Shower of Dresses- Part 2!

After realizing that I have at least 7 dress appropriate occasions this summer, I decided I needed to go on a hunt for MORE dresses! :o)

This summer's "dress" occasions-
1. SATC Party
2. School shower
3. Beach vacation!
4. Pampered chef shower
5. Shower thrown by aunt/grandma/cousin
6. Bachelorette Party
7. Bridal Luncheon
8. Rehearsal dinner
9. Day after Brunch (but prob will go casual that day!)
10. Honeymoon!!
11. Plus even more parties!!

So, you see, I probably NEEDED to buy 7 dresses this week- add those to the few I have in my closet, and I'm covered!! Yeah, right? You know I'll still be shopping!

After hitting up several stores with no luck, I hit the big time at Ross! I'm betting that other stores like it- T.J. Maxx, Marshall's, etc have good stuff right now too.  I heard on the news the other day that a LOT of stores are already discounting/clearancing their summer stuff, because people just aren't paying full price any more with prices of everything else going up! Well, there's one good thing about the price of gas!!

I spent right at $100 on 4 dresses, a Roxy purse, and two bamboo pieces for the kitchen (Ross has some of the cutest/cheap kitchen stuff!).

So here are my 4 new dresses...up for criticism, compliments, etc! I'm down to two for tonight and probably still the same for Sunday's shower!

This one is a tad bit big, but I think if I make new button holes on the straps, it'll fit better! Super cute though! I always have a problem with straps being too long on tanks and dresses because I have a short torso!

 

This one is really fun and silky, with a tulle lining underneath- the spots are champagne and off-white and it ties behind the neck. You can see from the pic that the seam of the tulle is partly coming off! Whoops! :o) But I got them to give me an extra 30% off because of that, so the dress was about $10! I figure I can just fix it or rip it off the rest of the way-either way, it will still be cute! I might consider wearing it tonight, but don't think I'll get it fixed in time!

This one is also super cute and fun! The straps do bug me a bit- I have to majorly tighten them, but it's got some of my fave colors- and more tulle! :o)

And lastly, my absolute FAVE! This one is a big contender for tonight! All I have to do is figure out a way to make it a little less boobie-licious! Some of us are just too blessed in that department! But it is soft, flirty, totally cute- and best of all, I can wear a real bra with it!! :o) It's a little hard to see the details, but there's lots of little yellow/white flower details.

It's down to either this one or #2 from yesterday's blog for tonight's party....as of right now I'm sticking with #1 from yesterday's for the shower

I'm sooooo excited about all of these occasions and the fun stuff I now have to wear!! AND I did it without breaking the back! I've probably spent around $125 for SEVEN dresses! That's crazy cheap! :o) I need to be on that show- The Look for Less! :o)

I'm also soooooo excited that while I've been writing, I've also been on the phone with Dell-finally got my computer to connect and STAY on the internet at my fiance's house, and I'm back up and running!! Yippppeeeee!! I am so close to getting all my final school work done now (have to prepare all my years of files for the next teacher since I'm not returning!!)

I finally got a Dell customer service guy who knows what he's doing!! Monti is my new BFF because he just did wonders with my computer. And he was nice, and I understood him!!! I love that you can go online and connect with them and they can see your computer and do everything for you! Freakin amazin! By the way, I sooooo highly suggest getting an extended warranty! I've crashed my hard drive TWICE now, and without that warranty, I'd be out hundred's of dollars or would've had to simply start over with new computers every time!

Yay! I've missed my baby! Time to wrap up this blog because I've gotta go play with my newly fixed baby! :o)

 

Showers of Dresses!

I'm not a huge dress person. Don't get me wrong- I love them! I just don't seem to have enough "occasions" to wear a dress! I have a few in my closet that have never even been worn- but the price was just too good to pass up!

I always tell myself that I should just wear dresses for the heck of it sometimes! And maybe I'll start doing that! One of the biggest reasons I haven't worn dresses much the past year is because I was on crutches twice- and, well.....that's just not attractive! (I avoided them completely, except for maid of honor duties- yes, on crutches! ugh!!)

But now, I have plenty of occasions for wearing a dress!!! Especially one BIG day that I'll be wearing a secret dress that I definitely cannot blog about! But with plenty of showers and parties coming up (first shower on Sunday and a BIG party on Friday!), I have plenty of reasons to wear a cute dress!

