My Wedding Dress Story

My friend Texan Mama is doing a Link Up where we tell about our wedding dresses. Although I don't have any digital pics from when we got married 6 years ago or a scanner, I do have pictures of the dress. This idea was also borrowed. I am going to take a picture of my daughter wearing my wedding dress each year (hopefully on our anniversary). Here is the first when she was just 3 days old:

And here she is a year later:

This is not your traditional wedding dress (I'm not even sure it was considered a wedding dress). No train, just a straight skirt with a crossover top, but it did have some beadwork on the front. It was cream-colored (white looks terrible on me). I went back to my wedding album and found the actual receipt for the dress...total with tax just under $200. The crazy part is the the shoes and undergarments (you know the strapless bra with that extra that keeps your tummy held in nice and tight), those cost just as much as the dress.

For those who may not know me well, this wasn't my first wedding and thus not my first wedding dress. But I was somewhat consistent. My first wedding was bigger and more formal but I was still a frugal dress-buyer. I believe that first dress cost less than $300, and I bought the shoes at Payless. And in case you like the idea and dressing your daughter in your wedding dress, here's what you can do for your son...have him wear one of your husbands white button downs, reminiscent of the tux shirt the hubby probably wore for the wedding.

Happy Things 351-420

351. youth group dances
352. holiday music all year long
353. homemade pear butter
354. smell of baby powder
355. a sweet tooth
356. electric toothbrushes
357. rock sugar for hot tea
358. fried pickles
359. taking a cooking class together
360. baking your own bread
361. Texas wildflowers along the highway
362. family time
363. East Texas Piney Woods
364. backgammon sets
365. someone who wants to take you dancing
366. library storytime
367. leaving notes on cars
368. toasting marshmallows
369. crayons for kids at restaurants
370. starting a collection
371. comparing your fortune with your dinner partners
372. stocking stuffers
373. Nerf guns
374. leg warmers
375. pulling your ears as you slurp spaghetti
376. lazily drifting on a raft on a lake
377. monkey bars on the playground
378. turning off all the lights except the Christmas tree
379. rearranging the furniture
380. heaters in the bathrooms
381. a big bag of Hershey's kisses
382. tire swings
383. hummingbirds
384. rollerskating
385. laughing till you cry
386. ice carvings
387. sleepy dogs
388. gingerbread
389. Silly Putty
390. food debris under the high chair after a feeding
391. Hula Hoops
392. searching cookbooks looking for something new for dinner
393. rereading a good book
394. cheese quesadillas with bacon
395. banana milkshakes
396. singing in the shower
397. floor plans
398. earthquakes that are exciting but don't do damage
399. moving to a new house
400. hauling out photo albums from high school
401. "painting" with water
402. babysitting
403. a three-day weekend
404. hymn-sings at church
405. fireflies
406. pasta salad
407. creating a scrapbook
408. trains
409. fried chicken
410. making believe you're somewhere else, in a different era, or role
411. homemade lemonade
412. framed marriage certificates
413. putting things back where they were found
414. remembering a birthday
415. brown-sugar toast
416. great mashed potatoes
417. cotton candy
418. living alone
419. Tex-Mex food
420. the summer Olympics

65 in 365 Month 10 Update

This will be a list of 65 things I want to accomplish in the next 365 days. (No, I didn't come up with this idea myself, I borrowed it from this Foster Mama, along with some of her items.) I'll update the list once a month (that's the first thing on the list). Completed items are in italics.

