SAY YES TO THE DRESS

March 11, 2018 Megan Hauver

I've always known I wanted to get married in the fall, so when the fiancé proposed in January I knew I had to find a location fast. Now that everyone has jumped on the fall wedding bandwagon, all Saturdays in September are in the top 10 wedding dates of 2018. What I didn't realize was you need to buy your dress 8 months before your wedding. So almost immediately after getting engaged, I went to Raleigh, scoped out some bridal boutiques, and made an appointment at Coastal Knot.

I love Raleigh and decided to make a day of dress shopping.

After picking my mom up from the airport (yes, I was late - but in my defense, her flight took off late and somehow landed early) we headed to the southern point of the Triangle and grabbed coffee and macarons at Lucettegrace.

We then headed over to Poole's for a delicious brunch. I sipped on Rose all Day and fell in love with their smoked salmon and avocado toast.

After deciding that it probably wasn’t a great idea to get a third drink, we headed over to Cameron village and popped into a few of my favorite stores - bevello, the impeccable pig, and Charlotte’s.

Once we killed a sufficient amount of time, we walked over to Coastal Knot to find my dress!

The first dress I tried on was Lorelei by Hayley Paige. It was beautiful and pink and ate me alive. The pink color and the sleeves completely washed me out and I took it off before we could take pictures. I knew every dress I tried on would have to be clipped, but I didn't think about parts that couldn't be clipped. I could not get my head around the baggy illusion sleeves on the sample.

Now for the actual contenders...

0 1 . A R L O by Hayley Paige

This was my favorite dress going into the appointment. I loved the color and sparkle on top, but I worried the fabric was too thick and the skirt had a life of its own. We are getting married in September, but September in South Carolina is no joke. Humidity is very real and sometimes it feels like the air is so thick that its weighing you down. Is that stopping me from having a formal wedding and asking men to wear tuxes? Absolutely not. So maybe I can suffer the heat in a heavy ball gown. Plus, the blue and coral-esque beading is just perfect for our waterside ceremony.

0 2 . S L O A N E by Hayley Paige

Arlo made me question everything I thought about ballgowns. It was almost as overdramatic as I am, but it was so damn heavy. So when they pulled this dress I was receptive... aaaand then she told me it was the most expensive dress in the store. It was still technically within my budget, and I wanted to see what a fit & flare dress looked like, so I tried it on.

I love the silhouette and illusion necklace, but what I really loved about this dress was how easily I could move around in it. I was concerned that the body was too plain, but I felt like the bling up top made up for that. However, I want to wear my hair down, so the gorgeous bling at the top would be at least partially covered. I tried it on with a full skirt and belt (the same belt pictured on dress 05) and that really made the dress pop. But did it pop enough?

0 3 . trunk show gown (designer unknown)

Hearing my need for sparkle, we pulled this dress off the mannequin. It was completely covered in sequins and shimmered with every move. I loved the low back, but I felt that the waist was far too low. It didn't cinch at the smallest part of my waist and made my torso look longer than it actually is.

You can see that my friend was feeling this dress as much as I was.

0 4. S A S H A by Made with Love

At this point I was willing to step away from everything I thought I loved. Hayley Paige, ballgowns, sparkles, everything. I went into the appointment thinking that's all I wanted, and this dress had none of that. I ended up really liking this dress. The lace pattern was beautiful, it fit the waterside venue, and I could actually move around in it. My main concern with this dress was that it may not be formal enough for our black-tie optional wedding.

0 5 . C H A N D O N by Hayley Paige

I went back to the ball gowns and my serious love of Hayley Paige for this last dress. You can't quite see in this photo, but there's actually sparkle netting under the tulle. I was still concerned that the sparkle was still too subtle and the dress was somewhat plain. Adding the belt (also by the beautiful Hayley Paige) helped a ton, but was it enough to be my dress?

My take aways...