After scouring the net for dresses late last night, I decided to go hit up the mall today after our teacher luncheon and score some dresses! I wasn't too sure if I'd get lucky, but I found three, so I have some options.......

This was my first find at New York and Company- It was on a 50% off rack, so I thought it was going to be about $25- but it rang up $9.99! Can't beat that!! It was the only one left in the store! It's a bit big in the front, but I think it will work.....thinking of wearing this one on Sunday- although I think they're using lots of navy in the decorations at my bridal tea- is that a big deal? Should the bride match?? (Is that a dumb question? :o) )

 

I love the summery look and the tiny little iridescent threads here and there! I found a great necklace at B.Moss to match! (I always find stuff from there and NYC that match each other!)

These next two are from Charlotte Russe. I surprisingly found several dresses that I like there- one looked great- but a little too great! I looked like a hooker! (No there isn't a picture of that, Ray! Oh and insert my cuz, Ashley's comment here of- told you they sell hooker clothes!)

This one is simple and adorable! Possibility for Friday night- and could be used for another shower/party!

 

This next one is my fave and actually looks better on me than on the hanger! The only prob is that it doesn't have much of a liner, and I'm afraid you might be able to see all that is underneath! The black one has enough support that I don't need a bra....this one would be horrible without one- but I hate strapless bras! They just don't give me enough oomph!! :o)

 

Any ideas of what I could wear under this one? Maybe a slip with a built in bra? Although I hate to pay more for something underneath the dress than the dress itself!!

Tell me what you think.....and I can't wait to try them out!! :o)

60 day notice!!

A few days ago, I got a "60 day notice" from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, letting me know that my wedding was fast approaching and I needed to make sure I have things in order!

THANKS!!! I'm quite aware of that! :o)  Actually, I'm very excited that we are now under two months and couting until that big day!!!! Yippppeeee!!

After moving Ray into our new place, throwing a yard sale to get rid of lots of old stuff, and looking at the piles of crap at my current apartment, more than anything I'm ready for us to live in ONE place!! I can't wait until all our stuff is together! Whenever I'm at his place, I need something at mine- and vice versa, of course!!

As June fast approaches, I'm quickly realizing that it's all about to be REAL! Especially with my first shower this Sunday! So excited!! NOT excited about the part where all attention will be on me, but very excited to be getting our first gifts! Is it bad that I've been checking the registries a lot lately?? And is it also bad that almost nothing is off of them yet?? :o)

I'm thinking though that with my 3 showers and wedding gifts, I need to add more stuff! Time to go shopping! We desperately need some stuff to get our new place organized!!

How about some cool stuff like this.........

And I'm nott gonna get it but how cool is this shoe "wheel"??!!

And here's my one - "dang-it if only I wasn't getting married" thing I wish I could have!

Think Ray will let me get away with naming a kid Roxy so I can buy her tons of Roxy stuff??!!

How come no one ever told me Roxy made bathroom stuff!! Why did I ever waste my single-life designing taste on fish and beach chair decor in the bathroom??

Oh wait!! If Ray can register for luggage, so can I!!

 

Honeymoon update!!

Ray and I booked our honeymoon hotel awhile back at Los Altos de Eros in Costa Rica. (see the link for my previous post on that hotel!) While we'd still LOVE to stay there, reality has been setting in that staying there would probably put us into debt starting off our marriage! At $395-$495 a NIGHT...it's not cheap.....but it seems to be out of this world!! It's slightly all-inclusive- smoothies, beer, wine, breakfast and lunch are included.

I was especially excited about staying in Tamarindo, Costa Rica because the week we booked the hotel, I had shown all my classes a Travel Channel Samantha Brown video on her trip there! After 10 times of watching her surf, ride dirt bikes, relax in infinity pools and lay in a hammock in Costa Rica, I had to do it to!

By the way.....If I could pick ANY job in the world, it would be HERS! But I think I'd do it a little better- at least in the Spanish speaking countries she visits! Her Spanish is pretty bad! But at least she tries!! I think she's the coolest chic ever though!! I know her job can be tough and fast paced, but she gets PAID to see the world!!! I soooo want that job!

But back to the point........We've changed our hotel in CR! Actually, we're now booked for 2 places but will eventually cancel one! Good thing about hotels here- you pay when you leave, so no one has our credit card # right now!! They finalize your reservation when you send them your airfare info.

