Oryx

Hello ladies! I am doing great with the chocolate challenge, but otherwise not so great this week. I got my period and I have just been feeling blah.... only worked out once this week. My eating hasn't been horrible, but also has not been great... if I stayed the same this week, I'll be happy!

Nice job, Eliana!

Hi Amelie-Mellow, So far I am getting quotes for about $1700, but I'm hoping the price goes down to the $1500 - $1600 range. You don't have $1400 - $1700 in your poll.

Quote: Originally Posted by elifrigo GIRLSSS I'M A U.S. CITIZZENNNN!!!! Afterrr being there from 10AM until 5PM! Totally worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay, congrats Eliana!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by sciencegrl10 Hello Do you have a web address or contact info for DJ Mannia? E-mail: [email protected] Website: MANNIA - Audio, Video e Iluminación Profesional There's an advertisement for DJ Mannia on this website also -- he's a preferred vendor (it's the second square down from the top right).

Quote: Originally Posted by theend903 I just received an email from DJ Mannia to confirm him for our reception. Is there anyone on here that has used their services? I wanted to know how you paid. He wants 50% up front through paypal and the rest at the wedding. Is that how you paid as well? We are using him for our February wedding and we also paid the 50% deposit. We're not sure how we want to pay for everything else though.

Quote: Originally Posted by sciencegrl10 Sorry Renee I must have copied the wrong list. Oh no worries, gives me more reason to post at work and procrastinate from this report I'm supposed to be writing, lol.

I always seem to fall off these lists, lol. APRIL 2010 livinlife - April 20th, 2010 tiggerulz - April 20th, 2010 liujessicam - April 22nd, 2010 QCbride-April 28th, 2010 MAY 2010 lara&mike - May 3 2010 JessicaANDJermaine - May 11 2010 Nicoleswrld - May 13, 2010 CnC - May 14, 2010 Littleone77 - May 17, 2010 MexicoBeachBride2010 - May 18, 2010 Crystal&Matt2010 - May 19, 2010 mayasun (Claudia&Jon) - May 19, 2010 Eslush- May 19, 2010 ali0284- May 26, 2010 JUNE 2010 Vallarta_2009 - June 2, 2010 Sciencegrl10 Majestic Elegance- June 11, 2010 Kim & Alex (Kimba) - June 29, 2010 JULY 2010 Jenny K-W (Jenn and Dave) July 20, 2010 Jefiner - Majestic Colonial, July 21, 2010 Maigan & Brad - Majestic Elegance, July 26, 2010 Mel4983 - Majestic Colonial, July 27, 2010 Bronz & Brian-Majestic Elegance, July 24, 2010 OCTOBER 2010 Regine - Majestic Elegance, Oct 9th, 2010 Michele L - Majestic Colonial, Oct 19th, 2010 NOVEMBER 2010 Rhiannonbs - Majestic elegance, November 27th, 2010 JANUARY 2011 pamphilia - Majestic Colonial - January 27th, 2011 jaykay2011- Majestic Colonial - January 20th, 2011 FEBRUARY 2011 YIweddings-Majestic Colonial, February 1, 2011 Oryx - Majestic Colonial, February 3, 2011 VBVB- Majestic Colonial, February 25, 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by barbiegirl_27 Renee, I'm not totally sure about direct to Punta Cana, but check out Sunwing. They do direct flights from the Atlantic provices (at least they did this year!) When we first talked to a TA out here, she told us it would be $400 more to go direct from Halifax, rather than transfer through Toronto. I am really hoping that the prices go down come summer or even fall, and that we're able to get direct from here. I hate having to connect! I know what you mean about wanting this all settled....luckily our guests have backed off asking about pricing....for now! Great, thanks for that! I hope it doesn't end up being too expensive for my east coast relatives. Be careful about waiting too long though -- my cousin got married at Dreams Tulum last year and the resort actually sold out near the end. A few guests had to stay at another resort and just pay the day pass for the wedding. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by barbiegirl_27 Not to confuse you more, but our TA told us that Jan was high. We're getting married the beginning of Feb, but the flights would have us leaving end of Jan....she said if we pushed out date down by a month it would be much cheaper. BUT she also told me that the prices wouldn't drop at all....and I just don't believe that. We're sticking with our original date and just hoping for the best! I have noticed some prices are now out on itravel2000 and redtag vacations....but they are still REALLY high! It's super frustrating waiting, but if it means getting a better deal its worth the wait! It feels like such a crapshoot... we are also leaving around January 30th and it's so hard to know when to book. I have one TA who is saying book NOW NOW NOW and another who doesn't think it's a problem to wait until early June to see if the prices come down. Who knows... the prices are still too high for my liking, so we are waiting one more month to watch the rates. Barbiegirl_27 -- I notice you are from Halifax. We will be having a number of guests flying from Halifax and I'm worried that there might not be direct flights to Punta Cana at the end of January. Do you remember seeing direct flights from Halifax in the past? Hopefully my guests will not have to connect... ah I can't wait until we settle this stuff.

