Snow, snow go away, come again....never!

UGGG!! I am so tired of snow. I hate snow in the first place, but throw some in at the end of March and my frustration turns to disdain! Seriously, it is spring, it is almost April and there is snow on the ground. What is that?!?!?!?! I am getting my house all cleaned out, I guess you could call it spring cleaning. But I'm not sure if you can call it that since it seems to be February outside still!!! Arg, I am really getting annoyed and if it snows again in the near future...I will...well I don't know. I guess I will keep complaining or something. I just wish it would go away, I want flowers and green grass and trees and sunshine!

You said yes to him, now it is time to say yes to the dress!

While growing up most girls dream about their wedding day, and more importantly their wedding dress. When they finally meet the man of their dreams, or just a man in general, it is time to live out those plans. Of course your opinions and styles have probably changed since Ken and Barbie had their white wedding with a pink Corvette. So you set out on a journey to find that perfect dress with friends and family in tote. Armed with pictures and ideas of the ideal gown, you enter that wonderful wilderness of white!

Ball Gowns, A-Line, Mermaid, Empire or Column, so many choices out there. I have to admit that my job as a bridal consultant is heaven on earth for me. But there are those occasional moments in any job that make you take a step back and wonder why. Wedding dresses are usually made in China and the sizes are measured by their standards. What is a typical 12 in our country is a whale of a female to them. Which honestly is a shame, you think designers would do it the other way around. On Saturday it is really busy at the shop, brides, prom dresses, bridesmaids and banquet dresses are flying all around the shop. A bride enters with her Aunt and Uncle and I am her consultant. Some brides have never tried on dresses before and need to be walked through cuts and styles and every little detail that pertains to a wedding dress. Then you get the ones, like mine, who have tried on dresses a lot. They know what they want and know where to find it.

I hunt down my brides amongst all the plastic dresses bags in the "2" section. She hands me enough dresses to make a couple of trips to her dressing room. And finally I slip her into the room and allow her Aunt to help her get the gowns on. The door opens and she comes out in a $650 dollar dress. It looks amazing on her and we place her on the stage surrounded in mirrors. Now a few minutes into staring at herself her Aunt pipes up and asks the price of the lace covered mermaid dress. I inform her of this price and see her mouth hit the floor. Come one, wedding dresses are expensive, come to terms with that lady! The beads are hand sown, the lace is hand sown on and buttons and pearls take hours to get just right. So she hurries her niece into the dressing room again and closes the door. After a rather long wait I knock on the door to make sure everything is alright with my bride. The door swings open and the, oh so honest Aunt asks in a very stern voice. "We are on a very strict budget right now, and none of these dresses have prices on them."

Well we go over some dresses and I point out to her the reasons for the prices on the dresses. I also ask her what her budget might be for this dress, "$300 to $400 dollars, and no higher. But we don't want something too plain." Well I hated to break it to her that the price range she was in, plain and simple was the only way to go. I break out my handy little wedding magazine and show her some of the cheaper dresses. After I fetch the two dresses for her that were of somewhat "O.K." quality she throws them on. They take two looks in the mirror, get back into the dressing room and the brides gets her clothes back on. The Aunt throws open the door, "Your dresses are ugly and too expensive!" and stomps out the door. All the while dragging her niece by the arm as if she were some rag doll that just happen to follow her around. These are the occasions that make my job a little bit on the difficult side. :)

Oh well, my job is amazing and I love it more than anything. But it is a little bit stressful from time to time!

Our little household...

I was thinking it was time for a little Campbell House update or something along those lines. Right now Jon and I are still living in Orem, Utah. We still have Zoe on Wednesdays and every other weekend. Luckily we get along great with Jon's ex-wife and if we have something planned another night we can call her up and have Zoe for the evening.

Zoe is in third grade and is loving it a lot! She is in the Chess club on Wednesday mornings, yes ladies and gents...the chess club at 8 years old. She takes after her dad a lot her mom and I joke! She has a lot of friends and one particular friend we are trying to ween her off of. A boy at her school that she spends a lot of time with at lunch and recess. We don't want to make *that* big of a deal of it, but we are working on pushing her to spend time with girls more. She just finished basketball and is looking to sign up for guitar lessons soon. This coming weekend she is going to her cousins baptism in Wyoming. Her Grandmother is giving her the hamster she has in the children's library she works at. She couldn't be more excited of course!

Jon is currently still working in the IT department at Maverick. He is enjoying the fact that he doesn't have a lot of responsibility right now. And working from home is also a big plus for him since he has treatment Monday, Wednesday and Fridays now. He also was told he might be approved for a new clinical trial coming up. Apparently this strain of rabies goes directly to the brain and attacks the tumors. So he is waiting to hear about that and hopefully will start that soon. He is also speaking to Franklin Covey again, they have not hired for his old position. So his old boss really would like him to come back. He is thinking of doing both jobs, since he can work from home. He is still working on our contract negotiations for our client in DC. Hopefully we can get that up and running in June or July. He still isn't sure if he will remain at either company after the contract starts. Otherwise he is enjoying Rock Band at home on the XBox360 and spending time with Zoe and I.

Me, well me... I got the job at the bridal salon and today was my first day. I loved every minute of it. The only down side is not used to being on my feet all day long. I am sure it will take some time, but I will get into the groove soon. I helped a lot of people today and some of the employees asked me if I had been working there for a long time. When I explained that today was my first day they said they were shocked because I looked like I knew everything that was going on. That was really nice and made my day even better. I do miss being at home already, but enjoy having a life outside my front door. I have been looking and planning trips for this summer to Paris and Switzerland. Hopefully our contract doesn't take too long to nail down and we can head out. I still am enjoying being a mom to a deaf cat, although he doesn't seem to understand what it means when we squirt water at him while he is attacking the fish tank. I was sure after a year or so he would get it, but nope. I guess instinct is thicker than water...or something. I am also spending a lot of time working on getting into shape. I have lost a total of 12 pounds so far and I feel pretty good. I have 43 pounds left to go for my goal weight. I have a blog for that too if you feel like checking up on me. Just click on my profile and you will see my "Fatty to Fabulous" blog.

All in all our life here is good old Orem is great. It will be that much better when we get our house built in Springville so we can be that much closer to Zoe. I hope this post finds everyone else in great spirits!!!

Barbie Dolls and Wedding Dresses!!!!!!!

A while back I went to Allyse's Bridal with Traci for her wedding dress. It was really busy that day and the woman helping us had a few ladies to help also. So I sort of took over and helped Traci with the dress and the corset, jewelry and veil. The woman thanked me for helping and jokingly offered me a job. Now a few months later I went to a friends baby shower and she was there also. We talked for a few minutes and again she sort of jokingly offered me a job.

So I applied there this past month and went in for an interview on Saturday. The same person I have spoken to the last two times was the same person who interviewed me. We talked and after everything I said she clapped and cheered. Which I obviously took for a good sign. She kept telling me that she was excited and everything I said was exactly what she wanted to hear. So as I left she said that she was excited to have talked to me and that she would call me on Monday. Well Saturday night I got a phone call from her. She informed me that she was at home and was too excited to wait until Monday to call me. She offered me the job and said that she was very much looking forward to having me on her team.

So my new job is dressing up woman all day long in wedding dresses. What job could be better for me than that! So if you happen to be getting married any time soon and still need a dress, call me! Come see me!!! :) YAY!