Today, I bought a scale. Yupp. I haven’t even taken it out of the box yet, but just the knowledge that it is sitting there waiting for me is a little more than daunting. That’s right. I’m officially on the “getting more fit for my wedding” bandwagon. That dress won’t look fabulous by itself (okay.. yes it would, but I’d still like to do my part  ).
 Kicking my butt into gear! Let me explain. I’m currently a size up from my usual due to a very severe ankle sprain that occurred a few months ago in while in Ireland (two words: Irish cider). This kept me on the couch for a week and off the running track for almost three months. I’d definitely like to be back to my usual size if not a size smaller by the big day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those brides that purposefully ordered her dress several sizes too small as an “incentive” to lose weight. My dress fit just fine when I tried it on in the bridal shop. And due to my shape and the cut of the dress (pear-shape for me, a-line with a fitted bodice and voluminous bottom for the dress), I can easily go up or down a few sizes and it will still fit me perfectly; a small blessing of being a pear girl is that my top half has stayed the same size no matter what and is therefore one less thing I have to worry about looks-wise. While a belly bulge is something that won’t be apparent in my gown, my arms will be out in their full glory. And you had better bet that I’ll be sporting some toned and sexy limbs that day! Time to get to lifting weights, I suppose!
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Help! For those who know me, you know I’m a pretty avid gym go-er. However, I’m in a rut right now. I can’t seem to find the motivation to go! I think part of the issue is that Apricot Dude, who is a teacher, is home for the summer. Usually, I wake up when he does and go to the gym. However, now he sleeps till 9!
 What I need to be doing!!!! I have heard some people recommend the website sparkpeople.com but I’m not too sure about it. I signed up but already unsubscribed from all the newsletters because they sent me about 92338 a day, well, maybe not that many. Anywho- I’m going to go and chat with some people at the gym when we get back from vacation about possible personal training packages. Do any of you Bride-to-be’s out there have any success stories about personal trainers? I need to get out of this fitness funk ASAP!!
Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day, which for most brides includes getting into the best shape possible before the big day. With the Peach wedding about 14 months away, I figured now was a good time to put myself on a semi structured exercise and diet plan. I’ll never be the girl to run a marathon or eat celery for every meal, so don’t think I’m doing anything crazy. I think what’s most important for me is to be consistent. Build in time to work out, just as if it was another responsibility of my day and make sure the fridge is stocked with fresh fruits and veggies. My biggest downfall? Snacking. I’m a snacker. So my goal for the next year is to cut down on my snacking and when I do snack, make wise choices.
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I think I speak for most women when I say that I feel the prettiest when I feel healthy. However, finding time for exercise in anyone’s typical hectic schedule is hard enough – let alone finding time when you throw in wedding planning to that already jam-packed day. I’ll start off by admitting that my initial exercise plans made immediately after our engagement have not exactly happened. That said, I am still confident that I will meet my wedding goals in plenty of time for my dress fitting. Importantly, you will want to make sure not to change your body between your fitting and your wedding to keep alteration costs and stress at a minimum.
Initially, I wanted to get more into yoga. Yoga provides amazing health, stress, and flexibility benefits while getting a good toning and cardio workout (given you embrace different types of yoga sessions). My main obstacle when it comes to yoga is that I have not found a way to do it on my own time. I need to go to a class with an instructor. Fortunately my gym membership and the YMCA has some great yoga classes, I am just not always able to work them in my schedule. So, much to my dismay, I have thus far not achieved my yoga goals, but I won’t give up hope!
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Yes, I love to workout. I’m not talking about taking a walk or jog for 30 minutes. I’m talking about high intensity exercises where I can get a good sweat after 10 minutes. Even though I love to train for marathons and run for miles and miles…running by yourself can be a bit…boring. After getting used to a free gym membership at the university and at my local YMCA where I worked at during summers, I just couldn’t get myself to pay for a monthly fee. That is where my journey began with these video workouts. Right before I graduated from college, my friend introduced me to the P90X video workout. I instantly fell in love with the workout. It was the perfect intensity level for me. Anyways, after I finished the p90x series, I went onto p90x plus, and then I started to get sick of it. That’s when I decided to go with Insanity. Anyways, here’s some information about the experiences that I had with both video workouts:
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Literally. I’m kickboxing. Since moving to the Ocean State and meeting Violet Dude, I’ve put on a few too many pounds to happily wear a bikini on our Honeymoon in Atlantis. I feel tired all the time, and have gone from running a mile without breaking a sweat to nearly passing out after running to the mailbox! I’ve tried gyms, and fitness centers, taken Zumba and spinning, tried hooping…but nothing seems to keep me interested and motivated beyond the first class. Then I saw a commercial for a local, all female Kickboxing gym! Rondeau’s Kickboxing is gonna get me where I want to be, physically and emotionally!
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As promised, here are some tips on sneaking a little extra exercise into your daily routine.
 Image from sacbee.com Take the stairs- stairs are awesome for toning legs. Lilac Mom (who is a personal trainer) told me for a little extra bottom lifting to take them two at a time.
Park far away- this is a two fold benefit. You have to walk more and your car is less likely to get “doored” in the back away from the most crowded parts of the lot.
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I’m comfortable with the way I look in my wedding dress so I’m not exactly trying to get in “dress shape”. My goal is to look the way that I want to in my honeymoon bikini! But exercise and an active lifestyle during the wedding planning process are great to helping relieve stress and improving overall well-being.
 Image from: http://webpages.csus.edu/~dmo34/ Brides aren’t the only ones who need to be healthy and active, grooms do too! So why not do it together?
Lilac Dude and I embraced summer one Saturday afternoon when we took advantage of a beautiful day and went on a 3 mile bike ride. On a not so nice day we paid our school’s fitness facility a visit after work. I enjoy being active with Lilac Dude because it gives us some quality time together and it’s not dominated by wedding planning.
When Lavender Dude and I were deciding where to have our honeymoon, we definitely knew that we wanted to go somewhere with a beach, pool, and sun. We both had done a lot of the Caribbean islands, so we started looking on the Pacific side of Mexico. After talking to both of our parents, we decided on a beautiful location in Mazatlan. I had heard of Mazatlan from my grandmother who used to travel there a lot when the city center was very up and coming. The theater district there was actually a hot spot, as was the shopping and restaurants. Unfortunately since then (which had to have been about 30 or so years ago) the city center has lost a lot of it’s excitement. But that didn’t stop us from going. We stayed at the Emerald Bay, Pueblo Bonito – and the part I loved the most was the way they had made the hotel look like a mix between ancient Italy (where we got engaged) and ancient Greece (Lavender Dude is Greek). There was a pool just for adults, which for us was very important – only because I wanted peace and serenity, and the hotel was actually about 15 minutes from the city center – so it was secluded enough that we felt like we are on our own island.
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October 16th was National Mammography Day. According to the American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Cancer, annual mammograms are recommended for women age 40 and up.
 
Mammograms save lives. Please help spread the word and encourage all your female friends and family members to schedule a mammogram, so we can all celebrate a world with more birthdays!
…and just think, a world with more birthdays means more weddings, too!
This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Periwinkle Blossom.
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