Flaw-shing Forward

This is not news - every girl wishes she could change something about herself.  At least, every girl I know. And with a looming wedding, the all-important dress and photos that are going to last a lifetime... those problem areas become that much, well, larger.


It's easy to forget, amidst all this working out and dieting, skin hydrating and cleansing... that all these "flaws" are the things that make me ME.  


My curly hair, my not-so-taut tummy, my smallish eyes - These are all the things that my fiancee loves about me!


Which is why when Self Magazine introduced me to LoveYourFlawz.com, they sent my heart a-flutter.  This site celebrates the stuff we normally hate about ourselves.  


So when I'm stressing about my love handles, my frizzy locks and the lines that I wish I could erase from my face - I'll log onto this refreshing site and remember that my imperfections are perfectly wonderful!

Marriage and Religion... Oy Vey!

While I know the words yenta and schlep, the last time my family and I were in Temple for a religious reason was when I had my bat mitzvah.  At the age 12.  I'm now one week away from turning 29.


Which is why it took me by surprise when my father all of a sudden tapped into his Jewish roots.  The appearance of a ring on my finger seemed to unhinge the hidden Jew within my dad.

I was informed that we could NOT have a Saturday day wedding.  When asked why, he explained that it was against the Jewish religion.  When I asked why this mattered, he said, "It just does."

I was told, "We need a Rabbi."  When I asked why, he said, "We just do." 

I should note - my fiancee is not Jewish.  He's Catholic (but in the way that I'm Jewish - meaning, very lapsed).  So now we're having a rabbi, but we need to find one that will do the service with a priest.  

All I've got to say is... The whole thing is making me feel a bit mashugana!

The 1-2-3-2-1 Workout

 I love ice cream.  Actually, there should be a new word to describe how obsessed I am with ice cream.  And apparently, getting engaged and becoming a bit more stressed has made me crave that creamy goodness even more.  Give me some mint chocolate chip with a side of Say Yes to the Dress and the stress just melts away.

So even though my wedding is a year and a half away, I realize I need to curb the ice cream madness - or find a workout to burn the calories away quickly.

Luckily, the other day my boss handed me a 500 pound Vogue - and while I thought about using it for weight training, I actually decided to read the famed fashion magazine (a fashionista at heart I am not).  And surprisingly, after getting past the ads and the shoes I couldn't afford, I ran across a fitness article that I've decided has changed my life.

The trainer in the article put the editor through the 1-2-3-2-1 workout.  Sprint for one minute, jog for one minute; sprint for two minutes, jog for two minutes.  You get the point. 

Let me tell you.  I wanted to die on the treadmill.  Even though I'm pretty good runner, this brought me pretty close to puking.

And guess what I had for a snack to celebrate my new, intense, calorie burning blast? Some ice cream :)

I don't think Anna Wintour would approve.

A To-Do List Junkie

Two days after we got engaged my mother asked me where we were registered.  

No joke.

And five days after that, everyone started asking what kind of wedding we wanted, where we wanted it, what was our color scheme... it was a never ending barrage of questions.

For someone who really thought she would just get engaged and then many months later just show up to a ready made party - this was relatively overwhelming.  And by relatively, I mean extremely.

My first response?  Run to Barnes & Noble (my happy place) and get a book that would answer all my questions.  But as I looked at all my options for over an hour, I got overwhelmed. Again.  And left empty handed.  

So when my friend Wendy gave me the Knot Book of Wedding Lists I almost cried. From happiness.

This book is AMAZING!  Who doesn't love ready made to-do lists, broken down into easy-to-read sections?  I've bookmarked pages, I've made the fiancee look at it with me, I've even kissed the cover in gratitude.

And when we finally do go to register?  I'll have a scanner in one hand and the Knot Book of Wedding Lists in the other.

Attached by the Money Clip

On the second Valentine's Day we spent together, my then boyfriend (now fiancee) gave me a set of keys to his apartment.  That was a big deal.  A VERY big deal. 


But not as big as moving in together - which happened a  year and a half after the first key exchange.


And definitely not as huge as when he got down on one knee.


Then, this weekend, I felt like we took the largest step of them all... at least for me.  We opened a joint bank account.


Gasp!


I'm not sure why this is the biggest deal of all, but knowing that we are sharing money, saving for our future - it's crazy adult. We are starting a nest egg for, well, our future nest and the baby birds that will reside in it!


Signing on the dotted line, my name next to his, our tiny little lump sum in one account... it was thrilling and totally weird all at the same time.

Taming My Inner Bridezilla

I hate bridal magazines, but I have a stack sitting on my calendar.  


I despise shopping - but I head to different web sites to look at gowns and bridal party dresses.  


I can't walk through a store now without thinking, "Oh, I totally need to register for that" even though, really, when am I going to ever use a Kitchen Aid Mixer? (but I really really want it!!!)


When I hear a song, I immediately start wondering if it would make a good first dance ballad.


And don't even get me started on the gym and bridal bootcamp workouts.


I'm good at taming these flare ups, these wedding thoughts that could, if I let them, take over my world.  


One way to satisfy my bridal cravings... plop onto the couch and turn on "Say Yes to the Dress." All of a sudden, I don't feel so crazy.

First Me, Then We, Now Us

I was single throughout most of high school.  I was single throughout almost all of college.  And the five years I lived in NYC? Well, I was unattached for three of them.  Needless to say, I had mastered the art of being single in a city.


And then, at the age of 25, I became un-single.  And so I stopped stressing about never meeting anyone and started freaking out about all that relationship stuff I had never really had to deal with before.  Is he my boyfriend? When can I call him my boyfriend? Do I want to call him my boyfriend?


And then, when that was settled, it was all of a sudden, Are we going to move in together? Are we going to get engaged? Are we EVER going to get engaged? What if he NEVER proposes?


Needless to say, he put a ring on it.  And now, now all that intermittent relationship stress is replaced by all this wedding stress, and "our future" stress.  


But one thing I didn't have, but now do have, when dealing with all these Me-We-Us moments, is a sparkly little distraction.  And all I have to do is look down at my left finger to replace an "ARGH!" situation with an "OMG I'M ENGAGED!" and things start looking a little bit more rosy.