than 21 and also a bit of a flake lately). So, we'll see what happens.

And weight loss? Since I went back to WW, I've lost 10 pounds. It's troubling that I'm still a good deal heavier than I was at this time next year, but my mind is so much healthier, so I guess it's an even tradeoff. Paul and I have also joined a different gym that is right next to our job, so that way when I go in earlier, he can work out before work, and I can workout while I wait for him to get off work. I'm hoping this will help me shed weight a little quicker before the big day. Plus, I've always wanted to do an aqua aerobics class and there are some that work great with my schedule.

Stay tuned for pictures of me in my dress!! I'll take some once I have my fitting :)

But, my Pauly was rushed to the emergency room via ambulance on Thursday. Luckily, he's fine...he started getting chest pain and pain down his left arm at work...and of course you think heart attack or stroke so his coach got worried. He went to the regular doc first, and they called the ambulance to get him to the hospital. As I said, he's fine, and we had the same ER doc as last time who really pissed me off. Pauly will be getting a regular doctor here now shortly so we can figure out what the heck is going on with him.

Other than that, things are going well...my Christmas tree is now full of cute ornaments via my May 2007 Knottie Secret Santa and my mom finding some huge snowflake ornaments in my wedding color. I was in charge of my whole floor at work for a few hours while my managers were in some big hush, hush meeting. Maybe I'll be up for a real promotion in the future...not bad for being there for less than a year! There really isn't much to do for planning the wedding right now...I just have to actually order the invitations, start shopping for Pauly's ring next year, and of course wish to win the lottery before May so we can afford this darn thing. I'm eating more fruits instead of junk, and my weight is down 4 pounds since my last scary scale episode. I don't have to worry about fitting in my dress luckily, but darn, I'd still like to look more fit by May!

For now, I must head off to work...there is a big memorial for a coworker that got hit by a truck while he was walking back to work at one of our other call centers, so the schedulers begged us all to come in for overtime...I agreed to do four hours. This now will be my LAST SATURDAY I'll ever work again (as long as stay working here). Hopefully, the time will fly by!

I am a huge klutz. I guess I have found myself a good mate because he rarely teases me about my troubles with gravity. But, that's probably because he is quite the clod himself! I fear for our children if they inherit this trait from both of us! A couple of weeks ago, we had a horrible freezing rain storm. The next day, everything was iced over and sidewalks were not sanded well. When we were walking down the stairs outside of our apartment, Paul slipped, fell down about 8 steps, and came inches from having his manhood ram into the railing. I wanted to laugh so much, but then I could see that he was really hurting. At work, he even sent out an email requesting a cushion for his rear....and his bruises were quite nasty looking too. He thought he'd be ok, but a few days later, his back really started hurting him. On Thursday, he couldn't bear to get out of bed so we took him to the doctor. Turns out he had two compressed vertebrae...ouch! Good thing I didn't laugh! The doc gave him some meds and told him to come back in if the pain started affecting his legs. And the pain sure did...he fell down twice yesterday so we took him in again and he got much better pain meds. So hopefully, he'll be going back to work tomorrow! I think his accident is the closest he's come to beating my klutzy stairs accident when I broke my ankle!

Other than that, I've been busy writing holiday cards and must get back to it! I think I have 40 more to fill out. I never send out cards, but since we're sending out Save the Date magnets, it seemed easier to do it this way...hit two birds with one stone. I hope my hand can make it through writing the rest!

More updates tomorrow, unless I lose an arm!

I really, really hate those marshmallow peeps. Everybody else in my family loves them! Since when did the company start making Christmas ones??? Yuck!

Well anywho, I have decided that I must start blogging everyday for now on. Keeping my hands occupied keeps me away from grabbing the nasty food that really, really likes to stick on me lately. (Well, except for the holiday Frosty Nerds near my computer desk.) I am so frustrated with my...I dunno what to blame it on...my energy level at dangerously low levels, my lack of self-motivation, or something! The scale numbers keep creeping higher and to be honest, I haven't really done much about it (except whining and making plans I've yet to implement) until last night. 12 pounds have jumped on me in the last two weeks...that is enough to scare me silly!! Starting today, I'm digging out all my resources that worked so well in the past and (GASP!) actually using them! I'll be writing down EVERYTHING that I pop in my mouth again and figure out when and where and what is screwing me up. I will be scheduling in my exercise so I can't just blow it off everyday instead of doing great one day and then skipping the next three days. And yes, since I have already bought the WW monthly pass, I WILL go to my meetings and really track my points and plan my meals instead of guesstimating. I WILL FIT IN MY WEDDING DRESS IN MAY!!!!

