Josh and I went to the Double Tree on Sunday to taste lots of yummy food and finalize alllllll the little reception details that we had yet to discuss. We had so.much.fun! I seem to remember being all over-zealous and promising photos of the yummy food. Well, this girl has some serious A.D.D when there are delicious things to eat around as well as four different kinds of wine for sampling and tons of lit candles everywhere! *heart*
When we walked in we met with our (adorable) catering and event manager, Shannon. She has been an absolute dream for us and this whole wedding planning process. She holds up amazingly well under the seemingly endless barrage of questions we put her through. She walked us into a conference room completely decked out to look like our wedding day. Round table, ivory linens, candles...we even got to select a napkin fold (from 8 different ones!) I really did not even know you could fold a napkin more than two ways!
While we sat down, the catering lead and the chef came in and basically gave us table-side service. While I was expecting to love the Chardonnay Chicken, it was actually my least favorite. It was good...just not as good as the other things we sampled.
I was extremely suspect of the salmon having a tomato-based sauce. It was ah-mazing. It was so savory and moist and flaky. It just fell apart with your fork and melted in your mouth. Mm! Josh was drooling all over his plate when they brought out the beef tenderloin we had selected in place of a sample of Prime Rib. It was also so delicious. The chef had prepared it perfectly: medium rare. It seems to me, that every wedding I have ever been to the food is too fussy. Trying to hard. No familiar flavors. Well, on my wedding day (even though I am sure I won't really be eating) comfort food seems like the perfect answer.
We selected:
A garden salad with a choice of house made Ranch and Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Salmon with garlic-mushroom orzo and steamed veggies.
Pepper crusted Beef tenderloin medallions with garlic cheddar mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.
All that combined with a pretty pink champagne punch to be passed during our cocktail hour, kegs of both Coors Original and Blue Moon (gotta represent Colorado with the beer!) and chocolate covered strawberries on each cake plate. YAY! We are spoiled. Shannon even gave us plenty of choices for the kids' plates. (we have about 20 kids coming) and we decided to serve chicken fingers to them. What kid doesn't love chicken fingers???
I am so happy that we now have the final details to finish our invites. I can finally make our RSVP cards that say: Beef or Salmon :) Now I have no more reason to procrastinate.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Food? Okay!
We are up (way too early for a Saturday, I might add) to go to the tasting for our reception. This is also our meeting where we discuss and finalize all the little details going into the reception.
I am so very excited and hope to create the kind of wedding recception you see in the movies. Dark table cloths, candlelight, twinkly Christmas lights, Chinese lanterns, etc.
I narrowed our food options down to three:
1. Chardonnay Chicken: sauteed chicken with artichoke hearts and shrimp in a lemon Chardonnay reduction, served with wild rice. (YUM! This is the one I am expecting to like the most, it sounds a lot like my favorite meal ever, chicken piccata)
2. Grilled Salmon: served over a bed of linguine and tossed with a tomato based cream sauce.
(I am very skeptical about this one. To me, salmon is not something to be served with pasta and especially not something to put in tomato sauce. However, I think salmon is a classy option and we have the ability to ask the chef to prepare it in a different way if we want....we shall see)
3. Prime Rib: with natural juices and horseradish cream sauce, served with potatoes.
(I am positive this is the one Josh will choose. He is a red meat man to the core. I wanted to give people options...so I think red meat and chicken or fish is fine)
My nerdy self actually plans to take photos of the food to share on here, that way my guests can see what they're eating before the day of! I have been to some weddings where I could not even remember what I ordered, much less how it was going to be prepared.
Wish us luck...we already know we're good at eating. We just need to get better at deciding!
I am so very excited and hope to create the kind of wedding recception you see in the movies. Dark table cloths, candlelight, twinkly Christmas lights, Chinese lanterns, etc.
I narrowed our food options down to three:
1. Chardonnay Chicken: sauteed chicken with artichoke hearts and shrimp in a lemon Chardonnay reduction, served with wild rice. (YUM! This is the one I am expecting to like the most, it sounds a lot like my favorite meal ever, chicken piccata)
2. Grilled Salmon: served over a bed of linguine and tossed with a tomato based cream sauce.
(I am very skeptical about this one. To me, salmon is not something to be served with pasta and especially not something to put in tomato sauce. However, I think salmon is a classy option and we have the ability to ask the chef to prepare it in a different way if we want....we shall see)
3. Prime Rib: with natural juices and horseradish cream sauce, served with potatoes.
(I am positive this is the one Josh will choose. He is a red meat man to the core. I wanted to give people options...so I think red meat and chicken or fish is fine)
My nerdy self actually plans to take photos of the food to share on here, that way my guests can see what they're eating before the day of! I have been to some weddings where I could not even remember what I ordered, much less how it was going to be prepared.
