Said Yes to the Dress

I finally found it - my wedding dress! After months of searching, countless hours of website browsing and worrying that I might not have the "OMG - this is the dress!" moment - I did!

When I walked in the store, I saw the dress on a mannequin. I told my mom, "I kind of like that dress..." but I kept walking because it wasn't the style I had been going for. I had five tags for dresses to try on and it was my last tag - my wild card dress.

It was the first dress I tried on and I instantly loved it. I went ahead and tried the others on but kept thinking about the first dress. In the end, we said yes to the dress and signed my bridal life away.

Bridal gown shopping is weird. The entire process is odd because there are rules and regulations for trying on a dress...its just a strange cultural process. No pictures until you purchase, no telling the designer until after purchase, sometimes you can try on the dress yourself, sometimes someone has to put it on you...I am just happy to have found my dress so I don't have to fill out any more forms or buy any more magazines!

Without giving away the details, it is classic and graceful and I cannot wait for it to come in! I only have to wait until March!

On a side note: My mom told me a funny story about our search for the perfect dress so I thought I would share. Over my birthday weekend, my parents were in town and I was still sick from the EYE DROPS. I told my mom that there were a few bridal gown stores in Milwaukee that I wanted to go a look at. It takes a lot of energy to try on wedding gowns and I wasn't feeling it so I said we could wait and go the next time I was home.

Meanwhile, my mom was worried that I had cold feet! She didn't want to ask but she was concerned about my lack of urgency to get a dress. She also thought that we might be thinking about going the simple route and getting married in Las Vegas (I think this was wishful thinking on her part :-).

So after we found the dress she said, "I'm glad you finally found a something because I was really  worried about you..."

Oh, Mom.

Home for the Holidays

I saw Home for the Holidays with my mom and dad in Bloomington at the Von Lee theater when I was a little girl. We had Thai food, spent time at the international grocery Sahara Mart and probably looked at CD’s at Trax. This movie quickly became a family favorite and we watch it almost every Thanksgiving.

I am flying home tomorrow and can’t wait!! In only an hour, I will be in the car driving home with my mom!

This year, she is what I am most thankful for. I love my momma and she has made me the lady I am today! I love being at home helping out with the holiday festivities. My mom always brings out her fancy serving dishes and my grandma’s china. And we have a fantastic Thanksgiving meal at the table I sat at growing up – I typically make my sister laugh until she gets in trouble and my mom and dad just roll their eyes at us. After dinner, my dad will say, “I’m sure glad that I ate when I did, because I couldn’t eat a thing now.” - He also likes to ask cashiers at the grocery if they take cash – he’s one of those…

I love my family, my house, and my dogs. I have so much to be thankful for this year!!

On a side note: My hard working fiancé can’t come to Thanksgiving because he has to work on black Friday. Although I am sad that I can’t be there with him and that he can’t be with me, I know that he and Rosie will be watching football and vegging out in Milwaukee. I picked up some of his favorite treats so he can partake is in holiday overindulgence, too!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Thank you Shirley!

Lately I have had a thing for Shirley Temples. Not the movies (although I used to watch them at my aunt’s house whenever I spent the night) but the drink. Sometimes I want a cocktail without the liquor. It also brings me back to being a little girl because my dad would order them for me if we went out to eat and I always felt special with my pretty drink.

Regardless, I looked up the history of the drink and was surprised to see that the version I know and love is not the original version that was created for Miss Temple! The original drink was invented by a bartender in Beverly Hills, CA at Chasen’s restaurant, a place Shirley Temple often frequented as a child. As she could  not drink alcohol, but was always in the company of adults, Chasen’s sought a drink that would appeal to Shirley’s taste buds, and the kiddie cocktail was born.

The recipes are below if you are in the market for a fun alternative to a cocktail! I think either version would be super cute if served at a baby shower!

The Original Shirley Temple
-Two parts Ginger Ale
-One part orange juice
-1TSP grenadine
-Garnished with an orange slice and a cherry

Modern Day Shirley Temple
-Ginger Ale, Sprite or 7up base
-1TBS grenadine
-Garnished with a cherry

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

I think if you did a study, listening to Christmas music would improve one’s mood by at least 75%. I know it helps me. Now that it is November, I can officially start listening to my beloved Christmas tunes. And I can tell you that almost instantly my mood improves, I feel happy and sentimental and cozy all at the same time! This year I am going to make THE perfect Christmas playlist. But in the meantime, you can use my blog as your playlist.

