Bridal Exclusives Appointment (1/25/11)

The appointment to look at/try on wedding dresses was one that I was not looking forward to. I am not a dress person and have the tendency to tug and pull at dresses because they always feel so foreign. Another dread with trying on dresses was that I am not at my ideal weight so wasn’t really wanting to see my squish; let alone show my mother/fiance and friend (Nathan, my mother and Coleen went to the appointment with me).

When we first got to Bridal Exclusives, the lady who would be helping me pulled me aside to warn me of the dangers of taking my fiance dress shopping. Apparently, she’s seen a lot of brides bring their fiances in and that it never ends well. She was sure to tell me (very quietly) that I need to remember that my tastes will differ from his and that in the end, I choose the dress. I’m going to be honest: I was a little scared at that point and nervous that Nathan and I were both going to be leaving the bridal shop unhappy. After all, this woman has definitely seen enough brides to know what she’s talking about…..or so I thought.

At the beginning of the appointment, I was shown different sections of the store and told to choose one or two dresses from each section that I liked and wanted to try on. The sections were made by dress style (Ball gown, etc.) and each section had several variations of the particular style. My mom and I went down the rows choosing one or two dresses from each rack. Nathan insisted that we add a dress to the list that the rest of us really disliked (Surprisingly it became a favorite and was narrowly defeated in the end).

The first style we tried on was a sheer Roman-Style, which really liked in the magazines. I quickly changed my mind immediately after puting on the dress and we decided that the empire waist and sheer flowing fabric is very unflattering on me. Here’s a dress similar to what I tried on:

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The Bridal Consultant had me try on a wrap-style dress next. I was really not a fan of the idea and was concerned that I’d look chubby or pregnant in it. After putting the dress on, I loved it. The fit was really flattering and everyone liked it so far. Of course, we still had several other styles to try on. Here’s an example of the wrap style:

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Each time I tried on a dress, I had to decide if it was my favorite over the other ones I’ve tried. This seems like it would be easy but it’s not…..it’s actually nearly impossible. There’s so many choices and each dress had something I really loved about it that the rest didn’t. For instance, I fell in love with a dress that was perfect – except I hated the neckline on it. Also, having your mother, fiance and good friend there being brutally honest can definitely make the decision more difficult. If I liked a dress, someone with me hated it, and vice-versa.

The last dress that I tried on was called the “Grace” by Maggie Sottoro and when I put the dress on and came out to show everyone…everyone was quiet at first – and no one could find a negative aspect to the dress.

We were now split between two dresses – The one Nathan picked out in the beginning, and the Maggie Sottero dress. To help with the decision, I tried on each dress again. The dress Nathan picked was beautiful and very flattering, so I thought the decision would be impossible….until it was time to try the Sottero again. The bridal consultant grabbed the veil that went with the dress for me to wear so we can get the whole effect.

When I walked out of the dressing room to stand in front of the mirror and my family, everyone stopped talking as soon as I was in sight. Once I reached the platform and looked at myself in the mirror….I froze. The reflection I saw at that very moment was me – with all of my soul on view to the world. I felt beautiful and was immediately seeing myself walking down the aisle with my dad. The emotion hit me so hard and I started crying…first just a couple tears as my eyes welled up, but then my mom mentioned how beautiful it was and came up to hug me, and I was sobbing. Coleen and Nathan were still very quiet but they definitely shared the emotion of the moment with us (they just weren’t sobbing obnoxiously).

I don’t think that I’ve ever been brought to tears by clothing in my life (Unless you count trying to fit into old jeans) but the fact that this dress brought that much emotion on me definitely told me something: That I found the dress that I want to walk down the aisle in.

We immediately ordered the dress and I am now patiently (kinda) waiting for it to arrive. Without further delay – Here is the dress I chose:

Save The Dates! – 1/19/11

One of the first major decisions/steps/items to work on is now completed: I have ordered our Save The Date postcards. I’m excited to get them yet dread it a little because I know there’s 120 of them to address and send out. I’m terrified to see how long the invitations take to make/put together/address and send. Anywho….here’s what the Save The Dates look like:

Wedding Planning Week!