Wish us luck...we already know we're good at eating. We just need to get better at deciding!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Weekend Road Trip...to Texas
At the beginning of the month, my dad asked us if we would be interested in road tripping with him to Texas for my Grandmama's 96th birthday. Josh and I have been dying to travel, and he was interested in seeing Texas so we readily agreed. We had 4 days to make a 2,000 mile roundtrip vacation worthwhile. While I would not recommend speed vacationing, we took it for what it was worth and had a really great time.
The drive was long (15 hours) but we decided to do there and back in one day apiece. That way, we had two full days in Texas rather than two half days. I am very glad we did it this way. For the amount of time we had, we actually accomplished a lot and saw a lot! Between the three of us, and my Mazda (which we lovingly call Car-Car or Zoom-Zoom) it was a piece of cake. Dang, do I love that car. We only filled up 3 times each way. And had the air conditioner pretty much running the whole time. Ah-mazing.
I don't know why, but the South has always held a kind of magic for me. I was born in Texas and lived there only as a toddler...so honestly, I am sure it is not some latent memory coming out. I just love it. Maybe it's in my blood? I don't know. There is just such a charm about anywhere in the South. I am dying to live there one day, and secretly (or ya know, not so secretly) I was campaigning for this the entire time we were there. I am competely enamored with it all. The trees. The smell. The Cicadas singing. Its just everything is sweet in the South: the people, the music, the tea. Love.
I will say, there are some parts of TX I hope to never see again. When it was my turn to drive, I was bookin' through West Texas....land of the flat and the ugly. And cows. Lots of cows. We were amazed at all the wind turbines out there! Josh realized that would be a lucrative business. We stopped for lunch on the way down in a little town of a two lane highway in west Texas, and already I could see Josh's eyebrows raising. The Dairy Queen we had stopped at was decked out: all the bench seat cushions were Texas flags, all the chairs had a lonestar carved into the back. There was a guy sitting next to us wearing spurs, people. We were in Texas alright. I love watching Josh's reactions to things he had never seen before. I remembered feeling the same awe at it all on my first trip there when I was about 15.
Slowly, we crept into East/Central Texas. It was late at night by this point and you could feel the (glorious!) humidity pressing down on the car. Josh immediately asked us if it was hard to breathe. Poor guy caught a cold somehow the day before we left, so he was pretty miserable for awhile there, sad! I <3 humidity. LOVE. love. love. For an allergy sufferer like me, I cannot even express how good that moisture in my lungs and sinuses feels. I.did.not.sneeze.once.while.we.were.there! From a girl who usually sneezes the majority of every day, that is a big.flipping.deal.
We hopped straight into bed on that first night in New Braunfels. When we woke, we stepped into the humidity in daylight. For Josh, with a cold...it worked wonders. Like a giant humidifier. We had the family dinner that evening so we couldn't go far, but we did drive to neighboring towns Gruene (pronounced Green...crazy southerners) and San Marcos. Texas State University is in San Marcos, and they have an awesome marine biology program there called Aquarena. We decided to do a tour and that included a ride around in a glass bottom boat! The water in this particular lake was pristinely clear since it was filtered through a limestone aquifer through natural springs. There was lots to see! Fish, salamanders, turtles, birds....very cool stuff.
For lunch, we stopped and ate at Rudy's Bar-B-Que. OMG. yum. You eat at community picnic tables over red checkered table clothes. Your food is delivered to you in a flat that soda comes in. Piles of tender, juicy meat and a stack of Wonder Bread. God Bless Texas. We ordered beef brisket, smoked turkey (which was my favorite and the.flipping.bomb) and pulled pork. They accent this deliciousness with sliced dill pickles and their special sauce. I of course had to also have sweet tea and banana pudding. I don't think I have ever been so full.
