One Wild Night . . . I mean Day

It's 4:15 in the morning and instead of being in bed, on this particular morning, you could find me and my two good friends standing in the cold with thousands of other girls outside the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

It was the morning of the Filene's Basement Running of the Brides and we were on a mission. (Click Here if you don't know what this is.)

We honestly had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and we almost backed out after watching all the fights from previous years on Youtube. Seriously I can't believe what some girls will do for a deal.

After discussing it at length though, we decided to go ahead and take a chance. I mean, even if we didn't get our hands on a dress (the racks are cleared off in 60 seconds flat) we would at least get the experience and it could be fun . . . right?

We were absolutely thrilled when we showed up and were within the first 100 people in line. That pretty much guaranteed us at least a few dresses. At least that's what we hoped it meant.

As we stood in line we started to notice just how crazy all the people around us were. There were groups of 10 who were all dressed up and were strategizing on how they would take entire racks of dresses and one guy behind us was instructing his team to throw elbows if anyone touched theirs. We died laughing because we were just three girls who's only plan was to grab as many dresses as we could, run to the back corner and just start screaming to find one another. We were either really smart or in serious trouble.

At about 7:00 we were all moved inside the convention center to prepare for the opening of the doors. We were shocked when we realized just how close we really were. Someone else was a little disappointed with how close they were and decided to pull the fire alarm to resolve their issue. I think they hoped we would all clear out and they would be able to move forward. It didn't happen though. Instead, people just laughed and firmly planted their feet. I told you some of the people there were crazy!

At about 5 minutes to 8:00 (Go Time) girls started pushing their way up and filling in space. I was separated from both my friends and ended up even closer. Hooray!

Okay, I'm going to be honest here. I was actually scared out of my mind. I was nervous about getting dresses without being trampled and worried about not being able to find my friends after. All that kept running through my head was, "what am I doing, what am I doing, what am I doing!" I fully intended to keep my camera out to capture all the chaos but as soon as that horn blew I focused and ran for my life.

I ran to the back, scooped up as many dresses as I could possibly carry and waddled to the back corner. I say waddled because wedding dresses are heavy and I am not as strong as I pretend to be sometimes.

My friends and I found each other right away and snagged a killer spot to try things on. After we piled our dresses up, we all sat back and died laughing at how well we did and at what a rush it was. For three girls who were just going for the experience we did amazingly well.

I immediately started trying things on while my friends traded and bargained to get more dresses. It was absolutely crazy in there but only the good kind. Dresses were being traded and thrown, girls were cheering and blowing whistles when they would find "The Dress", and people were generally nice and helpful.

However, after trying on all that we had collected plus more we had traded for I starting to feel a little down. My mom was not with me, I was running on about 3 hours of sleep and nothing thrilled me as far as dresses went. I was ready to give up and head home.

On our way out, we decided to see what was being hung back up on the racks just in case there was something we missed. We collected a few more dresses and headed to a mirror to try them on.

I honestly didn't think I would find anything, but when I put on the second dress and looked in the mirror the tears began to flow. It was everything I was looking for. It was simple and elegant and fit me perfectly.

(The dress pictured above is not "The Dress". I promise I'll show you . . . in June) :)

I was thrilled at my unbelievable find, purchased it and headed home for a much needed nap. My Filene's Basement experience had its ups and downs but ultimately proved successful. Hooray for crazy people and crazy sales!

We're Getting Married!!!

You can stop rubbing your eyes and no, you don't need to pull out your glasses because you read it right folks. Matty and I are getting married! He asked me last Saturday night on the anniversary of our first date and I said Yes!

The night was a little crazy, a little disastrous and a lot of fun. It went a little something like this:

Matt showed up at my house with the most beautiful bouquet of Star Gazer Lillis. We went to Costco to brows because it was a special day and Matt loves me. (note: Matt does not like Costco, especially browsing at Costco. So yes, this was special.) We had so much fun at Costco that we lost track of time, had to rush back to my house to change and ran out the door just as we should have been seated at Morton's Steak house for our 7:30 reservation. After calling the restaurant to tell them we'd be there in 10 minutes we proceeded to make 3 wrong turns and ended up at the airport. We didn't arrive at Morton's until about 8:15. Oops.