My mom and dad are SUPER amazing and got us our plane tickets into Liberia, CR for FREE! Yes, that's right- FREE! Well....nothing's free I guess! There was about $180 worth of processing fees- so silly! But amazing compared to the fact that we would be paying well over $1200 for 2 tickets there! My dad's been flying so much lately that he's earned tons of points- obviously enough for 2 tickets! And my mom was great about finding us a flight that would actually work with our schedule and the airline's (they only allow so many free passengers per flight!) Too bad we'll get hit with American Airlines new $15 per checked bag fee!

So you'd think that getting free air would make us think we could splurge a little! Nope! As we're seeing how much $$$$$ this wedding is going to cost- and the fact that we'll probably have zero left to put on the honeymoon, we're seeing we need to cut back!

(oh the memories of Honduras! These things are not my friend, but animal life is abundant in CR!!)

So we found a fabulous little hotel- Hotel Capitan Suiza, which we are quite happy with. Los Altos only had 6 rooms and was very intimate, but the Capitan only has 30, so it's not a huge commercial hotel either. It's not all-inclusive, but like I've said before- I've heard good and not so good things about all-inclusive. Breakfast is included, and the restaurant looks fantastic and isn't too expensive! We've read nothing but good things about the hotel too!

Wish I could put better pics of the hotel on here, but I can't copy the ones on their page....so go look at them here- Hotel Capitan Suizo Photos. Amazing!! The restaurant all lit up, reminds me of the one in the recent movie - Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Looks like fun!

It's also right on the beach, which seems to be pretty clean and pretty private. Los Altos is up in the mountains/jungle over looking the ocean (they take you there whenever you want). But there is something about waking up and throwing on a bathing suit and heading straight to the beach, then wandering back every now and then for a dip in the pool, etc. :o)

We're spending less than half what we would spend a night at Los Altos (around $175 at the Capitan), so that should give us lots of money to play/eat/drink with! We even decided to book the honeymoon suite for the last 2 nights (the last, not the first so we don't get too spoiled and hate our smaller room!), and it's even cheaper than the small room at Los Altos!

Trip Advisor was an invaluable resource for us! Yes, I know that on many travel review sites people only post negative experiences. Well at both of these hotels there were almost nothing but RAVING reviews because everyone loved them both so much! Although, you should take the negatives with a grain of salt, it's still a great resource!

So- if you have LOTS of money after throwing your fabulous wedding- head to Los Altos de Eros. If you are throwing a "Fabu-less" wedding- head to the Capitan! Whatever you do- definitely put Costa Rica on your "must-see" honeymoon list!!

We're having a baby today!!!!!

Today is a BIG day!!!! It's my last day of school- my last day ever at my current school, one of my great friends is having surgery this morning AND my sis-in-law is currently giving birth to my baby bro's baby!!!!! So by the end of the day, I may have TWO nephews with May 23rd birthdays!!! (Ray's 12 yr old nephew's b-day is today!)

It's a big day!!!!!!!!! :o)  Can't wait to see what my lil honorary ring bearer looks like- and what his name will be!!! Finally!!! If he's anything like his daddy (and momma!), he'll be adorable!!! I'll try not to stake too much of a claim on him like I did on his daddy!! "Hi, baby! Nice baby. MY baby!" :o)

Is it easy being green?

This past week, I read an article in The Tennessean about a local bride's efforts to create a "green" wedding. It seems everywhere I turn these days I'm hearing about brides trying to be more eco-friendly in their planning process.

I think it's a fantastic idea, but "The wedding will cost well above the average $25,000 that Nashville brides spend, in part, Suzanne [the bride's mother] said, because of their efforts to be socially responsible."  So who knows what the actual cost is!! Mine is probably half of that! While I'd love to do some of the things this bride is doing, such as invitations made with soy ink on recycled fibers, using more organic ingredients in catering, etc. She's got some great ideas!

But as of yet, these new ideas come with a HUGE price tag! In my thinking it should be cheaper to help the environment than to hurt it- to make people want to chose the helpful things. I guess it's along the same lines as- we eat so much junk food because it's so darn cheap!!

So in the spirit of things....here are a few things I've tried to start doing lately to "go green"- some wedding related, some not!

- changing all my light bulbs to those funny, but cool curly florescent bulbs (even found some    round vanity ones for my bathroom!

- recycling- I've started lots of piles to haul off everything from water bottles, coke cans, newspaper, cardboard, etc. (looking into a recycling pick up in our new place!)

- hopefully omitting outer envelopes for my invitations (I don't see the point of them anyways!)

