Strawberries & Gratitude

Planning a wedding in less than two months kind of makes me want to pull my hair out. I only work part time and I'm not in school at the moment (going back to school this summer! .... what a time to start!) but I still feel overwhelmed when I realize I have to work one 3 hour shift! The first thing that comes to my mind is 'Oh my goodness there is SO much wedding planning I could do in those three hours instead of working for less than $20 all toll.' But the real fact of the matter is I probably wouldn't get much done in those 3 hours and it's a really good thing to step away and do something OTHER than plan my wedding all the time.

As I got up this morning and took care of my dogs and got my breakfast ready for the day I was thinking about what bits of advice or should I say what reccomendations should I offer today? My first thought it always, do not get a puppy within a year of your wedding. I love my darling Goober but hes a walking disaster. Motor skills have not kicked in and he has a tendency to crash into things, fall over, break things... you know. And his enthusiasm knows no bounds! I could be gone 5 minutes and hes just SO excited to see me that he jumps all over me and chew's on my hand. Not to mention that that SO excited also sometimes translates into running in circles around my living room WHILE peeing. Ah yes, hes such a joy. I love him to death (and he really is housebroken) but my fiance is working all the time and it's me at home trying to plan a wedding and take care of a toddler equivilant who doesn't have the handy ability to use words to tell me what he needs.

Theres my puppy and my older dog. Atlas is the puppy and Oliver is the corgi. Atlas is a golden retriever if you were wondering. Also now three times that size with a good 5-6 months of growing still left in him!

But the more important advice, it's kind of one giant piece. Take extra time to take care of yourself. This is also a bit part of advice my cousin gave me after her wedding. She was married in September in a beautiful wedding on the beach in Maryland and he new husband is just the loveliest person ever. We were chatting at the day after the wedding family brunch and I asked her for her advice for me and she said 'Whatever it is that you do for yourself, don't stop doing it right before the wedding.' For her it was running, she would run every day, but a few weeks before the wedding everything got so busy that she had to stop running to get everything done. If give the option to go back she said she wouldn't have done that. Me time is good!

For me this year I hosted Christmas so from November-New Years I did almost nothing. We had purchased an elliptical a in October which I used religiously 5/7 days a week but then when I found out my family was coming I felt so overwhelmed that I stopped. And gained a lot of weight. But for my wedding I've been making sure I take some time to run. Now don't tell me you don't have ANY time. There comes a point in your day when you simply cannot do any more planning and that you need to set work aside and take some 'me' time. For me this usually ends up being at 11 - 11:30 at night. Kind of late, I know, but thats when I find time. I hop on my elliptical, turn on my favorite tv show or just something on Netflix and go for about 20 minutes. Not running the whole time, walking is good for you too. Just do something to help your body and clear your mind. After 20 minutes I get off and make sure to stretch then go take a shower and hop into bed. Not only do I feel more beautiful after I work out (even if it is just a little) I sleep better! And this is no time to be losing sleep!

And on the subject of taking care of yourself, this is no time to cut the food budget to Ramen Noodles and bottled water just so you can have 150 guests instead of 140. No, keep your food budget in a good area, infact maybe even make it a bit larger. My sister and my cousin would support me on this I think, both of them being foodies of a sort and I'm sure if they could live in the middle of a farmers market they would! There is almost nothing you can do for your body that is better than feeding it REAL food. When I say real food I mean it. Vegetables that do not come pre-frozen or in a bag and that you cook on the stove not in the microwave or just eat raw. Fruit (organic if you can muster) or just at least fruit that is real! Take the time to fit some of these into your day! My favorite is my morning yogurt which is 5 strawberries cut into bite size pieces, 4-5 spoonfulls of plain yogurt and a bit of Great Grains Pecan Crunch cereal on top. I look forward to getting up in the morning and eating this! YUM!

But the title of my post today is 'Strawberries & Gratitude' and you see the strawberries now but I haven't finished explaining things. As I was cutting my strawberries this morning it occured to me, I have been really stressed out about planning this wedding on short notice because it could have been so much easier if my job wasn't as it was, if I wasn't just 20 years old. Then I stopped. I complain about the wedding all the time just because it's the easiest way to relieve stress. But I haven't taken enough time (not to say that I haven't taken any) to just be grateful! So many girls can't afford a wedding at all, so many girls never find a guy half as wonderful as mine, so many girls don't have a dad like my dad who is doing anything and everything he can muster to give me an extra $100 here or $200 so I can have the wedding I want AND trying to help me plan it at the same time. I have an incredible family, and an incredible man, I have a beautiful life and though sometimes it's a lot for me to handle at age 20 I am so overwhelmingly thankful for every single day.

So take some time to appreciate your Three Bees Ladies! Your boy, your body, and your beginning together!