Wedding Recap! (Blogger isn't cooperating, so I had to put most of the text at the end... but I'm posting anyway!)

I have to admit... I love, love, loved our wedding!  We were blessed with gorgeous weather in an otherwise rainy and cold week, and everything went off without a hitch! 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but we got married in the Adirondack mountains, in a beautiful old church.  

I loved the moose heads...  very Adirondack-ey!

My shoes.  So smart that they read books!

My handsome groom, getting ready at his parents' house.

My Something Blue... a lace handkerchief my mother bought for me years ago on a trip to Venice.

"Dear God, please let it fit!!"

It fit!

The groom, best man, ushers and one of our ringbearers (we only had one attendant each, in the spirit of keeping it simple).

My handsome groom!

Getting ready with my BFFs!

Ringbearer meets The Ring "Barker!"  Yes we DID have a dog in our wedding! :)

The Ring Barker stops for some lovin'!

The MOH!  Note the bluegrass band up in the balcony!

Waiting to enter the church with my father....

Dad, walking me down the aisle!!!  He was saying the funniest stuff to me to keep us both from tearing up!!

With my sweet groom!  Look at the adorable smile on our priest's face (I've known him since I was 7, and he did the most incredible and personal wedding mass for us -- it was just amazing!)

The happy couple!

The florist did such a beautiful job!!

In our gettaway car!

On the club property...

Smooching in a field....

Bluegrass and cocktails on the porch!

I made this sign for our photographic guest book -- we had props and lots of Polaroid-type film.  The book is hysterical!!

The flowers and tables!  Check out all my eBay-purchased milk vases!

Lawn bowling between the ceremony and reception!

How gorgeous does Nora (A Traveling Bandita) look?!?  We got to meet her adorable new baby over the weekend, who is a beautiful, sweet girl!



Seriously preppie!!



Entering the reception for the first time!!

Dip dip dip dip!!

I love this one -- everyone is having so much fun on the dance floor!

With my husband!

Steve, making me laugh during his speech. :)

My speech!



Cutting the beautiful cake that a friend of Steve's family made for us!



Blogger isn't cooperating, so I couldn't finish telling the story above!  Hopefully the photos did a good job of conveying how happy we were, and how much fun we had celebrating our wedding!  We were very fortunate, in that our close family friend, Father F., who I've known since I was 7 years old, was able to come to do our ceremony.  He made it so personal, and so meaningful, and it added so much to the celebration.

We really wanted our ceremony (really, the entire weekend) to be very personal to us, and to be reflective of us.  Soooo, that led to us having lots of special touches.  Honesly, I was worried that our wedding was going to come across as really hokey!!  We had Steve's favorite dog (his dad's Yellow Lab puppy) as our Ring Barker, toting the rings down the aisle on a caribiner attached to her collar.  We also had a bluegrass band play the ceremony music.... And I walked down the aisle to a bluegrass instrumental version of Bob Marley's One Love!  

During communion, they played a gorgeous version of "Down to the River to Pray" (the Alison Krause version), which was just stunning.  And... one of our readings was "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles.  Funny enough, it all came together so nicely and really gelled!

Between the wedding and reception, we had a bit of down-time, so our friends had a little lawnbowling tournament on the green next to the clubhouse.  Then, the bluegrass band struck up tunes on the porch and the cocktails started flowing!  I had a rum punch as our signature cocktail... why YES, I DID buy those straws just for that occasion!  (BTW, lucky for me, picking a red cocktail for the reception did not backfire on me!!)

All my months of collecting milk glass vases on eBay paid off, and the flowers looked so pretty at the reception!  I was so happy with that, as well as the programs and menus that I made (sorry for not posting -- they have too much personal information on them to put on here). 

We had a second band come to play the reception --this was a compromise, since I would have loved to have a bunch of dance music a la Lady Gaga, Rhianna, etc., but Steve is not a fan.  So, we had the band play a few old standards and a whole lot of funk!  And, Steve even got out and played two songs with the band toward the end of the night!

It was such a wonderful day -- and such a wonderful weekend.  I loved every minute!

