Did you see this yet?

The Search is OVER!!

Seriously - there could not be a better dress for me. This dress is THE PERFECT dress for me - I love it. Love it.




Here is an up close of the beading detail.



And here is an up close of my boobs in this dress - not bad, huh? It's another miracle boob dress because we all know I am not a "big" girl and was not blessed by the boobie fairy.






Now for the shoe and bag search! I am still hoping for a Judith Leiber but may have found something else that I am excited about. If I get really high heels I might not even need to have the dress altered - how cool will that be?

I'm no model!

Oh.. LordieB... in just a few minutes I will be trying on the two dresses I ordered for the wedding I have been obsessed with. Oh - wait - didn't I tell you I ordered a second dress? I did. The Vera Wang dress and this one...





and they both came today. I have no shoes and I have been wearing a baseball hat all day - hello, hat head! So I am going to have use my imagination. Please let one of these fit me well enough that my hunt will be o.v.e.r. -- please!!

Real or fake?

What do you think? Real or fake?

My Nikon D40 came today and I am in l.o.v.e. with it. I can not even begin to fully express how much I love this little baby! It is so easy to operate and for me - being new to SLR cameras - the perfect camera. When my "boyfriend" dropped it off around 3 PM I couldn't wait to start taking pictures. I have been taking pictures all afternoon. In my haste to start taking pictures though I forgot to format the disc so I lost most of them including a few really good ones of Holly Golightly (our dog) - but it's mine - all mine - so there is plenty of time for more great pictures of her and the kids and more!

-

ppsstt...

P.S. If you click on the picture you can see fibers -- and dust... the detail!

Justifying...

If I save a lot of money on my dress and shoes for the wedding I've been talking about can I justify buying a Judith Leiber? No? What about if I got it on Ebay at half the cost? Maybe? Yes? No?

I was thinking the mini-schnauzer in honor of our Holly - isn't she pretty? and only $4800.00! (only?!)

No? OK then.. how about this one - this one is 50% less... only $2400.00

Cute sweater!

Isn't this the cutest darn sweater you have ever seen? Naturally, I thought of Kate when I saw it on BlueFly.com... it comes in black too. And they are both on sale!

Too bad so sad for me.

I decided to get serious with the dress situation yesterday. I searched every possible web site I could think of (except gilt.com - you have to be a member).

All of the dresses started to look a like.

I went online to Neiman Marcus to order this dress...

they only had it in a size 2 and while at one point in my life (before children) I was a size 2 and would love to be a size 2 again - I am realistic and know that I will never again be that size. So that dress is off the table. Too bad so sad - it was the most expensive of the 3 anyway. On to the next!

I ordered this dress from BlueFly and was pleased to receive their 10% off Oscar's Special as well as an additional $30 off as a new customer. I got this Vera Wang dress at 51% off the original price - well, you just gotta love that, don't you?

I figure I have plenty of time to get the dress try it on and return it if it's not "the one."

I will also be taking a trip to the DC Nordstroms (the Annapolis store does not have the selection) in the near-ish future to try the Calvin Klein dress on - which happens to be the least expensive of the 3 original dresses. I decided I am not going to hold myself to the after 6PM long dress only rule and go with the dress that compliments me the best.

I saw a number of great short(er) dresses that I think will work for me so if I find nothing at the store I'll start ordering until I find the one. I have time on my side by starting now.

We are planning to stay at the Waldorf unless someone has a better recommendation in the Park Avenue and 50th Street area...? The reception address is 109 E 50th Street.

.

Here are just a few of the other dresses that I've liked in my search...

I like the brown...

LOVE this dress but maybe too casual...

pretty dress... not sophisticated enough...

sophisticated... too conservative...

LOVE this dress and it's still in the running...

too much arm showing for me...

Love this dress - but the cut of the neck and arm would not work for me...

LOVE this dress and it's in the running...

LOVE this dress and it too is still in the running...

LOVE this dress... too bad it only comes in ivory.

Love this too... not sure if it's still in the running...

Pretty dress... but I think it could look sloppy on.

Call for help...

I have an early May evening wedding in New York - the dress is "festive" - dark suit or tux for men. I have been on the hunt for my dress/gown.

