Wedding, wedding, wedding!

It's been awhile since I updated you on the wedding planning, and since we got a few more big things checked off the list, I decided we were in need of a wedding post!

A few weeks ago, my maid of honor, J, and my mom went bridesmaid dress shopping with me.  Because J is the only in-town attendant I have, I figured the easiest thing to do would be to go to David's Bridal, so that my other girls wouldn't have to worry about finding a shop that carried a certain designer and other complicated issues.  Otherwise, I'll tell you - we wouldn't have been at David's.

When we first got there, it was of course packed because it was a Sunday afternoon.  Our mistake.  We were patient though, and contented ourselves to browse the racks of dresses while we waited for our name to be called for a fitting room.  Mom was trying on a few mother of the bride options too, and so Mom, J and I were all walking around, grabbing dresses in different styles and sizes, so we could have a good selection when we finally got a fitting room.

Cue the David's Bridal employee, who came up to the three of us, and said in her little sorority voice, "Um, actually we have a rule that limits you to trying on three dresses per person."  And then she kind of gave us a blank look as we all stood there, holding our eight-or-so dresses apiece.  Now cue Mom's head beginning to slowly rotate on her shoulders and her eyes narrowing to a squint.  "Well, we are here to buy dresses.  I don't know how we're supposed to buy a dress from you people if you won't let us try them on."  The David's sorority sister employee responded with, "Wellll, it just makes it too hard for us to have to put dresses away if people have more than three."  Mom's head is now almost in full-on exorcist rotation and she's getting louder when she says, "Do I need to give you $20 so you can do your job and let us try on some dresses that we're planning to buy from you?"

So me, Ms. Anti-Confrontation-Cower-in-the-Corner, is trying to shush Mom, people are looking, I'm horrified that attempting to try on dresses has somehow turned into what is quickly becoming a duel situation, and the David's bridal sorority sister finally scuttles away, back to the front.  I think the conversation that ensued up there must have been something like, "There's a crazy lady back there who's going to go postal if she doesn't get a fitting room, and probably they're also going to take every dress we have off the racks and throw them in the floor if they're alone for five more minutes."  Whatever it was, our little temper tantrum had been effective, because we got a new, perkier David's representative, and we got not one, but two fitting rooms.

Poor Mom and J must have tried on fifty dresses, some of them in multiple sizes, some of them multiple times just because I wanted to see them again.  Well, finally we settled on a bridesmaid dress.  We took our dress of choice to the front, waited in line at the register for another 20 minutes, and J tried to order her dress, only to be told, "Who told you this dress came in your color?  It doesn't come in your color."

No worries, I thought, we had had a hard time picking between two dresses anyway, and I quickly offered up the back-up dress.  J once again tried ordering our color and her size and told the cashier that she needed to order it in extra length because J is 5'10" and gorgeous and we don't want her looking like she is getting ready for a flood even without her heels on.  Foiled again.  Cashier lady says, "Oh, didn't you see the catalog?  You have to get one with a plus symbol next to it to be able to have extra length, this one doesn't come in extra length."  Indeed, there are only about five long dresses that they carry that come in extra length.  None of which were dresses we had tried on.  Oh. My. Lord.

So it was back to the fitting room, back to pulling dresses, and thank goodness, the first dress with extra length available that she tried on looked lovely.  It came in the correct color, it's (hopefully) going to fit, and I put all of our options in the computer so everyone can find them.  And here they are!

The upside to having all that extra time waiting around on a fitting room meant that we also got to play around in the shoe section.  J spotted these awesome shoes, and even though I was just going to tell people to wear whatever since we have long dresses, these shoes stole my heart.

You know, classy-stripper-fabulous.  And they're similar enough to my shoes that I think they're going to make for some great photo opportunities.  J swears they're super comfortable, and I figured everyone could use a good pair of hot silver sandals to wear out with jeans or a cute dress.  Mandating bridesmaid things still makes me feel like a bridezilla, and J keeps having to talk me down from going all hippie and telling everyone to wear whatever and just show up.  I love what we picked though, and I can't wait to see how gorgeous everyone's going to look!

Goodbye February, Hello March!

At the end of the month, Nora over at Walking with Nora always posts a list of things she doesn't want to forget about that month. February was a pretty darn good month for me. I'm happy for spring, but I hope the next few months go as well as February has!

