The dress...

Ok. I'll admit it. I can't WAIT to go wedding dress shopping. Yes, my actual wedding is still a couple years away and no, Adam and I haven't even picked a venue or anything like that yet, but it's hard to resist the siren call of finding THE DRESS. I don't think this is atypical of newly engaged women; in fact, I think most girls (engaged or single) would be lying if they said they hadn't given much thought to what they want to look like on their big day. And I think if you asked most women what they want to look like in their gown, I think most of them would say something along the lines of: I want to look "like a princess". Of course this means different things to different women, but one of the best things about getting married nowadays is that anything goes, and I think most retailers have finally started to realize that. Anyone who's ever seen TLC's show "Say Yes to the Dress" (come on, you know you have), knows that you can find traditional gowns, sexy gowns, gowns in different colors (pink, red, black, you name it), etc. that can fit any personality. So one of the first things most women ask themselves when planning a wedding is, what kind of bride do I want to be? For me, feeling "like a princess" on my big day means feeling beautiful and comfortable in my gown so I can focus on my commitment to Adam and having fun with my family and friends. After spending the past couple of months looking at dresses online, I've found a few that I like that will serve as a good starting point for when I finally do go to some stores and start trying on (probably sometime this fall/winter after we settle on a location)...

This first dress is the first one that made me think, I really love that dress:


Photo courtesy of David's Bridal

This is a traditional a-line shape with a slight sweetheart neckline and "pick-ups" (aka, folds and pleating around the bottom). I like the shape and the way the pick-ups give it interesting detailing without too much flash. I also like that it doesn't have a train, which would be more practical for an outdoor wedding. I agree with my best friend that a simple champagne colored sash would be less "distracting" than the bright color (which would match the maids). My biggest concern with this dress is that even though an a-line cut is supposedly universally figure flattering, I'm worried the pick-ups add too much pouf for a girl like myself with hips and a butt.

This second dress might be a better solution to my concern:

Photo courtesy of Ella Bridal

Same a-line cut, same pick-ups around the bottom, same corset back (which you couldn't see on the first dress, but I definitely love a corset rather than a plain zip-up), same belted waist. This dress, however, has this beautiful (figure-flattering) ruching around the bodice, and a slightly slimmer silhouette.

Or, I could go with something like this:

Photo courtesy of David's Bridal

This dress has a "mermaid" (aka, "fit and flare") cut that is defined by a slim silhouette through the waist and hips and then it flares at the bottom for a more curve-hugging/curve-defining fit. I'll admit I am a little wary of this cut... the experts say that it's perfect for curvier girls such as myself to enhance curves and also for thinner girls that want to create curves, but I'm not sure I'm confident enough in how I look to pull this off. That being said, I really love this dress. It's very similar to the Ella dress, and I like the belt that gives it some sparkle.

The last dress that has pick-ups is similar to all of the one's above except in one major way: this one is organza.

Photo courtesy of David's Bridal

Unlike the other three, which are made from heavier satins/taffetas, I love how this organza dress looks so soft, feminine, and floaty. I can't help but wonder if it'd be more comfortable and appropriate for an outdoor spring wedding.

Going back to ruching in the bodice, I do have a couple dresses I like that have slightly slimmer bottoms than those with the pick-ups. I love the simple elegance of these dresses, but my main concern with these is that they're maybe a little too plain, especially when viewed from the back. Something else to consider with these is that both are champagne, not pure white... would that work better for someone who's fair-skinned like myself? It's hard to say.

Dress 1:

Photo courtesy of Alfred Angelo

Dress 2:

Photo courtesy of Essence of Australia

What do we think?

Lastly, going back to the softness of the organza dress, I've found a couple dresses that are looser, flowy, and a little more relaxed than all the one's above. There's definitely something appealing about these, which look so soft and so comfortable.

Dress 1:

Photo courtesy of David's Bridal

Dress 2:

Photo courtesy of David's Bridal

So I'd say I have my work cut out for me. They say that, just like your fiance, once you find "the one", you'll just know. Since I tend to be indecisive and I really love all of these dresses for different reasons, I'm hoping that's the case. Though it may be a while from now, once I finally find my dress, I'll be sure to let you know what I pick!