So we took a whole week off of work to be able to hash out some of the major wedding planning. Here’s what the schedule consisted of: 

1/25/11 – 2PM – Bridal Exclusives

1/26/11 – 12PM – Lamb’s Thriftway

1/26/11 – 6PM – Cupcake Jones

1/27/11 – 11:30AM – Flowers For You

1/27/11 – 3PM – A Floral Affair

1/28/11 – 11AM – Saint Cupcake

1/28/11 – 3:30PM – Charlotte’s Bridal

1/29/11 – Mail Save the Dates (Part 1)

Cake Testing! – 1/26/11

Today we’re going to go visit some local bakeries for what may be the easiest part of the planning, picking a cake design and flavor! On the agenda is Lamb’s Thriftway and Cupcake Jones. Depending on what we find we may have another decision behind us today, or we may just disappear in a blissful food coma. Wish us luck!

*Update*

Lamb’s – We went to Lamb’s first thing in the morning and their cakes are amazing tasting. Since it was our first appointment, however, we waited to sign any papers. They had some sort of pink champagne cake with strawberry filling that was perfect. One downside was that in order to do the stacked tiers like we were originally wanting, only half of the tiers would end up having icing on them because the spaces under the tiers are not iced. We left the appointment thinking that maybe the cupcake idea would be a better choice for us.

Cupcake Jones – The appointment to meet with Cupcake Jones and try out the cupcakes/get information was at 6 PM. We arrived at their downtown office and were led to the back where there were 3 very pretty cupcakes awaiting us. If I recall, there were the following: a chocolate filled with chocolate ganoush and frosting, red velvet filled and topped with cream cheese icing, and a white cake with cream cheese frosting. To be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the flavor/texture but they were very attractive looking. No papers were signed at this appointment but we did decide that we will definitely go with cupcakes.

Saint Cupcake – After making no committments to the bakeries we visited, I decided we should make a visit to Saint Cupcake to see what they have. We had an appointment for Friday (1/28) shortly before the afternoon. When we got to the shop, we were led upstairs to a room that included photo books of what they’ve done, sprinkle examples and the cupcake stands available. There were also around 12 beautiful tiny cupcakes on the table for us to try. That’s 12 different flavors of cupcakes. We were both impressed and overwhelmed. We were left alone to try the cupcakes and talk amongst ourselves before they came back to check on us and give us the details. Every cupcake we tried was amazing and the prices were just as good so we decided to jump on it and place our deposit to hold the date. If you want a peek at what kinds of cupcakes may be at their wedding, here’s their menu:

http://saintcupcake.com/index.php/menus/

Jack Johnson / Portland Bridal Show 10/3/10

So this last weekend was a great time spent with family. My mom, brother and sister-in-law drove up from Glide Saturday morning to run around and go to a bridal show and the Jack Johnson concert. The weekend was hectic but very fun. The initial plan was to tackle the Bridal Show with the ladies on Saturday and the concert Sunday. Everyone arrived at the house around 2:30 PM and we decided to hold off on the Bridal Show until Sunday to let everyone get settled at the apartment. Saturday night was spent going to the pool hall with Nathan, Krystal, Jimmy and Dru. It was nice to just hang out at the bar and visit with everyone. My mom decided to stay home, claiming she doesn’t go out at night anymore. Yea…she’s a wuss sometimes when it comes to having a good time.

After getting to sleep in a bit on Sunday, we started to get ready to head to the Bridal Show. Alisa happened to have the day off as well so we took her along. The Bridal Show was so overwhelming with all of the booths and venders. For some reason I hadn’t thought about all the tiny decisions I still have to make for the wedding. We all got some great ideas and my mom and I finally got to get together to share our ideas for my wedding. It was a great family day.

We got home from the show just in time to grab a sweater and head out the door for Jack Johnson. The concert was in Washington so we had a 45 minute drive ahead of us. My brother Jimmy was so excited that he was practically vibrating in the back seat the entire way there. He had apparently been dreaming about the concert and waking up talking about Jack Johnson for the last three days. The concert was great and he really sounded amazing in concert. The weather couldn’t have been any better as the rain waited until after the concert. I’ll be posting some pictures of the weekend on here later.

Visiting Glide > Labor Day Weekend 2010

Nathan and I managed to get Labor Day off this year so decided to make use of our three day weekend by heading down to Glide to visit my parents. Since we were on our way down, I called Dawn to see if she wanted to ride along and visit as well. Luckily, the timing worked out well for her to come down too.