My Worst Stuck Episode Ever

All's well that ends well, so I haven't really been thinking about the stuck episode I had during my wedding weekend.... but it did occur to me that I should tell you guys about it.

 

For the rehearsal, we had a huge pig roast in a beautiful field, inside of a tent.  Almost all of our guests were able to be there, so we had a great crowd.  We were at long banquet tables, with Steve and I sitting along one side of the tent. 

 

We were having a great time, enjoying the food and chatting, and then the speeches (which were so great -- some hilarious, some just really touching and nice) started.  Right then, right at the very start of the speeches, I realize that I am STUCK.  As in my-mouth-is-filling-with-saliva-because-I-can't-swallow Stuck.  As in, I-am-going-to-PB-in-about-3-minutes stuck.  This was very inconvenient, since everyone was either looking at us or at the speaker, and there was NO WAY I could get up and leave during the speeches.... much less make it to the Port-A-Potties in time to PB in privacy (seriously, as the bride, you can barely get 2 feet without getting stopped)!

 

One good thing is that I was seated right across from Nora (of A Traveling Bandita), so I was able to tell her and Steve that I was stuck.  Nora emptied her wine and handed me her glass (what a sister!), but I didn't think I could casually PB into the glass without anyone noticing.  So.... what did I do?  I feigned "napkin drop," bent over and PBd on the grass under Steve's chair.  I instantly felt MUCH better, and I really don't think anyone knew other than Nora and Steve (thank God). 

 

I poured a bit of water over the spot, and presto-change-o, happily fertilized grass and a much, much happier bride.  WHEW!!!  Crisis averted!!

Hi!  I just PBd on the floor!  How bridal of me!

CHECK!

It's official!!  All the things I was looking forward to about being banded have happened!!  Here is a link to my pre op journal, in which I wrote out the things I hoped would be positives of banded life.  It's official that they all have indeed been positives -- and the negatives were so much less significant than I ever imagined.

Tonight, I came home from dinner with two very good friends, wearing a tailored black sheath dress ("better clothes") and heels ("hello more heels!"), after a day where I did not have any negative thoughts about my weight, was comfortable in my skin, and fit everywhere, including wrapped in a normal-sized towel.  And, a friend had sent me this photo, in which I can say with confidence that I do not look fat.   Wow!!

The wedding was wonderful -- so much fun, so personal, so filled with joy, and we were surrounded by our loved ones for the whole weekend.  And, as icing to the cake, we got incredible weather during an otherwise cold and rainy week!  More to follow on the wedding and honeymoon!!

Eleven Days to Go!

Wow!!  Time is flying, and I've been absolutely swamped between work, life and wedding plans!  I can not believe it's only eleven days until the wedding.  Two weeks from today, I'll be on my honeymoon in South Africa!! 

Many of you know that I do letterpress, calligraphy and invitation design as a hobby, and I really had a heck of a good time making the paper items for the wedding, from the Save the Dates and invitations to the table cards, name cards, menus and programs (er, not that I'm done with everything for the reception yet...). 

For the Save the Dates, I made a card with our pictures, the date and location on one side, and information and the URL for our wedding website on the other.  I put them in really gorgeous cream envelopes and used this beautiful Yuzen paper for the envelope liners. 

 

(Ahem... we will not be reenacting this drawing as my arms do not look like this in real life!)

For the reception, we decided to name each table after a special place or thing.  There are nine in all, but since a few folks coming to the wedding also read this blog, I'll just show you three of them here!  Keep in mind that I'm not the greatest artist!  I just enjoy doing this stuff!  :)  You can click on the images to make them bigger.

My wedding gown is going to be completely done tomorrow!  I've had all of my fittings, and it's just gorgeous.  It fits perfectly. 

You know, I'm so glad to have written out and kept the Pro/Con list that I made before my surgery.  I know that I refer to it now and then, but I also go back and look at it from time to time.  I do that less now than I did when I was working toward my goal, but it's still interesting to me to go back and read it.  In eleven days, I'm going to get to check the last "Pro" off my list... not having to be a "fat" bride.  Somehow, the idea of that popped into my mind nearly five years ago when I did that list, and now the reality of it is just around the corner.  It's pretty amazing.

