Weddingbee Blog

Here are some great ways to save beaucoup dinero that have come to my attention that I just had to share with y’all!

Win a free honeymoon! PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com is having a contest which runs from May 1st to June 30th, and the winner will receive a $2,000 Marriott Honeymoon TravelCard redeemable at any Marriott hotel, anywhere in the world. The TravelCard can be used for anything at the hotel, including room nights, spa treatments, golf, and even breakfast in bed. Marriott has over 3,000 hotels in amazing spots like Hawaii, the Cayman Islands, London, Paris, Thailand… just to name a few. Brides can enter once per email address per day using the contest entry form. (http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/contest-signup.html)

These two dealios are for my local SoCal gals:
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Sometimes I look at my skin and just sigh. What am I doing wrong? I drink a lot of water. Sure, I’m still weaning myself off the junk (and by “the junk” I mean Diet Coke), but I wash twice a day and moisturize as much. I take vitamins. I take EFAs. Hell, I even exfoliate! What’s a gal gotta do for a darling, dewy ’dermis?

A couple of weeks ago, I had a makeup trial from a woman with skin you wouldn’t believe. She is dewy, radiant, positively luminous, and she specializes in skin care. I mean, she’s so healthy looking, you kinda want to lick her to see if she tastes like kale; and she’s so adorable, you want to put her in a Baby-Bjorn and carry her around (but that’s another story). Her background is in cosmetic dermatology, but she’s moving toward a holistic approach. She also happens to be dating Mr. Murad’s son, so you know sister’s got an ’in’ with the best of the best.

She saw right away that my skin was stressed. My pH balance was off, she claimed. When I told her I was using Neutrogena acne wash, she went white as a ghost. Apparently, the little bumpies on my forehead weren’t zits from too much oil, they were a reaction to a too-harsh cleanser!

I’ve always loved to pamper myself with good skin care products, but for the past year or so, we’ve been buying the bargain-basement, bottom of the barrel drugstore brands to save money for the wedding.
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So, Heidi and Spencer got married this weekend. Normally I roll my eyes at any news about Speidi, but this was a special occasion for many people, even me! Why, you ask?

Well, take exhibit A: this photo of Perez Hilton mingling at the cocktail reception.

Oh, Perez. Wait, who’s that behind him? In the white suit?
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Early on, we knew that finding a fly DJ for our wedding was one of the most important elements for us. Whenever we picture “the perfect party” (which is, after all, what a wedding should feel like to the couple of honor), we see a packed dance floor, sweaty faces, hands and feet flailing, singing along. So, one would think that it would be the first vendor we’d have booked, but nay, with less than 6 weeks to go, we still didn’t have our Spinner locked.

There were a few hindrances along the road: we have very eclectic taste and wanted a DJ who wouldn’t play “typical wedding music” all night. We also love mash-ups and were hoping to find a DJ who could blend old and new tunes to create unbearably danceable beats that would please all generations. Lastly, we wanted a DJ who could actually spin, mix and scratch (with real vinyl)—rather than just play a “playlist” of full-length songs all night.

We’d gotten a few recommendations, and had set up a few interviews, but we were starting to feel like finding “the one” was just a pipe dream. Then, late one night I was Googling around and was hit with the funkiest freshness I’ve heard in a while. I had found The Flashdance, and I was mesmerized!

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This week was a great wake-up call. I got back on the horse, strengthened my resolve, and am trucking away again. I still need to step it up on my own between workouts with my trainer, so that’s my new goal this week. That, and to come up with new and delicious recipes, because a bored belly leads me straight to dining out, and that’s no bueno for my waistline, or my pocketbook!

