I wasn't a Bridezilla until...

www.sheknows.com

So, I'm in full on wedding planning mode and I mean, I could be on the verge of becoming a Bridezilla and I didn't even know it was happening. Here is why...

Setting a Wedding Date

 Ok, so I was like whatever, I'll let the venue choose my date. I thought I was acting completely laid back about the whole thing, right? We initially selected a spring wedding for ample planning time and I digested it fully that I was not getting married in the fall, which I had imagined initially. After a few weeks however, friends, family and countrymen suddenly start convincing me that I should change the date to back to the fall because of pregnancies (theirs' not mine), because of flower availability, because of leaves, because of football season, because of everything. (I love you all, but you did make my mind blow up for a minute).  So, I decided to change the date to this fall, only to say "hold up!" how did I just lose six months!  So now I am left to call everyone back and change everything again…not so laid back now…am I.  Aka…The date will be May 16th, 2015. Bridezilla points 20 out of a possible 100.

The Venue

When I lived in Florida I was all about a beach/destintation wedding. I mean, come on, the beach is practically free and gorgeous and Florida has beautiful weather almost daily, except the occasional hurricane, but now I have returned back to my hometown of Pittsburgh, so my wedding has taken roots in tradition rather than destination. I'm going to admit, I've always been kind of a princess-type and admittedly imagined a wedding in the Omni William Penn ballroom, however due to financial complications (aka lost my job and am now broke), I have fully accepted that this venture is not a possibility. I have moved on selecting the most adorable barn, which honestly, I dream about at night and is just unique enough for my "I have to be different" personality that obtained as a child, but every once and a while I linger at my ballroom dreams.  Now I worry about whether my venue will be comfortable for the fact that is not heated or cooled and having to acquire an extra porta-potty… A porta-potty..lol! Bridezilla points 10.

My old fantasy

My new venue

Just kidding…it looks like this : ) 

Do-It-Yourself 

 Initially, this is a great idea. You are going to make everything by hand and save millions! This is all well and good till you realize one handmade flower can take 20 minutes. Not to mention, I was covered in glue up to my elbows today making my own lantern. It doesn't help my fiancé doesn't understand the DIY aspect. I'm a creative soul! I need to do this…babe, wanna cut out some circles for me! I have a few helpful friends and family members, but it's definitely hard scheduling a get together, understandably. So, I continue cutting and gluing hour after hour and think after all of this I will have a more intimate relationship with my glue gun then with my fiancé. Bridezilla points 10!

The Gown

 I am fully aware that I have champagne tastes on Colt 45 money. I always walk in the least expensive stores (aka TJMaxx) and find the most expensive items just by sight so with my vast knowledge of fine fabrics and exquisite beading and seaming, I thought possibly buying a pre-owned designer gown was the the best bang for my buck however, I still can't wrap my head around buying a pre-owned wedding dress, Vera Wang or not. Just thinking of someone previously wearing it and having just married relations in it or even near it,  getting boob sweat in it and a hemline that has been rolled around in spilled beer gives me the heebie jeebies.  Ewww. And so, my search continues at an affordable price point while trying to get through the many extra tacky, the uber-sequin blinged,  terrible tulle journey…. Bridezilla points 10!

www.jessicalaurenphoto.com

Booking Vendors

 Caterer, Shuttles, DJ, Photographer, Videographer and various other important vendors…There are suggestions and suggestions of those suggestions from outside  sources and really you barely know anything about any of the vendors. I just want them to be booked, the good, the bad and the untalented. I don't care anymore, I just want it signed, sealed and done. Bridezilla points 10!

weddings.thefuntimesguide.com

Bridal Party

 I love so many of my friends and cousins and hate making people mad, really hate it, but I would be all "27 Dresses" if I had all of my closest girlfriends in the wedding. So, making the selection between friends who would be considered automatically included, versus the ones I talk to regularly, versus the ones who might be mad, versus the ones who probably won't be mad, but I still feel bad, versus his relatives, versus my relatives, versus, versus, versus…....Bridezilla Points 10!