Sitting in Three Monkeys with J, talking about everything you could imagine for hours, on a Sunday night, just because. * Sitting in front of a fireplace in the mountains with a glass of wine and a bowl of hot vegetable soup. * Being out at Longhorn with PB on our first real dinner date in months, ordering a giant Texas Tonion and eating the whole thing ourselves just because we could. * Spending a whole afternoon listening to Pandora, folding laundry and spring cleaning with every window in the house flung wide open and all of the fans on, relishing 80 degrees in February. * Walking 5 and a quarter miles with Mom and Peggy Sue, and feeling wonderfully drained afterward. * Being a greeter at church, meeting so many sweet people from our church that I haven't gotten a chance to speak to yet. * Going shopping for bridesmaid dresses with J and Mom, and finding some awesome shoes for both me AND my girls. * Taking Peggy Sue to the lake for the first time, and letting her run around and explore while I sat in the sunshine. * Cooking out with my family, enjoying the screened porch while we waited on chicken and vegetables to grill. *

* Feeling more secure, more hopeful about the future, and hearing more good news than I've heard in a long time. *

Vote please!

Dear Jesus, I have been in class since 9:30 this morning.  And this junk doesn't end until 4:00.  I may go crazy.  I have officially caught up on my Google reader (which, mind you, has been sorely neglected and had over 500 unread items.)  I bought a little trinket for PB for Valentine's Day (tell you about that post-V-Day), I read on Kindle for PC, I shoe browsed, I stared at the wall.  It's just one of those classes where she's not really saying anything.  She's a sweet lady, but she's not saying anything of real substance.  So that's where I am right now.

I have no real weekend plans, besides going to Amici's Pizza to hear a band tonight.  And probably also eat a large pizza by myself and drink 29 beers.  Don't judge me.  I still have not solved this computer dilemma I told you about the other day.  The plan right now is to ignore it and pretend that will fix it.  I solve lots of problems that way.  Good plan, huh?

Time for some wedding drivel - you realize by now that this a hodgepodge post by now, right?

About the only thing I really have to left to decide about is invitations.  Well, and programs, but those will probably come post-invitations and maybe match?  Probably?  My first whine moment is - WHY ARE THE DARN THINGS SO EXPENSIVE?  Everything I like is seriously $3.75 a set.  Or at the very least, $2.00.  When you need 175 invitations, that turns into a lot of money.  And I just can't see myself spending that kind of money on paper!  Paper!

Anywho, I've been cruising Etsy, Magnet Street Weddings, Wedding Paper Divas, and emailing local companies to see if they can replicate what I like (answer: they can, but it really won't save me any money.)  So here's what I've been loving:

Ok, so there's option numero uno.  Obviously the names, wording, etc. would be changed - but there's the general idea!

There's numero dos.  Obvs not with the yellow - the color would be closer to option numero uno.  I like that it's a little fancier, but it's also more expensive, so I'd have to look into getting someone local to produce it and see if I could get them down on price.

Here's option numero tres.  The only reservation about this one is that the color is a little different and might be too light.  I *think* Wedding Paper Divas will customize it for me though.

Though I feel like this one is too much teal - I'd probably change the text color to black.  So there you have it - what I've been looking at!  

The other problem with wedding invitations is that there are just too too many to pick from.  Give me your votes!  Thoughts?  Hate them all? Let me know!

CAKE!

It's been awhile since I've subjected y'all to a wedding nonsense post, so today is your lucky day! Things are coming together more and more, and every time we book something else, I do a little happy dance and get more excited.  The more I plan, the more real it seems, and I never thought I'd be so excited about wedding stuff.  


We've almost picked the whole wedding party, with the exception of maybe one more groomsman and bridesmaid (we're still undecided, a little bit, and don't want to make any rash decisions.)  Over my birthday weekend, I asked our family friend Jenna to man the programs, which I'm so excited about, because I love Jenna.  And here's why:

I'll never forget this night at the lake when we were sitting around the patio table with a citronella lamp burning and putting black soot all over the table.  PB stuck his finger in it, smeared it on his face, and then did it to Jenna and she kept asking for more and more.  She is the ultimate tomboy, which is part of what makes her so hilarious and awesome, and her grandmother said, "Ohhhh she'll have to wear a dress," when I asked her to hand out programs.  To which I replied that she definitely did not have to wear a dress! She's the one person who could wear camo hunting coveralls to the wedding and I wouldn't care.


