October Goals + Journal of a Miss to Mrs

Yes, so glad indeed, especially for this October! FIFTEEN more days until I get married to my blessing & joy, Greg! With a jam-packed September behind us, we are ready to get this show on the road! 

September was quite possibly the busiest month of 2015 so far! My parents and I drove 2,000 miles to Texas with all my belongings and I unpacked them in the apartment that will be our home once we are married (and was hosted by two different friends during my stay; so thankful for their hospitality!), lots of wedding planning and cutting things off our Wedding To-Do List, and two wedding showers in Texas! Whew! It was a whirlwind, but an exciting and joyful one!

Greg and I have been discussing for several months during our engagement that we want our wedding day to be as stress-free as possible. We are realistic and know that stuff will come up and that our wedding won't be perfect, but at the same time, believe that we can take purposeful steps to decrease as much stress as we can.  

In September, we took a few steps towards preparing our hearts and minds for our wedding day and, even more importantly, our marriage:

1. We have been praying for our wedding day, which has been so awesome to come unified as a couple, and pray for our families, the messages that will be spoken at the ceremony, the friends and families who will be traveling to get to our wedding, etc. It has brought a lot of peace and joy in my heart by linking hands with Greg and praying intentionally for our Big Day. 

2.  We have been looking back at specific times that God has been faithful in our lives, both individually as well as together as a couple. It is so humbling and encouraging to see God's strong hands upholding us through many rough waters and bringing so much joy in our lives. It gives us joyful anticipation and hope for what is to come!

3.  We have been going through You & Me Forever by Francis and Lisa Chan, which has been an awesome resource of deep, heartfelt conversations and prayers, especially the discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

4. We had awesome premarital counseling sessions with Greg's pastor of singles & college ministries, who will be one of the officiants at our wedding. We discussed topics like finances, expectations, family boundaries, serving and respecting one another, healthy conflict management, and spiritual growth within marriage. It brought up great discussions! I recommend anyone who is getting married to pursue premarital counseling! Such a great tool for preparing for the rest of your life with your spouse-to-be! 

5. We asked for help. We have wonderful family and friends who have been offering to help with DIY, coordinating, and all sorts of other help, and we are so thankful! We can't do this alone and we are so thankful for people who love us dearly and are rooting for us to have not only a beautiful wedding, but a blessed and beautiful marriage. I am especially thankful for my friend Jen, who is my Day-Of Coordinator, and has been an immense help in preparing for the wedding so that I won't have to make any planning decisions or trouble-shooting on our wedding day.

We hope to carry these onward through October as we draw near to the wedding, but even further as we come back from the honeymoon and get used to real life as newlyweds.  

Here's a quick review of last month's goals and then a few for October!

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September Goals

1.  Post about our  Yellowstone family trip that we took back in July

Nope. I just did not have the time. This will have to wait for November

2.  Post 2-3x/week for Bailey's Blog-tember Challenge (see the first 3 I did so far)

I posted THIRTEEN Blog-tember posts, plus 2 others in September = 15 posts. That's the most I've ever blogged in one month! It was an awesome challenge during quite possibly the busiest month of the year!

3.  Read 3 books, which should be do-able since I have a 2-day trek to Texas next week!

Yes! I read FOUR! Read the reviews I posted!

4. Start "Seven Sacred Pauses" where I stop and have selah moments throughout the day to rest and refocus on the Lord rather than on stress. Even if I do just 2-3 pauses a day, it has been helping this week already with my stress level!

I did this the first week of September and it was SO good to refocus my time and spend a few minutes throughout the day to read and pray through specific Psalms. I hope to do this again in October!

5. Work on two photobooks for my parents that they've requested of recent vacations.

Nope! I will get to this in November 

6. Work on our wedding slideshow

Yes! Thisclose to finishing! 

7. Apply for pediatric nurse practitioner and/or RN jobs in Texas

Nope! I looked a bit, but this will have to wait until November!

8.  Exercise 2-3x/week with a mix of jogging, pilates, and strength-training

Yes! Roughly 1-2x/week, but it still counts! I have been feeling great on days I invest time in working out & it helps with stress management and sleep (among so many other things, of course!)

9.  Eat cleaner and increase my protein intake  (I really don't eat enough protein)

YES! I am pretty proud of this one! I have been feeling SO good on the days I have been eliminating or atleast drastically decreasing my starch intake. I like my pastas, cereal, bread, etc., so this has been tough in the past. But once I saw how big a difference the days I avoid starch vs the days I eat them, it was enough motivation for me to continue being more cautious.

10. Set aside a day per week that Greg and I are praying intentionally for our wedding day to be a day of joy rather than busyness, chaos, and stress.

Yes! We want to continue this in October, but like I said earlier, it has been awesome to pray intentionally about our wedding day!

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October Goals

1.  Do another week (or atleast 3-4 days) of  "Seven Sacred Pauses" where I stop and have selah moments throughout the day to rest and refocus on the Lord rather than on stress (even if I do just 2-3 pauses a day)

2. Exercise 1-2x/week and continue clean-eating as much as possible, avoiding foods I know will make me feel sick (starches, potatoes, beans).

3. Continue praying with Greg for our wedding day and our marriage.

4. Read and discuss 1-2 chapters of You & Me Forever by Francis and Lisa Chan

5. Do a juice detox 

6. Meet with out-of-town friends for atleast a few minutes the day(s) before the wedding since the wedding day will be so busy. 

7. Be as stress-free as we can on our wedding day by continuing the game plan we started in September (especially prayer and digging into the Word!)

8. Continue She Reads Truth's study on 4 of Paul's letters (finished Galatians, working on Ephesians, then is Philippians and Colossians). 

9. Challenge myself to plan as little as possible for our honeymoon in Maui. I am a planner, but this is going to be relaxing, and Greg has done an awesome job of planning the trip so far. It'll be fun to be spontaneous, which is very unlike me, but I am ready to try it! :) 

10. Write to my Compassion Child ( I slacked in September!)

Some highlights from September:

- 2,000 road trip to Texas with my parents to move all my belongings 

- Our parents meeting for the first time

- Tea Party Bridal Shower with San Antonio gals!

- Being hosted by my sweet friend Lea for 1 week and Cristina for the 2nd week in Texas! So many great conversations and encouragement from them both!

- Spending the daytime unpacking and "nesting" some of my feminine flair in our soon-to-be home

- Cooking healthy meals for Greg and I 

- A huge wedding shower in Houston & time with Greg's family while in H-town!

- Spending quality time with Greg as we prepped for our wedding day. It was SO awesome to do wedding planning while in the same state!!! It had been tough doing it through long-distance and was so fun while we were together in San Antonio!