So, let’s be honest here. Every once in awhile, a girl needs a new dress. Okay, “need” is a strong word. And wanting is a difficult word. (Oh, “wanting”, how you tempt me!) So every once in awhile, a girl needs help deciding whether she’s wanting or needing.

Here’s the scenario. My brother and his fiance are getting married this August! I love them both dearly, and I love them together even more. This, of course, makes me very excited for The Big Day. As I am not in the wedding party (they’re not having one), I am struck by a dilemma. I have to DECIDE what to wear to a WEDDING?! (You know me, first the bride, now always the bridesmaid!)

Here’s the deal with needing/wanting a new dress. I wanted a dress a few weeks ago, and I was struck by NYC fashion. So I bought a lovely dress there that is probably not the right dress for this wedding, and now I find that it might have been better to wait and buy a dress for the wedding.

So here’s where you come in, dear friend! I have 5 possible contenders – dresses I already own – that I could wear. Either I pick one of these, or I return the NYC dress and buy a new one for the wedding. Should I wear one of these dresses? Or should I return the other dress and buy a new one?

Contender #1 – NYC Dress

From Drop Box

This is the dress I bought in NYC that might be returned. I must admit, it looks much darker in person.
Pros: Formal chiffon-like material, more modern style. I’ve never worn it.
Cons: It’s black (some are against black dresses at weddings), and isn’t wildly flattering on my body.

Contender #2 The Plum Dress

From Drop Box

I bought this dress a couple years ago, and I’ve worn it on a cruise and to a couple weddings. The hanger look doesn’t do it justice! It has a sheer halter that goes over a sweetheart neckline.
Pros: Fits perfectly, figure-flattering, color is appropriate for a wedding.
Cons: I feel like I’ve worn this so much that it doesn’t excite me at all.

Contender #3 The Las Vegas Dress

From Drop Box

Let’s just say it’s not called the Las Vegas dress because I got it from Vegas. Obvs, it’s a little wrinkled in this pic and I would iron it for an occasion!
Pros: I absolutely love the color. The sequins add a level of formality that wouldn’t be there with just a cotton dress. I wore this to a wedding before and I got a lot of compliments.
Cons: It’s just really Vegas, and maybe a bit informal. My brother HATES sequins.

Contender #4 The Trousseau Dress

From Drop Box

I believe I got this dress as part of my trousseau from my mom for our honeymoon!
Pros: Great material & style, easy to transition from casual to formal by wearing with/without a camisole.
Cons: I’ve worn it to a wedding before, and while it was fine for that wedding, it still feels a little informal.

Contender #5 The Sexy Secretary Dress

From Drop Box

I really apologize if the name offends, but there’s no other way to describe this in my mind!
Pros: Great fit, fun colors, and feels very glamorous. I wore this for formal night on a cruise and I got a lot of compliments on my fb photos
Cons: I’m not sure about the higher neckline in August, and again, it still feels a bit informal.

So there you have it! This event will be immortalized in many photos, so I’d like to look my best – I appreciate your advice!

This past weekend, Joe and I got to check out the North Coast Harbor Boating & Fishing Festival! This festival helped me achieve not one, but TWO of my 101 things – both “Go Sailing on Lake Erie” and “Visit Voinovich Bicentennial Park” (the site of our engagement). Even though I checked both items off my list, we’ll certainly make our best efforts to be back to Voinovich Park for a picnic this year! A friend from church is instrumental in making this festival happen each year, so we even got a chance to chat with him while helping to break down the set.

Here’s a photo-tour of our day..

First, we got to the festival and scurried around to get in our boat ride reservation. I insisted on a sailboat rather than a motorboat.. what can I say, it’s more romantic, right?

From Drop Box

Next, we checked out our beautiful surroundings. Voinovich Park holds a special place in our hearts! (See our old theknot.com site for our old engagement story… trust me, we had a nicer wedding website which ended up getting hacked. RIP joeandsheila.com.)