I also went back and read my early posts not too long ago.  Reading them, I am reminded of how I felt at the start of this process.  I was very, very hopeful.  But I was not in a good place weight and health-wise, and I was also suffering in the aftermath of a painful breakup.  It's incredible to me how much I have changed my life for the better during the last five years, and I feel so grateful and happy that was possible.  I am also so psyched to be marrying Steve.  He is such an incredible, warm, thoughtful and loving guy, and I thank my lucky stars that I met him at the time in my life when I did!

Speaking of stars... here is one more table card.....

ELEVEN DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weight Weirdness

Right now, I am at a conference for work.  It's a conference I go to every year, and I see many of the same people there year after year.  Today, I had lunch with someone I am been trying to get business from, but who I haven't seen in person since before my surgery. 

I was a little nervous about her not recognizing me, and almost sent her a note telling her that I'd lost  a bunch of weight to circumvent the weirdness, but then decided against it -- mainly because I knew it would take forever to word it well, and I was really pressed for time.  Anyway, it was fine an she recognized me and didn't express any surprise or shock by the change in my appearance.  It was a total non-issue.

It's funny because I've been at goal for so long now that I don't have these types of experiences very more -- of running into people who I haven't seen since I was 230 pounds.  However, I had this experience today, and one kind of in the same vein yesterday.  I was at a reception and ran into a guy yesterday who I've chatted with at a dinner hosted by a mutual friend of ours.  He was with our mutual friend when I saw him, and our friend reminded him that we'd met, but he totally did not remember me.  At this point, I don't remember whether I was heavy when I met him, or whether he may not recognize me because my hair was darker when I met him.  Who knows?!  It's just funny because I get this knee-jerk reaction to want to explain that I used to be much heavier, though I may be done with that now.

Catching Up!

So much is going on right now, and I've been wanting to write an update for some time!  Two weeks ago, my mother and Marjorie hosted a shower for me here in NYC that was so much fun!  They held it at Marjorie's apartment (site of my 40th birthday party, and it actually looked very similar, which was so nice) and there were 23 friends and family members over for a lovely brunch! 

 

With my aunt

 The room!

 My friend Susan, with my mom

 With two of my oldest besties, Brooke and Nadia

 Marjorie picked some lovely bubbly.... Perrier-Jouet in the cutest packaging

 Kristen & Susan!

 One of the best parts of the shower was a game that we played!  Marjorie had one of her partners depose Steve (in true litigation style) on tape.  He answered 20 questions (I had no clue about this -- no one peeped a word!!).  At the party, I was given a sheet of the 20 questions and had to answer them -- and a prize went to the person who correctly guessed how many Steve and I got right (i.e. had the same answers on).  

 

Here Steve is on the "deposition" tape!

 The funny thing is, Steve was being a gentleman, so he fudged the answers to two of the questions... "Where was your first kiss" and "What is Catherine's favorite joke"....  HOWEVER, I didn't know he was doing that, so I totally outed us for smooching at his parents' house on New Years' Day 2011 .... and had to say, in a room including my mother-in-law-to-be, that my favorite joke (which I seriously have told about 9,000,351 times) is....

Q:  How do you make a hormone?
A:  You don't pay her.

I know... a total groaner, but somehow, it always pops into my mind whenever people are talking about hormones, which happens more than you'd think!!  Anyway, the game was a ton of fun -- though Steve and I barely got any answers right!! 

Me, opening presents!  I have some very generous friends!  All those Scully bags and a few Tiffany boxes practically had my eyes popping out! :)

 

Opening a beautiful nightgown and peignoir from my mother 

 It really was such a great day.  I think everyone had a wonderful time, and it was very touching to me to have so many friends and family members go through so much effort just for me.  We did keep the shower pretty limited to just local friends and family, since I would not expect people to travel for both the shower and wedding, so it was a nice small group, and a great chance for people to get to know one another better before the big day in June!

In other news, I finally (!!) finished all of the invitations (which I made myself) and got them all mailed, with the last few going out on Monday.  We've started getting in RSVPs already, and it's a lot of fun to receive them in the mail!  I'll post photos of them soon -- I just want to redact all the personal information before putting them on the Internet, and haven't had time to do that yet.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that I've been trying to up my workouts to include an extra day per week, and I haven't been having much success there.  Too many other conflicts keep me from doing it, but I'm being good about getting in a solid 3 days of hard workouts. 

