First 2011 Finish

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Almost Done!

I've still got the top lettering to finish, but I'm hoping by tonight I will have my first finish of 2011!

I haven't yet picked out my next projext after this. I do have a couple small things to do before the end of next week, so ill most likely work on those to finish out the month.

Next Sunday, February 6th is the annual Super Bowl sale at my LNS, The Stitching Post! I'm so excited! I have to make a list of the items I need to be on the lookout for, specifically threads, beads and fabrics.

Its a bit snowy here today, but thankfully nothing seems to be sticking to the roads and should end by the time I leave work to go home.

Have a great weekend!

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Cake Pants!

These are my new favorite pj pants.

I got them at walmart.

They are amazing.

They have cupcakes on them.

I love cupcakes.

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Cheesy Tot-tastic Casserole

Since I've been cooking on my own I've been trying to perfect the tater tot casserole. I know, right?! Tater tots are so easy, how could I mess them up? Well for awhile I thought the answer lay in my slow cooker. But my tots kept sticking to the sides and burning no matter how little or how much non stick spray I used!

Yesterday while enjoying a rare opportunity to watch rachael ray she made a delicious tater tot casserole and I wanted it so bad! But rachael likes beef, we don't eat beef. So, here is my alternative.

1 pound ground turkey, 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, 1 yellow onion, shredded cheddar cheese (I prefer sargento's bistro blend cheeses, they melt sooo perfect!), and of course, tater tots (I used ore ida extra crispy)!

Throw the turkey in a skillet and cook it up. While it cooks, chop up half the onion. Once the turkey is cooked, drain off any grease and throw in the chopped onion. After a minute or two on medium heat toss in the mixed veggies. At this point I put a cover on my skillet to help the flavors combine and defrost the veggies. Stirring every couple minutes.

Break out a casserole dish. I used a round one I had laying around, but this could easily fit in an 8 x 13 dish I believe. Pour the meat/veggie mixture into the dish, add cream of chicken soup and mix. Level the mixture in the dish and put shredded cheese on top. Tater tots top the cheese. Pop it in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. Once the soup gets really bubbly, you may need some help getting the tots nice and brown and the cheese melty. At this point you can turn on the broiler to brown up the top amd help finish up the tots. I even put alittle of the leftover shredded cheese on top of the tots for extra goodness.

I'm an eye balling kind of cook so I just took it out of the oven when the tots looked nice and brown and the cheese had reached the perfect melted goodness.

Let it sit for about five minutes amd then dig in! This is the best version I have made of this dish, its sooo tasty, and the broiler really crisped up the tots. No mushy tots here! Hope you enjoy as much as Matt and I did!

P.S. It is just as yummy as leftovers the next day!

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Snow Day = Yummy Dinner

Major storm here in the Maryland area. Whew, what a doozy, but I know its nothing next to what we went through last year.

It is almost 8 p.m. and my Matt is not yet home from work. I stayed home today since it was yucky this morning and liberal leave was called. Matt usually gets off work at 4 so this is super late. He let me know a bit ago that he was nowhere near his shop and it will be awhile. So I anxiously await and pray nothing happens to him and his coworker while they navigate through the storm.

I have shoveled 4 TIMES today and know I will have to go out again when Matt let's me know he's on has way home so he has somewhere to park.

I've made something super tasty for dinner tonight! Watch out for the recipe!

Hope you are all keeping warm and have shelter from the storm!

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Monday Blahhhhhh

Like Garfield, I do not enjoy Mondays.

On the up side, Matt had to be at work early this morning so that meant he got off work early. Its nice to walk in the house and see my man preparing a meal. On the grill. When it's less than 30 degrees outside. It was delicious.

He told me go change out of my fancy work clothes and have a sit. Always one to do as I'm told (yea, right) I changed my clothes and jumped at the opportunity to relax on the couch and stitch.

Almost done! I was kind of lazy tonight and didn't get as much done as I wanted, but thems the breaks. Just have to get the last block done and the rest of the letters!

Hope everyone had a great day...even though it was Monday.

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Weekend Wrap up

1. Matt and I went to The Organized Bride in Frederick and ordered our wedding invitations. It was very busy in there, but the owner is super nice. After about an hour or so looking at the outrageously priced sample books we decided to design our own custom invites through the shop, saving us a good bit of money. We spent three HOURS there looking at PAPER. It was quite exhausting.

2. Matt was out on a man date Saturday night so I got in some good stitching time. Almost done my sampler! Woot!

3. I dragged Matt out of bed this morning to go to the church. We aren't regular church folk, but its the church where the pastor who is marrying us worships, so I feel like its important to make an appearance every once in awhile. Plus, we got to talk to him afterwards about scheduling our premarital meetings (omg).