From Drop Box

A few minutes later, we got suited up!

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Then, we noticed a dude with a JIMMY BUFFETT-INSPIRED HAT. This thing was a work of art! It took some maneuvering to get a picture of it, but it was so worth it. Bonus points if you understand the rocket reference, because I do not. Bonus points, in fact, if you understand any of the references, because I do. *blushes*

From Drop Box

Finally, our boat arrived! The Journey, we later discovered, is steered by a Cap’n/Pastor who offers up trips on this boat as a means to share the message of the gospel with local teens! He actually spoke at our church this past Sunday!

From Drop Box

We settled into the boat and took some pictures with a nice lady who brought a group of local kids with her.

From Drop Box

Then we got to enjoy a few views – first, our engagement spot!

From Drop Box

Then finally, our green city on a blue lake. No mistake about it.

From Drop Box

Thanks to the North Coast Harbor Boating & Fishing Fest and The Journey for a free ride on a lovely boat!

I’m trying to blog more often, but if I blogged about my daily legal beagle-ing (aww, beagles!), I’d be (a) boring and (b) unethical. So I’ll blog about my creative endeavors, which are most often my daily dinners.

Monday

Monday is Real Housewives of New Jersey day! (Well, not anymore since it moved to Sundays.) Anyway, we decided to start a tradition – every day that RHONJ is on, I’d make a recipe out of housewife Teresa Giudice’s cookbook, Skinny Italian – a great Christmas gift from my Mother-in-Law! It just so happened that this Monday, I made 2 recipes!

First was Pasta Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti with plenty of Romano cheese and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper – have I mentioned that I prefer pepper to salt any day?) and Stuffed Mushrooms. I enjoyed having a hearty, filling Italian meal with some clever ways to save calories. For example, the mushroom stuffing was mostly made up of the inside of the mushrooms sauteed with spices, and the cheesy pasta sauce was made up of just starchy water, cheese, and pepper!

From Drop Box

Tuesday

I had a leftover piece of flounder and some imitation lump crab meat, so I made Seafood Newburg (reducing the 3 cups of cream to 1 by combining this with another recipe…) with steamed asparagus. Creamy and yummy!!

Wednesday

Okay, I guess I lied, because I just remembered we had leftover pizza on Wednesday. I’m not gonna say what day it was leftover from… but it was GOOD.

Thursday

Joe’s mom gave us some smoked turkey sausage, so I grilled them and topped them with caramelized onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and a homemade spicy mustard sauce (grain mustard, regular mustard, mayo, and pickled jalapenos), along with a salad with greens from our Aerogarden, a chopped apple, a shredded carrot, and crumbled feta cheese (this is my favorite salad – I love sweet + salty!).

Friday

Today, I’m making one of our favorites- simple Mango Chicken Salad Sandwiches with some mac n’ cheese! YUM!

Overall, I feel pretty good about incorporating at least one vegetarian meal (Monday) and one seafood meal (Tuesday) into our diets, but I’d like to do better and make a more sustainable impact. At least we have some fruits or vegetables in our dinner every day! Perhaps I’ll keep documenting our meals and it’ll help me to cook at home more and keep note of what we’ve enjoyed.

I spent last weekend exploring New York City with three boys. I don’t know if it was a counter-reaction to the excessive testosterone or Joe’s constant references to reality TV shows set in Manhattan (SATC, BGM, BEA, RHONY, FELLS, okay the last one’s made up, but the list goes on…), but the only thing I could focus on was the FASHION.

Not many of you knew me in high school, but if you did, you know that I was somewhat known for my daring fashion choices. I don’t know if I was a trendsetter, but I dared to wear the following things to school:

• A Cowboy Hat
• Egyptian-Style Armbands
• Patchwork Pants (Both in Brown Corduroy and Denim)
• Fire Engine Red Hair
• Homemade Bellbottoms
• Two different earrings (stud in one ear, a long silver chain in the other – this was one of my signature looks!)
• Themed outfits (head-to-toe green, 60′s, modern rocker, 80′s americana, etc.)
• A head full of mini-braids
• A goth trenchcoat with black platform boots
• …. the list goes on.

