26 days from now my dear friend Ashley will be marrying her fiancee, Joey, in the Bahamas! This days seems like it has been so long coming as Ashley is the last of a string of weddings we have had lately, including my own in May. I am really looking forward to the vacation along with some very much needed girl time since my husband can't make it. I cannot wait to tell you all about it in just 26 days!
Ashley will be a vision in white as will all of her guests! Yep, you heard me right! It is a white out wedding! All of the guests have been asked to wear shades of white and khaki. I think this is a great idea to sort of unify all of the guests and make everyone there a part of their ceremony in essence. Equally as important, imagine the pictures! They are going to be to die for!
When I started out planning my suitcase for this wedding weekend I thought, piece of cake right? Just throw on a white dress and be done with it. NO! WRONG! First of all, finding a white dress in Michigan at the end of summer beginning of fall was downright impossible. I thought it would be all the more reason for me to find a "steal of a deal" but alas, I was sadly mistaken.
As of today, I bought 5 dresses!! Living in the sticks is annoying because I had to ship back 4 of them :) and we know how much I hate paying for shipping, it is a pet peev of mine! But I am happy to announce that I finally have the jewels, the stems, the bag (almost) all nailed down! And since there will be many girls wearing white dresses and the risk of wearing the same thing is high, I shall put it all out there so we can all compare :)
Here are some pictures of my outfit. My shoes photograph a bit gold, but I think they are a bit silvery in person so just keep that in mind.
I am not sure which bag I am going with yet, that is the only thing to be determined. Sorry for the shoddy photo quality, blogger is acting up a bit.
Thes metallic gold and black stems! $580 at Net-A-Porter . Specifically, in a new segment I will introduce later this week called Fantasy Shopping, I would like to see them with this dress from Michael Kors ($1,295.00):
So it has been a while since I last complained about my co-workers. For the most part, they have been well behaved and have done nothing that I could legitimately complain about without sounding like a bitter wench. But Friday afternoon they seriously had me scratching my head.
For the sake of the story, a la Dr. Christina Yang (Grey's Anatomy), we will label the parties as co-worker One and Two.
Three of us were in the very back of the office complaining about one of the bosses' wives when One says, "Shhhh! I hear something. " My ears perk up and I strain to listen but alas, I hear nothing. She runs to the front of the office to make sure no one walked in to hear our tiraid. One comes back and reports to me and Two that there was no one there. She says she swears she heard a man's voice. Whatever, we all think we hear things sometimes -- people are walking by the office door, we have thin walls, etc. So, fine. But then Two gets all excited and says, "Really? A man's voice? Like a really old man's voice?" One nods excitedly in agreement. I am slowly backing out of the conversation because A) It was no longer interesting me anymore and B) My boss wasn't in so I wanted to get back to my online distractions.
Two goes on to mention that she thinks our office has a ghost in the form of an old man....Seriously? I am listening at my desk and waiting for her to say, "just kidding" or "just joshing ya" but instead I hear One enthusiastically agreeing with her....Seriously?
To say that the ghost talk goes on for an unacceptable length of time is an understatement. I am just floored. Then they go on to compare just how old the voice each of them heard in fact was. So to compare, they start throwing out client's names. Not as old as Joe Schmo, but older than John Doe...that sort of thing. Then they both agree that is sounds just like Mr. X, and that they should go home straight after work and pray for said Mr. X because he is obviously trying to send them a message that he needs their prayers and vibes....SERIOUSLY?!
At this point I am just shaking my head. WHERE do we find these people? At 5:00 I still hear them chatting about "the ghost." I jokingly tell them that their homework assignment for the weekend is to name our ghost. By Monday they had (seriously) agreed on Edgar. SERIOUSLY? I was joking!
Today, Monday, One is now telling Two that many people can't have cats like she does because they are not comfortable with the presence of the undead and how cats can sense these things unlike dogs. Instead of politely ignoring this nonsense, Two is in FULL agreement. Then they continue to compare stories about ghosts in the office and ghosts in their home.