I will say, my big fancy Canon...HATED the humidity. I did not get very many photos because everytime we stepped out of the car, my lens would fog inside and out and it took the majority of the time we were there to get it into working condition. poo. Spoiled mountain air camera.
Dinner with the family was lovely. Of all the places we could have eaten in Texas, my dear sweet Grandmama wanted Olive Garden! Haha. It was so nice to catch up with family I had not seen in years. Although the wedding guest list did grow exponentially from this trip. :) Josh was enamored with my southern fam. And that made me smile. lots.
The next day, we road tripped it out a couple miles to San Antonio. We kept joking that Josh was going back to reclaim it for "his people." That was awesome. We took a super hot hour long boat ride along the river walk. I remember that being a lot more awesome when I was younger. We kinda wished we were in downtown San An at night, because the river walk looked like a super fun place to drink margaritas and hang out. Oh well! We also drove to Seguin, TX to see "The World's Largest Pecan" hahaha! It was about 2 feet long. I died laughing when we saw it. I was expecting something epic. Guess not everything is bigger in Texas.
We did *really* enjoy a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream. It melted super fast in the humidity, but the sticky sweet mess running down my fingers made me feel like a kid again. And seriously? If you've never experienced Texas' Blue Bell ice cream...you need to. Now.
On our mission to become the fattest people ever adventure, we also decided Josh needed to experience down home cookin the right way. We took him to Clear Springs Cafe. Which is a glorified tin shed in the middle of New Braunfels. Again with the checkered table clothes and TX flags aplenty. They had a live bluegrass band playing and we soon found out they are world famous for their...onion rings...! We ordered some and they were delicious. Especially with ketchup as my dad taught me. We watched lizards crawl on the windows and got greasy up to our elbows eating fried catfish, hush puppies and green beans cooked in bacon. *heaven* Josh is still talking about it. And I am the foody in this relationship.
I think we successfully ate our way through Texas and by the time we got home we were all tired, tanned and ten pounds (it seemed) heavier. We even made Josh experience the joy (gag) that is a peanut patty. You know, those pinkish red hockey pucks dotted with peanuts? Yep. All Josh wanted at the end of the trip was to go back...this time with a fishing pole. :)
Our trip in photos:
The drive was long (15 hours) but we decided to do there and back in one day apiece. That way, we had two full days in Texas rather than two half days. I am very glad we did it this way. For the amount of time we had, we actually accomplished a lot and saw a lot! Between the three of us, and my Mazda (which we lovingly call Car-Car or Zoom-Zoom) it was a piece of cake. Dang, do I love that car. We only filled up 3 times each way. And had the air conditioner pretty much running the whole time. Ah-mazing.
I don't know why, but the South has always held a kind of magic for me. I was born in Texas and lived there only as a toddler...so honestly, I am sure it is not some latent memory coming out. I just love it. Maybe it's in my blood? I don't know. There is just such a charm about anywhere in the South. I am dying to live there one day, and secretly (or ya know, not so secretly) I was campaigning for this the entire time we were there. I am competely enamored with it all. The trees. The smell. The Cicadas singing. Its just everything is sweet in the South: the people, the music, the tea. Love.
I will say, there are some parts of TX I hope to never see again. When it was my turn to drive, I was bookin' through West Texas....land of the flat and the ugly. And cows. Lots of cows. We were amazed at all the wind turbines out there! Josh realized that would be a lucrative business. We stopped for lunch on the way down in a little town of a two lane highway in west Texas, and already I could see Josh's eyebrows raising. The Dairy Queen we had stopped at was decked out: all the bench seat cushions were Texas flags, all the chairs had a lonestar carved into the back. There was a guy sitting next to us wearing spurs, people. We were in Texas alright. I love watching Josh's reactions to things he had never seen before. I remembered feeling the same awe at it all on my first trip there when I was about 15.
Slowly, we crept into East/Central Texas. It was late at night by this point and you could feel the (glorious!) humidity pressing down on the car. Josh immediately asked us if it was hard to breathe. Poor guy caught a cold somehow the day before we left, so he was pretty miserable for awhile there, sad! I <3 humidity. LOVE. love. love. For an allergy sufferer like me, I cannot even express how good that moisture in my lungs and sinuses feels. I.did.not.sneeze.once.while.we.were.there! From a girl who usually sneezes the majority of every day, that is a big.flipping.deal.
