Pumpkins are for Halloween and Cinderella

 Pumpkin, pumpkins, pumpkins.

I wonder how many pumpkins are uneaten and wasted every year to the craft of pumpkin carving and Halloween.

Well we are such a family that fully participates in the wasteful slashing of pumpkins. And we love it. 

Grandma and I were the ones who did most of the carving - which was probably a good idea so that no children were slashed in the process.

And then Grandpa helped Preston draw a face on his little pumpkin that he picked out from the pumpkin patch.

It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we lit the pumpkins up and let them smile at us all evening long while we sipped on spiced cider and ate pumpkin cookies.

Speaking of pumpkins, I got to feel a little bit like Cinderella this past weekend.  But it wasn't all good.

It started off with my stylist asking me to send her a photo of me in my dress that I picked out for the HMMA's with the necklace, shoes, and clutch that she accessorized with it.  So I showered and did my hair curly, put makeup on, and then took a picture.  

This was it...

To put it mildly, I hated it. 

Even though I had tried the dress on several times before, I had never actually seen myself in it through the eyes of a photo.  I have been working really hard to lose my pregnancy weight and I've lost almost 50 pounds since Taylor was born.  I have been feeling a lot more confident about myself lately.  Granted, some of that weight was "baby weight" (Taylor included), and I still have a long ways to go to get to where I would like to be.  But I am down to the lowest weight I've been at in 3 years (since Preston was born).

However, seeing myself in that dress made me feel awful.  I felt like I looked huge, and I don't really see myself that way.  So I sent the photo to one of my closest friends, and she even wrote back (in the nicest most tactful possible...IF that is even possible to do) that the dress sort of hugged me in the wrong spots and probably made me look bigger than I actually was.

So yes I cried a little bit, but I appreciated her honesty.  And then decided there was no way I could wear the dress on the red carpet and feel comfortable about myself.

So yesterday, my mom indulged me for the entire day and went shopping with me. We returned the black dress to Nordstrom, and then spent the entire rest of the day perusing every possible dress shop from Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, JCPenny's, Macy's, and more.

I must have literally tried on at least 50 dresses.  

The nice thing was I was able to easily fit into smaller sizes, which was nice.  But the not-so-nice thing was I was still way too curvy and big for 90% of the dresses in the stores.  Most of which were all pencil-shaped and skin tight.  This red one is an example of that....

So finally we ended up at a different Nordstrom's and found an ample variety of dresses that might work.  This blue one above was one of our top choices, though I must say it looks awful in that photo. The dress actually did look very nice. My mom said it was actually the best one I had tried on all day.  But the angle and lighting in that photo doesn't do it justice at all. And you'll have to forgive my bad Photoshop job to try and cover my cleavage and G's.  I would need to get the bustline slightly altered so I'm not showing the world my stuff.

Anyway, eventually, when I do figure out which dress to wear I'll take a better photo in it.  I picked out two final ones that are being shipped to my house, and then I'll make a decision and then return the other one.

All in all though, it was a fun day shopping with my mom with no kids and no curfew of when we had to be home. It was very freeing.:)  The only thing not freeing was Neiman Marcus.  That store was jaw dropping amazing, but expensive.  Couture - expensive.  But it was fun to go inside and look around.

It was fun to be Cinderella for the day. :) Although I didn't get to ride away in a pumpkin carriage. Instead it was a Kia sedan. AND I came home to find the kitchen completely cleaned and spotless, the jacko-lanterns sitting on the table all lit and staring at me, and the spiced cider on the stovetop all warm and smelling good.  Will and also organized our tupperware lid drawer, changed the boys sheets on their beds, and gone through Taylor's clothing in and organized sizes.  I was very impressed. What great boys I have :)