Last night I managed to get into bed before 9 p.m.
I put on an eye mask to block out the light (the sun doesn’t go down until after 9 p.m.) and drifted off to sleep within 20 minutes. Victory!
I can tell that my lack of sleep is affecting other areas of my life (I’m snackier, more irritable, less creative and less motivated to work out, etc.), so I am trying to prioritize my sleep. On nights when Ryan works late and doesn’t get home until close to 8 p.m., it stinks to only have an hour or so with him until I feel like I need to go to bed, but I’m beginning to realize that may be the way it needs to be for a while. At least Ryan was a good sport last night and got into bed early with me so we could read and hang out together for a little while.
I just realized that the second paragraph of this blog post might lead you to believe that I am miserable, but on the whole I feel much happier since I started working at the gym four months ago. It has been a good change for me, but I’ll elaborate on that a little more in another post since I’ve been meaning to blog about the whole working from home versus getting out of the house thing.
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning was a toasted whole wheat bagel topped with almond butter.
I toasted the bagel and topped it with almond butter before I left the house this morning and it held up just fine until I was ready to eat it in the break room at work around 5:30 a.m.
My hours today have me at the gym from 4:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., so it will be a long day. Phew!
Leslie and Ross: Wedding Update
I have some good news on the wedding front from Leslie and Ross! They officially put a deposit down on a wedding venue.
They will be getting married on…
A spring wedding!
Ryan and I told Leslie and Ross that they definitely didn’t need to wait an entire year to get married if they could find a venue they loved that had availability sooner. We took a little more than a year to plan our wedding and have always said that we felt like we booked a venue and then did nothing for seven or eight months!
With their wedding date on the books for the beginning of March, my head is already spinning with bridal shower and bachelorette party ideas. I can’t wait!
Question of the Morning
- If you are married, how long was your engagement?
- If you are engaged, how long is your engagement going to be?
We were engaged for a year and a month, but I definitely think a shorter engagement would’ve been totally manageable. We booked our venue and then months passed without any wedding planning until things picked back up about two to three months before our wedding.
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We were engaged for about 2 years before getting married! After he proposed, Gary & I both wanted to enjoy being engaged before making any plans. So we waited about 6 months, then decided on a venue, date, etc. 🙂
I am with you on the need for sleep! I am currently using an eye mask every night because the sun doesn’t set until late and then it is coming up WAY to early! 😉
Looks great.
I just got engaged in June and we’re getting married on April 26, 2014. We already did most of the big stuff (got my dress, booked the venue, caterer and photographer) so now it feels like we’re just waiting around for a few months. On the other hand, we’re paying for the wedding ourselves so having nearly a year to save is worth it!
also my wedding date! april for the WIN
We were engaged on 11/11/11 (easy to remember!) and married on 6/9/12 so we were engaged a little less than 7 months and I felt it was plenty of time to plan. We knew we were getting engaged-I went with to pick out the ring and he’s a terrible liar so I knew when he went to buy the ring so we actually looked at venue the week before becoming “officially” engaged and had already put a hold on the place we liked. We only looked at one venue and we loved it so we just booked and didn’t look anywhere else. Didn’t think that would happen!
Yay wedding!!!!! We were engaged about 7 months, and that was perfect for us! 🙂
We were engaged for 2 years. But where we live in New Jersey it’s very atypical to be engaged for less then a year. You need to book your vendors really far out to get who you want.
Not married and not engaged! However my sister was engaged for about 11 months! Her wedding went off with a BANG too – Only one minor glitch, but we couldn’t kick the step father of the groom out of the wedding!! Or could we? LOL!!!
We got engaged May 19 and March 8, 2014 is our wedding date too!! It’s a great day 😉
In a way I wish ours was shorter but with the holidays I think it will go much faster. We have our venue and photographer booked and I am 90% sure I know what dress I’m getting. Still so much to do though!!
Hey Julie:) I never posted, but I am a long time reader of your blog. I still love to read ( for 3 years or so now) I live in Germany and I am an English teacher- so this is perfect everyday practise. 🙂 Anyway, the reason I am commenting now is, your sister will be getting married on my birthday. ( 29th birthday to be exact) This must mean something great and all the luck of the world:) just wanted to tell you that:) have a great week! Sarah
Still waiting on that dang engagement! Been with my man for six years come October! My best friend is actually getting married on our anniversary! I’m hoping to keep our engagement at a year, but we will have to see how things pan out once that time hits! L&R wedding date is actually that same best friend’s birthday – so crazy!
Not engaged (yet) but as the last of my six siblings to tie the knot, I’ve seen long engagements, short engagements, and everything in between! There was tension when two of my siblings got married within four months of getting engaged – one of the weddings was in Hawaii!! A lot of my family members of young kids and to up and jet off to Hawaii for a weekend (let alone get the time off of work) with their families was a huge expense.
