Viva La Vegas

Zach and I have decided to get married in Vegas! The idea came to us as a joke, but it stuck and by the time we sat down and actually talked it through it didn't seem like such a crazy idea. We got engaged this spring and very quickly had to continuously make sacrifices. We were being told from every angle what we "should have" "can't have" should do" and "shouldn't do" and very quickly were both so overwhelmed (ok I was the biggest one overwhelmed). We had changed our wedding date 5 different times because it didn't work for one person or another and had changed the idea of our wedding I can't even tell you how many times. I was over at my parents house venting about how over the wedding I already was and I made the joke "I'm about ready to just hop on a plane and elope in Vegas" expecting it to be nothing other than a joke. My mom laughed but my dad told me it sounded like a great idea. His approval of it kind of surprised me, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. I went home and Zach and I talked about it; He was completely game for it. Our good friend Krista told us we should get together and pick as a couple what the 3 most important things are to us about our up coming wedding. So in our Vegas discussion we also came up with those three things; honeymoon, clothes, and food. Yup that was our list... Interesting right? Neither of us cared about flowers, colors, venue, having 150+ guests....it just doesn't matter to us. After making that list the Vegas idea made even more sense. I talked to a couple of my close friends and they had nothing but positive things about the idea and after that I was completely sold on the idea. 

I purchased my wedding dress earlier this month and it has kind of thrown off my entire plan for the wedding. My original thought was to buy a very flashy dress...I mean I am getting married in Vegas! So that gave me the idea for the dresses for my bridesmaids...the feel of the whole thing. Well......so much for that. At the Bridal shop I was trying on very Vegas like dresses when a random dress caught my eye. It was nothing that the bridal consultant would have ever grabbed for me but something just made me ask to try it on. What do you know that is the one that I bought! So now I am sitting here realizing that the flashy dresses I had in mind for all of my girls...probably aren't going to go together all that well. Really girls if you have an idea of what you want to wear...nows the time to speak up. 

It has been a great experience so far. The trip for any guests wanting to go won't end up being all that expensive and it saves you from having to get us a gift (much to Zach's dismay). Any guests will get a good discount on their room at the Casino and we are all set to buy airline tickets when they go on special. It is definitely nice to know that all of the people closest to us are supportive and are up for the idea. We will have way more people there then we had anticipated. 

Xoxo

Ash 

Confession Time

Ya so it's been a while, what can I say life and work get hectic. 

I feel like I open a lot of my blog posts with that.

Today was a little bit of a rough day for me. Got to work and finally came to the conclusion that I will most likely have the worst month of my year, which is a hard thing for me to admit. Even admitting it I used the phrase "most likely" attempting to give myself false hope that in the next week I will have a extremely abnormal amount of activity that I should be able to realize...won't happen… sometimes denial helps keep me from having "entire cartoon of icecream consumption" moments...sometimes

With all that being said I did watch some inspirational videos, one involving jelly beans which is always a smart life decision, that seemed to pull on some "you can do it Ashley" strings. I'll admit I still realize that my November at work will end in a smoldering pile of ash, but it did motivate me to get off my lazy butt in some other aspects. 

Confession time:

One-

I currently weigh more than I did when I walked into the hospital (ok extra truth time we all know there was no walking involved) to give birth to Jocelyn. Wait what did I just say? Yes that is correct I weigh more right now than I did 9 months pregnant. I am the heaviest I have ever been. Period.Pathetic.

I think the main problem with that is I have an extremely hard time pushing myself in that aspect of my life. I have always had a coach to scream at me, throw things at me, threaten to bench me..you get the point. I have tried numerous times to motivate myself and really looking in the mirror should be a pretty damn good motivation, but at the end of the day I am awesome at convincing myself of things...like to put off working out "just one more day". I have tried working out with girlfriends but then I am not only convincing and justifying my laziness to myself but to girlfriends also...who always accept it. I need a trainer...a trainer who will throw objects at me and show up at my house if I cancel my appointment...yet to find one that will do that haha

Two-

Sometimes my priorities get completely out of whack. I admit that I use my busy "full-time working full-time mommying" act as an excuse sometimes. Sadly, the excuse is given to myself more than it is relayed to others. I will excuse myself from functions or excuse my lack of activities by justifying it with my "busy" schedule. 

Let's be honest though...who doesn't have a busy schedule? Everyone does and everyone always will and eventually you have to just suck it up and make it work. Either the event/function/friend/family member is a priority in my life and I do what it takes to get it done or I admit to myself and whomever is involved that maybe it isn't on my list of priorities at the moment, but no more excuses. 

Three-

I focus on the negative in life 87% of the time. Ok obviously I completely just threw out that number, but it's a pretty fitting number. I seem to be having an increasingly hard time staying positive lately. I can have a good day, but when asked by Zach when I get home how my day went the answer is fine or I truthfully rack my brain trying to find a topic I can "vent" about. That doesn't even make a lick of sense yet I do it on a daily basis. 

I have a feeling this may be the hardest thing for me to change. Which should say a lot because I am fairly certain that unless some magical trainer comes into my life I will have a hell of a time getting back in shape. I am going to try and slowly work on fixing this. Starting with taking an idea that my lovely friend Cayla has been doing the past year. Tomorrow on my lunch break I am going to go purchase a diary and once a day I will write down one positive thing that happened in my previous day that I am thankful for. I am half tempted to make some sort of a spreadsheet for it because those seem to be the only things I can keep up with. 

Anyone who likes this idea and wants to read all about my friend Cayla who gave me the idea her blog is http://livinthelifeofalinemanswife.blogspot.com/2013/11/thankful-november.html 

Of course along with the journal I am going to attempt to keep up on my blog better. Like I have never said that before but people can change! Truly though it definitely helps me reflect on what is currently going on in my life. 

Before I shut this baby down and crawl in next to my sneezing/coughing/sick fiancé (be jealous) I will leave you with this lovely chat him and I had tonight

**disclaimer** 

I was having a weak moment as my Pinterest wall was flooded with all things baby, thanks friends. 

Me: babe I want another baby....

Zach: really because I want a new couch

Me: o my god! Seriously that is the response I get!! I can't believe you just said that to me 

Zach: ok miss wedding dress bought, honeymoon booked, Vegas trip planned, "Zach I need to lose 20 pounds waaaa waaa waaa" priorities! I want a couch!

Me: well aren't we just a bit grouchy tonight Mr. sickie pants 

XoXo