Here Comes the Bride

**For more wedding pics than you would ever want to see, click here**

And now, without further adieu ... the wedding recap.

Don't think this will be an interesting episode of Bridezillas or My Big Fat Redneck Wedding, just a simple, sweet little wedding without drama, the need for Xanax or even an embarrassingly drunk loudmouthed guest!

Wedding week started with my having a slight cold (aaargh!) and doing a three night stretch in a row which always wears me out. On the last night, some kind co-workers were sweet enough to plan a surprise shower complete with purple napkins, punch, and a white sheet cake decorated with purple icing. Being a mere traveler in their midst, I was very touched by the gesture and the $250 they managed to collect for a Lowe's gift certificate (hello new carpet in the master bedroom!).

Thursday was very stressful because despite needing to sleep after work, I had tons of errands to run given that we were leaving early on Friday. In typical Jenn fashion I left things to the last minute like picking up my wedding dress, getting mascara, underwear (seriously - even left this to the day before and for you men out there women do NOT go "commando"), a pedicure and of course packing. It turned out that the winter storm of the century was preparing to hit Central Arkansas (an area where a dusting of snow causes complete and utter panic) so we were wondering what the drive would be like the next day.

Friday we got up relatively early to some serious snow fall the likes that I have never seen in Little Rock. It wasn't really cold and the roads didn't seem too bad yet so we decided to just take it slow and head out. The road to Eureka was a major highway (though not interstate) and we figured we'd be OK. Before heading out of town we stopped at Kroger (supermarket) for flowers. I refused to blow tons of money on some silly florist bouquet when I could tie up some flowers myself. I found some purple mums and white roses that I thought would do the trick and off we went.

The first 45 minutes or so was snowy and then we hit roads that had been snowed on previously but were clear. By the time we made it to the North park of Arkansas it was bone dry- they hadn't got a lick of snow or rain. Kindof sad because winter photos would have been cute. We checked in to the Bavarian Inn, an adorable little hotel with a fabulous room! A king bed, fireplace, couch, two chairs, balcony and massive two person jacuzzi for $99 - just $10 more than the Best Western and definitely a good choice. For those who have never had the privilege of going to Eureka Springs, it's an adorable little mountain town that was formerly an artist colony and place where people came in the late 1800s to "take the healing waters." Now it's populated by hippy sorts, bikers, a large gay community and full of antique shops, interesting stores, spas and massage therapists and has more bed and breakfasts and hotels than a little town of 2400 would EVER need. There are several wedding chapels and most of the B&Bs do weddings as well so it was the perfect place for a hitching. Friday night we had some excellent BBQ at Bubba's and went to bed early.

Saturday we went a great breakfast place - The Mud Street Cafe recommended by the hotel staff and ended up eating there every day. We walked around town a little bit, enjoyed the sunny but frigid day and hoped to take a nap but alas! I had a hair appointment at 2.

Though I'm a pretty low maintenance girl, I figured my wedding was one occasion for nicer hair. I decided to just go with a "please curl my hair" approach. I'm not one for big updos since I never wear my hair like that normally. I'm a big believer in the fact that a bride should still look like herself - just maybe a bit fancier. After about 50 minutes of curling iron work ... curly hair had arrived!! I then drove my car through an automatic car wash because it was filthy from the road and I just didn't think that was appropriate for such an occasion. I made it back to the hotel around 3p.m. and the wedding was for 4 - so luckily I just had to put my makeup on and throw on my clothes. In the end, I don't think I looked too shabby. My only problem was that the spaghetti straps on my dress were just a wee bit long and kept wanting to fall down - guess I should have gotten those sewn shorter ... oh well.

I arrived at the chapel first, met the photographer we had hired (she was very sweet) and went over final ceremony details with the JP. The chapel had a stock ceremony that was a wee bit too hippy-dippy for us so I basically rewrote the whole thing with lots of help from the internet and some great forums like IndieBride. The photographer snapped some shots before BJs arrival, and I hid in another room when he showed up.