Where did this wacky sense of style go? I’ve often heard that self-expression and a display of independence is part of adolescent development. If so, I apparently expressed myself out during my teenage years.

I find it very difficult to go back to those daring fashion decisions. I’m not sure if it was the nerdiness of undergrad, the seriousness of law school, or my current desire for professionalism, but I’ve certainly buried my love of fashion.

Sometimes I like to blame Cleveland for my lame fashion choices. It just seems that most people out on the streets don’t make a lot of daring fashion choices. (Although Julia has proven me wrong today!) So here’s a list that I came up with in my head while I was in NYC…

Things I Would Wear in NYC That Somehow Seem Inappropriate in Cleveland

5. Really Bright Clothing

Color'd!

What is it about crazy allover color that seems inappropriate in my day-to-day life in Cleveland? Perhaps it’s the sense that we’re as far as possible from anything that could be conceived as ‘tropical’. Either way, I miss bold all-over color!

4. Themed Outfits

Who doesn't want to be a cute sailor?

Walking along Madison Ave., it was nice to see that each designer had their own style. The windows seemed to go along with a certain theme. Sailor chic. Preppy casual. Outrageously glamorous. Rich. Okay, rich isn’t a theme. Well, maybe it is in Potomac.

3. Leggings as Pants

YAYYYY Kimmie!

YEESH Khloe! :-p

Sometimes, in some circumstances, I like leggings as pants. There, I said it. Yes, in the midst of a group of bundled up Clevelanders, a lone gal in a short puffy jacket, leggings, and Uggs looks pretty ridic. Furthermore, an outfit consisting of a tank top, leggings, and flipflops makes one look quite literally like a fish out of water.

But a long sweater pulled over leggings (past the butt) is, IMO, hot and ‘cozy’-looking. See Kim, not Khloe. Sorry Khlo.

2. Caftans

What’s a caftan? Town & Country Magazine had a whole article on caftans (…don’t ask why I read Town & Country when I live in neither a town nor the country, nor am I the ‘high society’ woman for whom this magazine was intended.) Anyway, caftans are ceremonial robes originally worn by Ottoman emperors (see?) that are meant to go from a day at the beach to a night at a gala. Colorful, glamorous, dramatic, I’d pay to see one of these make an appearance here in Cleveland.

1. Hats

Ooh! Ahh!

UGGHH!

Okay, people don’t wear these kinds of hats in Cleveland. But the truth is, they don’t wear them in NYC either. Or in England on non-wedding days. But who doesn’t love a good hat? Tell me people, why can’t we wear these?

I considered joining the Red Hat Society so I could wear a red hat, but apparently I’m too young. Want to know the poem on which the Red Hat Society is based?

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. …” (read more)

The idea behind the Red Hat Society is to let oneself be ridiculous, in a good way. You know, not take ourselves so seriously. I think that’s all I want out of fashion. Permission to be ridiculous.

I cannot describe how frustrated I am with myself for accidentally deleting ALL of Joe’s graduation photos. I neglected to take photos of our morning brunch, but I had quite a few from the actual graduation (including him receiving his diploma!), the reception afterward, and our celebratory dinner at B-Spot. For now, this slideshow of iphone photos will have to do! Congratulations to an incredibly special man with a heart of gold and a brain of sponge I’m sorry for deleting our wonderful memories

The Frolicking Fells have quite a bit of action coming up over the next few weeks! Here’s what’s going down/coming up:

• 3 finals for Joe (one in-class, two at-home)
• 3 cases for Sheila (one wrapped up today!)
• 3 jobs for Sheila
• Joe wraps up his job
• A job interview for Sheila for a full-time position
• Matt & Holly’s wedding
• Sheila’s family visits!
• Joe’s law school graduation!!
• Doctor’s appt., meetings galore, a nauseous dog, 3 weeks worth of unfolded laundry, and …..a house-mouse. Yes, you read that right.

