Thankful Thursday: Getting Settled

This has been such a crazy week (returning to work after a long weekend is so tough), so I'm going to try to bring some calm into my life by bringing back Thankful Thursday!

I haven't made a Thankful Thursday post in a few weeks now, so I'm a bit overdue. Plus, I have plenty to be thankful for and am still riding on my grateful high from Thanksgiving. Let's kick this off!


I'm thankful we're all moved into our new apartment. Moving sucks, you guys. A lot. But Drew and I have officially been in our new place for eight days, and it's awesome. Even though the square footage isn't too different from our last apartment, it feels significantly larger. We have a second bedroom, which is slowly becoming my office, and a huge storage locker in the building's basement for all of our junk (i.e. moving boxes).

We even have a (much) bigger kitchen, which is like a dream come true. I've probably done more cooking and baking in the new kitchen than I did in the year and a half at my old apartment. I love baking, so this is awesome news.

I baked these s'mores cookies in our old apartment, but I'm using this as evidence of my kitchen skills.

I'm thankful I got some potentially awesome news at work today. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the biggest fan of my job, but we're undergoing some major structural changes that we finally learned details about at a meeting today. The best part? There's a possibility I could end up in a more marketing- and communications-focused position in a few months. Working in public relations and communications is my dream job, so you better believe I'm going to angle for a position in that newly-created department like nobody's business. Now I just have to remain patient enough to wait one month (or longer) to find out if I landed a new position.

I'm thankful my nephew's due date is SOON. My older sister is pregnant with her first baby and my first nephew. His due date is December 11, so any day now I should become an aunt! I am so excited for my sister and brother-in-law and can't wait to meet their little dude.

I'm thankful it's Thursday. This week is going by quickly, and I love it. Bring on the weekend!

I'm thankful our Christmas shopping is almost done! Thanks to Black Friday, Drew and I are almost completely finished with Christmas shopping for each other and our families. I don't think I've ever been this proactive with Christmas shopping, but since we're celebrating Christmas with his family a week early this year we can't afford to wait (we'll be in Illinois with my family for actual Christmas).

We've even been able to use some of our wedding gift cards to purchase gifts, which makes our shopping that much better. I love getting people awesome gifts without feeling like I'm spending any money!

I'm thankful I'm healthy. I am constantly surprised lately when I wake up and am not sick. I have been around so many coughing, sniffling volunteers lately that I can't understand why I haven't yet gotten sick myself. Whatever is keeping me healthy, I'm glad it's working! I do not want to be sick this time of year (or ever, but you know).

I'm thankful we finally have a dining room table. Confession: I haven't had a real dining room table since moving into my own apartment last June. That's about 18 months without a table, and it's ridiculous. Drew and I made our first major purchase together earlier this week when we stopped by ArtVan to purchase a sweet dining room table for something like 60% off! I just got confirmation from Drew that our precious table was safely delivered earlier today, so we're looking forward to eating our first at-home meal at our very own dining room table tomorrow night!

I'm thankful our (new) Christmas tree is all set up! You'll have to wait for pictures, since I don't have my camera handy now and haven't yet uploaded any pictures to my computer, but trust me when I say Drew and I have an awesome tree. We decided to skip the Black Friday deals and splurge on a bit of a nicer tree, which we're pretty excited about. Our ornament situation is a bit sad still (Mom and Dad - hurry up and mail us my ornaments!), but it works. I promise I will have pictures up shortly.

What are you thankful for this week? Anyone else ahead of schedule on their Christmas shopping or are Drew and I totally crazy?

Thankful Thursday: The First Month of Marriage

Ahh, Thursday. I am so glad this week is passing fairly quickly and the weekend is almost here!

I actually wrote most of this post last week to post last Thursday, but everything (read: work) got so crazy, I never got around to posting it! Oh, well.

This week has been kind of hectic too, so I'm glad to have a chance to pause and think about what I'm thankful for this week. The best part about this week: Drew and I celebrated one month of marriage on Tuesday! Needless to say, I have a lot to be thankful for this week.

