4 months until we say "I Do"

I'm going to be real honest here. Most of the time, I can't believe I'm getting married. I don't know if it just hasn't hit me yet or if the planning just overwhelms me. 

I often wonder if it's normal. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than thrilled to spend the rest of my life with Vincent. But, we've been together 7 years. It practically feels like we're married. 

Planning is going really well. Most days I wish we didn't wait so long to get married. Others, I'm really glad we did. I don't like to be stressed. I work in a high-stress environment and, frankly, I prefer not to be stressed outside of work. I see some of my friends planning weddings in 6 months or so. I don't know that I could do that. Too much in such a short amount of time. 

I recently took my dress in for alterations. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my dress. Yes, that was 3 loves in one sentence. It's just gorgeous. I can't wait to see the final product. 

Now that I put that on again.. I really need to crack down on getting in shape. If you follow me on Twitter (either @JillianTV or @JillianWAAY31) then you know I'm recently obsessed with Hot Yoga. It's amazing and I feel so rejuvenated after. Problem, I'm probably not burning as many calories as I should be. So, I'm headed cardio. Have I mentioned I hate cardio? I hate every minute of every step. Seriously. I'd rather lift 100 pounds 10x before running a tenth of a mile. I'm crazy, right? 

But, I'm on a mission here and I'll be damned if I don't complete it. 

Pinterest obsessed? Organize your pins

Are you Pinterest obsessed like me?

I seem to spend at least 30 minutes of my life a day seeing what's popular or what's new on the Wedding feed. Here's my problem:

I have your basic boards. Food, weddings, exercise.. on and on. But, I NEVER go back and look at what I pinned. It's like I pin things and they go away into an abyss. LOL. Ok, not really but you get my point. Truthfully, the only pins I probably ever look at are food ones. Mainly because I'm always looking for something new and tempting to cook. 

So, today.. I am setting out on a really big journey. ORGANIZATION. I'm not a real organized person in general. I'm not messy. I mean I know where EVERYTHING is.. but by far it's not neat and no one else could ever find what I'm looking for. 

I figure, I spend so much on this silly website pinning my life away, I probably should organize it. I mean, I am planning a wedding nearly based on Pinterest. 

So, I'll have a "ceremony" board, "hair do," and so on and so forth. 

I'm doing that tonight.. it will take me days and possibly hours but it's worth a start! You should do the same. I've found a lot of pins that I really forgot about. 

6 months and counting

Wow. Hard to believe that in 6 months I'm going to marry my best friend. 

We've been together 7 years, it doesn't feel a day over 2. I always thought that the wedding wouldn't be as special because we've been together so long. But, as the details start to come together, I realize that's so far from the truth. 

Ok.. so back to the planning. 

Things are going great! I think one of the hardest thing for us has been registering for gifts. We don't really feel like we need anything. But, we have to register for something right? 

Here's my two cents:

Have everything you need? Now is the time to upgrade! Have an older microwave? Pick a new one out! 

Always wanted that espresso machine? Scan it! 

Register multiple places and do a honeyfund. It can help you for the honeymoon and anything else you need. 

Don't register for china if you're not ever going to use it. NO ONE has room for something you're never going to use. 

We thought registering was going to be this huge headache. In actuality, it didn't take us long and it wasn't bad. We actually had fun doing it!! Imagine that :)

Happy scanning!

Cross your t's and dot your i's

Yep, I just went there.

My life is generally an organized mess. I have a million things running through my mind at any given moment and I can probably tell you a little bit about a lot. However, through the hundreds of papers in my desk I can probably tell you exactly where that scratch piece of a paper is I doodled an address. Yes, I know I'm crazy.

But, when it comes to the wedding I've tried really hard to be organized. It's one day that takes months of planning and I don't want it to be messed up. I've found The Knot Wedding Organizer to be my bible. Everything you could ever imagine is written in it and it probably has the best timeline checklist I've ever seen. I have a tendency to work a little bit ahead since I'm planning a wedding from out of town. It also has tons of advice. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time the wedding comes around in October.. that the binder is broken because of how often I'm going through it or putting contracts in it. 

I would be so lost as to when to book vendors without it. I'm not one to remember every little detail. I encourage those who give me story ideas to constantly bug me about it because chances are I'm swamped with 10 other things and forgot. This keeps me in check. And.. frankly, gives me the idea to make one for my life. 

