SHOPPING EXCURSION

You may think that spending five hours in one store would be excruciatingly painful but not when that one store is Ikea and your shopping partners are your daughter and pregnant daughter-in-law. 
Highlights of our trip?

Our .99c breakfast: Two sausages, scrambled eggs, and home fries. mmmm... it sustained us for the whole five hours.

The deals: A set of food containers for $5, floor lamps for $10, a bookcase for $30. Kere was in her absolute bargain hunting glory.

The fun: Kere awoke that morning with a back ache so there were frequent stops in the store while she rested her back by reclining on the wonderful sofas on display. At one point, I instructed her to lie down and bring her knees to her chest in order to stretch out the lower back muscles. After a couple of minutes I told her to spread her knees apart and started to yell "PUSH".  We broke into fits of laughter at the startled looks on the other customers faces.

It was a great day and the only thing that could have made it better was if my other daughter-in-law could have been there.  We missed you Olivia.

They heard we were coming.

THE STORY OF THE DRESS

We searched high and low for a modest wedding dress with not much luck.I suggested to Brittany that we try looking on the internet and came across this great site that custom made dresses at a very, very reasonable price. Brittany saw one that she really liked and as I was about to place the order I noticed that they required more time than we had to make the dress. To say we were disappointed was an understatement. I decided that I would email them and see if they could accommodate our request to have a dress made in time for the wedding with the understanding that it would cost extra. I wasn't overly hopeful so was pleasantly surprised when I received a reply to my question within an hour. The contact person (Libby) told me she would get in touch with the designer and get back to me as soon as possible. Later that day, I received another email from Libby telling me that if I placed my order by the end of the day, we would have the dress in time for the wedding. The cost to have it rushed? 30 US dollars. We took measurements, placed the order and waited.

I can tell you that there were a few raised eyebrows when we told people we had ordered a wedding dress on the internet. My friends were pretty dubious about the whole thing thinking I might be getting ripped off. I wasn't too worried because Libby had been so good about communicating even after the company had received my payment.

Exactly a week before the wedding, the dress arrived. It fit perfectly, looked beautiful, and Brittany was very happy with it. The total price including the rush order and shipping came to $238 US Amazing!

I cannot say enough good things about Libby and my experience with modgowns.com I would highly recommend them. So if you are looking for a modest custom made dress for a wedding or prom , check them out.

LUCK O' THE IRISH OR GOLDEN HORSESHOE? EITHER WAY, I'LL TAKE IT!

I had a friend once tell me that I must have a golden horseshoe stuck up my backside (not her exact wording). She seemed to think that good things happened to me for no apparent reason. I argued that good things happened to everyone you just had to recognize it. Being the pessimist she is, she didn't buy it. Another friend once commented that I have the luck of the Irish sometimes. Having done some genealogy, I couldn't argue, there's definitely some Irish ancestry. Brittany it would seem, has inherited it too. I cannot believe how things are coming together for her wedding and the deals we have been able to get. It's been nothing short of amazing. I believe we've really been blessed. First there were the wedding invitations that we got at 75% off the sale price that just happened to be the right colour. Then there was the whole ordeal of trying to find a tent to rent. Only one was available and it was 50x70 feet. I told the rental agent it was a wedding we were holding not a circus. I mentioned it to my neighbor and he told me that right in the little town we live in, the Lions Club rented tents. I was able to get just what I wanted at half the price of any place else. I could go on and on but I won't bore you with the details, I'll save them for their own separate posts. I hope that things continue to go in this direction. There is still a lot to do yet but I am confident that it will all come together. I just hope that one day when I am bending over to pick something up, that golden horseshoe doesn't pop out.

INVITATIONS....DONE!

It took a heck of a lot longer than we planned but I can now officially say that the wedding invitations are in the mail. Whew, that is a huge task taken care of. We got quite a deal on the invitations and with a little creativity we had them looking like Brittany wanted. Here's the story on my amazing bargain.

I was in Staples looking for some black card stock which unfortunately they did not have, when I just had this feeling that I should walk to the back of the store and look around. At the very back of the store hidden at the end of an aisle was a table of clearance items and lo and behold on the table were some do it yourself wedding invitations in the same colour Brittany is using in her wedding. They were twenty dollars marked down from thirty and I wasn't sure if I should pick them up or not so I decided on a packet of gift bags for six dollars (also in her colour) instead. I went to the checkout to pay for them and discovered that they were an extra 75% off. It was at this point that I did my best Arnold impression and uttered those infamous words " I'll be back!" I cleaned them out, programs, place cards, seals, invitations, and table number signs all for under fifty dollars. I was in my absolute bargain hunting glory.

Top picture: Finished invitation

Top middle: Our assembly line

Bottom middle: The cute little gift bags I got for two dollars (not each but all).

Bottom: The original invitation in the box