I spent my evening celebrating an engagement! My sister-in-law Rachael and her boyfriend Stephen got engaged on Friday night! 😀
I am so excited about a year full of showers, parties and wedding planning (it’s so much more fun when it’s not your own!). Yay, congrats to Rachael and Stephen!
My other sister-in-law hosted and engagement dinner for the families tonight.
After a long day of teaching my cocktail of choice for the evening was a kombucha. I did have a small glass of red wine with dinner but I was just not feeling it tonight. My body said, hydrate me please!
Dinner was Chicken Marbella (the most flavorful chicken dish ever – so good!), green beans and roasted sweet potatoes. I also contributed a salad with mixed greens, berries, almonds, feta and poppyseed dressing but I didn’t get a picture.
Dessert was complements of my mother-in-law and was homemade cheesecake with a peach topping. Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, especially when it’s fruity.
And one of the biggest perks of having dinner at my sister-in-law’s house is getting to see my sweet nieces.
So cute but so glad I can give them back. My nieces are three and 18 months and they are busy, busy, busy. I am always in awe of how my sister-in-law can keep it together the way she does. It’s a great form of natural birth control. 😉
Backing up…I was up at 6:30 this morning to make it to the studio to practice ashtanga before I had to teach the 9:15 hot class. I am really enjoying these Sunday morning practices. It’s so nice to get my own practice in before I teach.
Brandon and I went to brunch at Flying Biscuit when I got home.
I ordered the Hollywood Omelet – egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, white cheddar and tomato coulis. Fresh fruit and one of their famous biscuits on the side.
I worked through brunch writing my class plan for my afternoon Total Strength class. I only teach this class one weekend a month but I enjoy it because I have total control over the what I decide to teach. Today’s class went really well and I had quite a few people tell me after class how much they enjoyed it. I will post the workout here this week for you guys!
It’s 11:35 and I’m wanting to make early morning yoga. Lights out!
A question…did you enjoy being engaged and wedding planning? I shared this in my third anniversary post but I did not love wedding planning! Being engaged was pretty fun though minus the millions of questions I was asked on a daily basis! 😉
Love Flying Biscuit! It’s probably my favorite breakfast spot in Charlotte! 🙂
I actually liked most aspects of wedding planning. The most difficult part for me was trusting people who I was paying to follow through when I felt some of them weren’t listening or hesitated in such a way that caused me to doubt them. I can be a bit of a control freak when something is important to me. Can you believe I have never been to Flying Biscuit? It’s definitely on my list of places to try. Congrats to your sister-in-law!
kelly – flying biscuit is a great breakfast/brunch spot. also, they serve breakfast all day. love that!
i hear you on the control thing. we were living in alabama and our wedding was in charleston and it was so tough to work with our vendors. we just had to have faith that they would pull through with what we discussed!
I did NOT love wedding planning, although I did love my wedding itself! So I guess it was all worth it in the end!
Aw your little niece is so cute! I’m not a fan of wedding planning–and I thought I would be! I have 4 months to go and it is a lot of work on top of a full-time job! Yikes!
hang in there! your wedding day will totally be worth all of the planning! promise! 🙂
I think wedding planning sounds like the worst part about getting married. LOL.
You know, I enjoyed being engaged… but our engagement was SO short that it made wedding planning really overwhelming. So, yes and no. Is the Flying Biscuit a chain? I thought they were located in Atlanta, but I’m thinking you’re located in Charlotte, so I guess so!
we were the opposite – our engagement was SO long. almost 18 months!
flying biscuit is a franchise.
I actually went to a bridal expo yesterday and it was terrifying! It was almost enough to tell my mom that there was no way that I could handle a wedding. Luckily, she is on the same page as me and we’re planning on something small, quirky, and very personal. Much more my speed! I am looking forward to dress shopping!!
winnie – bridal expos are scary, scary places! don’t feel like you have to go to them!
i think a small, personal wedding sounds perfect. and dress shopping is the best! 🙂
I 100% agree that helping planning weddings of other people is SO much better than your own. I hated planning my own wedding. It was seriously one of the most miserable times in my life because there was just so much pressure and so many to-do’s. Of course, the end result was worth it though 🙂
I loved being engaged. It was just an exciting time! We were only engaged for 8 months, and luckily everything seemed to come together pretty easily. The only thing that stressed me out was watching the money add up and trying to cut some costs. It was nice when all the planning was finished, and I could just enjoy the day itself.
erin – it’s crazy how fast it all adds up! weddings are crazy expensive. i wish we would have had a shorter engagement. 8 months sounds great – we were closer to 18!
My husband and I married in Vegas at a cute chapel (it wasn’t trashy) then had a small reception with a great red velvet cake from Freed’s Bakery in our suite at the Bellagio. I could not have dealt with planning a wedding after witnessing other’s experiences!
i think that sounds perfect and so fun!
Congrats to your SIL!
Wedding planning was not my favorite activity…at all! I did love the engagement and celebrating it over and over 🙂
I am not engaged or planning a wedding, but I cannot wait until the day that I am! It’s such a special experience. Congrats to your sister-in-law and her fiance!
Ah! I just got engaged last week too and have had such anxiety about the wedding planning! I am starting to feel more like myself (I am not a “wedding person”) and more excited as we have started to identify some ‘definite possibilities!’Love the blog and check it daily 😉
Emilie – CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement!!!
Don’t be anxious about it – just try not to compare your wedding to others and all the crazy things you see on blogs and in magazines. Do what feels right to you!
Take it one step at a time. You will feel so much more sane once you set a date and pick a place! Everything else will fall into place.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
Yay for engagements, boo for wedding planning. I loved the idea of planning and therefore did almost everything myself (and to save money). But the stress of paying for it and pleasing everyone was enough to drive me insane and to never want to do it again! To top it all off, my wedding day was very stressful (most of our guests left right after the food and cake because we didn’t have any alcohol); my husband and I were so happy it was over. If I had it all back to do again, I’d have a very small and private country wedding. But, anywho, congrats!
Brindi – I am so sorry to hear that you had a stressful engagement and wedding. The temptation to “DIY” is strong but sometimes it’s worth it just to let someone else do it!
But don’t they always say that the only thing that matters is that you’re married at the end of the day. 😉
Hope married life is treating you well!
thanks for sharing your total body strength routine! I followed a version of it today with some add-ins! Great routine!!
thanks for sharing your total body strength routine! I followed a version of it today with some add-ins! Great routine!!
**meant to post on your get strong post!!**
🙂
you are so welcome! i will post more workouts in the future with more direction/detail!