- either omitting wedding favors altogether, or using something that won't get tossed out!

- conserve water by showering faster!

- finding new ways to get to work so I don't waste so much gas stuck in traffic! (but let's not start on the gas prices! ugh!!)

- This may be more about saving money but has to help the environment some-- Ray and I both avoid turning on our heat/air conditioning as MUCH as possible- only if we're freezing or burning up does it come on!! This (and hopefully with some help from the new lights) has significantly lowered our electric bills!!

So obviously, I need help with some more ideas.....if you have any free or cheap ideas on how to help save the environment, wedding related or not! Please do share!

And check out The Tennessean article if you've got a big budget to make your wedding green!

Men really are from Mars, sometimes!!

I love my fiance more than anything in the world- obviously, or I wouldn't marry him!!!

I'm learning more and more though, just HOW DIFFERENT men and women are as we are starting to move his and my things into our new place and are "decorating" together! I use that term lightly on his part!!

We got this great bathroom shelf/cabinet thing from my parents which they were going to sell in the yard sale, unless we wanted it. Well, with all the $$ I'm saving lately on through The Grocery Game, Coupon mom, etc., I've gotten tons of free or almost free toiletries (if you ever need toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant or razors when you come to our place, feel free to take some!!)

So Ray brings it home this past weekend, and I come over later to look at it, and can't find it! Why can't I find it?  Because it is in the downstairs 1/2 bath, sitting on the floor!

This is where he assumed it was going, since we needed a place to put toilet paper, as there is zero storage in that bathroom (as is true with a lot of 1/2 baths!) I giggled thinking he's joking, then realized he's dead serious...even about how it is sitting on the floor!! So I make a statement about how it has to hang up because it has shelves, and he proceeds to sit on the toilet to show me that he doesn't bump into it on the floor there and it looks fine! He can even open it from there to get more TP!

Yes, men and women have different ideas of what "fine" looks like. To me, his "fine" looks silly! But yes, we do need toilet paper storage down there- I'm thinking a basket or some little shelves to tuck away beside the back of the toilet. Not a cabinet that someone can browse while they're taking care of business!

This is where I wanted it to go!!

(Ignore the fact that it doesn't match the towels-and that they aren't straight! it will match once we get my bathroom stuff in the guest bath!)

The toilet is tucked away in a corner, that creates the perfect space for these kinds of shelves. No chance you'll hit your head, or bump into them with your legs while in there!! And I'll have a great place to store all of our extras other than in a box under the sink!! 

I love the bathrooms in our new place, and there is great under the sink storage, but no medicine cabinets or linen closets- so this was much needed!!

He did however, get it hung up perfectly and I only had to ask once!!! I do love him so!!!! :o)

My first bouquet!

While at the yard sale the other day, I spent some of the time in between creating my bridal bouquet!

I'd thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted real ones. I love keeping flowers from when I'm a bridesmaid- and I've only been able to keep 2- because they were fake! I tried keeping others, and well, you know how well that goes!! I want to be able to keep my own bouquet, without spending a fortune to get it preserved!

Besides, I can't find a colors to match as perfectly as these flowers from Hobby Lobby do!! They put their flowers on 50% off sales about every other week, so I've been making lots of trips and buying them out each time! The great thing is, they'll even hold them for you when they get new shipments, if you tell them the ones you want! I've just about got enough of these hydrangeas...

And only need a few more of the dark roses (can't find a pic of those! see my bouquet below!) and white roses!

I've always loved creating bouquets, but never done any fake ones....it took some time and lots of rearranging but it was quite fun!!

I couldn't exactly get a good pic the other day, but this is an idea of what mine looks like!!

 

I've just got to add the ribbon around the stems (to hide the gobs of green floral tape! and super glue some of the white petals together, so they don't look so close!!

Super excited!!

I'll probably finish the rest at the beach, when I head there with Kerri (my MoH!) in a few weeks! (check back for my post on my bridal portrait session planning for that trip!!)

Shoes, shoes, shoes!!

Myself and my girls have been searching for shoes to go with the bridesmaid dresses for awhile now! And it was my mom who came to the rescue!!

This isn't the best pic, so get look at the ones below to get a better idea! They just about perfectly match the navy in the sashes the girls are wearing!