And with that, it's on to the list!

I'm thankful for one month of marriage. So far being married to my best friend has been awesome. I can't wait for the many, many months and years yet to come!

Our honeymoon feels so long ago now. I guess that means it's time to save up for another vacation!

I'm thankful I have a gym buddy. I love working out, but sometimes I have a hard time motivating myself to get to the gym. Sometimes I'm tired or I get home too late or I'd rather eat a bunch of Halloween candy and sit on the couch.

But Drew and I have been really good about keeping each other motivated to go to the gym 3-4 times a week since we moved in together, and I love it. There have been a few days in that time when I would not have been able to motivate myself to go, but Drew has convinced me I'll feel better once I work out. And he's always right.

Even though we're both doing our own thing when we get to the gym I'm glad we go together. It's still time together, even if we're too out of breath to talk, and we're keeping ourselves healthy at the same time. Hooray for trying our hardest to be a fit couple!

I'm thankful our internet connection has been cooperating lately. We have a pretty awful internet connection in our apartment that frequently disconnects, stops, and just generally is slow and irritating. There was even a week where the internet in my entire apartment complex went out inexplicably on three different days and wouldn't come back on for hours. Really helpful for someone who works from home 50% of the time.

Usually the internet acts up every few days, but I feel like it's been running smoothly for the last couple of weeks (minus a day or two of hiccups - a vast improvement from the norm). Definitely helpful for work, but also more important things like blogging and perusing Pinterest :)

I'm thankful we're almost done with our thank you cards. That's right, Drew and I have been married for just over a month, and we have roughly 10 thank you cards to go until we're completely finished!

My ambitious goal is to have them all finished by the end of this weekend, and it looks like we just might make it! It's going to feel really good to have them all written and out in the mail, especially since we're going to be moving to a new apartment in a couple weeks. There's no way we're redoing all of the return addresses on everything.

I'm thankful for candy. I love sugar and chocolate and other things that are bad for me, and I am so psyched that we still (miraculously) have leftover Halloween candy in our apartment.

I'm thankful there hasn't been snow yet in Michigan. At least not around these parts. I would be completely content if there wasn't any snow until 2012. It's unlikely, but a girl can dream. I'm just glad we don't live on the East coast or any other places that have been unfortunate enough to experience snow already this season.

I'm thankful I have the weekend off of work. Oh, so thankful. You know what this means, right? Another perfect weekend awaits! I already have my eye on a few delicious-looking recipes I found on Pinterest to try and recreate on Saturday.

Chocolate chip pecan cookies & granola bars via Smitten Kitchen; pretzels via Budget Bytes; homemade thin mints via Food.

I'm definitely not going to make everything pictured; I don't have that much free time. Right now it looks like the homemade pretzels are the recipe most likely to be made this weekend. Yum!

And finally...

I'm thankful we'll have our wedding pictures within the next few days! I have been dying to see our wedding pictures for, well, a month now and, like I mentioned yesterday, we finally got the call from our photographer that our picture DVD is on its way!

I think it's safe to say that my weekend will be pretty much consumed by going through all of our pictures and (finally) getting around to putting together my recaps of our big day.

What are you thankful for this week? Anyone else celebrating any major milestones this week?

Thankful Thursday: We're Married!

Well, we finally did it: we got married!

Photo from Drew's mom. Many, many more professional pics to come!

October 8 seems so long ago now, even though Drew and I have only been married for 12 days. I definitely have a lot to record here: the last-minute preparations, the rehearsal, the ceremony and reception, and, of course, the honeymoon! Expect many more posts here in the next couple of weeks documenting everything.

But for now, while Drew and I are still recovering from everything and settling in together, here's a list of what I'm thankful for this week.

I'm thankful for my husband. After taking 7 workdays off for final wedding preparations and our honeymoon, to say this week has been rough on me is a bit of an understatement (working 24 hours in two days is no joke). I've been coming home stressed and frustrated (even more than usual), and Drew has been amazing cheering me up and taking my mind off of work.

