And the hunt begins...

I finally decided I was ready to start trying on wedding dresses this weekend. I've been looking at tons the past few months. I narrowed down the silhouette that I liked and what I envisioned for my trip down the aisle. Armed with this information and the support of my mom and C's mom we were off.

Dress 1: Dress 2:

Dress 3:

Dress 4:

After Friday, I was on a mission to find the dream dress that I have envisioned. I started calling salons in the area. I called a store in Waco to see if they had it. They said that the did, so I called up mom and we were off. When we arrived we were a little disappointed. The dress that I wanted is called Frisia and the one that they have is called Fresa, an easy mistake when taking on the phone. But it wasn't a total loss.

Dress 5:

Dress 6:

Right now I love dress #6 and kinda like #3. Dress #6 fit all of my criteria. I was able to move comfortably (once hemmed), could dance (yes I made my mom dance with me in the bridal salon), all lace, I felt amazing and like a bride, and a killer price. But...

There is a dress I saw online that has my heart.

This little beauty has been just a wee bit difficult to track down. I have called every dress salon in Texas that sells this line, except for Loredo, El Paso, and Brownsville which are a little too far for me to drive to. I have an email into a store in Shreveport. Hopefully they would have it! A quick to the great state of LA for some dress shopping and gambling?! I hope so! So, fingers crossed. Now I could wait till Sept when a truck show is supposed to be in Austin and the salon hosting said that they would request a sample brought in for me, but I'm impatient. Also, Sept would be the latest that I could order this dress.

What do ya'll think, am I crazy to try to hunt this dress down? or Should I just stick with #6? or should I order the dream and pray that it looks good on me?

I definitely plan to go to other salons and try things on, but I keep thinking of the dream dress.

Reflections of the week.

This week has been pretty darn good! On Sunday I dragged C and my mom to the Bridal Extravaganza. It was definitely a little over whelming, but I gathered some really good information. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see a lot of the vendors that I wanted to talk to, but oh well. What I did find was a possible new caterer. Last week we thought we had found the one, but after a tasting we weren't happy. I was definitely under impressed with the food.

The new caterer prospect has been great to work with so far. I filled out a form of what we wanted for food at the wedding, discussed it a little with them, and by Tuesday I had a proposal in my in-box. I was so happy when I opened it. Their proposal gave me the budget friendly numbers I'd been praying for, while offering a jazzed up, scrumptious sounding menu. I was stoked to try some of their food (especially the watermelontini they had proposed for our specialty drink). So last night we went to an open house and tried some things. Everything we tried wasn't on our menu, but it was good stuff! After discussing our specific proposal I had a revised, even cheaper proposal in my in-box this afternoon. We are now setting up a time to do a private tasting! I'm so pumped about this. After my first proposal from a company that wanted to charge me $100/person (for freaking fajitas!) and the sad tasting from the second company, I was a little frustrated and upset with the way this part of the planning was going. Things have definitely turned around!

Last night we also went and saw Mama Mia! It was AWESOME! So funny. I'm sure the people next to me were upset that I kept updating my phone for the most current score of the baseball game, but oh well. I'm glad the show was as entertaining as it was or I might have had a sleeping beauty sitting next to me. C worked an all-night shift after work on Tuesday, came home Wednesday and slept for about an hour, then went back to work for a full 8hrs, and then the show. I have no clue how he lasted through it all. I think he was running on pure adrenaline from the events of the night before and all the meetings that day. I know I would have been a ragging b*tch by that time with no sleep.

Tomorrow I start the dress hunt with my momma and C's mom. We're going to be some cry babies, I have a feeling. The plans of the weekend are pretty darn limited. Taking it easy and maybe/hopefully a trip down to Luling for the watermelon thump are in store for Saturday night.

TV

We have decided that as much as we enjoy watching house shopping shows, like Property Virgins or House Hunters, we can no longer watch them. Watching these shows is like a tease to us right now. We desperately want out of the retirement community we currently call our neighborhood. (I am not exaggerating on this point. I think the average age, if you didn't include us, would be around 60+.) Though these shows are great for getting ideas for what we want in a new home, it's hard to watch.

