Lets Talk Budget and Organization! (Wedding Planning 1)

Ok, so this has been the longest I've got without writing a post...But...

SURPRISE!!

I'm getting married!!!

Yup, James and I are tying the knot. James proposed last Saturday (September 8th) outside of the Jordan River Temple. It was so perfect! Then we spent the rest of the day replicating some of our more important past dates. We went mini golfing, had lunch at Olive Garden, and got ice cream at Sub Zero (if you haven't been there, I highly recommend it. They make the ice cream right in front of you using liquid nitrogen. Its awesome!!). 

The big day is January 19, 2013! Seems so far away, but in all reality, that's not a ton of time to plan a wedding. Luckily, I got a bit of a head start, thanks to that wonderful website that everyone is addicted to, Pinterest!! (Click Here to follow my boards!) I've been pinning like mad since I first got on the website, and I'm pretty sure what my theme is to be.

I thought, "Hey, this wedding planning is hard stuff. Maybe I should try to help others out as well..." So here it is. BAM! My first wedding planning post!

What I've been focused on today as far as planning goes is the dreaded budget. Since I'm the oldest child of a family of 7, and I'm making minimum wage (did I mention I finally got a job? Hooray for me...? It kinda sucks, but its a paycheck), plus the fact that my wedding is right after Christmas, the budget is not huge. I've figured if I save 90% of my paycheck (after taxes and tithing, plus a little money left over for myself for fun) every week, I'd have about $1700 of my own money to pay for things. (YIKES! Breathe, I can do this...) So today, my mom and I have made a list of everything we could think of that we'll need, and estimating (not just guessing, we're looking up prices and such...) 

So my biggest tip is...buy wholesale!! For decorations, food serving stuffs, ect, wholesale is the way to go. For instance, I am buying 1000 styrofoam cups (I'm serving hot cocoa, since its gonna be cold outside) for $34. Not bad!!

I've also been looking into how I could get myself organized.And, once I get some ink for my printer, I'm going to be following the advice I found on this blog I found on Pinterest to set up my own Wedding Planning Binder. I've modified it a bit to fit an LDS wedding, and one for my budget. Maybe if I can get enough skills to figure out how, I'll put up a PDF for you guys to make your own. Its got tons of things I never even thought of. Definitely look into it!

Thanks guys! Hopefully more wedding planning/weight loss/my life posts to follow. Who knows though, with having to plan a wedding on top of my new job and everything else. 

So I'll see ya when I see ya again (hopefully soon!!)

--Lexi Lou

Weight Loss Wednesday: Week 9 (or it should be...)

Happy August everybody! I have been working on my weight loss goals for a little over nine weeks now. I'm wishing I could have had better progress than I do, but I know that I did fall off the wagon for a while. Here's my current weight loss...

Almost 9lbs! So I guess I've been averaging about a pound a week, which is technically healthy weight loss. I should continue to lose about a pound a week, if my new program works well.

Through the recommendation of my sister and mother, I started using the Lose It! app the day before yesterday. This app is free and so amazing! It simply counts calories, but its such a streamlined, easy to use system, that I've become addicted! You begin by entering information about yourself, including age, weight, desired weight, height, sex, ect. The app then calculates how many calories a day you should be eating to meet your weight loss goal at the pace you want to lose it at. For instance, mine says I want to lose 33lbs at a rate of 1lbs a week, so I will reach my goal by March 21, 2013. 

Other features on this app include an awesome scanner that you can use to scan barcodes on packaging. This makes it easy to find and enter the foods you are eating. It also has a ton of exercises you can record, plus the ability to add your own custom exercises. Its so easy to keep track of everything you've burned/consumed. 

**Fun Fact** To lose a pound, you must burn 3500 calories (about 500 a day for 1lb a week) outside of your food intake

I have a budget of 1,718 calories a day...the problem has been sticking to it. This week (mind you, that's two days) I have gone 257 calories over my budget. Now, I know in the grand scheme of things, this isn't horrible. But it also means I need to learn to budget for unexpected meals. That, and limit myself when there are a lot of high calorie foods to be had. 

Please note that pictures from LoseIt! are not from my account

Wanna add me as a friend on LoseIt!? lexilou9788@yahoo.com

--Lexi Lou

Time to Catch Up!!

Hey there fellow bloggers/family/people I don't know (if there are even any of you out there. Make your presence known!)! Long time no blog. But I actually have an excuse as to why that is which is pretty valid(ish). 

Now, I'll admit, I could probably still be blogging pretty regularly, especially during the day when I'm doing pretty much nothing. I still have yet to find a job, but I'm finally getting everything sorted out for school in the fall. But this isn't what has been distracting me, though it probably should have been.

I have lost more weight, but I'm not too focused on it as much anymore. I'm keeping up those healthy habits I developed, and I'm a little more active. I go on a walk now almost every day. And that's because...

I have the most amazing boyfriend!

Its true. Those of you who know me are already aware of the fact, but not everyone really knows who he is or how it all happened. I mentioned a certain young man in one of my previous blogs (Click here to get the story of how we met). In the post I mentioned that I wasn't sure where it was going to go, but that I looked forward to having tons of fun with him. Needless to say, its gone somewhere, and somewhere AMAZING! 

Our hike and picnic at Ensign Peak

Since that Saturday where we hiked with our ward, we've had the best time together. We defined our relationship that following Monday (? I'm pretty sure anyways. I'm terrible with dates and stuff like that), and made it "Facebook Official" July 17 (I can see that one online...). 

James is so good for me! He is sweet and caring, respects me in every way, and I can tell by the way he treats me how much he cares. He likes my family, and his is a ton of fun too. We played the best prank on them about a week ago (we pretended to be engaged. I even borrowed a ring to seal the deal. It was hilarious because his one sister was constantly telling him to take it nice and slow, and she was so mad! So fun!). I feel like we're compatible in so many ways. He's such a strong, upstanding member of the church, but he's not the kind of person who acts like he's so much better than everyone else because of that. We make each other so happy, and our time together is full of laughter. I can't wait to continue getting to know him, and growing closer to each other. 

--Lexi Lou