Great Mail Day

I love email and instant messaging, don't get me wrong. But there is something about getting something in your mailbox that is so exciting.
Yesterday when I got home, my FI had picked up the mail and put it on the counter. I found 3 mail items with my name on them.

First, (and most exciting) was my dvd of photographs. I had done a photo session in September and got the disc last night. I'm excited to get them edited now and put into a photo book. They are an engagement gift to my huney.

Second, more pictures! I ordered a bunch of pictures off Shutterfly for a wall frame and scrapbooking. They look awesome and only cost me $3.50 shipping!

Third, a profile card that I did for Augustana University. I did an email interview and had a photo shoot for it.
Hopefully it will be up on the web soon and people can go and view it.

After all that excitment, I underestimated the time it takes to carve a pumpkin. I thought we'd be able to get 4 done last night. We got all 4 pumpkins cleaned out, but only carved into 2 of them. Tonight we'll do the other two and have them for friends to see on Saturday! My pumpkin will have an outline of a pole dancer on it. I found a picture of me in the scorpio pose, so I'm doing that one.

Venue! and my Pole workout

We picked a venue! That means we have a date and can start looking at things that are date sensitive. Things like the photographer, caterer, the Church, etc.  I'm so excited that we have it picked. Makes things are little easier to look at now.  My little wedding planning book has stuff written in it now. That makes me happy. What's even better is that I crossed some things off my "To-do" list.
Today is sitting down and looking at all the photographers we picked during our first run. We have to decide which ones we want to meet with and which ones we don't feel are worth it. This could be based on price, availability, or style.
I'm waiting for my mom to get back from holidays now so I can tell her the good news and set a weekend to go dress shopping!! I want to take my time and only do a few in day, so there will be multiple trips to the store I imagine before I find that perfect dress.  On a good note, I already know what shoes I want, just have to find them. There is that tradition of "something blue"... you guessed it, blue shoes!! No one sees them anyways, and I think it would be hilarious for photos. Adds a little something.

The second half of the title says Pole Workout. I was a little stressed yesterday and having a rough go, so I came down to pole. Wow do my abs hurt a little today.  I did some conditioning exercises on the pole rather than just come down and dance. I have the equipment and the exercises, I figure I might as well utilize that.  I focused on two areas yesterday, my abs and my upper body.  My abs need to be stronger yet so I can invert easily while in the air, rather than using the floor to hoist myself up. It opens up a lot of moves and different ways to get into things, so that is definately a goal for me.  My upper body needs some work for sure. I have problems with my wrist, and I find the more strength I get in it, the less pain I have. I also worked on inverting on my opposite side. Most pole dancers have a side they like. Their stronger more dominant side. I'm trying to condition my body to use both sides equally. It's hard to get the hang of it and make your mind think differently. Especially upside down!

Low after low after low

I believe that at least once or twice a week, my facebook status involves something with the words "exhausted", "tired", "sleepy" and any other word to describe that feeling. For the last two weeks, I have been tired enough that walking into my dance class the first thing my instructor says is that I look really tired.
My eyes have dark circles under them and the are rimmed red.

I'm to the point now where I want to work out and get back in shape, but just don't have the energy. I don't have the energy because I stopped working out. See the circle there? I need to slowly build up my tolerance to working out more than once a week (dance class).  I managed saturday to go and do my pole workout which was good. Now I have to get my butt down to the basement to do that workout at least twice this week. I should be able to do that...

I feel in a funk again from all this. But I did decide that for my pre-wedding workout (and no it's not to lose weight, it's to gain muscle) I'll do the P90x. The lite version of course because I do intend to keep poling and that will be the main focus. I'll do the P90x to supplement pole. To gain some strength outside of class. At least now I know not to push myself too hard. I'll get better results taking it slow and building up to it then going full force.