Here's a link so you can see what I'm talking about: Wedding Organizer

This next thing is something I wish I would've found 10 months ago. Google seriously has done it again! 

http://www.google.com/weddings/ Is one of the best resources for weddings. WHY did it take me so long to find this? Everything you need. If you're a gmail user like myself then you're really going to LOVE this. It creates Excel-like spreadsheets in Google Drive for anything and everything for your wedding. I'm LOVING the budget creator right now. I can access everything I need all in one place. It doesn't matter what computer I'm on either. 

Another piece of advice: Hire a day-of coordinator. Emily over at http://www.emilys-eventsllc.com is who I'm using and I couldn't be happier. She's always there when I need her no matter what issue I'm having. She's organized and always checking up on me to make sure things are going well. I haven't even met her and I feel like I know her. It's a great resource to make sure you're on the right track to planning your wedding. AND it will keep you from having to do a whole lot on your special day. 

Happy Wedding Planning :)

What's your advice for staying organized?


 

Here's a promise to myself...

AHHHHHH!!!

The wedding is about 8 months away and I feel like I've made no progress on getting in shape. It seems like every time I start to get in a workout routine I get sick or something magically gets in my way. 

No more. I'm writing this blog post as a promise to myself. I feel if I commit to updating this blog with my progress, I will HAVE to do it. I can't let people down now, can I?

So, here's my commitment. I will workout at least 3 days a week and I will eat healthy. No more fast food, tons of carbs or dessert. The hardest part will be not eating after 7pm. But, I will do it. 

I can't wait to look great and feel great in my wedding dress!! I'm doing this for ME and no one else. 

Keep me in check people! Share your tips and advice too! I'd love to hear your healthy ways to get in shape!

Follow your heart; Accomplish your dreams

I'm not one to compliment myself. I have far too many weaknesses for that. I'm my biggest critic and I have lofty goals. 

If you've ever read my bio you know that I've dreamed of being a journalist since 3rd grade. Sure, there were some other far out dreams in there too. At one point I wanted to be a dentist and a vet. I can tell you I would make A LOT more money with those career choices. ;)

I started doing the morning announcements back in 3rd grade. I continued that into middle school and chose to go to a high school with a TV production program. Since 6th grade I've known how to edit video, make graphics, run audio.. and pretty much anything else you can think of. I'm very proud of those accomplishments but I've never shared that. 

I only knew 3 or 4 people when I entered my freshman year of high school. My favorite class: Television Production. It was so much fun. After my first year.. I was moved into TV Production 4 ( I think). It was the class where you produced the morning announcements. Yes, I was that girl on TV my sophomore year of high school. People knew me solely as the "girl on TV." People made fun and cracked jokes.. luckily that stuff doesn't really hurt me. I was having fun and doing something I loved. 

Recently, a friend of mine posted some of those videos on Facebook. Ok... I may now realize why so many people made fun of me. What a funny show. We thought we were so good. But, we were 16, 17 years old. How good can you really be? LOL! Take a look, feel free to poke fun :) 



http://www.schooltube.com/video/59f0ce9fc43d4806a55c/UPC%20TV%2011-8-2004%20Show

http://www.schooltube.com/video/9a3f275753ed4f4f8cb2/UPC%20TV%2011-5-2004%20Show

But, here's the moral of the story. People may make fun of you, think you're not good. They may tell you, you'll never be able to do something. Well, here's the thing: There's always room for improvement. Set you heart on something amazing and go for it. I've been on a 20 year journey to get here. Did I ever really think I would accomplish all I have? I'm not sure.. but, I knew I COULD do it, but only if I kept trying. Do I still have a long ways to go? If I told you I was perfect I would be lying. If I told you I still didn't have goals, what am I doing this for? Journalism isn't easy. It's a tough business with tons of people who are competing for the same job you already have. 

No matter what you chose to do, keep following your heart. It knows best. Dreams are possible to accomplish. I'm living proof :)

Let the Wedding planning commence... Again!

If you've ever planned a wedding you know it's stressful. There's so many details. More than I ever thought possible. So, since Thanksgiving I've put the planning aside. I needed time to think about the Holidays. And.. well, truthfully I just needed a mental break. Ladies... it should be ok to take a mental break from all the planning every once in a while.

The closer it gets, the more excited we get! Now that we're finally in our Wedding year, it's more of a reality! YAY

Things are finally coming to fruition, plans are being finalized and it's beginning to feel real. The break gave me the strength to keep going without stressing out. I feel relaxed and refreshed. 

Now, here's to dealing with a bunch of people who aren't the best at answering phones or responding to emails.