The song we had chosen, Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was played as the intro and my sauntering into the room music. You've probably heard it before, it's a gorgeous interpretation that I think is full of hope. This video shows the artist who died at a young age and is highly revered in Hawa'ii, it doesn't have the part where he transitions into "What a Wonderful World" which was on the track we used.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. I had a pretty big cheesy grin on my face, giggled a bit (as I do when I'm nervous), and BJ blatantly stared at my cleavage which was apparently just in his line of sight.I won't bore you with lots of details but we had one reading from Madeline L'Engle (children's author of A Wrinkle In Time) a funny poem by Ogden Nash, and the vows I found online and thought they were awesome ...

"you are my companion in life and my one true love. I will treasure our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust and honor you, I will laugh and cry with you. With unfailing love I will stand by you through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep."

and we finished the ceremony with the Blessing of the Apaches
"Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness for you,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth."

It was beautiful and everything truly reflected us and we had our song on again as we finished up and took our pictures.

We did most of the pics outside and it was COLD!!

One shot shows my AWESOME purple Guess heels but there is absolutely zero blood in my goosebumpy legs so I look albino!! I also should mention my purple pedicured toenails!! I think it confused the Korean woman at the nail shop, "you sure you want purple?"

And for the record, my $15 of flowers from Kroger turned out just fine. It turns out that my Hobby Lobby ribbon looked good on the spool but was a completely different shade of purple once I used it, but since I don't worry too much about such things it didn't bother me at all.

Afterwards we ate at The Bavarian Inn (where we were staying) they have a Czech-German restuarant that is considered one of the best ethnic places in the state. The Inn and restaurant had just opened for the season the week prior and since BJ is a lover of all things German - it was a nice place to eat. The food was delicious (I had a green peppercorn steak, BJ with the goulash) but we were sure to leave room for the cake!

Umm, it was good, good cake!! It was orange sponge cake with "hummingbird" filling which is a raspberry lemon concoction. Many thanks to Sarah V. at work for turning me on to this cake shop in Springdale, AR. It was gorgeous and purple and I can't wait to eat the top tier in a year!!! We did do the traditional, let's feed each other cake thing, and we both played nicely with no cake smashage or smearing.













Though BJ does have a habit of licking my nose sometimes just because he knows it irritates me!!

After being completely stuffed with excellent food and cake, we called it an evening. A fabulous wedding, just the way I wanted it!!

(edited to add: I cannot get the pictures and text to wrap like I want. Stupid blogger!!)

HITCHED!!!

Tasty Cake!!

To answer the first question, yes I'm feeling better. My fever finally broke last night and though my temperature is normal, I still feel kindof crappy. Despite that, I had to suck it up this morning and pack for our trip to Fayetteville. One of BJ's mother's friends is hosting a shower for me on Saturday and if a complete stranger is going our of her way to have a little gathering, then I need to make the best of it. I should mention that I'm really not the shower type, as a matter of fact I was rather pleased that the type of wedding we are having (i.e. not really having one) was conducive to avoiding showers. BJ warned me early on that his mother's bridge group would want to have one and that I should, "not fight it and just go get our schwag!" So a shower in Fayetteville it is, and then on Monday a shower at BJ's work. I can't wait to see what kind of householdy goodness the next three days produce!!

Since we were going to be in NW Arkansas, we thought it would be a good time to order our cake. Despite how simple we are doing things, I insisted that BJ and I have tasty cake to eat from a real baker ... none of the grocery store crap. One of the nurses I work with turned me on to a little cake shop up in Springdale, and when we were here for Christmas we went in and bought some petit fours which were DELICIOUS!!

BJ called earlier in the week to see about meeting with the baker, but she doesn’t take appointments on Friday - he was able to sweet talk her explaining that we aren't local. He also explained that we were looking at a small cake, no big fancy cake to feed 50 people that would just get us REALLY fat! Anyway, we showed up today and the owner was as sweet as can be! She even brought our samples for us to taste which was completely unexpected ... it's not like we were spending tons of money. We ended up choosing an amazing filling called "hummingbird" which is a raspberry lemon concoction, with orange cake. It's going to be so unique and tasty! Of course the outside of the cake will be purple, with white piping and edible rhinestones. It's going to be delicious AND pretty!!

This was by far the most enjoyable part of the wedding planning, now if only my dress had an elastic waist we could eat the whole thing in one sitting :)

Rhinestones and sparkly things!

Though I am of the female persuasion I do NOT like to shop.
Matter of fact, I hate it!