That said, I know I want to be engaged for about a year before getting married simply out of consideration for guests. My boyfriend’s family lives in California, my family is Seattle-based, and we both have family members also living on the East coast. Considering the spread and the cost of traveling, we want to make sure guests have adequate time to plan so that our wedding is a HAPPY celebration of love rather than a stressful expense 🙂
We were engaged for a year and a month. We needed all that time because I did a lot of the decorations and stuff myself.
We were engaged February 11, 2010 and married May 23, 2010. Three month engagement after 8 years together. Destination wedding that I did not want to give myself enough time to stress out about. It all turned out perfectly and I would not change a thing!
I am getting married August 31, 2013. That is in (only) 1 month 1/2 (stress is hitting more and more). We got engaged July 21, 2012. We booked the venue in August 2012, so a little more than a year before.
I agree that after booking the venue we did nothing for a few months. I only collected ideas and work on my invitation design and did my colors choice. But I did enjoy taking my time for everything and not been rushed. Perhaps because I did pretty much everything by myself… My bridesmaids are busy girls and my fiancé -probably like most guys- do not have interest in all details and I wanted to save money as much as I could with crafting. At the end, I have to admit that crafting did not save much money but at least I have unique design and new abilities! 😉
My fiancé proposed on Christmas, 2012 and our wedding is January 2018, so it’s about a 13 month engagement, which honestly feels like too long. I feel the same way you did, I’ve accomplished almost everything and I’m waiting around now! However, my sister is getting married in November and was engaged before I was, so I didn’t want to upstage her wedding 🙂
That’s my wedding date, too!! So exciting! I hope you continue with wedding updates and/or guest posts from Leslie 🙂 Our engagement was looooooong (almost 2 years!) due to a career change and working with being long distance. Can’t wait to finally live in the same city as my soon-to-be hubby!
We were engaged for 10 months. I also had an early spring wedding, it was perfect! 3-3-12 We had a very large wedding so even though we got everything done between me, my mom, and mom-in law it was a race to the finish towards the end. Get as much done before the holidays cause after that time ticks so quickly….and just a Shower idea- My favorite bridal shower I had was a Christmas themed shower. I received all of our Christmas decorations at that party which was amazing since we didn’t really have any between the two of us.
I was engaged for 9 months which was the perfect amount of time. Leslie’s wedding date is my birthday! Happy planning!
I was engaged for a year, and honestly we could have gotten married sooner, but I really enjoyed taking our time. I would totally agree with you about finding the venue right away, and then having not much to do until 2-3 months before the wedding. But it gave us time for all those “couple” things you don’t think about…like apartment hunting, (we didn’t live together before we got married), buying another vehicle, honeymoon planning, parties, etc. I enjoyed the year, and felt I really got to know my husband better, and on an even deeper level.
Husband and I got engaged in September of ’07 and got married a whole month later! October 6, 2007 to be exact. We had a huge backyard wedding at my parents house. To this day, friends and family still think it was one of the best weddings they’ve been too.
We will be engaged for almost 2 years by the time our wedding is here. We got engaged December 2012 and our wedding is September 2014. It is way too long! We’ve picked the venue and a few vendors and although it is nice to not be stressed while planning, sometimes I forget that I still have so much left to do. I just want our wedding day to be here – I don’t want to wait any longer!
I just got married in May and we were in engaged for 10 months. This was perfect for us. It allowed enough time to plan, and celebrate along the way.
I got engaged 12-22-11 and am getting married 8-10-13! A very long engagement but its been fun!!
We were engaged for a year. I think it was a good amount of time to plan the size of wedding we had, but I got a little burnt out on planning by the time the wedding rolled around.
Yayyyy for spring weddings!!! Ours was on March 24, 2012 and we just loved loved loved it! spring weddings are awesome because it seems to be so evenly spread out in terms of the sun being out and all. Also, it just makes everything more lively. And March is also a great month because many companies still hold deals for a cheaper price when it comes to the venue, flowers, food, etc. Remind Leslie to take advantage of those little quirks! Oh yeah, and we were engaged for one year. 😀 And I think it’s great that you’re prioritizing sleep because without it, our bodies can easily break down.
The time will fly by until March! Does your sister have a blog???
Our engagement was almost a year (engaged on June 27th, 2011, married June 9th, 2012) and that worked out about perfectly for us. I know I would’ve gone crazy had we waited even longer than that though because, like you said, there was a period in there of not really being able to do anything and that made us so antsy for “the big day” to just be there!
That’s great to hear that you are getting more sleep. Lack of sleep definitely does a number on me as well and I become irritable and less motivated to workout also!
I was engaged for almost 3 years (8/15/10-6/15/13). But there were a lot of factors in there that played a part. We were both in the military and on opposite deployment cycles so instead of trying to shove a quickie wedding in when we could, we just waited (and waited and waited). But, the flip side was that because we got engaged so far out we could have our choice of vendors, despite having the wedding in DC.
My husband and I were in the same boat (well, not really, we’re in the Air Force so no boats were involved 😉 ). We were engaged for 2 and a half years because we were stationed on opposite continents. We got married in my hometown and I was planning the wedding while overseas so the long engagement helped. We’ve been married for 3 years now and have only lived together for a total of 13 months. Just one of the “perks” of being mil-to-mil spouses. Sure makes us appreciate our time together though 🙂
We got engaged in August and got married in June. It was plenty of time to plan everything.