Not to mention all of the housework he's been taking care of this week while I'm gone. Basically, he's the perfect husband.

Saying "husband" is so much fun, by the way!

I'm thankful for our fantastic wedding guests. I had so much fun at our reception, and, from the looks of things, I think most of our guests did too! The dance floor was hoppin' and new friendships were made. We even received compliments on our awesome guests from the bartender and DJ, which can't be that common.

Now can someone else get married so we can have another fun party to attend?

I'm thankful for a kick-ass honeymoon. Drew and I obviously went to Disney World for our honeymoon (where we met), and it did not disappoint. We relaxed, we ate, we drank, we park-hopped and just generally had a great time spending a week away from everyone and everything.

I have a more thorough post or two planned to recap our honeymoon, but here are a few teaser pictures to tide everyone over until I get around to those posts.

I'm thankful for spreadsheets. Slowly but surely (emphasis on s-l-o-w-l-y) I'm getting our thank you cards together, and tracking my progress on our guest list spreadsheet is making everything so much easier. I always knew Excel was good for something.

I'm thankful for days I can work from home. I work from home 2-3 days a week, and usually this is great for me because I'm lazy and can wait until 11am to get ready and I'm not driving as far to my appointments.

This week has the extra bonus of me being able to spend time with my husband on the days I'm not driving into the office. Sure, I still have to actually do work, but being able to look up from my computer and see Drew's face and spending my lunch break together make my day SO much better.

I'm thankful for sweaters, blankets and other warm things. Baby, it's cold outside. I'm cold almost anytime the temperature is under 80 degrees, so this 40s-50s nonsense is completely messing with my body. Wasn't I in sunny, warm hot Florida just a few days ago?

Drew and I used some of our wedding money to buy some sweet new bedding from the Pottery Barn Outlet this weekend, including an incredibly warm and comfortable down comforter. It's so cozy to sleep under and could not have been purchased at a better time. Winter weather and I are not friends, but at least I'll have our warm bed to look forward to in the months ahead!

And with that, my week of madness continues! I'll be stuck at camp all weekend for work, so I may or may not get around to posting any recaps before next week. Stay tuned!

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday: Two Days to Go!

Today is a pretty big deal: the wedding is TWO days away!

I obviously have a lot to be thankful for, so let's move on with the gratitude.

I'm thankful I don't work again until the 17th. In preparation for the rehearsal tomorrow and the wedding on Saturday, I have today and tomorrow off of work to just relax and enjoy everything.

Next week is, of course, our honeymoon, during which I plan to be completely incommunicado. My laptop is staying at home and my cell phone will be off. Ah, to be able to relax for a bit.

I'm thankful my family starts arriving tonight! Like I've mentioned before, I don't get to see my extended family too often anymore, so I'm excited many of my cousins, aunts and uncles will be in town this weekend to celebrate. We know how to have a good time at weddings, and I can't wait for all of the fun festivities to begin!

I'm thankful for my wonderful fiance. Because without him, this wedding would not be possible.

I'm thankful for awesome honeymoon plans. If you don't know by now, Drew and I are huge Disney nerds, so we're basically acting like five-year-olds in anticipation of our honeymoon in Disney World next week.

Just hanging out with our pal Woody.

We've both been to the parks many times and even worked for the Mouse as interns, so planning our honeymoon only took about 2.5 seconds. At around 10 a.m. Monday morning we will be at our hotel and finally enjoying our plans: wandering the parks, getting massages, enjoying awesome dinner reservations, and having fun together.

Get ready for at least a couple of Disney-picture-filled honeymoon recaps in a couple weeks. It's gonna be crazy.

I'm thankful I get to write another wedding recap soon. It's been awhile since my last wedding recap, and the next one I write will be for my own wedding! So exciting!

I have a feeling this recap will take quite a bit of time since I'll have so many more thoughts, feelings and details to process and write up, so be patient with me. I started a list of posts I plan to write to fully capture the day, so don't expect this to be just one post like my other recaps.

