MY DRESS

For those of you who feel a little blindsided by the fact that I have a dress...you know me well. Obviously, if I had looked for a dress, tried on dresses, or bought a dress...I would have blogged every second, every pro/con, the entire process. You would have known more than you ever had wished to know about dresses. Why? Because, even if we were having a big wedding, the dress is probably the only thing I would really care about wedding-wise. Well...and the cake.

In case I haven't announced it on the blog yet, Mike and I are having a small family-centered wedding ceremony in December that breaks tradition with what most weddings look like. Back when we first started talking about getting married, the idea of a traditional big wedding overwhelmed both of us and didn't feel true to ourselves so we briefly thought about elopement. However, remembering the fact that weddings really are just getting married and celebrating that fact, we decided to try to craft our own experience based on exactly how we would like celebrate our marriage:) We want our families there and we want our good friend Josh to marry us. We want great food and cake, but no "reception". We want to celebrate the occasion with our friends, but not limit that celebration to just one day where we don't really get to spend quality time with anyone. After all, it will be the holiday season and the anniversary of when we first met on NYE:) It's been easier than I thought explaining to people that we are having a small non-traditional wedding that is going to happen by the end of this calendar year. Families and friends have been very supportive and my friend Kelly and Mike have been really helpful with the few things we had to plan.

A few weekends ago Mike's mom introduced me to BHLDN which is Anthropologie's wedding line. I hadn't been planning on buying a 'traditional' wedding dress, but I did like a lot of the dresses on the website. One in particular really got my attention so much that I made a bridal appointment at the store in Georgetown with the intention of trying it on. Well, my appointment ended up being a month later in mid-September and, when I noticed the dress was actually sold out online, I called their customer service on the whim to inquiry about what sizes they had left in stores. It wasn't a very traditional dress so I assumed it would be available. Turns out stores only carry sample sizes and it was sold out in everything except for a size 0. :( I was told by customer service there might be one size 10 left and to call a specific store in the morning. When I called, they had just sold it, but told me other stores may have had dresses returned to them that were not updated in inventory.

At this point, I was a little obsessed about finding a dress in a wearable size for me. Mike knows that I do NOT like being told that I can't do something. I become stubbornly motivated to prove people and myself wrong so I ended up calling every single BHLDN store and asking them to check their back rooms and see if they might happen to magically have a dress there. A few times I was told they had one and then they found out that had just sold it. At this point, I said I'd take anything from size 6-10 (I guessed I might be an 8?). Anyway, at the very last story I called in Boston, someone checked the back room and told me they had a sample size 4 left that needed some bead repair done and they could mark it down for that. I DIDN'T CARE. I WAS ECSTATIC AND FELT LIKE IT WAS FATE! The ONLY snag was that it was a final sale item and they couldn't even transfer it to Georgetown so I could try it on. I was so afraid of them selling it that I took a gamble and bought the size 4. (Some people had said the dress ran big in reviews, right?) I figured that, worst-case-scenario, I could always re-sell it online if it didn't work out.

The dress came shortly after and was even MORE GORGEOUS in person that it was online. Because it was a size lower than I had wanted and it was incredibly beautiful and fragile looking, I wanted to wait until my in-store appointment to try it on there. To be honest, I was also kind of nervous it wouldn't fit and then I would feel silly for taking such a risk and getting my hopes up. I spent a good two weeks trying to wait until my dress appointment and then one day...I couldn't wait anymore. I made sure Mike was playing a video game, then snuck into the room and pulled the glittery gown out of it's safe spot. I gently took it off the hanger and pulled it over my head in order to shimmy my way into it. It fell around my hips and I zipped it up. It fit. All of my planning, then impulsivity, then trying to manage my expectations and this dress fit like it was made for me......just as I am....right now.

Now that the sheer joy of having the exact dress I wanted work out has been processed, I'm trying to glean a lesson from the experience. I think that it's okay to take risks. It's okay to go after the things that you want even when you think it may seem silly to others. Make YOUR wedding, YOUR dress, YOUR life work for you.....not the other way around. Don't be afraid to go after what you want even if there's a chance you won't get it. I love being cautious and practical, but sometimes the best things in life don't come after careful calculations.

Feel free to stalk the website and reviews, but can't wait for you all to see it in the wedding pictures!

Virginia Is For Lovers

Cumberland:

Two weekends ago, Mike and I celebrated his finishing the bar with a trip to his grandparents' house in Cumberland, MD. Turns out the Friday before that we found out we had another thing to celebrate: we got word that we are staying in DC for his first station!!!! This means: I GET TO KEEP MY JOB, WE GET TO STAY CLOSE TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS, WE CAN NOW PLAN OUR FUTURE! We also found out when Mike's ODS dates are which means we basically have an idea of when we're getting married. It now looks like December 21, 2014 (also the winter solstice).

We got to celebrate this news with Mike's mom, sister, aunt, and grandparents. I also went on a shopping trip (I may have unofficially (just for fun) tried on a wedding gown with feathers hehe). I can't remember the last time I went shopping with just the girls so I may have gotten a little too excited to and bought several new socks, underwear, and workout clothes. I don't know how I went this long without an underarmor sports bra! (Thanks Frances and Papa Buck!)

Other highlights of the weekend included: spicy shrimp, quesadillas, snickers ice cream cake for Mike's mom's birthday!, cheesy olives, and of course my favorite saltine cracker toffee! I was so excited to be able to take a recipe book home of many of these recipes and a jewelry chest from Frances.

I realized I forgot to get the story of Papa Buck and Frances's courtship, but I hope to write that down next time we visit.

We also stopped by my house on the way back home and were able to babysit Ashton (see video below) and load up on some pasta salad and more tomatoes to take back home, along with some of the most delicious spicy sweet pickles my stepdad made.

Officially VA residents!:

This past weekend, Mike and I had the DMV on our To Do list. It only took us about two hours total there and now we are both VA residents and my car is registered/titled in VA! I'm hoping this is my last time switching everything over since we'll have military status next time we move, but if not, I trust myself to be an expert at it by now.

We are finally settling in to our new place. We have acquired last-minute pieces of furniture and I even tried to get a plant to make it more home-y (which Rupert immediately tried to eat so I'm going to have to give it to our upstairs roommate).

Mike and I have also been enjoying our close proximity to two different gyms. Because he's trying to get in post-bar Navy shape and now has a 3-month membership to my gyms, I've had an extra incentive to not skip workouts. :) It's always been really hard to workout after work for me, but he has been really good at helping me find some more energy after work.

When Mike and I went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate staying in DC, this was our "compliments of the chef" amuse bouche. It was so miniature that I laughed/cried for about 5 minutes and still was unable to look at it without laughing. I hope someone out there understands.

A cute video of Mike feeding Ashton. Don't listen to me in the background. Seriously. My style of videography involves telling people to do more exciting things.