Bridesmaid Attire

Here's the final decision of bridesmaid dress for Laurel's wedding next July.
We are all wearing the same fabric and colour dress but different styles.
Here's the one she picked for me...

Love the pockets!
And here is the shoes she is going with we are all wearing different colours...mine are red...

Red Nina Forbes Shoes

Obviously I love the fact that there are bows on the shoes!
It is definitely going to be a super fun wedding next July.
I can't wait to update y'all on the other clothes because they are all Indian!

Eva's Bridal Shower

So after last Saturday night's bachelorette party

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning

to make the drive into Toronto for Eva's bridal shower.

It was set to be interesting because her fiance is of a different cultural background

and my Waterloo girls are all very "Canadian".

So I dressed up for my final (scheduled) bridal shower for the year (I hope...totally kidding they are okay and I even enjoy myself ...but I can't help but sometimes get that feeling in the pit of my stomach of the emerald-eyed girl being bitter and disappointed at all my missed out showers/parties this year). 

Anywho... onto the MODG-inspired toilet shot of the outfit.

I love the fact that this dress has fantastic pockets! Just like my almost wedding dress.  Though I just realized now that the dress colour basically blends into the walls... random.

And since I loved all the fascinators etc. from the recent Royal Wedding...here was my fun attempt from the side..

From the front...ignore the inch+ of black roots that desparately need a touch up

(this Friday...I think).

So Val, Quinn and myself met up at Tim Horton's before hand to pow wow about game organization.

The shower was being hosted by Eva's fiance's mum.

The only thing she asked of us was that we organize some games.

We headed over there and got to meet a ton of his (soon to be her's too) cousins.

Who are all DROP DEAD GORGEOUS.

I spotted some red soled shoes that practically had the emerald-eyed Teagan ready to snatch them off their feet!  All of them were impeccably dressed up.

They are all of Persian decent so these women had gorgeous thick dark hair, big Jasmine (yup Disney Princess reference) eyes and beautiful skin.

It gave me some excitement to see what they will all wear to the wedding in just a few weeks.

And sort of wondering if my $70 dress from H&M is not formal enough

(I got it a few weekends ago read here) which makes me super duper panicked because I'm not sure where else I would get a formal dress from on such short notice.

So the bridal shower was a lot of fun

and actually reminded me a lot of my family (European) showers.

My Canadian friends and Eva's mum and grandmother's were stunned that there was a full meal for the shower (which is pretty par-for-the-course for European showers that I'm used to).

The food was fantastic and all Eva's favourite Persian dishes!

I was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures  of the actual food :)

But I managed a few of the dessert table (all totally made by hand of course).

So for the games we had...

A Wedding Word Scramble (umm can you tell 2/4 are school teachers organizing  the games)

Bridal Shower Bingo

The Apron Game

Finally the Toilet Paper Bridal Gown

I wish I had taken more pics but I lost my camera during the games organization.

The most hilarious one (because no one knew the big "trick") was The Apron Game.

Have you played it???

So you dress the bride-to-be in an apron COVERED with kitchen items.

(We mangaged to get most of them from the Dollar Store).

She walks through once with the instructions given being "pay attention to her appearence".

She then goes into another room until the game is completed.

That is her flower girl to be who looked ready to go that day...so cute!

So then you give them a piece of paper with an apron picture on it and have them write down everything on the apron...BUT then the game actually begins!

Hahahaha oh the trickery!

You have them turn over the paper and ask questions like...

what side was her hair parted?

what colour were her shoes?

how many rings was she wearing?

etc.

It was awesome and met by a collective groan once the true game was revealed.

It also is a nice gift for the bride-to-be and a fun memory...especially a bride-to-be like Eva who is a regular Martha Stewart in the kitchen.

These were all the prizes for the games!

Overall the games were a total success and honestly probably so much more fun because I don't think Eva's finace's family had ever done anything like that.

They said their favourite game was the Toilet Paper Bridal Dress game.

They did do one of their traditions which was to ask the bride-to-be who would be the next girl to be married...(because apparently that is a gift that the impending bride-to-be has???) and Eva sort of stunned was like "hmmm I have no idea..." and someone from her fiance's family pointed out me.

I went red immediately and thought to myself

oh gosh if only you all knew how far off you are...

and now that I actually have time to think about it

I wished I had graciously smiled

and asked if they knew any cute single guys with a wink...

maybe I could have improved my fun times at the wedding since I'm going solo

but alas I was thrown for a loop completely.

