Say Yes to the Dress!

This weekend I spent some time watching "Say Yes to the Dress" as I worked on my Halloween costume. As a person who doesn't much enjoy reality TV, I was admittedly enjoying myself as I watched brides try on various dress styles. SYttD feels like a show that celebrates happiness more than reveling in cattiness, though they did toss in the troublemakers (be it the bridesmaids, mothers, or clerks at the store) where they could.

One thing I found I wished they would do would be to put up notes on the dresses the brides tried on. A few times the designers/dress styles were mentioned, but the information comes and goes so fast, it's hard to know what you've just seen. The way I view it, women are probably watching this show, in part, to get dress ideas. Knowing what style or designer was tried on would be a great boon to women who want to see the dress on a real-life model.

I've never subjected myself to any of the other bridal shows such as Bridezillas. I think I'll stick to SYttD.

Workout Breakup

When Dr. Light and I first got engaged, I told myself I was going to work out like crazy. I was going to lose those 10 "happy" pounds I'd put on since we had met. It seemed like a good goal, but my only issue has been, well, that I don't work out.

I started out pretty strong. I bought an awesome DVD called 30 Day Shred, and it really kicked my heinie!



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The only issue is that there is so much required squatting and knee-intensive activities, I found the DVD painful to do for more than two days in a row. I have pretty bad knees, to the point where the first time I walked upstairs in Dr. Light's condo he asked me if I had tic-tacs in my pocket because my knees cracked that badly.

It gets especially bad when I have to go down stairs in the days after workouts to that DVD. I've had to start lifting myself down them.

So, that leaves me with the thought that I'm going to have to figure out some other way. I've used the exercise room at the condo to do the elliptical machine, and that's pretty nice. It's just the gumption to walk outside and go up to the facility that challenges me.

I know that this is all dependent on my own will power, and it's a challenge I'm gonna have to face or dodge. I just wish that my knees were better. I'm really not looking forward to the replacement surgery that will inevitably happen in the years to come. I figure that I shouldn't hurt them badly now, though.

So, 30 Day Shred, as much as I love you, I think it's time for us to break up.

A month or so ago, Dr. Light and I headed up to Arvada to the Das Meyer Fine Pastry Chalet, a cute little house that had been converted into a bakery many years ago. Every Saturday they host an open house cake tasting where you can sample wedding cake flavors. It's completely on the house, including milk, coffee, tea, etc.

The whole place is super quaint, and even better, they had gargoyle statues set up all over. It really made the ambiance. :)

This little guy was next to our table.


After taking a quick walk around the bakery (you can see photos of their work on their website), we went over to the cake counter and chose four flavors: strawberries & champagne, berries in a cloud, orange blossom, and some chocolatey thing Dr. Light wanted to try. (For the record, I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake.)

We were pretty excited.


The strawberries & champagne was DEFINITELY the best, so that sits at the top of our list for this particular bakery. We weren't so in love that we decided to use them right there and then, so we'll tour elsewhere, but if you are looking for a bakery that is well known, time-tested, and Lilacwire-approved, Das Meyer is a good start!

Sit your ass down!

(While shaping this blog, I'm going to cross-post some items from my personal journal because they pertain to wedding/engagement/creativity.)

Dr. Light and I have vastly different ideas about how to seat our wedding guests during the reception. As we will be serving dinner, we'll have tables and chairs and that whole shebang, but we want to handle them differently. As a note, we haven't even STARTED on seating arrangements, as we haven't even sent out invites or save the dates (which would be at earliest next year), but I was sitting here at work, stapling papers, and got to thinking.



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Me? I could care less where anyone sits. I figure we've been seating ourselves for the last 17-70 years (our guests' age ranges, most likely), so folks won't have an issue finding seats. I know it's wedding tradition to have a good chart, but I've been to multiple weddings in the past few years that let people just seat their darned selves and it all worked out beautifully.

Dr. Light likes the idea of ye olde seating chart. Perhaps pair some people together that have never met. Or keep some people apart (hi, mom and dad! - more coming on them at another time). It's not that folks will be at these seats all night, or anything. Just for an hour or so while we nom nom nom. So it could be a great mix & mingle opportunity.

What I wanted to know - what do you think? What have your experiences been with the dreaded seating chart? Did you have fun getting sat next to new people, or did you secretly wish the entire time that you were sitting next to a friend across the room?

Engaged!

Although Mr. Light's intention to propose was no secret between us, it was still a pretty amazing moment when he did.

We'd been hanging out all night, enjoying a spaghetti dinner and conversation, when he slid off the couch and onto his knees. He told me that I was the only woman for him, that he loved me, and more that I can't remember because I have the crummiest auditory memory ever - but the look in his eyes was more than enough.

He popped the box open and I'm pretty sure I said "yes" somewhere in there, but as he slid the ring onto my finger, I made sure to say it about ten more times. I kind of love that it was at home where we are making our lives together, but most of all I cherish having his earnest look in my memory. So wonderful. <3