A new month, a new summer, a new start

I have to say that I love starting something new.  I always feel like the start of a new day, week, month, year brings so many new possibilities.  I have a long list of things i want to accomplish this summer and today seems like the perfect day to get started.

And yes, i realize that it's 12:30ish and i'm completely awake and motivated.  This is always what happens when i don't have a set schedule that i have to stick to.  I end up staying up later and later because i feel like i can accomplish more at night since i can focus on the things i want to since most of the rest of the world is asleep.  (What can i say?  I am my mother's daughter...)  

This week i'm working on working out every day.  I got a great start on that because i've worked out the past two days.  What has been my motivator?  Believe it or not, a Wii game.  When Andy and i were at Best Buy the other day, i was waiting for him to finish browsing and i ran across the Wii game My Fitness Coach.  I'd heard a lot about the new Wii game that focuses on fitness, EA Sports Active, but it's a little too expensive for me at the moment and it needs a balance board to be able to do everything.  My Fitness Coach doesn't need a balance board and was only $20!  It  is less a game and more a workout video, but it's great because you do a fitness assessment, set up a profile, and then you get customized workouts based on the equipment you own, the goal you're working towards, and the type of workout you want to do that day.  So far, i'm definitely working harder than i would on my own and i'm having fun because it feels like a game.  We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

The other thing i'm working on this week is trying out some new recipes.  I have a huge binder of recipes that i've pulled from magazines, newspapers, and the internet that i want to try, but i never seem to have time for.  I figure summer is the perfect time to start working my way through them because i have so much more time.  It also helps that i need to go grocery shopping tomorrow since i'll be able to get everything i need for the recipes.   This week i'll be trying out a strawberry chicken club sandwich, a beef and portobello minestrone, and a spinach and ricotta pasta.  Hopefully, we'll end up liking them and they'll be something i can make again.  Honestly, i don't doubt my ability to make them since i've been cooking for a long time.  It's more that i'm not sure that the recipes will be something that either of us will like, but i'll never know unless i try, right?

School's out for the summer!

Yay!  I made it through my third year of teaching at Options.  And i found out yesterday that i didn't have enough students for summer school, which means no extra money for teaching it but plenty of time to work on my summer to do list.

As far as wedding stuff goes, all of the bridesmaids have their dresses and i have my dress!!!  

There are a few alterations that need to be done - the hem needs to be let out, the sleeves need to be fixed in the back and we need to do something to the sleeves so that i can actually raise my arms above my shoulders because i know it'll drive me crazy not to be able to hug people.  I also got an email from the etsy seller who's making my veil that it's ready so i should be getting that soon...  I'm loving that things are coming together so well.

Summer to-do list

I have FOUR days of school left!  And i figured out last week that i'm not gonna have enough students for summer school, which means my summer is wide open!!!  So here's my to-do list for the summer, which i'm sure i'll be adding to as i get further into the summer.

• READ!!!  I have a pile of books that i've swapped for on paperbackswap.com that i've been working my way through.  I am working my way through the Anne of Green Gables series, waiting patiently for Anne and Gilbert to get together, and i have to find a book to teach for my 10/11 class.  At this point, i'm thinking of basing it around A Raisin in the Sun, but I still have to find some other books to put with it...  Suggestions?
• Start going to the gym again.  Last summer joined a gym and was really good about going until my trainer left for another gym.  I haven't been back since then, but i need to get back because last year was the first time i really got in a routine of regularly working out at least three times a week.  With the wedding coming up, i definitely have some motivation to get back into a routine.
• Try out at least 1 new recipe a week.  I have a binder full of recipes i want to try out, but never get around to so i figure i can at least do 1 a week.
• Go to the Carmel Farmer's Market, which is one of my favorite things about summer.
• Go to Symphony on the Prarie, another of my favorite things about summer.  We bought a pack of 10 tickets and want to go to several of the concerts.  Anyone interested in coming with?
• Continue scrapbooking.  I got into it last year after we got back from Portland, but it's hard for me to do unless i have a lot of time to work on it.  I want to finish scrapbooking the pictures i printed out last year so that i can start working on our engagement/wedding!
• Knit!  I admit it.  I am a lazy knitter.  I'm not good at challenging myself with new projects or finishing projects once i've started them.  I'm hoping to spend some time at Stitches and Scones, the knitting shop down the street from me in Westfield, so that i can work on some new projects.  I'm thinking at least one stop into the shop and new project each month.
• Work my way through my wedding to-do list.  This weekend alone i finished our wedding website and almost have everything on our registry.  And of course, my dress came in last week so i got to try that on on Friday night!  With a few alterations, it should be perfect!!!