Maybe I'll even be able to convince Drew to write his own recap of our wedding ;)

But probably not.

I'm thankful for everyone who has helped us plan and prepare for the wedding. We're not through the woods yet with planning (I know we'll have a mess of last-minute things pop up), but the bulk of our tasks are finished.

I really don't know how Drew and I would have managed completing everything on our to-do list if it wasn't for our parents, friends, siblings and everyone else who helped us gather supplies, make reservations and appointments, talk through pre-marital expectations and celebrate with us. You're all wonderful, and we really can't thank you enough.

I'm thankful the weather forecast looks good for Saturday. It's been pretty cold and rainy lately in Michigan, but luckily that weather doesn't seem to be on the horizon for our big day.

This pleases me.

If the forecast is correct, then we'll probably end up getting married on one of the last nice weekends for the next six months or so. We'll see how things really pan out in two days, but for now I'm optimistic that the weather will cooperate with us.

And if it doesn't, well, what are you going to do? No use stressing over something we can't control (and that doesn't seem likely anyways).

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday: Single Digits!

Today is a big day: the wedding countdown has finally reached SINGLE DIGITS! Holy cow. Only nine days until the wedding!

I'm just a bit excited. And thankful for quite a bit as well. Since I'm extra wordy lately with two posts in two days (here's last night's post, in case you missed it), let's just get right down to business!

I'm thankful I get to go on my honeymoon in 11 days. Seriously, I need this vacation so bad right now (thanks for that, work). Plus, what better way to celebrate marrying my best friend than spending five days with him in Disney World? I have a pretty good feeling we're going to need all that time just to recover from the craziness that will be our wedding day.

Our honeymoon is our first real vacation together, alone, and I am so excited for all of our awesome plans - Hoop de Doo, California Grill, massages, Halloween Party... do we know how to do Disney right or what?

That was a silly question. Of course we know how to do it right.

Disney proposal? UR doin' it right.

I'm thankful for awesome runs. Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a runner, and this past weekend was a big deal for me in that regard. I ran my longest distance EVER on Saturday - five miles! I know for some people that's not a huge deal, but it is for me. Last year I could barely run one mile, let alone five.

Okay, I kind of cheated during my run and took a walking break every mile, but I still finished five miles, so haters to the left. I read enough healthy living blogs every day to have been brainwashed into thinking a half marathon is a good goal to have, so we'll see where my progress is at in a few months. Once wedding planning is over I have to have something to plan for, right?

I'm thankful I don't have to live by myself anymore (soon). I used to think living by myself would be fun and cool, since I'd be the one in charge of how everything looks and where everything goes. I could be the king queen of my own castle and come and go as I please and watch my "Gilmore Girls" DVDs all the time without judgement.

Well, living by myself has actually been super boring and has probably made me a bit lazier, since no one knows how long it's been since I made my bed or how long that dirty bowl has been sitting in the sink. And there's the whole thing how whenever there's a problem with anything in my apartment, I'm automatically the one who has to take care of it (unless it's something big enough to pass along to my landlord). Kind of a bum deal, if you ask me.

See, every few weeks I get a visit from a member from some kind of mega-size spider family, and I'm forced to kill it and dispose of its body myself. The first time I saw one of these suckers, I had a mini-panic attack for ten minutes before I worked up the courage to crunch it to death with a book. Now I'm so used to them that when I walked into my apartment yesterday to find the biggest spider ever staring back at me from the kitchen, I just casually grabbed a notepad to whack it with and dumped it in the trash.

Since my not-so-little spider buddies don't seem to want to leave me alone, I'm glad I'll have Drew around to carry out my dirty work and get rid of them for me. I can only take so much spider-mashing on my own.

I'm thankful the weather is still semi-warm. Although I grew up in Illinois, living in Florida for nearly a year exposed me to the joy of warm winters, and that's a tough thing to come back from. Last winter, my first back from Florida, was pretty much the most awful thing ever. Weather-wise anyways. That whole engagement thing was pretty great ;)

I've always been a pretty big wuss when it comes to cold weather, and especially snow, but now that I know I don't have to be freezing for half of the year, sometimes I want nothing more than to move down South again. Can you imagine never having to scrape snow or ice off of your car again? I can, and it's great.

