first look: white by vera wang

i'm not ready to buy a wedding dress, but dang it if i don't have to rethink my anti-david's bridal policy now that vera wang is getting ready to unveil (ha ha) a line of dresses for them. since her dresses retail for anywhere from $5000-$25,000 (and up), the line - officially called white by vera wang - will open her brand up to a whole new group of brides, since they'll be on sale for $600-$1400.

vera finally showed her designs last week on oprah, where 50 lucky brides-to-be get to pick from any one of them. of the line, which i'm going to estimate is around 12 dresses, i like these three the best.





jeez. not only do these make me rethink my i-hate-davids-bridal mantra, i'm actually contemplating a pink wedding dress.

thanks to dallasweddingplanner.com for the photos

the big d

it was a quiet summer - only one wedding, compared to last year's four (three of which i was in). next summer is already scheduled to be busier - my brother is getting married in may. we've never really talked about his future marriage and what it means for him when our parents are married. but apparently the chances of his marriage failing are 50% higher because he comes from a divorced home, according to this story on cnn today.

it gets worse for me and t. since we're both from divorced families, our chances of failing in marriage are 200% ahead of everyone else. what the fuck? i feel doomed. 200% is kind of off-the-charts bad, like slim to none but without the slim.

200 fucking percent?

i know i'm taking a stat from one study, but it makes some sense to me. divorce, to put it mildly, fucks one up. not just the persons getting divorced, but the friends, the parent's parents and especially the kids. not to wave my own self-pity flag or anything; that's the truth. marriage is serious. at least i come out of surviving my parents' divorce realizing that. i'm waiting until the time is right, and i'm trying not to let my emotions get ahead of me.

divorce - like overalls and jeggings - just isn't an option for me.

photo via isleptinyourheart

a plea for fun underwear

disclaimer: i have big boobs. i say this only to point out that i cannot simply go and buy whatever. good support is as important in a bra as it is in a friend, and that goes unsaid for me. a quality bra is essential. underline, exclamation point, extra bold. i don't go cheap on my bras, because i believe you get what you pay for, and i refuse to pay for something that i have to wear all day that's uncomfortable, which is what most cheap bras end up being for me.

plus most big-box stores that sell cheap bras don't believe girls with big boobs wear them. or at least that's the impression i get when i can't find my size again and again and again.

so i have to wear underwear. so do you. it's an essential in life, like water and chocolate. and i am of the mind that if you have to eat chocolate, you may as well eat good chocolate. the same goes for underwear. you have to wear it - so why stick with boring white?

it's not about who will see it - because no one but you (and maybe your partner) will. it's about life being short and having fun and trying something different and rebelling even if it's something as small as buying a red bra.

and if i had to recommend a brand, it's of course victoria's secret. they know what they're doing. my favorite? body by victoria full coverage. i'm kind of obsessed (especially with their new invisible lace option! ok, so i went a little crazy when i saw those.) p.s. i don't own a single white one.

jewelry lust: the tiffany key

when tiffanys introduced the key necklace, i thought they were a little crazy. a key? really? as it usually is with me, after giving the idea a chance - and seeing it around the neck of a very fashionable friend, i've decided i love it.

i'm not a huge jewelry person. i prefer more simple, longer pieces, since i'm so ticklish, so i probably would have to substitute the 16" chain this comes with for something longer. bigger charms like this should be on a longer chain anyway. i love the simplicity of this piece and the tiny heart on top of the key - just a little detail that makes it unique.

there are some things i love more than clothes and shoes

i was only in my apartment for a couple weeks last year when i started looking at the beautiful faces of dogs up for adoption. a month later i was saying good bye to my first dog ever (due to bloat - if you don't know what this is, and you have a dog, please do your research. hours can make a difference, though it unfortunately did not for me). then two weeks later, outwardly protesting but inwardly eager to bravely step back into the scary, wonderful world of pet ownership.
that's when i found him, the cutest, funniest beagle-daschund-hound ever - hamlet, my little snuggler, a dog whose favorite things include stealing toys and burrowing under the covers. he was - still is, if i'm honest - a handful. but i love him, even when he drives me crazy. pets are good practice for kids, i keep telling myself. if that's the case...maybe i want to stick with pets for a little bit longer.
but of course one was not enough. i've had a dream to get a cat since i was six, quickly squashed by my brother being "allergic." fast-forward to may when i was taking hammie to get his nails clipped and saw this beautiful little white kitten at petco. he was the sweetest, most inquisitive little thing. they had named him charmin, and i promptly changed that to othello, though he is mr. kitty, mr. furrypants, mr. man, stinkhead and some other cusswords at times (he has already broken a vase and a light bulb).