We hopped straight into bed on that first night in New Braunfels. When we woke, we stepped into the humidity in daylight. For Josh, with a cold...it worked wonders. Like a giant humidifier. We had the family dinner that evening so we couldn't go far, but we did drive to neighboring towns Gruene (pronounced Green...crazy southerners) and San Marcos. Texas State University is in San Marcos, and they have an awesome marine biology program there called Aquarena. We decided to do a tour and that included a ride around in a glass bottom boat! The water in this particular lake was pristinely clear since it was filtered through a limestone aquifer through natural springs. There was lots to see! Fish, salamanders, turtles, birds....very cool stuff.
(One of the glass bottom boats on the lake. I told Josh it felt like being in Huck Finn)
I will say, my big fancy Canon...HATED the humidity. I did not get very many photos because everytime we stepped out of the car, my lens would fog inside and out and it took the majority of the time we were there to get it into working condition. poo. Spoiled mountain air camera.
Dinner with the family was lovely. Of all the places we could have eaten in Texas, my dear sweet Grandmama wanted Olive Garden! Haha. It was so nice to catch up with family I had not seen in years. Although the wedding guest list did grow exponentially from this trip. :) Josh was enamored with my southern fam. And that made me smile. lots.
The next day, we road tripped it out a couple miles to San Antonio. We kept joking that Josh was going back to reclaim it for "his people." That was awesome. We took a super hot hour long boat ride along the river walk. I remember that being a lot more awesome when I was younger. We kinda wished we were in downtown San An at night, because the river walk looked like a super fun place to drink margaritas and hang out. Oh well! We also drove to Seguin, TX to see "The World's Largest Pecan" hahaha! It was about 2 feet long. I died laughing when we saw it. I was expecting something epic. Guess not everything is bigger in Texas.
We did *really* enjoy a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream. It melted super fast in the humidity, but the sticky sweet mess running down my fingers made me feel like a kid again. And seriously? If you've never experienced Texas' Blue Bell ice cream...you need to. Now.
(Beautiful building in San Antonio. Complete with flag-age)
(Josh...remembering the Alamo)
I think we successfully ate our way through Texas and by the time we got home we were all tired, tanned and ten pounds (it seemed) heavier. We even made Josh experience the joy (gag) that is a peanut patty. You know, those pinkish red hockey pucks dotted with peanuts? Yep. All Josh wanted at the end of the trip was to go back...this time with a fishing pole. :)
Our trip in photos:
Some contraption outside the Clear Springs Cafe.
Josh modeling his new favorite quote in a cute tourist-y shop in Gruene, TX
Witnessed on our way through West Texas. Look at that blue sky!!
Amazing flowers in San Marcos.
J and I in front of the biggest yucca plant I have ever seen. Excuse the extreme tired faces and disheveled hair. 14 driving hours = ugly christy.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuxedos
For all the wedding planning we have done already, poor Josh really has not had a lot of input yet. Mostly because shoes are just shoes to a guy...no matter if I can see that there is a huge difference between fuschia and pomegranate. hmph.
I was thrilled when we actually made the plunge and took our first tentative footsteps into Mens Warehouse. (Does anyone get their tuxes from anywhere else??) At first, we went on a Friday night about an hour before closing while we were just browsing around our local mall. The girl there was horrible. Horrible. The amount of service we received there was getting thrown a catelog of all the looks and asked what color my bridesmaid dresses are. Then she pulled down a swatch of vest colors and had one really rusty, cognac brown color and said, "this is what we have for brown." Uhm, really? The rest of my questions were answered in a similar fashion. It was very apparent that she did not care about taking care of us and we knew we would not be doing business with them. My friends, we are about 3.5 months out from the wedding and she told me I did not even need to worry about getting the guys fitted or anything until two weeeeeeeeeeks prior. Hi, procrastinator! I am not you! The thought gives me a panic attack.
Anyway...after that disappointing day, Josh and I had to amp ourselves up to go to a different Men's Warehouse in a much nicer mall in a newer section of town. All I can say is, thank God we did. Our consultant greeted us immediately and asked several questions about us as a couple, the kind of wedding we were having, when it would be, inside or out...you know...questions that made sense.