She found these shoes at Kohl's- on sale for $19.99 - 50% off!! Plus for the last few days (and until Tues 5/20) if you use your credit card you get a scratch off card for a chance at another 15%, 20%, or 30% off!  (online they are only in gold and silver. In store, I didn't even see gold and silver!!)

So during the yard sale, I tried them on, tested them out with the dress, and called/sent texts to all my girls to find out shoe sizes! Then my mom even called a couple different stores to check on who has what sizes!

Then after the yard sale, it was off to buy the shoes! Of course, in my crazy shopping past, I had a Kohl's credit card! :o) So once we got there, I reactivated it and used it to purchase the 3 more pairs we bought (my cuz is buying her own up in OH because her mom has a card!). So I don't get myself in trouble again, we paid it off immediately with a check from my wedding account and I'll need to destroy the new card as soon as it comes- for my own future sanity!

They also had these super cute styles, colors....

Love the red/white polka-dot ones!

Workin hard!!

I think that I have worked more the past week, than I've worked all year (esp. after a year with TWO crippling injuries!)  Even though it was insane, I'm happy I survived it!!

What I survived-
     -Moving the fiance into our new place (lost count of how many trips up/down multiple sets of stairs!
     -Cleaning fiance's old apartment from top to bottom, hauling off carloads of trash!
     -Unpacking/organizing everything at his new place
     -Many trips to goodwill
     -Carting all of our yard sale stuff to my parent's house
     -Unpacking/sorting/pricing all yard sale stuff
     -Hurting my tailbone sitting on my parents garage steps all day!
     -Repacking all the stuff that didn't sell and hauling it off to goodwill (3 carloads and still some left over!)
     -Running wedding errands even though exhausted from yard sale!
     -Entertaining company that arrived right after the yard sale!
    -My biggest school project ever- Latin American Marketplace- which lasted over 8 days!! (if'd known I'd be planning a wedding, never would've scheduled this!)
     -Finding/designing/buying supplies/designating parents to buy shirts for 27, 5th graders field day t-shirts (and still have to find the time today to make my own!!)
    -Preparing graduation certificates for the 6, 5th graders that I've been assigned (still have to prepare what I will say about them when I give them their papers!)
    -Researching the guy's suits/going to the store to have fiance and groomsman try them on and pick out color!
    -Creating my bridal bouquet
    -Picking out bridesmaid's shoes
    -Managing to live on less than 6 hrs of sleep a night ALL week long!

And let's not forget--- MY HARD DRIVE CRASHING!!!! (still workin on fiance's computer!)

I'm sure there is lots I'm forgetting, but do you really want to hear anymore?? I don't!

Even though the yard sale part was exhausting- especially since it was at the end of the long week of craziness- it helped us score some much needed extra cash, and helped us get rid of lots of stuff we didn't need anymore, anyways!

Here's what we started with....this is the night before when we'd organized a lot of it already! (the piles of boxes are what we pulled outside the next day!

Wait that's only half....

And believe me, there's even more that you can't see from these two pics!

Then, in less than 24 hrs, the garage looked like this after it was all over!!

Only a few boxes remain!!

At least at the end of a long, hard week, I can look back and see that we did accomplish a lot! Even though my body hurts and is still oh so tired (even after sleeping in some the last 2 days!), I at least have a sense of great accomplishment!

This is my LAST week of classes, and it will be tiring, but easy! I've got field day tomorrow (gotta make my t-shirt!!!), then a teacher work day, then two days of 5th grade honor chapel, parties, and my last few classes!! Yippppeeeee!!!

Here's to accomplishing lots more this week and getting some time to rest afterwards!!

 

Want to know how to make money while planning your wedding??

Well, if you are crazy like me.....have a huge yard sale with all your crap, your fiance's crap and both of your families crap, and while things are slow, work on all your wedding stuff! Like researching suits for the guys, airline flights for the honeymoon, pick out bridesmaid shoes (and call/text all the girls to get sizes!) and work on your bridal bouquet!!

I'm about to fall over, but we're a few hundred dollars richer, a lot further on wedding  plans, and a lot of missed hours of sleep more tired!! More news to come on what we accomplished while making the big bucks on junk we would've thrown away anyways!!

Am I off to crash, you ask?? Nope!!! Off to buy some more flowers and shoes for the girls!!

Flower girl/Jr. Bridesmaid Gift Bags!

Ok, so you know I'm a big fan of anything cheap! I come by it honestly, it's in my blood- from my Grams, to my mom, to me!