Weekend Recap

Friday -
Tried a new sushi restaurant that opened in our neighborhood. Yummy. I was sufficiently stuffed that I came home and quickly fell asleep on the couch. Woke up a few hours later to go to bed. While taking my contacts out I scratched my eye. Boo. (more to come on this)

Saturday -
Woke up with a completely red eye. Greeeaat. :( We then ran a bunch of errands. The red eye made driving a little difficult since sunlight was not my friend. Petsmart was first on our list for some dog food for the picky eater. Ends up they don't carry the food he likes anymore. Bummer, but there were puppies there to play with. I was so tempted to come home with a new one. An adorable Catahoula puppy with brown coloring. (I know many people don't know this breed, but it's the breed of dog that I grew up with. Amazing dogs!) The quick trip to Home Depot turned into a spending spree. Ekk. We got a new faucet, a new BBQ grill, some new plants, and filters. After coming home we installed the faucet, replaced the filters, planted, and assembled the new grill. We decided since we decided to get the new grill it had to be broken in with a pool BBQ party. Quick trip to the grocery store, turned into a nightmare for me. On the way there I determined that said red eye was not in good shape. It hurt like hell. It felt like my eye wouldn't dilate properly to sunlight and there were constant water works. It was quite a scary experience. I didn't like it. Pool BBQ was great. The sun was going down, so I was safe for going out.

Sunday -
Woke up and my eye was in worse shape. It hurt, looked horrible, and constant watering. I big pain in my rear. I was not happy about having to wear my glasses all day. (Not that I have a thing against glasses, it's just that mine don't fit in any way.) So, with all this I decided it was time to make a trip to the ER to figure out what I did. After the quickest trip to the ER (1.5 hours from arrival to departure!) it was determined that I scratched my cornea. Doctors orders required no contacts for a few more days, dark sunglasses for going out, and dark/dimmed lighting. So I stayed in my cave of a home for the rest of the day, watched the baseball game, cleaned, and ate. It was nice.

It has been a little weird driving to work yesterday and today. I have my glasses that I try to wear, but the sun is too bright without sunglasses. The only problem is that my sunglasses aren't prescription. It's not like I'm as blind a bat driving around. I swear. I can see pretty darn well without my glasses/contacts, just not detail. (My contact prescription is only a -1.25, which is really nothing). So, I should be able to wear my contacts tomorrow! 3 days of being held up in my dark cave is not helping my vampire look at the moment.

Drum roll please...

This was such a fun check on the wedding to-do list. I have to say at the moment probably at the top of the list. Though there haven't been too many, but I'm sure it will stay up there. This will be my focus when things get a little hairy in the planning process. I know it seems a little early to be booking for this, but I wanted to take advantage of some good pricing.

The destination of this honeymoon will be...

A 10-night cruise from Rome to London leaving right after the wedding. We will leave on Sunday or Monday and head to Rome for a few days before boarding.

Day 0
Civitavecchia (Rome)
05:00 PM
Day 1
Santa Margherita, Italy
08:00 AM
05:00 PM
Day 2
Marseille, France
08:00 AM
05:00 PM
Day 3
Barcelona, Spain
08:00 AM
05:00 PM
Day 4
At Sea
Day 5
Cadiz (Seville) Spain
06:00 AM
05:00 PM
Day 6
Lisbon, Portugal
08:00 AM
05:00 PM
Day 7
At Sea
Day 8
St Peter Port, Guernsey
02:00 PM
08:00 PM
Day 9
Le Havre (Paris) France
08:00 AM
08:00 PM
Day 10
Dover (London) England
08:00 AM

I am so pumped. (insert shriek of excitement here) Isn't the room pretty?!

C just doesn't know what he is getting into with this huge traveling experience coming. This includes pretty luggage, passport cover, and finding the right pillow for the long flight. So if any of you ladies know great travel finds please pass them along.