and once you have two, hasn't the chaos already reigned for a while? (you know where this is going, don't you, tricky reader.)look at that face. LOOK AT IT. how can you say no, knowing the risks? we found out he was five on the way to pick him up. too late, i was and am already head-over-heels as he sleeps on the living room floor, probably getting massive puddles of drool everywhere. my mom is horrified, my grandparents call it a travesty, but i can't get over that face.

don't tell t, but i think it has to be romeo for him. my little loverboy dog.

i will get these shoes for fall

shoe boots, nine west

shoe boots are gloriously amazing in that almost-too-trendy kind of way. these i really love, particularly with the soft fold on the front - like they're heels you snuggle up in (and by snuggling, i of course mean wear with tights and a lbd).


fringe boots, minnetonka for j. crew

i have been lusting for fringe minnetonkas ever since i was a nine-year-old vacationing in petosky, michigan, and picked out a pair that my mom immediately denied me. lesson #1: unless it's a. too expensive or b. too impractical, i will never deny my children their right to fashion. lesson #2: now that i'm my own independent person, i will immediately buy myself these and enjoy the hell out of them. can't you just see these paired with leggings and a long sweater on a cool-ish october saturday? almost makes me miss college.

perfect leopard pump, ann taylor

my third must-have pair of shoes is from ann taylor - a leopard print version of their perfect pumps, which are perfect. i have a pair of in black. i had to run six blocks in chicago on michigan avenue, practically knocking over christmas shoppers to get them, never mind the swine flu i came down with later, but they are WORTH IT. srsly.

kindle my heart

yep, i already ordered one.

i was going to post this long review of the kindle, since i went back and forth over whether to get one for so long. then amazon went and surprised everyone (ok, well, just me) by coming out with a third-generation kindle well before the expected fall 2010 announcement.

kindle 3, as it's unofficially been dubbed by the techie media, has double the battery life (at least one month without wireless on), double the storage (4g) and turns pages 20% faster than kindle 2. since i ordered my kindle within the 30-day time frame for returns, i quickly shipped it back and ordered a new kindle. sadly, amazon isn't shipping kindle 3 until the end of august - and apparently a wait list has already formed because of so many orders.

sigh. i miss my kindle already. hopefully kindle 3 will be worth it - and from what i've read of the scant reviews, this will be the case.

i'll post a full review after i've had it for a few weeks, with comparisons to kindle 2. in the meantime i'm revisiting my "real" books and adding new titles to my wish list on amazon. one can never have too many books to read.

oh, and if you don't know where the title of this post came from, you've probably never seen the classic 1995 version of "a little princess." one of the most beautiful movies ever made, featuring one of the most beautiful soundtracks - including the theme song. listen to it here.

oh blah

what a negative last post! i've finally pulled that stick out of my ass. instead of all that, i'll let you enjoy a picture of my new cat, othello. if i only had half his energy...

why i hate organized religion: #95851

npr aired this story yesterday about a nun excommunicated from the church because she allowed an abortion to happen at the hospital she was in charge of.

the woman was 11 weeks pregnant and so gravely ill, she couldn't even be moved to a different room, much less a different hospital than the catholic one she had been admitted to. she already had four children at home, and after hearing the doctors' opinions that she wouldn't survive much longer, the nun allowed the abortion.

the archbishop of arizona (seriously, what is up with the crazies in arizona lately?) immediately excommunicated her. because apparently both of them dying - leaving four children without a mother - is better.

let's be honest - it's a sad situation no matter what. but i love the comment of one of the readers: "if men birthed children, would this even be a question?" never mind the fact that NO priests accused or proved to be molesters have been excommunicated.

this story makes me so angry, i feel like my head is going to explode. once again, the church proves why it's a big barrel of fucked-up hypocricy, and i'm left wondering why i even went in the first place.

the glorious pile of crazy that is the met ball

there are a few things you can count on in may: your tax return (though where the hell is mine?) and the craziness that is the met ball - specifically the gowns some of the celebrities wear. i thought they were wacky, though mostly in a good way, this year. and call me crazy, but i LOVE what gwen is wearing:


i should mention it's her own design, which makes it even more awesome sauce. i love the black with the draping around it, the simple hair, the red lipstick, the hot man candy. gorg.

and damn if i'm not so excited for vera wang's line for david's bridal. especially after seeing mila kunis in this dress.


wonder what my mom would say if i wore THAT down the aisle. HA. worth it.

pics via style