it’s not right to want a bright green bag this much, but look at it! isn’t it gorgeous? i think it would like really nice on my arm in maui.

Coming to the conclusion to have our wedding in South Carolina took a while. Todd was born in West Columbia, moved to Greenville for college to attend Furman University, went to law school at Washington and Lee, and moved back to Columbia. I, on the other hand, was born in Baton Rouge, moved to Ruston, Louisiana, then moved to Yorktown, Indiana, and back to Ruston, Louisiana all before landing in Columbia at 22 years old. Needless to say, Columbia isn’t necessarily my home. We wanted to hold the wedding at a neutral location that still had some meaning to at least one of us. We chose the Daniel Chapel on the Furman Campus.

I had a dress fitting last weekend in Dallas. Things are looking good. I probably need to make sure all of my Christmas fun is worked off in the next few weeks, but the dress looks amazing. I purchased it at Warren Barron Bridal in Highland Park Village in Dallas. The women at that shop have so much knowledge about the dresses and really made it a wonderful experience. My dress will be ready for my portrait in Louisiana on March 14. I may be able to share a few of Kelly’s photos after the portrait date. After my dress fitting, I realized that I should probably work on breaking in my shoes.

I didn’t want to wear white shoes. I wanted some awesome “flare” in my wedding ensemble and I wanted to wear gold shoes to go with our pink and gold wedding. These are the shoes I picked… and I do realize this is one detail that Todd really won’t care about.

The invitations will be going out the first week in March! I’ve checked on our room block and all of the rooms have been taken, so I added more. I also got a peek at who has made reservations already and I’m just so excited to see all of these people!

More fun wedding stuff to come later…

So I was caught and I need to ‘fess up. My friend, Hillary, left me a comment on my previous blog entry asking if I ever check the status of my wedding registries. The truth is, I am a registry stalker! I check my registries every day online to see if there has been any recent activity and sometimes I even add new items and take away things that I realize I don’t really need or want anymore. It’s so much fun!

I got lots of beautiful pieces from my “every day” pattern at last weekend’s shower and most of them were a surprise.

Anyway, I cracked up when I read Hillary’s comment and was relieved to know that I’m not the only bride-to-be who participates in this odd pre-wedding behavior. Thanks, Hill, for making me feel better!

We’ve got another shower coming up this weekend in Baton Rouge. Mrs. Reona Varnado, who kept me every day from the time I was six weeks old until I was 2 years old, is hosting a shower for us in Baton Rouge with my Great Aunt Helen, another very very sweet lady. Todd and I feel so honored to have so much love and support during this special time. I’m excited to see some old Baton Rouge church friends, neighbors, and some of my college girlfriends that have ended up in Baton Rouge. I’ll try to lay off the registry websites so that I can be surprised. I think it’s no secret that surprises aren’t my favorite thing!

We had quite the potpourri of guests and it was so nice to see so many special ladies in my life in one location. Family members, my grandmother’s best friend, my best friend, a sorority sister, and my mom’s college friend. The food was simply amazing and I’m still thinking about it. We had lobster tempura with pickled watermelon on skewers, pistacchio encrusted cream cheese, and bellinis. This was just the appetizer! The meal was huge but feminine. My very talented mother got creative and saved some flowers from a previous event and arranged them in a beautiful blue and white bowl. Here are a couple of pictures from the shower.

On Saturday night, my parents were supposed to attend the Junior League of Dallas Ball. My brother was also scheduled to come into town and my mom suggested that I attend the ball with my Dad. I was pretty excited to get all dressed up and go to the dinner with my dad. I got really excited when I found out that The Bangles would be the featured entertainment. I began to reminisce about the days when I’d listen to “Manic Monday” and “Eternal Flame” with my friends in my bedroom and dream about someday singing those songs to an adoring audience. The Bangles took the stage and my Dad said, “I didn’t know that all of The Bangles were girls.” I laughed hysterically. He was busy raising children when The Bangles were popular.

The Bangles– and some man’s head

We tried to stick around to hear “Walk Like an Egyptian” and see the pretty Dallas people do the dance, but we just got too tired and decided to go home.

It’s always great to spend long weekends in Dallas, and even more fun when Walker is there, too. We’ve got another shower in Baton Rouge next weekend and we’ll all be back together. It has been such a joy planning the wedding and getting to see my family so often to work on this together. Hopefully they’ll still let me visit them all the time after the wedding is over.