4. We went to the grocery store, I hate the grocery store. Boo!

5. Football is on, so more stitching can occur.

6. The naked christmas tree that was in my living room has finally been put away.

7. Grey's better be good this week since last week was a RERUN! Just sayin...

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One bunny, Two bunny

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Bunny!

Got to work on the sampler more this week!

Only three more blocks to fill and then stitch the top letters! Ive really enjoyed working on this piece, and it has stitched up really fast. I'm already thinking about the next Blue Ribbon Design I will stitch!

P.S. you don't even KNOW how upset I was to see that Grey's Anatomy was a rerun this week! Seriously?!?!

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Wacky Wednesday

Today is Wednesday! Which means the return of American Idol. I am watching right now, crazy, crazy people!

I've also been stitching while watching. No updated pictures, but I'm really happy with the progress I've been making!

Each block is different so I don't get bored working on the same ole thing!

After Idol, its time for Off The Map!

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Ice Day

Snow and ice came through last night into early this morning. It was pretty last night to see the snow fall while I sat on my couch stitching.

We woke up this morning to a couple inches of snow topped by a nice layer of ice. Ew! I was planning on calling out already, but it was that much easier when I found out that the liberal leave policy was in effect. Matt also decided to stay home for the day. I would much rather shovel snow and clean off cars at 10 am then 5 am.

I spent most of the morning/early afternoon cleaning up the messes and the rest of the day stitching and watching movies.

I've made a lot of progress on my "sampling" the last couple nights. I love the peacock block!

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Holiday!

Today was a holiday so I had off work. My FMIL also had off work today so she asked me to go shopping with her for a dress to wear to the wedding. We went to Lord and Taylor. She used to work there so she got to see her old coworkers and use some coupons.

While she was checking out I found the perfect, inexpensive earrings to wear on the big day, and she found a cute pair herself!

I had been telling mil that I'm not a big makeup kinda person and was worried about what I was gonna do on wedding day. I can usually slap on some mascara and lip gloss and be good for the day. I'm not much for the whole shebang with foundation, eye shadow, and I've never even TRIED eye liner!

So, I was quickly steered over to her trusted friend at the clinique counter for a makeover. It was quite fun, but I also felt bad because I knew this nice lady was going to go to all the trouble of helping me and I couldnt afford to buy all those products at once. I suggested writing everything down and just buying a few of the products and getting the rest later. Imagine my surprise when mil said "oh, well I'm getting it all for you and your earrings, no worries!"

She is so amazing and generous. I'm so lucky to be able to become apart of such a wonderful family! I came home with quite the haul, minus a few things that were out of stock. I'm looking forward to picking those up later! It felt nice to be a bit girly and get made up I know I won't be puting it all on everyday, but it will be fun to play with!

I was out all day and didn't get much stitching in, luckily, I have some time before bed!

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Lazy Sunday

Today Matt and I decided to get out of the house for some lunch and shopping. We got a gift card to Ruby Tuesdays for Christmas so we went there for lunch and got to see a bit of the football game. Afterwards, we headed over to Target! More giftcards! We added more items to our wedding registry and picked up a few things. As hard as we tried, didn't see anything big we wanted to use the gift cards on so we just used them for the little things we got.

I picked up these really cute towels for the kitchen!

Now we are home to relax the rest of the day away.

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Saturdaaayyy! celebrate!

I feel very accomplished today. I don't know why, I certainly didn't do anything!

This morning, I was up bright and early for a Saturday, completed errands to the bank and post office. The I was off to Panera Bread to meet my bloggy friend, Danielle! Us girls had a nice time eating lunch, stitching and talking stitchy. So nice to talk about linen and thread without the listeners eyes glazing over!

I made some progress on sampling and more progress when I got home. Today was a big football day in Maryland. Though not a fan of the Ravens or the Steelers, it was quite the nailbiter!

Hope your all enjoying the weekend! I've got a three day weekend myself with the MLK holiday on Monday, yay!

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Why I Love Thursday Nights

Enough said.

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I Haz A Howse

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It snowed last night...

And I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go to work today, but no announcement came on the tv or twitter, so I came to work.

I wish I had stayed home! I don't wanna be here! I wanna be on my couch, with my blanket and my "real housewives", working on my sampler or socks. But, noooo, I have to be one of THOSE people who comes to work. Big dummy!

To console myself, and because I had to clean off my car instead of making myself a lunch this morning, I went and got myself a happy meal. I deserve it and the panda toy gave me a smile.