We picked our cake the other day too!  We went to two tastings, and after the first one, I was just sad.  The lady was so sweet, just the nicest person you've ever met, and I wanted to like her cake so much.  We tasted three kinds of cake - strawberry, key lime, and hummingbird.  But they were just dry and didn't even taste like anything.  Terrible, sad cake.  I have been to too many weddings where you just push the cake around on your plate because it is seriously a punishment, and I swore I would not have such at my wedding.


But after the second tasting, hope was restored.  Our cake is coming from Icing on the Edge, because we saw the proprietor at a wedding show the other weekend and she had CAKE TRUFFLES, which can only be described as MAGIC.  She gave Mom and I two each and two to take home to PB...well, PB never did see those cake truffles....whoops. But Sharon is just amazing.  She's been decorating cakes since 1980 and now she teaches Wilton classes.   She has a million Wilton and Martha Stewart books and she went through all of them with us and custom designed our cake.  Not to mention I wanted to kiss her when I tasted her strawberry cake with whipped cream filling.

Here's one of her cakes that I sort of based our design on.  Mainly though, we're just using the icing patterns from that cake. The whole thing will be round, with those icing patterns on each layer (we're having four layers total).  It's going to be white on white, like this one - but with GLITTER.  All over.  And no fondant bow on top - we're putting raspberry pink roses and perhaps a cake topper nested in there somewhere, probably a monogram one.  


And now for my favorite part - the flavors!  The big bottom layer and the top layer that we'll cut will be strawberry.  The two middle layers will be one key lime and one lemon.  I'm hungry just thinking about it.


So anywho, that's where we are on wedding planning.  Next up comes invitations and programs, and a final decision on what the bridal party is wearing.  Getting close to just eight months now!

Yay Saturday!

Whew, today has been crazy.  Started out bright and early with a trip to try on my dress and get it altered!  Thank the dear sweet lord that my dress doesn't need a thing except about 6 inches cut off the bottom - otherwise, it fits like a glove.  So in the interest of getting things checked off the list sooner rather than during bar studying, I made an appointment to meet the alterations lady today.

It was so good to be back in my dress, since I haven't put it on since we bought it in September.  I sometimes dream that I go to put it on and I have grown to such a giantess size that my leg won't even fit in it, but thankfully those dreams did not become reality and it looks just as good as it ever did.  So that was step one.  You might remember my shoe indecision from a few months ago.  Well, upon the advice of my friend J who had just gotten married in uncomfortable shoes, and lots of other people who are practical, I decided I really needed those darn expensive flip flops.  And my sweet mom got them for me for Christmas.

But hey, the way I figure it, the hot pink heels I bought were $116.  I'm not the type to go prancing around in hot pink 4 inch peep toes on a random Tuesday.  These sandals?  I see me wearing them to dinner with a sundress every night on my honeymoon, wearing them with jeans when we get home and just generally getting 100 times more use out of them than those pink torture devices.

Anywho, that brings my story full circle - I had never tried the dress on with the shoes.  And much to my surprise, the alterations lady scoffed at me!  First, you should understand that I was not dealing with Stacy from What Not to Wear.  This lady could have been Jim Bob Duggar's more conservative grandmother.  Gray hair in a bun, long denim skirt, granny glasses.  And this frumpmuffin has the nerve to say, "Well it's just really hard to walk elegantly in flats."  And sigh about the hem and say things such as, "Well if you're really stuck on those shoes, I guess..." and "You know not all high heels are 4 inches tall, you could at least wear something lower."

Maybe she doesn't understand.  See, I dance the same at a wedding reception as I do when I am at home in my underpants with the blinds closed and Michael Jackson on the iPod.  I do not foxtrot.  I shake it.  And at my own wedding reception, I expect to do just that.  I will probably be homicidal if my feet hurt.  So the alterations nazi can bite me.  I swear I didn't have a Bridezilla moment - can you believe it?  I was quite proud of myself that I was so nice.  Do not force me into heels, woman!  I am not that girl!

But if Alterations Nazi did not please me this morning, let me tell you what did - Trader Joe's!  I know, all of you fancypants people have had TJ's for 100 years and its magic is probably no longer magic.  But for me?  Amazing.  TJ's involves a 20-30 minute drive from home, but boy is it worth it.  I've now had two TJ's trips in the last 2 weeks, and my cabinets are starting to be full of TJ's goodness.

My most favorite items that you must not miss if you are a Trader Joe's shopper:

1) Tomato Basil Bisque.
Just ate a container of this - it was amazing.  Chunks of tomato, a ton of basil, and basically perfection.