My mom found these adorable purses at The Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago, and I just recently had time to go look for them myself. She'd bought one of the navy ones above and one of these light blue/brown polkadot ones below....

At $1 a piece, I couldn't make them that cheap!! I found the rest of the navy ones, and found enough for all 6 little girls in my wedding party (yes, SIX!!) and decided to just go with the navy/light blue, since they match better. The jr. bridesmaids are wearing navy dresses with teal sashes (opposite of my bridesmaids), and the flower girls are wearing white dresses with navy sashes. So these will match both sets of girls!

I decided to keep the light blue/brown one for myself because it's just so cute and I'm always needing bags to throw stuff in to carry around! And again....it's $1!!

I'm planning to fill them with fun stuff like lip gloss, candy, play jewelry, etc......anyone have any more ideas on how to fill my little girl's gift bags??

I'm sure I'll think of lots of things, but if you have any fantastic ideas, please share!!

If only boys/men were as easy as girls/women, I've already got nailed down for the most part what my girls are getting!! The males?? Who knows?? Not Mr. Fiance, that's for sure!

My hard-drive has fried!

Am I speaking a) literally? b) figuratively? or c) both? If you chose c---ding, ding, ding!! We have a winner!!

I've already felt all day today like I was losing my mind! I keep misplacing things, I have a to-do list 10 miles long- including wedding stuff, moving my fiance, setting up a yardsale, final school projects, grades, graduation certificates, field day stuff.......AHHHH! I can barely handle it as it is!

Then tonight....horror of all horrors....I start getting errors on my computer. I knew to call Dell asap, and so I did! Right before I called, I was online, computer was running, I was able to actually do stuff after the first few errors. Then.....OF COURSE..as soon as I call...it no longer even turns on past the "disk error" screen!

YIPES!!!

So Dell is sending me out a new hard-drive! For the past oh....10 minutes or so, I've been sitting here listening to silence on the phone. So how am I blogging?? I'm still at Ray's/our new place where I was helping set up stuff tonight....I was just about to go home until I started getting problems! Probably should've waited until I got home to call seeing how it's been an HOUR now that I've been on the phone with this crazy lady who barely understands me.....oh and now she ASKS if she can put me on hold?? What was she just doing then??

Ugh!! She and I had about a 10 minute argument over my power cord too, because neither one of us understood what the other was saying, and neither one of us thought we were wrong in our descriptions!

Now, I love Dell and how they'll fix just about anything for you....but geez! I want someone who I understand and who understands me!!

How many times can she person say, "Let me just process this for you....." of "Let me just check that for you." They apparently can say it until I scream!!!

I tried last week to back up my files, but they were too big to fit on a CD.....and please....with all I've had going on who has the time!! I've lost it all before, and made sure to put at least my school stuff on backup frequently!

So this experience pretty much sums up how I've felt lately....crazy, confused, mad that I've lost yet again something else (all my files!!- I haven't backed up since maybe Feb.), and I've truly lost my mind!

Where is that beach vacation?? Ohhhhhh, I need it now!!  Ok, sorry for the vent post....It's time to go home, get in my bed and cry!!! :o(

Oh wait!!! First I have to add that, to add to all the craziness- and as more proof that I'm losing my mind....I was grocery shopping tonight, and had to use the bathroom.....no problem, right? I come out of the bathroom to a boy about 8 or 9 yrs old about to walk in...he gets confused backs up, closes the door, then opens it again as I'm going through...I think he's just confused that he needs to use the men's room now that he's too big to go in the ladies with mommy....Oh no....not the case...he's just confused as to why a woman is coming out the MEN'S bathroom!!!!!

See??? I am losing it!!!!!!

Swoozie's!!

After the Relish party on Sunday, Kelley (my bridesmaid and faithful wedding event companion!) and I headed over to check out the stores in the new Hill Center at Green Hills. We were sure that we wouldn't find a thing we could afford, but we wanted to look around! I wanted to visit Swoozie's, a fun store I'd heard Ashley talk about, and she wanted to vist a friend that works in the area. So off we went!

After a couple stores where- yep, we were right, we couldn't afford a thing, we headed to Swoozie's and I was a bit un-optomistic! I knew I'd love looking at their stuff, but expected that prices would be like other stores in the area. Now, don't get me wrong, their stuff wasn't cheap and not as fabu-less as I tend to like prices...but they have some fantastic stuff, that was totally within my grasp!

