The Art of Registering

Last weekend my Mr and I had a very productive Sunday. Not only did it include finding our minister to marry us, but also crossing the gift registry off our list. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited for this part of the wedding festivities. All of those pretty dishes and accessories I had been drooling over would be put on the ultimate wish list. Our first stop was Crate & Barrel; they have some really useful accessories and basic items that fit our style and the current "nice" dishes that we do have. I will start by saying that I love shopping at Crate & Barrel, but registering there was a little overwhelming. They pretty much put a scanner in your hand and tell you go. No guidance or protocol given. Since we didn't register for much there we were actually done in about thirty minutes. I think this was due to the fact that we just stuck with accessories there and waited for some of the bigger items for our second registry location. We were both surprised at how fast we were done and hadn't planned on doing our second registry location all in one day, but hey we were there and were on a roll.

Once we got to Macy's we got the full details on protocol for registering, what to register for and what price range. Thankfully my Mr. and I were very aware of prices when registering and actually ended up having to add a few more pricier items ($100-$200 range) per the suggestion of our registry consultant. This sparked a debate as to what is appropriate in wedding registry and gift giving. After some searching I found some useful tips from Ms. Emily Post herself and Tried & True Wedding Planning:

• A couple should register for gifts at anywhere from 1-3 stores
• Cash is acceptable to register for or stating that a cash gift to i.e. "buy a house" is acceptable to tell guest, but only via word of mouth. (I find this very awkward myself, but that is just my personal opinion).   
• Your registry should be broken into thirds regarding prices of gifts. A third of your gifts at the $50 and under range, a third at $50-$100 and another third at $100+. This should be true at all locations that you register at in order to give guests as many gift options as possible.
• Your wedding registry locations should not be included on ANY wedding stationary. I found when we registered, both locations were more then willing to give me logo'd cards stating where we are registered. These cards should be included in the bridal shower invites and NOT in the wedding invitations.
• My last piece of registry advice for you brides is make sure that you enjoy it and keep you groom hydrated with pizza and beer!

  

Heather

Engagement Photos



If you follow me on Twitter, you know that the Mr and I had our engagment pictures a few weeks ago. Our goal with our photos was to have them truely be a reflection of us and our lives and nothing to stagged or forced. My Mr. had the idea to have our photos taken at an active construction site since we both work in the industry and is how we met each other. No I do not work in the field, I am a Project Manager as well as my Mr. Our photographers, Cinzo Photography did a great job of capturing some great photos of us just being are nerdy selves. 

  

yes, Ozzie was in some of the pictures. Hello crazy dog people here!

 

 

Our wonderful friends who let us use their construction site and assist with props!

And help wrangle our dog!

   

  

And of course an engagment session wouldn't be complete without a silly string fight!

 Happy Friday!

Heather

E&I: Semi-DIY Save the Dates

Go check out my post over at Engaged & Inspired where I talk about my experience with getting our Save the Dates printed and the final product.



Woman's Best Friend

I can’t believe I have gone all this time without introducing you to my wonderful fur baby, Ozzie.

The Mr. and I have had Ozzie almost a year now and we just love our little dog! Yes we are those people - you know, the ones that take their dog everywhere like it is their kid. My Mr. wanted a dog for a long time and I was one that always put my foot down that we didn’t need to get a dog. Well around this time last year my future in-laws decided to shelter puppies for a local shelter in the bay area. As we would periodically visit them we got to see the puppies grow up and got to know their personalities. During one of our visits, I totally bonded with one of the puppies. He followed me everywhere and even proceeded to take an hour nap on me. They say that a dog chooses their person or pack leader and this puppy had chosen me.

We totally bonded and I caved – two weeks later Ozzie was riding in the car to his new home in Sacramento. The Mr. will tell you all about how Ozzie got sick in the car – 3 times! Needless to say he was doubting my choice!

My two favorite boys!

From the top left: Favorite sleeping position in the car, favorite way to be held (yes like a baby with his toy) and favorite chilling out position on the hardwood. Paws tucked in and all!

Christmas sweater

I couldn’t be happier to have such a fun and wonderful little guy to come home to everyday. I’ve never seen so much personality in one dog in my life and everyone who meets Ozzie loves him! Plus, it also helps when you are this cute.

Have a great Wednesday!

Heather

Workin on My Fitness

A good friend of mine who reads my blog pointed out that I have yet to share any of my workout or running routines. All of my close friends and most people who know me will say that I am slightly obsessed with working out. In college, I learned young that in order to have the body that I wanted and to fit in the size and style of clothes that I liked, I needed to work out. No if, ands or buts (I would have a big butt if I didn’t) about it! So, while in college I would frequently run between 2-5 miles two to three times a week. This kept me in shape and helped work off some of the freshman weight that I had for a brief period of time. I also figured out that this was the best way to get a release from the days stresses and just decompress. This is where the obsession grew from. I needed the release that running gave me and as time went on my body craved it. Now if I go any longer than 2 days without a run or workout I become just plain grouchy and not a fun person to be around. On occasion I even think my Mr. has suggested insisted I go run and decompress when I get frustrated.

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After college I started dedicating more time to running. I joined a running group in order to learn how to run better and complete my first half marathon. If you are in the Sacramento area and interested in running, I highly recommend Runnin’ for Rhett. They are an awesome group and give so much inspiration and support to their members who want to lead an active and healthy life. One of the best parts about running and training for races was being able to train with my mom. We ran our first half marathon together in 2008 and have kept going completing 8 half marathon together. After 3 years of solid racing and pretty much only running, I decided that I needed a change. I was plagued with knee injuries and running wasn’t cutting the mental funk as much anymore.



me and my mom prior to starting one of our races

Enter the world of Crossfit. I bought a Groupon for a friend’s Crossfit Box (box = gym in Crossfit language), and let the Groupon sit in my wallet for two months before I got up enough courage to even go in an check it out. I completed my very first Crossfit workout on November 1, 2011 at Warriorz Crossfit, and from there I was hooked. Yes, I totally died during the workout but for some reason I loved getting my butt handed to me (figuratively speaking). Here I was thinking that I was in good shape. I ran between 20-30 miles a the week, completed a couple of days of cross training and “weight lifting”, and here I was still dying a slow and painful Crossfit death. The first couple of classes I was completely intimidated by all the girls that could throw up “big weight”. Come on people they used the bars and plates like the freaking guys! No way was I going to be able to do this. I thought I was a bada** for using the 12lb hand weights at the gym, wrong.

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As I went to more classes and I met more and more awesome people that were excited to help me get better I gained more confidence. As time went on I kept showing up for my beatings, getting yelled at to keep going when I wanted to quit, (yea I’m into that when I work out) and encouraging me once I completed a hard work; I had found my kind of crazy workout people. I have to say that I have never met a group of people that are more encouraging and just plain nice as this group. From the moment that you come in your are welcomed by everyone, something that is very different from your traditional gyms. When people hear that I do Crossfit I get a ton of different reactions and questions about it. For me personally I love the challenge that it brings and the great people I have met through it. I've made a lot of progress from my first class and hope to continue to get stronger.

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For my fitness inspiration check out my Pintrest

 

Heather

E&I Post: Engagement Picture Inspiration

Howdy All! Today you can catch me over at Engaged and Inspired where I am posting about my inspiration for my engagement photos. Next week I'll be posting the final product from our engagement photos with wonderful team of Cinzo Photography!

On the blog schedule this week, a recap of some fabulous weekend and the latest on the wedding to do's.

Happy Monday All

Heather