Well, I did it...

I got a dress and my fiance and I joined a gym. And I admit one is definitely, slightly related to the other.

The dress is beautiful, but I'm not going to post a picture until after my husband sees me in it. And the gym is really more than a gym.

First things first. The dress. I must say I'm quite proud of myself...it was the 6th dress I tried on at the first place I went.

You see, my Uncle Bruno (who isn't really my uncle, but one of those people you call your uncle because he's been around since before you can remember, and you've grown up hearing your parents refer to him by saying things like, "Say goodbye to Uncle Bruno," and "Give Uncle Bruno a hug," and "Pour Uncle Bruno some more wine," etc.) took me dress shopping with my mom, and my youngest sister.

So the place I went in Houston is called Ventura's Bridal and it's this great warehouse type structure, and you walk in and you're accosted by very dramatic posters of very dramatic brides in very uncomfortable looking poses. But then you're ushered into the back and there are about 10-15 racks of designer wedding dresses, one after another and you just go through them. I picked 6 dresses, and after trying on all of them, and wittling it down to two, my final choice was the last one I had picked. Uncle Bruno (who should know) said it looked like it cost $5000. Trust me. It didn't.

I teared up for a split second when I stepped out of the dressing room in the first wedding dress I had ever put on in my entire life. It did make things seem a little more real at that moment, but I think my sensitivity mainly was hightened by the very young looking girl who was on the next stand over from me, who had just walked out, seen her dad, busted out crying as he started crying and ran into his embrace. It was moving. There was certainly no tears busting out of my mom, in fact I think she looked at me like she couldn't believe her eldest daughter was actually in a wedding dress. But I know deep down she was excited, too.

TIP: Because I chose a wedding dress on my first visit, I got 10% off the final price, which essentially means I didn't have to pay tax.

And secondly, the gym. Like I said, the gym is way more than a gym. More a spa-like fitness center.

It's called Telos, is actually kind of great, and even though it's not what you would call "inexpensive," I have to say I think it's going to be worth it. Let me just say this: they have individual, claw-footed jet tubs in the women's locker room. Fabulous. Plus the more I think of that dress, the more I want to be at Telos. I'm specifically doing a pilates program they offer, trusting them when they say pilates is just the pre-wedding thing for a wedding day body. I definitely want to tone and lean up, especially around the upper back and arm area since my dress is strapless.

Plus, with pilates there's this 10-20-30 idea: after 10 sessions you feel different, after 20 sessions you begin to look different, and after 30 sessions you're a completely different person. On the outside at least.

Never be afraid of change. I'm in it for the long haul.

TIP: This place gives you one free pilates lesson with your membership so you can try it out, plus a free assessment with a personal trainer who develops a personal workout regime for you. Again, so far, it's totally worth it.

Let me just say...

I'm really bad at planning a wedding. Really bad. I don't like it and I'm not good at it and I wish I didn't have to do it.

Don't get me wrong...I'm really excited about being married, especially to the man to whom I'm getting married. He's great. But planning the wedding in which we will become married? Not so good.

And here's why I have to say "I hate to be dramatic," because 1) planning a wedding really is hard when you have a full time job (doesn't that just sound dramatic?), and 2) I've got to start working out/eating right (that just plain is dramatic).

And, look. I know I'm not saving the world from nuclear war here, but I work hard and I get really busy and it's hard to stop what I'm doing to decide whether I want satin or lamore tablecloths. And I know I'm not rediculously over-weight or tremendously out of shape, but it's true my metabolism has slowed down, and I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and I just can't resist eating a whole bag of popcorn (or cookies, or chips, or a block of cheese, or ice cream, etc.) when I get home from work.

So if I'm going to be in a state of getting married for the next 5 months (which I will be), then I think I'm going to have to embrace the drama of planning a wedding, choose the satin tablecloths, put down the hamburger, and start some serious sweating (and not by simply turning my a/c off).

Here we go.

It has begun...and is

In spite of the opinion held by many people I've come in contact with (all of them non-bloggers) who say that blogging is the most self-absorbed way of communicating there is (notwithstanding the auto-biography, I'm sure), I have decided to write a blog about getting married.

I've never seen the movie "Rachel Getting Married" (and can't say I've heard great things about it, never-mind that the star, whom I can only really take seriously as Princess Mia, received an Oscar nod), but I have to admit I like the tense of the phrase: it makes it seem like getting married is an ever present experience, not just something that will happen one day in the future, but something that is always in the process of happening.

And so far, I'm am certainly finding that to be true.