Monday morning baking escapades...

Happy Monday everyone! Hopefully you all had a wonderful, relaxing weekend and are hanging in there on your first day back to work. I actually happen to be off work today and I've been keeping busy with errands, laundry, and some baking. Over the weekend I decided to make a Paula Deen recipe for chocolate chip zucchini bread. Here is the original recipe, courtesy of the Food Network website:

Ingredients

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 3 eggs
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 tablespoon orange zest
* Whipped cream, for serving
* Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

This recipe makes two loaves, but I only have one loaf pan, so I halved the recipe and scaled back the cooking time to 45 minutes. I also left out the nuts (Adam and I don't like them in breads/brownies/cookies/etc.) and substituted a little bit of lemon juice (about 1/2 tbsp) for the orange zest since I didn't have an orange. This loaf turned out well enough, but it was a bit dry, so I decided to make another loaf today and play with the recipe a little. In addition to the substitutions I made for the first loaf, I used half the amount of oil and added 1/4 c. of no sugar added applesauce. I also put in the full 2 cups of zucchini rather than halving the recipe, since the first loaf tasted more like chocolate than zucchini, which isn't necessarily a BAD thing, but this is supposed to be zucchini bread. I figured since I originally left out the cup of chopped pecans, an extra cup of zucchini wouldn't change the overall density of the bread. I also cut the bake time back to 40 minutes this time, which is the shortest time it took for me to insert a knife and have it come out clean. This is the end result:



I haven't tasted it yet since it's still cooling, but I'm fully anticipating this being a 4 or 5 star recipe. I served the first loaf at night with some fat free cool whip and again in the morning with some fat free cream cheese. I think this would also taste great warm with a little pat of butter. Mmm mmm!

Originally it was supposed to rain today and we didn't want to plan on grilling out, so we're having an easy taco dinner tonight with turkey and low-carb tortillas. If the sun stays out, I'm hoping to talk Adam into resuming our post-dinner walks, and maybe if I'm good, I'll treat myself to a slice of zucchini bread. :)

Happy 4th of July! and other good news...

Happy 4th of July everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my first couple of posts. I'm still getting used to the idea of keeping a blog and haven't yet gotten into the habit of posting regularly, especially when life gets busy! Right now Adam and I are in Pittsburgh, visiting my parents for the holiday, and I have some downtime before our bbq this afternoon, so I figured I'd update. As of my last post, Adam and I were days away from a six day long vacation in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Well our vacation was amazing and the best news of all, we came back engaged! Adam and I had gone to look at rings back in February but I was under the impression that a proposal was still at least 6 months away, so needless to say I was very surprised. Anyway, my ring is BEAUTIFUL and I couldn't be more excited! In the meantime, I've been quite the busy bee starting to plan the wedding, which will be in a couple years. Yes, it's early, but anyone who knows me knows quite well that I'm a planner and I like to have things "figured out". So some of the preliminary details are such:

1. We want a relatively small (100 people or less), non-religious, outdoor spring wedding. So far I'm narrowing down a list of gardens, country clubs, etc. that will accommodate an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception where we can party until midnight or later.

2. Try as I might, I cannot resist the siren call of pink as my primary wedding color. Adam and I agreed that a dark raspberry pink is nice but not as girly, and I like that it'll be more flattering on my attendants. Right now I'm leaning toward bright oranges/yellows/purples as accent colors for flowers, centerpieces, etc.

Flower inspiration:


I also really love something like this for the bridesmaids:


I love the color and the soft chiffon fabric.