Now that the wedding is looming a mere 8 weeks away, I realized that I would actually have to complete my wedding outfit. I've got the dress, veil, and shoes .... ooooo did I mention my shoes?!?!? I knew that I wanted something purple to match the accent color on my dress (not to mention, I'm not the type to wear white shoes - BORING) and I looked into getting them dyed, but the dye is not waterproof. I could only imagine it being wet or rainy and having purple feet and splotchy shoes etc. I started looking online and found some at Nordstroms that were acceptable, but didn't have the pizazz I wanted. Then I found these awesome ones from Guess? and they were even on clearance with only three sizes in stock - one of them my 8 1/2!! They are fabulous!! Total stripper heel with rhinestones! Very sexy and something I'll wear again with some fitted jeans. Damn, they're $8 cheaper than I paid, that always irks me!

Wow, 4 inch stripper heels!! You're thinking to yourself, "that's not very practical!" I respond, well that's the beauty of a planned elopement. I don't have to worry about dancing in them, walking around and greeting people all night. Basically I just need to stay aloft for my adorable BJ and if I trip and fall, surely he won't laugh ... too hard.

OK so enough about the shoes, I have all the basics but I don't have the flair. You know, the earrings, necklace etc. One of my coworkers told me about this place called Accessory City with tons of cheap rhinestone and special event jewelry. I was a little dubious but let me tell you it WAS all that. I found exactly what I wanted, something silvery, and purplely and rhinestoney and the set of necklace, bracelet and earrings cost me $10.83! I had so much money left over and burning a hole in my pocket that I shelled out $6 for a rhinestone barrette for my hair. Now don't worry, I'm not going to look all pageant queen - I am forgoing a tiara, but this is my one and only wedding so a little glitz and glamour will be a fun respite from my normal jeans and Birkenstocks. We even hired a photographer so there will be photographic evidence of Jenn all glammed up because seriously my friends and family would never believe it!!

I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!

You know how sometimes I'm a vain blogger talking only about me, me, me?? ... though in retrospect isn't what most bloggers do? Write about their lives and their interests as a way to avoid irritating all of their friends and co-workers with banter that they don't care about?? It gives you an outlet to brag and expound and people only have to read it if they're interested.

With that in mind, I'm not going to feel guilty at all about this post ... Look at us, aren't we pretty?!?!? :)

We just got our pictures from our engagement photo shoot and I am SO HAPPY with how they turned out! Since this is my first (and last) engagement, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've seen some that were clearly done in the Sears Portrait studio and have that stiff, formal look which is totally NOT me - or us for that matter.

We were very blessed that BJ has a good friend who is a full-time junior high teacher and part-time fabulous photographer! She was kind enough to offer to shoot these as a wedding gift and when asking us what we wanted, we just knew that we wanted it outdoors with Fall colors around.

She suggested the train cars which are down by the Arkansas River at the Big Dam Bridge, a place we are very familiar with since we run the trail there frequently.

It was very surreal looking at these pictures because I normally hate the way I look, especially on film. A few weeks back I posted a snapshot that I hated so much, it spurred me on to a weight loss and fitness transformation. When I saw these, all I could think was, "Wow, those make me look like I'm really hot!" I still don't believe I'm hot, or think it when I look in the mirror - but damn I LOVE these pictures! If you haven't already been bored to tears by all the ones I threw in this post, you can see more here. (broken link has been fixed ... sorry!)

and to not be soooo vain, I think BJ is handsome and adorable and sexy as well!!

A HUGE shout out to Amy Cary of Amy Cary Photography!! She does all types of portraits, engagement, family, children, babies, bridal - is awesome, sweet and very reasonably priced. If you're in the Little Rock metro area and interested, the link to her website is here.

Random thoughts ...

First of all, my home state is NOT pronounced "Illi noise" - the "s" is silent!! I was just watching the local news and someone pronounced it wrong and it irritated me.

Second, GO TIGERS!! My Missouri Tigers are now ranked #1 after a resounding victory over Kansas! Hmmm, fried Jayhawk anyone?

BJ was very proud of me given that I watched the game AND actually understood a good portion of it. We did have to occasionally pause so he could point out what was going on around the line of scrimmage (you mean the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen are different players?!?!) and I learned a few new things like what the safety does and how overtimes work. I did fall asleep in the 4th quarter, but in my defense I had gotten off work at 7:30 a.m. and just slept a few hours that day.