Bring snacks. Finding your dress is exhausting and hanger is very very real.
Bring a married friend. Having a friend who has found their own dress will know what to expect and can ask questions that you wouldn't even think of.
Let your friends pick out one or two dresses for you to try on. I went into this thinking I knew exactly what I wanted, and when a few of them didn't work out I didn't know what to do. I let my friends pick out dresses they thought would look good on me, and it got me out of my funk!
Don't rush it. Dresses are expensive and you will be looking at pictures of your dress for the rest of your life. I was lucky enough to be the only appointment in the store that afternoon and was able to try on dresses for 3 hours. If I had to stay in the one hour appointment window, I would not have found my dress. but thats okay. You can always come back or go to more stores.

So which dress do you think I chose? I can honestly say that I did purchase something pictured in this post!

Sweating for the Wedding

February 11, 2018 Megan Hauver

So I kind of hate when people say they're "sweating for the wedding" because I feel like it implies people creating unhealthy goals for their big day or developing healthy habits that'll be given up once they're no longer a bride.

But I know getting married can be the motivation needed to create healthy habits that will be continued long after the wedding & that's what this post is about!

My Fitness Background

I played just about every sport growing up and was always playing on some team all the way through High School. I played one year of college field hockey until some health issues made it too difficult. I did yoga for 6 days a week until that also became too difficult. After getting that sorted out, I did BBG for a bit until starting CrossFit.

I joined CrossFit in January 2017, but didn't start going regularly until April. In the summer, when I had literally nothing better to do (cleaning doesn't count) and Dixie refused to be outside for more than 30 minutes (no words can describe her level of diva - she's like Mariah Carey on steroids), I went to CrossFit 6 or 7 days days a week. I definitely saw a ton of improvement, but only for 6 months. After that, I wasn't getting faster or stronger, I wasn't burning fat, and I wasn't feeling my best. I also was in no way willing to take it seriously enough to adjust my diet or sleep schedule for further improvements. And why should I? If I want to have a cupcake for breakfast, or god forbid, eat breakfast instead of this crazy fasting fad thats going on, I'm going find my favorite Kate Spade plates and eat frickin' cake for breakfast.

Okay, also, if I'm being totally honest... I also don't care about being "functionally" fit. I'd rather go for more ‘fashionably’ fit vibe. Less donuts&deadlifts, more shopping-is-my-cardio.

HOWEVER, if you're in a place where your fitness goals seem unattainable and need a serious jumpstart to your fitness, I highly recommend going to CrossFit 4-6 times a week for 6 to 8 weeks. You will be magnificently sore, but after those 6/8 weeks, you will be able to do any workout class & do it well enough to get the maximum benefits from that class.

I stopped going to CrossFit and paused my membership for two months to reevaluate my fitness goals. After I got engaged, I cancelled my membership for good. I think there are tremendous benefits to lifting weights and I love the olympic lifts, I couldn't justify the cost of a CrossFit membership just to have access to a barbell. Especially when i realized how much veils cost. Like WHAT!?

My Wedding Workouts

1. Body by MG

To satisfy my Doctors' emphatic insistence that I work with heavy weights, I downloaded Madalin Giorgietta's work out guide - Body by MG. Maddy is a former BBG girl who didn't enjoy the cardio or plyometric movements in BBG, so she created a guide that is entirely lifting. Plus, all the movements can be done or easily modified for my apartment gym. It's a great guide to building muscle where you want it (🍑) and toning where you want to be defined, but not bulky (💪). I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to get in shape while avoiding cardio entirely.

2. OrangeTheory

One issue that I had with CrossFit was how much standing around there was. If I'm going to spend an hour of my time working out, I want to be working every single minute of that hour. Enter OrangeTheory, conveniently located across the street from my office (and dangerously, next to Monkees). The moment you walk in the door, you are working and your heart rate is up. I also love how much cardio is incorporated! You're time in OT is divided between the floor (for weighted and body weight movements), the rowing machine, and the treadmill. I've never been able to run on the treadmill, but somehow I can at OT. I don't know how they do it. I don't know if the music or upbeat instructors, but its great. Plus, I love being able to check my heart rate and seeing if I need to step it up or take a breath. You gotta get those splat points!

3. Tone It Up

The only downside to OrangeTheory is its popularity. I have to book my classes a week in advance, and some times, I still have to sign up for the waitlist! On days where I know that I'm not getting off the waitlist, I use Tone It Up.

