On Stress

Wedding planning, while it might be a beautiful and exciting thing, isn't always so bright and sunny. As my wedding date continues to draw near (we're talking mere weeks, y'all!), I continue to see my stress level rise, and I'm having trouble shaking it off.

Missing RSVPs? Oh yea, we have about half of ours still yet to be received. Our guests still have a couple days until our deadline, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. Final payments? I don't even want to talk about that. We have so much money flying out of our bank accounts these days, it feels like I might have to revert back to a college diet of Ramen every night. Details to be tied up? Oh, only about a thousand. Dress fittings, final meetings, schedules, not to mention everyday life...

I've really tried to find ways to stave off stress. Mr. H and I recently trained for and completed the Monument 10K. I've found running is a great release for me. I also joined the gym at my work. Group exercise classes are a great way to get my mind off things, and making new friends is always a positive thing. I've also had "girl time" and drank my fair share of wine as a distraction. I've gone to church, and I've made sure I'm getting a solid eight hours sleep. These tactics have been fairly helpful, but sometimes I still find myself overwhelmed. Last night was one of those times.

A glass of wine and some silly television did nothing to take my mind off everything, and I found myself balling on the couch. I'll admit crying it out did help alleviate some stress and a phone call to Momma Hawk was comforting, but I can't help still feeling a bit exhausted by it all. I know I'm supposed to be focusing on the fact that Mr. H and I are getting married and forgetting the silly details, but sometimes it is just freaking HARD to do.

Have you ever had a breakdown during the planning process? What do you do to alleviate stress?

Wedding Dress Dread

Wedding dress shopping is kind of a big deal. (Hello, there are even television shows dedicated to the process!) And although I usually L.O.V.E. most shopping trips, the prospect of finding “the dress” totally turned me off. Besides watching other brides find their dresses on tv, there really wasn’t anything appealing about it. As various people found out I was getting married, many of them excitedly asked, “have you found your dress yet?!” I became accustomed to my go-to response of, “no, net yet. And I’m really not looking forward to it.” (This was typically returned with the you-have-three-heads look.) I guess dress shopping is a part of the wedding process that many brides look back fondly upon, but I thought it was going to be a disaster.

I’m a pretty averaged-sized girl who takes care of herself with exercise and healthy eating most of the time, and like most women, I wanted to look exceptionally beautiful on my wedding day. Through reading many magazines and articles, I had learned that wedding dress sizing did not correspond with street-clothes sizing. In fact, wedding dresses could be a whole one to two sizes smaller. Since it would be impractical for most dress shops to have a sample in every size, they only kept certain sizes on hand. To me this translated as a warning cry. “Prepare yourself! Nothing will fit!” I, like any bride, wanted to enjoy the shopping experience, but I had fun-house style images in my head. Although the label size never bother me, I pictured literally nothing fitting. Even though I really enjoyed them, I don’t think all of the dress shows really helped to ease my fears either. The episodes all captured so much drama!  (Tears, broken budgets, and family squabbles, oh my!) And even though more recently they have started featuring brides of all sizes, most part the shows I watched featured itty-bitty girls. (And model-thin, I was not.)

A not-so-happy Minnie pin via Okey Dokey Goodies

To make a difficult process worse, I thought back on my special-event dress experiences of the past. In high school searching for banquet and prom dresses was a total chore. I used to try on dress after dress after dress... even thinking back on it is exhausting really. (I’m sure Momma Hawk still has nightmares.) I knew indecision would be my worst enemy. (Prom was not NEARLY as important as a wedding! I figured that my indecision would grow exponentially along with the importance of the event. Dress.Shopping.HELL.)

These fears stayed with me for months until Momma and Sister Hawk came into town during the summer for a whirlwind week of all things wedding. I knew their arrival would be D-Day. (I had literally scheduled dress appointments their first full day in case it took all week for me to come to a decision!) I was fearful up until the moment I saw myself in the mirror in my first dress. I looked kinda good and the dress was kinda beautiful. I’m sure the ooh-ing and ahh-ing of my supportive mom and sister definitely helped my confidence as well, but what really changed my attitude was my bridal consultant. She, very sweetly, reminded me that: 1. I had a great figure and 2. It would be more difficult to find a dress I didn’t like than finding one I did like because they would all be beautiful on me. Now if I had verbalized my fears more clearly to my family, I know they would have said something similar, but having an outsider say it really snapped me out of my funk. From there on out I was really able to enjoy the process and wouldn’t you know it that I found my dress on the first day?

Did you share in my wedding dress shopping mentality or were you excited from the start? Did it end up being easier/harder than you had imagined?

Beating the Blues

I'm sure you can relate. There are just some days when I move a little slower and am feeling a little less "sunny." Well, today was one of those days. Mr. Hawk was leaving to go out of town for work and I was feeling down in the dumps. The air had somehow turned cold, it was overcast and breezy, and the only things I could think about were my workload at the office, bootcamp at the park in the freezing cold, and having three super pent-up dogs that I'd have to deal with after everything else. Top it off with following up on some wedding emails? I was feeling like I'd be lucky to fall into bed before PM turned to AM again.

I ran off to work, barely having a moment to kiss Mr. Hawk goodbye before heading out to complete my multitude of tasks. I went about my day just hoping to get through. When I popped home to throw on my workout gear, I was still in blinders mode, looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. That's when I happened across a sweet little note attached to my mirror. A huge smile immediately came across my face, but I didn't have time to call Mr. Hawk before running out again for bootcamp.

"I want to marry you"

When I made it back home for the second time, I was even more exhausted. I had my butt kicked in class and I was ready to make some dinner. I went to hang up my keys on our shelf and I came across another note. Heading to the kitchen to cook some dinner, I found still another note.

"I miss you"

"I love you!"

I was feeling pretty freakin' special at that point.  Looking forward to talking to Mr. Hawk ASAP, I hurriedly cooked some soup and started to eat my dinner. Before I could finish, he rang me up to check in. I went on gushing about the notes and how sweet they were. He asked me how many I had found. Three? Oh no, there was still another waiting to be discovered! Of course not to be the one to just wait and "happen upon" it, I went to the bedroom, the only room I hadn't been in since leaving for work. That's when I found this last little beauty waiting atop my pillow.

"I want to spend my life with you!"

At the risk of being a braggart, I've got to say that I have a great man. It was still a rough day filled with responsibility, but Mr. Hawk really lightened my load. He eased my stress by reminding me that he cares. Even though it was a simple gesture, I know he took the time just to put a smile on my face. I don't know about y'all, but little gestures to support the ones you love? I think that's key to a successful partnership.

How do you show your significant other you care? Has your man ever gone out of his way to brighten your day? (I sure hope so!)

All photos personal