Third random thought, I am so sick of credit card fraud. I had a really bad incident about 10 years ago when my wallet was pickpocketed out of my purse by someone I *thought* I had bumped into, and they charged over $10,000 on my cards at Best Buy and Circuit City within 2 hours. They had my driver's license and opened up accounts in my name at several stores and continued to try to buy things for several months. It was a flippin' mess! Earlier this year, someone used my Citibank card number to charge $300 of foreign purchases in Germany, and now this weekend apparently my debit card number was compromised. Of course in this case they used it to buy some things AND pay off a T-Mobile bill so I'm hoping the culprit is tracked down. At least when my wallet was stolen a decade ago, I KNEW that there was illicit activity going on. In both of my recent cases, the cards have been in my possession all along. I know that I'm not going to be responsible for paying, but somewhere, someone is having to eat these costs.

Fourth, I need to pass along a miraculous discovery! I'll never have to scrub a toilet again!!! Momma K works in the plumbing industry and she introduced us to the Sparkle and Clean device that you attach to your tank. Apparently those bleach tablets that you drop in the tank are BAD BAD BAD and they corrode out the flushing mechanism. This device adds the bleach to the water in the bowl only so it's not bad for your toilet. My toilet has sparkled this past week, it's the best thing ever!!! I can only comment on the bleach one (which my Mom uses as well) - don't know about the blue ones, but you can get them at any home improvement store.

Fifth, I had posted a while back that I wasn't sure about my wedding dress?? Well I tried it on for my Mom when she was here and we both LOVE it!! I think the purple rocks!! And since we're eloping and it won't be seen amongst our general acquaintance in person, the link here has a few sneak peeks!!

Last random thought, I have the cutest damn dogs in the world! BJ's Mom stayed over last night for a quick visit and the dogs thought it was the best thing ever. As she was leaving this morning, they sadly looked out the door....

And yes, I'm a dweeb

By the way, the last post was composed as I'm sitting in the office wearing my pajamas and my wedding veil. The kindly mailman delivered it early this afternoon and I of course couldn't resist putting it on right away. I'd probably be sitting around in my dress too if I wasn't worried about getting it dirty!!!

sidenote: thanks to the future in laws for hooking me up with the veil maker. I paid a whopping $27 for it!!

Scary Things!

On this day after Halloween I thought I'd muse about several unrelated topics that all qualify as "scary things."

Scary Thing #1 - My wedding dress
I went to the bridal shop yesterday and picked up my wedding dress. Remember when I said I was having the champagne colored satin dress trimmed in plum?? Well, believe you me - it's purple!! My first thought was "I LOVE IT!" but then the confidence was replaced by misgivings of "Jenn, are you seriously getting married with purple all over your ass end??" I think as I was surrounded by all of the white and ivory traditional concoctions around me, I was having some doubts about my own unique vision. Will my mom think it's hideous? Will BJ hate it?? As I tried it on, there were some people in the shop who clearly applauded how unique and personal it was. Betsy who sold it to me loved how it turned out and thought I looked adorable in it. Then there was the other shop worker who CLEARLY thought - hmm definitely a fashion don't. Of course I have to remember that when I started this whole wedding thing I wasn't even going to wear anything remotely traditional, I had wanted to get a red, green or purple dress and forgo the bridal look all together. Now I'm at least in a mostly white dress and planning on wearing a veil - so what if I have bright purple on my chest and my train?? Since when am I a cookie cutter kindof girl???

Scary Thing #2 - Wedding Vows
Luckily BJ and I both agree on having a civil ceremony. I'm NOT the religious type though I would have been willing to have a religious based ceremony IF it were really important to him. The folks who are marrying us are basically letting us design our own ceremony so I have spent the last week or so researching various ceremony details like vows, exchange of rings, readings etc.

We already decided that we would find pre-written vows to repeat from the justice of the peace in lieu of writing our own. I think the whole composing our own is a tenuous situation for what is already a nerve wracking moment, as beautifully illustrated by one of his good friends who vowed in front of all those in the church to never "sperm" his wife as opposed to "spurn" her.