Engagement Party

Our Engagement party was held over Memorial Day weekend. The weather could have cooperated a little better, but all in all it was a fabulous party. It was so nice to have family and friends around to celebrate this major event. The super yummy cake. Half chocolate with raspberry and half vanilla with pineapple. It was so good.

Us giving an improtu speech. We were having a few mic difficulties. The grass on the railing was the only decoration that didn't blow away in the wind storm that we had earlier that afternoon. C's mom was so upset that every thing blew away. It didn't matter.

C trying to hide from giving a speech.

Us at the beginning of the party. And yes his mom does say he's special!

The amazing sunset.

There was a small shower during the party, but after there was a beautiful full rainbow that appeared. This is the best picture we were able to get of it. This is C's grandpa, C, and myself.

During C's brother's speech. His mom decided that he needed some practice. Poor thing had a few too many liquid courages before hand.

In the middle of his speech.

The whole group that came the 4+ hours to celebrate with us. Some of my aunts and uncles drove nearly 8 hours to experience this with us. Our families and friends are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G :)

C's parents. Those silly kids! Married for 28 years!

Dancing

After a few adult beverages, friends and parents began to dance and eat cake the night away.

FABULOUS PARTY!

P.S.

I'm tired right now, but tomorrow will bring a double post of Engagement Party recap and Honeymoon Plans. C has to work all night tomorrow, so I will have plenty of time to update everyone.

Queen for the day!

OK so I'm so behind on this, but I said that I would do it.

The wonderful Victoria tagged me as Queen of ALLL Things Awe-Summm!!!

List 7 things that make you awesome Pass the award onto 7 bloggers that you love.Tag those bloggers to let them know they are now Queens too(and link back to the Queen who tagged you).

1. I love my job!

2. I can touch my tongue to my nose.

3. I have a pimp for a dog. Who is currently playing with (i.e. rolling on) a June bug.

4. Carl is going to my husband in under a year! This is the best thing ever.

5. I love to watch football and can hang with the guys on info about teams, only college though.

6. I can make some killer cake balls.

7. My FMIL is amazing and we get along so well we even vacation together just the two of us.

I'm supposed to tag others, but everyone I know has already done this.

Catch Up

I know there has been some major absence from the blog for a few weeks. Life has been super jam packed with events. So bullet points...
1. Awesome Memorial Day weekend at the coast with amazing friends and family
2. During said weekend one fun filled, mucho enjoyable, friends break dancing with parents, double arching rainbow, and windy but all around A-M-A-Z-I-N-G engagement party! We feel so blessed to have great friends and family to travel, some 8+ hours, to come and enjoy this event with us. Pictures to come shortly.
3. Co-worker departed Austin to head back home to San Fran. Boo :( Going away parties to say goodbye
4. Trying to figure out the world of catering and the hold they have over my wedding right now.
5. Honeymoon is booked! Totally pumped about this. It has been the shinning happiness to the wedding planning right now. Or maybe a distraction to the yuck of #4.
6. Celebrating BFFs birthday this past weekend with good drinks (maybe too good), good music, and amazing friends. Also, getting to meet the new boy in her life. (He checks out OK right now. My enjoyment of the adult beverages inhibited a better evaluation)
7. Great date night with C to see Night at the Museum at the Texas State History Museum. Awesome. I was a little pumped about the possibility of the exhibits coming to life, but sadly no activity while we were there. :(
8. Relaxing weekend of limited activity.

Upcoming events:
1. Sea World!!!! We're taking C's mom this weekend with his brother and his girl. I'm so excited.
2. Painting, decorating, and organizing office.
3. 2 vendor meetings this week and multiple reviews of everything else.
4. Some kind of ending to the catering debacle. I really need to let this go.
5. The Hangover comes out!

P.S. I know Victrola tagged me for a lovely award and I will get on top of this tomorrow! Promise. :)