So even though the weather is decidedly colder (highs in the 60s are not my style), I'm glad we still have a few moments of warmth and sunshine here and there to transition us into fall. Just don't expect me to be this tolerant of the weather in a month or so when I'm bundled up in six different layers and dreaming about 90-degree temperatures.

Okay, enough about me. What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday: Better Late Than Never

Time for another installment of Thankful Thursday!

I've been a total stresscase at work lately, so taking the time to think of the good things in my life is a welcome distraction. I am so excited that I only have 9 workdays left before I have a week and a half off for the wedding and honeymoon. October, come quickly!

Also, for the record, I know I missed posting this last week but I have a totally legit excuse: my internet was out. I promise 75% of this was written a week ago. Anyways, on with the show.

I'm thankful I am 16 days away from being part of an awesome family. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and miss living in Illinois near many of my family members, but I am so excited to officially join a new family next month! Since moving to Michigan over a year ago, I have spent almost every weekend with Drew and his family (he lives at home right now) and have gotten to know his parents, brothers and sister-in-law really well. And they're awesome.

When Drew and I were still in the beginning stages of wedding planning we worried that our reception would be one of those no-one-dances-and-it's-awkward-and-boring ones. Not a chance. Both of us have extremely outgoing and uninhibited families (and friends) so we know we won't have a problem getting people out on the dance floor.

But we also have fun on regular ol' weekends too, like at the girls' brunch we had two weekends ago while the guys were all at a church event.

Ladies at family brunch.

We enjoyed some delicious food and some wonderful time catching up with each other at our brunch, without any male interruption, which pretty much never happens. I think we'll need to make this a regular event! And I need to look through the family cookbook I received at my wedding shower to recreate the delicious egg casserole and sticky buns we had to eat.

I'm thankful my dress is finally altered. I wasn't exactly on top of things when it came to finding someone to make alterations to my wedding dress. But luckily a woman in my Rotary club is pretty handy with a sewing machine and offered to alter my dress for me (and for significantly less than the boutique where I purchased my dress would have charged). I went to her house last week for a fitting and got a message from her tonight that it's all finished! Woohoo! Knowing my dress isn't going to fall off of me in the middle of the ceremony is definitely a relief.

I'm thankful for coffee. Because I'm overworked and tired. Caffeine is a wonderful thing.

I'm thankful for excellent customer service. Without giving away any spoilers for my bridesmaids' gifts, I'll just say that an online order I placed with Anthropologie a few weeks ago got a little messed up, resulting in me spending nearly 30 minutes on the phone with a customer service rep to fix my order. The woman I spoke to was absolutely wonderful and extremely helpful in making sure the correct items were shipped to me ASAP. Phew!

I'm thankful the wait is almost over. Seriously, can the next 16 days just fly by? I don't know how Drew and I have been so patient with waiting for our wedding day to arrive, because all I want right now is to get married. I feel like a little kid excited for Christmas - the anticipation is almost too much to handle!

I'm thankful our wedding checklist is thisclose to being completed. Our wedding planning checklist  has seriously stressed me out over the past few months, but Drew and I have totally been dominating it in the last couple of weeks. We're pretty much down to the finishing touches, which feels so amazing. Don't let anyone tell you wedding planning is easy, because it's so much work. I'm thankful Drew has been so helpful with planning instead of expecting me to do everything by myself because I wouldn't have been able to handle it all. If we can handle planning a wedding together, then we can handle anything.

I'm thankful fall-scented candles are now seasonally appropriate. Not much smells better than a pumpkin-scented candle in my opinion, and now that fall is officially here I can burn them in my apartment without feeling any shame. I already cheated the scented candle system by burning an apple-scented one all summer long, but I can't break the unwritten candle rules by burning my pumpkin ones early. Since I've already baked pumpkin bread, the only step remaining in my fall pumpkin trifecta is to get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. I think I just figured out my weekend goal!

