Show Us Your Life: Wedding Dress

So, Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting a Show Us Your Life series and this week is 'show us your wedding dress' week. I absolutely LOVED my wedding dress, so I'm all too happy to oblige. (Next week is wedding party and flowers, so I'll be happy to play along then, too!)

After being vehemently opposed to David's Bridal, guess what? I found my dream dress there. It was an ivory all-over beaded lace trumpet-style gown with an illusion halter neckline, matching sash and chapel train (yes, I got that description off of the DB website). 

I always knew that I wanted a halter neckline, but I had pictured a more full A-line skirt. But after trying many dresses of this style on, I realized this wasn't the most flattering style for me. So when I came across my dress I fell in love with the slimmer trumpet style.

Here's a shot of my dress monogram, with my new initials and wedding date. I loved this little detail. You can get these from a variety of places now, but my mom got mine through the J. Crew wedding site. It was my "something blue" and such a sweet little extra:

 Here's a picture of my sis putting on my garter:

And one of my dad walking me down the "aisle":

One of the things I loved most about the dress was the lace work. The pictures really do not do it justice. I never considered my self a lace girl, but this dress had me at hello. It reminded me of some of the much more expensive Monique Lhuillier-style dresses.

 

Another thing I loved about my dress was the way it bustled. Because the beaded lace was SO heavy, the alterations lady recommended a double bustle - an over bustle AND an under bustle. I loved the way it turned out, even though we did have to re-tie it a few times throughout the night (I don't think even the strongest bustle had a chance with all of the moves I was busting). Here's a good shot of the dress bustled:

And finally, here's a shot of my bridal portrait:

But where is my dress now? Hanging in a closet at my mom's house. On a regular 'ole hanger. Still dirty from too much dancing and biodegradable rice. Exposed to all types of dust and damaging materials. I need to get it cleaned and preserved. Just one more thing on my post-wedding To Do list (9 months later). 

I've thought about selling it. I'm under no illusions that a daughter might wear it 25 years from now. And I could possibly get some decent money for it (not to mention saving the $150 it costs to have it cleaned and preserved). But, I'm just not sure I can part with it.

What do you guys think? Preserve it and stick it in a closet forever? Or sell it and possibly regret it later?

**All images taken by the lovely Leslie of Leslie Ann Mills Photography.

Friday Link Love

Here's a quick recap of some of the web finds I'm loving this week:

- Have you seen photos yet of Wednesday's solar eclipse in Asia? This is a great collection of images. Wondering if you'll ever be able to experience a solar eclipse? Well, we'll be able to see one here in the U.S. on August 21, 2017. Mark your calendars!

- Here's a quick glimpse into one of the Martha Stewart craft storage rooms. A room full of every craft product imaginable? Ummmm, HEAVEN!

- There's something eerie yet beautiful about these images of 100 abandoned houses.

- This is a fun little time waster. Read the instructions, then click "click me to get trippy."

- This video has been blowing up on blogs and Twitter today. It IS pretty amazing. Can you just imagine how fun of a couple this bride and groom must be?! And what good sports their bridesmaids and groomsmen are.

Have a good weekend!

Holly Springs Breaking News

So, last weekend on our date night to Walmart (yes, that's what happens when you get old), we passed by this new building on Hwy 55. 

I said, hmmm wonder what that's going to be? (The last time I got excited about a newly built building near our house it turned out to be a fire station. Now, I'm all for fire safety but it's not exactly somewhere I'm going to be frequenting regularly).

Lee says, "It looks like an Autobell." (if you don't know, Autobell is a car wash) I immediately start singing "People can tell when you Autobell!" Lee rolls his eyes.

Then, IT HAPPENS.

We turn the corner onto the little side street between Walmart and this new little building, AND SEE THIS:

The hallelujah chorus commences.

I was speechless. Then I started screaming.

Lee was pretty excited too.

Holly Springs is a growing community, but other than Sonic and Wendy's, the restaurant choices are scarily similar to La Grange (Andy's, Bojangles, chinese restaurant, pizza joint). 

But now, my all time favorite fast food is here to save the day, and just 4 minutes away! 

This could be scary. I could eat Chick-fil-A every day of the week. ESPECIALLY on Sundays. And Lee and I are suckers for their milkshakes. Mmmmm.

No word on when it's opening, but they're already hiring!

Looks Good Enough to Eat

When we make dinner and it comes out super yummy looking I like to take pictures. 

Because I'm a dork like that. 

So I thought I'd share a few of our recent masterpieces.

Mmmm baked ziti. The trick here is to turn the broiler on for just a bit to get the cheese all bubbly and browned.

