One Toe Three, One Toe Three...

C and I have been taking ballroom lessons on and off for years now...our first lesson was a salsa lesson he gifted me years ago and we just loved it so much we kept going back for more lessons...and slowly we incorporated waltzing, rumba, swing, hustle, fox trot and all sorts of other ballroom dances...we don't get to practice too much so our skills always hover around beginner/intermediate...but we can hold our own in most social situations where we're required to do any of those dances, SCORE!

a very good tip one of our instructors gave us once that in a waltz, it's really one TOE three, because the rise is on your toe! how cute! it made sense and we remember it...anyway i digress...
the point i'm trying to get at is this...do i want to do a carefully choreographed routine for our first dance?

after a lot of thought, C and i have decided to forgo the practiced rumba/waltz/foxtrot routines in favor of a plain ol slow dance.

the reasoning behind this is because as much as we love ballroom dancing, theres something inherently romantic about just going with whats natural and organic to us...we don't waltz around our apartment to or foxtrot to frank sinatra music on a regular basis, but we will every now and then slow dance... one toe three it is not...it's more like sway sway dip lol

Ballroom dancing is a tremendous workout! improves your posture and its really fun if you can manage to wrangle your significant other into doing just one lesson with you, it shouldn't take too much to get him hooked ;)

(side note: we're addicted to dancing with the stars, one of our fav couples ever emmit and cheryl, their rumba routine was HAWT!!!)

Masala Bhangra Workout

in my last post you will remember my ongoing losing battle with fat burning...but thankfully because of masala bhangra the battle has become more bearable...about a year and half ago, one of my gfs H asked me to join her in one masala bhangra class at our gym (new york sports club) in exchange of her coming to one of my hip hop classes...considering i've always been a bit of a failure when it came to belly dancing classes i did NOT have high hopes i will excel in this indian workout class...but i went anyway because thats what girlfriends do for one another... after the first class i was HOOKED! i LUUUUUURVE IT!!!

what exactly is masala bhangra workout you may ask?
Masala means spicy and bhangra is a type of indian folk dance, traditionally a man's dance, Sarina Jain created a workout that truly gets your body pumping! there are some bollywood moves, traditional indian dance moves and MASSIVE CARDIO, it's awesome!!! seriously! check it out at www.masaladance.com, i promise you won't be disappointed.

since then i've been religiously going to classes and i even take the classes with sarina herself...she's wonderful... i've taken a number of my other gfs and they always have positive things to say about it...

so if you're looking for a new way to burn fat, i highly suggest getting yourself into some masala bhangra :)

Working Out and Eating Right for THE Big Day...ok not really...

many women will go out of their way to step up their workout regimen and dieting before the big day...i want to say i'm one of these people, but sadly i'm really not

before C and i started dating nearly 7 years ago, i weighed approximately 125-130 lbs...for 5'2.5" thats really not exactly a skinny minny, but 20 lbs down from my freshman in college weight which was hovering around 150-160, in hindsight i actually felt the healthiest at this point in my life, i did a lot of cardio kick boxing and i also ate very healthily/balanced meals...high in vegetable intake and healthy proteins like fish and chicken mainly...throughout the history of our dating though, the number on the scale slowly started creeping back up towards my freshman days! can we say DEBACLE?!?!?!

after 6 years of relationship bliss, the ever expanding waistline well...expanded...
(oh god i can't believe i'm posting this...)

the big whammy came last year when i went for a physical and the doctor informed me that i was getting a bit too overweight and unhealthy for my age, so i started reverting back to a healthier version of myself...i started working out more, lots of jazz, hip hop, bhangra and cardio classes approximately 3 times a week...and healthy eating thanks to my gay husband/diet nazi B pushing me...i'm at about 140-144 these days, i yo-yo a little bit every now and then but i've been in this range for about 6 months now...heavier than my healthiest but definitely WAY healthier than i was 12 months ago!

september 2008
(recent engagement and healthiest i've been in a long time)

ideally i'd like to lose another 5-7 lbs, so i've started adding more weights and ab exercises into my regular work outs...i think its working! i'll update you again in about 5 months from now haha

but until then, keep those numbers to yourself! a lady never reveals her real age OR her weight, but i guess i just did on the world wide web...nevermind!

A New One for the Ladies

hello everyone (well everyone that ever reads this thing)
after much deliberation...i've come up with a new more flattering dress for my wonderful wonderful bridesmaids... i present to you bari jay style 505
its the perfect silhouette, it has straps for those that are NOT comfortable wtih strapless, and it comes in a VERY pretty sapphire blue...its taffeta which would probably work very nicely with my wedding dress too!! what do ya'll think??

i wouldn't be able to use my connections at dessy, but i love the way this one looks...gotta get bridesmaid M to try this on for me asap so i can put an order in!

Maestro, cue music please!

like many people out there, pachabel's canon in D is nearly synonymous with wedding...i honestly just love the tune, period, so much that it was my ringtone on my old phone for many years...some of my guy friends would even joke about it to chris during those years that i was cluing him into something...so years later now when i'm actually planning my big day, of course it will be included in my bridal procession! it's almost a duh reaction...but if my girls walk down to canon in D, what the heck am i gonna walk to??!?!

so after combing through a lot, A LOT of classical music...i always came back to one of my favorite soundtracks of ALL TIME

for those of you who are familiar with the soundtrack MUST be thinking tennesee, because heck it's pretty freakin tearjerky...still motion in canada even made an awesome wedding video to this song! but alas for me! i loved a different track, "...and then he kissed me" by hans zimmer...LOVE IT and i think it's perfect to walk down to my future husband with :), can you see it? i can!

The HORROR!

so last night after work all of my bridesmaids located in the new york area convened at "here comes the bridesmaid" in midtown to try on THE dress...but unfortunately it looked AWFUL! the color i had in my head i wanted them to wear, AWFUL AGAIN! can this get any worse?
exhibit A, B and C
A. MOH rachel - Champagne, honestly it washed out every single one of my 5 girls! how is this even possible?
B. BM morgan - this silhouette fits the best universally, strapless mermaid, but gah the color i don't love even though it looks OK
C. BM helen - the dress i mentioned in below post, yea it was really cute on top but it would not be flattering on someone who is not a size 4 or smaller

and then we tried on this baby


its the dessy 2726 dress, great shape! price not too bad either and can probably get a better deal ordering directly from dessy...we may have a winner...

but now the dilemma is, i'll probably have to rethink the whole color scheme, the darker colors are more flattering and personally i love the way navy blue looks...

so what will my girls be wearing on my big day? we'll find out soon! :)

where have i been?

addicted to twilight, thats what happened!!!

(www.stepheniemeyer.com)

instead of wedding planning i've been reading up a storm, finished all four books within 7 days and i can declare now i've got a crush on edward cullen of epic proportions, it's like im reverting back to my teenage years.. how embarassing i can't believe i'm writing this here...

anyways...on the wedding planning front. momma tse pulled some strings and managed to me a deal on the bm dresses i've had my eye on..we have an appointment at here comes the bridesmaid tomorrow to try this sucker on to see how flattering or not flattering it is, so stay tuned for wedding planning goodness!

here's what we've been thinking:

its the dessy 2762 dress in champagne

cross your fingers! i hope we have a winner!