This past weekend, Steve moved in to my apartment (kind of a big event to drop almost in a footnote, eh?!), and I did two long spin classes (the hour-long "Soul Survivor" rather than the regular 45 minute class) before spending the rest of both days moving boxes and furniture.  I was BONE TIRED by the end of both days.  I also didn't really want to go on Sunday -- I was tired and sore from the day before, but I forced myself to go. 

At the beginning of the class, I was just not feeling it - - and suddenly a picture of my 230 pound self popped into my mind.  I thought about how I never could have done that workout at 230 pounds, and how I would have stressed about what to wear and felt really self-conscious among the scores of thin, toned Lululemon-ed in the room, if I had dared to go at all.  So, I sucked it up and kicked a$$ in that class, in honor of my old self and in gratitude for how far I've come, and how much my life has changed in the past 4 1/2 years.  I can not believe how much things have changed, and how much that change has been for the better.  It's amazing and humbling, and I thank God that I was able to get the help I needed to get my weight under control.



Mini-Bachelorette in Houston!

For Easter weekend, I went to Houston to see my dad and step-mom, and for a mini-bachelorette party with my best friend from college, her sister (who is also a very good friend of mine), and our friend G, all of whom are a complete blast!  

The weekend started out with some really great family time -- a day of shopping with my step-mom, followed by dinner with my dad, step-mom and two of their friends at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Houston! 

The next morning, we went to the 2nd b-day of my step-mom's granddaughter at.... Chu-c-k E C-h-ee-se.  OMG..  It was sensory overload, but the kids had a fantastic time, and I did, too!  (Can you just imagine me climbing into this truck at my start weight??  I nearly broke it as it was!!)

That night (Saturday) was my Houston bachelorette party!  Grace picked me up in the afternoon, and we got to catch up a bit and get ready before we met up with our other two friends to head to the hotel!

 

A little pre-dinner bubbly at our hotel... 

 Cabbing it to Uchi, which was nothing short of fabulous.

 

 Dinner was amazing!  I definitely recommend checking out Uchi if you are in Houston.  The ham and egg (pork belly roll with a yolk dipping sauce) was out of control, and their caramelized Brussels sprouts were incredibly delicious (and I don't even usually like Brussels sprouts)!

 Most of all, though, it was so nice to see my friends.  They seriously spoiled me!!  I was so touched that they had planned such a great night for me, and had so much fun celebrating and catching up with them!  The wedding is getting so close ... just 2 1/2 months away!  And my shower is next weekend.  :)

Group photo! 

 

Wedding Central....

For the wedding, I'm planning to have lots of peonies, ranunculus, mini green hydrangeas and garden roses.  But, I stopped in to Wh*le F**ds this morning after my spin class and picked up some pink Gerber dasies to give the milk glass vases a whirl!  Here is a photo... 

 

 I'm finishing up the last part of design of the invitations this weekend, too!  Below is the RSVP post card that I designed.  I kept it very simple, other than the giant flourishes!  I seriously LOVE all of this planning stuff!!

 

 

Hoarder!!

I am amassing quite a collection of white milk glass vases to use at the wedding.  I have been trolling eBay like crazy over the last few weeks and now finally have ordered close to the 80+ vases that I'll need for the wedding.  Don't worry.... I'm not going to become a hoarder.... though I do immediately throw out every scrap of packaging this stuff comes in, since I assume the sellers are all reforming hoarders with bugs!  (OCD much?!)  :)

 

Here is part of the collection

It's been really fun to gather this stuff together myself.  I love it that the pieces are not all the same, so every table and every arrangement will be a little different.  I'm also psyched because I am totally going to resell all of these vases on eBay after the wedding, which will substantially reduce our overall flower costs!  I'm planning to sell my dress, too.  I will remember it in photos, and I don't need a giant gown that I'll never wear again (no matter how gorgeous) taking up a foot of my NYC-sized closet!

