Tuesday 10 July 2007

The Calm Before The Storm

Well, CR could have been better the last few days but at least I am trying to keep on an even keel while I can. Over the weekend I ate far too much bread and cheese with neighbours, but I still managed to compensate overall and end most days under 1100 calories (in food, obviously) with almost full nutrition - shoving a bag of spinach in the microwave does wonders. On Monday I drove up to Cheltenham Spa to have dinner with a friend - we ended up in a pizza place and while I really wanted pizza (for the first time in an age), I had a spinach salad instead - it came dressed despite me asking for the dressing on the side (and then they brought extra dressing) and had mozzarella in it. Oh well. Yesterday morning I had to grab breakfast on the motorway - cereal, yoghurt and a banana. For half the price I could have had a "low carb" special - fried eggs, fried bacon, limp sausages, mushrooms. Um, no. So anyway, yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag for CRON as well. Still got good nutrition overall, but I am definitely feeling a lack of balance right now.

I've been reading a lot around raw food diets recently, and after the wedding I am wondering if I can manage to combine CRON and at least 75% raw. Shouldn't be too hard, but I need to do a bit more research. I think this all stems from having juices and veggie smoothies last week in London. They felt very pure to my system and I've even brought a smoothie maker so I can try to make my own green smoothies (heavy on the veggies, lighter on the fruit). My first experiment will be melon, kiwi, cucumber, spinach and celery. Once, that is, I actually remove the smoothie maker from its box. Currently it is buried under wedding cake.

So, P arrives today and all the organising I have to do for Saturday begins in earnest. We have to get everything to the venue - the wine, the linens, the crockery, the silverware, the flowers - and collect most of that from various outlying locations anyway. We are still missing deliveries of cider and perry and some beer glasses that P has had engraved with our names and the date and a picture of Tigsy - a sweet thought, if not entirely to my taste! :-) Oh yes, and we still need to finish off the vows and then have a run through with our friend J who has agreed to speak and tie the whole thing together.

Saturday I had my hair coloured (properly blonde again now, rather than parti-coloured) and was really pleased with it. While I was in the salon I tried once more to get the final price for the styling on the day that I had previously discussed with another stylist - one week before the day he decided to quote me one hundred and seventy pounds - so that's around, what, three hundred and forty dollars. For an updo. Needless to say I won't be paying that! So I still need to work out what to do with my hair on the day. But really, that's no big problem.

I am doing much better at chilling out and not obsessing on the small stuff, Robin! :-)

So. Well, apologies for this blog having gone all Bridezilla recently. It will be back on CRON and maybe some raw green smoothie experimentation soon enough. I'm not giving up on this, but I do need to get some more balance back and pay more attention to what I'm doing with it.

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of one of my table centrepieces (because of course you are all so interested! *grin*)... made by my good friend Pxxxx from flowers and foliage and herbs grown in our gardens and scavenged from hedgerows. I think it looks fantastic. Well done Pxxxxx!

7 comments:

Robin said...

What a gorgeous centerpiece!

I'm glad you're relaxing a bit and just enjoying what comes. That's as it should be.

More and more, I'm beginning to see that happiness isn't about making everything turn out perfectly. It's about finding joy in life as it is. That's not to say I always practice what I preach. But I *am* trying. Sounds like you are, too.

I'll be sending lots of happy, stress-free vibes your way as the big day approaches.

R

Deborah said...

I love it too!!! Sounds like you've got everything as under control as is possible at this stage. Just try to enjoy the process as much as you can.

On the hair thing. yep..that's too high to pay, I totally agree. I've heard from many new grooms (my hubby included tho ages ago) that they had wished that their brides had gone with something more natural and 'like' what they usually wear..mostly because they could hardly recognize the woman standing next to them..for the crazy hairstyle! This always made me laugh a bit cause we try so hard to create some spectacular, memorable look and while it might be appreciated for the style and all by the guests and everyone ooohhhs and ahhhhs, one of the most important people in the whole ceremony is peering through the hairspray, ringlets, French knots & seed pearls wondering where his bride is!! Check with P...see how he likes your hair...you guys might come to an agreement and then you can find someone to dress it gently in a natural style that still looks like you, just a little more done up :)

Amy said...

Love the centerpiece. When I got married 300 years ago (or was it just 3?), we had a cottage garden type theme with lots of country-style flowers and greenery. We prety much did everything ourselves, too (well, my mom and I did - J. didn't do much wedding arrangement; he just showed up :-).

As for the hair, I'm of two minds about it. I know I wouldn't have minded an updo because one rarely gets an opportunity to wear one; lets face it, Prom Night was a few years ago for me (do you have Prom in England?). I ended up having a partial up-do - the front was pulled back and the back was highly curled to give it the body and bounce that it lacks on any given day. Frankly, I loved it and I still love the way I look in photos of the day. I think we paid like $30 - no joke. My mom's hairdresser did it, and she works at a "Hair Cuttery" type place, which, for you Non-USA types, means bargain-basement haircuts. I wouldn't get my hair cut in one to save my life. But I admit, she rocked at styling my hair for the wedding :-).

Good luck - I'm really excited for you. And I really do love the floral arrangement; if that's what all your flowers will look like, I'm sure it'll be absolutely lovely!

Amy

Arturo said...

Hi Sara
When you come back to regular life, you may want to read a book or two on raw foodism. It's not about juicing - that's like a subset in itself. If you actually need philosophy on the subject, then Gabriel Coussen's "Mindful Eating" would provide that. I find useful books with titles like "Raw foods for busy people", which contains recipes with 6 ingredients and no fuss, also "Warming up to living foods." Of course, Erin has suggestions for some of them, and a fellow CRONIe may still have several books on raw foodism that she was planning to sell on Half Price Books or Ebay...
Cheers,
Arturo

Deborah said...

I donated the books to the used book store Arturo..just couldn't put in the effort.

Happy wedding day Sara. I'm thinking of you. As I write, it is just after 11pm for you. I hope you are getting some rest and truly looking forward to a beautiful day.
You two will be in my thoughts.

D

Mizpah Matus said...

Hope everything was wonderful!

April said...

Sara, are you married now???

congratulations!

a