2)  All Natural Tea Tree Facial Cleansing Wipes.
Here's a word to the wise - be RULL CAREFUL not to get this stuff in your eyes when you use it.  The packaging and the naming and the all natural ingredient list would lead one to believe that the substance soaking the face pads is akin to the teardrops of fairies.  However, it is really about 50 times more potent than alcohol and you will feel that you are blinded.  I know, because I have felt such.  But the odd thing was that after I used it, my skin was clean and makeup-free but not dry!  Amazing! And perfect for the lazy girl like me who hates face-washing.

3)  Spicy Chai Latte Mix
Okay so the one drawback to this is that it's 170 calories per cup.  But it's so delicious, it's worth it for a splurge.

4)  Frozen Guiltless Indian Meals
They have several different ones in the frozen foods section, and they are all right around 300 calories.  Some are less!  And with no good place to get Indian food around here without slaving in the kitchen and making my house smell like curry, I'm very excited about having some healthy chicken tikka masala to pop in the microwave for lunches.

5)  A Fig Walked Into a Bar
These are like Fig Newtons on 'roids, yo.  The outside part is so cakey and delicious, there's more fig filling than in the Newtons, and they are only 120 glorious calories.  They also come in about five different flavor varieties if figs freak you out (in which case we can't be friends).

Mom says TJ's is like what Aldi would be if Jimmy Buffett ran it.  A statement that I would definitely agree with, except for the fact that everything is so cheap at TJ's.  No $500 Margaritaville blenders to be found!

Parties, Cookies, Puppies, Wahoo!

We've had Peggy Sue for a week now, and I kind of feel like I've had a newborn for a week. I knew puppies were a lot of work, but whew! She's either eating something off the floor, she's gotta pee, or she's nomming my commercial law book. We've had so much fun though - as you can see, PB is acting as if he personally has just birthed the puppy:

It's hilarious, he picks her up and talks to her in the PB Puppy Voice, which I would love to surreptitiously record one day, as it is awesome.

The one thing I have never liked about dogs: if they are not pristinely clean, they have a tendency to smell like seashells. But that's easily remedied with Peggy Sue. We gave her a bath in our big kitchen sink the first time, but I figured out yesterday that the easiest thing to do is just throw her in the shower with you and wash her. She chills on the bath mat while you shower anyway, and she doesn't mind the water, so you just grab her, soap her up (I highly recommend the Martha Stewart Pets peppermint shampoo), and rinse her off. She laid down on the towel after that, and I wrapped her up like that, where she stayed for about 15 minutes until she was dry. So cute.

So there's the whole crew, chilling on the loveseat last night. (Back row, Twyla on the left, Tallulah on the right. Obvs Peggy Sue in front.)

At this point, you're thinking that I have become a total crazypants who does not ever have any human interaction and stays home with the dog at all times. You would be right that I am a total crazypants who is with the dog all the time, but the difference is, I've just made her a road dog.

We had an engagement party on Saturday night, which was so much fun! It was just a little redneck get-together in my parents' finished basement - pool-playing, foosball-playing, beer-drinking, low-level gambling. Mom knitted Peggy Sue a party dress so she looked all fancy:

Like I said, it was a redneck party. Note the sketch behind me in the following picture, including a motorcycle and an Indian headdress. Also, I'm pretty sure the words coming out of my mouth at this point would be something like "Hold the puppy so mama can gamble." We played Left/Right/Center, which requires absolutely zero skill, just a little luck, an ability to roll dice, and three one dollar bills. Basically, everyone starts out with three dollars and you roll three dice. If you roll a dot, you keep that dollar. Roll a left or right, and you pass it in that direction. Roll a center and it goes to the pot in the middle. The goal is to be the last person with a dollar in play. And if you are, you win the whole pot! I know it sounds like a caveman game, but it is so much fun, especially at a party after you've had a few. I highly recommend it for your next high-class soiree.

This photo is pretty much a good example of how PB looks most of the time post-puppy:

The party was lots of fun though! I got pasta from a local pizza/pasta place, and it was so delicious. Pretty sure that we had enough for about 900 people to eat for 4 days, because we had baked ziti, baked spaghetti, angel hair with pink sauce (my personal favorite), fettucine alfredo, tons of salad and delicious garlic bread. By the end of the night, we were all just walking around gnawing on big hunks of garlic bread and holding a beer in the other hand. Classy times!