Once all the formalities were out of the way we sat down and looked at their little "Look Book". I basically sat back and told Josh to ask the questions and made sure to let him know that he got to choose what he was wearing. The salesman was very helpful and good at his job (aka: making Josh feel good about himself while giving good advice) At one point, Josh was leaning towards a 3-button thigh length jacket. The salesman told him, "because you're really built, man, I would recommend nothing more than a 2-button jacket. It will make you look shorter and rounder if you go longer." I was dying to tell him this, but the added emphasis of how Josh is in shape really sealed the deal there. (Good Job, Rich!) The salesman also informed us that a tux rental for the ring bearer had the same price tag as an adult tux. OUCH. But he recommended we just put little Antonio in a suit because he is small and no one will be able to tell the difference. That step will save us over $75 dollars!
We put down our group deposit, they gave us a group number so that the groomsmen can go in and get fitted at anytime. Can you say easy?? In about an hour we had finalized all the little details and Josh walked out of the store beaming. :)
We decided on a Calvin Klein 2-Button, notch lapel jacket, pleated pants (the salesman had to throw in the fact that they didn't crush anything *ahem* while you were seated), black round toe shoes, pewter cufflinks, an ivory shirt (decided because my dress is not white, we did not want it to look dirty in comparison to a bright white shirt) and a geometric print vest with a Euro tie. We switched up the colors a little to make Josh stand out, but here's an idea.
For the groomsmen:
For the Groom:
I was thrilled when we actually made the plunge and took our first tentative footsteps into Mens Warehouse. (Does anyone get their tuxes from anywhere else??) At first, we went on a Friday night about an hour before closing while we were just browsing around our local mall. The girl there was horrible. Horrible. The amount of service we received there was getting thrown a catelog of all the looks and asked what color my bridesmaid dresses are. Then she pulled down a swatch of vest colors and had one really rusty, cognac brown color and said, "this is what we have for brown." Uhm, really? The rest of my questions were answered in a similar fashion. It was very apparent that she did not care about taking care of us and we knew we would not be doing business with them. My friends, we are about 3.5 months out from the wedding and she told me I did not even need to worry about getting the guys fitted or anything until two weeeeeeeeeeks prior. Hi, procrastinator! I am not you! The thought gives me a panic attack.
Anyway...after that disappointing day, Josh and I had to amp ourselves up to go to a different Men's Warehouse in a much nicer mall in a newer section of town. All I can say is, thank God we did. Our consultant greeted us immediately and asked several questions about us as a couple, the kind of wedding we were having, when it would be, inside or out...you know...questions that made sense.
Once all the formalities were out of the way we sat down and looked at their little "Look Book". I basically sat back and told Josh to ask the questions and made sure to let him know that he got to choose what he was wearing. The salesman was very helpful and good at his job (aka: making Josh feel good about himself while giving good advice) At one point, Josh was leaning towards a 3-button thigh length jacket. The salesman told him, "because you're really built, man, I would recommend nothing more than a 2-button jacket. It will make you look shorter and rounder if you go longer." I was dying to tell him this, but the added emphasis of how Josh is in shape really sealed the deal there. (Good Job, Rich!) The salesman also informed us that a tux rental for the ring bearer had the same price tag as an adult tux. OUCH. But he recommended we just put little Antonio in a suit because he is small and no one will be able to tell the difference. That step will save us over $75 dollars!
We put down our group deposit, they gave us a group number so that the groomsmen can go in and get fitted at anytime. Can you say easy?? In about an hour we had finalized all the little details and Josh walked out of the store beaming. :)
We decided on a Calvin Klein 2-Button, notch lapel jacket, pleated pants (the salesman had to throw in the fact that they didn't crush anything *ahem* while you were seated), black round toe shoes, pewter cufflinks, an ivory shirt (decided because my dress is not white, we did not want it to look dirty in comparison to a bright white shirt) and a geometric print vest with a Euro tie. We switched up the colors a little to make Josh stand out, but here's an idea.
For the groomsmen:
For the Groom:
Saturday, June 19, 2010
REALLY?!?!
Yes, I know I am being a slacker.
I just had to come on over to my blog and share with the world the biggest irony of my.entire.life.
Holy $%&*.
If you've been reading, you know that I...like every other bride that ever had to don a beautiful white gown, have been working out like crazy and trying to look my absolute best on the big day. It was going great for awhile. I love the feeling of being sore and watching the extra jiggle evaporate....and then, I got stuck. I stopped losing. I even thought I was gaining weight. And not in the "muscle weighs more than fat" kinda way. Oh no, people. Like actually looking worse that I did before I started working out.