Here are a few fun tips I’ve discovered along the way:

1. Bac-Os are a vegetarian-friendly, tasty addition to anything. We put them in eggs, on pizza, in pasta, or just about anywhere we could use an injection of smoky, salty goodness. Oh man, in a frittata, they swell up and get really deliciously chewy. Yeah.
2. Raw almonds are a great way to quench hunger while out running errands, and can be vital in avoiding those sugar-crash induced fast food runs. I keep a baggie at my desk, in my car, and in my purse for emergency snacking. 1 almond = 10 calories, so it’s easy to portion and munch! Bonus: they’re high in good fats to keep your skin and hair looking fly, and your heart pumping healthily!
3. Next time you’re making pasta, try skipping the cheese, and instead mush some tofu in there. The tofu absorbs the flavor of whatever is around it, and the consistency is very similar - but you’ll pump up the protein, and fizzle down the fat in your meal, easily!
4. Keep an ample supply of frozen veggies around. Toss them in whatever you’re making. Frozen vegetables retain their nutrients better than fresh ones that are a few days old, and they’re already chopped and prepped for you! They are a great filler, make your meals feel more satisfying, and they’ll bump up your fiber intake.
5. Bananas are a great sweet snack or dessert. They’re rich in potassium, which helps quell muscle soreness after a big workout, and they’re portable! I love them fresh in my morning cereal, with a tablespoon of peanut butter for a power snack, or baked for a sweet and succulent, but low-calorie dessert.
6. Chocolate flavored lip gloss is sometimes all the dessert you need. Just having the smell and a tiny taste of it there can satisfy my sweet tooth in a pinch. I recommend Essence of Beauty Lip Frosting in Dutch Chocolate. Deeeeeelish.

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*I asked Mr. M to write a post about his ring, since it’s such a personal selection for him, so please give my main man a warm welcome! (cue applause)*

Hello wedding blog world! This is my first time writing, so I think I should let you know a little about myself: I am a man’s man, the manliest of many, and manlier than most men. I drink beer, can bench twice my weight, and like things that make lots of noise when they’re breaking other things.

Hmm… well maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. I do like beer as long as it’s light enough to still be refreshing if I splash it on my face while jogging, I could bench twice my weight if I weighed 25lbs, and while I don’t have a need to break things, stemware of any sort only has a 50-50 chance of survival when washed by my hands.

So, maybe I’m not the most testosterone-y of men, but when it came to the idea of wearing a ring, I have to admit, I got a little freaked out. Sure, I’m down with the concept of the wedding ring 110%. “Check the ring ladies. This conversation has been a delight, but this fella is taken, sold, off the market… I am married… to my wife.” But I have always had a weird thing about jewelry. I think Miss Meatball is her most beautiful without any jewelry (except her engagement ring, that’s crazy sexy!) and I feel weird about wearing jewelry, since I’ve never worn any - not even a watch! My dad, while he loves my mother dearly, never wore a ring either, so there is no childhood precedent for me.

I had two options: to either not wear a ring, or somehow find one I liked. I’m pretty sure the former option would have resulted in Miss Meatball pulling out a Bosu Exercise Ball and performing a deathly attack while simultaneously working her core muscles. With this thought, I decided I’d better find a ring I liked.

But what to do?
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I haven’t done a Flab to Fab post in a month. Yikes.

I didn’t fall off the wagon completely, but I have had a bit of a bender. I’ll save you the excuses. Suffice it to say, it’s been a while. But all is not lost - I’m reinvigorated. Now that the pre-wedding festivities are on a a 45-day hiatus, it’s time to grab those handlebars and go for the giggity gold. Slim, straight and strong - here I come!

THE (new, improved) PLAN:

Workin’ on my fitness:

• Workouts with Tiger, my personal trainer, 3x/week
• Shredding it with Jilian 3x/week
• 1 day of rest. And by ’rest’, I mean taking a healthy walk with Paco

Eat yo’ salad, no dessert:

• Go back to 6 mini-meals a day
• Exclude refined carbs as much as possible
• Make protein the focus of each meal
• Take daily prenatal vitamins and EFA supplements
• Limit Diet Coke to 2 per day, maximum
• Drink water like it’s Diet Coke
• Get my fiber on

I got some new reward stickers for my calendar, and have hung a few motivational notes around my house. I even resurrected an old favorite as a personal Flab to Fab Redux theme song. (Go ahead, try not to be motivated to move by that jam!)