cosmogirlwedding.blogspot.com

 Losing weight

 Every bride wants to lose a little weight, including myself, so here  I am trying to eat healthy and exercise, while making phone calls, emailing, visiting, preparing for waist-busting evil cake tastings, oh, yeah, and I'm trying to have that thing called a regular life too. Nothing like a semi-stress eater, stressing while trying to not eat. Bridezilla points 10!

www.smartbrideboutique.com

Here is also a list of things that surprisingly don't bother me at all:  Getting small wedding cake and giving all of you something else, mud being a possible issue, a house being right next to the venue,  having no idea what shoes I will wear, having fancy schmancy hors d'oeuvres and getting married in a town called Irwin. I just have to start thinking like the Honey Badger to get through this whole wedding.  Bridezilla Points -10

And neither do I

I'm already at 70 points of a possible 100 on my Bridezilla scale, so I have to stop before I get ahead of myself.  Although these stresses seem to be overwhelming, I am very happy and excited to be marrying Mr. Pryor. As an event planner by career, I know this is the road which must be driven, that all of my efforts will be rewarded in the end and that I must relax or I may end up on "My 600lb Life" instead of a honeymoon.

Fear the Ring! My Precious!

I’m writing the blog you aren’t supposed to write, but for anyone else out there who may have gotten recently engaged it will be most appreciated.  From that first moment you say yes, you are on some cloud outside earth and it’s literally the only thing you can think about, blissfully, while even ignoring your new fiancé (sorry babe) due to the fact that it really happened. I mean you are really engaged, no seriously, he really got down on one knee, no, he really, really loves you and you really, really love him, and you are really getting married, for real,…no, seriously. And after thinking for years you would be an old maid forever, you have this big shiny ring on your finger is blinking at you like a beautiful star in the solar system that has your name on it. 

 I literally stared at my ring for a week straight. Immediately, I was distracted by this foreign glimmer on my left hand and I had to look at it even while driving, which is by far more distracting than texting behind the wheel, I just had to see it, over and over and over again. I also began meticulously figuring out which angles make it sparkle more and extending my fingers to train myself how to show others while not trying to get the best view of it myself.  

 Don’t even get me started when I had to take it off to swim in the ocean on vacation, I could only stay in the water for five minutes before I had to leave my new fiancé to go check to make sure the ring wasn’t stolen from my bag, even though my friends were watching it from less than a foot away. Yes, I had no idea that my ring would become my new baby, puppy or other semi-precious something that I must watch over continuously or my entire world would implode. 

 But what no one told me is that I would be constantly fearful about this ring.  I agonize that if I leave it on while doing dishes, showering or washing my hands it might get dinged, scratched or a rock might even fall out. At the same time, I am crazy that when it’s off it will somehow roll across the counter, onto the floor, bounce across the tile, open the door, stumble outside and fall into a storm drain disappearing forever.

I know that I can’t let my ring down and now that my pre-ring nail polish now looks absolutely awful, I am left contemplating whether or not I should I shell out the cash to keep getting my fingers pampered for my new shiny, sparkly, newborn baby-angel diamond ring or if I should save the money for my wedding and take off the polish, and go au naturale?  I would like to remind my readers that I have had maybe ten manicures in my entire life and am typically a frugal diva, however, the pressure to give my ring what it wants is undeniable.  

What is this ring and how has it taken over my life? Even so, I love this ring and want to give it everything it deserves. Hey, you only get an engagement ring once, right? Fast forward ten years and I’m sure I will be all brittle nails and bleeding cuticles, so I better treat my ring like the only-child while I still can, right? 

Thank you all for enjoying my pre-wedding OCD and my blog. Many more Mandi moments to come  : ) 

My Precious

The Blog Every 30 and Single Girl Dreams of Writing …Shines Like a Diamond

 Every little girl dreams of the day when she can write a blog to tell the world of the day she got engaged…ok, maybe that's just me, and technically blogs weren't really around when I was a kid, but you get the picture.

Now if you are a Facebook follower you may have noticed that my relationship was not publicly posted, the first reason is he is no longer on Facebook and I, myself,  think that that little relationship status change is cursed for me, so now that things are looking as solid as a diamond ring, it's time to share our story.