I tried to brush it off and Eva tried to help by saying one of the cousins and talk about why

(thank goodness for the rescue attempt).

So beside that minor random awkwardness it was fun.

Val, Quinn and I were able to laugh about it later...as in go figure out of EVERYone

I got picked out of the crowd for THAT.

Though Quinn was quick to point out that you never know.

So overall we had a fun afternoon

and then I went for coffee Val so that we could devise "the Plan".

More about that later.

My Self Made Long Weekend Update ~ Monday Funday

Monday I took the day off partly because I was celebrating the fact that I passed all my tests!  I haven't hung out with Eva since Quinn's birthday party (read that post here).
So I decided it would be fun to hang out with her on Monday (her day off) since she lives in a suburb of the TDot.

It totally left me with mixed feelings.
A huge part had that darn emeraldeyedgirl coming out.
I have so much love for Eva and she is honestly one of the most amazing women I know.
I certainly am happy for everything with her but it sometimes SUCKS to hold it all in and smile and be happy when by comparison my life blows.
And I KNOW comparing yourself to others likely leads you to being a emeraldeyedgirl but sometimes I can't help it!

Okay so the positives...
I met her early morning for hot yoga.
Generally I shy away from the 90 minute classes.
But Eva has a class that she swears by.
We both share a love for yoga...I had planned to do yoga the morning of my wedding in a private studio to just calm myself down (and Eva was the first one to go HECK yes I'm in)...sigh.
Anywho Eva is really REALLY good at yoga and this was definitely a hard core class.
It felt great to get a sweat on and hopefully get closer to looking like the girls in the class who just about all looked like THIS!

Craziness! But so good.
And how sweet that Eva gave me a shirt from Lululemon (my FIRST ONE!!) remember when I wrote about my mum's birthday gift (read here) and said I had nothing lulu...now I do!!! It's perfect and so pretty and of course the right size (told you Eva is amazing!)  Now mind you I am the heaviest I have ever been.  So I'm extra glad for the fitted on top loose on the bottom fit of this top.  I think the sweetheart neckline (thank you wedding dress shopping for my improved neckline vocabulary) is complimentary on me.  The back view is a little wonky and rotated but I think the back is really cool (minus the roll over the right side of the top grrrr).  Holla at the KimKardashian booty out in full force in the pic.  I will definitely be looked to Lulu the next time I need new yoga gear.  However, you cannot beat the price of Target and that is 99% of my workout gear.  Though the quality and feel of Lululemon is out of this world...(but so are their prices sorry Lulu but I'm still rocking the receptionist salary here).

So then we went back to her new place.  She just moved from a one bedroom condo (the one we had a final party in the second night of Taylor's visit to Canada (read here)) into a 5 bedroom house in the suburbs.  It is huge and perfect and we went through the entire thing while she told me about her plans and the new furniture they plan on getting for the place.  And while I was so so SO happy for her I had this knot in my stomach the whole time.  It is like getting a glimpse of everything I want in life and knowing I can't have it.  I really really REALLY want to be able to go house hunting with a husband and plan a house and buy furniture and still be planning my wedding (hers is at the end of May).  I'm so excited for her they are already planning on having kids ASAP after their wedding too.  But in all reality besides all the material things I'm super emeraldeyed over... I really just want someone to spend the rest of my life with.  I don't think I will ever be that lucky.

Anyway from there we had to go pick up my bro (who I left sleeping in at the hotel all morning) to go have lunch together.  On our drive down Eva and I chatted away and she showed me pics of her wedding dress fitting (another stomach knot), and about wedding details (more and more knots).  But I smiled and chatted away with her because I am geniunly happy for her.  It is also pretty important to note that Eva and I are so similar (and were roomates in first year dorm and all my years of collge).  So things about the wedding are very similar (we had booked the same videographer because of her recommendation).  From our invites, to bridemaid attire, to planned events they were nearly identical.  A fact that many of the Canadian girls found extremely amusing. 

So we picked up my bro and headed to....wait for it...
CHIPOTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Toronto got two of them this year!)

How freaking excited was I?!  It's been 2 years plus since I've had Chipotle.
So I had to share this with Eva.

It was awesome to reminisce about my MANY MANY trips to Chipotle with Taylor.
It was just as I remembered and my bro and I even took Chips/Guac/Salsa home for a snack.

