Here I Come, Big Apple!

Not this upcoming weekend, but the next, I am heading up to Connecticut to Mrs. Gallery Place's home (she's my amazing Matron of Honor) for my bridal shower with a bunch of my friends. Immediately following the shower, we are hopping on a train to...

New York City!

Apparently my bachelorette party is going to be a night out in the Big Apple! I have no idea what’s going on for either the shower or the night out in New York City, and the suspense is KILLING ME! The rumblings I have heard have been such a tease. The one thing I do know was that there is a dress code, and even though it’s based pretty much one what I wear regularly, I wanted an outfit that was special. I didn’t want to roll up to my party in an outfit that could double for going to work.

The dress code is jeans, fun black top, fun shoes. After some searching, I came out with a pretty awesome outfit.

This ruffle tank. It’s black, even though it looks gray on screen.

Under this ruffle cardigan. (Did you know that I love ruffles?)

Fun zebra shoes.

…and this little fun bag from J Crew.

Not only am I looking forward to it from a “OH MY GOD! WEDDING!” perspective, but it’ll be nice to have a little mini weekend trip away from the DC area, too.

What are you guys doing for your showers/bachelorettes? Are you/did you have fun picking out your outfits?

Showered with Love!

Everthing is so real now! We have 34 days until the big show and yesterday I had my first experience feeling all bride-y. I attended my shower which took place in Mechanicsville, Va and it was fantastic! Here are a few highlights:

My cousins and bride's attendants from home did an awesome job setting everything up. It was so classy and elegant. They used some of our wedding colors and really took my personality into consideration.

We played some really fun games that made all of the guests get up and mingle. The first game really set the tone. The guests were asked to walk around and find someone that they do not know that has attributes listed on their checklist. It allowed the guest to meet one another in a cool way. We also played the "make a wedding dress out of toliet paper" game, my absolute bridal shower favorite:-D

As you can see, Mr. President made a special appearance. He loves our family and pops up at all of our functions (Thanksgiving, showers, etc...)...hmm...wonder if he will make a special appearance at the wedding...

At the end, I got to open all of my presents (Aw Yeah!)

Give me cupcakes and gifts and I am one happy girl!

We got mini-us' as gifts from my other set of bride's attendants. They are absolutly awesome and the cutest things ever! Great time, great friends and mini-me's...what a lucky girl I am!

Excuses to Shop...

Hello, my name is Miss Glen Echo; and I am a shop-a-holic.

Being engaged has allowed me to indulge my addiction with total inhabition (to the dismay of Mr. Glen Echo). For example, recently, there has been a lot of talk about my bridal shower in Feburary. A trip to pick up a birthday gift for a friend resulted in me irrationally justifying purchasing a shower ensemble...mmm...4 months in advance. At least this time, my indulgence resulted in purchasing something really cute and interesting that was also ON SALE!

This is my bridal shower dress...LOVE IT! I got it at Antrhopologie for $50 on sale (SCORE!) I figure...Feburary, Valentine's Day, Red, Loveliness! And...IT HAS POCKETS!

(source)

I already have a light grey cardigan I got at the J Crew factory store at Arundel Mills. It looks a bit like this one, but it has two little light and dark grey flowers near the neck line. I think it will go well with the dress.

(source)

So now I am searching for shoes...this is where I need your help Ladies. I cannot decide between:


1) Grey Pumps: Urban Outfitters, $48













2) Red, White and Blue Pumps : Nine West, $89















3) Purple Flats: Piperlime, $49.99













So, help me choose Ladies...
Which one do you think will go best with what I have so far? Accessories will be picked based on the shoe choice. I know the choices are not at all similar to one another...so if you think something else would look better, please give me a link...especially if its a good deal.

Showers of Happiness....

I forgot to share some pictures from my bridal shower a week and a half ago in Connecticut... here are some with a bit of family (and life drama) to boot following the photo goodness...

My cake. From a fabulous bakery in NY brought up to CT by Fiance's godmother. FYI, it was as tasty as it looks.

Unopened gifts. I definitely got showered with love!! Our car was JAM PACKED on the drive back to DC.

Two my college besties/bridesmaids and I enjoying the margs. My shower had a theme of Puerto Rico...also known as our honeymoon locale. A pretty awesome theme if I do say so myself!

Me opening one of many gifts - this gift was all for fiance. I don't even like waffles but he INSISTED on registering for a waffle maker. That's okay. One of my bridesmaids got me a shoe wheel off our registry.

It is most certainly a shoe wheel. It fits perfectly in my closet.