While looking up vows on the internet here and here, there are some things that are absolutely vomit inducing, either because of the whole misogynistic overtone or the ridiculously sappy, and then the strangely Dr. Seussian. Our favorite find thus far was this Celtic vow, seriously we'd bring the house down with this one ...

"I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night and
the eyes into which I smile in the morning
I pledge to you the first bite of my meat and the first drink from my cup
..."

Scary Thing #3 - Unity Candles
Interestingly enough when we discussed the actual wedding, my deal breaker was having anything overtly Christian, while his deal breaker was having a unity candle ceremony. I assumed his objection was to the whole cheesiness of the unity candle, but actually he is very opposed to what it represents as he has seen it performed in weddings ... the two separate candles used to light the center and then the separate ones blown out ... to him that symbolizes that the individual identity is extinguished. Now when I've seen the unity candle back north, the Moms of the bride and groom light the individual candles at the very beginning and then during the wedding, the couple takes those individual candles and lights the center. There are then three candles that remain lit, sortof symbolizing the joining of the two families. I always thought it was cheesy but sentimental at the same time.

For giggles and grins, I did some research on the unity candle (here, here and here) and it's meaning and found that it's used both the way BJ sees it and how I have described. Even after discussing this with him, he is still adamantly opposed and cannot get the "traditional" symbolism out of his mind because he finds it so distasteful, especially to the woman. Methinks he's been to too many Baptist type weddings here in the south where people still promise to obey :)

Scary Thing #4 - Haunted Houses
I'm not big in the Halloween scene and I hate scary movies and all things creepy in general. BJ though is a big fan of such things, so we decided to go to a haunted house last night. There are several options in the Little Rock area, but we chose the Haunted Hospital which had received the highest reviews on the Arkansas Times website. It was actually pretty good, they had lots of "actors" who came out to scare, and even touch the participants. I think BJ derived great enjoyment out of watching me steer clear of the creepy chainsaw guy who ran down the hall after us :)

What's in a name?

Apparently my blog is read by dozens of traditionalists as evidenced by my poll results. 30/46 voters (65%) believe I should take BJ's name, while only 3 measly people (6%) think I should retain my own identity. Of course I do happen to know that my readership does consist of several members of BJs family ... so I am slightly suspicious to say the least :) 21% said go with the hyphen, while another 3% said it really doesn't matter.

After receiving a bribe from BJ (yes I'm weak, I can be bought with pretty baubles) I agreed that I would change my name. I plan on hyphenating because first of all I think it sounds good hyphenated (he agrees) and second I could not live with just taking his last name. I would become Jennifer Jones, or Jenn Jones, or YIKES Jenni Jones!! It would create alliteration which I am opposed to and it makes me sound like a porn star ... or an infamous talk show host ... at the very least a blonde and I am none of the above.

Of course in the end, as long as you don't dare call me Mrs. BJ Jones we'll all get along.

I LOVE my bridal shop!!

Here's a dress ...


and here's a dress.....


Can you pick the bridesmaids dress that retails for $300 and the bridal dress that retails for $956??

Yeah, me neither!

The only difference that I can tell between the two is that the bridesmaids dress (which I bought) is made of "duchesse satin" while the bridal is "silk satin" which I assume is a finer fabric. Obviously, I could care less about having the cheaper fabric and I have to say that I LOVE my bridal shop for showing me this dress and pointing out what a good deal it was!! There's nothing I love more than a great bargain and I didn't realize how much until I was doing some research today!!!

p.s. BJ has already seen the ad for the dress, I was pretty confident that I could show him the advertisement of the girl perched on the couch with her ass in the air and not remotely give him a clue as to how it will look on me. Somehow I doubt that this pose will end up in my wedding scrapbook.

An update on athletic endeavors

Since this was originally *supposed* to be a blog about my running and triathlon pursuits, which later turned into a discourse on my travel nursing, I should really get back to business.

As to the running ... my training for the Chicago Marathon has officially derailed. There's no point in beating myself up about it because it is what it is. I knew when I signed up back in March that training for a marathon was a serious undertaking that requires commitment to putting in the miles. I haven't kept up my end of the bargain, simple as that. Instead of making excuses or beating myself up, I'm going to look forward to what's next. Yes, I'm out the $120 registration fee, but I'd rather not run it, than run it and risk hurting myself.

