As I was preparing for my wedding my MOH, Mallory, and I went to several stores to look at bridesmaids dresses. We went to the usual places like David’s Bridal and Demetri’s. Then we found an amazing store called Moms, Maids and More in Bellevue, Washington where we found the dresses. I definitely recommend them.

Our time at David’s Bridal was absolutely dreadful! We went to the store in Tacoma, Washington where we had a terrible saleswoman. She never helped us, I had to grab all the different sizes and what not. The whole store was poorly managed and nobody was helped much at all. I definitely wouldn’t post my disdain for the chain if this were my only bad experience. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

The main gripe I have with the mega-store is everything they’ve done with my friend Meggan’s wedding that’s coming up this summer. Here’s a chronological rendering of what happened:

September 2009: Meggan goes with some of the other bridesmaids to the Clackamas, Oregon store to look at dresses. They take Meggan’s information and say she is saved in the computer and that any bridesmaid who lives in another city can go to any David’s Bridal and find her information and the specific dresses they should try on.

October 2009: I go to David’s Bridal to try on the dress and they don’t have Meggan’s information at all. Luckily she is resourceful and smart and she sent out the product number so I was able to look for it that way. I try on the dress, it’s cute and it’s the one Meggan goes with.

November 2009: The lady at the Clackamas, OR store flat out lies to Meggan! Flat out lies! She told Meggan that her store was the only store that had this great $20 off sale on a certain day and that all the bridesmaids could call the store and order the dress over the phone to get the deal.

January 2010: I call the store and find out they do have that deal, but I would have to pay $15 for them to ship it to me once it got to their store. So I decided that I’d rather spend the extra $20 at the terrible Tacoma store and be able to just pick it up myself. I call the Tacoma store and they have the sale also!! So she was just drumming up business for herself. Not a fan of putting the salesperson first ever! I understand that is every salesperson’s goal, but if a company allows their employees to act this way, it’s definitely not a store I plan to give my business to.

There are so many other stores a bride can choose from. Maids Moms and More’s website has several online retailers, other great options are to just search on Polyvore for dresses you like and then search the sites they came from, or any other small bridal stores in your area. Most cities will have several bridal stores in every price range.

So I 100% loved our wedding. No wedding is perfect. Every bride needs to know that. NO.WEDDING.IS.PERFECT. I knew that going in and thus was not disappointed when things didn’t go 100% as planned. As my friends are getting married, I’ve been thinking of the little things I could have changed. I’ll post them as I come up with them.

I wish I had more time with Scott only. At the end of the night we tried to walk outside to have some alone time, but one of his uncles stopped us and then the last song started playing so we had to run in and dance, of course. I would suggest letting your coordinator or one of your bridesmaids know that you want at least 30-45 minutes of alone time, outside of pictures, and dinner so they can block for you. This is time for you and your new husband to just clear your head, think about where you are and what just happened. You are officially married, the big moment just happened, soak it up!

Here’s a great picture of my friend Lindsey who just got married on January 9th courtesy Bryan Rupp Photography.

A friend of mine’s sister, Molly Hightower was in Haiti volunteering when the earthquake hit. She has not been found yet. Emphasis on the yet. Here is a link to a story about her: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34864920/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/

I guess the only way we can help is to just pray that she is found soon.

Here’s a picture of Molly and her blog:http://mollyinhaiti.blogspot.com/

Bridesmaid dresses don’t all have to be the same, mine were. But they certainly don’t have to be. I am a firm believer in the fact that a wedding should be the biggest expression of you and your style of all time. Here are some great dresses I found on Polyvore.com.

These ones are all from shopruche.com, extra cute and great prices.

These dresses are from www.ardenb.com

The best thing you can do at your wedding is whatever you want. It is all about YOU!

I am officially a student again. I start classes tomorrow for a certificate program in Adobe Creative Suite.I am really looking forward to the class and growing my skills in design, but going to University of Washington will be tough.

I went here for my undergrad:

This is where I am going and WSU’s rival.

