About

Weddings seem to be all around me, which is fine by me. I love weddings!

A few weeks ago we went to Ray’s sister’s wedding and last Friday one of my friends, Jaclyn, asked me to go to with her to look at wedding dresses. Jaclyn and I went to Isis Bridal, which is where I got my wedding dress. Isis Bridal is the best. They have a great selection and their customer service is top-notch. If you live in the San Diego area and are looking for a wedding dress you should definitely give Isis Bridal a try.

It was so fun to watch Jaclyn try on wedding dresses. She is going to be a beautiful bride and I can’t wait to see what dress she picks.

After bridal dress shopping, Jaclyn and I went to dinner at Searsucker in Del Mar. There were so many delicious dishes on the menu we couldn’t decide what to get so we ordered a bunch of small plates and split them. Sometimes when I go to a new restaurant I think sharing plates with your dinner date is a fun way to try out more of the menu without completely over stuffing yourself. While we were at dinner Jaclyn surprised me and asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, which I gladly accepted! Jaclyn was one of the first friends I made when I moved to San Diego from Boston. We always have a great time together and I am excited to be able to help her plan and celebrate her wedding!

Lately, I have been reminiscing about my own wedding. Maybe it was going to Ray’s sister’s wedding last weekend, or watching Jaclyn try on dresses, or because I recently went through all of our wedding photos and printed my favorite ones (yes, it took me almost a year to order photos). Whatever the cause of my recent stroll down memory lane, I thought it could be fun to share some of favorite wedding photos.

Ray and I got married in Monterey, California at the The Clement Monterey on September 29, 2012. Our wedding day was wonderful and filled with so many great memories.

Getting Ready

Ray and his groomsmen getting ready (looks to me…more like drinking and eating)

Us at the ceremony site before guests started arriving. We saw each other before the wedding and I am glad we did. It was nice to have a moment that was just between us.

My mom (Kim) and my brother (Sam) walking down the aisle

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I was a little nervous before walking down the aisle and my dad (Alan) said something to make me laugh.

The ceremony

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My bridesmaids, Kristie, Amanda, Kirby and Jen (from left to right). I had so much fun with these ladies. They kept me laughing and relaxed all day! A girl couldn’t have better friends.

My family

Ray’s family

Some fun photos

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The reception

Ray feeding me cake!

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Our first dance as husband and wife!

Dancing the night away

My wedding was a huge inspiration and motivation to get myself back into shape. Even though my wedding is over, I am happy that I have continued to make exercise and healthy eating habits a part of my daily routine. After I achieved my goal of getting into shape for my wedding, I decided to come up with a new fitness goal to keep me motivated. My fitness goal this year was to do an unassisted pull-up. I am still working on it, but getting close. Having a fitness goal is a great way to challenge yourself and can help give you the extra push to exercise a little harder.

My wedding vendors (they were all fabulous)

venue + catering // InterContinental – The Clement Monterey

wedding coordinator // Events by Satra

photography // Julie Cahill Photography

florist // Flor de Monterey

DJ // Sound in Motion

cake // Sweet Tooth Confections

hair // Brooke Dixon

make-up // Ferraz Makeup Design

We are busy people. It seems as though we are always running from one thing to the next, trying to cram everything we can into a single day. It is a hard feat to balance all aspects of one’s life – work, family, friends, significant other, errands, cleaning and kids – while still managing to make time for yourself. It seems with endless to-do lists and our busy lives it’s easy to overlook exercising and trying to lead a healthy lifestyle, which is exactly what happened to me.
Like so many others, I graduated college, got a full time job and by the time I was done with my workday going to the gym or exercising was the last thing I wanted to do. I was exhausted and just wanted to go home and relax. I don’t know how many times I said, “I will start eating better and exercising on Monday.” Mondays would come and go and some weeks I would go to the gym and be mindful of making healthy eating choices for a few days. However, my good intentions never lasted long and by the end of the week I would fall back into my old bad habits.
Slowly, and over time, the weight crept up on me and I consistently gained a few pounds a year. A pound or two a year might not sound like a lot, but when you gain a pound or two a year for four years in a row it adds up. Before I knew it, I had put on an extra 15 pounds. Even 15 pounds doesn’t sound like an extreme change, but beyond the weight gain, I didn’t feel very good about myself and I often found I had low energy. Friends and my boyfriend (my now husband) would invite me to go running or for a hike and I found myself struggling to keep up. Even worse, I found myself not wanting to go shopping (which I love to do) because I could no longer fit in to my regular sizes! Even though I was generally not feeling great about myself, out of shape, and having to buy larger sizes of clothes, I could still not motivate myself to exercise and make better eating choices consistently.
My ah-ha moment came when I got engaged and, like many soon to be brides, I wanted to feel and look great on my big day. Even more than that, I had finally reached a point where I was tired of making excuses and genuinely wanted to lead a healthier lifestyle. I joined a gym, focused on incorporating diverse workouts into my routine, and starting making small changes to my eating habits. Slowly but surely, I started losing weight and could feel myself getting into better shape. I had more energy and found myself wanting to go to the gym. By the time my wedding day came, I had met my weight loss goal (bye-bye extra lbs) and more importantly I felt great not only about the way I looked in my wedding dress, but also about myself.

Trying to fit everything in is hard and often becomes a balancing act of doing the things we have to do in life versus doing the things we want to do. I started Fitnlife as a way to keep track of the strategies I used to meet my weight loss goal, my favorite recipes, how I continue to stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle, as well as my other random adventures.

FitnLife

Enjoying life while still trying to fit into my jeans

Weddings & Fitness Goals

Fitnlife