Blue Monday/ Whole Lotta (Blue) Love

It's Monday again already. Ugh. The one good thing about Mondays though, is that in blogland, it's Blue Monday and time to share something blue! You can find more Blue Monday posts at Smiling Sally's blog.

This was just an incredibly beautiful weekend! You couldn't have asked for any better weather. Even though this is northern Ohio, it was sunny, the skies were clear, and the temp got up into the 80s! That's practically unheard of for mid-October!

This was the kind of weather that made me feel so happy and so blessed to live on this beautiful earth. I swear, its intoxicating! I sat on my deck and spent a good amount of time just gazing up at these incredible blue skies framed in the changing leaves of the trees in my yard. Just look at this!

This got me thinking about something else blue. No, not something to be blue about, but something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue!

My daughter and her boyfriend are now officially engaged!

They have fallen upon some very rough times lately. This area is rife with layoffs and job losses. Both my daughter and her fiance have lost their jobs, in part to illness (on Tara's part) and just plain bad luck(on Mike's part) and a little bit of irresponsibility (on both's part). Thus there were no funds for a ring. Or even a wedding for that matter! Tara really wanted a ring, but would still have been willing to get married without one.

Well, last week was the final day of sales before the closing of our local K-Mart. Jewelry was 90% off. I looked in the case and WOW! I saw a beautiful ring! I called Mike and asked him if he wanted me to go ahead and get it. He said he wasn't able to pay me for it now, but I told him no problem, that he can pay me when he has the funds or can work it off. Just look what I got for $27! Ok, it's not a diamond, but its a gorgeous cubic zirconia and it is real gold. You can see the tag (and a bit of blue!) with the orginal price. Looks like lots of other people looked at it first. Must have been meant for me to buy it! Mike gave her the ring today and she is thrilled!.

Tara knew she could no longer afford the wedding dress that she had picked out this summer. She figured that maybe she could find a nice prom dress on sale to use as a wedding dress, but was having no luck. She browsed eBay and found this dress in her size. It was listed for only $75, brand new with the tags still attached! No one bid on it, so it came up for auction again. It was listed again with a starting bid of $75, or Buy It Now for $200. Keep in mind that this was a $425 dress!
I called her the morning that the auction ended to tell her that it ended and someone bought the dress. She was so disappointed when I told her it sold...until I told her that it sold to me!
It arrived in the mail on Tuesday! She saw it for the first time on Friday, and loves it! It will need taken in at the bodice. It's so generous there that it was even too big for my big melons! The little flowers look gold here, but they are actually a silvery white!

Speaking of silver, my daughter has chosen silver and ice blue as her colors! She still hopes for a December wedding, though Mike says they both need to be working because otherwise they really don't have money to be spending on a wedding. Well, the plans thus far are to have the wedding here with just family. There will be a potluck with everyone bringing food. Oh. My. Goodness. Am I nuts to have offered this! I am not Suzy Homemaker. I'm just not. I have a very lived in (read messy) house that I struggle to keep up with. But we can do this.

I was browsing the Dollar Tree this weekend, and found some decorations that would be in keeping with the theme of a Christmas wedding! There were lots of ornaments in silver and blue, so I snatched some up! Not sure how we will use them yet, perhaps to decorate the formal living room, or maybe to use as table decorations!

I love this blue and silver ribbon! And I love all the ornaments too!



Wish me luck over the next two months, especially for the kids. Tara starts a job waitressing tomorrow. Mike hasn't found anything yet, but is looking. They have lost their trailer and are living with one of his relatives, and they might lose the car. They really need a lot of prayers right now. In the midst of all this, you are probably wondering why I am wanting them to go ahead and get married. Well, they are living together already, and I would really like to see the sanctity of marriage on their union. I figure that at least they will be husband and wife through all of this. They've been together for over a year and are really in love with each other.

Besides, isn't getting an engagement ring AND a wedding dress for the grand total of $102 some kind of sign? Just kidding there.

Hope you all have a great Blue Monday!