Hope you're having a great day, please think of me slaving away at my desk.......

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My Goodies

I came home to another package today! This time an order I placed with www.knitpicks.com last week. I love to order my sock yarn and books from them. They have great yarn, both in quality and color selections. Also, they have their books on sale, a lot! Right now, books are 40% off so I had to grab another toe up sock book!

I also nabbed a pair of sock blockers to whip my socks into shape once they come off the needles. The awesome yarn on the left in the lovely shades of green and purple is called "make believe" stroll hand painted sock yarn. Right next to it is "summer bloom" stroll tonal. I love it! Its a perfect blend of my favorite color, pink! Last but not least, I got a small, clear zippered tote to toss my latest sock project in. It has been dubbed "the sock bag".

Can't wait to drool over my new book! Hope you all are having a good Tuesday and getting in some stitches!

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ABC's of Me!

A - Age: 29


B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Dishes, I dislike dishes....maybe if i had a dishwasher....

D - Dog's name: no pets allowed in our rental, but we love on MIL's dog Jack a whole lot when we visit
E - Essential start of the day item: shower, definitely need a shower
F - Favorite color: Pink

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5'2"

I - Instruments you play: I played the flute for about 10 years

J - Job: workin for the man....
K - Kids: none, can i least get married first?! haha
L - Living arrangements: Live with my fiance
M - Music you love: i like to dance to music while i clean and when i take a shower so i can sing!
N - Nicknames: jillybean, matt calls me "lil mama"....i really dont know why
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: never

P - Pet Peeve: disorganization, wet socks, wet bathroom floor...ew

Q - Quote from a movie: i love lamp
R - Right handed or left: left

S - Siblings: two older half sisters, one older half brother, one younger half sister
T - Time you wake up: 6-ish....
U - Underwear: yes please

V - Vegetable you dislike: brussel sprouts
W - Workout Style: you're kidding, right? right?

X - X-rays you've had: teeth, chest, back
Y - Yummy food you make: its allll good when i make it!

Z - The best place to visit: a stitching store, pandora store, and my couch!

Progress and a sock

I've made alot of progress on sampling since I started it last week. I got all the borders done and started filling them in.

I didn't do much today. I stayed home while Matt went out to get a new radio for his car. I took all the ornaments off our tree and put away Christmas stuff. I also finished one of two socks I am making for my friend.

The sock looks huge! I was so afraid after all the work I put into it that it wouldnt fit. But, I got lucky when I got it off the needles it fit my size 7 foot. My friend and I wear about the same size, her feet may be a bit smaller. I think they will be okay though.

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In the mail!

I got home from yesterday and had a package waiting for me! It was my Christmas and birthday gifts from my friend, Lisa, who lives in Rhode Island.

Lisa and I "met" a few years ago on Myspace, moved over to Facebook, and finally got to meet in person when I went up north for a retreat we went to in Mystic, Ct.

These gifts are so awesome! Lisa is quite the talent with her sewing machine! She made the tote bag, needlebook, drawstring bag, ort bag, two qsnap covers, and a beaded scissor fob. I love all the brown and pink! She also sent me some yummy slipper socks and pretty fabric. Also included was the DMC scissor kit that came out in October. I had wanted it so badly, but couldn't find it anywhere and Lisa remembered! She also made me the cutest ornament with a reindeer and some jingle bells!

I'm so lucky to have such a thoughtful and creative stitching friend! She is certainly one step ahead of me. I just finished the gifts I'm sending up to her last night.

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I need these in my life

Are you for serious?! Thanks to the yarn harlot I found this blog and these mittens. Have you ever seen anything you instantly fell so instantly in love with you gave one of those little girl squeals and then a sigh of lust?! I so just did that.

I'm a fairly new knitter so these may be a bit ambitious considering I've never knitted mittens, nor have I done colorwork. But, look! So pretty! CUPCAKES!

I. Need. These. In. My. Life.

Stupid internet, showing me these things that I love!

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Books

I haven't been reading a lot lately and I'm really starting to miss books. I recently downloaded the kindle app for my phone. Its really convenient and nifty, but so far I've only downloaded free books. I'm still having a hard time grasping paying for a book I won't actually hold in my hand.

So, I've seen recently that Candace Cameron Bure has recently written a book called "Reshaping it All". Its mostly a spiritual book, but its also about being healthy. I'm a total twitter geek and follow her so I've seen a lot of comments from people reading it and it all seems very positive.

It doesnt seem like the typical celebrity book and I think it eould be nice to finally read something positive from someone in the celebrity world. I don't think I will actually buy the book but I definitely wouldnt mind taking a look. I'm not much for nonfiction, but I could give it a whirl.