I finally have found my other blog and remembered the password...I'm not going to start using it again, but it was really interesting to read what was in there plus the many other entries that I never posted. Plus, there really isn't anything to hide from family members and the fiance anymore. What a difference a year makes! Last year, I was dealing with all the health and mental issues and this year I'm happy and pretty healthy. Yes, I do need to schedule another checkup on the health issues....months past due...but I'm feeling ok mostly. (And thank goodness, my Aunt Flo has finally come back to visit! I knew I wasn't preggers, but I always pack on the pounds when she forgets to show up.) I haven't bumped into ANYBODY that was in group therapy with me since our last day, but I think about them and wonder how they're doing. Last year, it felt like the whole world had turned against me, and now I have someone with me daily who shows me how much I am loved and appreciated. Sure, I was at my lowest weight then, but being depressed and not having the want to get out of bed can do that. I'm not happy with my weight and I will get down again, but I'm told often that I am beautiful, and that feels good.

On the wedding front, I have decided where I'll get my invitations and have a general idea of what they'll look like. I still have to decide on one of the colors, but I hope to have that finalized and get them ordered this month. Paul and I also went to our first pre-wedding session with the pastor of the church. We have to go at least four more times by May. She gave us so many quizzes and readings to do before our next session. She is a little more traditional than I expected, but I hope our ceremony will be a nice blend of what we both want. (She wants us to have communion at the ceremony, but egads, that takes more time plus we'll have many Jewish people there that would feel a bit odd about it. Oh yeah, and she also says we need a hymn for the congregation to sing!! Ewwwwwww!!!) We started going to church, and will continue to do so. Paul actually didn't mind going, so if he's willing, I can handle it.

I have to run off to work (my last Saturday that I'll ever have to work at this company!), so I'll be back again tomorrow!

Geez, another three months since I posted last. I'm finished with apologizing for my absence!!

I'm back at square one....AGAIN. Remember all that weight I lost? Yeah, I've found it again...plus some. I really didn't notice the difference until my pants starting getting quite snug. I've been enjoying life, work, TV, and great cooking by Paul and forgot all the important things like exercise, portion sizes, and drinking water. Also, the medications I've been put on in the past year have helped the weight stick back on too.

So, yesterday marked six months until my walk down the aisle, and I weigh more than when I got measured for my dress!! Crap!!! So, I'm taking drastic action. Now that I have an earlier work schedule and no more weekends, I started back at Weight Watchers once again since I can consistently get to meetings again. I've gained 30....yes, 30 pounds....since my last restart....and that was only 4 months ago. I've started the Buff Brides progam with some other gals who are at the six month mark until their weddings too, and I've dragged out all my videos again. I'm committed, and even better, Paul has agreed to follow the WW plan with me even though he won't be going to meetings with me.

For those into details, I'll share some wedding stuff :)

I have everything booked except for ceremony musicians, invitations, and the honeymoon. It is really hard to find nice invitations in my colors! I did get an estimate from one invitation design place and town and have a meeting with another one on Friday. I still have to pick out a veil and shoes, but the dress is ordered, the bridesmaid dresses are taken care of, and the groomsmen tuxes are picked out. Am I within our original budget? I have no idea! Guess I'll need to figure that out :)

To the left is my wedding dress (NOT ON ME!!! The color of mine is Diamond White, although this color is very pretty too) The picture really doesn't do it justice. To the right is the bridesmaid dress (in the exact color except there will be spaghetti straps)












Here are my Save the Date magnets. I wasn't originally going to have these, but with all of Paul's out-of-town relatives, we figured we better. Plus I got an awesome deal from VistaPrint and only paid about $30 for 200. (Ignore the white blurred out part of our last names!) We're sending these along with other pertinent info with holiday cards this year.








