Day 44---Yellow Platform Pumps

First of all, CHECK OUT THESE SHOES!!!! AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL AND SO HOT, right???? These dang yellow shoes have been the bane of my existence for about 2 months now, and it is crazy how, under pressure, I was able to miraculously find the perfect pair! For those of you who have not been "following" my madness, I was in my best friend, Summer's, wedding and we were instructed to "Buy yellow shoes....not neon yellow, but not mustard yellow---you know what I mean, right?"....No, Sum, I love you, but I must admit that finding the PERFECT yellow shoes (and clearly, I eventually did---Thank Goodness!) proved to be a difficult task! But, it all worked out (thanks to Off Broadway---check it out! AND my trusty shoe side-kick---you know who you are!)

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL and SO MUCH FUN! I of course cried the entire time. From the moment that Summer put her veil on, to the moment they said "I Do", I was a wreck. I have a problem. Our yellow shoes ended up being the perfect complement to our slate gray dresses and our AMAZING vintage jewelry made especially by the Mother and Grandmother of the Bride just for each of us. It was wonderful. We all looked great and everyone's yellow shoes were fantastic. AND guess who caught the bouquet???? Yep. That's right. yours truly. Oy vay.

I love weddings, and I am having (which I am totally surprised by) a little bit of a bittersweet feeling going on right now. This is the very first time in 5 years that I do not have a wedding in which I am going to be a bridesmaid "on the horizon" and it's kind of strange. My friend Erica's husband, Craig, (yes, I was in their wedding too...purple dress...silver shoes with the bow, remember those???) said it well. He told me that most weddings have about 150 people at them and usually about 5 bridesmaids and that means that about 5 percent (or some mathematical situation like that) of the people are in weddings about 5% of the time. But, I on the other hand, have been in 11 weddings and have probably been to about 20 weddings in my life. So that means that I am a bridesmaid about 50% of the time, and that means that I am special. Thanks Craig---you always know how to make me feel good about myself and put a positive twist on everything! It is an interesting thing to have dedicated so much of my time, money, and energy into these weddings, and now they are over. And what do I have to show for them? Let's see: 11 bridesmaid dresses, 2 wine-tasting bachelorette parties (Krisi and Lori), 1 Palm Springs bachelorette party (Erica), 2 San Diego Bachelorette Parties (Joanne and Summer), 4 Las Vegas bachelorette parties (Brittany, Bianca, Steph, and Alex), and 1 Mexican Cruise (Erin)....and a trip to Etna (Renee), one vacation to Maui, Hawaii, countless necklaces, earrings, bracelets, flowers for my hair---all matching with 5-10 other girls! On a different note, I have gained 11 men into my life who are so special in their own unique ways. They are the men who take care of me, who initiate and interrogate every new guy I ever bring around, who make my best friends so happy, and who are now becoming the fathers to a very precious new generation of wonderful people.

So, out of this process I can choose to either dwell on the fact that I could definitely have put a down payment on a house (seriously) if I had all of the money that I spent on dresses, shoes, hair, make-up, traveling, bachelorette parties, presents, showers.......OR I can choose to look at the gifts that I have been given because of all of these weddings. And their names are: Andrew, Dave, Pat, Steve, Craig, David, Isaac, Michael, Anthony, Danny, and Kelly. And I wouldn't trade anything for all of those guys. Not even a down payment for a house. I would do it all over again....but come on guys.....please don't make me! Love you all.