To kick things back off, a brand new recipe!
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I’m ’bout to get real on ya. A new item has popped up on my list of concerns as I near my wedding day, and it’s got baggage.

About a year ago, I noticed a slight swelling in the ball of my right foot and saw a podiatrist, but he couldn’t find anything. A month or so ago I noticed it was worse, and there was a new development: a strange lumpy bit that popped up whenever I stood, right between my 2nd and 3rd toes. I went back to the doctor, got an MRI, and was diagnosed with Morton’s Neuroma - an enlarged nerve, likely caused by my profound flat footed-ness. It’s treatable, and not uncommon. I received a cortisone (steroid) injection in an attempt to reduce the inflammation.

I have a complicated history with the steroid family. At 19, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that affects my eyes. Basically, my immune system decided that my eyes are foreign objects and attacked them as if they were a tumor, bacteria, or a similarly undesirable interloper. The result was chronic inflammation inside my eyes - which, when untreated, causes damage and/or blindness. The most common treatment for inflammation is steroids, so for many years I used steroid drops and took steroid pills. Not “pump it up” steroids, silly. The other kind.

I’m what doctors affectionately call a “steroid responder” - meaning I’m hypersensitive to the drug and, consequently, its myriad of nightmare side effects. Some of those include anxiety, mood swings, puffy face, weight gain, insomnia, depression, and even forced menopause (which I experienced at 21 - yeah. Hot flashes as an undergrad rule). It came to a head when I was over-prescribed drugs to counteract the side effects of a particularly long course of the steroids, and ended up unconscious after a numb few weeks of my life of which I now have no memory of, whatsoever. My doctors starting injecting the steroids directly into my eyes instead, which kept the medicine localized, so the only side effects I have are cataracts and glaucoma (both of which I’ve had surgery for, cuz I’m clearly 80 years old). For 4 years, I also had to also take a low-dose chemotherapy pill to suppress my immune system. Staying on the chemo any longer would be too hard on my body, and I couldn’t take steroids anymore, so we needed a new plan. Serendipitously, a study on a new, implantable steroid drug for my disease was just beginning. Bausch & Lomb funded 3 years of my eye care, the drug passed FDA approval, and the implants have been the most effective treatment yet. They last 3 or so years each, and when they run out, I simply get them replaced. Over the last 5 years or so, I’ve had 7 eye surgeries. I’m bionic, yo.

Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be about my feet?
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***Mr. M, there are details in here about my rehearsal dinner outfit. For the love of surprises, I command you to avert your eyes! Thanks, baby! :)****
__________

Um, people, my rehearsal shoes are like whoa.

Has your love for a pair of shoes ever crept up on you? You know, when you look at a pair, cock your head, and think, ’um, no,’ but you can’t look away, and suddenly you find yourself thinking dirty thoughts about them and realize you luuuuuuve them? Where it’s almost like a pair of shoes are actively seducing you?

(*crickets*)

Well, maybe it’s just me. But that’s exactly what these babies did to me.

(source)

These in particular:
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I can hardly believe it! After 17 months of engagement, dreaming, planning and scheming, we are officially at 2 months to go!

(source)

I can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed by all the details, vendors, et cetera that I have to keep straight somehow! I guess it’s time to take an inventory of our progress and see what’s still missing.

Tomorrow night I head off to Chicago for a whirlwind weekend of wedding goodness. MaPo is heading up my bachelorette party along with sister (and MOH) Dawn, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store.

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What does this:

have in common with these?