I like this from Neiman Marcus

I like this from Vera Wang

and I like this from Calvin Klein

but none have me thrilled to a point of absolute certainty.

Do you think it is an absolute must to wear a long gown? It is a small evening wedding of about 80 and the reception is at St. Bartholomew's Cafe.

If I can short - I like this dress from Nordstroms.

Where do you like to shop for formal wear? I need suggestions where to look!

this plus this and that = just a maybe

This book

(recommended by this lady)


plus reviews from www.kenrockwell.com (which was recommended by this lady)


plus this camera

might make me a(n amateur) photographer :)

And so now I wait... for the UPS man to bring both.

ho-hum.

Middle name - play along!

I saw this on Jennifer's blog tonight and while I wait for an ebay auction to end - I have 14 minutes and 22 second (21..20..) I thought I'd play too.

Here are the rules: You have to post the rules before you give your answers. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name). After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

My middle name is Lynn.

L - is for love. I love my children and my husband. I also just love the word love. When I was pregnant with bug I thought for sure I was going to have another girl and I wanted to name her Katie Love... cute, right? People thought I was crazy.

Y - is for yell - something I do often but am trying to stop doing. It's not worth it and I don't want my children to turn out to be yellers.

N - is for the letter N. I collect letter N's in our house. It's the first letter in our last name. I have mentioned this before and said I would post about this obsession... one day I will.

N - is for no way! As in no way am I going to lose this ebay auction... 7 minutes and 9 seconds.. 8 seconds... 7 seconds...

I am tagging anyone who wants to play if you haven't already done it!!!

6 minutes and 44 seconds...

Me?

What watch would I like if I could have the one of my dreams?

I'll take one of these... please.

Watch out!

If you could have any kind of watch what would you get?

ooohhuuu hhhooo....

yeah - a jar of salsa and a stalk and a half of celery maybe not such a good idea. I feel... bleh... yucky.

On another note... I found out today we are headed to Columbus, Ohio to visit Mr's family. We are currently not talking to each other - but I am not sure he realizes we are not talking to each other. But officially we are not speaking to each other.

He wants to stay with his mother -- who will be recovering from surgery. I think it will be too much for her. He suggested his sister's house - they live in a small 4 bedroom 1 half bath house and have 4 boys - triplet 6 year olds. That would mean I will have to share a bathroom with not only my family but also 4 boys. Not going to happen. Not.

He then suggested his dad's townhouse... his brother and his niece live there too - it's a 3 bedroom 1 and half bath place. Again... NOT going to happen. HE then suggested I not go - yeah, right. If I thought I could get away with that... are you kidding me? I'd stay home in a heartbeat!

What's wrong with staying in the hotel 1 mile from where his mother lives? We can be close enough to visit with her - take care of her - but not so close that she has to take care of us which is just in her nature. She needs her space to relax and recover.

MEN...!

He can figure it out... but I am on record if he plans to stay with either his dad, his mom or his sister... I will not be going. Period.

And on a happier note... the kids are doing a snow dance. They want a snow day tomorrow. Ah, to be a kid again.

Lunch was good.

I just had a jar of salsa on celery and Tostitos SCOOPS chips.

Yes... I said JAR of salsa.

I figure at 10 calories per serving and only 13 servings per jar it can't be all that bad. I take the Scoops seriously and put a healthy heap of salsa on each so I was through that jar in no time at all. I had about 30 of the chips and about a stalk and a half of celery. Celery has few if any calories and the scoops are about 140 per 15 or so.

It can't be that bad (fattening) - right? 410 calories for a lunch - is that bad?

I have no clue. But I am thinking no, right?

Nutritional?

Well... maybe not.

On Monday the kids and I had an afternoon date in honor of

On Monday the kids and I had an afternoon date in honor of President's Day - we saw the Spiderwick Chronciles (good movie!) and had lunch at my favorite mall restaurant - California Pizza Kitchen.

I always park at Nordstroms because we can park under ground in a parking garage and then we don't have to worry about our coats AND then I have an excuse to drag them through the malls and hit a store or two as we walk by. This was my first time at the mall since Christmas (ah, the beauty of online shopping) and I had a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket.