Happily, after Steve's cousin had to drop out due to a work conflict, I found a local florist who seems great.  Actually, it was a relief when she dropped out.  Her level of GSD (Get Sh*t Done) and mine were not compatible, and I was getting increasingly p*ssed that I couldn't get her to focus on the project and give us a budget for the flowers (she had offered to gift us the labor, we were to have paid the wholesale cost).  Heck, it took four months of e-mails to even get her on the PHONE.  I'm much happier to be paying an arms-length professional, even if it will be more expensive.

 This is the general idea for the flowers.... little arrangements scattered down the tables, though we will only have pink, hot pink, white and green flowers -- no purple or yellow, like here.

In other news, I finished designing our invitations and have started printing them! I'll post photos when I can get them together.  I really love how they are turning out.  I also designed a map for the insert and an RSVP post card, which I'm still tweaking.  It's exciting to finally have a wedding invitation project that I am doing be for my own big day!

Winter Weekend!

This weekend, I had occasion to reflect on my life today, and what it's like in relation to my pre-band life.  I wasn't just comparing it to the obese years, but also to the years when I just didn't feel good about my weight (i.e. all of them since about 3rd grade) and wasn't generally that physically fit.

 

Warming my feet before the fire!

Steve and I went up to his parents' house in the Adirondacks and brought 7 others with us for a really great weekend.  I went skiing for the first time in 20 years (and before that, I'd only been skiing one other time... in second grade).  A few things worth noting.....

 

 

1.  I had to write my weight on the ski equipment rental equipment.  AND I WROTE MY REAL WEIGHT, without feeling embarrassed or wanting to hide it!   I never, EVER, thought I'd see that day.

 

Sledding with my sweetie!

2.  On Sunday, we went sledding, and Steve brought out his vintage toboggan, which was at least from the early 70s, if not earlier.  It was so awesome, and we had a fantastic -- FAST! -- ride down the hills of the club property where we'll be married this summer!  The toboggan fits about 4 people, and when one person said that the way we should do it was with "the heaviest person in the back," I knew that I'd be in the middle. 

 

Here is the old skool toboggan we used -- it was amazing and sailed like a dream!

This reminded me of a day when I was still dating PP, and we had to cram in the car with a bunch of friends.  On the way there, I was in the back -- and it was such a tight squeeze -- but on the way back, I wound up taking the front because, the fact was, that I was by far the biggest person and that was the best use of the space.  I was humiliated -- but glad not to be squished in the back, being worried that my friends were all resenting me for taking up so much space.  That isn't something I ever worry about now.  I may not be the smallest girl in the universe, but I'm a healthy, reasonable size and I feel good.  No -- it's more than that -- I don't feel like sh*t anymore, and I don't feel badly about my size, my body or my weight.  And, even better than that, I was excited to try a day of skiing (P.S. I sucked and ate sh*t like 900 times... I am so bruised... not sure it's for me!!) and to do sledding, running up snow covered hills, and just playing around like a kid.  It was awesome.

 

 Dinner with friends at the house on Saturday!  I made salmon in a Thai sweet chili maranade with salad, couscous and sweet pea tendrils & sugar snap peas.  Yum yum.  Pie for dessert....

Snow Storm!

We're in for a big snow storm on the east coast today!   My office is closing early, which probably doesn't actually mean anything for me.  But, I can wear jeans, so it's all good!

 

I noticed yesterday that the dress I had on (a very fitted sheath) seemed a little tighter than usual.  I knew that I was on the high side of my comfort zone, so I didn't think too much about it.  In fact, I took my secretary out for barbecue for lunch and ate a bunch of delicious pork and a bit of mac and cheese (it was so delicious), then had a dinner out last night.  Actually, the dinner was very cool because they had a mind reader guy there, and he did all of these fantastic tricks that were really incredible!  But... the point is that I got on my scale this morning and it was UP FOUR POUNDS!!  Ack!!!

 

I know that I can't actually gain 4 pounds overnight, any more than I could really lose 4 pounds overnight at my current weight.  So I assume that the food I had yesterday was salty and I"m retaining water, but I do know for sure that the scale is up a little bit.  And, that is why I weigh myself every day (or nearly every day -- I probably forget 1-2 times a week).  Just keeping on top of this before it becomes a big deal goes a very long way to keeping me at maintenance.