Chris and I have known each other for two years, although he asked me out a few times before, the timing was never right. This past October he asked me out again and at first I said no, but then I changed my mind and said yes!

A photo from a year before we started dating

On our first date, we met at Ditkas because he lives in Washington, PA, where I had some scrumptious pork chops. From there we were supposed to go to the drive in to see Carrie because it was Halloween. When we drove up to the field in the middle of the woods and to our surprise there was no one around and the screen was black. So here we are in the middle of a dark field on Halloween, trying to watch a horror movie…There was a split second where I thought this was a setup for a gruesome halloween murder (jk), we realized that the show was cancelled and decided to go to the nearest theater to catch it.

I can't remember why we went on the first date, because the original date he had asked me to was at a Penguins game. So, the next night we cheered the Pens on to victory! Let's go Pens!

And then he sent flowers to work:

And then flowers and chocolate and wine: 

The holidays came right around the corner and we both love Christmas and putting up the tree, so we decided to do it together (even his train). So altogether we put together three trees and Chris put the stars on the two biggest, I put my sloth angel on the smallest.  Chris mentioned that his family really didn't do much for Christmas, which made me sympathize and break my rule of not meeting each others families too soon. Not to mention, I definitely wanted to spend Christmas with him, so I met his family on Christmas Eve (no pressure) and he met mine on Christmas. He would have met some of mine on Christmas eve as well, but due to the Flu-Tuna's (Fortuna's) stomach virus, we decided to skip the party.  It was genuinely the calmest, most relaxing Chris-tmas.

For New Years, we decided to hit the slopes at Seven Springs!  Our only issue was a blinding white out on the north face where we were the only two people in sight within 100ft to the degree that you couldn't see the trees or posted signs ahead of you, luckily after twenty minutes we were able to jet back through the woods to catch a trail back to safety.  Other than that, we had a fabulous time, although I have gotten old and scared of skiing black diamonds (sans alcohol).

I even found it particularly hilarious to take photos with our tiny mallard!

Due to the inclement weather the winter months were spent basically hibernating with lots of video games and movies. Yes, I know, I have an awful car! That darn Miata! Our biggest thrill was trips ice skating followed up with some Bob Evan's and a lil Target shopping. I think, I knew I was in love when shopping for Kitty Litter was a delight.

Yup, winter pictures are so exciting!

With spring comes Chris's birthday. A picture from Dinner!

He loves camping, and I don't want to say I'm an indoor girl, but hiking really…really isn't my thing because I literally hiked up hills everyday in the woods growing up and consider that life*, not fun, but I decided to take him anyway cause that's what you do for the one you love.

*Note: red marker is where I lived. Intersection of Route 908 was my bus stop in high school. Not cool.

 I opted for the rustic cabins, as opposed to the modern cabin, but when we got there it totally had showers and running water, personally I was thrilled. We built a fire, but it was too cold, played some scrabble, but it was too boring and went to bed at 9:30pm. What a birthday! The next day we went hiking and ok, I did like seeing this pretty cool frozen waterfall and crawling through the muck, but don't tell him that. He really enjoyed himself until he got bitten by someone pit bull in the woods. No joke, dog just ran up and chomped his hand, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to bruise. No bueno!

Oh and I let him dress me!

And more flowers: 

Back in January, my friend Michelle's sister Rachel contacted me about filming her wedding in Florida in April. I visit my old stomping grounds each year in April, so of course I was excited to go! Especially because I love my gingas! Chris got very excited at the idea of a vacation and so I invited him along for the ride. Being Chris's first time in Florida I set-up a tour de South Florida for him and in six nights we were to visit Deerfield Beach, Key West, Fort Lauderdale and Boynton.

Ahhh Florida! 

On our first full day we were destined for Key West, Florida! The shot above was where we made a stop along the way to see the beautiful waters!

Double Selfie! 

We got into Key West around 5pm and our goal was to see the sunset. In all of my times visiting, I had never made it to see the view and we ran super close to missing it again, but we made it!

Sunset!

This is his I made it face!

