#41. I won!

let's start by saying I never win anything. door prizes, bingo games, bets, scratch-off lotto tickets . . . nothing. you know those carnival games where you pick up the floating duck & win a prize if the bottom is red or whatever? yeah, no. my duck is not a winner.

but, I DID win a little "contest" the Repeat Bride was having the other day for some engagement books. (she was mostly giving them away, but hush. I will claim my small victories where I can) I "won" a copy of Emotionally Engaged: A Bride's Guide to Surviving the "Happiest" Time of Her Life (by Allison Moir-Smith).

I'm kind of excited.

also, check out her blog. it's great. she's very honest about the ups & downs of preparing not just for a wedding but for a life together. actually, she's really very honest about everything. pretty great.

(ps: does it make me a nerd to be really excited about winning a book? probably. do I care? nope.)

#32. why I love hgtv (or lemons & limes, part II)

renting sucks. Rock & I live in a little house in ghetturbia. you know, right where the ghetto bleeds into the suburbs? not quite gritty enough to be urban, not yet chic enough to have a name? that's us. (side note: I didn't know neighborhoods needed names until I moved here. is that normal or just texas?) also, we have the dumbest woman I have ever met in real life for our landlady. all of this makes me want to own a house . . . more than I can possibly express, I want to actually own the place where I sleep. I have dreams of painting walls and retiling floors and installing kitchen cabinets . . . as a result, we watch a lot of hgtv. and I have been reading design & remodel blogs lately.

enter This Young House and their diy/design fabulousness. they have been remodeling their midcentury ranch house & post about it. they answer reader questions, they post lots of pictures . . . and they posted about their gorgeous, casual, at-home, backyard wedding!

they held the ceremony in the back yard.

and the reception on the driveway.

(reception night shot)

check out her awesome dress (love the back!)

which she dyed afterwards to be a fab cocktail number

and, AND they used lemons & limes in glass vases for the centerpieces! this is just like what I want!

I am nowhere near ambitious enough to hold a wedding in my very own backyard (even if we had a nice one that wasn't full of mud & the neighbors trash . . . ) but this wedding (and couple) is so cute! go check it out!

#25. rocky mountain romance

ooh! Snippet & Ink posted a wyoming inspiration board! she calls it "rocky mountain romance" and says:

A rustic, quaint log chapel, a bride in cowboy boots, horseshoes, s'mores, and a
mechanical bull - all perfect elements for a wedding in Wyoming.

it is pretty. I'm pretty sure that if momma was running my wedding, it would look like this . . .

#13. wedding industry vs self-esteem

in my search for "real texans" who are also "real people" (read: people I would like to be friends with), I found Maggie at Eat Drink Marry and her political campaign wedding -- so creative! (and the red shoes are fab!) I love her "F-Word Fridays" and all the fun ideas she's come up with. (totally stealing the cocktail napkin trivia!)

she's going for her first fitting and, well . . . just read it, here and then read her "letter" to the store where she bought her wedding gown (here. hilarious. and sad.) and tell me you aren't just totally pissed off! as if the wedding industry doesn't offer enough ways to make women feel anxious, guilty or insecure . . . bridal salons are often among the worst culprits! buying a wedding dress should be a fun, glamorous and exciting event. I mean, how often is it that you get to try on amazing dresses and have people fawn over you? and every woman should leave her shopping experience feeling like an absolutely beautiful goddess not like she is somehow less because of her size or shape (or budget!). that is exactly the reason I got out of the bridal industry.

the dress-buying day grants salespeople the perfect opportunity (and even, dare I say, responsibility) to work against the machine and try to reverse some of that "there is onle one standard of beauty and it's not you" magazine thinking we have been poisoned with all these years . . . haven't we come farther than this? aren't we supposed to be more accepting and loving than we were years ago? a woman in love is beautiful, even if she doesn't fit exactly into the size 6 sample dresses (who does, really?)

plus, isn't that what alterations is for?

(grrrr . . . getting off of soap-box . . . )

(oh, ps: I really do think some of it is dallas. sorry big-d, you are one crazy vain biatch . . .)