Compairing, Deciding

Last night we viewed our last venue that was on our list. We have emailed lots of different places, used that information to weed out the ones we wanted to see and went from there. Fairly good process. Quick and dirty.
We've viewed several places and have to gather a bit more information on a few of them. Then it will be time to compare them all, and decide which one we want for our venue. There's still plenty of time, so we can really look at the pros/cons of each one.
Once we've got that all decided, it will be time to contact the church and meet with the priest to discuss how things will go, what our options are for personalizing the ceremony and figure out what we need to do from now until the big day.
There's very little stress in the wedding process so far. I love that there is so much time to plan. The more time the better. We can look at all our options for everything and make really good choices.

On a general life note, curling starts tomorrow!!! I'm very excited to get back into it. Last year I only played a few months before I was out after breaking my hand in dodgeball. I'm crossing my fingers there will be no significant injuries this year. The only other activity I'm doing other than curling this year, is pole. Not that pole doesn't have to potential to cause significant injury, I just have an amazing instructor that teaches us safely how to do things and minimize the risks.

On that note... I did however do faceplant this week in class. No injury because I used a mat below me and know to 'tuck-and-roll'.  I was attempted the superman and caught my legs on the pole too high. I wasn't quite in the full pose and had to bail. It was either smoke my face on the pole, or let go and hope I land on the mat safely. Success on hitting the mat safely! I didn't attempt to pull off the move again, but I'll get it. I've done the combination before, and know I can do it. Minor set back, but I believe it was because I was so tired and not really thinking everything through.
Level 6 starts monday!!!!!!

Buses and Winter

Our bus driver is very cautious. Which in the weather today is fabulous. On the first two days of real snow, Calgary forgets how to drive. Not joking. Yesterday there was 228 accidents by 1pm. I don't have the numbers today, but there were 7 major ones by 7am.
Our bus driver has a recommendation that we do not start walking towards the bus until it has completely stopped. Buses slide... a lot and the chances of it sliding up onto the curb and  into you are great in the winter. Its a good safety rule and one I never thought of. One gentleman started walking towards the bus, and our driver honked him. BD (bus driver) was trying to keep him safe, and the guy didn't like it at all. He was really pissed off when he got on the bus and told the driver he must think he's stupid. Some people just aren't morning people. Some people don't get it when someone is trying to keep them safe.

It took me close to 1.5 hours from leaving my house to get to work this morning. It usually only takes 35 minutes tops. But I'm glad I take public transit rather than have to drive in this sort of weather. The roads here are known for people travelling over the speed limit and right up on the bumper of the vehicle in front of them. It's no wonder there were 10 multi-car pile ups yesterday! Yes folks, it's slick out there. Perhaps adjusting your driving style is in order??

It's been snowing now for two days. But the one things I love is the silence in the morning.  I was prepared yesterday to get online and rant about all the crappy things that I was feeling. I got outside yesterday morning and everything just went away. Once I realized how beautiful and silent it was with the snow falling and the snow on the ground completely untouched, I was happy. I remembered that if the world can look this perfect and be that quiet, I should be able to feel that way too. I thanked God for the wonderful morning and enjoyed my walk to the bus stop. I even walked one stop further just because.  It was the same this morning. Beautiful silence :)

Venue hunting and "The Fiancee"

This past weekend the FI and I went to view a venue. It was very nice inside, good location (kind of) and had all the basics that we were looking for. Good price too. We have 4 more on the list to view over the next couple weeks, then we make a decision.

We also went shopping at Indigo to kill some time. We ended up walking past the wedding section and stopped to have a gander. We found two books. One for him "The Grooms Instruction Manual" and one for me "The Brides Instruction Manual".  I got a kick out of reading his. Somewhere near the beginning, there is a chapter on "The Fiancee - the woman who is planning your wedding". It goes through the differences of "The woman you love - the woman you will marry" and "The Fiancee".  It's hilarious! It starts one of the paragraphs off with  "you're probably wondering what happened to your girlfriend and who is this woman who ate her and took her place".  I had a good chuckle and made note of the differences so that I don't go that far. Unfortunately, I do think I have some of those traits regardless. heehee