With that in mind, BJ and I decided to turn our attention to a late year half marathon. It will be my third and hopefully an opportunity to break 2:30, and his first attempt at this distance. We thought about Tulsa, but then looked at the Las Vegas Marathon/Half- Marathon on December 2nd. It has an awesome course that starts and ends on the strip, tons of running Elvi, a run through wedding chapel at mile 5 (it's tempting, let me tell you!) and of course all the excitement that Vegas has to offer. So starting this week, BJ and I will be training for this race. We're going to try to do all of our long runs together so that we can find a good pace that works for both of us. This race will be my immediate goal with the overall plan of debuting as a kick ass marathoner at the Little Rock Marathon in March. Now that I've disappointed myself once - I don't think I'll let it happen again.

In travel nursing news, I started my assignment at Arkansas Children's and I've quickly gotten back into the swing of things. It's a massive unit and I've been surprised at how many people remember me! I've gotten lots of "weren't you here before?" which was a surprise because there are so many nurses there, I just assumed that most wouldn't remember me at all.

Regarding the sibling rivalry, I am happy to announce that all of the dog children are now getting along. There are still occasionally tiffs, just as you would expect amongst stepsiblings, but the days of poor BJ's dog getting a daily ass kicking from my spaniel seem to be over. I'm still not sure what the pecking order is among them, I have a feeling that the small terrier (nicknamed the "Great White Devil" by BJ) is actually in charge of everyone. In any case, they can now be unsupervised which has relieved a great deal of stress on my part.

The last fun thing to report is that BJ and I made our first big purchase together! We were at Dillards doing some pre-wedding registry research when we happened to see a couch that we had previously liked on clearance as a floor model. [Side note: who knew there were so many patterns of crystal and that he and I would each have such strong opinions on the vessel for holding the wine that will hopefully get us drunk for years to come?!?!?] Given how excellent the price was we couldn't' resist, and if we're getting a couch, we might as well get a chair right? So next weekend our new living room furniture will be delivered and we will finally start having "our" stuff as opposed to his and hers. It's an exciting time, let me tell you!! Now if we can just figure out how to keep the dogs off of it ...

“For her fifth wedding, the bride wore black and carried a scotch and soda."

I have to apologize in advance to any readers who were actually interested in learning about my triathlon and running pursuits, I promise that I will return to those topics ... someday... but right now I'm a BRIDE! and I'm GETTING MARRIED and it's all about ME, ME, ME!! Seriously, I thought those Bridezilla shows were staged, or at the very least highly exaggerated, but now I can see how the very thought of having a wedding turns even the most grounded, laid-back Birkenstock wearing chic into a crazed, selfish shell of her former self.

Now that I've warned you in advance .... I bought a wedding dress!!! Unlike most brides, this has been the part I've dreaded the most. I hate shopping, I can't stand pretentious people and all of my visions of wedding dress shopping ended with me as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman where the woman at the shop tells her, "I don't think we have anything for YOU here." In addition to having no love of shopping, I am also devoid of any shopping companions locally in Little Rock. I'm sure I have an acquaintance or two who would come along if I begged, but I could seriously never torture someone with that unless they really owed me already. My backup plan was to meet my mom in St Louis in the near future, have a few cocktails (she can't stand shopping either) and pray that something worked.

Well none of those scenarios were necessary because the universe once again threw me a bone. I had a salon appointment for a waxing in the fancy schmancy "Heights" district of Little Rock and after my appointment I decided to window shop down the block. I noticed a cute pink awning and as I got closer I saw it was Proposals, which was a local bridal shop. I was familiar with it from my time reading bridal magazine crack and knew that it carried the high end lines of gowns and bridesmaids dresses. I had already planned on visiting it at some point but was dreading the Heights snobbery at my simple, low budgeted needs given that I was budgeting only $300 for my dress. Since I was already in the neighborhood I popped in. I should mention that I had no makeup on, my hair was still wet from the shower and pulled into a bun, and I was just wearing a simple tank top and flip flops. Definitely did not have the appearance of a southern belle bride looking to spend some bucks.