We were engaged for 9 months! It was perfect, I felt there was always something to be done, but with no rush. Picking the venue was the hardest.
Our engagement was 2-1/2 years!!! Mostly because we were really young and still in college. We dated for over 4 years before we got married. Wish we could have done it sooner, but I’m glad we waited because we were able to really get on top of our finances and save money.
Props to you for actually making an effort to go to bed early. I’m so bad with that.
I am getting married on August 17th (only about a month to go, yay!) and we got engaged last September, so our engagement was 11 months long. Although I am pretty antsy to just be married already, I am ultimately glad we did it this way. I graduated college in May, and it has been nice to have the summer to finalize wedding plans. I can’t imagine doing all the last minute things during the stress of finals!
I’m currently engaged as of May 11, 2013, and we’re planning a May 10, 2014 wedding, so just under a year! I didn’t want a winter wedding (not in Northern Indiana!), and our church was rather booked, so this is what we chose! As a teacher, I wish I was getting married a little closer to summer, but on the flip side, I’m excited to start my summer as a wife! 🙂
We got engaged in October and are getting married in early November. But we’ve been planning the wedding in California from the east coast– so we definitely needed the extra time. And, we really weren’t able to find a venue we liked to plan a short engagement around– the California wedding industry is intense!
We got engaged the day after Christmas and married August 9th, so that’s about 7.5 months. I felt like we still had plenty of time to plan!
We got engaged on 23rd March 2012, and we’re getting married on 2nd November 2013. We’d have liked to have got married sooner, but budget didn’t allow! Like you, we booked the big things early on (church, venue, photographer) and then had nearly a year of doing nothing.
Happy planning to Leslie and Ryan!
I’m engaged. Wedding is Oct 25th 2014 and we’ve been engaged since August 2012. The reason our engagment is so long is that I wanted to plan, I’m a pretty big procrastinator! And our engagment happend during our trip to New Zealand/ Australia! The engagment happend in NZ. So after a big and expensive trip, we wanted time to save as much money as we could!!
Though I completely understand people have engagement that are a year or less, there is a lot of down time at the moment 🙂
We got engaged in July 2011 and married May 2012 so 9 months. I felt like it was the perfect length of time.
How exciting that they picked a date! We had a 7-8 month engagement, and it was the perfect amount of time. There were definitely even a few months where we had down time!
We were engaged for 17 months and it seems like I did a ton at the beginning and then a ton at the end and not much in between. And, by the end of the engagement I was DONE and just wanted to be married.
We were engaged about a year and a half. We wanted to enjoy being engaged before planning a wedding so we didn’t do anything for 6 months. Once we booked the venue and vendors we didn’t do much again for another 6 months. We were decisive with our planning so our wedding came together easily. Everyone made comments about me being a calm bride. I wasn’t the typical girl excited to plan a wedding though. I just wanted great flowers, food and pics with our favorite people.
We got engaged November, 2012, and are getting married May 18th, 2014, so 18 month engagement. We live in Australia and are getting married in NYC, but in reality, we just wanted to have the time to be engaged. Also, it felt polite to give our Australian guests as much notice as possible to book flights, etc. Our venue has most things included, so there aren’t many decisions to make. I just can’t wait to marry my amazing fiance!!
I was engaged for 18 months and got married 3.5 years after we started dating. I wanted to really make sure I was making the right decision.
Dated for 8 years, but were engaged for 3 months 🙂
Yay! March will be here before you know it! I was engaged for a year a two months and it was just the right amount for me!
We were engaged in December and we aren’t getting married until August 2014 so almost a 2 year engagement. I think the timing was the main reason. I knew I wanted to get married in August so it was either have an 8 month engagement or a 1 year and 8 month engagement. We are paying for our own wedding so it is nice to have the extra time to save up money. Now that I have a venue and a date it makes planning/ brainstorming so much more fun 🙂
ugh I know exactly what you mean about the sleep thing– I work at a fitness studio and usually have to wake up sometime between 4-4:45am. It really does take a toll on you so it’s nice to hear that someone else has the same miserable hours as me. I too have been trying to go to sleep earlier and earlier to make up for it. It’s so tricky to get enough sleep when you are waking up so dang early
I got engaged June 19th and the date is set for 3/01/14 so I hope a semi-short engagement is manageable! Some days I feel accomplished, others I tend to think “less than 8 months- there’s no time!!!” Either way, when it’s all said and done we will be married 🙂 big picture!
Our engagement was just under 3 months…and it was a whirlwind! I loved it because we didn’t have to stress about tiny details-we pretty much just took care of the big stuff and then it was go time! We did lean on our families so much, though. If we didn’t have their help and love, I don’t think we could have made it work on that timeline!
I’m looking forward to hearing your take on working from home vs. working out of the house. I’ve always wondered how they would compare but have only ever had a traditional office job.