We also got an engagement cake from The Sweet Life, which is where our wedding cake will come from! We got a pumpkin spice cake, which was delicious - my number one priority as it relates to any cake. I really don't care if it looks like something from Ace of Cakes - I just want it to be nomtastic. It got me really excited for cake tasting this weekend! Other flavors in the running, to be decided post-tasting, are Sun Drop pound cake (recipe here - if you live anywhere that you can find Sun Drop soda, it's worth making for Christmas; sort of like a less intense lemon pound cake without that terrible Pine-Sol taste some lemon pound cakes can have), strawberry cake, and hummingbird cake (recipe here - another of my favorites).

Here's how it turned out!

One other thing - last night I went to a cookie exchange. You should host one of these asap because it is the most fantastic thing I've ever heard of. Here's the idea: each person makes 24 cookies, and then you show up with your tupperware. There were other snacks and drinks and socializing during the party, but the main point of the cookies is delicious takeout for later. You pack yourself a whole container of various cookies, and then you have lots of delicious treats at home. I am a fan of any concept that allows me to have fatty snacks in the cabinets.

I made two recipes of cookies to take, and I figured I'd give you my best one. These turned out to be MOST amazing, and they are so easy. As a general rule, I am very against cookie making because they are a big pain in the butt, and the results usually don't reflect what a giant pain in the butt they were. Thus, you will never again find me melting butter, rolling out dough, or doing any of those other not-worth-it tasks.

Here's what I most certainly do advocate for your next batch of cookies. Go to the store, buy yourself a tube of the Pilsbury dough that those nice people do such a good job with, and doctor that junk up.

Here's how - with this recipe from Pilsbury:

Cinnamon-Toffee Pecan Cookies

Ingredients:

1 16.5 oz tube of sugar cookie dough

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used allspice because I was out of nutmeg, and that turned out fine)

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup toffee bits (I used butterscotch chips because I couldn't find "toffee bits," whatever those are - delicious!)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. This goes much easier if you leave it out of the fridge for 20 minutes or so. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla until well blended. Drop on cookie sheet by heaping teaspoonfuls, three inches apart. I use a small ice cream scooper for this - makes it easier.

2. Bake 11-14 minutes, until edges are golden brown. I despise crunchy cookies, so I stick closer to the 11-12 minutes side.

And TA-DA! Delicious, real easy cookies, that taste like you slaved over them.

Now it's back to studying - one more final, a short little paper, and then it is officially Christmas break! The mere thought of that makes me want to cut cartwheels.

allowing myself to inundate you with some wedding squee!

I have been specifically trying to keep y'all clear of the nausea-inducing wedding posts that I could be doing. You like how I do that by just not posting? I know, I know. It's genius.

Well today, children, will be an exception. Today is going to be a list of Meredith's Favorite Wedding Things. Things that just make you go "SQUEEE!"

First, you should know that I have picked the all-important Colors of the Wedding. Teal and raspberry. And YES, I am obnoxiously referring to it as raspberry.

The color of those roses? LOVE. Combined with something like this:

Not so much a fan of the chocolate brown here, but I love the teal. See, I'm in this quandary because we're getting married September 10. Yes, 9/10/11. So to me, September 10th feels like summer is on the way out, and fall is on the way in, even if it will be 900 degrees the day we get married.

But I hate, hate, HATE the harvest hoedown wedding theme. No mini pumpkins, no burgundy dresses, and for the love of Jesus, no sunflowers. No sunflowers anywhere. Those do not belong in one's wedding. Unless perhaps one's wedding is at a quaint, picturesque barn. Maybe the one on Martha Stewart's property. And Martha Herself would have to arrange the flowers in a way that didn't scream "These won first prize in the 4-H contest at the county fair!"

So I wanted to do something other than super bright summery colors or springy pastel colors. But NO SUNFLOWERS. And no harvest hoedown. Hence, the teal/raspberry theme. Lots of satin, lots of jewel tones, and pink shoes. At least for me.

I have yet to find a pair of high heeled pink shoes that don't make me want to punch a baby within five minutes of putting them on though. Those poor folks at Zappo's have sent me not one, not two, but three pairs now. I keep putting them on and wearing them around the house and subsequently thinking about all the different ways I could and would probably commit a homicide whilst wearing them. So the poor folks at Zappo's are probably going to be getting all three pairs of those back.

DSW has sent me a pair of hot pink flip flops. They have not yet arrived, but I'm expecting them to look like this:

I'm hoping that they are a) actually cute, b) comfortable, and c) not going to make it overly obvious that I am an oompa loompa and PB is a wildebeest.

Fingers crossed.