I was immediately greeted by Betsy who inquired about what I was looking for. I attempted to brush her off with an "I'm just doing some looking, I'm not ready to really buy yet." She then asked if I was already engaged, what type of wedding I was planning, and before I knew it she had me in the back with all the wedding dresses. She and another staff member were pulling out various dresses meeting my description of "simple, no train, something for a small intimate affair" and Betsy said, "Oh come on, let's try some on!" Before I knew it, I was in a dressing room with a cute, simple dress brought out for me by one of the staffers. It was actually a bridesmaid dress but they had recently sold it to use as a bridal and thought it was cute. She even mentioned that the company has a bridal version which is 3 times as much, but that the bridesmaid version was cute and such a great deal. I should mention that I never once mentioned my budget and several of the beautiful dresses they pulled out were silk and $1200 so they really showed me a range and seemed more concerned about my vision as opposed to price tags. I ended up trying on the bridesmaids dress first, which really is NOT like any maids dress I've seen. It was made of a substantial satin, with a cute little sweep train at the back and had a ribbon detail on the train and the bodice that could be customized in any color! I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, "damn! I'm a bride!" Even though it was long and poufy at the bottom, it still showed off the body that I've worked so hard to get in shape the past year and a half!! I was hooked, don't show me another dress - this is it!!

I did of course call my Mom to make sure she would be OK with me purchasing it on my own. She asked that I have them take pictures which Betsy was more than happy to do. So I went home, dried my hair, put on makeup and came back for some shots. We threw on a veil (I tried a tiara and it just wasn't my thing), I posed for a few shots and then I wrote a check and ordered it!! If you're interested in seeing the pics, go here. The dress I ordered will be the same color, but I'm getting the ribbon detailing in plum ( a dark purple) which will satisfy my need to be a little different.

I have to say that the dress shopping was painless and the ladies at the shop were so friendly and helpful. Not at all the snobby folks that I envisioned, and never once was a nose turned up at me. One woman even said, "you definitely have the body to pull this dress off" which let's face it, is exactly what every woman WANTS to hear!!

(BTW- the title is a quote from a journalist named Phyllis Batelle and it just cracked me up. )

Wedding Reconnaisance and Sibling Rivalries

This weekend marked my first *real* visit to BJ's childhood home in Fayetteville, AR. His parents were kind enough to watch his dog while he was escorting me across Kansas so we all -and by "all" I mean the two humans and my two dog children - loaded up the car and headed up the highway to Razorback territory. I had been there briefly once before for a quick brunch, but never had the chance to really hang out and bond. The "bonding" is important in my opinion because I would prefer to have "in-laws" as opposed to "outlaws" which is how one of my uncles referred to his wife's parents.

So picture this, it's a nice balmy day in Arkansas with a temp of around 103 - perfect weather for visiting! I arrive with my two adorable dogs, I mean seriously they're adorable and it can't just be a mother's love blinding her right?? We let them frolic outdoors in the yard and introduce BJ's dog who has met my kids before, and his parent's dog who has not met lots of dogs and perhaps might want to eat my terrier. It went well for the first 3 minutes until my spaniel Oakley who is 35 pounds soaking wet, decided to attack both BJ's dog and his parents' dog both of whom are dalmatians that could easily kick his ass if they wanted to. Unfortunately both of the dalmatians are well trained to not eat smaller dogs, so they kindof cowered which just egged Oakley on even more. At first I thought perhaps Oakley was just feeling cornered or something like that, you know being defensive, but upon observation saw that Oakley was clearly being aggressive. Great! My beautiful child is the proverbial bully on the playground!! I was so distressed because he's never acted this way at the dog park and he's normally so sweet! He was so bad that we ended up having to take turns all weekend crating the dogs so that they weren't all in the house or outdoors at the same time. Tosca my terrier got along with the big dogs and her new grandma fabulously, but Oakley was just a jerk to his new "sister" and "cousin." BJ's mom was very gracious (far better than I would have reacted if some strange dog was trying to beat up on my children) and I was mortified. Apparently the merging of families and children can be just as difficult for single parents of dog children as for human children.

In other news, we headed up to Eureka Springs which is where we plan on getting married. It's a quaint little Victorian style tourist trap of a town in the mountains of NW Arkansas. I'd never been there before but by its descriptions knew it would be my kind of place, lots of B&Bs, artists, and welcoming to gay people and bikers which are two of my favorite kinds of people!! One innkeeper we met described it as, "if the Ozarks are the Bible Belt, then Eureka is the hole the buckle goes through." I just wish it hadn't been 120 degrees so that we could have walked around more and enjoyed the place.