I could not figure it out. I am freaking out because of it. I eat the same as always, I exercise much more than I used to...so the only question I really had was W.T.F?!
I was just checking my email tonight, when Yahoo! decided to pop up one of those annoying blurbs that you just have to click on. The title? Are your everyday medications making you gain weight?
.............................................side note.......................................................
I have suffered from terrible and crippling allergies my entire life. I have been on every medication known to man: Clariton, Allegra, Flonase, Zyrtec, allergy shots, nedi pots, saline rinses. Nothing works. Most of them made me sick. Like stomach flu sick. Yuck. As sad as it was, I would rather have been a snotty mess than a puking mess, so I always went off of them. Throughout my life in good old Colorado, I have gotten quite good and being miserable. People often ask me if I am okay because I look like I have some terrible flu bug. Its really cute, let me tell you. But I had no options. In fact, I almost got fired from a job where I had a psycho boss because I sounded like I had a stuffy nose and I sniffled sometimes. Uhm. Yeah. Quit that job rather quickly. I'm sorry...I totally love feeling like this, but I will stop just because my stuffy nose annoys you. UGH!
In the last year, my allergies have been worse than ever. I don't know why. Although I am good at walking around hiding my misery most the time, I could not do it anymore. I went for the big guns. I bought a bottle of Benadryl. And while it helps sometimes, I usually have to dope myself up pretty good to get the desired effect. For the last 6 months or so, I have been taking 2 Benadryl every morning. Yes. On Josh and I's vacation to New Mexico last year, there were several days that I took 4 doses. It sounds terrible, but that's how bad the suffering is. I have been walking around in a zombie like stupor for 6 months. Not good when you're planning a wedding, by the way.
.............................................................................................................................................................
Side note over.
Back to where I was: one of these medications that can cause you to gain significant amounts of weight: Benadryl. My mouth fell open. I immediately began clicking and researching and reading and reading and reading some more. I could not believe what my eyes were seeing. Countless women going through the same thing. Mothers infuriated because their poor children with allergies outweigh their classmates by 50 or more pounds. And doctors do not feel the need to point out this side effect! I know I sure never got that little forewarning.
From what I understand, anthistimines, which are supposed to block allergens from bugging you also slow down your metabolism. (Totally makes sense: Benadryl makes almost everyone groggy and super tired.) It also causes water retention and increased hunger. And This may be completely TMI but for the last 6 months I have felt like I was PMSing constantly. At least, in that realm. I thought it was a wonky side effect left over from my brief visit with the EVIL Nuvaring. Nope.
The one thing that makes my everyday life a little more bearable is making me fat. Sweet. Thanks for that, irony gods! Really appreciate it. Uhm...no, not even a little bit. I have been busting my butt for about 4 months working out hard enough that the really hard workouts I am doing are a breeze now. I even restricted my caloric intake to a scary 1400 per day. Given the Benadryl causes increased hunger, that's been really hard. I know 1400 calories is enough to not starve to death, but I have felt starving for 6 months.
I really do not know what to do about this. Go to the allergist I guess. I am going to kick the Benadryl for a week and see what happens. I am sure I will be a miserable sneezy wreck, but at least I will be skinny damn it. I'll let you know what happens.
I just had to come on over to my blog and share with the world the biggest irony of my.entire.life.
Holy $%&*.
If you've been reading, you know that I...like every other bride that ever had to don a beautiful white gown, have been working out like crazy and trying to look my absolute best on the big day. It was going great for awhile. I love the feeling of being sore and watching the extra jiggle evaporate....and then, I got stuck. I stopped losing. I even thought I was gaining weight. And not in the "muscle weighs more than fat" kinda way. Oh no, people. Like actually looking worse that I did before I started working out.
I could not figure it out. I am freaking out because of it. I eat the same as always, I exercise much more than I used to...so the only question I really had was W.T.F?!
I was just checking my email tonight, when Yahoo! decided to pop up one of those annoying blurbs that you just have to click on. The title? Are your everyday medications making you gain weight?
.............................................side note.......................................................
