forced to shop

I recently went home to the States for a few weddings. The first wedding was for one of my best friends from college, Rachel, and the other one was for my sister in-law, Autumn. They were both beautiful, full of love, and special in their own ways. 

I was SO excited to get back to "B'ham" (aka Birmingham) for several reasons: good eatin', great friends, and fun times. Some of my college besties would be there and I could hardly contain my excitement! We would be reunited once again since my wedding in July. It had been WAY too long. My time with them was everything I thought it would be...a BLAST! However, a lot of our down time together was spent shopping. That may not sound too bad, but I was shopping because the airline lost my baggage on my way to the US!!! Airlines have lost my baggage before, but usually it's just put on the next flight. This time they had no clue where my bag was, what country it was in, or when it'd get to me...that was concerning. I usually don't stress too much about lost baggage because in my previous experiences, it has gotten to me later that night. But this bag in particular had some very important items in it, including my bridesmaid's dress!! So I was definitely sweatin' it out there for a bit.

I know, I know. Everyone reading this is probably thinking, "you dummy, you should know to pack important things in your carry-on". I know... lesson learned. I guess I am too trusting of airlines. NEVER again will I be without toiletries, some basic make-up, and important clothing in my carry-on. Luckily I had my trusty friend Laura with me who is the bargain shopping queen and we found some AWESOME deals at TJ Maxx and various other places to fully clothe me for all of the wedding festivities for the weekend. We were even able to find another bridesmaid's dress for $10 on clearance at Belk!! That was insane. I thought I'd have to spend like $200 on a new bridesmaid's dress but we really lucked out. Laura got a matching dress since she was the maid of honor and I was the matron of honor (I know, that sounds old but I've accepted it). That way, if she and I matched it wouldn't be THAT weird if our dresses were different than everyone else's. Long story short: my bag arrived at the church on SATURDAY morning. I then presented my dress and shoe options to Rachel who ended up picking the $10 dress anyways! Problem averted... but not without some stress and shopping!

Here's our adorable $10.89 dress:

Luckily there were no more baggage problems for the rest of my flights which surprised me because Kirk and I had a layover in Paris... home of the most inefficient airport EVER. That's where they lost my bag on the way over and I was pretty much expecting it to happen again. I packed my carry-on accordingly with extra underwear, toiletries, clothes, and shoes... JUST in case. But, in the midst of their inefficiency.... they got my bag to Germany. Way to go, France... your people were rude to us but you didn't lose my bag this time. 

I will leave you with an example of the rudeness of one of  France's finest citizens. During our layover in Paris, we had to get on a bus that would take us to the proper terminal. We were literally packed in the bus like sardines. We were all up in each other's space, embracing each other's odors and trying to find something besides the person next to us, to hold on to. The thing that irked me most besides the uncomfortable bus ride was the fine Frenchman. Kirk and I were standing in the middle of the bus, pressed up against everyone else, and I was practically sitting on this Frenchman's lap who was sitting in an aisle seat. The window seat next to him was empty. It was empty. Despite the dozens of women and children standing, he refused to scoot over and offer someone the empty seat next to him. He was purposely sitting in the aisle seat so no one could get to the empty window seat. Big jerk. I was thinking, "what if I were like 8 months pregnant right now, would he offer it to me then?!" Probably not. Every time the bus turned (and I basically fell on him), he had an opportunity to scoot over and let someone (preferably me) sit next to him. But no, he held his ground and allowed my bag and body to hit him with every twist and turn. "Fine" I thought. "If you're not annoyed with my huge shoulder bag hitting you then I don't care either, because this problem would be fixed if only you'd SCOOT OVER!!" If only every man were a gentleman like my husband. :)

-MB