This is his sunset face

This is me looking at his sunset face. 

After the sunset he planned a special dinner at Latitudes where we got to take a boat to the private Sunset Key island. Latitudes by far had the best steak and caesar (with white anchovies…mmm) I had ever had! Seriously what ever was in that sauce, should be bottled and shipped across the country! 

I'm on a boat!

After dinner, he took me on a stroll along the beach where we pointed out constellations and smooched under the stars. Feeling so full from eating I decided to sit down on a beach lounger and he came and joined me.  After a couple minutes he turned to me and told me "I love you very much and I want to be with you forever". Then he stood me up and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I, of course, started balling my eyes out unable to utter out a word, so I just shook my head up and down for what seemed to be an appropriate amount of time for a yes. Then he mumbled something about the ring, but I was half in shock and he brought it out and put it on my finger. Then I began to run around in circles crying and saying "I can't see it, I can't see the ring half" crying and laughing. Finally, we made our way up to someone's porch and I got to see it. Kisses and hugs ensued and we went out to celebrate in Key West. 

There were no pictures during this so I have created this re-enactment. 

Seriously, it looked exactly like this.

And he was all...

I was all….

And that's the story folks. I would tell you more, but that is left for him and I. I am so happy to have found the most loving, caring and wonderful man that I get to spend the rest of my life with! He really is the zen to my crazy life and couldn't ask for anything more!

Two days later…. Eating chicken wings in bed.

And that's amore! 

Oh yeah…and one more thing! 

The ring!

So now my blog will take on a new life chapter. Hope you come with me on the ride : )
P.S.  I guess I'll find out who actually reads my blog when I change my status!

Dating Rules: To Pay or Not to Pay

To Pay or Not to Pay

When you first begin dating, I have no question in my mind that men should pick up the first check. Yes, the ritualistic check payment dance should happen, but men should always win the war and grab the tab.

Hey, look he sprung for the Large Fry! 

This is not because you want to take his money and leave him broke, but this is because you are a beautiful, smart woman and he should be ever so grateful to be in your presence. Oh, yeah and also it’s because there is still a significant difference in men’s and women’s salaries. So, I’m just saying, until there is salary equality, we should at least get one free meal. You’re Worth It.  Right?

Just saying….

Once, the first date is over it is time for you to re-assess the situation. My rule of thumb is to always make an offer, even if he pleasantly shoots you down. On your second date you should insist on at least paying for some portion of the date. Say your date buys the passes to the movie, you should offer to pick up the popcorn (although you may want to reconsider that because the actual movie tickets are less than the price of snacks and refreshments). But make an offer, sure, it doesn’t have to be the whole dinner bill, but at least try to pay the tip! He must be a pretty great date if you decided to go out with him again, so don’t be a complete princess, unless of course, he insists.

Better get the Big Bucket! 

Traditionally men are the providers and women are the caregivers but with more women in the workforce, some less traditional men think that all bills and tabs should be split equally.  Women, although you may beg to differ, because we have to spend quite a bit of money on hair products, makeup and clothing to impress their drooling butts and we don’t ask for any retribution.  Oh, and if you’re dating a guy whose hair products are expensive as yours ….run! This guy screams high maintenance. That also goes for his wardrobe, car and other “flashy” items. Whose attention is he trying to get anyway?

http://genyhub.com/metrosexuals-a-thing-of-the-past

So, say this guy is keeper, what happens once you settle into a cozy little love nest, how do you manage expenses? If you are dating a traditionalist, he will continue to pay for anything and everything, so you have to find clever ways to treat him like dinners, sweet notions and great gifts. If you are dating a man hell bent on equality, then divvy it up and if you start worrying about your dwindling bank account use apps like Groupon or Living Social to help cut the costs. And finally, if you find yourself with a guy who is using your wallet like his own personal debit card, cut off his bank account and go out and get wined and dined again, cause a girls gotta eat and she gotta eat well.

Don't be afraid to indulge yourself. 

