Memorial Day Weekend in Charlotte

Paige was in Charlotte Friday night - Saturday afternoon for another round of bridesmaid dress shopping with Leah and I. First, we went to The Bridal House on Old Statesville Rd. (right by my house) and found two possibilities. Then, we picked up Leah and went to The Wedding Mall. After trying on many, many dresses, we found "the one". It's pretty perfect..chocolate brown and turquoise with beautiful bronze sequins that look like fish scales. Perfect for a November wedding!

(I think the tag should have a disclaimer on it for parents of girls going to prom because it was a tight squeeze on but slid right off! Ha!)

JUST KIDDING!! These are the two possibilities for bridesmaid dresses, both in a teal/peacock color, both by Alfred Angelo: The first one is a chiffon/satin trim mix, halter dress that would need to be hemmed to the knee. This could pose a problem, but given the price of the dress ($109), it makes it seem more reasonable. The second one is strapless and satin (without being "bridesmaidy satin"). It is also $109 ($128 at a shop in Concord). (For Leah & I, we would only pay $94 + tax because at TWM, there is a $15 per person fee to try on dresses...)

Neither one really fit either of us..ah, sample sizes. So it was hard to tell if either really was that flattering on either of our body types. The majority vote at this point is for the second one. I REALLY like the purple dress (but don't know that it would be that pretty in teal) because I prefer the halter to the strapless style, but I think the second one would go better with Paige's dress (since it's satin with chiffon stripes). Any votes?

After TWM, we went to Mecklenburg Bridal but didn't find anything new. Then, we drove out to Gastonia to Poffie Girls and came up with nothing. I put about 100 miles on my car driving around Charlotte/Gastonia. I am making a mental note for if/when I ever get married and the duties I will force upon my Maid/Matron of Honor. ;)

It rained all weekend, leaving me completely unmotivated. Brent came down Sunday night and we went to Stooly's. Monday, we laid around and watched tv, went to the store, got pizza and wings & I taught him how to play SCRABBLE. He had never played before...so we played 3 games while watching The Bachelorette. I won 2-3. :) It was a great, uneventful weekend..except for all the rain. Hopefully the next two weekends will be rain-free! :)

Pirate Update: Despite losing the conference championship, ECU will host a regional this weekend. GO PIRATES!

Photo Updates...

This is how Paige proposed...I be her MOH. :)

Bella loves to hang out under the futon.
She'll have to give it up when I get a "grown up" sofa.

A sweet treat for the birthday girl. :)

I wish my life was exciting...

Sometimes, I really wish I led an exciting life..one that isn't so weighed down with routines. Since I moved to Charlotte, my days have pretty much been the same, more or less..although they did get more exciting/hectic/stressful/happy since I brought Bella home.

After the past few weeks, I will say that I think this year will be a year of change. My friends and I are growing up, our lives are going places we never expected them to go and we're having to make decisions we've never had to before. I can only expect that my relationships will be more fulfilling and honest, now that I don't have "that guy" in the back of my mind/heart. I think life will be better...hopefully I'll make some girl friends. No one will be able to replace Adina, Hannah or even Joanna & Jackie, but we're all so spread out and somewhat disconnected. I've sent in my membership application for the Young Affiliates of the Mint and that excites me, not only for the social experiences but for the exhibits (hello, Andy Warhol?!). Plus, I plan on getting a tan this year, one way or another...mostly so that I'm not a ghost when it comes time for Paige's wedding. I've never been one to care (plus, I always say I won't get skin cancer later since I don't worship the sun), but a little color wouldn't be so bad.

What else? I guess I'll end this post with some GREAT news! ECU swept Memphis last weekend and won the C-USA regular season title. The Pirates are 41-15, 17-7 C-USA and are ranked in the top-18 in ALL 5 major polls: #15 Baseball America, #16 ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll, #17 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Rivals.com and #18 Collegiate Baseball. This week's rankings mark the longest active streak ranked in at least one poll at 14 consecutive weeks, since the 2004 season when they were ranked 17 straight weeks. In 2001, they were ranked on at least one poll the entire season, at 19 weeks. Tomorrow, ECU heads to Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Southern Miss) for the C-USA Baseball Championships and will face UCF (8th seeded) at 5pm. GOOOOOOOOOO PIRATES!!

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new life.....

Monday night, the "Great One" changed his relationship status on FB to "engaged". It's not a big deal. But it got me thinking. So yesterday morning, I checked the Fayetteville Observer (I had to look up to see what the paper would be down in Hope Mills) and sure enough in April was an engagement announcement. Now, this is still not anything to get worked up over EXCEPT for the fact that he was here, not two feet from me, for 24 hours and didn't mention anything about being engaged to Jenn. Nothing. And, to add to the insult, the wedding is in 4 weeks! To say I got upset is an understatement. And it's not even about him getting married to someone else. I don't care for him the same way I once did. I was upset over the fact that over the past 5 years, I put so much faith in him and believed in all this "potential to be a good man" I supposedly thought he had. Boy, was I wrong! After everything we've been through, he didn't respect me enough to tell me himself. Which, if he had, there may have been a chance we could have remained friends but this is the final straw. There are other things I could mention, but I will refrain... So, this is it. He is out of my life, forever. I sent him a message today to explain why I was upset, to tell him he's a jerk (that's putting it mildly) and to say goodbye.

So, my mom took the afternoon off. I left work early because I was such a mess and just couldn't take it anymore. We went to dinner and then went over to Borders. She bought me "Scrabble: The Onyx Edition". We went home and played Scrabble while Bella played and eventually ate her dinner. She thought she'd cream me with her 30 point "Q" but I came back with a vengence and won by 77 points! We went to bed and she left this morning when I left for work.

So, it's a new dawn, day, life for me and I am feeling good. It's the honest truth. He's not worth it anything to me anymore....It's really sad but true.

Happy Hump Day! :)

Brief Update/Preview

A quick update before the new weekend arrives! Last Friday, Brad & I did wind up hanging out. Let's just leave it at that. Saturday, I was pretty much laid up on the futon all day watching a "Being Erica" marathon, "Gilmore Girls" and two movies ("Pride & Glory" and "Taken") since it stormed and my receiver went out (tsk, tsk). Sunday, I went to church. It was traumatic to say the least but I'm really glad I went. God is sneaky. ;) After church, I met Chad (we worked together at Z Gallerie in Raleigh) and his friend Ashley at the Panera at Northlake. After I clipped some coupons, I went to the store since my lovely mother sent me a food card to help with the cost. :) After the store, I watched my third movie of the weekend, "Frost/Nixon," and hung out with B.

What's coming up? Brent is supposed to come tonight, since he'll be in Gastonia watching a junior college tournament. B and I are going to Raleigh tomorrow night, for the weekend. My sister, myself, and one of her friends are going out to look at bridesmaid dresses on Saturday. Church & brunch on Sunday, and then back to Charlotte.

Weekends are too short!

Have a great rest of the week and a great weekend. See ya next week...hopefully with pictures.

P.S. It is B's 1-year birthday tomorrow!! :)