Here is a picture of our room we'll be using for the reception. We've picked the Holiday Inn Starlite Room. It really is beautiful and really doesn't need much for decoration. This picture has holiday decor, but it gives you the general idea.

I better get on to exercising before Paul gets home, so I'll share more as soon as I can!

I'm sooooo overwhelmed!! Trying to plan wedding stuff, working a crapload of overtime, getting bills paid, and keeping the fiance entertained is exhausting me. I feel like I just don't have enough minutes in the day, and when I do get a day off, I have to do all the tasks that I've put off because of the lack of time. I sure hope things settle down soon.

As I said in my last post, I did rejoin WW again. How is it going? Oh, it went well for the first two weeks...but then came a big wedding the day before weigh-in, I can't seem to control my urge to munch when I get home, and such good large meals made by the fiance make it tough. But, I'm getting better with fitting in exercise. We joined the gym and Paul loves the pool, so we've been trying to go as soon as I get home after 10-11 hour shifts. After that, it's suppertime, squeeze in a bit of TV, and go to bed. As I said, I just need more minutes in the day or be able to go on less sleep.

Good news! I found my wedding dress!! In my city, there are about 3 main bridal stores...David's Bridal, Interlude, and the French Door. David's has a great variety of plus-sizes, but ugh, none really appealed to me. I found great bridesmaid dresses at Interlude and some cute wedding dresses, but the wedding dresses I liked weren't anywhere near my size (but could be ordered) so I didn't even dare to try one on. I did try on some pretty fugly ones though. I looked at the French Door once because one of the designers I had my eye on was available there...I kept putting off trying on anything because I am so self-conscious. After my mom and I left the place we finally settled on for the reception, she convinced me to go there again. The manager let me browse and decide what I liked, and then she presented me with dresses she thought would look good on me. I found a couple in my size and she found three more that she liked that weren't. She jumped right in the dressing room, practically took my clothes off herself, and helped me get into all the dresses. I looked at the sizes she brought in (one was a size 12!!!) and thought to myself, "How in the world does she expect me to squeeze into that?" Miraculously, I fit into those smaller sizes without a struggle in order to make the right choice. We narrowed it down to the Maggie Sottero Ivy and En Vogue. When I looked at the En Vogue on the rack, I thought I'd HATE it....but that is the one I fell in love with once it was on me. I'd love to show a pic of me in it, but the store didn't allow pictures and she was in the dressing room with me so I could not sneak one. We're ordering it next week after I get paid...the manager said it could take about six months until it's ready, so no waiting to see if I lose some more weight...oh well! If anything, the seamstress can just take it in a bit if I lose a bit.

So, I now have the dress, the reception and ceremony locations down, and the cake baker (already knew my mom's cousin who makes cakes for a living would be the one) determined...now the only huge decisions pressing are the photographer/video and the florist. I'm clueless with these decisions so my mom is going to help me a bit :)

By the way, guess I had my 2nd anniversary of this blog on Monday. I used to be so good at posting...but then some people found out...and I got busy....and well...life happens. I wonder if anybody even reads this anymore since I rarely update! I'll keep trying to update more often, but I can't promise miracles!!

Yikes, you can tell how long it's been since I've peeked at my blog...I didn't notice the background had disappeared. Luckily I had the header saved...the rest is a little messy, but it'll do for now!

So new news...I'M ENGAGED! I'll spare you all the details, but it happened on June 15th. Our tentative wedding date is May 19th, 2007. We have the ceremony location already figured out (my childhood church), but everything else is still being figured out. I'm so happy and excited...but, I think my mom is a bit more excited about planning than I am :)

Other news: I finally joined Weight Watchers again yesterday. My mom joined along with me, and one of my sisters wants to join as well (although she surely does NOT need it). Holy buckets, I think I've gained almost 25 pounds since my fiance moved in with me. I can't help it...he is such a good cook!! So, I need to make some more time to exercise once again and start watching my portions a bit more closely. I think I'm going to do the Flex plan like last time...although Core could work if I get Pauly to work more fruits and veggies in his meals :) We both could stand to lose some weight, so it'd be good to have some support.

And yes, I promise to blog more often...work has been keeping me busy, but I am finally getting some earlier hours so I'll have some good evening blogtime available!!