dress up

today i went with my bridesmaids to the wedding shoppe on grand ave for my first official trying on of wedding dresses. i had previously been so excited for this day but last night and this morning i became very intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious about it. it turned out to be a good time and i had a great experience at the wedding shoppe. if you're ever going there, be sure to ask for savanna; she was awesome!! & she came from alterations originally so she knew a lot!

i was fearful of not finding a dress that i loved and that i really wanted since i don't want a traditional dress. but savannah found me great options and i learned what i like on my body and what i don't like.

at this point all i'm going to say is that i did not purchase a dress today, but the likelihood of me going back to the wedding shoppe for a purchase is good. :)

that being said i will not be showing any full dress pictures (to keep my fiance from seeing me and in surprise.) these pictures are of some details i like(d) of some dresses but are in no way any indication of what my dress may be. :)

photo credit to the AMAZING gina zeidler who i could not be more thankful to have as a bridesmaid!! i am so thankful for her and to have her and her beautiful ability to photograph situations around at times like this. she's that big, real, truthful, tell-it-like-is, view from the photographers side that i NEEDED to be there with me! i couldn't have done this without her; at least not as well. thank you sooo much gina!!! love you tons!!

now, for the pictures: here are some of the pics i brought along of dresses/details i liked.

our wedding is very much diy (do it yourself) and i am loving fabric flowers lately, so the flowers on this dress are a great detail to tie in!

here's savanna helping me into one of the dresses that had to go overhead (for some reason i much prefer stepping into dresses :]).

i was smitten with the back of this lace dress! and the back of most of the dresses for that matter :) i'm pretty sure i asked if i could take all my wedding pictures backwards

the bottom of said lace dress.

yes i'm a black clothing girl. and yes i did wear black undergarments :)

to be fair, it's all i had

the sparkly-ness of this dress was beautiful but the dress is so not my style.

but as my mom says, i do kinda look "chesty" in this one :)

peeping my ring next to some flowers!!

the thought is to sleep on it, see how i feel after some time goes by and we're going to another bridal shop tomorrow. we'll see were tomorrow takes me! :)

i also need to thank my other 2 bridesmaids for sticking it out with me!! meg: thank you for being there! for taking all the dresses off the hangers and zipping me up! and thank you for telling me i looked pretty in all of them :) i know that no matter what i choose, you'll like it. :) love you lots!!

and to my momma, for being there and taking the dresses when i needed you to. and for your input although it was much less then i expected it to be :) i'm glad you had some help this time figuring out how to strap up/zip up the dresses ;) love you bunches!!

lil twin kitties

i once again got to accompany the greeders (minus dave) to a small school kids carnival. summer (5) was her typical energetic, social butterfly, so we didn't see too much of her, but the twins were fun to play with and follow around.

last year, when meg and i took them they were far too little to do much of the actual games and things, but this year (once they came out of their shells) they were able to do most of them. it was so fun to see how much they've grown and see them interact with other people.

there is a self use face painting station and last year meg had the great idea to paint their faces like kitties, so i did the same this year because it was soo cute!

skye, the almost 2 year old kitty :)

and here's ty ty, the little blonde kitty :]

we actually got them to stand still, together and smile for a picture!!

that's a great accomplishment!!

i was determined to get a picture of meg with her twins since she's always the one taking the pictures. and the opportunity came for me when the twins were enthralled with a baby :)

my mom came along this year and she had a great time too. she even got to teach ty how to putt :) love their faces! must have been a great shot!it was a good time although very exhausting! :)

mommas & daughters

last week, 2 of my longest friends and i decided we needed to get together for another dinner.

as we were trying to figure out a day and place, i remembered that all 3 of our mom's (also long time friends) were getting together to celebrate my mom's birthday.

so i pitched the idea of surprising them at their dinner and it went over well. so we did and we had a lovely mother-daughter dinner at granite city in eagan.

we have all known each other for so long and it was great to catch up with just the girls :)

wine, food and laughs were had by all. :]

closet master

i love, love, love to organize!

especially when it deals with in the home things or paperwork!

therefore, i always jump at the chance to help out gina with her house and her closet. i have organized her closet in the past, but always for get to take pictures. i remembered this time!!

before #1: this is probly the worst i've seen her closet and it doesn't help that they had their ceilings redone and the guys had to take apart a bunch of her shelving. also for that, she has to take all her stuff out of it; it got put back in like this:

gina helped a lot more this go-around and i think it helped a ton to have her telling me exactly how and where she wanted things. it also makes me more hopeful that the closet will stay organized for a while... :)

so the left side has her shirts hung and color coded. then on the back wall her dresses also color coded. and her jeans and most worn pants folded up on the shelf.