The people at the restaurant made it so special for us by taking a complimentary picture of us and printing up personalized menus. The only problem was that they misspelled both of our names and couldn't get our food right.

Our steak came out burnt to a crisp and not good the first time and almost completely raw in the middle the second time. As you can see, Matt was not impressed. Look really close though and you may just see a smile in those eyes. We thought it was kind of hilarious and just a little bit fitting.

After dinner we went for a walk along the Charles River in Cambridge. Matt and I took a lot of walks along the river throughout the summer and when we first started dating, so it's kind of a special place for us.

After walking for a while we stopped at a bench to look over the Boston skyline and to reminisce about how great the past year has been. Matt then dropped to his knee and asked me to marry him to which I of course said yes.

I'm so in love with my Matty and I can't wait to be his wife. Oh gosh, that sounds so weird . . . doesn't it? Wife. :)

My funny Valentine

My Valentines weekend was the best. Matty and I have been wanting to go to the Children's Museum for a long time now and were finally able to go on Friday. It was a seriously good time.

We played in the bubbles . . .

. . . performed in a play . . .

(Actually, Matty performed in a play. I cheered from the sidelines. He did an amazing job as the House of Sticks in The Three Little Pigs.)

. . . had a kung fu match in the Japanese house, . . .

(Ha Ya!)

. . . participated in a secret spy mission and became official secret agents, . . .

. . . climbed in tiny spaces and pretended to be construction workers, . . .

. . . and even became good friends with a handful of butterflies.

On Saturday Matty made me an amazing dinner and took me to see Casablanca in the Brattel Street Theater. We sat in the balcony, ate some delicious popcorn (it had real butter) and felt like we were back in the 40's.

We exchanged Valentines on Sunday and laughed as we both opened concert tickets. We'll be seeing Ben Folds and Martin Sexton in April. Can't wait!

"Food, Glorious Food!"

I'm not sure why but lately I only think to pull out the camera when I'm eating or making food. I hope it's just a phase . . . for your sake.

First up, I bopped to the tunes from the old jukebox, scarfed down a smokehouse burger and shared a shake with the cutest boy in town.

We discovered a Johnny Rockets at the Burlington mall and had a blast from the past kind of date. So Fun!

Next up, a nice dinner at home.

Often on a Sunday night you can hear laughter coming from our kitchen as friends drop by for dinner. Chen Ying is an excellent cook and usually serves up some amazing food. She's opened my eyes to all kinds of Asian food, so this past Sunday I decided it was time to introduce her to one of my favorites, Goulash.

I was please when she announced that she actually liked it even though the noodles were a lot bigger than I would normally use. The biscuits were a big hit as well. Thank you America's Test Kitchen! Seriously, I love their family baking book and cook book and not just because Matty works there and designed them. :)

Also in recent food news, I GOT A KITCHEN AID!!!
I was absolutely thrilled when it came in the mail and I couldn't wait to try it out.

A few of the wards out here decided to have a big bake sale for Haiti, which proved to be the perfect opportunity.

It worked wonderfully and was a big help as I put together one of my favorite recipes, S'more bars. Seriously, you should make these bad boys. Their delicious! (click on the word S'more for the recipe)

The bake sale was a success and everyone (who got one) loved my s'more bars. I know I didn't invent the recipe but it made me feel so good to have people say how much they loved them. Over all, the bake sale brought in $1,801.52 to donate which makes me so happy!

Last but not least, I have done something I've always wanted to do. Don't laugh, it's kind of dumb (okay, you can laugh . . . it really is kind of dumb).

I learned how to cut a pineapple!

I've always wanted to cut one even though I haven't always liked eating them. In fact it wasn't until just last year that I realized I actually do like pineapple. It's crazy how your taste buds change as you get older.

Anyway, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and now I have plenty of pineapple to last me a good while. You better believe I'll be buying pineapple a lot more often now that I'm not afraid of them anymore.