Surprises

This week I've been surprised by receiving two packages in the mail - purchases I made online long ago that I'd forgotten about and then... SURPRISE! They're there sitting at my front door waiting to just pop out of their box. In general I'm not a fan of surprises. I'm a planner. I like to not only know what's coming, but have sufficient time to prepare for it as well ( a very realistic view/outlook on life...). Surprises annoy me. Well, that is, they did. I think I'm kind of warming up to surprises now - even if I'm the one surprising myself.

So here's surprise number one:

A beautiful chiffon dress by Mara Hoffman from Gilt.com

But with all these surprises I realize I need to do some Spring - wait... Fall closet cleaning. Particularly purging it of dresses. This tasks inspires the wretched feeling that accompanies actual retching/purging, akin to nails scratching a chalkboard, but it must be done. I'm running out of hangers.

Wedding Dresses

No... this is not what you think it is.

While one of my guilty pleasures is buying and pouring through Martha Stewart Wedding magazines (you should see my collection!), this post will not be about those beautiful immaculate dresses that every little girl (and old girl...) fantasizes about.

It will be about dresses, weddings and the non-color white.

That doesn't really sound much different. Let me explain...

So one of my best friends is getting married in a month and 2 days and I am so excited. This means 3 things:

1. One amazing PARTY!!!
2. One less friend I can hide behind during the bouquet toss.
3. One new dress!

You see, being a total dress freak (you should see my closet), it is customary that I purchase a new dress to celebrate the "sending off," if you will, of each of my good friends from land of "singlehood" to that of "wedded bliss."

Weddings are full of traditions and this is mine to add to the mix. Feel free to subscribe to it if you like - I won't mind.

There's only one drawback to this tradition of mine: My choice of dresses is slightly constrained.

You see this new tradition comes head-to-head with a very strict rule of wedding guest etiquette:

"Do NOT wear white to a wedding."

I have a problem with this because in summer, there are so many adorable white sun dresses that scream, "JESSIKA! Buy me!" It's almost as if some inexplicable magnetic force draws me to them. And yet, however cute or flattering they are, they must be axed from the list of potentials.

So here are this years rejects by default, courtesy of Anthropologie a.k.a. my wardrobe supplier.