I just want to point out that they are 10000% serious and are in no way joking or making fun or talking just for the fun of speculation. SERIOUSLY!
Thanks to everyone who has been keeping my family in their thoughts! If you didn't know, we had a bit of a cancer scar with regard to Gordon the beefcake. It was a long 5 days of waiting, but the test results came back today and our big man is in the clear!! Needless to say, we are beyond thrilled and shed some joyful tears at the news.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their support :) So in honor of our cancer free wiggle worm, here are some Gordo pics:
I had a bad bad couple of very bad days and there was a presale going on and therefore it was necessary, therapeutic, and I feel a just a bit better now ;)
To get the full effect, listen to this song while you look at my "new shoes"...Because in case you are wondering what I am doing as I type this (all night long really), I am dancing in my new shoes to this song, MY NEW FAV (and if you know me at all, you know I am telling the truth, I truly am tippety tapping and twirling on the floor):
[Seriously, if you can't use your speakers as you read this, come back later when you can! You won't get the full effect].
So without further ado, here are the new shoes I bought for my friend Ashley's wedding which is in just one short month!
So last night was interesting in our household to say the least. My husband got home from work late so I was a bit annoyed with him (understatement) when he waltzed in.
Each of us were trying to prove our points without actually fighting - which is quite the challenge for us! So there was a lot of heavy banter borderlining on smart assism (new word, like it?). Now, let's not get into the details. All you need to know is that I was feeling neglected.....and then, in streak of unluckiness, I fell down the stairs. I didn't fall full out, I really just missed the last step, but it made quite the commotion you would have thought there were broken bones. I rolled my ankle and screamed out. My husband didn't care! I hobbled up the stairs in the most pathetic manner imaginable and still received zero sympathy. So since I was already annoyed (again to say the least - truthfully I was downright ticked), I decided to scream "ouch" again to see if he would pay attention this time.
Still nada.
Now, by this point, my ankle pain had subsided, I'll admit it. It still did hurt, but I could have moved on with my life if I wanted to. Then my husband said, well let me see what we can do since I promised to take care of you "in fakeness and in health." Clearly I couldn't let him get away with calling me a faker! I had to soldier on and stick to my guns that I was injured. So I teetered over to him and he, in an exaggerated faker voice, pretended to care that I fell. He offered to take me to the ER (attempting to call my bluff) but I respectfully declined.
Keep in mind we both know the other is full of it. He is very much aware that my ankle doesn't hurt and I am very much aware that he knows this and wouldn't care if it did hurt. But we both had a point to prove.
So he ushers me to the chair, elevates my foot in the most dramatic fashion imaginable and then runs to the freezer (crap!).
Me: Hon, what are you doing?
H: Getting you ice!
Me: Oh, okay.
H: Well don't you think that is a good idea? You are so injured we don't want it to swell.
Me: Um....yeah, that is a great idea. I should have thought of that!
I couldn't possibly back down now. We are both trying not to laugh our rear ends off - it was soooo hard. It was a stand off. Eyes squinted, corner of our mouths turned up sort of stand off!
So I think in my head, I can wear an ice pack to prove my point...but my husband had other plans in store. He gets one bag of ice, fine. Then he gets another bag of ice!! Then he gets gauze!! He then proceeds to put a pack of ice on each side of my ankle and encase the entire foot in gauze so I couldn't escape the ice. I had no choice but to keep the charade up!
[Chrissy if you are reading, I think you get this whole story line and why it had to go down the way it did. You have no idea how annoyed I was that he wasn't "saying uncle."]
Ever so kindly he escorts me down the stairs. Every 30 seconds he asks me if the ice is too cold and I assure him that ice can never be too cold if it will cure my pain :) Oh yes, I am good. He is getting irked by now. He grabs my ankle and squeezes it with all his might telling me compression is good when he is really just trying to get me to cave because of the freezing ice. I didn't budge an inch (because at this point, I am just flat out numb)!