The purpose of the trip was to scope out wedding sites. For a small town, they actually do a pretty large wedding business, mainly in the elopement style, intimate affair of which we're envisioning. I had done lots of research online and then contacted about 6 places that seemed interesting and made appointments with the three who responded. One was a bed and breakfast, another was a wedding chapel, the third a historic hotel.

We loved the B&B owner, he was very laid back and cool but the parlor there just didn't fit the vision either of us had. We'll probably stay there at some time in the future because the suites were nice and not overly girly in that Victorian style that makes me puke a little in the back of my throat. The historic hotel wasn't what I had in mind either, but had a very cool restaurant that would be perfect for a candlelight dinner after the ceremony! It has a super small dining room that's a part of the open air kitchen and the people there seemed happy to accommodate us and even mentioned how "great of a couple" we make! (and it wasn't that patronizing we're trying to get your business tone, it seemed genuine) We're going to eat there at our next trip and make sure the food is tasty because I don't want food poisoning on my wedding night. The third place we visited was a wedding chapel that also does garden/gazebo weddings. The chapel was totally what I envisioned, really small, rock wall, candles everywhere, and the proprietors were very laid back. They do commitment ceremonies, handfastings, and non-denominational
weddings. Basically it will be easy to avoid a heavy-handed Baptist ceremony which I assume is prevalent in these parts because let's face it, I will NEVER agree to obey, or let my husband lead me or my future offspring in the path of righteousness etc. etc. . I've seen some of those vows and quite frankly they scare me!! Let's just go with richer, poorer till death do us part yada yada - I'm down with that. So anyway, barring any problems, it looks like we'll be doing the little chapel on a winter evening and then having a nice dinner afterwards. I'm also envisioning a hot-looking Jenn in a form fitting dress of some sort, a *real* wedding cake (not some Sam's Club creation) but smaller in scale, fancy crystal toasting goblets to use for the champagne and to save for future occasions, a buzzed bride and groom (yes, I'm a lush), a honeymoon in a cabin with hot tub, jacuzzi and fireplace, and a blissful week without any dog children. Ahhh, I can picture it now. If I can't have a Star Trek Vegas wedding, then I think this is a nice compromise.

Now if only our dog children can learn to love one another, and I can learn to shop for a dress, this whole marriage thing would be perfect!

It's official .... I AM a girl

I have prided myself - for many years - on the fact that I'm not a typical girl.

I'm the chic who had tons of guy friends in college, could chug a beer faster than a frat boy, do shots all night long, lift and move heavy objects, drive large trucks and stick shifts, and not care a bit about fashion. I didn't even realize that toenails should be painted or eyebrows plucked until my mid-20s, and it's only been in the last year that I learned what a brazilian wax is. JCR and others will attest to the fact that Jenn is not a girly-girl, though I think I have softened a lot around the edges the last few years.

Last night, I knew that my days of "I'm not your typical chic" were over when without regret or embarrassment I bought copies of Modern Bride and the Bridal Guide.

It's pitiful ... I am a girl after all

Boyfriend 2.0 upgraded to Fiancee!!!!

I got engaged!!

Woo Hoo!! Yippee!!

Yes, we've only known each other a little over 3 months, but I'm intelligent enough to know that when the love of your life is handed to you by the universe ... you don't ask questions. I mean I'm 33, who knows how many more soulmates are going to be thrown at me??? (just kidding B)

It's been an amazing ride so far and I'm ecstatically happy! And I'll just say that those who know me well will admit that "girly" and "giddy" are not a normal part of my repertoire.


edited to add: I put two more pictures up, another one of us using that fabulous self-timer mode on the camera, and also one of the ring. I didn't really want an engagement ring because I can't wear something that sticks up at work anyway (large stones poke through gloves). I had told boyfriend 2.0 I'd be happy if we just got cool bands when the time came, but being the fabulous boy that he is, he got me some bling that still suited my sensibilities :) BTW, we totally got engaged on Friday the 13th ... how's that for saying "screw you" to superstition!!