LOL! (And no, it's not my question...)

Question If I hate everything about him why do I love him
Answer That is just the way life is sometimes. You hate him so much but for some unknown, even to you, reason you love him. Good luck with your
relationship. ChaCha!

You gotta love ChaCha!

A quick wedding quiz

My proposal was: spontaneous, genuine, a complete surprise
My dress is: gorgeous, detailed, not what i thought i wanted
My honeymoon is going to be: relaxed, fun, planned at some point;)
My FH is: caring, supportive, incredibly patient
My cake is: yummy, not too much, frosted with white and purple!
On the day, my parents will be: supportive, happy, excited
On my wedding day I hope to be: relaxed, happy, in the moment
But I know for sure that on my wedding day I will be: excited, loved, grateful
Lying in the suite after my wedding day, I hope to feel: happy, loved, content
I hope my marriage is: happy, long, a partnership

My neighbors have their air conditioning on. Seriously!?!

Other than that, the apartment is wonderful.  Our apartment is cleaner than it's been in a while and we're even closer to having everything put away.  Andy and i have been doing really well with this living together thing.  I'm not gonna lie.  It's definitely hard to get used to because we've both been living on our own for a while now.  It makes me really, really glad that we didn't decide to do this earlier because i could see how this would not work out well if you didn't know and love each other.  Thankfully, we seem to be over the fighting over really stupid stuff almost every day for a while.  Fingers crossed;)

As far as wedding planning goes, we shot our engagement pictures last Thursday.  We don't have them yet, but our photographer did post some on his blog.  It makes me really excited to see the rest of them!  And tomorrow I have a meeting at the Mavris to finalize a bunch of the details like the timeline for the wedding day and the number of tables.  Can you say exciting?

We only have a few weeks of school left!  But as always, the closer we get to the end of the school year, the crazier the kids get.  But the student government and i planned a competition between the advising classes that started today, so at least the kids have an outlet for some of the craziness.  Today was the exciting Saltine cracker whistling competition.  Sadly, my team (and two others) were disqualified because our representatives were drinking water while they were eating their saltines...  Whoops!

Bridesmaids' dresses!

Sarah (my MOH) got her bridesmaid's dress in the mail today and it's gorgeous!  I love them as much as when I picked them out. And the color is absolutely perfect.  Yay for purple!!!

I had the day off today and i spent most of it running around getting errands done.  So i thought i'd list the things i got done so i can feel good about everything i accomplished.

• I started the day by cleaning my closet.  I switched my winter clothes out to my summer clothes and filled two plastic bags with clothes to take to Goodwill.  Yay for Peter Walshing!!!
• I spent an entire hour trying to figure out where in the world the Comcast in Noblesville is located to drop off our stupid cable boxes from before we moved.  Apparently 1-800-COMCAST doesn't have a phone number or directions  for the Noblesville location.  And while i had an address, it didn't show up on Google or Mapquest.  Awesome.  Thank goodness for the friendly CVS worker that i asked for directions.  She told me exactly where to go and how to get there, so i found it ten minutes after leaving the store.  So i finally dropped the cable boxes off and went in to make sure that my cable at my old apartment had been turned off.  Good thing i checked on that because it definitely wasn't, even though i spoke to someone at Comcast almost a month ago about turning it off.  Rrr...  They are quickly moving up my list of companies i don't like.
• I got my oil and transmission fluid changed.  Always exciting.
• I stopped by my parent's house so that my mom and sister could help me decide on how to change my veil.  They didn't care nearly as much as i did, but that seems to be the case with most wedding details lately.  What can i say, i'm a bit detail oriented...
• I took a trip to Penske Honda to get new dials to control the heat/air conditioning in my car.  That's right, the dials had to be replaced because not one, but both of them managed to break so that i couldn't control my heat/air conditioning.  It's definitely something you take for granted until you can't do it.
• I stopped by Yogokiss to celebrate the fact that they have peach gummis as a topping again.  Yay!
• I went to Target to buy an air freshener for my car (since i accidentally left my sunroof open one night when it rained nonstop so it smelled) and a Mother's Day present for my mom.
• I came home and relaxed with Andrew.  We ate pizza.  And then made up for it by taking a walk.