Then comes the Healthy Choice steam bowl commercial debate over whether I made my dinner correctly based on the procedure performed during the commercial (we were watching Dancing with the Stars. My choice since I was in so much pain :). Confusing, I know, but stick with me. Luckily for TiVo I tell him I would be willing to rewind to see who is right if he wants to place a friendly wager. He says that I can take my ice pack off if I am right.
bleep bleep ::TiVo rewind sound:: and guess who is right! ME!
So the ice comes off and by this time we are laughing hysterically. He decides he should test my range of motion to which I decide to give it one last shot and wince at the insurmountable pain caused by flexing my foot. At that point, I think he might have started to have doubts about my faking! I will never verbally confirm with him that it didn't hurt that bad - that would make me a loser.
I realize how juvenile this all sounds...I get it. But trust me it made sense to us based on our previous arguments, etc. And it was all in good fun. I wouldn't have even bored you with the story, but I had some cute pictures to go along with it. Our dog, Bailey, is very intuitive when something is wrong and he was very concerned for me. He clearly wanted to take my pain away:
OK I know that was both confusing and stupid, but I have one heck of a cute pup don't I?
Saturday I went to the outlet mall (the only source of shopping in a 2 hour radius from me) and hit up Banana for some triple point action.
Well, I injured my left arm. I was talking on my cell with Kelli on my right arm, and throwing over all my try on stuff over the left arm. All was good. I tried on and left with 4 sweaters, a dress and 2 pairs of jeans. I don't have pictures because it was outlet stuff so they aren't on the site any longer.
But fast forward to Saturday night...my left arm hurt SO badly that I took 2 muscle relaxers to go to bed. Sunday my arm hurt so badly that if I tried to pick anything up, my arm started shaking! and Monday the pain is the same! It hasn't healed in the least bit! I tell ya, the things one does for a shopping trip!
I think the moral of this story is twofold:
1. Beauty is pain; and 2. I am out of shape.
So today is day 1 of what I like to call -- Lean Cuisine Stacy! Hey, it's a feeble start, but a start nonetheless.
I think these are going to be my next purchase :) I am going to wait a while and see if anything else strikes my fance though since I change my mind often!
Sadly, it is not happening. He (or his assistant) has logged on since my comment and a bunch of crazies have pushed my comment way down the page...I am probably not even on the first page anymore. Seriously, one girl told him that she named her son after him.....Seriously? I am NOT one of them crazy soap fans -- so to prove my point, I hereby give up. Farewell my dear!
I am about two and a half weeks behind on my life overall. Bills I was supposed to pay 2 weeks ago, gifts I was supposed to send, Emails I was supposed to return, and blogs I was supposed to write are just now getting taken care of.
So as I may have mentioned, my parents came to visit us in Michigan for the first time! It was pretty exciting having them come and visit. It was almost like after 3 years of living here, they were finally putting their stamp of approval on my life.
After a week of in-depth cleaning, something I never ever do, the house was as ready for company as it could be without selling our dogs and moving.
They flew in on Friday and courtesy of Airtran (the same carrier that granted me my worst travel day ever, as you may remember), their flight was late forcing them to take a later connecting flight out of Atlanta. So the day at the cider mill was cancelled much to my dismay. We figured if we can't bring the folks to the cider mill, then we would bring the cider mill to the folks. So they finally got in from their flight with fresh apple pie, cider and cider donuts awaiting them.
After settling in we went to Genji's -- a great Japanese restaurant in town. It is the kind that cooks in front of you; although, we really could have done without that because the food is good on it's own. By the time we got home it was fairly late (around 10:30) so we had some coffee (I guess that is what parents do at all hours) and then hit the hay because we had an early morning planned.
Saturday morning we drove up to Mackinaw Island. It is an island in between the upper and lower penninsulas of Michigan. They allow no motors on the island so the only mode of transportation is by horse, horse carriage, bike or by foot. It is really quaint and pretty. They have one of the largest population (? is that the right word) of lilacs and have a big festival there in the springtime. Our purpose for going was to see all the leaves change color and to travel a bit further up north so my parents could experience the fall air. Sounds silly, but if you live in Florida, you would appreciate it.