This makes me feel better:

I’ve always been so proud of my family. My grandpa Alton Odom was a paratrooper in World War II, and now is an active member of the Statesboro, GA chapter of the Kiwanis and president of the city’s food bank. My grandma Dorothy Odom was simply amazing. She was the kind of woman who was a strict Army wife, but you could cry on her lap after you got locked in the bathroom because the lock was 50-years-old. She died in 2006. They constantly gave their time to others and both received the Deen Day Smith award for service to mankind. These are the members of the family I know.

There’s one family member I never met. My uncle, Kenneth Odom. He was the oldest of three, it went him, my aunt Judith and my dad was the youngest. Kenneth died when my dad was 17. The part of the story I knew was that he was home from college and died in a fire. Someone was smoking and fell asleep with their cigarette still lit. This was New Year’s Eve 1970, pre-smoke detectors in every room. The reason I’m writing about this now is I just learned the rest of the story.

Kenneth and his friends were at a cabin in South Georgia. All of his friends lived except him. He was sleeping on the couch right next to a door out, but they found his body outside a door to the bedroom where two of his friends were sleeping, a married couple. He was trying to get to them to make sure they knew about the fire and got out safely when he was overcome by the smoke.

I am so proud to be his niece, proud to be my grandparents’ granddaughter and proud to be my parents’ daughter.

Sick of Wordpress themes. Starting something new here. New Year’s post from Rachael Elaine:

Do you typically have a New Year’s Resolution? Or multiple resolutions? I rarely do. This year I have one, though. My New Year’s Resolution is to have goals. When I was in high school my goal was to go to college. When I was in college my goal was to graduate college. Now that I have done that, I need to think of my actual life goals. I graduated from Washington State University in May of 2008 and still am not 100 percent sure of what I want to do with my life. I know it will include something creative and helping people. I would love to become a wedding planner someday, but right now I really enjoy public relations. I love the creativity behind brainstorming a new campaign, thinking of new clients and planning events to get the word out. The problem is that in a bad economy public relations is one of the first things to go, so not many places are hiring. I’ve been trying to get a leg up on the competition so I’m going back to school folks. Not for another degree yet, but for a certificate in Adobe Creative Suite. The class is at the University of Washington and lasts until September. I am really excited to finally learn all about Photoshop, Dreamweaver and all that goodness. Class starts this Wednesday and I’m very nervous and excited!

Anyway that is more of a professional goal. I’ve also been thinking about goals like a bucket list. You know, the things you want to do before you die. Here are some of the ones I am thinking about right now:

1. Vacation in New York City from Thanksgiving to January 3rd. I want to stay somewhere that overlooks the parade route and then be in the city for the Christmas season and New Year’s Eve.

2. Start an Etsy store. Not sure what I will sell, but I love Etsy and the idea of making something cute and selling it there would be awesome! Maybe I will make cards once I know more about Photoshop.

3. Design a house. I want to build my dream house someday and design every aspect of it. This house will be completely clutter free and perfectly organized. It will also have two sets of stairs. Growing up I always thought the ideal house would have two staircases like on Full House.  Scott can keep his stuff in a man-rage that I will design him so it’s not in my way.

4. Have at least 10 perfect recipes. I don’t do much cooking as of yet, but I really want to have my perfect recipes that aren’t too bad for you, taste wonderful and always turn out right. This means actually cooking someday and keeping track of ALL the details.

5. Get a tattoo. I’ve wanted a tattoo forever, but can’t decide what to get. The latest idea  has been a Christmas tree on my foot with the word Believe across it. Not totally sure, but so far it’s my favorite.

6. Always have a dog in my life. I love dogs, they make me happier than anything else. My goal is to never be without a dog.

And that’s all I can think of right now. See, not much. That’s why my resolution is to have goals. I need to think about this more. Think about the things I really want to do with my life so I can do them. I would like to travel more, definitely out of the country, but the idea of flying for 15+ hours is really disgusting to me. I guess another goal is to get over that fact.

What are your goals, dreams, bucket lists, aspirations? I hope this inspires you to think about what you want to do with your life more also. Good luck and happy 2010!