Mmmmmmmmmmm .... dresses.

I have a strong affinity for lovely lacy dresses. Target has really pretty ones now (in their bridesmaids section - eek!) for cheap.

French lace, just $30 ...
For just $5 more, I like the lace of this one better (and, in fact, sent it in pink to a friend for a themed wedding) ...

And of course, those bastards at the Gap had to bring back the dress I wanted desperately last year (I'll pay your stinkin $55! I'll never dawdle again!!) but have already sold out in my size.

Let's give a big hallelujah for today, good karma, and things not going south.

• I encouraged someone to be nice and give someone else the benefit of the doubt. Not become best buddies, but just extend an olive branch of sorts. Surprise of surprises, it actually kind of worked out. Good karma abounding!
• I marched in to a local bridal store after yoga class (nothin' but good karma there) and asked to see my dress, in multiple colors. Lo and behold, she took me right to it, in the color that I wanted. I'll be purchasing it tomorrow, although I really could/should have today. In the meantime, cue frantic excited call to mom. Emily: 1, wedding industry: ... ok, we'll not go there.
  
• While on said phone call, I loaded my email in the off chance my grades were posted (they weren't). But, I had an email from the professor teaching my summer session class that the class will actually start June 3rd, not next week. That means: one more week of summer vacation!!!

Oh, the grand plans I have for tomorrow (videographer, dress) and next week (photographer, harpist, rehearsal, perhaps coordinator). Honestly, the past week has been just exponentially increasing stress and random things-going-wrong. I'm going to wish my good fortune on to you, because everyone deserves to have a totally awesome day like this.

Dear MSNBC.com,

If you want to encourage teens to donate more blood, this is not the way to do it.


Just a friendly heads-up.

Wow, and what a weekend.

Friday, of course, was the going-away party. Since that went pretty late, we didn't get up any too early Saturday. By the time we did, it was super hot. We went for lunch at Chik-fil-a because we'd gotten coupons in the mail. It was really good, and the people that worked there were incredibly fast and nice. It was almost a surreal for a fast food place. Then we went over to Redondo, only to discover that most open houses are on Sunday. So many of the places looked far out of our price range, but we stopped and toured one condo that was absolutely beautiful. I think we both loved it enough that we could have moved in right then ... but, alas, the credit crisis is hurting even us responsible people. The realtor was a riot, and gave us a handwritten recipe for a Chinese mix of cereal that's supposed to reduce your blood pressure and help with constipation.

We came home and started grocery shopping at Sam's, and stocked up on wine and filet mignon, then took a nap. It was so hot, it was impossible to stay awake. But, we headed over to the new Fresh & Easy for the rest of our groceries, since we had a coupon for that also. What an experience - it certainly wasn't a full grocery store. They did have a lot of nice looking meat, and a stand giving away all kinds of snacks. On the other hand, I needed to go to the ATM, which they didn't have, and they only had self-checkout that obviously wasn't calibrated. At all. It was angry we used our own bags, we had to have the attendant unlock us each time we scanned something, the coupon got stuck in the reader, you can't use your credit card without having to be unlocked by the attendant for anything over $50, and even though they carded me, they neglected to take the security cap off the Kahlua and it looked like we were trying to steal alcohol. Won't be back!

We spend the rest of the night drinking cold white wine, eating filet mignon, and watching the Office. I think it was the season finale; I'm so disappointed!! (But, I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it.)

Sunday was Korean barbecue day with some of my classmates. Andy got to meet them, and my friend's adorable baby (who's a model now!), and I got filled in on all the gossip. Really, quite a bit of drama in graduate school. Afterward, we went back to Redondo to look at a condo, but ran out of time to see any more. We came home, did laundry, ran, and tried to stay cool the rest of the night (unsuccessfully). Why is it always cool during the week, and miserable during the weekend?? I guess to make us look forward to work, and the free and effective air conditioning...

As we were house hunting this weekend, this came up on Andy's latest Paste magazine CD. At first, it seems so innocent ...

Yay! A royal wedding!

It's absolutely beautiful from what I've seen so far, and it looks like it'd be worth picking up a copy of Hello! to see the details.

I'd make a bad British citizen, since I kind of assumed William and Kate would be the next royal wedding. I can't wait for theirs either!

Whew, what a week.

All of my management was out of the office all week for one reason or another, so I tried to get as caught up as I could. I still have a ton of work to do, though, and got a lot more anyway. Monday I was extra tired from the weekend, but luckily it was a slower day. I came home to study for my exam, but got frustrated with the poorly-worded practice problems and researched photographers for the rest of the night, only to discover that I really, truly, do need a videographer. That was essentially how I spent the night.

Tuesday was my "cumulative" exam for data modeling. Now, I've only had one semester of electives so far, but I haven't actually had an exam during exam week. USC has a "study week" before exams, so you essentially lose an extra week of your semester break because exams are delayed. I almost assumed the professor would move the exam up, but he didn't. It ended up that "cumulative" in his world means "the past few weeks of class." I was mad that I'd wasted the time on studying, but it was thankfully pretty easy. He must have really gotten the hint from the midterm. By 9:30, when I got home, I'd completely lost my voice and felt sick, so I just had ice cream for dinner, watched the Office (oh, how I'm looking forward to Jim proposing!), and went to bed.

Wednesday was rough only because I was tired from the day before, and fending off the little cold that was brewing. I contacted almost all of the photographers recommended by the chapel except for one that was openly starting at $8,000 and one that hadn't been updated since the early 1990's. Call me picky, but it puts me off. After work I went to yoga class, and we went to the Macaroni Grill for a celebratory dinner. I still couldn't have a glass of wine as my voice was fading fast, and they were "out" of anything scallopine. Bummer, but still a good dinner.

Thursday I applied to community college. No joke! They're offering a middle-eastern dance class this summer on a day that I don't already have class, and since my friend liked it so much I thought I'd give it a try. For six weeks and $20, it's a low risk project. They take two weeks to process an application; I hope I get in! Work was a mess because some servers were reset wrong somehow overnight, and everyone was out of the office. The application I work on was almost entirely down, with nothing I could do to help for most of the day. It ended up being a big day because my girlfriends came with me to approve of my dress, and took sneaky pictures for my mom. Seriously, coolest friends ever! After work I went shopping with a friend to South Coast, where we spent about an hour in H&M, and then had dinner at Mitsuwa. I forgot what a cool neighborhood Costa Mesa is; I wish it was more convenient to live there.

Friday people started trickling back in to the office, and I got a couple new projects to work on. After work I tried calling home to see what was going on there (my great aunt had been very ill), tried to read my Lucky magazine (which just isn't my style, but was free), and fell asleep in the heat. We went out to Dave & Buster's for a going-away party where the boys watched the Lakers game and I went with my only female friend there to Steve & Barry's $8.98 sale. Everything was only $8.98! Which included suit jackets and some really nice clothes, but also cheap jewelry and headbands. Sadly, their pants aren't cut for me, but I did get a bunny t-shirt and blue shirt for work. We were home around midnight and totally exhausted.

Ends up the weekend was just as busy as the week ...