as my lovely friend and style advisor kat knows all too well, i’ve spent the last few weeks struggling with what i’m going wear to eric and tessa’s houston wedding coming up on march 6th. after several nights and countless hours spent looking at dresses online, i came across the perfect LBD during an impromptu trip to nordstrom rack.

part of my struggle included what shoes and accessories i would pair with said LBD. i knew i wanted to go with a color – preferably a bright one – to bring something more to the outfit than simple black. stylistic kat suggested going with metallic heels if i couldn’t decide on a color, like a silver, pewter or even gold. i thought that was a great idea because, hello, how easy is it to pair silver jewelry with silver heels? and it’s an evening wedding, so metallics would have worked.

but then ellie and i took an afternoon trip to our (ok, my) faaaaavorite store, anthropolgie, and it was there that i found this necklace. it’s a bit chunkier than the jewelry i normally wear and i knew it would be a challenge to find shoes to match, but i decided i was up for the challenge and i bought the necklace anyway.

luckily, i have SEVERAL very style-conscious friends, and another one of them directed me to a website called asos where she searched and found these shoes … just PERFECT to go with my necklace! alas, the company is located in the UK and we leave for texas in less than a week. wah wah. the perfect shoes were no longer within my grasp. out of reach. a no-go.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

you may have heard that ryan is in london on business this week – he comes back thursday – and a few days ago i had a lightbulb moment … have you figured out yet where this is going?

that’s right. my wonderful husband placed an order for those perfect shoes today, and they will be delivered to his hotel tomorrow. the timing couldn’t be more perfect. it’s like it was meant to be :)

welp, we bought our new car last weekend and booooy, do we love it! it’s so quiet and such a smooth ride; ryan and i both commented on how it almost seems to drive itself. maybe it’s the four-wheel drive? whatever it is, it’s WONDERFUL. i’m so glad we held out for the color we really wanted, too, because it’s the shiniest, most beautiful color ever :)

honda owners for life!

while we were waiting to have our cars serviced at the honda dealership a few weeks ago, ryan and i decided to walk over to the showroom and check out the new CR-V. we’ve been thinking of purchasing a new car for a few months now, mostly because my little two-door civic isn’t very family-friendly. it would be nice to have something bigger, something i can easily transfer ellie in and out of, something i can have with me while ryan’s at work so we can pick up and go whenever we please, so ryan can drive his own car every day like he wants to.

i fell in love with it immediately. it’s considered a “crossover” vehicle, so it’s spacious while not unnecessarily huge like an SUV. the one we want is a pretty charcoal-like color called “polished metal metallic,” and it has a sunroof, a feature i’ve always wanted in a car, but never prioritized when purchasing.

the reason we didn’t buy the car that very day is because we spoke to robert, a 20-year veteran of the car business, who spoke to his friend at another honda dealership who offered us the same trade-in amount for my civic ($8,000), the same interest rate (3.9%), and $250 over invoice rather than the $500 over invoice they offered at the first dealership. $250 saved, why not? so we walked away.

over the past two weeks, we’ve been playing the waiting game, waiting to hear back from dealership #2 that our make and model had arrived (2010 honda CR-V EX with 4wd in polished metal metallic with black interior), waiting for the phone call telling us to come sign the papers. and finally, yesterday, we got the call. our car would be there in an hour! we should come get it! yes! excitement! but there was a catch: they couldn’t give us $8,000 for my trade-in after all. they could only do $7,200.

!!!

unfortunately for dealership #2, the deal we agreed upon at dealership #1 is still on the table. so i called today and they’re looking to do a dealer trade for our make and model. wouldn’t it be funny if dealership #2 got it from dealership #1 and now dealership #1 wants it back from dealership #2?

i don’t really care how they get it. I JUST WANT MY CAR.

the other day i mentioned that i found ellie the perfect party dress. i purchased it the same day from an online store called tiny tot dress shop … or so i thought. the next day i received an e-mail from a customer service representative saying she was very sorry, but the dress i ordered was out of stock indefinitely. she offered me 50 percent off any other dress on their site, but i wanted that dress, so i decided to look elsewhere.

a few days later, much to my delight, i found the same dress on another site called mygirldress.com. it was cheaper, too! only by a few dollars, but still … so i ordered it again. and a few days later – yep, you guessed it – i received an e-mail saying it was out of stock until the end of december. “the end of december?” i thought. “fine! great! the end of december comes before the middle of january.” but, as it turns out, they couldn’t guarantee a delivery date or even that they would have the dress in stock by then, so i cancelled that order, too.

and then i cried.

but wait! the plot thickens! i told our wonderful friend jon about the party dress roller coaster. i showed him a picture, and he said “WOW.” i said, “it’s just the most perfect party dress, isn’t it?” and he said, “it totally is. she should have that dress.” so what did he do? he found it for me. another web site. another chance to get my hands on the perfect party dress.

and now we wait. let’s hope in this case third time’s a charm!

i was busy christmas shopping online when i stumbled upon this ADORABLE burgundy checked taffeta dress from tiny tot dress shop. it’s a little pricey for such a tiny dress, but that’s ok! it’s for the most special of special occasions, after all: ellie’s first birthday :)