and then below that is a shelving unit she previously had in her office but wasn't going to use anymore. so we went and got fabric bins to put in as drawers. these house all the little & messing clothing items she has. gina is a very visual person so we wanted to be sure that anything that is easily disturbed and less likely to stay neat could be hidden in drawers thus giving the appearance of the closet still being clean. then the right side is her cardigans hung and also color coded, and some of her most used bags/purses hung on the end. after i left, gina went back and got more bins to house her workout gear, and those now live on the shelf above the cardigans.

behind the camera in the previous pictures is this shelving unit which she already had as well with more bins. this shelf is more for her accessories and jewelry. this will probably need a few more items to keep it all organized and settled but is a huge step forward!!

i am so proud of how the closet came out and gina even indicated that she thinks it's pretty close to the perfect closet that she had the container store design out for her that would have cost about $1000. soo exciting. and i had fun and enjoyed doing it!

it's the little things!!

so the pictures in this post don't really directly relate to the post itself, but are more for show and as my photo dump from my 365 project. :)

i came home tonight after my crossfit workout and for some reason a big light came on in my head. i realized that it really does make life so much better celebrate the little things. i decided to make a list of my current celebration of little things:

-finding a new vegetable! and liking it!

[brussel sprouts! although they have a very intense smell!! i made them for the first time (my second time every eating them) i roasted them] pic: ty ty! (the twins are almost 2...!!! cripes!) -i ran a mile outside today! i was forced to do it via crossfit, but i did it! and it wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it would be -it's nice enough outside to run outside!!! still cold (35 degree high today) but the sun was out! -sunshine!!! filling my room while i napped today! and staying out til almost 8 pm! so very thankful for sunshine and really tried to celebrate it today! pic: skye monkey chowing on some yogurt -saw my first robin today (actually 2) so spring is coming!!! yay! :) -one month until softball starts!!!!!!! -one month til i get to live with my boy again!!!!! pic: al had to get pepper sprayed at work on friday (in order to be certified to carry as intense stuff as they do, they have to be sprayed by it). it had long lasting effects. and he said he'd much rather be tazed then do that again... -good, inspirational friends. having friends to talk to and friends who don't get upset if i don't talk to them for a lil while. understanding and empathetic friends!! good people in my life!! -realizing how my eating healthier/better and working out really does make me and my body feel great. -growing up and being responsible enough on a night out to not have a hangover the day after! pic: i got a perm over a week ago; still don't know how i feel about it as my hair sometimes freaks out and gets really frizzy. but sometimes it curls well and i love the volume it gives my hair! -today brought about a very hopeful feeling in me for the future! i really hope that plays out!! -thankful i wised up and realized that i can't sit around and wait for life to happen to me, instead i have to go get it! and fight for it!! work for it!! -having great bosses and people to work with and having a very flexible schedule that allows me to do things i love and get things done, especially since starting wedding plans!! -eeek!! having a fiance (i still don't know that i realize it fully, and have to think about it to call al my fiance :]) getting married in 220 days!!! party!! :) -my momma is amazing!! she is by far not one of those little things for me but she proves her worth daily :) don't know what i would do without her! -fitting in to my "skinny" pants that have been packed away for years!! gives me that much more motivation to keep going!!! -finally having dvr and getting to watch ellen everyday! and getting to go out and do things without having to miss my shows... i know there's more, but that's all i got at this moment!! celebration is good!! :)

diy flowers

after doing some research and seeing just how expensive everything wedding is, i decided to try to do a lot of it diy (do it yourself). plus i like the idea of things being handmade rather then purchased. so i have been looking up pictures of accessories and things that i might like for the wedding. below are some of my first attempts at things.

i put together these paint samples from home depot for the colors for our wedding, just for an starting off point. i also sent one of these to my "creative directors" (the most talented, creative people i know!) :)

this is technically called a frayed fabric flower. it looks better in person then in the picture, i think. but i like it. i would probably make the next one a bit smaller and see if that looks good too.
i have seen these wrapped fabric flowers on a lot of the necklaces i like that would be used for the bridesmaids. i finally found a brief tutorial on how one person makes them and tried it. i do like, but really think it depends on the fabric used. also, it's a bit heavy and having a couple of them on a necklace might be hard on the neck? we'll see, maybe i'll make a few more in different sizes and try out a necklace.

these are my second type of felt flowers i've tried. they're really cute but also tall so i don't know what i'd use them for in the wedding. i do like the look and texture of them tho.

and here's all 3 together. once i can get to joann for some more fabric in my colors i'll attempt more and different sizes.

first felt flower

i have been admiring megan hunt (princess lasertron's) felt flower bouquets and accessories for a while now. and i have been wanting to attempt to make something like those flowers for just as long. this past summer i bought the supplies necessary to make some but didn't get around to it until just before my cousin, maren's bridal shower. so i decided to finish one and decorate maren's present with it. so here it is. and on maren's present.

it wasn't too hard, but a little time consuming. i will definitely be making more and trying different tricks with the embroidery floss.