 

 

This is a huge bridal section of cool gifts for bridal party members, or for yourself, all in black and white! There are lots of fun expressions on them!

They also carry a couple other lines of bridal stuff- like the adorable stuff by Mindy Weiss- which is so cute, but slightly pricey!

Also they have some amazing stuff for decorating for summer-time!! A ton of brightly colored sets of dishes, partyware, etc. that lines the front of the store and catches your eye immediately! And also this cute light blue/sand colored set that I just loved!!

 Can I register here???

They also have an amazing line of paper to DIY invitations, stationary, etc. And a HUGE assortment of things to personalize- notecards, bags, coasters.....you name it, they probably have it!

I could've stayed in there forever! And we did stay quite a long time!

I managed to come out only buying these adorable appetizer plates which exactly match the colors of the dishes I've registered for.

And this beautiful card for my mom for Mother's Day! It's from Papyrus (which they also have a store I looooooove in the Green Hills mall!)

If you haven't been to Swoozie's yet, check it out.....and if you're not in Nashville, search for one near you!

Invitation time!!!

The clock is ticking!! Ok, seriously self....you need to MAKE A DECISION!!!! :o) Amidst all the packing, moving, and millions of school projects I've been doing over the past week, I'm trying to pick out invitations as well! This really is a priority, as I need to get them out beginning of June!! Yipes!!

I've been looking into invitations from Relish, and also Mary Alice of A Delightful Day has been helping me look through Tru Wedding Invitations.

These are a couple from Tru Invitaions that I'm heavily considering!

This one I like a lot, but don't really feel it goes with my Save the Dates. However, it does fit the beachy theme and is pretty close to the color of my bridesmaid dresses.

These I like a whole lot better, but there are a few things that we're trying to figure out if we can do....such as write on the inside flap of the invite (to write the Spanish version of our invite!), use a teal colored font, and if we can make the RSVPs postcards!

 

And I just found this program idea on The Knot, which would go perfectly with the second invites! I'd probably DIY these, but I've definitely decided I DON'T want to DIY the invites! Ugh!! Too much work for me!! :o)

 

 

Ok.....back to more unpacking and cleaning, and pondering invites!! :o)

Oceans of Blue!!

(from theknot.com)

It seems ever since I picked out my bridesmaid dresses, I've come across TONS more that I love!! Don't get me wrong....I love the dresses I picked! They look great on the girl's (the ones I've seen in it!) and the price can't be beat ($50 for dress, sash, shipping, tax, and all!! But where were all these dresses when I was still looking??!!

(from theknot.com)


Too much for me, but this aqua and pink is cute!! (from theknot.com)

(from theknot.com)

(from J.Crew)

And finally......here is the dress we actially went with (if you haven't seen it yet!!)....with a navy sash! Can't wait til one of my maids actually has hers ready and I can see it on for real!! But they're so far away, AND trying to get fit before they get them altered! Silly girls! :o)

 

To me, this dress looks fake in the pic!! This is more what it looks like, but with the color above, and most of the girls, will probably add the straps that come with it!

(from Ann Taylor's Celebration Collection- style Chloe- discontinued! Good thing we have them!)

 

 

Home, Sweet Home!

YAYYYYYYY!!!!!

It's move in weekend!! We got the keys to our new home today!!! Ray moves in this weekend, and I'll gradually move stuff over until I officially move in at the end of July!!!! YIPPPPEEEEE! I am soooo excited at the thought of our first "home!" It's not huge, it's just enough! It's a pretty new townhouse, only one other renter lived in it for about a year. We decided to hold off on buying a place for at least another year!!

We're so excited that I had to share some pics before we made a mess in it this weekend moving all the boxes and his furniture in!!! :o)

No furniture yet.....so Ray tests out the living room floor!! (because I'm actually standing on the porch (the stripes from the sliding glass doors make it look like he's in jail!!)

I'm going to loooooove the kitchen and the dining room might be big enough to add some reading chairs and a bookshelf!!





My baby is super happy the shower head is high enough for him to stand under!!

And I'm already dreaming of the wonderful, relaxing baths I will take to relieve the build-up of stress after the wedding!!

Our lovely bedroom, with amazing vaulted ceilings!! (I've been spoiled by them in my last two apartment living rooms, love that it's in the bedrooms here!)

I love the excitement and anticipation of a new place. Dreaming of ideas to decorate (and paint!! never been able to paint before!!!), and of the memories we'll make there as we start our lives together!! Yay!!