Change of Blog Address-Update your Google Readers!

I was having HTML issues that could not be fixed with this current blog, but have no fear...we are up and running with a new address:

http://chelsandjason.blogspot.com

Please update your Google Readers or bookmarks. We don't want to lose you as a reader!!!!

Wedding Diet - Weigh in Day

I weigh myself everyday not to be obsessed, but for self-monitoring. It keeps me in check, but is also a great way to see results and stay motivated. I do my official weigh ins once per week with a counselor at Jenny Craig. I always get nervous-not that they are mean to you if you aren't losing weight, but I feel like I'm a bad student or something.

Today was my week 3 weigh-in and I lost 2 more pounds for a total of 5 pounds and counting!

Focus of the week: Drink more water. I start feeling nauseous if I drink too much plain water so add some lemon or lime to jazz it up!

Next weigh in is this Sunday. Good luck on your weeks everyone!

The Great Wedding Band Debate

I have a huge decision to make and I keep going back and forth! I know I am being dramatic and this is really a fun thing to have to worry with. My engagement ring is so beautiful-I love it so much and it is perfectly unique for me. It does have a unique shape to it so a flat wedding band will not sit flush on it. When I first saw the ring, I thought-"oh no!" I love it, but what will I do for a wedding band??? These are my options:

a. No band-just wear the engagement ring because it is pretty enough to stand alone

b. Have a band custom made to fit against the ring by the jeweler who designed and made the engagement ring. If I choose this option, I have already spoken to the jeweler and he suggests a thin band with small channel-set round diamonds to match my ring.

c. Get a traditional wedding band, wear it on my right hand and then if I ever don't want to wear the full on engagement ring, I can just wear the band on my left hand.

I need your opinion! Is anyone out there that has faced this dilemma?

Diet Update

I had my first weigh in this afternoon and I lost 3 pounds! Yay! My goal for this week is to be more active - take more steps and try to hit the gym at this once this week.

My celebrity body-role model this week is Kate Winslet. She looks amazing, but doesn't buy into the sick Hollywood standards of having to be a twig. She looks healthy and is drop dead gorgeous! As I am typing she just won a golden globe and is so precious. The pic above is from the globes tonight.

Good luck to everyone this week who is working on their own plans. Have a great week!

The Wedding Diet

It's time to tackle the oh-so personal issue that is so not fun, but a must a major must-do in my wedding planning...the wedding diet! Really it is not so much a wedding diet because that alludes that as soon as the wedding is over, the diet is done. It is more of a lifetime diet with May 23 being my main motivation at the moment.

A little background- I may be crazy for sharing with everyone my weight issues, but my hopes in doing so is that this helps other people who are in the same boat (plus it will hold me accountable). I read other blogs that talk about diet successes and those serve as a great inspiration for me. My weight goes up and goes down, goes back up and then back down. You should see my closest- I have so many different sizes, but I never want to throw out the sizes I am not currently wearing because my past experience show that I will end up changing sizes yet again.

I'm 5'4'' and have a pear shaped body. Small arms, chest, and waist, but large hips, booty and thighs! Currently I weight 146 and wear a 8/10. My junior and senior year of high school was when I was at my smallest-100 pounds. I will never ever be that size again-let's be realistic, but I constantly look back on those days for inspiration on what I was doing. I ran and I ran and I ran. I was in the best shape ever. It also helped that I worked at the YMCA so was constantly surrounded by health and wellness, but really, high school, what stresses do you have then? I lived on subway and smoothies, plus I had a 16 year old's metabolism.

Like many, I started packing on the pounds in college. Cafeteria food, college lifestyle, and major stress-eating while I studied. Oh, and did I mention that I waited tables and bartended at Chili's? I lived on "soup shots", chips and queso and everything else on that menu. By the time I graduated, I was around a size 8, 135 pounds. When I moved to Houston and got a real job, I started Jenny Craig and dropped about 15 pounds. Over the next year I gained the weight back while going through a very difficult time in my life. About 6 months later, I got back on Jenny for a short stint, lost about 12 pounds, looked great, felt confident and then met the love of my life, Jason. A few months after meeting Jason, I got lazy because I was blissfully happy and ended up getting off of Jenny.

Now, 2 years later, I have gained all of the weight back and then some! I am the heaviest I have ever been and am not happy about the way I look and feel. I am working full-time and going to graduate school for an MBA so I have quit the gym and started the whole stress-study eating habit again. Plus, I am now in the habit of eating the exact same things and amounts that my fiance eats. My body just can't handle that! One thing that I want to emphasize is that I am not doing this for any other reason than for me! No one has told me I need to lose weight and my amazing fiance always assures me that I look great. I just don't feel pretty anymore. I also don't feel very healthy. I want to feel and look great on our wedding day and be proud to show off our pictures for the rest of our lives. I don't want to look back and cringe thinking, wow, I look bad!

So that is where my head is at! I have an amazing support system in place- Jason, my mom, and my amazing friend, Page!

I decided to go back to Jenny Craig. I really do believe in this program because it has worked so well for me in the past, when I stuck with it of course! I have been on the program for one week now. My plan is to post about once per week to give an update on how things are going, what has worked for me, what hasn't and what I have learned. I hope this can help other readers as other blogs have helped me!

Bad pic, but shows my skinnier face in college, btw, that is not a boyfriend, it is a waiter from a cruise I went on:

After college when I moved back to Houston:

When I first met Jason, I had a much skinnier face than I do now:

Jason and I in May '08- much rounder face and body. In this pic, I was about the same weight as I am now:

December 08
I can't wait to show you progress as it comes!!! Wish me luck-I'm gonna need it!

I Love Peacocks!

I love when peacocks are incorporated into weddings. I haven't decided how to incorporate this into my own wedding yet besides having actual peacocks roaming around of course!

Here's the inspiration:

Peacock ring shot...my 2 favorite things:

A peacock inspired bouquet:

And floral decoration:

Centerpieces:Cake with a few peacock touches:

And invitations:

This one isn't wedding related, but I just learned that Vera Bradley now has rugs...is it any surprise that my favorite is the peacock pattern! This would look great in my kitchen:

How To Ask Your MOH

I asked my friend and future sister-in-law to be my maid of honor over the Christmas holiday. I knew I wanted to present her with something special as a surprise as my way of asking her. I waited until all of us had opened all of our presents and then I said, "Oh wait, we forgot one....here Jeanna this is for you!"

This is what I presented her with:

It had a yellowbird (her fave Vera Bradley pattern) Clipboard, a yellowbird organizer, The Bridesmaid's Handbook, and the "Made of Honor" DVD. She had no idea what was going on until she opened the card:

And then came the tears...

It was really fun for all of us to watch her open everything. I am so happy she said yes! What have other people done to ask their wedding party?