Congrats and welcome to the forum! This site is very helpful -- you will find tons of information here. And please do keep an eye out for the next Toronto get together, if you'd like to join us. Happy planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by Cindy* Renee, for my chocolate cravings, I keep a box of slimfast snack bars, chocolatey nougat gone nuts in my desk. They are only 100 calories and have 3 grams of fibre. Best of all they actually taste like a chocoalte bar. They normally do the trick for me. Mmmm, thanks Cindy! I'll definitely look into those....

Quote: Originally Posted by bikegirl Sounds like there were at least two new attendees! Sorry I missed you ladies! I will definitely try to come to the next one. Sarah or anyone else, you want to head it up? If not, I don't mind organizing again. I have a restaurant suggestion for next time since many of us are watching our weight. There is a restaurant chain (3 locations) called Fresh. It started out as a juice bar so they still make that but they are well known for their salads, wraps, and rice bowls where everything is made with nutritious and healthy items like veggies, tofu, brown rice, nuts, etc. The 3 locations are all downtown, though - Here's a link to their menu: http://www.freshrestaurants.ca/pdf/takeaway.pdf What do you girls think? Mmmm, I love Fresh! I'm having lunch there tomorrow actually, lol. I work within walking distance of the Bloor & Spadina one. I think it's a good idea, but Fresh is not really a good place to have a drink... and us brides need drinks! What do you think? I've only been there for lunch, not in the evening. Anyways, I'm good with whatever! Looking forward to seeing you all again

Yes, we did miss you bikegirl! Have an AWESOME time in China. And Cindy, it was really nice meeting you as well -- I only wish I could have stayed longer. We'll definitely have to do it again! Oh my god... it's that time of the month and I'm having a major chocolate craving here. I think I'll run and get a coffee with splenda to curb my sweet tooth! AHHHHHH!!

Quote: Originally Posted by sunstarsmoon Good Morning girls! Glad the weekend is over, I always struggle during the weekend and do fine during the week. I did somewhat okay this weekend considering. I took my son to the airport at 2 a.m. sat. morning then drove my FI to emergency, he was having chest pains, they are pretty sure he had a mild heart attack. (he is in his early 50's) (2nd time around for both of us). He is fine, just waiting for tests today or tomorrow. So needless to say I made the wrong choices in eating yesterday. The drive thru at Arbys was just to tempting, I only ate half of my combo. So thats a bonus. the scale has not changed so I am unsure if I did any damage but I guess the next few days will tell. I am back on track today and promised myself no matter what I will make better choices. Oh my god, so sorry to hear that. I'm glad he is ok! Quote: Originally Posted by stachr Yay! Everyone did so great!! What is everyone doing for meal plans? I am doing a modified low carb diet -- kind of like south beach, but I don't eliminate fruits at all. Mostly trying to avoid processed white carbs like bread, potatoes, rice, etc. I know it works for me because I have done it before -- it's just hard to stick to sometimes! Quote: Originally Posted by elifrigo OMG the weekend was so hard!!!! I tried so badly to eat well, but I think the stress from weddddiiinnnng planning and studying to get my U.S.Citizenship (tomorrow I have my immigration interview!!) got to me Now, focus, and back on track!!!!!!!!!!! wish me luck for tomorrow!! I'm sooo nervous!!! I've been in the U.S. for 10 years, but gettting my citizenship is a big deal! I hope I don't get nervous and mess up my answers Good luck, Eliana!! I'm sure you'll do fine. Happy Monday everyone -- I wish you all a good week!