My first stop was Blue Heron Bags for a new set of monogrammed bags. Do you like? Tan corduroy with black canvas - perfect for winter, spring or fall I think.

And next I stopped in Borders to pick up the book, "The Other Boleyn Girl." So far the book is great - I am only on page 64 though and I have 600 pages to go. The movie will be out soon and I hate seeing a movie before reading the book so I better get cracking!

Next, I hit Williams Sonoma for their Moroccan Slow Cooker sauce. You can't get it online or in the catalog and it's a great slow cooker sauce. All you do is throw in the chicken, green and black olives and dried apricots and the sauce and cook - all day. Serve it over cous cous and you have yourself a great meal. Make sure you throw in extra chicken so you can have leftovers.

Are you wondering why I did not stop at J.Crew? Honestly? I am not crazy about the spring line so far so I just wasn't drawn to go into the store - especially with the kids ready to go home. I have faith in my J. Crew though - they don't often let me down and I think in another month or two our love affair will be back on. I do plan to get a couple of items for spring but I will probably just stick with jcrew.com for these... this sweater and this belt have my name written ALL OVER them!

I want to be a photographer.

I've decided I would like to start learning about photography so I can take better pictures of my babies who aren't babies anymore.

I am not sure where this desire came from - it wasn't here yesterday.

And this is the camera I would like to learn with. It is a Nikon D80S and it looks friendly :)

Your thoughts?

Darn it!

Baby girl needed new tennis shoes - badly. So yesterday while we were at the mall we stopped in every store that sold girl's shoes and ended up at Nordstroms. I was looking for anything but white or any other light colored shoe so they would not look gross in a week. We ended up with these adorable navy blue and pink Puma. I decided to check on Amazon just now to see if they had them and if I could have gotten them for less. They did and I could have. Damn it.

Jeans & UGGs - what would I do without them?

Last week when I had to go into the office two days I happily was able to wear something other than jeans and UGGs! I was also excited to wear my new zebra print shirt from J. Crew... which looked great with my basic black Ann Taylor suit and pearls.

After last Tuesday's commute today I am back in my home office and happily sporting a pair of mongrammed jeans and a black wool sweater and my UGGs.

"A dude is someone who works on a ranch..."

Good ol' Ballmore... 'hon



This cop should be fired.

You warm my heart...

So yesterday was Valentine's Day and even though I said yesterday that this year I wasn't really into the holiday like I normally am - in the end it still is one of my favorite holidays.

Some people don't like it because they are single and it's a "couples" holiday but when I was single it was still one of my favorite holidays! Why? Because going out to a bar for dancing and drinks with your other single girlfriends on Valentines Day is the best! It was the best night to meet someone because if they were a part of a couple they would have been with their girlfriend!
And then when you are a part of a couple it's a reason to have a nice dinner and I'm not going to lie - it's a nice reason to give and get gifts... and I am all about that! Sad... but true :)

Mr. - as usual - did a nice job on the gifts with Godiva and pajamas from Victoria Secret. He has learned over the years that buying a sexy number for me is a waste because I won't wear it... also sad... but true. He got a great cotton tank and pant set - perfect for me! I went to paint your own pottery last week and made cereal bowls for the kids and then went to the grocery for a box of sugar cereal - one box for each - their favorite - for baby girl coco pops, and for bug apple jacks. I think they were more excited about the sugar cereal than the bowls but hey - that's OK. They don't get to enjoy the sugar cereal very often so it was a good thing.

The kids gave their classmates a simple candy valentine - this year I didn't go all out with a bag filled with goodies. I kept it simple. And then we made the teacher's Valentines together... I bought paper hot travel cups with lids, made a "You warm my heart sticker" and put two packets of hot chocolate inside. It was a cute idea and the teachers loved it!


.
After every holiday is over I can't help but to ask when is the next gift giving holiday!!?

Does President's Day count?

No?

Are you sure?

Happy 40th!

Not me!! not yet anyway... but someone asked me for my thoughts on what to get their sister for her 40th birthday and I just realized MY sister is turning 40 in April. I suggested jewelry - something from Tiffany's - you just can't get beat the blue box and white ribbon or a spa get away. These are gifts that I would like for my 40th in 2 short years.