I hope the music puts you in the holiday spirit and improves your mood, too!

Let the Christmas shopping, recipe testing, Christmas movie watching and gift wrapping begin!

Twenty-sick

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind for Joey and me. We have had lots of guests!

Steve (Joey’s best man) and his wife Lauren came to Milwaukee for their second visit!! Joey kindly offered to take our friends on brewery tours during the day which means I got a few borderline drunk dials while at work. We also took them out to dinner at Milwaukee Ale House – the quintessential place to take visitors when in Milwaukee. Right as we were making our way to the bar for an after dinner drink, fire alarms went off – and like most people, we did nothing. Then a few frantic employs cautioned us that the building was going to explode. So, we left and were glad to take our friends to an explosion free bar – otherwise I’m not sure they would be so eager to visit us again!

That same weekend, my good friend Allison (one of my bridesmaids) came to visit! I was so happy to see her as our last encounter was brief in a Chicago bar. We celebrated my birthday with sushi and had an evening with lots of wedding talk, blog reading and all things girl. It was fantastic!

At the end of the weekend, Sunday, October 24 to be exact, I decided to use those eye drops I mentioned in my last post.

On Monday morning, I woke up with a terrible sore throat and a chemical feeling in my mouth. Hmm…could this be caused by the eye drops? A quick Google search told me that yes – cold syndrome was a side effect of the drops. Over the next few days, my sickness got worse and worse. I was able to make it to work on Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday on, I was down and out.

ALL FROM EYE DROPS?? The sickness went from a head cold to a chest cold – coughing, sneezing, you name it.

That’s right friends; I rang in my 26th birthday in my bed. Joey was going to take me to this new restaurant in MKE and I couldn’t even do it...

On the plus side, my mom and dad came up the following weekend and provided some much needed TLC. It doesn’t matter how old you get, when you are sick and your mom and dad are around, it always make you feel better.

All and all I had a great birthday with lots of wonderful notes, cards, treats, homemade dinners, and company of great friends and family.

**On a side note, I threw away the eye drops and have vowed to leave my eyes alone.

Eye don’t think it was a good idea

Recently I‘ve noticed my vision changing. I used to have spectacular vision and could see things from far away, but I have started to notice a change since I look at a computer screen most of the day.

I made my first eye doctor appointment per Joey's recommendation. Everything was going well and then the doctor said he was going to dilate my pupils. Ok, I haven’t had this done before but it’s just a few eye drops, no big deal. That’s what I thought until I started getting really hot and dizzy…

So I interrupted my doctor with a, “…I’m really sorry but am I supposed to be feeling dizzy…”

This was followed by a series of breathing exercises, going in and out of conscientiousness, intense sweating, numb hands and slurring words. And no, I’m not kidding.

I remember my poor doctor saying, “Stay with me, stay with me.”

Yes-I almost fainted at the eye doctor.

Apparently this reaction happens to about a handful of people each year and there is no major reason for it. The doctor explained bunch of other stuff but I was trying not to black out so I stopped listening.

So what makes it even better is the fact that after I couldn’t see anything up close afterwards. So picture me – hot, sweaty, blind as a bat…I had to go and get a cookie and sit in the food court of the shopping center I was at and stayed there for an hour before I felt safe enough to drive home. But before I left, I had to make a quick return at Kohl’s.

I forgot my sunglasses so to nice folks at the doctor’s office game me a disposable roll up vision shield. 1.)Are you kidding me? 2.) Have you seen what these look like? They actually thought I was going to wear this plastic shield around the town center? Did I fail to mention it was 8pm!?!

Anyhow, I went on to Kohl's - which apparently uses the brightest florescent lights in the world because as soon as I walked in, I had sharp pain in my temples. I was squinting just to get around the store. I made my returns and got out as soon as possible.

Welcome to most painful headache I have ever had.

To make this incredibly long story short, I don’t need glasses. I have eye fatigue and the doctor gave me eye drops to help with this. And – you will read all about the “wonderful” eye drops in my next post.