on wedding dresses and tilapia pan fried in butter...

Chessi and I drove to Dallas last Thursday for my first dress fitting at Stanley Korshak. I don't know why I was so nervous about it, but I could barely sleep the night before. When we arrived my hands were shaking. This isn't just a sample... the sales associate unzips the hanging bag to reveal THE dress. As I step into it, I look in the mirror to basically find a pretty sheet draped over my shoulders. "Where's the dress I fell in love with," I wondered with a concerned look on my face. At just about that moment I hear the all too familiar "POP" of champagne. Chessi had packed it in her bag all the way from Shreveport, just for this moment. And so from the bottle I drank standing in my wedding dress with the sales lady's jaw on the floor. Listen - you do whatcha gotta do.

Yesterday (a week from my first appt. with Chessi), my mom and I drove back to Dallas to see if the dress had taken shape. My bridal photos are this Saturday, so there really was no time to waste. I have (and am continuing to) learn that wedding dress alterations are a process that involves many fittings. After a brief debacle about whether to stay the night in Dallas to have more alterations done or not, I drove back to Shreveport with my wedding dress that is fit to my body and ready to be photographed tomorrow.

This would be an appropriate time to share a photo of the item I have been discussing throughout this post, but you will just have to wait until after May 18th ;) Instead, I will show you how Chessi, Stafford and I celebrated the end of the nerve racking first fitting.

a little butter goes a long way in regards to happiness, in my opinion.

my wedding dress has landed...

That's right, friends. My wedding dress has made it's way to Dallas, all the way from the United Kingdom. I am itching to get there and see it, touch it, try it on... my first fitting is one month away from my wedding day- this Thursday. I have butterflies just thinking about it. Will it be as I remember it from October, when mom and I found "the one"? Will all my workouts and dieting prove to be worth it when i turn around and see myself in the mirror for the first time? Will I cry?

I have been obsessing about jewelry and shoes- sending my mom and sisters links to things I have found online the last few months, but have I ordered anything yet? No. Do I have a veil yet? No. Am I a little bit nervous about getting all of this done and being happy with the woman -the bride- I see in the mirror before walking down the aisle toward my future husband? YES!

...and because I don't like posts without pictures here are a few of my beautiful friends. Lindsey was just married this past weekend - Congratulations!!

and Lacey is only two weeks away from her big day! Hooray!!!

This week's wedding goals (which hits the one month mark) include:
- creating, finalizing, and ordering ceremony programs
- pick out a wedding band ring
- find wedding shoes before fitting
- continue writing thank you notes for the fabulous wedding showers I have had
  (pictures are up on facebook, but I'm still doing a blog post soon)
- order bridesmaid gifts
- complete a few diy projects
- wedding dress fitting on Thursday
- go over wedding day details/create schedule and send to vendors and wedding party
- meet with photographer about bridal session location and specific shots I want
- find/order/or borrow bridesmaid luncheon dress and rehearsal dinner dress


Before I finish this post I just have to comment on the Boston Marathon bombing. My heart goes out to all that have been affected by this terrible act of terrorism. I will continue to pray for all that were involved in this tragedy.

a birthday on front street...

Dad's birthday is on April Fools Day - no, this is not a joke! Since we had Monday off for the Easter holiday, Dad wanted to go somewhere different for lunch. He, Mom and I headed south for the day. Why not in Natchitoches?

 {After visiting the oldest general store in Louisiana, we appropriately chose Papa's for lunch!}

 {where's waldo?}

 {does anyone know what this building is that was recently built on front street? Mother was aghast at it's modern shape...it really is an odd placement. Any ideas?}

Happiest of birthdays, Pops!

on Easter morn...

"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24

Hope everyone had a blessed day!

spending some time in Katy...

 After an evening spent on the patio at Molly's Pub following the Astros game, we picked our lunch spot- BB's cafe. I am currently on a pretty strict wedding regimen and was extremely nervous about blowing it in Houston, but everywhere I went I found delicious salads on the menu. Have these always been here and I just went straight to the more meaty options? Either way, my waistline was appreciative, even if everyone's sandwiches looked divine.

Although Emily and Richard are looking to move around the Heights area in Houston, TX, the suburb of Katy did alright by me! Before heading to their home in Katy, we stopped at HEB's to pick up crawfish for dinner... maybe it was the med's I was on, but wow was I overwhelmed in this place! It was a Super Target on steroids. Tison even said, "This is why the rest of the world hates us!" There were towers of food as far as the eye could see. People were in line hand selecting their crawfish, one by one, and putting them into grocery bags. Oh, you Texans. What are you doing? They must have thought we were nuts when an employee brought out two huge sacks - 70 pounds- of crawfish and put them into our buggy.

As Tison told our little helper Thomas, "You can't be in a hurry when you're making crawfish." The keg of Saint Arnold Lawnmower from Spec's helped pass the time...

Thanks to Mr. Robert's recipe, Emily and Richard's generosity, and Tison's cooking patience - we all enjoyed crawfish for hours!

a couple of beers and a baseball game...

Upon arriving at The Sam Houston Hotel, we met up with Emily and Richard before walking to The Flying Saucer, officially making it a Houston tradition to go to grab a few beers there and attend an Astros baseball game. My friend Erica and Sarah, who live in Houston now, met us at the game - yay! Even though I had been feeling sick all week, I just couldn't miss out on this trip. Bottles of medicine in tow- I made it through and even snapped a few pictures! Here is our Friday afternoon-evening in Houston:

{The game went into the 11th inning and ended in a tie- Everyone wins!! Thanks Tiffany for letting me use some of your iphone pictures of the game!}