#DCspring

Well, dear readers, if you blink you may miss it: our gorgeous DC spring, which showed up late this year, is already making way for hot and muggy DC summer.  Don't believe me?  See for yourself...

The area is still absolutely gorgeous, though the weather is getting gross, and every time I take Charlie out for a walk I am amazed by all the flowers in my new neighborhood.  Glorious wild rose bushes abound, the peonies bloomed last week, the irises are only now on their last legs, and many dogwoods are still in full flower.  I'm tempted to take gardening shears with me whenever I leave the house!  (Okay, I have - three times - but I just clipped some roses from way back in the grounds of an apartment building near me, where they wouldn't be missed, and I actually paid a neighbor for a few of the peonies from her garden!)  I know I Instagram the [expletive] out of spring in DC, but I thought I'd share some of my favorites from April 1 through today, both seen and not yet seen online, before the season is gone for the year.  Enjoy!

Frock Fridays: My Wedding Dress

a few of the dresses I've tried on over the past year

I've been a fiancée for exactly a year this week, dear readers!  (Remember the vlog we made last May to announce our  engagement?)  In that time, I've published 45 Wedding Wednesday posts covering everything from our budget (twice) to finding our photographer (and the wonderful engagement session we did with her in London back in September) to Jon's demand for a traditional wedding cake and my insistence on also serving a cheese cake to a little rant about bridal shoes - but not once have I talked about my wedding dress.  In honor of having worn this beautiful ring for a year, I think it's time I did!

Of course I'm not actually going to show you my dress.  I couldn't even if I wanted to.  You know why?  It's not been made yet!  But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's start at the beginning.

My price point, as they say on Say Yes To The Dress, is pretty low.  If you look at the updated spreadsheet I shared in February, I set aside 5% of my total budget for attire/beauty for myself and my maids.  This doesn't just include my dress but also Sarah and Ellie's frocks, as is the tradition in the UK, as well as whatever hair and makeup arrangements we make.  TheKnot recommends that you can expect to pay 8-10% of your budget just on the bride's attire, so even though I won't tell you where my max is in dollars, you can imagine it's quite a bit lower than average!  Part of the reason I don't want to spend a lot of money on my dress - besides the usual reasons that even brides who do spend a lot on their dresses can understand, like that I'll only be wearing it once and I'd rather put the savings towards cheese - is because I don't think there's One Dress out there for me that's worth thousands of dollars.

Is that strange?  I watch bridal shows like SYTTD often and feel like, even though I'm getting married myself, I can't relate to a lot of the women on the show.  (Don't even get me started on the Atlanta episode where the 20 year old bride made a big deal about getting to wear white because she and her fiancé waited for marriage...)  I know that these shows are made to hype up the process, but I never expected the magical moment that all these girls feel when they see themselves in The Dress.  I've known since the beginning what I wanted in my dress, but I didn't expect to find exactly that while staying in my budget - and, honestly, I didn't think our wedding would be any less glorious if I didn't. I was always totally content with the idea that I'd try on a few dresses, pick my favorite within my price range, and that would be that!

So when, last September as I was ordering Sarah's dress at the JCrew store, the saleslady asked if I wanted to buy my gown at the same time, I didn't laugh her off.  After all, I'd been browsing the website for months and knew the selection like the back of my hand - and they were having a massive offer of 25% off if you spent more than $150.  Why not?  Two weeks later, the JCew dress that was closest to the image I had in my head arrived on my doorstep.

I kept looking, of course, after confirming by email with a JCrew wedding representative that I could return the dress at any time, and ended up going to a store in New York with some friends in October, a bridal salon in London in late December with Ellie and Rose, David's Bridal with my mother in January, and a Loehmann's sale alone in early March.  But I didn't like anything I tried on more than what I thought the JCrew dress could be altered to become, so I made an appointment with a seamstress that my mother knew from her sewing classes to discuss options.

Mom and I met with Velma Lee at her house in late March.  I tried on the JCrew dress for the first time since September and, I will admit, I felt a little thrill.  I explained what I wanted, were anything possible, and Velma examined the dress, nodding and exclaiming as I talked.  She could do everything I asked for except make the skirt a bit fuller, but, since the cost of the dress plus the cost of Velma's work would come in under my budget, I didn't really mind.  After all, I knew that the shape of the skirt wasn't unflattering as it was, and since I didn't believe in The Dress... well, one detail didn't seem to matter.

But them Mom piped up.  "Velma, how much would it cost for you to make the whole thing from scratch?"  Turns out, getting a bespoke dress from this incredibly talented woman would only be a little bit more - technically putting me slightly over the maximum I wanted to pay, but the idea of getting to create my own gown was so exciting!  I took a week to think about it and then called Velma to say yes.

I went back a week later to be measured and had my first fitting on Wednesday night.  When I put on the bodice and skirt, which hadn't yet been sewn together, and Velma pinned everything up, I beamed.  I still don't think there's One Dress out there without which the marriage will be doomed, but I'm thrilled with the dress we're making!

Here are a few of the images we're using as inspiration - if you want glimpses of the session the other night, make sure you're following me on Instagram!

clockwise from top left: Amy Kuschel Breeze / Moonlight / Watters Escalante / Allure Bridal from SMP

Day in the Life

I missed the boat yesterday with all the “day in the life” posts from Jenni’s #BlogEveryDayInMay challenge, but I really wanted to take the day, one month after the Boston Marathon, to talk about running. Also, since I have a few new readers hopping over from Cornflake Dreams, where I’m guest posting about a possible honeymoon destination, today seemed like a perfect opportunity to take you through the routines of a Washingtonian!