I have suffered from terrible and crippling allergies my entire life. I have been on every medication known to man: Clariton, Allegra, Flonase, Zyrtec, allergy shots, nedi pots, saline rinses. Nothing works. Most of them made me sick. Like stomach flu sick. Yuck. As sad as it was, I would rather have been a snotty mess than a puking mess, so I always went off of them. Throughout my life in good old Colorado, I have gotten quite good and being miserable. People often ask me if I am okay because I look like I have some terrible flu bug. Its really cute, let me tell you. But I had no options. In fact, I almost got fired from a job where I had a psycho boss because I sounded like I had a stuffy nose and I sniffled sometimes. Uhm. Yeah. Quit that job rather quickly. I'm sorry...I totally love feeling like this, but I will stop just because my stuffy nose annoys you. UGH!
In the last year, my allergies have been worse than ever. I don't know why. Although I am good at walking around hiding my misery most the time, I could not do it anymore. I went for the big guns. I bought a bottle of Benadryl. And while it helps sometimes, I usually have to dope myself up pretty good to get the desired effect. For the last 6 months or so, I have been taking 2 Benadryl every morning. Yes. On Josh and I's vacation to New Mexico last year, there were several days that I took 4 doses. It sounds terrible, but that's how bad the suffering is. I have been walking around in a zombie like stupor for 6 months. Not good when you're planning a wedding, by the way.
.............................................................................................................................................................
Side note over.
Back to where I was: one of these medications that can cause you to gain significant amounts of weight: Benadryl. My mouth fell open. I immediately began clicking and researching and reading and reading and reading some more. I could not believe what my eyes were seeing. Countless women going through the same thing. Mothers infuriated because their poor children with allergies outweigh their classmates by 50 or more pounds. And doctors do not feel the need to point out this side effect! I know I sure never got that little forewarning.
From what I understand, anthistimines, which are supposed to block allergens from bugging you also slow down your metabolism. (Totally makes sense: Benadryl makes almost everyone groggy and super tired.) It also causes water retention and increased hunger. And This may be completely TMI but for the last 6 months I have felt like I was PMSing constantly. At least, in that realm. I thought it was a wonky side effect left over from my brief visit with the EVIL Nuvaring. Nope.
The one thing that makes my everyday life a little more bearable is making me fat. Sweet. Thanks for that, irony gods! Really appreciate it. Uhm...no, not even a little bit. I have been busting my butt for about 4 months working out hard enough that the really hard workouts I am doing are a breeze now. I even restricted my caloric intake to a scary 1400 per day. Given the Benadryl causes increased hunger, that's been really hard. I know 1400 calories is enough to not starve to death, but I have felt starving for 6 months.
I really do not know what to do about this. Go to the allergist I guess. I am going to kick the Benadryl for a week and see what happens. I am sure I will be a miserable sneezy wreck, but at least I will be skinny damn it. I'll let you know what happens.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
We're Alive!
Dear Lord.
My last post was on May 29th, and it feels like it was just a few days ago. It is now June 16th...and for the first time since we've been engaged, it seems I got swept away in wedding planning chaos.
I will have to do several posts to get caught up on everything we have accomplished, but here's a short recap:
Josh and I kicked it into high gear when we realized that we only had FOUR months left until the wedding. Those four months consist of summer, and even in a normal year when there is not a very special wedding looming, summer always flies by. In the midst of this knowlege, we were invited by my dad to take an impromtu road trip to Texas for my "Grandmama's" 96th birthday. Knowing it was probably the last time we'd be able to do anything even remotely relaxing/vacation-like until October, we readily agreed.
That trip to Texas put me even more behind in blogging world though! In the last 16 days alone, here is what we accomplished:
*We finalized our wedding floral contract with the amazing Holly at The Scarlet Bloom.
* We bought all the materials for making the ever elusive pocketfolds. I promise at some point, these will actually come together and I will have photos to share!
* All my girls have been measured for their dresses and ordered them...only to find out the store we ordered them from had a BIG "CLOSING" sign on it immediately afterwards. After a panicked phone call, the gal there assured me they were only relocating. I told her it was not nice to do that to stressed out brides!
* Mom and I found the flipping most adorable bridesmaid shoes ever. After much searching and stressing about the "right" color pink.
* Joshy and I made a trip to our local Men's Warehouse and actually sat with an awesome consultant completely designing the look for all the men in the wedding. Josh was so happy at the end of that, I think it finally made it real to him...that he got to put in his two cents about something that directly affects him.
