Confession

I didn't wear either of the dress options for our engagement pictures!  Oops.


So the white dress was oversold and never shipped, but that was supposed to be okay because the blue dress got the most votes anyway.  The blue dress fits like a glove, however... I don't have the summer glow necessary to pull off that particular shade of blue.  I don't know who I thought I was kidding.


It will make an excellent rehearsal dinner dress.


Here is a little sneak peak of the dress that actually made the photo shoot...

Whitening Day One

Remember the whitening kit I bought off Groupon a few weeks ago?  (If you don't, you can view the post here.)  It finally came in the mail on Tuesday.  I didn't realize what a process this was going to be!  I had to submerge the polymer trays in hot water and then bite on them to make an impression of my teeth, then I had to trim them down so the whitening gel doesn't bleach my gums... Eesh.  Didn't realize it was quite this labor intensive.  But as promised, here is a not so flattering "before" picture.  I will post the final results in one week.



And just for kicks and giggles, I took a picture of the blue light that they included in the package.  It's really almost as bright as the one that the dentist uses.  The only (ridiculous) downside is that the entire 45 minutes you wear the trays, you're supposed to keep the blue light on them.  Here is the evidence of that particular process:

Hopefully in seven days, I will have some seriously white teeth!

Not in the wedding budget...

Exhibit A (and yes this picture was taken in the McDonald's drive through):

No, that is not a white wire.  That is a crack that has been developing across my windshield over the past week.  It started began as a tiny rock chip in the top corner and has grown in length to cover almost half of my windshield.


Ugh.  Not part of the wedding budget at all.  Since I am new to the whole "replace the windshield," I really have no idea how much this big 'ole crack is going to cost me.  The last time I had a broken window in my car, I traded it in and got a new one.  Car, that is.


Don't think that's in the cards this time, but can't help but think about what I would upgrade to this time around.


Wishful thinking.

Voters Choice

I bought two new dresses tonight - one will be returned, the other will be an outfit in our upcoming engagement pictures.  Voters choice!  I will wear the one that gets the most votes: please leave them in the comments section.


Option #1 - one shoulder white cotton dress with belt (eyelet cotton lace)

Option #2 - ice blue dress with lace embroidered shoulders

Excited to see how this turns out!  You will have to wait until I post engagement pictures to find out!

White Teeth

I love the feeling when I open the Groupon daily deal and it looks like it was hand selected for me!  Yesterday... I had some pretty tough feelings about how Dr. Pepper has stained my teeth over the past few years.  With engagement pictures coming up in less than three weeks, I was getting worried that my teeth would look a little dingy.  The (good) whitestrips are about 40 bucks a box and even then, it's only a temporary white.

Lo and behold the Groupon daily deal!  29 bucks for over 150 dollars worth of teeth bleaching, complete with trays, gel, and light (just like the dentist uses!)



All that being said, I did a little research and after finding the FDA approval, I was sold.  Big step for this bride - teeth bleaching!  Limit one per customer...  Guess I will be shopping for this again once September gets here!

Still pondering whether or not to post before and after pictures.  Thoughts?

Things That Make Me Sane

Things that make me sane #1: Baking things.


Point totals for today - loading dishwasher (2 points), cleaning kitchen twice (4 points), straightening up bathroom (1 point).


How do I spend my hard-earned 7 points for the day?  Cheesecake stuffed strawberries.  All the nutrition of a fresh strawberry combined with the indulgent cream cheese mixture seen below.  It was a bit of a messy process: core strawberries, stuff, roll in crushed graham crackers...  But the end result was pretty darn tasty.  Observe for yourself:

Dee-lish.

Fro-Yo and the Point System

I feel like the title of this post could be attributed to a small ghetto child and an unfortunate system of earning good behavior in a failing school system...

I have a small confession and then I will offer a solution to the problem.  I have new (and strong) addiction to frozen yogurt.  I don't know why I harbored such animosity to "yogurt" before now.  Actually, it's probably because I am such an ice cream lover and any low-fat version of that could not possibly be as good as the real deal.

So it was by pure divine intervention that I discovered a new fro-yo shop next door to my local Publix.  Here's the real issue: the toppings.  The yogurt is amazing (tahitian vanilla, triple chocolate, sea salted caramel pretzel), but the real kicker is the fact that they have those pink and white frosted animal crackers with the sprinkles in them.  Need a visual?

Not fair to this dieting bride-to-be.

So what is the solution here?  Do chores and exercises to gain points to cash in for fro-yo.  My friends will have to chip in and hold me accountable here... (how 'bout you fellow reader!)

For example, I came home tonight and vacuumed all the dog hair off the carpet in the bedroom.  Five points!  Also, I opted for a sugar-free, calorie-free soda at lunch today, one point!  What is the fair amount of points to earn for a cup of low-fat fro-yo (with the aforementioned necessary toppings)?  Ten points?  Feel free to leave your suggestions on point values on this post.

I'm up to four punches on my fro-yo frequent customer card.  Shouldn't there be a big reward for filling up that little ray of sunshine??