Of course, I’m not every Washingtonian. We’ve all got our own things going on, which is what makes this city so awesome. My daily schedule is directed by Charlie, my fully-grown black lab puppy; my day job as an arts fundraiser at a museum downtown; and navigating a five-hour time difference between DC and London, where my English fiancé lives. Unless I’ve got a doppelgänger wandering around town, I imagine it all makes for a unique day – so want to come along?

5:30am – Charlie wakes me up by stretching and yawning really loudly next to my bed. If I don’t respond, he puts his face next to mine on the bed and whines softly. If I still don’t respond, he thinks it’s because my ears are dirty, so he licks them invasively until I sit up.

5:30-8:30am – After I pull myself out of bed, we go outside for a quick pee and a nose around the bushes in front of our building. I’m not quite decently dressed when this happens so I make sure we’re out and back in as fast as possible and then I make coffee, give Charlie his breakfast, and catch up on personal emails, Twitter, and Facebook until Charlie decides it’s time to go out for real. We walk to the local dog park, and, ideally, Charlie plays with his friends for about 20 minutes, which is just enough time to wear him out so that he’ll nap until the walker comes around noon. (He’s been playing a bit too aggressively recently; when that happens we leave the dog park earlier and extend our walk instead.) Once we get back home, I eat breakfast over my laptop, Charlie at my feet under the table, and visit blogland briefly. And, at some point during this time, I get my first "morning, baby!" text of the day from Jon.

When I lived in suburbia, it would take me nearly an hour (and $3.55 each way) to commute when you included walking to/from the Metro. Now that I’m in my new apartment, it takes 30 minutes (and $1.60 each way) by walking and hopping on the bus. It’s so much more pleasant!

9:00-10:00 – The first hour at work is always a blur. I catch up on emails, confirm what’s happening on my Outlook calendar for the day, check out the news, and make another cup of coffee. (If I remember to take the K-cup out of the Keurig, I demand high-fives from my colleagues.) This is also usually when I take an #OOTD selfie in the fabulous bathroom mirror.

10:00-11:00 – Several development officers join the curators and members of the education/outreach team to talk about programming around an upcoming show and possible sources of fundraising.

11:00-12:00 – Between responding to more emails and making calls, I do research on prospective donors and update my various fundraising spreadsheets. (If you didn’t know, I am an Excel goddess.) I also spend a lot of time during this hour thinking about when it’s socially acceptable to eat lunch.

12:00-1:00 It’s lunchtime! Unfortunately, this usually means walking 10 feet to the fridge, pulling out the leftovers I brought, and throwing them in the microwave, but for the purposes of this blog post let’s pretend it’s one of the gorgeous spring days – like last Friday – when the other girls in the development office and I walk up to the park and grab lunch from one of DC’s famous food trucks. If no one has anything urgent immediately afterwards, we’ll sit on the grass and chat before heading back to work.

1:00-3:00 – Most of the afternoon is taken up by responding to more emails, making calls to set up meetings with donors, writing letters to thank supporters for their gifts, and dealing with the never-ending spreadsheets.

3:00-4:00 – I get called by the reception desk, who lets me know that my 3pm meeting is waiting for me. I head into the atrium to greet the donor who has come in to discuss his/her involvement with the organization. With coffee in hand, we sit down in the café and talk about the future of the museum, upcoming exhibitions and programs, and the donor’s specific interests. Hopefully, by the time we’ve finished our drinks I’ve encouraged continued generosity and friendship!

4:00-5:00 – In a perfect world, I’ll make notes of my meeting immediately afterwards and enter them into the appropriate documents and spreadsheets, then wrap up any emails from the day. Then, assuming I don’t have an evening event for work, I pack up and head home to Charlie.

5:30-9:00 – Like twelve hours earlier, Charlie and I fight for control of this window of time. He usually wins; we head out immediately for a short walk and then I try to keep him entertained while Skyping with Jon. This means that I end up having my one real conversation of the day with my fiancé on the floor, and it’s punctuated by squeaks from Charlie’s toy when I play with him and growls from Charlie himself when I don’t. (Poor Jon!) When Jon has to go to bed or Charlie gets to be too demanding – whichever comes first – I sign off, change into my running clothes, and clip on Charlie’s leash. We either do a few loops around the neighborhood or make our way into Rock Creek Park and are out for about an hour. When we get back home, Charlie gets his dinner and then passes out on his bed, finally giving me time to make my own dinner, which, again, I eat over my laptop. I usually keep the TV off unless there’s something specific I want to watch, but I am glued to the internet. I catch up on any old shows I may have missed, read and comment on my favorite blogs, and work on my post for the next day. By 9pm, I’m exhausted.

9:00-10:30 – Since I’ve gone for a run earlier in the evening, I jump into the shower before going to sleep. Charlie and I go out for a final pee, and then he jumps onto the bed as I putter around, cleaning up from dinner and turning off all the lights. I hop into bed if Charlie’s left me enough room and deal with any wedding details that have come up throughout the day – entering RSVPs into our spreadsheet, writing thank-you notes, and researching readings for the ceremony – but try to turn off my computer at least 30 minutes before I go to sleep. Hopefully I have time to flip through a magazine before fading away and finally turning off the light! I’m one of those 8-hours-a-night kinds of girls, so the earlier the better, really…

all photos from Instagram