Thursday, January 17, 2008

"Holy Tuxedo, Batman!"* (and a weekly update)


Image found here

We're getting married!

It occurred to us, well, yesterday, that this is January. We're getting married in May. February, March, April...May. 4 months.

Weren't we just at six months last week? Where did that time go? How the crap are we going to get all of this stuff done in the next couple of months? I'm not talking just about optional things. No, it's things like addressing invitations, booking hair and makeup, and Calvin getting his attire together. Yikes.

I could use some help here (or at least the knowledge that there are others who are feeling totally and completely overwhelmed.) Suggestions? Tips? Anyone else feeling inundated with the number of things that need to be taken care of?

(On the "lose a bit of weight to fit into the dress so it doesn't need alterations" front, this past week was a success and a failure. "Success" because I lost some weight- even if it was due to a stomach bug that I got just before leaving for Mexico. Failure, because I didn't exercise at all due to said stomach bug.)

*quote from here

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

"Red Carpet" inspiration

I don't know about you, but I really like awards shows. The glamour, the glitz, the cattiness- all of it. Especially since I'm still trying to figure out an updo for my hair at the wedding, and the red carpet seems to be one of the best sources of inspiration.

But the Golden Globes, sadly, were not to be. The Fug Girls, in this post, pretend that the show really did go on, and that Rachel Bilson wore this:

Now, wouldn't this make an absolutely fabulous wedding dress? I'm imagining something along the lines of a more casual, backyard affair. I have no idea who made her dress, but I did a little bit of digging and found some similar dresses:

Silk Charmeuse dress By Watters

Long-sleeved David Meister at Nordstrom's for $368

Calvin Klein at Nordstrom's for $178(!)

Have you found inspiration from your wedding by celebrities? (And anyone else bummed about the Golden Globes?)

Registry take 1: Kitchen Gear

Over the past couple of months, we decided to register for wedding presents at a variety of places. It was important for us (me) to make sure that the items on our list really are things that we want for a long time to come.

(Sidenote: My mom sometimes teases me about how I will search high and low for exactly what I want, and when I find it, that's it. I will have it forever, or until it wears out, whichever comes first.)

We cook a lot- 4+ nights a week, not counting the nights that we do a quick meal courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen food aisle. Our current pots and pans are my grandmother's Revereware, as well as a cast iron skillet and a stockpot that we picked up at a discount closeout store.

Image found here.

Seeing as the pots have outlived my grandmother, I would say that she really was set for life. Too bad that modern Revereware is not nearly as awesome.

My grandmother's pots work fine, but the handles don't always insulate against the heat. We decided on All-Clad.

Image found here.

I've become enamored with All-Clad's saucier pan after hearing rave reviews about it on Indiebride.

Saucier pan available here.

It seems that Williams-Sonoma is the only place that carries that amazing saucier pan our of all the typical registry locations. So of we went to Williams-Sonoma.

When we arrived (6ish on a Saturday evening), the store was pretty empty. There was some confusion when we were filling out the paperwork, but it was eventually straightened out. We had done our research and knew pretty much exactly for what we wanted to register. Only exception was knives.

We also spent close to two hours trying out every single knife in the store. The woman that was helping us was well-informed and patient as we went back and forth between several knives. Eventually, we settled on the Wusthof Culinar- mostly because it felt the best in my hands. (Calvin recognized that between the two of us, I'm the one who is more likely to cut myself.)

Wusthof Culinar.

Calvin did pick out a Shun Kaji Santoku that he loves, and added that as well.

Calvin's dream knife.

We did register for the All-Clad pots and pans, as well as other miscellaneous kitchen items, like cookie sheets, muffin tins and a mortar and pestle. During this time, we were left alone, which suited us just fine.

Overall, our experience setting up a registry at Williams-Sonoma was fine. There was some confusion when we were filling out the paperwork, and our password to update online didn't work at first, but things are set up now. Updating the registry online is a different story; things aren't immediately added or removed, making it difficult to make sure that items were actually added or removed. I've got 2 single wine glasses that we put on the registry that took way more tries than it should have in order to remove them. And the registry server seems to be down periodically- and by periodically, I mean nearly every time I try and update it- which is irritating.

Anyone else want to share their experience with Williams-Sonoma? (And has anyone else having difficulty with the online portion of the registry?)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

taking off....

To Playa del Carmen!

Yes, my dear Mom and I are leaving tomorrow morning to spend the weekend in Mexico as a birthday present. (My mom and I have gone on various trips for my birthday over the years. And while my actual birthday is in March, this weekend is when our schedules and Spirit Air sales aligned.)

