STARTING TO STRESS OUT!

My sincere apologies for the MIA status for over two months. I always thought that a year was plenty of time to work, plan a wedding, travel the world, and hit all the twelve items on my 2012 bucket list. Now it's only three months away and my To-Do list gets longer and longer, with fewer items being crossed off!

In the midst of the craziness in my head, my surroundings also seem to be experience mass chaos. My top floor office space shook hard and swayed in DC's strongest earthquake (5.9) since WWII this week. We ran down the twelve flights of stairs to streets full of people, transit halts, and congestion everywhere. Now the east coast is bracing for Hurricane Irene this weekend. After some grocery runs last night (and having to visit three stores to find bottled water), I am ready to ride out the craziness of the week on my warm couch. Hopefully, being able to catch up on all the other things on my To-Do list. Isn't it just funny when it seems like the whole world is just revolving around your own emotions? Lol.

#6 Learn Pole Dancing -- CHECK!

I couldn’t lift my poor body out of bed. I had black and blue bruises all over my knees, thighs, and arms.  Mr. Suit shook his head in that “I-told-you-not-to-do-that” way. But I couldn’t wait to go back. I confirmed my next pole-dancing lesson from my iPhone under the covers.

I usually got two distinct responses when I started telling friends, family, and coworkers what my new Saturday morning activity has been. Not surprisingly, the responses were very gender specific. The male population usually got uncomfortable, start shifting their weight where they stood, and avoided eye contact. The ladies, however, nodded in agreement that it was the new “hot” workout that had joined the ranks of early morning gym activities for the professional woman along with pilates, Zumba, and belly-dancing. 

Pretty Lady Pole Studios

Thanks to Groupon (thumbs up again!), I had located a nearby studio named Pretty Lady Pole Fitness. I walked in and before me were 15 poles and the ladies had already started the warm ups with some Beyonce pumping in the background. The class had a mix of ladies—law students, corporate climbers, new mommies… quite a surprise at the diversity. I flew through two classes right away—Beginning Pole I (some of the basic “tricks”)  and Pole Transitions (this is all the turning, posing, and holding on to the pole in-between “tricks.” I triumphantly go home having learned the Fireman, Martini, and Ballerina. J

So from a good experience, I was totally gung-ho for the next week's class. So after Beginning Pole I and a nice sweat, I decided to stay for the Advanced Pole II course. I did gymnastics and dance when I was a kid, so how difficult could it be?!

WRONG. My eyes went wide when I saw several of the girls arrive with some shiny 6-inch platform heels and start strapping them on. Shirts flew off to reveal sports bras and some booty bicycle shorts. Then I saw them pull out the baby powder and rubbing it on their thighs. HUH?! I watched dumbfounded as they jumped on the pole about three feet in the air, getting a "grip" with their thighs, and letting their arms fall loosely to their sides, with just their thighs and powder holding them in the air. Mind you, I stood there with a tank top and my yoga pants. I was debating going back to my car to see if I had some high heels (in a crude attempt to fit in), but they told me that I needed special "pole" heels that didn't scrape the floor. 

Now the real lessons begin. 

1) There is a HUGE difference in Pole I and Pole II, which they don't explain in the class description.  The end of Pole I class was twirling around the pole. The beginning of Pole II was hanging with your booty in the air in the hopes that your thigh muscles are strong enough to keep you from sliding continuously to the floor. At least that was what my experience was. :P

2) Skin is good. My biggest problem was staying on the pole. The more skin you have, the better the grip. I had to hike up my yoga pants as high as they would go so that I had some grip on the pole. Windex and baby powder are key. Windex keeps the pole clean and baby powder soaks up any sweat on your body so that you have a better grip-per-inch of skin (GPIS) ratio.

3) With enough practice, the nerves on your hands, thighs, and arms will slowly get worn down so that it doesn't hurt so much. At least this is what I have been told.

4) Respect the pole. Girls that can pole dance are insanely strong and talented. After my continual failures at staying more than 6 inches above the ground (and by the way, the end of the class had ladies climbing up 5 feet and higher!), I have wisely decided to return back to Beginners Pole I.

I definitely will return since it's been weeks and my bruises have since healed. But in the mean time, maybe bust out the pole tricks for my bachelorette party? :)

#8 Fly a Plane -- CHECK!

The most beautiful dream that has haunted the heart of man since Icarus is today reality.

