THE CROOKED COTTAGE: WEDDING BOUND

Fifteen years ago Chris and I started planning for our wedding and I had a very long list of all the people I wanted to invite. Unfortunately there comes a point when reality sets in and a financial budget starts to dictate just how many people one (or rather two in the case of wedding planning) can actually invite so sadly the list starts to get dwindled down. I still feel really bad about having to leave some people off our invite list.

Next weekend we are attending a wedding for Chris' cousin. I love weddings and anytime I/we have received an invitation to a wedding, I always feel so incredibly honored to have been selected to be on the invite list and delighted to be able to share in the couples happy day!

BUT, it's amazing how things sure change when you become parents of three little ones and move over an hour north of the city. Since receiving our invitation to the upcoming wedding I've been completely overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done, bought and taken care of in order to make it even remotely possible for us to attend!

For example...

First thing was to find an overnight sitter for the kids and dog (thank you a million to my cousins Liz & Bob and my mother for coming up).
Then there was the financial aspect of it all...can we afford it? (nooo, we had to borrow money...thank you to a certain saint, that has come to our rescue...yet again).
Both of us need haircuts & "fixing up" (finding the time to do this is the trickiest).
I need to purchase a dress (that fits and is wedding appropriate) and shoes. Once again finding the time to do this is very limited, difficult and exhausting because I am unable to go anywhere without the kids and husband. Dragging them to the malls and having them hang around outside the change rooms while I try on a million outfits is seriously torturous for all of us.
Chris' suit needs to be dry cleaned ...will he remember to do this in enough time to get it back?
A wedding card and a monetary gift are needed of course.
Overnight accommodations need to be made since Chris understandably doesn't want to drive home ( I on the other hand, prefer to come home, but that's just because I'm such a home-body).
Organization at home for the kids & dog while were away needs to be thought out and taken care of or made and food will have to be made ...(and for Liz's sake too so she doesn't loose her mind)
Lastly...energy...do I have the energy for all this? Hmmm, I don't have the energy to do much of anything these days, so how am I really going to swing all this?

So the shopping began. I had to return some bed sheets to Winners on the way home from work last week so I decided to quickly look and see what they had for dresses and shoes. Well as luck would have it I found both! And because I've only gone to the one store so far rather than shopping around to see what else is out there, I am still undecided about them and they may still may go back. Kind of like buying a house, you want to shop around before buying or jumping at the first one you kind of like.

'THEE' SHOES THUS FAR
As much as I loved, loved, LOVED these shoes I continued to browse and shop around to see what other shoes were out there...just in case. Guess what, there is a whole lotta beeeeutiful shoes out there and I ended up with 5 pairs trying to figure out which to keep & wear!

On the way down to the wedding I stopped into Winners for something
and saw these little numbers.
Needless to say I grabbed them and they ended up being THEE shoes!