Six months ‘til the wedding and LAID OFF?

Upon my arrival at work last Monday morning my boss informed me that I was being laid off. Not the best news to hear when you’re planning a wedding. Maybe I should have seen it coming—working as an editor for a small company that recently lost a client. I was the last to join, I was the first to go. Logically it all made sense (for them anyway), but it was indeed a blow to my wellbeing.

Amid my stress and frustration, Mr. Cathedral Heights reacted with understanding and empathy, assuring me that we’ll make our bills and have the wedding we’ve been planning in September. Our parents are helping us with the wedding costs quite a bit, which saves us from having to drastically cut costs.

As I’m sure you’d imagine, the past week has been difficult for me—full of mixed emotions at this situation. I have had consistent, full-time work for more than nine years, since graduating college, so this state is rather unfamiliar to me. I've been attempting to stay positive by working out, searching job listings, networking, and continuing with the wedding planning, but I’ve also had days where I just want to hide in bed and read an escape book (The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, has been excellent for that).

I realize that I’m not the only one dealing with a layoff right now, and I need to appreciate the positive parts of my life—that I’m marrying a caring, kind, intelligent man and I am able to lean on him, friends, and family for emotional support. But, there’s always that other side of me that just wants to drown in sorrow and self pity, as hard as it is to admit that here.

My friends who have dealt with a layoff seem to give common advice: Take your time and figure out what you want to do. In the meantime, I have plenty of wedding tasks to keep me busy!

DIY Updates and Raves

Wow. I have not posted in a long long time.

First let me thank Miss Glen Echo for suggesting a make-up person after my last post. I did not read your comment until later and actually found someone in the meantime, but I wanted to thank you for the suggestion! I think the makeup artists I chose is going to be good. No makeup artist has gotten my makeup right and she nailed it on the first try.

Anyway the real point of this post is to heave a gigantic sigh of relief and exhale because I have 37 days until my wedding and I have almost everything DIY-related locked down!! I am so happy I can barely stand it. We had a power Sunday last weekend and worked on stuff from 11 a.m. until 8:30 pm. But it is all done. When we decided to "save money" by making everything paper related we had no idea what we were getting into. We ended up making: the invitations, rsvp cards, cd covers for the cd favors, burning 120 cds filled with music we love, programs, menu cards, table numbers stuffed into frames and the escort cards will be done when we get the final headcount. We are also making our centerpiece which is a crystal wedding tree. This sucker is wayyy harder than I thought it would be. I am having a devil of a time finding the "right" crystals. Perhaps I will post a picture in here after I attempt to put it all together this weekend.

I still have to emboss the luminaries I bought, and finish up the Out of Town bags but that is a walk in the park compared to the months of months spent on making all this stuff for the wedding. Mr. NationalHarbor is burnt out but he is hanging with me. He has been be my side cutting ribbon and spraying adhesive every inch of the way.

So that's it. For those still in DIY Hades-- there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh- before I forgot. I posted a while back about the exercise program I had just bought and was going to start doing called Insanity. I HIGHLY recommend it. I am not a beachbody coach or anything. I just want folks who are looking for a quick way to lose weight to know this is out there. It's a 60 day program and I just finished Month 1. I am eating normally- no starvation diets for me-- but the inches have come pouring off. 40 minutes a day and in one month this program has helped me wear jeans I have not worn in over 2 years. I squeezed into a pair of jeans I bought too small over 4 years ago and have never worn and I know by the end of Month 2 I will be able to wear those suckers. One of my bridesmaids is getting married next weekend and I am wearing my fave little black dress that has been collecting dust since 2007. This program is not for everyone because it is a killer- but if you need help shedding inches to get into your wedding dress-- try this!

Opportunity or Stress Inducer?

photo credit

The fiance and I generally eat decently, and while we exercise, it's what you'd call sporadic at best. We both like to walk and I also run. I usually end up signing up for 2-3 road races through out the summer because it takes the "you just paid $35 to run a 10K, get your butt on the road" to keep me on track.

I've been thinking though that with our long engagement, F & I could have the ultimate motivator on our hands: Wedding, Wedding Photos, Wedding Tux, and Wedding Dress (eek!). We have about 15 months ahead of us, so why not make the most of it? My theory is that if we can use the wedding to re-mold our eating and exercise habits for 15 months, it might stick after the wedding!

We've decided to make a concerted effort to make better food choices, cut back on nights out and alcohol consumption, take lunch to work more often, and try to walk together 3 times a week. We also talked about trying out the South Beach Diet together, but we're opting for baby steps right now. In addition, I've ramped up my running of late (I'm supposed to run this on labor day).

I've known other couples who have bought gym memberships together in preparation for their wedding and subsequent beach honeymoon. We also know a couple doing Weight Watchers together to get ready for their December wedding.

Having a buddy to go through this with is great--raise your hand if you had a work-out buddy sophomore year of college to lose the freshman15 (me!). But I could also see how it could create extra wedding stress as the day gets closer. Will it create too much pressure? Will there be nit-picking over the how much pasta we're eating or skipping a work-out? possibly, but we think the potential health benefits make it worth a shot.

Are you doing anything special diet and exercise related in preparation for your wedding?