Got cake? I really like this:


Or this:


As for my dress, I'm still all over the map. Just when I have it narrowed down to a short list of dresses I like enough to want to go try on, the stores/designers release new styles that I like even more. Right now I'm leaning towards strapless or one-shouldered with an a-line cut. I like rouching on the bodice for it's appearance and figure flaw hiding capabilities. I'm leaning towards pick-ups in the skirt but I probably won't know if those will work for me until I see them on... I definitely don't want to look like I'm wearing a giant down-comforter on my wedding day! I may have to make a separate post sometime in the future centered on the dress alone. :)

3. The atmosphere will be as casual as can be. We want everyone to be relaxed and comfortable.
This means no formal tuxes, a slightly less formal dress (ie, no huge veil, train, etc.), short bridesmaids dresses, etc. It also means a more casual menu. We definitely want a buffet but we're leaning more towards bbq, fried chicken, burgers, etc. rather than a fancy sit-down dinner.

4. We're probably going to write our own vows, for multiple reasons. Mostly I don't want to have the same cookie-cutter wedding as everyone else, but also because we aren't religious, so traditional vows & a reading of 1st Corinthians, etc. just isn't "us". I know it's going to be a little more work and a little more stress to design vows and a ceremony that are more personal, but I know it'll be worth it in the long run.

For now, that's as far as I've gotten. We're probably going to start looking for a venue sometime later this summer, since the date and location are the first two details that need to be set in stone. Once we have that, we can start looking for an officiant, caterers (if needed), photographer, etc. and I can start looking for my dress and the girls' dresses. In the meantime, I'll be trying a little harder to keep posting on here regularly and I promise it won't be all wedding planning all the time! Hope everyone is having a fantastic 4th!

Adventures in home decor...

Adam and I live together in a moderately sized condo that he and his brother bought together about three years ago. It has never been a typical bachelor pad (you know, mismatched decor, messy, etc.) but every place could use a little sprucing here and there. Once his brother moved out and I moved in, we made a few changes... new bedding in our bedroom, new shower curtain and rugs in our bathroom, new curtains in the spare bedroom, that sort of thing. We've also moved some furniture around so that the desks are in our loft and not in the bedroom (I like having separate "work" and "sleep" spaces). Now we're at the point of painting.
I've always thought that one of the biggest differences between living in an apartment and owning a house was the freedom to personalize things, and there's just something about painting that really makes a house feel like a home. My main focus at the moment is our master bedroom and bathroom, but I'd like to do the guest bed and bath as well, if we can fit it into our budget. Adam's brother painted the loft (a nice, neutral taupe) last year before he moved out, so if we do all four of the rooms I just mentioned, our entire upstairs would be complete. The downstairs is basically a great room (living, dining, kitchen), so that's a large undertaking for some other time.
Our first step was consulting Adam's mom, who is an interior designer. She doesn't really know what our decor looks like so she was hesitant to recommend colors, but did say the only paint she trusts is Behr. So step two was to venture out to Home Depot this morning to pick out color swatches. Turns out, deciding on colors was easier than I thought it would be. I originally had my heart set on a light blue/green for our bathroom but Adam didn't like it as much as a neutral, so we decided on "Castle Stone" for our master bath and then "April Mist" will be in the guest bath. Both bathrooms currently have blue/green decor, but ultimately the "Castle Stone" shade will be nice if we decide to change the decor and it will be better in the long term when we eventually sell the house. Still, I wanted a little bit of color, and a guest bathroom is easier to "fix" later, if need be. For our bedroom, we've decided to go with "Wooden Swing". It'll be a nice contrast to our mahogany furniture, crimson bedding, and cream colored curtains, and again, neutral enough as not to impair future home value. Finally, we're going with "Creek Bend" for the guest bedroom, which has black bedding, red curtains, and my old white furniture. I never thought I would like gray in a room, but I'm really excited to see how it'll turn out, especially since this will be quite different from the rest of our decor.
So I have no idea when we will actually start these projects, but hopefully all of this will get done sometime over the summer. No doubt I will take some "before" and "after" pictures so all of you may see the transformation. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about any creative home improvement projects you have planned or have completed and any ideas/suggestions/expertise you may have to share.