1. Update the 65 in 365 once a month (10/12)
2. Come up with 65 goals for the year (65/65)
3. Complete Sophie's baby album
4. Complete 2009 annual album
5. Attend average of 5 StrollerStrides classes a month (28/60)
6. Girls Night Out (or Mom's Night Out) at least 4 times (6/4) (02/27, 03/17, 03/25, 06/30, 07/15, 10/14)
7. Go to the movies at least 6 times (7/6) (Avatar, Kickass, Date Night ,Iron Man 2, Karate Kid, The Switch, Step Up 3D)
8. Finish reading 2 non-fiction books (3/2) (Home, Baby Signs, 101 Things To Do Before You Turn 40,5 Practices of Fruitful Congregations)
9. Read 4 fiction books (1/4) (The Help)
10. Payoff law school loan
11. Try 26 new recipes (29/26)
12. Make our wills
13. Participate in a fun run with Paul and Sophie
14. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night; complete after 30 days (0/30)
15. Have at least one fresh fruit each day; complete after 30 days (0/30)
16. Take at least one picture of Sophie every other day; complete after 60 days
17. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight
18. Come up with a system for backing up digital photos
19. Cooking lessons (09/17)
20. Make bed everyday; complete after 30 days, will restart counter when I miss a day (30/30) (April)
21. Have date night once a month (7/12) (03/13, 04/10, 05/28, 06/10, 07/17, 08/27, 09/17)
22. Build a snowman (02/11)
23. Join a moms group (Jan.)
24. Set up a cleaning schedule and follow it; complete after 3 months (3/3)
25. Have lawn guys come on a regular basis
26. Take Wrangler to Kady the groomer 4 times (3/4) (March, June, Sept.)
27. Purchase a jogging stroller for Paul to use
28. Put items in JBF Consignment sales, 2 sales each sales season (3/4) (Feb., Mar., Oct.)
29. Make and stick to a weekly menu and grocery list; complete after 5 weeks (5/5)
30. Decorate the tabletop tree for each holiday or season (snowflakes, hearts, green and gold beads, eggs, flowers, red and blue stars, apples, Halloween, fall leaves, Christmas)
31. Update a blog everyday or at least average one new post each day (304/365)
32. Go on a scrapbooking retreat (Jan)
33. Attend a scrapbooking crop every other month (7/6) (02/19, 04/16, 04/30, 05/01, 08/20, 09/11, 10/15)
34. Complete 150 scrapbook pages (150/150)
35. Sign Sophie up for swim lessons (Mar.)
36. Attend one playgroup event each month (17/12) (01/28, 02/09, 03/02, 03/04, 03/17, 04/22, 5/28,06/03, 06/14, 06/21, 07/02, 07/07, 07/30, 08/09, 08/27, 10/07, 10/08)
37. Take Sophie to a library storytime/event each month (6/12) (02/01, 02/25, 04/13, 06/14, 06/29, 10/14)
38. Attend a local Chinese New Year event
39. Have teeth cleaned twice a year (1/2) (Mar.)
40. Have Sophie’s picture taken with the Easter Bunny
41. Take Sophie to see a fireworks display (July)
42. Update the framed photos of extended family members
43. Attend Living Last Supper at church
44. Plan Sophie’s first birthday party
45. Take Sophie to visit another state
46. Take Sophie trick-or-treating in the neighborhood
47. Decorate outside for Christmas
48. Create our own family Thanksgiving tradition
49. Take Sophie to the zoo (May)
50. Establish Family Night/Day twice a month (not including MIC Meals); complete after 4 months (16/4) (05/31 Joe Pool Lake,5/16 Dragonboat Festival,4/3 Easter Eggs, 3/13 Stockyards, 4/18 Balloon Festival, 3/6 Swim Pics Shop Dinner, 06/12 Devon’s, 06/27 Olenjack’s, 07/03 Crow Museum, 07/05 Splash Pad, 07/17 VBS Picnic, 07/31 Zoo, 08/28 Becky’s party, 09/04 zoo, 09/26 Fall Fest, 10/16 Uptown Village)
51. Frame and hang Sophie’s first year photos
52. Furniture for China child
53. Update Sophie’s wedding dress photo
54. Get a family portrait done (Oct)
55. Daily devotional, complete after 30 days (0/30)
56. Create a list of happy things, one for each day (over 1000) we’ve been waiting for MIC (300/328)
57. Complete new adoption visa paperwork
58. Open a savings account for Sophie (August)
59. Clean out and organize pantry
60. Attend at least 3 plays and/or musicals (2/3)(Wicked, Shadowlands)
61. Purchase fire extinguishers for the house
62. Get personalized tags for the pets (3/6)
63. Clean out flowerbed in backyard
64. Buy new couches (May)
65. Make a new list of 65