My bridal party (including the ring bearer!) minus my bridesmaid E who couldn't make it to CT for the event. S'k, she's apparently got her own tricks up her sleeve for the DC guests. Don't mind my droopy straps on my tank top...I was a little tipsy. Those silly margaritas!

Now here's my question...so my FMIL hosted my shower - well, the bridesmaids hosted it but she helped. No one from my side of the family was invited. Someone told me "all the women invited to the wedding should be invited to the shower..." Is this true?

If so, then I can understand why my step mother (who my mother doesn't really...like) was upset to not be invited but quite frankly, most of my family aren't trekking down here for the wedding so I felt it was unnecessary to extend invitations. Not to mention, my step mom hasn't really been upset about not really being included in the planning till now. Then on Wednesday last week, when I called my father to tell him about the unfortunate event - fiance losing his job - after saying he was sorry he told me that I should send my step mother a note. Apologize for not including her...even though I didn't put together the invitation list. Or any other part of the shower.

Seriously? Aside from my mother, and bridesmaids it was ALL fiance's side of the guest list. No one from my side, sans a couple gal pals in Boston, were invited. Why was he making a stink NOW???

I won't get into my personal feelings about her here but I do run hot/cold toward my step mother, and right now? I can tell you I am icy. As in, unimpressed by these shenanigans.

Who was invited to your bridal shower? Did you invite all the guests invited to the wedding? Did you have a theme? Favorite gift???

Showering me!

Sorry for being MIA. With less than 50 days to go, you can imagine how much we have to do still! I had my bridal shower 2 weeks ago and was humbled my all the gifts and love I felt. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, we had to take a break from the presents because there were so many! hee hee! I got almost everything on my registry. Below are some of my favorite pics. Enjoy!

I arrived and was immediately greeted by the host, a close family friend, Terri.

The guests begin to come! I am getting excited!! PRESENTS! hahaha (I am a brat and full ok with it)

The food was a typical Jewish brunch! Delicious!

Me, and my mom and my sister in law

Me and Mr. CP's mom and his brothers fiance, my soon-to-be sister in law!

My Matron of Honor spelled out words that were about me and Mr. CP on a scrabble board, like places we went on dates, where we got engaged, how we met, etc. I loved it! She is prego and couldn't be there, but I surely appreciated the thoughts she sent withher mom :)

these flip-flops leave the imprint of "Just Married" in the sand! perfect for our honeymoon in Mexico!
My "Mrs." Hoodie! I LOVED this so much. My sister in law, "S" gave it to me!
Bridesmaids!


Terri made me a homemade ice cream cake for me! Rocky Road, my favorite!!!! This was easily my favorite part!

I had the best shower! Thanks to all who made it possible! So, how do I handle returning gifts and having the person over?

I Just Love a Good Checklist

I was on the Real Simple website this evening looking for instructions on making a ribbon caddy from an oatmeal container.



Somehow the search phrase I used brought up the baby shower checklist. Weird, but then I thought, hmm, I wonder if they have a bridal shower checklist. They do! Ohhhh!

I love Real Simple's checklists! If you haven't picked up a copy of the Real Simple Weddings Guide with all it's great checklists and lists of questions to ask vendors, do so immediately. You'll thank me later (you're welcome).

Yes, it's $13.95, but I'm telling you this is the greatest wedding mag ever. I bought the 2008 edition and have probably only purchased 3 other bridal mags in addition to this. The tips are great, the checklists are awesome, and it's SO practical. LOVE IT.

The Bridal Shower check list is great! Whether you are a MoH, a Mom, or a best friend, this is an excellent guide for throwing a great par-tay. You're sure to be the hostess with the mostess if you follow this. I book-marked this on my own computer and I plan to print it out and add it to my stash o' wedding stuff. I obviously won't be throwing my own shower, but hopefully I have a chance to throw a few in the future, and I know I'll want this to make sure I don't forget anything!

Ohh...there's a honeymoon planning checklist too...

Bridal Shower on Top Chef

All of my friends know that I'm a big fan of wine, food, cooking, anything epicurean. So I'm sharing this passion with all of you by encouraging you to watch tonight's epi of Top Chef. Why? Why, Miss Keswick, would we want to watch Top Chef? How could it be relevant to our wedding planning lives? Because tonite the chefs are catering Gail Simmons' bridal shower party. What a great way to get some ideas for your menu - and who doesn't love a drama in the kitchen (as long as it's not between you and your mother or you and your betrothed).

Top Chef airs tonite at 10 PM, encore at 11 PM, on Bravo.

Bon appetit!