But... if you aren't into jewelry... or spa weekends then these gifts would not have the impact, would they? And because my sister is not at all like me... I am left asking the same question that someone asked me!

What to get my sister for her upcoming 40th birthday?

She's not into jewelry, would not be impressed by Tiffany's, does not like massages (can you imagine?!), would never think about a facial, is not crazy about monogramming... basically nothing like me.

So what do I get her?

Happy Valentine's Day... y'all!

Who's doing what for Valentine's Day tonight? I am usually crazy about this holiday -- this year I feel unprepared. I guess that's what having to go into an office dealing with a commute will do to someone who is not used to it. I had to go back in to Gaithersburg yesterday but the commute was much more reasonable. It still was a long day. Speaking of being unprepared... I have to run out to the store to pick up gifts for the kids!

My 5 hour commute tonight... recorded.

The Writer's Strike - is it over?

Now that the writer's strike is just about over I started to wonder why it happened in the first place. A little late to the party - I know. I knew the basics... the writers felt like they weren't getting enough of the proceeds from their art. But I am not sure I really really got it.

And I'll admit, I didn't really start to worry about the mindless (in)activity of watching TV until my all time favorite show premiered with only 6 episodes to look forward to. And the thought of only 6 episodes of LOST left me feeling a little panicked and it wasn't until then that I wanted to try to understand the whole story.

It doesn't surprise me anymore to find the details broken down for me in 3 and a half easy to understand minutes on YouTube.

Amy at the Grammy's

I like Amy Winehouse - do you?

What do you do?

So what do you do when your neighbor has crossed a line with you and her daughter has also been a bad influence on your daughter? Do you try to discourage a friendship? Do you limit the activity?

My daughter and my neighbors daughter have gotten close in the last 6 months or so. The neighbor's daughter is a year and a half older than mine and knows WAY too much for a 9 year girl. And my daughter listens to EVERYTHING her friend says. She was over at their house and they googled kissing... baby girl has no clue what googling is... or should I say she HAD no clue. And most recently, she commented on someone with a "uni-brow" something she learned from the friend. Now I know that one is kind of funny but the kissing? not so funny. I also learned that neighbor friend knows what an alcoholic is and what it means to be gay. Again - is it me or is 8 years old too young to know what an alcoholic is or what sexual orientation a person is - not to mention the how to's of kissing a boy.

So today when she asked if baby girl could spend the night my answer was no. A firm no. This time I managed to escape - but what do I do about next time? I can't continue to avoid the sleepover question forever. It's a sticky situation that's for sure!

Is it me or am I over reacting? No? I didn't think so.

Today is the day!

Today is the day Mr. gets his walking cast thing off! And... Wednesday we were SUPPOSED to fly to Steamboat Springs for our annual winter ski trip. Interesting how the two dates were practically the same. Skiing and a torn Achilles Tendon do not go together - at all. He still has 2 more months before he can actually run and 4 more months before he's back to 100%. Long road to recovery!

Tech Support

My mother sent me this - I thought it was fuuny...

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0 , Hunting and Fishing 7.5 , and Golf 3.6.

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0 , but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0 . Please help!

Thanks,

Troubled User

_____________________________________

REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0 . It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance .

Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0 , Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2 .

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag Nag 9.5 . Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3 . This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!

Best of luck,

Tech Support

I am really am that weird!

I was tagged by the most adorable Maggii over at MaggiiBleu LifeStyles to name 7 weird things about myself. This is not hard for me and I could probably name 14 weird things about me but I'll save the other 7 for another time.

OK here goes...

1. I prefer... and when I say prefer I really mean... MUST use a white wash cloth to wash my face in the morning. I use one a morning and the water must be really, really hot. I have two or three cloths in my linen closet that are not white (one purple, one dark green, and one that is tan) but I only use those if I run out of the white cloths. It must have something to do with being able to wash the white cloths in hot water and bleach. My children also use one white wash cloth each morning to wash their faces. So you can imagine what our white load of laundry is like... 20 plus white wash cloths every week.