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Progress!

Blue Ribbon Designs

A Sampling In The Square

Stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct. Cream Newcastle



I've been able to make a lot of progress on my sampler this week. I really like it so far, in love with the color selections for this design!

Last night before making myself go to bed I was able finish all the outline sections, finishing with the satin stitch border on the top right. Now I'm ready to fill in the borders and complete the lettering.

Tonight is the return of my favorite show Greys Anatomy! I can't wait to get home after work to enjoy some quality time with my q-snap and Dr. McDreamy!

P.S. Sorry for the lazy, low quality photo from my camera. I was tired and it was at night. I really have to dig out the camera.

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Movie Night!

Matt and I watched "Dinner for Schmucks" Tuesday night. It was really funny...seriously...I almost wet my pants.

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The jar

Its time for the post showing my TUSAL jar.

Its a jar given to me a few years ago. I think it had cookie mix or something in it.

I usually wouldnt keep a jar around for so long but its a Longaberger jar. Fancy stuff, that Longaberger. My mom tried to steal it from me once.

Not very exciting right now, but hoping to change that by the next update.

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Other treats

So one of my favorite things in my house is my yankee candle tart warmer. Someone gave it to me for Christmas a couple years ago and its fantastic. And electric, none of that buying tons of tealights that last ten minutes stuff.

The number one reason I love it almost as much as I love bacon is because the smelly tart things...yea, they are pretty cheap. And lasts a long time. I love nothing more than going into a yankee candle store and paying $2 for something that packs just as big a punch in the scent department as a $25 jar candle.

On my birthday, the mall we were strolling around in had a yankee candle store and they were having a big sale. They also had three new scents out.

Orange dreamsickle, fluffy towels, and bahama breeze. I picked up tarts for the first two scents (does anyone NOT love the scent of fluffy towels?!) , but the bahama breeze was just a bit to strong in the fruit scent for me so I had to skip it.

I'm also a big fan of the yankee candle lip balms. I had vanilla cupcake a long time ago, before Matt snatched it. I love how they look like teeny, tiny candle jars. This time I was able to pick up cinnamon and sugar on sale. It so yummy smelling and has a little sparkle in it.

There is just something about a good smelling house and moisturized lips....had to share!

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Cupcakes!

So these were just posted on the new release section of abcstitch.com. I am quite frequently on their site checking for new things to put on my wish list.

These two are definitely on there now!

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2011 Stitching Goals

I thought this year would be a good year to set some goals for myself. I feel like it's very important for me to do this for myself as I will be crazy enough as it for the next couple months with all the wedding goings on, plus it will be good for me to be able to focus on and write about something other than my upcoming nuptials. Oh, and I just love stitching!

So here we go!

1. Participate in my first round robin. This will start in February or March I believe. I'm not sure which UFO I will be sending but I still have a couple weeks to work it out. Aaaaand hopefully I won't screw it up and mess up someone else's project or forget a mailing or something stupid. Haha!

2. Stitch one ornament per month (at least). I love to stitch ornaments, but the rush around Christmas to finish any burnt me out, so I figure if I can do at least one per month I will have plenty to choose from this Christmas to decorate my tree, or to give as quick, last minute gifts. Plus, working on an ornament will give me a break from any big projects and give me a chance for a small, quick finish.

3. Don't buy alot of crap! Well, not crap, but more stash. I have so many charts in my stash from building it the last few years. At this point whenever I buy a new chart, I almost feel guilty for all the sad little charts not getting stitched at home! So now I am trying to destash a bit and only buy threads and fabric for charts/patterns I already have. Yes, I know there will be many charts coming out that I will NEED, but I already have my wish list in progress and maybe I can treat myself every once in awhile.

4. Fill up my TUSAL jar! I joined the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long and every new moon I have to post a pic of my ort jar. I actually have alittle bag that was stitched and gifted to me by my lovely friend Lisa. But every time I fill it up, I have been just dumping it in the trash! Danielle had a post about this and I thought it sounded like fun. So instead of throwing all my orts in the trash when I fill up my cute lil bag, I can now dump it in my jar! I found a nifty jar thats been taking up some space in my house and will be revealed tomorrow for my first new moon post!

5. Make more stitchy friends! I love to read all the stitchy blogs I can find and see all the lovely projects everyone is working on. I also get inspiration for future projects and get introduced to designers I hadn't seen before. The internet is pretty much all I've got when it comes to a "stitching group" as I live in an area that does not seem to have alot of people local to me to meet up for get togethers and stitch talk. This past October was my first stitching retreat and I had such a blast. I really enjoyed getting together with other ladies who spoke my language.

