Contest Shout-Out

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to Backyard Bride, who recently announced on her blog that I won her ULTA gift card giveaway! As you may be aware, the past couple of weeks have been pretty crappy for me, as I was dealing with some health issues, among other things.  Hopefully some retail therapy will help :)

 

source

In all seriousness, though, I realized that with the stress of work, school, and everything else I have had on my plate that I was not properly taking care of myself, and as a result, my health suffered.  I am an optimist, so I do believe that the positive that has come out of this experience and some other recent personal events is that I have taken the time to reexamine my priorities, and will make sure I am mindful of working towards all of my personal goals, so that I can become the best version of me!

So I just wanted to remind brides out there who are still amidst the stress of wedding planning to remember your priorities, and take care of yourself! Because a healthy bride is a beautiful bride!

All About You!

Hello to all of my lovely blog readers!

When I first started blogging, my hubby installed some sort of gizmo that tracks all sorts of cool stats about my blog, including how many readers I have per day, week, and month.  I totally forgot about it until recently. When I went to check it out, I was shocked by how many page impressions I get!

That led me to wonder . . . Who are all of my readers? I know I have some faithful followers and commenters (props to you guys), but I had no idea I get so many other anonymous readers.

So instead of writing about myself for a change, I've decided that I want to learn all about you! And being the dedicated graduate student/researcher that I am, I created a reader poll to find out who you guys are!

You can click the above link to take my short survey. There is also a new tab on my blog that contains the survey, called Tell Me About Yourself. 

I promise it's short and I'd love to learn more about everyone! Any link sharing, retweets, facebook status updates, etc. would be much appreciated!

A New Marriage, A New Blog!

Exciting news to share ladies and gents!

As I mentioned in a previous post, after my wedding I was debating about what to do with this blog, given that I was no longer a bride-to-be. Ultimately, I decided that I want to keep this blog to share with my audience my wedding day recaps, DIY projects, and general wedding fabulousness. However, I also want to share my perspective on life as a newlywed wife, so I decided to create a new blog. 

I'm excited and thrilled to share that I have my new blog up and running, with my first post officially published! It's called The Lovely Nester, and you can follow the link to start reading about all of my new adventures as Mrs. Cape Cod Bride. 


I also have a sneak peak of my next post on my new blog to share with you. It is about a controversial book on marriage by Lori Gottleib, the author of Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr Good Enough. In the book, Gottleib argues that wise women stop chasing the unattainable "bad boy" or the perfect Mr. Big ala SATC, and settle down with the "good guy."  This got me thinking about my own choice in a partner, and made me ponder love, passion, and compatibility.  

What do you think ladies? Do you believe there is a perfect soul mate out there waiting for you? Or did you choose the dependable guy who is good enough, but don't feel as though the passion is there? Can there be a happy medium, in that you marry your best friend who you also lust for, or is that happy ending only found in trite Hollywood romance flicks?

Top Ten Blogger Brides Posts of 2009

I was recently perusing Get Married and came across an article reviewing the top ten Blogger Bride posts of the year. As you may or may not be aware, I am a Featured Blogger Bride on their blog. After viewing the article, I was shocked and thrilled to see that one of my posts came in 5th! See the complete list of top ten Blogger Bride posts here.

The Blogger Bride post of mine that was listed in the top ten was called This Is YOUR Wedding: Do Things Your Way, and it received such a great response that it inspired a series I started called Going Against the Grain. This was the first post in the series in which I wrote to remind brides that their wedding is a special celebration of the union between them and their future husband, and it's important to remember to do what makes you and your groom happy when planning your wedding. I found that when families get involved and begin to share (or in some cases, demand) their opinions and ideas be included in your wedding, that it can be really easy to succumb to the pressure and lose sight of the vision that you and your groom had for your wedding. So this post served as a reminder for myself, and hopefully other brides out there, to remain true to yourselves and do things your way, even if they include some unconventional ideas!

And finally, congrats to all the ladies who made the top ten this year! I'm looking forward to more great posts from them and everyone else in the New Year!

I'm on Weddzilla!

I have some very exciting news to share with you. I have been chosen to become a Featured Bride Blogger at the Weddzilla blog! You can check out my introductory post here.

This is also big for me because at Weddzilla we are introduced and go by our first name.  In case you haven't noticed, I've never shared my real name on this blog or my Twitter, nor posted any personal photos of myself (other than my hair).  That is not an accident.  The reason is that in my profession, I work hard to maintain my privacy, and I have been very hesitant to reveal too much about myself.

So here's the big reveal: my first name is Morgan. Weddzilla also required that I share a picture of myself, so I chose one that gives you some idea of what I look like, but hides most of my face.  It is a picture that Cape Cod Groom took when we were on the Cape a couple of weeks ago.

Overall, I still haven't decided what to do about revealing more of myself on this blog. We're getting our engagement photos taken in 2 weeks, and I'd love to share those and post pictures of our wedding as well, as I know people would enjoy seeing them.  On the other hand, I'm not sure if I'm ready or willing to "come out of the closet" yet, so to speak :-)

This led me to wonder if anyone else out there has had any hesitation about revealing yourself on your blog or website, for either personal or professional reasons? If so, how did you deal with this struggle and what did you ultimately decide, and why?