I've been using their recipes and meal planning guides every now and then, but I love their "5 Daily Moves" concept and work out videos. Even on my most exhausted mornings, I can drag my but out of bed for some coffee and 5DMs. Maybe I get a video done, maybe I don't. Either way is okay with me. The 5DMs are certainly enough to get my day started & they're FREE!

I like to balance all of this with maintaining a healthy lifestyle & spending time outdoors, which is a little less appealing in the winter. I got my fill of winter & am not VERY ready for spring.

What are your go to work outs?

xs and os

A Tropical Bridal Shower

October 1, 2016 Megan Hauver

I'm back! Moving is quite possibly the worst thing in the world, and hopefully I won't have to do it for another two years. I refuse to do it. This place could flood five more times, and I'm staying put. Oh yeah, our apartment flooded a week after we moved in. Apparently somebody vandalized the construction site by stuffing a piece of wood inexposed pipe. And that pipe just happened to be just below my bathroom. And one day people in the apartment above me decided to take an extra long shower and that piece of wood sent their shower water and whatever sewage was stuck in that pipe right up through my toilet and shower drain. Fun times. But not nearly as fun as the party behind this post...

I got to throw my very first bridal shower last month for a friend whom I have known for over 20 years. I'm still in shock that I'm (a) old enough to have friends that are getting married and (b) old enough to have known somebody for 20+ years.

We had the shower in late September, so the obvious pun-filled theme would be "'Fall'-ing in love." But the bride-to-be loves pineapples and is honeymooning in the Caribbean, so a tropical shower was totally called for. Now I wanted to do a full-out "honeymoon shower" where people bring gifts for the honeymoon. It didn't even have to be raunchy... a new pair of sandals, a nice suitcase, sunglasses, monetary gifts that could be used toward a room upgrade or fun outings. But then we saw that the bride wanted to invite 50 people and included some grandmothers on her invite list, and we knew if we called it a honeymoon shower there would be a at least one person who would give the raunchiest item at the sex shop as a gift.

My parents have an awesome back yard and quite the collection of pineapple decor, and they graciously allowed me to hold the shower there.

(I still can't believe we got so lucky with the weather. It was GORGEOUS.)

I know a lot of bridal showers are filled with games, but I settled on just one: a ring hunt. I hid rings around the party, and whoever found the most by the time we opened presents got to take home one of the flower arrangements.

For drinks guests had the choice of a mimosa (with orange juice or pineapple juice) or rosé, which would be poured in their souvenir: a customized wine glass from beau-coup.

The menu is where I really got to have fun. I had a mix of homemade and store-bought food, mainly for my own party-prep sanity. We bought donuts (appropriately called OC Sand) from Fractured Prune and bought fruit salad and frozen waffles from the grocery store. I know Chef Kwame had to pack his knives & go for using frozen waffles, but they were appropriate in this case. You gotta know your audience. We also bought fresh baked quiches from a bakery. We decided to buy enough for each person to get one slice and that would just be way too overwhelming for one non-professional baker to make. As for the homemade items, a guest offered to make a salad, and I was able to make two sauces for the waffles: cinnamon-banana honey butter (recipe coming soon) and coconut syrup. I also made my favorite medianoche sliders (recipe also coming soon). They're seriously so good.

Normally, the food is the best part of any party. But in this case, my favorite idea for the shower was using my Fuji instamax to make a scrapbook for the bride. The directions for guests are easy: take a picture, write a note to the bride-to-be, and pin your picture and note together. After the party. I collected all the pictures and notes and put them into a little book for the bride. It's a great way for the bride to remember the day and the loved ones that were there with her.

Finally, we bought the bride a sparkly headband for her to wear and this adorable Etsy banner for her to sit under while opening presents. Since some guests didn't get around to taking a picture for the scrapbook, we passed around cards for people to write the bride a note.

Overall, I'm so happy that I got to throw my friend a shower and for all the help from my mom and friends. Thanks for everything.

& pin this post for your next bridal shower!

P.S. A slight etiquette note for shower guests: when somebody invites you into their home, don't tell the bartender that the house isn't your taste, especially in the earshot of the hostess. We don't care what you think and you only made yourself look bad. BYE NOW.