What are you thankful for this week? Does anyone else have a pumpkin-themed to-do list this fall?

Thankful Thursday: Family, Fall & Fun

What a crazy week it's been! Having Monday off for Labor Day has really made this week fly by, which means we're one week closer to the wedding and our Disney honeymoon! I think the only thing that's going to get me through work this month (it's an extra-crazy time for us) is knowing I get a week and a half off for our wedding/honeymoon.

I had an excellent holiday weekend and have some fun plans for this weekend, so I have plenty to be thankful for this week.

Finishing our place cards. Drew had downloaded a free trial of Photoshop to recreate the most awesome place cards ever, but the trial expired this weekend before we were completely finished tweaking our version of the cards. Oops. But Drew's awesome so after a 12-hour day at the ball park working, he came home and banged out the rest of our place cards so we're all set to go! What a guy. All we have left to do is add individual names to the cards, but we can do this without Photoshop. Score!

My cousin got engaged! Yep, my lovely cousin in Boston got engaged last week! What a year it's been for my family - another cousin was married in July, my wedding is in October and another cousin just got engaged! My family knows how to have fun at wedding receptions, so I'm pretty pumped we'll have another one on the horizon after my turn. Plus, we're all so spread out that it's hard for the whole family to get together anymore. Family weddings are the perfect excuse for us all to see each other and catch up and, of course, have fun celebrating!

I'll be married in one month. Holy moly. Sometimes I still can't get over the fact that I was excited when we made it under the 200-days mark in our countdown when the wedding is only 30 days away right now! We still have quite a bit left to do for the big day, but I'm pretty much at the point where I don't really care. I just want to be married to my best friend.

All-girls fun breakfast this Saturday. Our church has a men's event on Saturday morning, so while all the guys are busy with that (minus Drew who will be at the Michigan State game), the ladies are getting together for a fun family breakfast! It's going to be awesome and delicious. I love breakfast (and my new family).

Our honeymoon is paid in full. I was a serious stress case a couple of weeks ago when the final payment on our honeymoon was due. Using a whole paycheck for a Disney vacation is exciting, but also kind of annoying. I like lots of numbers in my bank account, and our final payment resulting in us having not-so-big numbers for a bit. Thank goodness for paydays, though, because our savings are back on track and now we don't have to worry about spending anymore money on our honeymoon! I'm also thankful for everyone who helped us pay for our trip - you're the best :)

Fall is practically here. Okay, I am not at all a fan of cold weather (yes, I think 60 degrees is cold), but I really do enjoy fall. Now that the weather is starting to reflect the change in seasons I'm getting excited for all the good stuff fall brings: apple picking, sweatshirt weather, Octoberfest, the leaves changing colors, cider donuts, Halloween... all good things. I may love spring/summer weather the best, but fall is when Drew and I met and when we're getting married. This season definitely holds a special place in my heart. Plus it's cool enough outside that I can wear my moccasins which is also exciting. Now let's just skip winter and everything will be just grand.

All right, my lunch break is almost over, so it's back to work I go. I hope everyone has a great weekend (I know I will)!

Thankful Thursday: Finishing Touches

So remember in my first Thankful Thursday post when I predicted I would forget to post the next week? Yeah, that totally happened. But I remembered this week so I guess it's all good.

The wedding is majorly creeping up (only 37 days to go!), but luckily Drew and I are staying on top of everything pretty well which gives me a lot to be thankful for. So let's get to it!

Getting my wedding shoes. I searched for an absurdly long time for wedding shoes that I liked, that looked comfortable and weren't obscenely expensive. Thanks to Zappos I not only found my wedding shoes last week, but I received them in the mail in two days! And they fit!

For some reason finding the right shoes was almost more stressful than finding my dress, so crossing that off the list is a huge relief.

