Fabulous Shoe Friday

This week's drool-worthy fashion for your feet...

I love the pair below because you could dress them up or down. I actually have a very similar pair that have a gold wedge and black faux-fur/hair, but they're too dressy to wear every day.
I want this next pair in two colors...

The last pair reminds me of the Jessica Simpson suede flats I had to return after one wearing due to them coming apart, which absolutely killed me because I loved them so much. I'm not so big of a fan of the piping, but they're still super cute.

The final two seem like they would be amazing party shoes.


Images via Piperlime, Endless & JCrew

A Much Needed Break

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with several aspects of life right now, so I plan to take a break from posting tomorrow. If I stumble upon something that I just can't go without posting, I will drop in. Otherwise, I'll see you on Fabulous Shoe Friday.

Have a fabulous day!

NieNie Donation Gone Awry?

I have debated back and forth about whether to even post about this, but I've been just sick with not knowing what came of my "donation". I'm sure most of you have heard of the NieNie donation efforts that started back in August. I had just started my blog and had heard of the tragic accident that had caused such pain for Stephanie & Christian's family. I was anxious to get involved. Unfortunately, I was a little short on money, so I had to limit my donation efforts. I signed up to win numerous auctions that were listed on Design Mom's blog. Auction after auction ended with me not "winning" any of the items, so I decided to take advantage of a blog makeover offer. The background I have been using is one of the standard blog formats offered by Blogger and thought it would neat to have a unique background or header. I received an email from the person who had the listing requesting the "donation" and asking me to send information regarding what changes I had envisioned. So, I immediately (within 5 minutes of receiving the email) transferred via PayPal four times the amount that had been requested... that's right, four times the amount! I even attached a message saying I felt compelled to give more because of the great cause. After numerous emails made by me with no response over the past two and a half months, I gave up on the idea of receiving a blog makeover. Don't get the wrong idea... that's not why I am upset. Here's the problem... the seller had me transfer the money to her, not the NieNie fund. I should have said no, but I trusted this person would do the right thing and transfer a bulk amount of everyone's donations. So, after months of wondering whether the money actually reached the fund, I emailed her. I told her that I was no longer concerned about whether I received the service and that my main concern was that the money had reached the right hands. I still have not heard word back and don't expect to. The whole thing just makes me sick. I'm afraid that someone took advantage of the situation and walked away with money that wasn't intended for them-- not just mine, as several people had "bid" on her listings. My only hope now is that she reads this post and does the right thing.

*Clarification: I must note that Design Mom is not the offender. She was gracious enough to list all of the auctions that were going on for the NieNie fund, but she was not the auction lister I am discussing here.

Weight Watchers Update

I am pleased to say that, after eating pizza twice and attending two Halloween parties, I actually lost this week... not much, just point 6, but I'll take it. I honestly thought that I had gained and was dreading the meeting, so I wanted to do a cartwheel after weighing in!

I have hit a journaling slump, though. I do think that eventually I won't be writing down every thing I put into my mouth, so I'm somewhat okay with it. I have to really pay attention to my stomach and what it is telling me if I'm going to make not journaling work.

Enough about me... here is this week's recipe, courtesy of Molly. I apologize for not having a picture.

Fat-Free Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of flour (whole wheat is better, but if that's a stretch, then try half white/half wheat)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of corn syrup
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Separate eggs.
Put egg whites in a bowl with corn syrup and stir together.
Add remaining ingredients and mix.
Spoon onto baking sheet covered with parchment.
Bake 7-9 minutes only-- be careful not to overcook!

Yields approx. 30 cookies.
Weight Watchers points value= 1 point per cookie

The prep time is super quick on these, so they'll be ready in a flash! Be sure to leave me comments on the recipes you try to tell me how you'd rate them.

Wedding Wednesday: Centerpiece Inspiration

I am probably too frantic about flower arrangements considering we have just under nine months until the wedding, but I seem to be having a panic attack. In Steamboat, there are quite a few flower shops. Unfortunately, none of them seem to be in our budget. Nearly all of my friends who have gotten married in the past three years have ordered their flowers directly from Safeway, the grocery store. The store would also rent out the kiosk to the bride the Wednesday or Thursday before the wedding for $50 if she wanted to arrange the flowers on her own... or they would arrange them for you for an extra cost. Either way, they would store the flowers for you until the day of the wedding. I was sure that I would just order our flowers through them as well. Unfortunately, when I called, I found out that the person that had been in charge of doing weddings etc. had retired, and the woman I spoke to seemed less than happy to help. She told me to call back in April... for my July wedding. Don't think so! Then, she told me that she probably won't be working there after January, which is actually good to know. So, I'm back to square one for now. At least I have a few inspiration pics to go on...

