We may still not have that wedding date officially written in pen, but we do have a bride-to-be with a dress. A beautiful dress. A be-still-my-heart dress. The dress. In the words of a long ago or was it just yesterday, fair-haired toddler princess, we have 'a spinning dress'. And for the moment, that's enough.
When Daughter1 was a little girl her criteria for judging whether or not a dress was merely good or better than great was found in the answer to one question-'Does it spin?'
She has a great dress.
I'm not going to post any pictures or give details, because despite living in the age of online everything, a bride-to-be's dress needs to be set apart, the image of her on her father's arm at the back of a church only imagined until the day she and her groom say I do.
The middle of this post is a good time to start from the beginning so let's back up. Friday I drove down to D.C. with a pit stop at my mama's house for lunch. Such a treat! I parked at the Metro near Daughter 1's apartment and then trained it into downtown D.C., arriving just as she was leaving work. The weather was glorious, and we decided to hop back on the metro and walk around Old Town Alexandria before having dinner.
If you've never been to Old Town, it's charming. The city feels a little southern which is probably why we love it, and yes I know it's technically Virginia, but it's Northern Virginia, and most of Northern Virginia doesn't feel quite so southern. No offense Virigina.
We dined on the narrowest balcony ever, perched atop the second floor of The Fish Market, a great spot for people watching. Funny story-as we were standing outside the restaurant trying to decide if we wanted to go in, Daughter1 saw a girl and said, 'I think she's a blogger I follow.' So we awkwardly asked her if she was indeed a blogger, and she was, and they read each other's blogs, so that was some random fun. Christa blogs at Forever Young, so everyone go say hi to Christa. You can tell her the blogger's mom she met at The Fish Market sent you.
After dinner we walked around the waterfront...
...past the old Torpedo factory which now houses something like 82 artist studios...
then stopped for a bit to listen to this talented gentleman play the water glasses. Raise your hand if you're thinking Miss Congeniality right about now?
He didn't leap on the audience, in fact he was actually a bit of a theologian and told the story of Moses. It was unexpected and sweet.
We headed back to the Metro to collect Daughter2 from Reagan International. She was delayed (shocking I know!), so didn't arrive until about 10 PM. We then had to train it back to downtown D.C., change lines, and travel another 25 minutes or so on that line to Daughter1's apartment.
Somehow we got to talking and realized two stops in, that we'd gotten on a train going the wrong way. No biggie (or so we thought)...we hopped off and waited on the correct track heading the right way.
And we waited.
And then waited some more. The train finally came, but once on board we sat for what felt like forever due to single tracking, and long story long-arrived back to Daughter1's apartment about 1:30 AM. Ugh! I am not at my best at 1:30 in the morning, in case anyone was wondering.
We got back to Daughter1's apartment and collapsed. How much sleep does one need for a day filled with wedding dress shopping?! As it turns out, not a lot.
And here we are many words later, and we haven't put so much as our perfectly polished toes through the door of that dress shop. I could wrap it up right now and say we bought a dress, but that's no fun, and I think you know that's not me. Why use one sentence when I can use twelve?!
Stay tuned for Part 2 Tuesday. The post where we actually say yes to the dress!
We loved the spinning dresses too :-)
ReplyDeleteoh how exciting! I am not good at 1:30am either. Sounds like a fun filled weekend!!
ReplyDeleteThe Fish Market is our absolute favorite restaurant in Old Town, and we go there whenever we are in Virginia (Northern Virginia!). I have lots of fun memories that include those huge schooners of beer and their delicious clam chowder. A walk through the Torpedo Factory is also a must, and a visit to the waterfront. What fun.
ReplyDeleteSo glad a dress has been found - the perfect dress!! I am looking forward to Part 2 (and of course, to the big reveal on that big day!).
Can't wait. The suspense is killing me! (Were you ever a writer for cliff-hanger shows - and "to be continued…." episodes?) We do not have a dress BUT we have a date and a venue! So, we are one ahead of you in terms of WHEN, but nothing else. It's a start!
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness, I guess you were going on adrenalin with all the excitement surrounding the "dress hunt." What fun and I can't wait for Part 2.
ReplyDeleteOh how exciting...I KNEW of course you wouldn't actually SHOW the dress, but I had just a smidgen of hope nonetheless, lol. What a fun, memory filled time you are living right now. Makes me think back to the day we found THE dress for my daughter. The moment she walked out in it, the tears began to fall and there just wasn't a moments doubt in anyone's heart that it had been found. We didn't even have a venue set yet, but we had one of the most important parts of the day all decided. Soo excited for you to experiencing all this right now, It is a special memory making time you will remember forever. Yes, even taking the wrong train and not getting back till 1:30 am, lol I will be back tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteOne task done, a million to go!!! Congratulations on finding the perfect spinning dress!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of you a lot this past Friday and Saturday. We were on a field trip to NYC with the sixth grade. I am so tickled to hear about the spinning dress. I know as just the mother of grooms how emotional I got to see THE dress the bride picked. I can only imagine the happy tears you shed.
ReplyDeleteI raised my hand. :) I can't wait for the rest of the story!
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to admit right now that I'm more than a teensy bit jealous and I may or may not have (ahem) put some (more, but serious this time) pressure on Son #1 to get things moving. Sheesh already!
Oh yay! I can't wait to hear all about The Dress!!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to meet you and Shannon in Old Town!
ReplyDeleteOh my, that was a memorable weekend and well worth two posts. Wedding dress shopping with my girls is one of my favorite memories.
ReplyDelete