— Louis Bleriot

My dream of flying turned into reality when the Groupon for flying lessons flashed in my inbox. "WhooHooO!!" I love how the world of Groupon falls in line with my 12 Before 2012 plans. The same week, I also got Groupons for pole dancing and scuba diving (those adventures to be detailed in another blog entry). I was ecstatic. Yes! The bargain coupon gods have deemed me worthy of their favor. And what better day to risk my life (and the lives of my instructor and my fiance) than on the day of my birth. Also, what a great day to make skeptical Mr. Suit do what I want without argument since I could drop the line, "But it's my biiiirrrrrtttthhhday!!!" :)

So on a cloudy Sunday, June 12, 2011, Mr. Suit hesitantly creeps the car into the private charter plane parking lot of Open Air Flight Training in Gaithersburg, MD. We both see the dark clouds looming over the air strip. He gives me a wary look, yet I defiantly make my claim, "I am going to fly today! I'm not going to cancel!"

My flying instructor was great and was totally on the same wavelength as me. "Ok, we better get in the air before the storm comes our way." YEESSS!! We were going to fly! We quickly got over to the plane and did the initial pre-flight check...

 my plane!

cool. leather seats. so fancy. :)

 hmm... ok, does look like a bit of a storm... 

... and then the raindrops started to fall. DARN!! :P

We jump back into the golf cart that races us back to the office. "WHHHAAAA!!!!!" :( The rain began to pelt on us and I'm frowning the entire 500 yards back to the dryness of the indoors. Man, I knew I should have sang some sort of sun song -- "Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun... please shine down on me!" Our pilot did some checking on the flashing weather screens before him and said, "Looks like it'll pass right by us. Give it about 15 minutes." Mr. Suit's brows furrowed in doubt and I tilted my head in disbelief. No way. The rain sounded like hail out there! Yet lo and behold, fifteen minutes later while I was checking my schedule for the next available day I could make it out, the sun peeked out and teased us to come out and play. I will never doubt Joe the pilot again. Smiley face came back on, we hopped out the door, and I jumped into the plane. YEHAY!

Joe quickly told me what the buttons meant and then told me I just needed to pull back on the yoke (plane steering wheel). Huh?! No simulation, no test drive? Or fly? I'm going to take off RIGHT NOW?! So we were charging down the runway and I pulled back, and then there we were... FLYING!!  

WHOA! OFF THE GROUND! 

Never stop being a kid. Never stop feeling and seeing and being excited with great things like air and engines and sounds of sunlight within you. Wear your little mask if you must to protect you from the world but if you let that kid disappear you are grown up and you are dead.

— Richard Bach, 'Nothing by Chance,' 1963.

Yeah, baby! I'm flying!

Joe explains to me how flying is pretty easy now with all the advancements in technology. I got to fly a N1740C C172SP- Nav III G1000- 2007 plane (which is practically equivalent to a car coming right off the lot in plane years!). It was sort of like playing a video game for a bit as we ascended since I couldn't see over the dashboard. :P But then when we aligned ourselves with the horizon, I could look over the top and the sides and actually see that we were a couple thousand feet in the air. COOL! The little headset things were pretty fun too. :)

We stayed in the air for about 30-40 minutes and then I got to land the plane back on the ground. Definitely a great experience and I'm proud that I finally got to check it off my list!

Ironically, Mr. Suit, the one that DIDN'T fly the plane, wants to get the flying lessons and a pilot license. He got the paperwork and everything. I, on the other hand, would rather sit in the passenger seat and relax while looking out the window. I am definitely looking forward to our next flight! :)

More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.

— Wilbur Wright

#7- Take Engagement Pictures in Europe -- Some Teasers

Mr. Suit and I felt butterflies when we got the links to some of our engagement teaser pictures from Europe. :) Here are a couple glimpses as we start going through the 4,000+ pictures taken by BDFotos. 

Venice

Barcelona

Lastly, big thanks to my friends who have been so supportive and happy for us along the way. I've definitely done my share of venting about wedding planning and finishing my 12 things before the end of the year, so it's really rewarding to check things off slowly. I'm always surprised to hear that people actually read this blog! I mostly did it to track my progress and hold myself accountable at the end of the year, but now it's become a nice artifact to look back on after the twelve months since I started it.

#7- Take Engagement Pictures in Europe -- BIG CHECK!!

"Take Engagement Pictures in Europe." Sounds enchanting, doesn't it? The idea sounds great, but the logistics and reality of trying to get to Europe during a tornado storm in DC, the insane schedule we had doing 12-14 hour pictorials, and the stress of closing the trip with a 3 hour shoot in Paris, is just a wee-bit different than how it originally is thought out in your head. Let's just say that 5 days later, we were sleep-deprived, ecstatic, feet hurting, stuffed with pasta and tapas, multiple wardrobe changes, jet-lagged, and running on adrenaline... However, we have over 6,000 pictures to go through and a trove of crazy and memorable stories.