The PMS Monster

THE PMS Monster

So, yes, every month this evil monster lurches out of the dark, a horrible monster with giant fangs and a grisly, loathsome roar that can strike fear in the hearts of anyone whom crosses it’s path.  This terrifying creature is called the PMS Monster.

No matter whether you are a man, woman or child, you have come across this monster, or the dreaded the catastrophic wrath of a woman experiencing PMS.

  For all of those who have fallen victim to the PMS monster, remember, just like a werewolf on a full moon, it is temporary.  You can’t say you didn’t root on Michael J. Fox’s transformation into a hairy, scary monster basketball player, nor can you say you didn’t empathize with Fiona when she changed from gorgeous princess into the puke-green Ogre in Shrek, so why can’t the world be more on your side during this exasperating time.

Somehow each month due to hormone fluctuations, you transform from beautiful, confident woman into a drooling, growling zombie and even though the changes in your body are ten times harder on you then it is on him, he believes that you have only devised PMS as an evil plot just to make him miserable.

By Diana Zourelias

amazingartbydianaz.com

You just want to say “Yes, I made my body have go completely haywire, just so I could destroy your life.” And as you concentrate all your efforts on trying fight your bodies plunge into a weeks worth of exhaustion, irritability, memory lapses and of course the ever delightful “fat feeling” you get from retaining water, you suddenly realize that he is morphing into a PMS monster himself, but how could that be?

What you are experiencing is the latest in PMS Phonomenons, MALE-PMS. MALE-PMS stands for Male Aggravated Lapse of Empathy Pre-Menstural Syndrome. This medically “un-recognized” phenomenon is when you begin to PMS and you notice his mood and personality begins to change. He starts to act aggravated with the littlest things, he gets moody, he gets irritable because he can’t understand why you are frustrated and argumentative, so he in turn becomes a PMS Monster himself, and it’s all you can do not to fly into a rage screaming “you even had to take my PMS, didn’t you!” 

We have all been there and you are not alone. Many males have MALE-PMS, but since  this syndrome has never actually been researched or called a real illness in any medical periodical it is often misdiagnosed. Men instead are often mis-diagnosed as having the conditions of jerks or assholes instead.  If you believe like I do, maybe we can make that all change change.   MALE-PMS is real (well not-medically speaking) but it really could be and it could be treatable.  

In some actual legitimate medical mumbo-jumbo, I bring you Couvade Syndrome. Couvade syndrome is when a male experiences pregnancy-like symptoms when his partner is expecting.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Couvade Syndrome includes physical symptoms and psychological symptoms, which correlate to their partner’s hormonal changes.

Couvade Syndrome:

•       “Physical symptoms. These symptoms might include nausea, heartburn, abdominal pain, bloating, appetite changes, respiratory problems, toothaches, leg cramps, backaches, and urinary or genital irritations.”

•       “Psychological symptoms. These symptoms might include changes in sleeping patterns, anxiety, depression, reduced libido and restlessness.”

Not Couvade Syndrome, but still quite relevant- Picture Source- people.com

MALE-PMS must be stopped before it gets any worse!  I am not a doctor, but I am in complete belief that MALE-PMS is an illness affecting millions of men and it should be researched further. With a little effort by doctors and researchers, I have the belief that we can relieve men of this syndrome, so we can at least have a week where you will be the one and only monster in the household. Perhaps, maybe, just maybe, doctors will try to put men on hormone regulating birth-control pills (again) to regulate “their” cycles and you can throw your hands up and release all of those little sugar pills into the air!

Now, I’m sure this research will take years of testing before they are actually able to treat it, you know with testing and whatnot, so you will have to both deal with your rather monstrous situation for awhile.  Keep in mind that men are usually oblivious to emotional cues and signs, so unless you have a red signal that lights up at the beginning of PMS, try to give him a gentle forewarning, so he can prepare himself for battle.

Perhaps, an addictive PMS Monster Smart Phone game could be created which men could play to learn how to deal with the PMS Monster. The only way to win is to feed the monster delicious treats, jewelry and massage coupons until she turns back into a gorgeous woman again while he tries to avoid those pesky irritability bubbles, but of course, just like PMS, the next level is even harder! 

 

 http://feminspire.com