"Boy oh Boy! I love a good party at the Fells!"

P.S. … Do you like our new header? Recognize the handwriting? Thanks, brudder!

Hosting bridal showers, baby showers, birthday parties, and other celebrations is one of my favorite hobbies. The only thing I dislike about these events is the inevitable exhaustion to follow! Last week’s shower/bachelorette party took a little bit of ingenuity to plan and host (gladly), because the guest of honor is a dear friend of mine with deeply held convictions and passions. As a result, my co-host and I wanted to make the party as tailored to her personality as possible.

We wanted the party to be eco-friendly, nontraditional, and thoughtful. Our menu was mostly vegetarian (with one fish option) and used mostly fresh, organic ingredients and plenty of wine (our guest of honor is a fan!). Instead of lots of silly games, we wanted to have intimate conversation with a few close friends and one film-based game featuring the groom. Our decor and favors used fresh herbs and succulents as well as mood lighting. And instead of a shower based on a pre-made registry, our guests put thought into getting the couple something to use for each time of day with a “Round the Clock” theme.

The Menu:
Wine & Champagne
Rosemary Pineapple Water
Cheese & Crackers
French Onion Gruyere Cups
Tilapia Fish Tacos with Mango, Avocado, and Arugula
Rosemary Skewers with Bocconcini (Mozzarella Balls), Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, & Balsamic Vinegar
Chocolate-Covered Fruit
Vegan Cake Balls (courtesy of Poison Berry Bakery)

From Drop Box

What I’ve been doing with my time lately….

Tomorrow, we’ll coordinate around 50 volunteers to provide 50-100 refugees and their children with free health screenings, essential health care information, and plenty of healthy snacks.

Please say prayers for a smooth, successful, and relationship-building event!

I can’t stand our couches. They’re furry, they’re uncomfortable, they’re purple. But they were a gift from a near-stranger. Here’s the story…

As most of you likely know, Joe and I were next door neighbors from around May 2006-May 2007. We each lived with several roommates in one big gender-and-door-divided house in Cleveland Heights. About halfway through this year, we got engaged. Furniture was the last of our thoughts as we were putting final touches on the wedding plans, but when our landlord found out her two tenants on either side of her house were getting married, she was enchanted and decided on a whim to offer us the two couches she had left behind in the house. We were thrilled.

Then we spent 3.5 years in pain, wrangling around, trying to find a way to keep the cushions on the back of the couch, the fur off the couch, and the support on the neck (there was none). We decided to check out a furniture liquidator store to see if we could find an affordable couch that wouldn’t break the back, or the bank. We should have known it wouldn’t work out when we saw this foreboding sign in the parking lot…

From Drop Box

(Yes, that’s a dead animal and a vulture, in the parking lot of Randall Park Mall, which was once called “The World’s Largest Shopping Center”. Oh, Cleveland, I’m so sorry…)

We noticed that most of the couches that were affordable were essentially just a body, seat cushions, and throw pillows. Seeing as we have 2/3 covered, I embarked on a journey to find affordable throw pillows in various patterns and colors to not only make our couch comfortable, but also to jazz up eclectic our living room design. And whatdya know.. it worked! I found most of the pillows for around $5-7, and we already had a couple on-hand!

Here’s our couch makeover…

Before

From Drop Box

(Please note furriness, lumpiness…)

After

From Drop Box

That’s more my-style, fur-proof, AND more comfortable!

..That’s not to say I won’t be inquiring about a dear friend’s white leather sofas… how I long for freedom from fur!

I realize it’s pretty lame to just post slideshows instead of writing content, but whenever there’s a lot to update about (birthdays, visits with family and friends, holidays, job interviews, etc.), I get overwhelmed and can’t think of what to write. I’ll think of something soon In the meantime…