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Tomorrow I’m headed home on a whirlwind weekend trip to Chicago for my cousin’s schmancy wedding at the Ritz Carlton! I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve not been to more than a handful of weddings in my day, and most of them were uber-budgety (and lovely) affairs… so the idea of attending a platinum wedding is very exciting to me.

The bride comes from a huge Italian family, and she’s had to fight to limit her guest list because her dad would like for it to be over 300 guests. I wonder how many people one must invite to end up with a party of 300 people?

We’ve been in the process of finalizing our own guest list, as we’re nearing time to distribute invitations (eeeep!), and we’re completely at a loss for anticipating the actual attendance vs. the amount of people we invite. It’s generally a leap of faith, it seems.

We’re hoping to keep the head count to 105, per our arrangement with The Bungalow Club. Family is all included by default, but deciding who to invite and who to leave out among friends is a decidedly un-fun, yet sadly necessary part of wedding planning. Right now our invite list consists of about 180 folks. I’d heard of creating a ’likelihood to attend report’, in which you rate each guest’s likelihood to attend by assigning them a percentage, and then you average those percentages out by dividing this number by the number of invitees.
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Originally, we had 4 people on each side of the bridal party. Now, not so much.

The other night, Mr. Meatball’s best friend and “homey of honor” in our wedding, El, called to share the news that he had been cast in a very exciting and promising off-Broadway version of Neil Gaiman’s book (and now movie), Coraline. We are so proud of him and were totally thrilled to hear it. But, he said, the director wouldn’t allow him to miss a performance to be in our wedding. Not one. No. Bueno.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mr. Meatball more devastated. Young boys don’t dream much about their wedding day, but ever since he was a young boy, Mr. Meatball looked forward to the day his best friend stood next to him at his wedding. This is his duuuuude. You know what I mean. Every high school story begins with, “this one time, me and El….”

The look on my poor man’s face was enough to break a nation’s worth of hearts. Of course, it couldn’t be helped. Of course, we 100% support El in this incredible opportunity and are beyond happy for him. But of course, having a best friend miss out on standing next to Mr. Meatball - or more so, having Mr. Meatball miss out on his best friend being there, is a difficult letdown to reconcile.
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I was tested this week. I’m hanging in there, but it’s been a rough go.

My job situation has devolved into a very unfair and uncomfortable situation, which put a major strain on my emotions and sapped my energy last weekend. Basically, they hired me on for a low-skill and equally low-pay job, and immediately shepherded me into a higher skill position at the same hourly rate. It feels a lot like a bait and switch. I stood up for myself, but there’s not much I can do. I can’t quit, as I can’t afford it. It’s a catch 22.

The moment things got stressful, I immediately started to feel the old patterns creep in. I spent 2 nights overeating. It started out innocently - a little sugary cereal here, a low-fat brownie there, but it quickly spiraled into an unhealthy, frantic, “binge-y” feeling that I know all too well.

The timing corresponded with Tiger being out of town, so I had a 4-day lag between workouts. I should have picked myself up and Shredded or something, but instead I stewed in my juices, ate, and felt lazy, helpless and frustrated.

The good news is, this time I realized early on how destructive it was. How it wasn’t comforting or cozy. Not even a little. It made me feel bloated and uncomfortable, and embarrassed and tired - but it also strengthened my resolve to fight.
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I’ve received a few comments/emails about how much people are enjoying my healthy recipes (aww, shucks) and requesting more, and who am I to deny the people what they want, nay, deserve?

So, today I’m going to share a few of my recent favorites for the budget bride with a yen to whittle her waistline. And away we go!

Mushroom Stroganoff (and keep it off!)

• 1 package fettucini-style Shirataki noodles, drained
• 1 can condensed, reduced-sodium light cream of mushroom soup
• 1 package mushrooms, sliced (I like crimini or portobello style best)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 diced chicken breasts, or 1 package faux chicken strips (unbreaded).
• Salt, pepper, red pepper to taste
• A few splashes skim milk or unsweetened soy milk
• 1 splash soy sauce

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