We will be staying at the Illusion Boutique Hotel, located between 5th Ave. and the beach.


We are arriving early Friday morning, and will be leaving on Monday. I know that there are a lot of people that have traveled to Playa del Carmen and elsewhere in the Yucatan peninsula (Miss Lovebird, this definitely includes you!) so for those of you familiar with the area:

Where should we go? What should we see? And anyone have any restaurant recommendations?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Weekly check in

It is Wednesday, which means that it's time for an exercise update. (After last week's post, there was some interest in a weekly check in, so here goes.)

I successfully ran two miles on Thursday (and by successfully, I mean I ran everywhere the sidewalks/roads were plowed;' there was maybe a quarter mile where I walked because it's just too hard to run in 8 inches of snow.)

Friday was some at home strength training, and I did more of the same on Monday.

Not to shabby considering the sadness/craziness of the past few days.

More on that will come. (Perhaps a compare/contrast of weddings and funerals, since the same people attend both? Or why everyone at a funeral wants to talk about wedding planning? Or how cute the ring bearer and flower girl will be at the wedding of "Aunt Fun", the nickname I was given after we made pillow forts together in the basement of the funeral home?)

How else has everyone fared in their exercise plans for this week?

Friday, January 4, 2008

Christmas gift

(I know that this post would have been better last week, but life was really hectic with all the travel. And it is still Christmastide according to the church calendar.)

Little known secret: Calvin makes sourdough bread about once a week. To do this, he has been using this mixer from his grandmother. (He also makes kolach/kalac and nut roll. Yes, he is Hungarian.)

The ubiquitous Kitchenaid artisan mixer can be found here.

The thing is, both of us grew up with families that cooked and baked a ton. Both of our mothers have burned out multiple mixers. (For my mom, it was typically during Christmas cookie baking; my family's sugar cookie dough is tough on mixers.)

Sure enough, over the holidays, I made those sugar cookies, and the gears started grinding. (It wasn't even a double batch! No way would this mixer last through kids. No way.) It hasn't seized yet, but it sounds like weekly sourdough bread and holiday cookies have begun to wear it out. So we decided to go industrial strength (like our moms) and put this on our registry.

The big Kitchenaid mixer
.

Calvin's mom a long time ago said that she would be getting us the mixer for the wedding. But she didn't wait until the wedding; waiting for us under the Christmas tree this past holiday was a giant box.

It was the mixer.

Both of us were so excited about getting this piece of kitchen equipment. I don't think that we jumped up and down when we got it, but that's what it felt like.

I know we can't be the only people who wanted to skip around after getting a mixer. What wedding gift have you received that made you jump for joy?

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Starting off the new year right

After Miss Jasmine's post about resolutions and Miss Bubblegum's post about Wii Sports, I thought that I would share one of my New Year's resolutions.

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of New Year's resolutions (why do you have to wait for a new year to start self-improvements?), but this year it seems like just what I need to get my butt in gear for the wedding. And by butt, I also mean thighs, abs and back.

You see, I had my first dress fitting last week, and it went really well. With my shoes, the dress is the perfect length as it is (anyone else who will be in the 5'11"-6' tall range with shoes getting a Jenny Yoo dress: you need the extra 3", but not the extra 6".)

Being made of silk shantung, the dress doesn't weigh very much compared to many other bridal dresses; the downside to the lightweight material is that all bustiers/corset/strapless bra contraptions show through the dress. At the recommendation of the seamstress at the shop, I'm getting cups sewn in and am using fashion tape.

This fashion tape is available here. It eliminates any possible wardrobe malfunction.

So how does this relate to New Year's resolutions? Well, over the summer, when I ordered the dress, I had lost 7 pounds. May not sound like a lot, but I've gained it all back since then. (This is what happens when you quite the gym cold turkey. Sighs.) This also means that the dress is a little bit tighter in the midsection than I would like. If it fits well there when I go back in March, I will not need any other alterations.

Over Christmas break, Mr Dahlia's mom mentioned that she was training for a half marathon (scheduled a few weeks before the wedding) following this plan. Since she always wants Mr Dahlia and I to run with her when we're in Cleveland, I told her that I would train as well, even though I won't be running the half marathon. Nice thing about the plan is that it only has 3 runs a week, with 2 additional days for cross-training. Works out well for me, since I've already scheduled in 2 days a week to swim this term.

Image found here.

To kick things off, I ran for 25 minutes this morning.

Anyone else trying to get in better shape? Want to do a check in once a week? I'd be happy to share my progress if you would be willing to share yours.