 

Admittedly, I was momentarily freaked out today to see the highest number on my scale that I've seen in months.  But I also know that I'll rein it in and be back at a better number within the next few days.  I've got my weekend workouts booked and will be more careful to make good food choices until everything is back where it should be.  It's not a big deal -- it just requires a little attention.  That pretty much sums up maintenance for me.  It's not that hard -- but that's mainly because of the amount that I work out.  If I wasn't burning extra calories at the gym on a regular basis, this would be a lot harder.  (And it definitely shows on the scale when I slack off...)

Wedding Planning Fun!!

I confess.... I freaking LOVE wedding planning!!  Given that three of my hobbies are letterpress printing, invitation design and calligraphy, it's no surprise that designing the invitations and Save the Dates has turned out to be a total blast! 

For the Save the Dates, I drew a photo of Steve and me, standing in front of the mountain range that you see from our reception site.  I basically made myself into a D-is-ne-y Princess...   Am including a picture below (I blanked out the date and city for privacy's sake).  I printed these on 80 lb Crane's Crest paper, which is a nice thick cardstock, though it's not as heavy as the 110 lb stock in the same color that I'll use with the wedding invitations (more on those another time).

The front of our Save the Dates!

My dress came in about 2 weeks ago -- I am so excited!!  I went to try it on during lunch one day, and Marjorie was able to come out and go with me.  It is so beautiful and only needs a little tweaking to make it fit perfectly.  I can't wait to wear it!!  It was so great to see it in my size and in the right color!  I loved it just as much as I thought I would -- which is a lot!!

The road up to our reception site is a little hard to find, so I bought the adorable sign shown below from THIS wonderful brand new website, which has the cutest wedding and party supply supplies.  It was all I could do not to buy everything on there!!   

On the flower front, I've been buying up hobnail milkglass vases (see below) to use at the reception.  Steve's cousin, who is a florist, is getting the flowers for us wholesale and will be giving her amazing arranging skills as our wedding gift (which is fantastic -- she's really good).

What I am planning is to have a bunch of milk glass vases in different sizes and shapes (some hobnail, some not) scattered down the center of each table (we're doing banquet tables), with lots of peonies and other flowers in various shades of pink (maybe mixing in some white and green, too).  I'd like it to look something like the photo below, but less dense (we're trying not to break the bank after all)!

Speaking of not breaking the bank, I've been on spending lock-down for months!!  This isn't as austere as it could be, but I am missing buying clothing and have been taking the subway more often at times when I'd normally take a cab.  We've also dialed-back going out to dinner, and have cut out most charity events (which run anywhere from $75-$150+ per person every time..).  Every little bit helps, and we've been able to squirrel away quite a fair chunk of the wedding budget already!  It helped a lot that we've had some nice gifts from family members.  Also, I plunked my entire bonus in the wedding savings account.... whereas I normally buy myself a nice present and bank the rest.  We're definitely getting there!  I'm looking at the wedding like a present to myself and Steve, and to our friends and family too, though.  I'm so excited about it, and I'm really enjoying the fun of planning.

Happy New Year!

Hi!  I've been MIA from blogland for a bit and wanted to do a quick New Year's post!  Not sure why, but I haven't felt like blogging lately.  All is going just fine on the maintenance front.  In fact, I'm at a recent low (not all-time low) as of this morning -- 151.6, whereas at the end of the summer, I saw 157 a few times (I try to keep it under 155 at all times). 

 

New Year's was a lot of fun.  Steve and I rented a great house out in the Hamptons with 7 other friends, and we had 13 people there for New Year's Eve dinner and fun.  We all love to cook, and we really had some fantastic meals!  I did make it to Ph-y-s-ique 57 once (ballet bar type workout), which was good, given all the eating we were doing!  There was a chalkboard in the kitchen (you can see it in the photo above), and we got chalk so that I could write out the menu for each meal. 

Wedding planning is going so well!  I designed our wedding invitations and Save the Dates and am printing them myself.  I'll post a photo or two soon.

I hope all of you rang in 2013 in a nice way and that this year is already off to a great start!