^Karen Smallbone

^House of Turquoise
^Better Homes & Gardens

^Better Homes & Gardens
^The Knot
^Modern Day Design

Did you notice the trend? I'm definitely leaning toward mainly white and green floral arrangements, but that could all change! I was thinking that would be a great way to bring in the green in a simple way.

Where did you order (or plan to order) your flowers? Did you go with a true florist or an alternative?

It's Official...

They've just announced that Barack Obama won the presidency.

Costume Week

I had hoped to have more pictures for you of all of the costumes we've donned the week of Halloween, but I was sadly lacking in decent ones. Without further ado, I give you the week of costumes.

J and I were requested to don 70s garb (at the last minute) to our good friend's 40th birthday party. The first picture is of me and J (don't know what that spot is over his mouth). I had just taken off my huge gold earrings because they were killing me. I threw together a gold tunic with flouncy sleeves with a huge belt and big wedge boots. J's costume looked a lot more seventies than mine.
Here is a pic of J and the birthday boy.
And this is an outtake, er, what we normally look like in pictures.
Moving on to my work party... unfortunately, I only ended up with two pics of me. I like the first pic best because I don't look as wide. ;) I made the temp in our department wear part of the football player costume because I was the only one representing our department in the costume contest. He was thrilled... yeah, not so much.

And, finally, a pic of J and me at our friends' Halloween party. I left my camera at home, so I'm still waiting to receive more pics.
Unfortunately, I hadn't taken off my jacket yet, so you can't even see my costume! Oh well...

House Inspiration

I told J that we will definitely have to keep these in our inspiration folder until we own a house, not a townhouse. (Our HOA is too strict on colors.) What do you think?
He told me I could get started on this right away if I would be the one to rip up the carpet... so I don't think it's happening.
Both images found via House of Turquoise, a blog I just found and was glued to for hours. The author might just be more obsessed than me... and I love that!

The Plague of Reality Television

I'm sure you all have noticed the plethora of reality shows on television now. Have you noticed how many awful ones there are? Maybe it's just me, but I can not stand to watch most of them.

It seems as though the number of wedding-related reality shows has sky-rocketed in the past year. Just off the top of my head I can think of several shows: Say Yes to the Dress; Whose Wedding is it Anyway; Bridezillas; My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding; Platinum Weddings; Married Away; The Real Wedding Crashers; Rich Bride, Poor Bride; My Fair Wedding; My Big Redneck Wedding... I'm sure I'm missing some. Honestly, I think there are less than five of these that I would actually watch.

I used to enjoy watching Bridezillas. As the show has progressed from season to season, the network seems to have decided to focus on brides who are just plain crazy, not just crazy from planning. Platinum Weddings used to entertain me, but I've grown extremely tired of the over-the-top, extravagant events that seem like a waste of money.

Since my wedding planning has begun, I've thrown out many of my old inspiration photos... not because they weren't gorgeous-- because they weren't us. It's amazing how quickly my mindset changed once I realized the most important part of our wedding would not be the details, but the fact that we were sharing the most important day in our lives with our friends and family. No one will remember what linens we chose. So, the idea of keeping up with the Joneses and having everything be bigger and better has falled by the wayside. I won't say that I won't tune in to the reality shows every once in a while, but I can say for sure that the blog world has opened my eyes to making your wedding truly yours... and I'd much rather tune into that any day.

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Although the girls already know that they will be my maids (we did just go through the dress saga), I never really got around to formally asking them. I think it's because I was getting a bit of flack for jumping the gun before J gave me a ring, and I just couldn't deal with any more than I needed to.

Ages ago, before the house was on the market, I ordered the cutest cards from The Dessy Group's website. The cards were designed by Oh Joy, whose blog I read regularly. When I ordered the cards, I just knew that I was going with a bird theme for the wedding. When you start pulling inspiration over a year before your wedding, you'll change your mind more than once. Even though I've abandoned the bird theme, the cards will still work because they're green.

Aren't they cute? I will probably get together with Jen and KA over drinks to hand deliver theirs, along with their dresses. I'll put my sister and step-sister's in the mail. I love the idea of giving them something handwritten to formally ask them. *Side note: all four of my "maids" are already married with a child... shouldn't I be calling them bridesmatrons? He, he... sounds kind of funny.

How did you ask your maids?