Woo-hoo, congrats ladies!! I am starting to get very excited. I can't believe you all have your dresses already! I guess I had better get moving... Adenen16 -- I have booked Phil Steingard also. I'm so happy, I hear he's amazing. Can't wait!

Great pictures of the presidential suite -- thanks for sharing! I was looking exactly for what the white tent set up might look like -- perfect!

Quote: Originally Posted by elifrigo CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!! We lost over 40lbs together!!!!!! LET'S KEEP IT GOING! I know, pretty amazing, eh?! We are awesome! Can't wait to see the total at the end.

60 min on the elliptical and 100 crunches!

WEEK 2 RESULTS: bikegirl/Lindsay: -1.64% chipolte99: -1.88% Cindy*: -0.62% elifrigo/Eliana: -1.90% Hunniebee724: -1.07% jamk32179: -1.81% jennypenny23/Jenny: -3.31% LadyTrunck/Jannae: -1.53% Leez309: -1.08% Mere/Meredith: 0.00% Mischaka: +0.59% mnh1983: -2.03% nsbride2010/Natasha: -0.75% pamphilia/Pam: -0.41% Sapphire723/LeAnne: -1.12% SheriB: -0.68% Stachr/Stacey: -2.43% sunstarmoon: -2.96% Tifany: -1.10% Vallarta_2009/Heather: -0.64% Non-competing category: khomac/Kelly: --- Oryx/Renée: -1.48% Total pounds lost this week: 43.4! And our winner for this week is.... Jenny (jennypenny23)!!! Great job, everyone!!! And congrats to Jenny! For those who didn't do as well as you wanted to this week -- please don't get discouraged. This is just the beginning, and there is lots of time for us to all reach our goals together.

Quote: Originally Posted by elifrigo Good Morning Girls!!! I agree with all of you! no need to be lying, at the end of the day you are only lying to yourself... This week I will keep on doing the program from sparkpeople.com... I'm drinking 64oz of water every day!!! my secret? I drink from this container (sorry I don't know how to call it!)every day and it makes it soo easy to drink water efortless! sometimes I infuse my water with two or three thin slices of lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit which makes it even easier! I can have 32oz of water in there at the time, so I drink two of this every day.It also remains me that LIFE IS GOOD!!! LOL I also made this vegetable frittata for dinner two nights ago and it was delicious!!!!! with under 200 calories for dinner!!! mmmmm yummyy!!!! lol Here's the link to the recipe: Garden Vegetable Frittata What a fun idea for drinking more water. And that recipe looks delish... thanks for sharing, Eliana! And as everyone said, no explanations are needed about going up or down -- we are all in this together to support eachother, and this is all for fun and motivation anyways. I can attest that both Cindy and I ate well last night -- we both had salads at our little Toronto brides get together. Unfortunately I had to leave early to attend a birthday party. I was good though -- I declined the birthday cake and only had a bite of FI's slice. Results are calculated and will be posted shortly... awesome job this week, ladies!

It was so nice to see you lovely ladies! Sorry I had to leave early -- hopefully we can meet again sometime soon.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sapphire723 Jenny - As long as you know you're being healthy, then you've got nothing to explain! Weight fluctuates for a bunch of different things like hormones and water retention, so we all understand that the weight might be off from what you expect at any given time. And we're all happy to see the scale moving for you. My only concern when I see REALLY high losses would be that there's some sort of unhealthy, non-sustainable habits, because yo-yo dieting is actually more unhealthy for you than being slightly overweight. But I would assume that the ladies in this competition are committed to healthy weight loss, so I don't worry if I see big jumps during BDW BL. Congrats on seeing big results on the scale this week, but don't get discouraged next week when you don't see a loss of water retention in addition to all of your hard work. Very well said, LeAnne!

Quote: Originally Posted by bikegirl Renée, do we still have under Sat noon to send you pics like we did for the beginning photo? I'm out tonight and probably won't be home until after midnight. :/ Yep Lindsay, you have until noon tomorrow. Have fun tonight! And congrats Jenny, that's awesome! I just go by what's on the scale -- I'm sure we will all have our fluctuations by the end of this.

Quote: Originally Posted by nsbride2010 Renee, what is the email you created for us to send our weigh-ins? I have mine [email protected] -- this makes it so much easier to organize all the e-mails from my personal ones. You can still use my other gmail account if you want though