Split

How do people feel about having to split the Holidays between two families? How do you choose? Is there etiquette? Does one family have priority over another?

I have the answers to all of these and more.

The answer is: it depends. In fact "it depends" can answer about 90% of the questions I always ask...except  for questions like 'What is the best musical of all time?" In which case the answer would obviously be "Rent." Or questions such as "Will Brody cry during this sad movie?" In which case the answer is always "yes."

But back to the split. No two families are alike. When you marry someone, it is true that you are also marrying their family. Luckily in my case, I might marry Brody's family with or without Brody thrown into the mix. They are my nice little bonus prize for picking the right man to marry. And we have worked out an incredible system for holidays. Christmas eve and day are alternated every other year between my family and his. Thanksgiving is determined by where we are spending Christmas that year. We will go with the opposite family for T-giving. It just so happened to work out that this year would be my turn because my nephew can't spend that long without me. Luckily Brody's sister and bro-in-law were going away for Christmas, so next year the whole Gustafson family will be able to be together! 

However, keep in mind that not all families are the same and circumstances may leave you wondering where you will spend every holiday. Whatever system you follow, be thankful for the problem you have of choosing as some don't have that luxury. Also, be thankful you are together.

Also, be thankful for mashed potatoes.

Love is...

Because Brody is spending the holidays with me, I have learned several things about love.

1) Love is taking a walk in the snow because walking is the only thing that relieves my menstrual cramps.

2) Love is laying on the floor with a teary-eyed fiancé suffering from crippling menstrual cramps because it's the only place to lay where the heating pad can reach an outlet.

3) Love is repeatedly reminding me that I'm not drunk, but simply on 2 prescription pain killers, 4 Ibuprofen, and 1 migraine pill.

4) Love is happily sharing a bed with my little brother at grandma's house.

I'm the luckiest woman in the world.

Flora

Change is a good thing.

I'm changing my flowers. From "deep" colors to "cool" colors. We are nixing the plum and fuchsia colored roses for cream ones. Due to the unexpected darkness of the bridesmaids dresses, we decided it would be best. Something like this:

Dear "deep" colors,

 I wanted you, but sometimes brides don't really know what they want until their future mother-in-law buys them fake visuals to show you just how wrong you are. Maybe in my second wedding.

Love,

Katy

Suits

Yesterday I slowly began remembering my pre-nephew life and realized it was time to get back to reality. A bride can only be distracted for so long.

Brody and I went groomsmen attire shopping yesterday with his mother. After a spout of bad luck and rude clerks at Men's Warehouse, we decided to go to Al's Formalwear. We (I) had our (my) hearts set on grey suits for the grooms party. We knew tuxes would look too fancy-pants and black suits would clash with the navy bridal party.

The clerk at Al's told me grey was "out of date,"... go figure. She recommended a khaki suit. I was shying away from the idea at first. I mean khaki? Am I marrying a boy scout? But once he put on the jacket, I fell in love with him all over again. He looked very handsome in the khaki. Plus it would complament nicely with the navy dresses. SO groom will wear an ivory tie while groomsmen will wear navy ties. They will look so handsome.

Another thing I learned from this outing was that if the bride's gown is "virgin white," then you must go with a "virgin white" undershirt for the groomsmen. HOWEVER, if the brides gown is even the slightest bit ivory or off-white, the undershirts must be "candlelight" colored. Apparently the clerk had a bride whose champagne dress looked "like it had been dipped in ice tea" when she stood next to the groom in a "virgin white" undershirt.

Here is a vision of what our party might look like. The dresses are a darker blue than in the photo. Also, disregard the sand. That will never happen.

Huh?

Wedding? HUH? I'm getting married?

To whom? When? Where? Why?

Until stumbling upon this blog (supposedly written by me) my mind had been erased of everything else going on in my life...except for this:

Mark it off

I finally marked one thing off of my Knot(ty) list that has beem looming: I asked my bridesmaids!

