"You can't dress trashy [or cute] 'till you spend a lot of money."

Kara, I think you'll like this post. =) Inspirations. (Those of you who don't know this Rexburg magician with cloth and a sewing machine, check her out...she's brilliant!) Mallosaurus, you'll dig it too, I suspect.

[NOTE TO READER: I have mono. I have tonsilitis. I'm in love. It's 3 o'clock in the morning. All of the above would count as individual excuses for poor grammar, non-sensical organization, misspellings, etc. The combination of all of them justifies any weirdness in the following entry.]

All of these recent health setbacks have led to a surge of "wedding nesting." One of my coping mechanisms for dealing with Jacob and I's seemingly "eternal" (pun intended) engagement is to "nest" for it. I don't know if "nesting" has a common equivalent for preparing for marriage, but what I've got is the wedding version of this:

Around the fifth month of pregnancy, the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world. Females of the animal kingdom are all equipped with this same need. It is a primal instinct. Just as you see birds making their nests, mothers-to-be do exactly the same thing. The act of nesting puts you in control and gives a sense of accomplishment toward birth. You may become a homebody and want to retreat into the comfort of home and familiar company, like a brooding hen.
--Parenting Weekly Magazine

(In case anyone is paranoid, no I am not pregnant. I promise. Even if by some miraculous, immaculate accident I was, they would have told me at the hospital and not given me a million drugs.) ANYWAY. That's what I've got. Designing return address labels. Visualizing and planning crafts for the bathroom decor. Looking up flower arrangements. That sort of thing.

The great dilemma of late (and the main subject of this blog entry) is this:

What to wear for our engagement photo session? We've found a great, creative, and affordable photographer, and have some great inspirations, but we really need to wear clothes for these pictures. (As meaningful as it would be, something akin to Yoko and John's "Two Virgins" would be a little too much for everyone involved in this wedding.)

I've got to do a preliminary raid on Jacob's closet, first of all. That will give me some idea of what we have to work with. I don't picture identical denim on bales of hay or anything, but I do want us to sorta match. I just don't think we should BOTH go out and get completely new wardrobes. (Well, maybe...) My biggest difficulty is that even without raiding Jacob's closet, I keep looking online for cute engagement picture outfits, and I keep finding ADORABLE girl things, for WAY too much money. The existence of clothing companies like ModCloth, with their dear little dresses, is breaking my heart.

Like this darling number:

Scavenger Hunt Dress from ModCloth

I mean, LOOK at it! I even have the perfect little shoes and peasant top to go with it! Too bad it's A) $55, and B) sold out.

I'm also in love with this sweet and simple shirt dress:

Soda Fountain Dress in Ginger by ModCloth

Again, sold out. Again, $45.

Although, to be honest, I might buy 'em anyway. You only take engagement photos once, right? I'm getting a big tax return. We'll see how much of it I can spare after paying medical bills. Cute clothes like these deserve being paid for.

I mean, just LOOK at this vintage dress! I am ENAMORED of this dress:

Baba-blue dress by ModCloth, $100

It makes me want to go sailing, or learn shorthand.

And let's not even TALK about this. I can hardly HANDLE this:

Although I'm not crazy about the fabric, I am mad about the cut of this dress. I want this dress. I'll ride a bicycle to a park with a boy (Jacob) and have a picnic in this dress.

GIRLS ONLY (I mean that, Jacob. Tempting as it is, don't you dare. You'll see on July 10th. Or 11th. I apologize for torturing you with this post-script. I love you and will make up for it later.): Decided tonight that I'm buying my lingerie from Anthropologie. HOW DARLING. Just what I've been looking for, and right in my price range.

Next task: The wedding dress. That deserves a whole 'nother entry. We'll save that for my next episode of mono-induced insomnia (ironic as that is...)