Our Itinerary 
Day 1: Saturday- Supposed to leave DC at 6:30pm. Tornadoes and thunder storms cancelled all flights across the east coast. At the airport for an additional 3 hours trying to rebook to get to Venice somehow. Finally got a flight... but out of Newark, New Jersey the next day. :P Lose a day in Venice.

Day 2: Sunday- Took an 8am bus from Virginia to New York City. Got in a 1pm, grabbed some Shake Shack (yuummm!) and had a friend drop us at the Newark airport (thanks Joseph!). Flight to Rome at 4:30pm.

Day 3: Monday- Arrived in Rome at 7am. Transfer flight to Venice and arrived at 9am. Took a water taxi through the Grand Canal (our photographer broke a sweat trying to get good pictures under the Rialto bridge) and checked in. Walked all throughout Venice and took pictures until midnight. St. Mark's Square, Rialto Bridge, several campos, L'Accademia, and Sta. Maria de la Salute, etc.

Day 4: Tuesday- Woke up at 4:30am to get to St. Mark's Square for sunrise pictures. St. Mark's and Doge's Palace. Checked out and headed to airport. Flight to Barcelona at 3:30pm. Arrived in Barcelona at 6:30pm. Pictures at Barri Gotic and Sagrada Familia until midnight.

Day 5: Wednesday- Up at 8am to get to Parc Guell until 1pm. Lunch, nap. Sagrada Familia, tapas, Block of Discord (rushed pictures on rooftop of La Pedrera for 20 minutes since everything was closing early because of the Real Madrid- Barcelona futbol game), Plaza Catalunya. Back to the hotel by midnight.

Day 6: Thursday- Up at 3am for our 6am flight to Paris. Arrive in city center by 10am. Notre Dame, pictures along the Siene, Eiffel Tower, Trocadero, and macaroons (YUUUUMMM!!) before hopping back onto the train to the airport at 1pm for our 4:30pm flight. Arrive back in DC at 7pm.

So at the surface this seems all wonderful and dandy. But don't even think this whole trip was a perfect dream and a walk in the park! Mind you, interspersed between those VERY long walks around Europe were numerous challenges, grievances, and near-calling-off-the-engagement-arguments. We definitely were close to not making it back in one piece. :P So in an attempt to help you learn from our trip, here are some tips to surviving your own Dream/Nightmare Pictorials:

• DO take into consideration how much time you have in each city and pick all your shot locations well beforehand to make things more efficient. We only went to our favorite cities that we knew well and already had taken pictures of. We were able to show the pictures to our photographer and tell him what we wanted out of the shots. 
• DON'T try to do everything and go everywhere in each city. Destination photography already has the stress of having to handle the element of newness, but you are also fighting jet-lag, fatigue, and weather elements. Pick a few favorite locations that have what you want to emphasize in the pictures (i.e., specific landmarks).
• DO take the time to research and come up with a very organized schedule and plan for each day. Take into consideration time/places to eat, wardrobe changes, and naps (if necessary) so that you will look bright and fresh. Use Google direction maps to print out the route to get from Point A to Point B. As much as I hated Mr. Suit's OCD schedule, his mound of papers of printed out maps/timetables/visitors guides, and his constant time-checks, all these things really helped us get everything done. 
• DON'T pack every possible combination of clothing/shoes/jackets/accessories for the photo shoots. Euro traveling on trains/small planes is much harder when it comes to having to lug around all your bags and equipment, versus having a car drive you everywhere. Plan what outfits you'll wear, have them be ok for any type of weather, and make sure that you and the fiance agree with the look beforehand. 
• DO make sure that you make time for the little non-picture taking things that you want to do (i.e., get macaroons by the Eiffel Tower). In the rush of it all, it gets so overwhelming that you forget you are essentially on vacation with the person you love. Remember to take some breaks and do/see things that you want. Even though you may feel bad for wasting precious picture-taking time, it's hard to get that time back.
• DON'T let the boys roam the streets of Barcelona by themselves before a 6am flight to Paris. Just trust me on this one. :P

Don't want to show any spoilers yet (sorry!) but this was the boys (Mr. Suit on the left and our photographer, BDFotos on the right) completely exhausted at 4:30am, on our last day in Europe, waiting for our 6am flight from Barcelona to Paris:

Craziest. Trip. Ever. Our engagement shots coming up soon... :)