My Top 5

Brief update on my goals this week!

Breakfast: 4/4

Running/Working out: 3/4

Stopping work before bed: 2/4

soo...room for improvement still :)

As I have been officially jumping into the world of wedding planning (in between classes and homework of course), I wanted to share a few wedding planning resources that so far I LOVE and are maybe not as well known (for example)! Enjoy :)

#1. OneWed.com 

What it's like: Designed with the idea in mind that there is A LOT of pressure if you are too focused on planning THE perfect wedding, instead they want to give brides & grooms and their families lots of easy to use online tools. Like TheKnot.com they have search functions for finding vendors, ideas, and discussion forums...etc. But what they offer is a social networking side along with the ideas.


Why I love it: I can choose who I want to add to my wedding planning account (its called a wedding pre-party). This means my Mom and bridesmaids (for example) and add ideas, see my to-do checklists, and help and add input with lots of planning details

#2. WeddingGawker

What it's like: Set-up visually very similar to the ever beloved Pinterest - Never ending stream of pictures and wedding ideas/tips, you can sort images and ideas by category, save your favorites, and every idea has the option to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc


Why I love it: Every picture links to a blog that is usually FULL of tons of other wedding related information/pictures. All submissions to the website are editor approved so its guaranteed that when I click on something, its actually linked to the original source *disclaimer: because every idea/picture links to a blog, ladies, you will spend COUNTLESS time on here, fair warning!*

#3. Wedding 911 app

What it's like: Exclusively focused on bride's questions and answers - both from Wedding professionals and other brides. Anyone registered can post questions and respond to other's questions, instant repines and feedback on just about anything a girl could think of about a wedding.


Why I love it: Fun to see what other brides are curious about, as well as really helpful if I want instant feedback on an idea or question - the app is in an easy to use format too! It's an app sponsored by TheKnot - however it is not connected to any of their site's online planning tools. Free download too!

#4. Weddingwire.com

What it's like: Similar to OneWed and TheKnot - this is geared at being an online planning resource for brides, also important - everything on the site is bride rated!


Why I love it: Primarily because of the Inspiration board feature! I don't really use any of the other planning related tools on this website, because I like the format of OneWed's tools much better- however, the inspiration board feature allows my to upload lots of pictures I have collected and combine ideas together. Plus its nice that I can email and share the boards with others (again, like my Mom).

#5. Preston Bailey: Color Story

What it's like: Preston Bailey is an major event planner (read his bio here). Website is organized into a bride section, weddings, events, flowers, Preston's blog (tons of ideas), videos - and most importantly - tools. The Color Story tool allows you to pick a color, answer a few questions about what you are thinking for your event, and then it create a color palette idea!


Why I love it: The tools sections: The Color Story tool, a design tool, and a planning tool - all easy to use. There are so many ideas from events Preston has done - most over the top, but all helpful in thinking outside the box when it comes to decorating and creating a wedding 

I love weekends!

I must say that I LOVE weekends, and more than that, I love weekends more when Sunday night shows up and I feel both rested and prepared for my week ahead (This was last night for me, woohoo!!). While lots of life events are already behind me this semester, there are many more right around the corner - (Easter, finding out where my internship for the next year will be, a retreat, orientation for my internship, Big Day of Serving in Chicago...the whole school/classes/homework piece) - you guys get the idea! This weekend in particular was my last weekend of calm before the storm, so I tried my best to focus on relaxing - lucky me a few good movies were on tv to help!


Since my last post caught you all up (somewhat) on big life stuff that has been happening for me, now I can share some tools I have found and enjoy using to grow in my healthier lifestyle. Spiritual, emotional/mental, and physical health are all super important parts of any person's life so I divided my favorites up into those categories!

Spiritual

My favorite devotional tool is you version which is a great Bible resource! Best part about it that I LOVE are all of the reading plans and devo ideas they already have set-up for you to choose & they will even email them to you every day. I just started a new series on wisdom today.

Physical

To help keep up with what foods I am eating each day and making sure that I am consuming a healthy balance of calories/fats/carbs/proteins...etc, I find myfitnesspal to be very helpful, mostly because you can download it as an app for blackberry or iphone/ipod (in addition to using it online). Super user friendly, they have most foods you would ever eat already in their database AND a super fun barcode scanner built into their app to add foods that they don't have! EASY.

Workout/fitness wise, for the last couple of months myself (along with my awesome & encouraging boyfriend Adam, and our friend Kevin) have been doing the beach body Insanity workout series. We are currently on Day 40 out of 60. Every day these workouts find a new way to kick my butt, however its all cardio paced so the variety keeps me focused/motivated.


Now that the weather is nice (shocking for spring in Chicago!), I have also been able to start fitting running back in, and since there is a website/app for everything, I currently enjoy using dailymile to keep track of my runs! Best feature: in addition to keeping track of how far I ran/pace, it also lets me add details like how the weather was, how I felt, how much effort I put into the run...and some other fun ones!

Emotional/Mental

I find (and this is not really profound, just true), but I find that when I am in God's Word, eating well and working out consistently those together have the biggest influence on the stability of my emotional state! (Talk to me on a day when all 3 are out of whack, and its a BAD day!) So besides those 3, some other basics of this for me involve: calling my mom almost everyday, finding time to read, cooking and trying new recipes, and my girly and guilty pleasure - Pinterest. Ladies, you understand this! :) While I don't have any fun apps or websites (besides my pinterest) to share for this category of emotional health, and my mom probably wouldn't appreciate me handing her cell phone number out to the world, I WILL share a picture of my most recent recipe adventure (and link to the blog I found it from!)

Most recent! This was dinner Saturday night! (WORTH IT to make the pizza dough from the recipe if you have the time!) Here is the recipe link: YUMMY.

Any other fun tools you all use whether for growing spiritually, physically, or emotionally - please share!!! 

Blessings on everyone's Mondays (and week ahead!!!) Love, Kyla.