Wedding gown hunt and winery visit

Last Saturday my daughter Tara and I went wedding dress shopping! Yay! She only tried on two dresses and she loved the second dress so much that she knew this was The Dress. Just click on any picture if you want to see a larger view.

I have to agree, I think it's The Dress too! She looks so beautiful in it. It made my little mommy heart go pitter pat to see her all dressed up like a princess!

Here is a picture of the dress taken in the dark so it would maybe show off some of the beading.
When I took a close up of the bodice detail, I noticed how it hugged her curves in all the right places. It gives her the most beautiful hourglass shape. She's a bigger, curvy gal like me, and this flatters her in every way!

I adore this picture of her looking back at herself in the mirror.
She found bridesmaid dresses too. She loved this style and she is going to get it with the white sash, but will have the dress in blue. In the lower left corner is the hem of a dress in the same powder blue.
She loved the beading in the bodice. She thought it echoed the beading in her gown.
It might not be possible for me to find the mother-of-the-bride dress that was my first choice, but I found something else online that I really like, and it will probably be one-half to one-third the cost of my first choice gown. It has some really pretty beading and a jacket with beading as well.
After all the fun of shopping for the wedding gown, my daughter wanted me to go to Stoney Ridge Winery with her. She and her boyfriend had gone there a few days before to sample some wines that they might like at their wedding. I have been here before and it is such a nice place and the wine is wonderful.

I love the stone gates. It was raining, so I didn't get out to take a picture of the pair of gates, but thought just one would give you an idea of how pretty it was. There are several acres of grapes and a long gravel driveway.
And here is the winery! They added on to the left side since I had last been there.
The entrance was so welcoming. Love the grape purple door, grapevines, and wine barrels.
And I love this pretty window box. This is the same kind of window box I want for my front porch. A welcoming candle is lit in the window. (Ok, I confess, it's electric.)
Here are some grapevines growing next to the dining patio. I remember sitting at that same patio on a date a few years ago and feeling very tipsy from a bottle of their strawberry patch wine! I didn't realize it would pack such a punch.

It's probably hard to believe that grapes grow so well in Ohio, but there are a lot of wineries in the region. The best grapes are grown in the lake regions, and there are several wineries on the Lake Erie Islands and shores.

Below are three pictures taken from the winery's website. http://www.stoneyridgewinery.com/ It's so cozy inside, and you can sample wines at the bar. I abstained. My rule of thumb is to never ever have even a sip of alcohol if I am driving. Ohio is moving toward No Tolerance of alcohol and driving. I did however buy a bottle of their strawberry patch wine. It's great with chocolate. Yummm!


Even though it was such a rainy day and we had so much fun visiting the winery and finding a wedding gown, the best part of the day is what you see below...
...a very happy girl!

Have a merry weekend everyone!

My daughter's news!

This is my daughter Tara. Isn't she gorgeous?

Here she is with her boyfriend Mike at Thanksgiving.
And here they are at Christmas. Aren't they adorable together! Last night my daughter called me with some news. She wants me to come to see her Saturday....
...and shop for a wedding dress! Woohoo!

She said they were looking at rings and he told her she could start planning a wedding. He refuses to "officially" propose until he has the ring, but they are looking at having a December wedding.

I can't wait to see what she looks like in a wedding dress. I just hope we can find something to cover that "tit tat!"
She wants her colors to be silver and sky blue. These are the colors she has wanted since she was a little girl, and she wants to be married as close to Christmas as she can. I guess some of this has to do with both her and I having December birthdays.

I have found a dress online that I love. Only trouble is that it isn't carried in catalogs, and I will have a heck of a time finding it. It's a Spencer Alexis brand and they have the most beautiful clothes. I already have two other pieces of their clothing.
Saturday is going to be so much fun! Except for one thing. That might be the day my son leaves for Texas for six weeks, but then again, his departure has been delayed almost two weeks anyhow so who knows. At any rate, I am going to concentrate on the fun of seeing my daughter in a wedding dress!

Edited to add: She found the dress! It was only the second one she tried on and I have to agree, it's The Dress! I'll post more about our day and pictures of her choice sometime this week!