I know I'm already in the trashy bride category for so many reasons (some even unknown to you) but this took me to a whole other level.

I had this plan, as so many do, to be really cute and throw a precious little party with sweet adorable snacks, and beautiful dips and chips and the like. Ya know, sophisticated. I would float throughout the room filled with my potential bridesmaids cracking cool and sassy comments with my oh so sharp tongue. Then I would clink my glass and deliver an eloquent speech (preferrably one that rhymes) comparitive to the Gettysburg address asking my girlies to be in my wedding. We would laugh and dream of the future and pick out their dresses together while sipping our drinks. It would be classy.

Instead, I will copy and paste the e-mail I sent them:

"Hey girls! Here's the link to your dresses so hurry up and order one before they sell out!

p.s. Will you be my bridesmaid?"

Yeah. I'm one of those girls.

Fit

Getting fit? Throwing a fit? No. Making it fit.

I tried the wedding dress on yesterday and saw a glimmer(?) of hope. My roommates could have forced it to fit! This is a huge step for me! Before, I wouldn't have been able to make it fit even if I had heavy machinery, but now, I was only one rib removal away from a perfect fit! This means, even if I don't lose another pound before my wedding day, I will be able to force myself into the dress! Plus I tried it on at night. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. Nightime is when nothing fits. You always must try things on/weigh yourself in the morning before you have eaten or had time to swell.

Now lingerie? That's a whole other story (sorry Jeff McMillan, I know you read this now...I'll start being appropriate).

I will keep up my work outs even though somebody (Makenna Whitehead) bailed on us yesterday (JK, she had a good/great excuse, just wanted to give her a shout out). I'm so thankful I have friends willing to get up early and work out with me.

Like I said previously, the bridesmaids dresses are perfect! Now, I just need to ask my bridesmaids to be in the wedding haha.

Postal Service

The precious Bridesmaids dresses came in!!!

I tried them on my tiniest maid and it fits!!!

My body

Here's an update on my body:

For the past four weeks, my friends and I have been working out about 3 days a week strong (it's supposed to be four, but we come up with an excuse every Friday). I've become a swimmer. We swim in the OC pool in the mornings at 7:30 a.m. There are three brutal parts about swimming in the mornings:

1) The cold.

20 degrees with wet hair and a swimsuit is my least favorite thing.

2) Getting out of bed.

This weekend, Brody and I started watching 24 which was the worst possible thing we could do with finals week coming up. I stay up so late watching Jack Bower do his thing, and I curse him when my alarm goes off.

3) Putting on my pants.

I hate trying to put on clothes right after getting out of the pool when you are still damp. It's so hard to pull my pants up! I NEED A CRANE OVER HERE!

Other than that swimming is great. I feel refreshed when I'm done, and I smell like Chlorine really badly. However, sometimes I feel like I'm not really working out at all! Sadly, my body looks that way. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm not sure swimming is making me any skinnier. I even bought goggles for crying out loud! What does it stinkin' take to be skinny!?!?!? Our workout consists of:

1) 7 minutes of treading water
2) 2 minutes of rest
3) 7 MORE minutes of the t(d)read
4) a few laps with the kick board (swimming only using your legs)
5) underwater back flips (for me)
6) laps with goggles

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???

SO, we are replacing two swim days with two days of Jillian Michaels 30-day SHRED DVD. I dread the shred. I dread the shred more than I dread the tread. It makes me sooo sore, but I like it that way.

If you see, me please tell me I've gotten skinny and to keep going. Better yet, join us in the mornings! The more people there are, the less likely all 4 of us have an excuse to stay in bed.

Bridesmaids Dress

After searching long and hard, we might have finally found a bridesmaids dress! I knew I didn't want to ask my girls to spend tons of money on the thing, so we've been looking for sales. Turns out the reason things are on sale is because they don't have the popular sizes or colors! We found a good one at Target.com and ordered one just to try it out. It comes in the mail in a few days.

I have full confidence that my maids will not stand as awkwardly as this chick.