Generally speaking, Nathan and I dread the drive down to Glide on Friday after work. Last Friday was no different. With the two cats in the car things can get a little obnoxious since they cry until we let them out of the carriers, which isn’t until we’re on the freeway. We were happy that Dawn was there with us and realized pretty quickly that this trip will be more fun than usual. We stopped off to get some coffee before heading out of town and witnessed a bag lady argument taking place across the street. They were standing on either end of a large driveway hollering at each other and gesturing all over the place. They were both in full-on sweaters and warm clothing (keep in mind it was like 80 degrees outside). Dawn couldn’t resist narrating the argument in a very animated fashion. This was going to be a really fun trip.

We finally made it to Glide around 11PM and the kitties were super excited to get out of the car. I took the liberties of taking down all of the ingredients needed to make Monster Cookies as I was super hopeful that my mom would be willing to make some with me. Saturday morning, that’s exactly what we did. I must say….Monster Cookies are my favorite. Here’s what they look like:

Sunday we all (my parents, Nathan, and I) drove over to Coquille to visit my grandmother and see Nathan’s grandparents at the same time. It was a lot of driving but was a pretty decent trip. My grandma had a really busy and stressful day so she wasn’t as on top of her game as usual. Her Parkinson’s is really taking a toll on her so she seems to have a bit more bad days than good days. While we were there, grandma offered to let me look through her books and see which ones I might like. My grandma always had such wonderful books. I was excited to get an old copy of Canterbury Tales, as well as Aesop’s Fables, Candide and a couple others. The books are going to be a very welcomed addition to our library.

Anywho….that was pretty much our weekend. It was a little more full of driving than I would have liked but oh well.

Lorretta’s New Job Promotion > Kind Of

 So I was recently called into a meeting with my manager and his manager to discuss my future with Yahoo! Needless to say I was a bit concerned that I would be asked to hand in my badge. What else are you supposed to think when the higher ups ask to speak with you?

Once I got in the room I was told that I will be moving over to the Yahoo! Small Business department to help them create and build out an Executive Services department of their own. At first I was really upset about leaving my team and going to another department, even if it is just on the other side of the building (which Small Business is). William from my team will also be joining me to help make the department. Together we’re going to be handling corporate and high-level escalations coming in from Small Business customers. The excitement set in when I realized that we’ll get a chance to help create policy in the new department and shape it ourselves.

So far I’m a week into the new job and it’s a bit of an adjustment. Their policies and tools are very different from what I’m used to. Luckily they sat me with a great team over here and they’ve been helping me a lot. I also have Nathan to help me when I’m stuck. Since he’s already been in the Small Business department for 2 years, he’s pretty familiar with policy and also a great tech resource.Anywho….all doubts aside, I think I’m going to like my new job. And I think that Will is the perfect coworker to help me make this new job the awesomeness.

Oregon Country Fair > 7/10/10

Oregon Country Fair

hmmm… this draft says i’m supposed to start with a link to the country fair site. there it is, blue and shiny, daring you to click it. i doubt you’ll be disappointed, much like the fair itself, that link is loaded with surprises and secrets. what an experience. definitely worth repeating, though my hopes are that next years fair won’t be quite as hot. that’s two fairs in a row with odd weather, first one a mud puddle, second a mud puddle also, but from hippie sweat instead of rain.

the fair itself is a weekend long event set in some beautiful country, near a creek, under the trees, so the shade provides a blessed shelter from the sun, unlike some other fairs. the crowd is colorful and cheery, though littered with gawkers like myself, and not as wild as it once was, or so i’m told. to tell the truth, it’s wild enough for me.

words can’t really describe it, so i’ll put the words to good use and encourage you to go. it’s worth it. to finish off this word sandwich, here comes a link at the bottom to some photos of the event.

Oregon Country Fair Photos

Steve’s Vet Appointment # 2

So we took Steve in for his second vet appointment yesterday and he is just the picture of health for a kitty his age. He came in at a whopping 3lbs….he still thinks he’s much bigger. Steve has made a great addition to our home and Tubaloo has taken on the job of mentoring him. We will often walk into the room to see Tubaloo holding Steve down and biting him to make him sit still then proceed to lick him all over. Tubba’s also passing all of his bad habits down, including climbing on the kitchen counter.

As Steve gets older, we’re starting to get a better idea of what he’s going to look like as an adult. So far, his fur seems to be getting longer and very curly on his belly and by his ears.  He’s also starting to get stray long white hairs on his arms and legs. Looking at his feet….I think he’s going to be a very large kitty. I’ll keep the blog updated with photos as he grows.