Workin' Gal

I am officially 2 weeks into my clinical fieldwork and I am loving it!  I always knew I wanted to work with kids and with each day I realize that even more.  It is sometimes challenging when a kid doesn't want to do what you have planned, or they throw a fit and run out of the therapy gym...but the small breakthroughs I get to be a part of make everything worth it.  
Working every day has allowed me to finally get me back into a routine {essential for the planner in me}.  I love waking up with my wonderful fiancé, heading off to work, getting in my daily {more like 3x a week} Pure Barre class, making dinner for 2, and relaxing with the future hubby and adorable pup. Ah, what a wonderful life :) This new kind of busy is offering little time for wedding planning, but I have started to learn the power of delegating.  Less than 3 months! 

100!!

I can barely believe it..but only 100 days until I am a married woman!  I have been busy at work getting ready for the wedding lately because the whole 3 month window is closing in and I know how quickly that can fly by.
This week I checked off....

• bridal portrait scheduled 
• welcome bag goodies purchased
• soloist selected
• (most) music for the ceremony selected 
• date to meet with the band 

Pretty good for a week...especially all while starting my level II fieldwork {which is amazing, by the way!}

I also finally sucked it up and joined Pure Barre today! I am committing to Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays after work and hoping to see results soon.  It will NOT be easy, and I may be walking around looking like a fool until my body gets used to it, but by golly I will NOT be a big bliss bride. 

Great find!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TwoOfUs. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today is my last day at home before I start my clinical fieldwork so I wanted to make the most of the day! I started off with some yoga, ran out to get things I needed to recover and paint my bar stools, then did some wedding planning :) I contacted the pastor who will be conducting the ceremony to set up a time for the required pre-martial counseling.  I was actually really excited about this time, and started to do a little research on my own. I found this great website (twoofus.org) that has tips on keeping your relationship fresh. They have information for dating couples all the way up to married couples. I looked around the "engaged" information for a while and they really have some awesome stuff!!  I really liked the information on wedding skills and preparing for marriage. It is such true life information and definitely not sugar coated. Clint and I {as am I sure most couples do} have problems with communication.  There is a cool video on the site where Hill Harper talks about relationships.  He discusses how relationships and communication are often based around social networking and how we need to get back to face-to-face conversation.  He brings up the idea of hosting a "conversation party." It is a party where you have both women and men attend, and everyone sits down and puts relationship questions and personal reflection questions  in a hat, and then go around the room and talk about them. I like the idea and could even see it working well between 2 newly engaged people (like us) as well.  I think it would be a nice change from the typical dinner and tv routine to do a dinner, wine and "conversation party" for 2 :) We can even have a conversation party via blog...so if you feel compelled, comment with your most burning relationship questions!  And check out and like  twoofus.org on Facebook. I think you will really like what they have to offer!

Schedule conflicts

I am amazed at how many times everything was going great with wedding planning, and then BOOM, schedule conflict screws everything up.  It happened with the wedding date first.  Now, the only time to do my bridal portrait is during one of my good friend's bachelorette parties.  Not to mention that my wedding date is a week before the same good friend's wedding, therefore we will still be honeymooning during her wedding.  I think you can safely say that I feel like a bad horrible friend. 
Now, I am struggling with schedule conflicts for getting into wedding and honeymoon shape.  I mentioned Pure Barre in a previous post and talked about how much I loved it.  I really do think it is the only thing that is going to get me in the shape I want to be for the wedding festivities. Problem is, most of their classes are only offered in Chapel Hill between the hours of 8:30 and 5:30...consequently my working hours beginning on Wednesday. They do have a class from 6:30-7:30pm, but honestly I don't know how often I would go if I had to be at work all day, come home  to my loves for 30 minutes and head back out.  I'm pushing for a 6am class so hopefully others will too :) Meeting with the wedding director at the church tonight so I am sure I will be in wedding mode full force after that! More to come!

Up-do {check!}

Call me a freak, but the satisfaction I get from checking something off my never ending to-do list(s) is phenomenal. I currently have {multiple} on going to-do lists for the wedding, one for fun home projects {more on the new place soon!}, and one for what to get done today (and tomorrow).  Yes, I have a problem.  

For the wedding to-do list, yesterday I got to check off my up-do!  I found a great hair stylist at Atmosphere  Salon and I am pretty convinced that she is a mind reader because she knew exactly what I wanted and made it look awesome! With an August wedding and all the booty shaking dancing I will be doing on the big day, I knew that I needed my hair up {or I would look like a sweaty, hot mess}.  The inspiration from the do, came from the picture in the inspiration board I created below {minus the flower}.  Love this inspiration board because it is definitely a snap-shot of my vision for the wedding...which is only a little over 3 months away...eekkkkk!

Best Thing Ever!

You are going to love me for this one! My wonderful fiance has been doing research about things we should be doing to start off our lives together financially smart.  {LOVE HIM!} He came across this awesome site called e-mealz.com.  It is a website created by a set of savvy sisters that creates weekly meal plans and grocery shopping lists for only $1.25 A WEEK!! The meals are awesome, super easy but never boring and most importantly...it aims to keep your grocery list around $30 a week!!  I have put their advertisment on the right side of the blog, so check it out and let me know what you think!

Solitude

For the first time in 23+ years, I am living by myself. I will be living by myself for a whole...2 days!  My wonderful, 2 year, roommate moved out last night which was much harder than I thought it was going to be.  It has been a great 2 years, and she has been a fantastic roommate. Which as I am sure most of you know, good roommates are very hard to come by.  So now I am on a 2 day lapse until I move in with a boy for the rest of my life.  That means, only 2 days until I start the rest of my life. Waking up by my husband to be, every day for the rest of my life. Can't stop smiling thinking about it!

The solitude and quiet was rough earlier today.  There is so much to be done with packing and cleaning but I just didn't know where to start all on my own.  So I turned on pandora, and got to work.  Many hours of moving things from A to B, cleaning, and packing away my life into a million boxes and bags.  I finally ran out of packing supplies, and retreated to the tub for a glass of wine and a bubble bath.  While soaking my burnt (yeah, no sunscreen=bad idea) body in a bath of lavender bath salts, I had a lot of time to think and reflect. Amazing how a simple bath can turn into a time for deep reflection.  Like the calm before the storm...taking time to think about where I have been, and the new life I will be starting in the next 2 days was just what I needed. I now feel centered and ready for the challenge ahead of me.