2. I take really, really, really HOT showers so hot that Mr. can not take it and so hot that when I get out my body is pink from the heat. If the shower is not hot enough I just can't stay in. Sometimes the shower is so hot that I feel close to passing out (see? weird.) and then I will put the cold water on to cool off and then back over to hot before getting out.

3. I think Justin Timberlake is hot. See? I really am really weird!

4. If I really like an article of clothing I will buy every color -- and usually more than one in black. This goes for shoes, sweaters, skirts, jeans, everything. OK... so maybe that doesn't seem so weird to you all! I come by this honestly. Do you remember when velour was in style in the 80's? Or when those crazy deep v-neck cotton (or were they arcrylic?) sweaters came out -- I think The Limited had them. They had a deep v-neck and you wore a white t-shirt or a tank top under them and you were, oh so cool. Again - this is in the 80's for my young blog friend... keep in mind we also wore our hair BIG. My mother, sister and I all wore the same size and we had every color - and we kept them in our "shared" closet along with our Bermuda Bag covers - again every possible color and pattern, turtle necks (every color imaginable)... OK... seee???? now it seems weird to you, yes?

5. I get offended and my feelings are really, really hurt when I cook and people don't like what I cook - even if I don't like it either. That's not weird? Oh. Tell my husband that then, please. I swear that's why I hate cooking - I hate the rejection.

6. I don't get pedicures in the winter. I don't! I stop around November with one last pedi without polish. I start back up around March or April unless I am going somewhere hot in the winter. I have bare toes right now.

7. I love canned artichokes and hearts of palm so much that seriously I will buy several cans of them at once at the grocery and then eat them all that night. If they are in the house I can not resist them. For example - I found a 6 pack of canned artichokes at Sam's Club the last time I went - this was on a Saturday. By Sunday night (no I am not kidding) they were GONE. love them - I do!

See -- the weirdness is plentiful in me :)

Who do I tag? I am supposed to tag 7 people... I tag Mrs. K, Kerry (not me - the funny Kerry), Jessi, the WASP (where you been man?), Nautical by Nature, Amy, and Brie! We'd love to know if you are weird too!

12 minutes until LOST.... I AM SO EXCITED I CAN NOT STAND IT!!! Now that is not weird.

Spell check issues...

If you didn't know this about me - spelling is not my strong point. And for whatever reason spell check is not working for me in blogger. So I apologize in advance for any errors in the past few days and in the future - as long as it's not working I can not guarantee there won't be multiple spelling errors in each post!

So sleepy.

I don't know why but I am so sleepy this morning. OK well I DO know why. I woke up last night around 1 AM with an irritated feeling - I can't really explain it. Like maybe my skin was itchy or I couldn't get comfortable. So I got up to go to the potty (yeah, I say potty - Mr. does too!) and on my way back to bed I decided the only way to get rid of this irritated restlessness was to take a Tylenol PM. Hmmm. Why would I do this? Because I was up after having gone to sleep and I think I was still half asleep and clearly NOT in my right mind. Next thing I know it was 6:30 AM and almost time to get up. 5 and half hours is NOT enough time to sleep off a Tylenol PM. So there you have - the reason I am so sleepy today. My bed is calling my name.

J. Crew - gotta love them!

I've been wanting this shirt from J. Crew - and it came up on sale today! Of course with overnight shipping - so I can have it next week for when I go into the office - I am paying about the same as before it went on sale but hey - I'll look wild in it next week and it was worth the extra shipping! I also picked up these lovelies in the J. Crew latest sale and of course other than the zebra shirt it came with free shipping with a simple online search for a J. Crew coupon!

And on another J.Crew note... this is what I wore to the kid's swim team practice tonight...

have you ever wondered?

Have you ever wondered what your children will look like when they grow up?

I did too - not anymore.

My neighbor saw Juno the other night and said it was scary how much baby girl looks like Ellen Page. She said it was so uncanny that she had a hard time concentrating.

I was obviously curious - and she's right - it is uncanny. Put a little makeup on baby girl and she could be Ellen Page's little sister! Weird.

They say everyone has a twin out there... I believe it.