[side note: do NOT stay at the Chippewa! It was a nightmare! $150.00 a night and our bathroom smelled like mold and our external AC flooded all over our suitcase. They were kind enough (NOT) to give us a $30 discount.]
Here are some pictures from our trip:
My favorite church that was shipped over from France...or England...somewhere, I forget.
I just adore this little pig!
Our horses: Molly and Cody.
The only horse my husband tells me I ever might own - It's wooden. But hey, I kind of like it.
Little Stone Church and LOOK! There is a bride getting ready to walk down the aisle!! Naturally I wanted to stop the horses but I tried my best not to look crazy. They say that it is a two year waiting list to get married at this church and that people often put their name down even if they don't have a fiance! Not sure about security deposits, that is the firs thing I thought of too.
Sunday we traveled home along I-19 which runs along Lake Michigan and has been dubbed, "The Tunnel of Trees." It is a small, barely two lane road with no center line (which is incredibly scary) and all of the trees form together over the roadway to make a holloway. It was beautiful! There are ginourmous houses tucked back in the woods if you look closely also. We thought it would be a cute 20 minute drive to get to our destination, Petoskey, but it was more like an hour drive. I am glad we went that way, but after the 1st 20 minutes, we had seen our fill of trees.
Forgive the not-so-creative photos here. Picture me in the back seat wiggling my way out the sunroof with my camera and my dad getting very angry at me. It was a snap and go situation.
Our next stop was Petoskey, a small town with lots of shops and boutiques. My mother and I went shopping and the men headed off to the casino. We spent about 3 hours walking around from shop to shop and figured it was about time to make sure our husbands weren't spending more money than we did. Well we got there and they were not pleased, which meant that we were heading no where fast.
To get us to go away, they gave us money to gamble with. Typically when this happens, my mother and I disappear and pretend to be playing slot machines and then just tell them that we lost our money. But this time we were stupid and bored and actually gambled our money away. Needless to say, the house always wins and the odds were not in our favor. Like ol' Kenny says, "You've gotta know when to fold 'em." Clearly, we did not listen to ol' Kenny.
So around 7 we decided to start our 4 hour drive home!! Kill me now! It was such a long day!! We had a great time though.
Monday came and went quickly. We went to Bronner's Christmas Store and bought a bunch of Christmas supplies and then went to the antique store and did some shopping. Tuesday we bid farewell. It was just the perfect length of time to see your parents.
This is the first time I ever had "company" in my house though and let me tell you...it is exhausting! Hubs and I went to bed every night so mentally exhausted you would have thought we spent our days curing cancer -- we felt like we were using our minds that much.
So that catches you up on "me." Thank goodness for blogs or else I would be lost in terms of what everyone else has been up to. After this post, I am officially caught up on my emails and everything else that has been sliding by :) Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Ok Eric/Ethan added me as a friend on MySpace. Granted he adds everyone, but it is a step in the right direction. I commented to him, so let's see if he comments back (wishful thinking). So we are officially OFF Operation Friend Watch and ON Operation Comment Back Watch.
OK I am going to start posting my choos so that I can archive them. Many of my favorites have already been up and now they are gone :( So they will be featured on the side and then a quick post about them so they can be referenced in the archive tool bar for people who need to go back.
Following with my grey obsession (I just bought a graphite colored gel Bobbi Brown eyeliner) here are some pretty hotsy totsy shoes!
Let me preface this post by making it clear that I am not a psycho fan. I have never had the crazy Brad Pitt crush and the like. However, there are two people that I find pretty darn exquisite in this world and I do get "little girl like" over. They are:
Passions soap star Eric Martsolf (AKA "Ethan" of the Ethan and Teresa phenomenon referred to as "ET").
[Note that the backgrounds in both pictures are the same so that means there was a whole lotta hottness on set that day!]
Anyway, this post is more about the amazingness of people and womankind!
