Attitude of Gratitude

Thanksgiving weekend is almost over. In our house, that means that the turkey leftovers have been devoured, there's some leftover vegies, and we have a lot of house to clean. For Thanksgiving, we had both my husband's and my whole family over - 13 adults, 3 kids under age 10, and 1 baby. That meant a lot of coordination to get hot food on the table at the same time!

I was very thankful that I was able to share the holiday with my grandparents and my sister-in-law's infant, and the generations in between. After all, family is what makes life worth living - and so interesting. Also, I was extremely grateful that all of the courses made it to the table hot and delicious. I was happy that we were able to invite close friends to the table as well - not relatives by blood, but family nonetheless.

Now, believe me, I do NOT live in a Norman Rockwell painting. My family has interpersonal relationship issues that rival the best of them. But I choose not to dwell on the bad things, but rather to change what I can to improve the situation for everyone. I have found that it's my attitude that affects my mood - and the atmosphere around me, so I choose to see the best in the situation and try to make others see it from a happier perspective as well. My family is not perfect, but I'm grateful that we were able to be together, even just for one day.

My gratitude extends beyond the holiday, however. I am so grateful that I decided to leave law firm life and start Bride Ideas and now I have the privilege of helping young couples as they begin their lives together. I adore putting weddings together -- all of the planning, decisions, creativity -- it certainly can be stressful, but it is so rewarding to me. When I see a newly married couple smiling and enjoying being with their family and friends, without having to deal with the details, I know that I have chosen the right way to help others.

Until next time, happy planning ...

Time: The Great Equalizer

I recently heard or read somewhere that the only constant for every single person on earth is time. No matter how rich or poor you are, tall or short, fat or skinny, the one thing that we all have in common is that there are only 24 hours in the day. It's how we choose to use those precious 24 hours that sets each one of us apart.

Now, before you were engaged, you probably had a routine. Get up for work or school, go to work or school, do homework, eat dinner, meet up with friends, go to sleep. Whatever your routine, you managed to fill up your time pretty full, I would imagine.

However, then came the ring and the life-changing question. All of a sudden, your full routine has been turned on its head. It has been estimated that it takes about 180 hours to plan a wedding on your own. That equals, roughly, adding in another month to plan your wedding -- over and above your other obligations!

Some people relish doing this - giving up their free time to research vendors. Others choose to hire wedding consultants, such as myself, to help alleviate the time crunch that comes with planning a wedding. No matter how you try, you simply cannot create more hours in a day, so you may want to consider hiring a professional to give you back life's most precious resource.

Until next time, happy planning...