* I met with our harpist for the final time, gave her a deposit and scheduled a time to meet with her before the wedding.
* Our tasting is scheduled at the reception hotel for this upcoming weekend. Once we have that detail complete, we can finish our invitations!
* Josh and I visited our local Helzberg Diamonds (we are loyal customers, that's where my gorgeous ring came from) and picked out his wedding band. We also came to the conclusion that we don't want to purchase a wedding band for me. My ring is so intricate already that adding a wedding band actually detracts from the look.
* Our DJ is booked, all we have to do is arrange a time to sit down with him and figure out playlists.
* My paychecks are finally going straight towards the wedding. We had a lot of catching up to do after living above our means for a couple months. Now, each check I get buys something we need or chips away at the remaining balances of things like my dress, the reception, etc. It's looking like we're gonna be able to pay for this thing outright!
*Phew*
Josh and I also had so.much.fun on our trip to Texas, we have decided as a couple that we are going to travel much more often. We realize that we can travel modestly and not spend an arm and a leg each time. Our new goal? To get to all 50 states together. Although we have been to many states individually, we have only been to 3 together (including exploring all over our homestate of Colorado). I will post a separate blog about our adventure in Texas as well as all the other important stuff above. For now, I needed to have a checklist of just everything I need to catch up on! I promise, we're still alive and wedding planning is going great! Stay tuned!
My last post was on May 29th, and it feels like it was just a few days ago. It is now June 16th...and for the first time since we've been engaged, it seems I got swept away in wedding planning chaos.
I will have to do several posts to get caught up on everything we have accomplished, but here's a short recap:
Josh and I kicked it into high gear when we realized that we only had FOUR months left until the wedding. Those four months consist of summer, and even in a normal year when there is not a very special wedding looming, summer always flies by. In the midst of this knowlege, we were invited by my dad to take an impromtu road trip to Texas for my "Grandmama's" 96th birthday. Knowing it was probably the last time we'd be able to do anything even remotely relaxing/vacation-like until October, we readily agreed.
That trip to Texas put me even more behind in blogging world though! In the last 16 days alone, here is what we accomplished:
*We finalized our wedding floral contract with the amazing Holly at The Scarlet Bloom.
* We bought all the materials for making the ever elusive pocketfolds. I promise at some point, these will actually come together and I will have photos to share!
* All my girls have been measured for their dresses and ordered them...only to find out the store we ordered them from had a BIG "CLOSING" sign on it immediately afterwards. After a panicked phone call, the gal there assured me they were only relocating. I told her it was not nice to do that to stressed out brides!
* Mom and I found the flipping most adorable bridesmaid shoes ever. After much searching and stressing about the "right" color pink.
* Joshy and I made a trip to our local Men's Warehouse and actually sat with an awesome consultant completely designing the look for all the men in the wedding. Josh was so happy at the end of that, I think it finally made it real to him...that he got to put in his two cents about something that directly affects him.
* I met with our harpist for the final time, gave her a deposit and scheduled a time to meet with her before the wedding.
* Our tasting is scheduled at the reception hotel for this upcoming weekend. Once we have that detail complete, we can finish our invitations!
* Josh and I visited our local Helzberg Diamonds (we are loyal customers, that's where my gorgeous ring came from) and picked out his wedding band. We also came to the conclusion that we don't want to purchase a wedding band for me. My ring is so intricate already that adding a wedding band actually detracts from the look.
* Our DJ is booked, all we have to do is arrange a time to sit down with him and figure out playlists.
* My paychecks are finally going straight towards the wedding. We had a lot of catching up to do after living above our means for a couple months. Now, each check I get buys something we need or chips away at the remaining balances of things like my dress, the reception, etc. It's looking like we're gonna be able to pay for this thing outright!
*Phew*
Josh and I also had so.much.fun on our trip to Texas, we have decided as a couple that we are going to travel much more often. We realize that we can travel modestly and not spend an arm and a leg each time. Our new goal? To get to all 50 states together. Although we have been to many states individually, we have only been to 3 together (including exploring all over our homestate of Colorado). I will post a separate blog about our adventure in Texas as well as all the other important stuff above. For now, I needed to have a checklist of just everything I need to catch up on! I promise, we're still alive and wedding planning is going great! Stay tuned!
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