Finishing some reception details. Drew and I found a picture of the perfect escort cards for our wedding online a couple weeks ago, and, thanks to free trial downloads of Photoshop, Drew has recreated them for our wedding! This is the picture we used for inspiration:

via

We've also made a decent dent in getting all of our centerpieces together. We're using candles instead of flowers for a more streamlined look. A few months ago Drew and I ventured out to Michael's to find the perfect hurricanes for our candles, but they were a bit pricey. Luckily, on a trip to Dollar Tree I was able to find the exact same candle holders for about an eighth of the price! So I took trips to two different Dollar Tree stores to find enough candle holders for all of our tables. Just a few more items to buy, and the centerpieces will be finished!

Awesome perks from our reception venue. Earlier this week Drew and I had a tasting at our reception venue for dinner options. We also worked out some details for the reception, including finding out about some pretty sweet booking incentives. We already knew we were getting chair covers for free (!!!) for booking early and that we'd also get some free table linens (white tablecloths are included with the space, but we also get colored table runners).

But the best part? We get to have free hors d'oeuvres! This is so exciting for us because we know our guests will be hungry by the time the reception starts (at 6:00 pm), but this wasn't an option in our budget. Free hors d'oeuvres? Yeah, we'll definitely take 'em.

The end of Drew's internship. Okay, this one also kind of sucks because it means he's unemployed as of next week, but it also means he doesn't have to work on weekends anymore! We haven't had a real, full weekend together in such a long time. Plus, this is perfect timing since it's crunch time for finalizing all of our wedding details and we need all the spare time we can get in order to pull together our plans.

This blog. Since starting this blog a few months ago I feel like I have so much more control over our wedding plans. Maybe because writing about the to-dos that are stressing me out gives me a better perspective on how important each task actually is rather than the inflated importance I sometimes have in my head? Or maybe because I feel more accountable for any plans that need to be started or finished? Either way, I'm glad my attempt to relieve my wedding stress and focus on what's important - marriage - is actually working.

Plus blog stats are super fun. Thanks to everyone who reads my posts :)

I'm trying to post a bit more regularly, and I have some future posts in the works, so look out for updates soon (or use the subscription link in the sidebar).

Thankful Thursday

I'm obsessed with blogs, and I recently found a new healthy living blog to stalk daily: Ali on the Run. It's an awesome blog by a magazine writer (jealous!) who is incredibly inspiring to me on the workout front (I don't care about being a fit bride, but I do care about being fit) and is hilariously awesome.

One of my favorite features on Ali's blog is Thankful Things Thursday, where she chronicles things she is thankful for every week. I love these posts so much, because sometime life sucks but it's important to remember that we always have something (or someone) to be thankful for. So in keeping with my goal to avoid the stress-monster that is planning a wedding, I decided to start my own list of things I'm grateful for this week with Thankful Thursday.

Here we go!

Excel spreadsheets. Normally I hate Excel because I have to use it so much for work and, frankly, it's kind of an ugly (although practical) interface. But without the organizational powers of Excel I would have a really terrible time organizing our guest list, and probably wouldn't have realized we forgot to send out a couple invitations (sorry!).

Nice neighbors. I'll be honest, I really don't know anyone in my apartment building (except for the receptionist from the Chamber of Commerce who lives across the hall). But the other day when I was unloading some boxes of wedding gifts from my car to haul into the building, a nice old man opened the front door for me when I was obviously struggling to both hold the boxes and open the door. He probably saved me about fifteen minutes worth of frustration. Thanks old neighbor guy!

Picking up my dress this weekend. The store where I ordered my wedding dress has been holding my dress for about a month now. I'm thankful my appointment to try it on and pick it up is finally this Saturday! Now I just have to find my shoes and hope my dress fits...

The end of summer weddings. Okay, I'm not really thankful that summer weddings are over. I had so much fun at each of the weddings we attended and picked up so much great inspiration for my own wedding. However, the end of summer weddings means something very exciting: Drew and I are the next wedding! It's almost here! Only 51 days to go! I'm really excited.

Drew. Duh.

That's all for now. Check back next week so see if I remember to write another Thankful Thursday post!

What are you thankful for today?