I was chatting with Sarah, who I have never met but have been lucky enough to get to know through the wonder that is The Knot and through our wedding planning adventures, quite awhile back and somehow we got on the topic of Passions. I think it all stemmed from our mutual affection for Days of Our Lives if I am not mistaken, and it snowballed from there.
Sarah's husband is in the Broadway show, Jersey Boys, and she is one lucky duck of a wife who gets to travel around the U.S.A., with her hubby supporting him and watching his shows. Doesn't that sound like the life? Anyway, she mentioned that she has seen Eric Martsolf backstage at the show! Seriously? If only you could have seen me! I was ready to book a flight out to California to see her (and Eric :::sigh:::) that instant! I was pretty sure Sarah would let me ride her coattails back stage and gawk :) And seriously? Who wouldn't gawk at this?
[Note: He Eric/Ethan is married, and no I don't have any fatal attraction like tendencies or unrealistic expectations. I really just wanted to meet him in a non-psycho manner. period.]
Getting back to my desire to head to west...you can only imagine my husband's face when I told him I wanted to go to California to visit a girl that I really like even though I have never met...but in addition to her coolness, I really want to meet a soap star that spends most of his days shirtless. It did NOT go well. He told me I can get together with Sarah when/if she ever moves back to Michigan and until then, no hunks for me. BOO! I think it always shocked my husband when we play "who is your celebrity freebie" that mine wasn't some blockbuster name. It almost has the same effect as saying "so and so from my office."
Fast forward I would guess two months? Whatever the time frame was, enough time had passed for me to forget the association between Sarah, her husband, Jersey Boys and Eric/Ethan and the conversation alltogether. Sarah and her husband had even moved onto another tour location so it was far out of my mind.
So, last week I get a mysterious package in the mail with no return address (drats!). Imagine my surprise when I open it up and find a personalized and signed 8x10 of Eric/Ethan?! I was like, "Where in the world did this come from?" My husband's interest was quite piqued and he was fairly worried that I was teeny bopper enough to join his fan club.
Suddenly it hit me that it was probably Sarah! I emailed her and sure enough she went out of her way to get me an autograph! Apparently she covertly got my address from a friend (sneaky sneaky), and then she or her husband emailed him (to his personal email - gasp!) and gave him my address asking for the favor. How nice is that - coming from someone that doesn't even know me in real life?! It was completely unexpected and even more appreciated! THANK YOU SARAH! I would love to return the favor to you one day, but I don't roll with high falooting celebs like you do ;)
I love out of the blue surprises and this was definitely one of them! I have never had an autograph from any celebrity before so this is my first official one and even better yet, it is actually to me and not just a generic one that is pre-signed.
Now back to the pseudo psycho in me....I was DISCUSSED with Eric/Ethan! For the 2 minutes it took him to autograph that photo, lick the envelope shut, and address said envelope (the writing was the same - I checked), Stacy MyLastName (how specific!) was on Eric/Ethan's mind!! Is that not the craziest thing you have ever heard of?
I just requested to be his friend on MySpace where I plan on thanking him for the mailing...what *IF* he comments back? We are officially on comment watch people! Get ready!
Here is a picture of my autographed picture:
And a close up of the writing :)
I haven't decided where this picture should go as it definitely needs to hold a place of honor! I thought I was going to put in my office at work, but then if I ever want to go to lunch one day and never come back (a girl can dream) then I can't. So I think it is going to get framed and go above my computer at home where I spend way too much time.
So as you can see, that was a whole lotta excitement in my mailbox for one day! ;)
Also, it might bring up a topic for another time: Soap stars....in all their beauty, why are they wasted on the small screen? I just don't get it.
I am 20 something shopaholic newlywed living far far away from home in order to be with my husband. I very much wish I could click my heels like Dorothy and just go home. I have a very pretty pair of red Jimmy Choos which I wear on most special occasions. They never get checked in my luggage at the airport, but travel in their dust bag in my carry on. I feel like they are my modern day ruby slippers and I get really pissy when I click my heels and I am still in Michigan. So I write....