Bruschetta made with fresh basil from our garden. Here's the recipe. (Sorry these next two pics are crappy, I'm usually so ready to dig in I can't be bothered to run and get the camera, so these are camera phone pics.)

Meet the 8 to 5 sandwich. I read about it on Design Mom's blog. It sounded right up my alley. So we made it that same week. Ummm, can you say DELICIOUS?! Here's the recipe. Avocado AND cream cheese? Yes please!

(Sort of) Tightwad Tuesday

So, I have a confession to make: I'm not really a tightwad.

I bet you were all thinking "Man she saves so much money, I bet she puts it all in savings and never wastes a dime." Ummm, NOT.

You see, I like to save money so that I can spend money. The more money I save via coupons, sales, turning the thermostat up (or down) and making Lee cut his own hair, the more money I can SPEND.

I used to spend money on Coach purses, Marc Jacobs sunglasses and mani/pedi's (ok, I still like those things). But ever since 108 came into my life, my spending has taken a different direction. I crave all things Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel.

Unfortunately, I don't make a Pottery Barn-esque salary, so I can't have Pottery Barn in my life without being cost conscious elsewhere.

I haven't paid for a pedicure in over a year, because I've found that I can do it myself (pretty decently) and save enough money for a throw pillow(!) or a vase(!) or a new doormat(!). (I know, I'm a geek.)

So, enough clarification on that. Now, onto the savings:

Last week, with ONE phone call, I saved us $420 over the next year! 

How is that possible you ask? Well, when we moved into our house a year ago and signed up with Time Warner Cable, we got a 12-month promotional deal on both our digital cable and high-speed Internet services. We've been dreading the end of that 12-month period for months now. Our bill came this month and it was almost $50 higher than what we'd been paying -- up from $93 to $142.

So I hopped on the horn and got a TWC rep on the phone. It went a little something like this*: 

Me: Anything you can do to lower my bill? 

TWC: Well, no. 

Me: Hmmm, that's too bad. Times are tight and I'm not paying $150 every month for TV and Internet. And DirecTV and Verizon sure have been sending me some enticing offers.

TWC: Umm, let me transfer you to our retention team.

Me: Hello retention lady. If you want to "retent" me you can lower my bill.

TWC Retention Lady: Ok, let's see what we can do.

She proceeded to get our bill down to $98 a month, just $5 more than what we were paying. I was most appreciative and felt a little surge of victory.

*Actual conversation may have varied slightly.

HOWEVER, the next part of the story is very un-tightwad-ish. I had to call Time Warner back a few days later to get our balance for July (instead of paying the $142, they prorated this month's balance). After the rep gave me the balance, she said "WAIT -- we're running a deal right now -- Showtime and Cinemax for only $5/month for 2 years." Now normally I wouldn't have even considered this but I happened to remember that Big Brother After Dark comes on Showtime and since BB is my summertime obsession, I caved. "Yes, sign me up." 

Damn it! They suckered me in for a little more each month. BUT, I figure if we watch just one Showtime or Cinemax movie a month instead of renting one, then it will pay for itself. And, I can always cancel if we end up not using it (after Big Brother is over of course).

Under Attack + Fruits of Our Labor

I told you we were worried about deer eating our garden. We had been lucky. No signs of deer. They ate our neighbor's blackberries, but didn't touch our garden. 

Then, one day while I was at work, our neighbor posted this picture to Facebook:

That picture was taken out of their window. Yep, that's our garden. Crap-ola.

We surveyed the damage. So far, she's only dined on cucumber leaves. She left the cukes intact, but ate off most of the leaves and blossoms that would've grown new veggies:

At least she didn't touch the tomatoes. She did however get the sunflowers that were growing back near the woods. I mean COME ON! My sunflowers?! NOT necessary.

We went to Lowe's. We bought this:

Yep, deer stopper. You just spray it on your plants and it stops the deer. It smells like old people perfume. I am skeptical. BUT, it's 100% satisfaction guaranteed!! So it HAS to work, right?? We shall see.

Anyway, after I got over that devastation, I realized we had a lot of picking to do. Our cukes  and tomatoes are growing almost faster than we can eat them. Here's what we harvested just on Saturday:

I've found that the most fun part of having a garden is coming up with new ways and recipes to use all of your freshly grown goods. So on Saturday, I decided to make a delicious fresh pasta salad with cukes and cherry tomatoes. I couldn't decide between a mayo-based pasta salad and an oil-and-vinegar based one, so I made one of both:

They were super-delish!

Ok, that's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow with a few yummy food pics & recipes, plus a (sort of) Tightwad Tuesday post.

One Word Wednesday

Ouch.

(Other applicable words: Stupid. Aloe. Peeling.)