Then we headed back to the 'burbs because Eva wanted to show me the cute little "town" feeling in the middle of big city Toronto.
It was adorable they have a little main street that Eva and her fiance walk to.

There is a little park where they will take photos on their wedding day.

The church for their ceremony is also in this little "town".
We stopped by the Old Fire House Convectionery on Main Street.

They had DELISHIOUS candy apples (and bonus they cut them up in slices for you so you don't have to wear the candy part all over your face).

I haven't had a Candy apple since before I had braces (back when I was 14!)
So that was a super fun indulgence.  Yea I know I shouldn't complain about the way I look when I go and eat a candy apple! 

So we finished up and dropped off Eva at her house.
I ran in to use the bathroom and Eva opened some of her mail.
She groaned out loud because she is getting back wedding responses now and I guess her fiance's brother wanted to invite some friends.
Eva and her fiance were cool with that and invited some.
But they didn't invite said "friend" plus guest.
However said friends were RSVPing with their name AND guest.
So Eva was stressed because they have a 220 max and invited 250 and only 6 have responded no.
Then my guilt kicked in because remember I invited Will (read here) AND I can't for the life of me remember if my invite was to me or to me AND guest.  (I totally threw out that outside envelope).
And I didn't want to stress Eva out so I didn't mention anything about it.
Jane (who is in the wedding party) seemed to think inviting him was such a great idea (and she is in the know about the wedding) but now I'm not so sure.  (Plus I'm not sure Will will even come even though I really REALLY would like him to but it is Memorial Day weekend in the USA~ remember this post when he responded to my invite?)  I know I should just ASK her about it but I didn't think it was the right moment.  I see no reason to ask her and put her in that akward position if Will can't even come :(

Overall it was great to see Eva and I know it must be nice for her to be proud of all the fun exciting things in her life!  I also know if the shoe was on the other foot she would be gracious and supportive and amazing to me.
It was tougher than I thought it would be...but I managed.
Then my bro and I made the drive back home and I was exhausted from the weekend and was in bed by like 8:30pm!
And that was how I spent my Monday off!
Trying desparately not to be a emeraldeyedgirl...hmmm not sure I succeeded.

Pics from: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-916/Hot-Yoga-A-Balanced-Look-at-a-Popular-Practice.html, http://dailytoronto.blogspot.com/2009/08/old-firehall-confectionery.html, http://hs.tema.pl/,

Bridesmaid Dresses you COULD actually wear again.

Soooo part of me being tough and strong.  Was when Eva invited me along with her bridesmaids to go look at Bridesmaid dresses.  So we all got ready Sunday morning and had a lovely brunch at Eva's place.  It was delicious...then the three of us coffee drinkers when to go get a ridiculously over priced holiday latte from Starbucks.  The three coffee drinkers are myself, Quinn, and J.  And I only broke down and cried once in the car on the way to the first store with Quinn and J.  Which means I avoided the embarrassment of making Eva feel bad which I definitely did NOT want to do.  So we go into the first store...Windsor Bridal which has bar none the SH*TTIEST service I have ever experienced in a bridal store EVER.  From multiple people I have heard the same thing.  From J previously having a lady tell her she was basically too fat to wear a certain dress and then try to force her out of the dressing room with the dress around her chest! To being told you could only try on 8 dresses during one visit.  The first part that was hard for me was seeing the Flower girl dresses that I picked out for my Flower Girls...which I will post all under a new post of my now cancelled wedding stuff.  So everything at Windsor Bridal was very "bridemaid-y" and the one dress we liked had a ridiculously low dipping sweetheart neckline.  Some of Eva's bridemaids have great racks but maybe a little risque for what she was looking for.  Then we tried to venture to Ritche bridal but they were closed on Sunday.  Then Eva suggested we go to Yorkdale Mall to look at regular stores...and I was like "yes I think they have a BCBG store too!"  So off we go...and try Bebe first...where all their dresses definitely wouldn't cover a butt like mine or Eva's EVER.  Then we got to BCBG and they found such CUTE dresses that were way better made than any of the bridesmaid dresses we had seen thus far.  All the girls looked great...and this weekend everything was 30% off.  So score Eva got to cross that one off her list.  Here is what they look like...STUNNING!

She is going to pair them with Fuchsia shoes ...(another idea we had the exact same because we are two peas in a pod!)  They are all going to look SOOOO good.  I'm very excited for her May wedding.
xoxo
Teagan