Welcome!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my site. I've started this blog primarily as a way of tracking my attempts to lead a healthier lifestyle through diet and exercise, as well as discussing various hobbies and interests, which include reading, cooking, travel, and photography, among others.
A little about me... my name is Lindsay, I'm 27 years old, and I currently live just outside Indianapolis, Indiana. I live with my boyfriend, Adam, and our two pets, a 4-year-old bunny named Chloe and a 1-year-old cat named Rose. I attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where I earned a B.A. in history and an M.A.T. in history and secondary education. After deciding that the teaching profession wasn't my cup of tea, I'm currently working as a supervisor at a large national retailer.
To understand the reason why I'm starting this blog, you need to know my history of struggling with weight. As a child, I loved riding my bike, being outside in the yard, and playing sports with the neighborhood kids, but as I got older and my interests shifted toward reading, writing, and spending time on my computer, I gradually stopped being active and slowly packed on pounds. By the time I was 17, I was already wearing a size 16 in women's clothing and by the end of my freshman year of college, I was easily a size 18/20. And have I mentioned I'm only 5'3"? I stayed at that weight for a few years, until I graduated in 2004 and moved back home. That same year, my dad was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and my mom was also diagnosed as prediabetic. We didn't know it at the time, but my younger sister was also showing symptoms of what would later result in a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Given my weight and family history, I knew it was time to make a change. My entire family went on the South Beach Diet at the recommendation of my mom's doctor, and over the course of that year, I dropped about 40lbs., taking me from a size 18/20 to a woman's size 12.
In late 2005, I returned to IU to attend graduate school, and over the course of the next two and a half years, through a combination of poor diet, lack of exercise, and the stress of school, I gained most of that weight back. I found myself back at a size 16 and not very happy with how I looked or felt. At that point, I decided to try Weight Watchers, which I felt would fit my lifestyle and be better for long-term maintenance. Again, I dropped the weight and got back down to a size 12, and felt so much lighter and healthier, despite being disappointed that I could never seem to get over the plateau I'd inevitably hit when I got to that weight. Around that time, I met my boyfriend, changed jobs, and over the past year I've moved *twice*, so by last fall, I was back up to a size 14/16. Adam, being the great boyfriend he is, suggested we do Weight Watchers together. We followed it strictly for three or four months until I got down to my current weight, 175 lbs., which I've managed to maintain since last December. While I'm proud of myself for maintaining (IMHO, that's harder than the actual weight loss) and I still feel pretty good, but I know I can do better.
This time around, Adam and I have decided to try the South Beach Diet. While I'm extremely happy with how well Weight Watchers has worked for me in the past, I find that their points system allows for too much temptation to cheat and to eat foods that are still bad for you, since no food is expressly "forbidden". For me, my "trigger" foods are... carbs and sweets. The South Beach Diet explicitly tries to break cravings for bread, rice, pasta, sugar, etc. and encourages eating lots of fiber, protein, and healthy fats. While Adam was curious about trying Atkins, I decided we'd likely be more successful with a program that's not anti-carb, just smart-carb. Our goals are to not only lose weight but to change our overall lifestyle. In all of my previous weight-loss attempts, I've never been able to get under 170 lbs. or wearing any size under a 12. Ideally, I'd like to lose about 35lbs., which would put me at 140. Since Adam is already at a pretty healthy weight for someone who's 6'1", his goal is to lose the little bit of a tummy he has, so I'd say he only has about 10 lbs or so to lose. We'd also like to get into a regular exercise routine so that we strengthen our bodies and so when we reach the point of maintaining, we'll have developed healthy habits to be able to do that successfully.
For now, Adam and I have committed to taking walks after dinner every night except for when I'm at work (which is usually once or twice per week). As we improve our speed/distance, we'll push ourselves to try some new activities, including weights and strength training. We're going on vacation in a couple weeks, so the plan is to start Phase 1 of the program as soon as we return. Sometime before then, I'll be back with a post with our "before" stats, including weight, bmi, and waist/hip measurements. If I'm feeling motivated, I may even add pictures. Until then, thanks for reading and I hope you decide to keep following me on my journey through weight-loss.