6. Blog everyday! This actually hasn't been too hard for me lately and I am hoping to keep in my groove.

Here's to a great year, and meeting my goals. Eh, even if I don't meet every one of them, I know I'll have fun in the attempt!

Happy Stitching!

A Sampling in the Square

On Friday I started my New year project. The design is by Belinda of Blue Ribbon Designs. I have never done a sampler like this before so I was excited to get started!

It is also my first time stitching on 40 count fabric. I was a bit apprehensive at first when it came in mail and saw all those tiny squares, but once I got started it's been quite enjoyable.

I love the colors in the design. It is stitched one over two using weeks dye works threads. It was a total splurge buying 12 of those threads, but I know I will use them on other projects. Plus, I don't usually enjoy stitching with weeks threads because of past troubles with breakage, but this time I'm not having any trouble and am enjoying the color variance in the threads as I stitch.

The only problem I've had so far is the "pink beast". The pink beast is that reddish pink rectangle. The trouble was by no means the design or the thread. It was all me and my lack of the ability to count. I had to rip the beast out twice, TWICE!!!! Two days wasted on that tiny rectangle! I was almost defeated, but I wouldn't let the beast win. Then I moved onto blue.

Only a few more to outline and then I get to started filling them in!

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My Birthday!

My birthday was Friday, December 31st. It's kind of a crappy day for a birthday, but it's not like I had a choice. Haha!

Matt was off work for the new years holiday so we got to spend the day together. He took me to a mall about an hour away in Rockville to go here :

The Pandora jewelry store! It's not very big, kind of an enlarged kiosk, but it was fun to see all their charms in one place! Matt had wanted to get me the cupcake charm for my birthday, but dang if they weren't sold out of them! I was a bit disappointed to say the least, but I had plenty of other choices. In the end, I decided to get two clips so that the charm I already had would stop sliding around and driving me crazy. I also reminded Matt that I actually had a charm from him at home. He had given it to me last Christmas as a pendant on a chain. It is a daisy with a dangly blue topaz charm. We walked around the mall some more and got some lunch before heading home.

Once we were home, Matts mom texted me and said she had a birthday gift for me also! We had already gotten home so we decided to go another day over the weekend. Matt took a nap while I sat down to my birthday gift to myself and started working on a new stitching project.

Friday night we spent the evening at a neighbors house to celebrate the new year and got to sleep in on Saturday.  Saturday we enjoyed having a relaxing day around the house. We realized that despite the days of work we have had off work the last couple weeks, none of it we got spend at home just relaxing.

Today we stopped by Matt's moms house. She works a crazy schedule so, sadly, she wasn't home but left my gift. Its a beautiful new charm for my bracelet! It is one of the wedding ones I had wanted for our wedding day, but I got it early! It's a little ring bearer pillow with two rings on top, so adorable!

Here is my bracelet! From left to right: clip with little flowers on it, heart I got for Christmas, daisy with blue topaz dangle (my birthstone), wedding charm, and last another clip with a little bling! I love my bracelet, and I love how it is growing!

Now I am off to get do some more stitching and enjoy the rest of this weekend. Tomorrow it's back to work as usual. I will miss those short work weeks!

The Dress

I had such a great day today! First, I had off work today as my office is closed. Not having to go to work on a Thursday is always enjoyable. Second, today I got to see my best friend and MOH. She brought me a yummy latte from Starbucks and a thoughtful birthday present! My future mother in law (FMIL) also showed up at my house soon after so we could all ride together. My own mother and grandmother, unfortunately, did not join us. It was not something I was happy about, but it was the choice that they made not to share this experience with me.

We went to Davids Bridal in Hagerstown. Despite the horror stories I have heard about DB, I was optimistic about finding a dress for myself. I had been there before to get a bridesmaids dress and had a pleasant experience. This time was no different! My appointment was at 11 a.m. right when they opened and we were greeted by nice ladies ready to please! My wonderful and helpful consultant was named Shay and she was exactly the person I needed to help me. She understood and knew exactly the kind of dress I was looking for. She was also funny, which definitely helped with the whole "standing here in my underwear in front of a stranger" situation.

So I tried four dresses and the fourth was THE ONE. I came out of the dressing room to sighs and indrawn breaths. I met eyes with Matt's mom and both of us started to cry a bit and she gave me a hug. It was not the dress I thought it would be, but I love it, love it, love it! I brought it home that day and even now hangs on the door of the spare room. Every once in awhile I like to walk by, open the bag, and just give it a glance. Soo pretty....!