This post is about Monique Lhuillier’s Bliss collection but I have to talk about life as a new mom first. Also, baby pics :)
So. I’ve been raising this infant I made for a total of eight weeks now, and it’s been interesting. Well not interesting. My days consist of feeding, burping, holding and putting to bed a ten pound lump of flesh formed by bringing my bowels to a halt for ten months. (I was so constipated I could barely walk.) And because of the sleep deprivation I feel weirdly high at all times but not in a good ‘I’m floating’ way, in a ‘I shouldn’t be driving right now’ way. But I love her, I do. So much. So much it hurts. It HURTS. how much I love her. (And this coming from someone who never really planned on having children.) If you’re a parent or were like really instrumental in raising your younger sibling cause your parents weren’t around much (it happens) then you know what I mean. There’s really nothing like those little moments with your tiny. Like her first ‘social smile’. Or those first coos. Or when she finally falls asleep in your arms so you can put her the fuck down and get some work done. Really it’s amazing.
A couple of pics of my cheeky little Miss O to start things off…
Fact is, I’m still putting together my birth story for the blog. Which is taking me forever I think because I have a touch of the PTSD following the experience. No bueno! STILL I’m committed to finishing it tho because I need to be able to review all the horrific details whenever I start to feel pangs of wanting another. Gonna share pics of the little munchkin on this blog as she grows, in addition to the typical wedding related stuff, assuming you guys are into it…..I posted her huge feet on my Instagram recently so that’s a start…..I also still have to post a post about what I packed in my hospital bag and what I actually ended up using (MAJOR research went into it so I’m thinking it could be helpful to future moms), plus the other little-discussed real life stuff related to mommyhood and pregnancy. Like breastfeeding (HUGE SIGH). And what pregnancy is *really* like — not the stuff you read on Baby Center or the stuff you hear from your mom who wants you to procreate and so lies to you about how great it all is — the REAL stuff. For example hemorrhoids. Constipation. Stretch marks. How your relationship changes in certain ways. Weight gain. How if you want to have sex you physically cannot at a certain point, and that’s assuming you even want it. I’d also like to get into which of my fears about pregnancy were valid and which ones were totally ridiculous. (Very few were ridiculous I’m sad to report.) Also also- I wanna blog about all the shit that helped me get through my pregnancy more comfortably. Like drinking a cup of water with Innate Response’s Magnesium 300 powder mixed into it, every day. Probably would have taken a total of two shits over a nine month period had I not added that drink to my diet. It was a really intense nine months you guys. Real real intense. Also prenatal yoga was esssssennnnntiallllll. Is there anything in particular you’d like me to discuss? No shame in this game.
Where was I?
Oh yes, wedding dresses right…
Growing up (will get to the dresses shortly, I promise this has to do with the dresses) we lived on a bit of a hilly incline, seen here sort of:
{tulip planter from home goods, fyi}
and the two houses to our left sat a bit lower down on the hill. This meant two things; that everyone came to our house to go sledding in the winter, and that thanks to sound traveling upwards me and my brother could hear literally every private conversation our neighbors ever had if they were outdoors, whether we wanted to or not. (obviously we wanted to, who wouldn’t want to)
So one day when we were sitting on the back porch, I remember overhearing something kinda sad. Our neighbors were talking about their daughter’s upcoming nuptials. They discussed having to remortgage their home to finance their eldest daughter’s wedding.
Which is so STUPID. Don’t do that.
But yeah so they did that. And they were feeling the fallout and it’s all a pretty big downer so I won’t dwell. Peeps have gotta get in their heads that a fantastically expensive wedding is totally cool and dope but *only* when you have the money to blow on it. Otherwise you’re asking for a huge headache financially, emotionally and relationship-ly. For what? For the best goddamned party you’ve ever been to in your life? Ok actually now I get it.
I feel you, big spenders. That sounds awesome.
But still don’t do it. Not because you shouldn’t… but because you don’t HAVE TO. Take wedding dresses for example. You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg even when great style and quality are paramount, not when there are new bridal collections falling from the clouds (like they literally look and feel as if made from clouds) created by fabulous designers that don’t cost near what you’d expect those designers to charge you.
Take Monique Lhuillier‘s (takes me 100 times to spell that name every time) Spring 2015 Bliss collection, which I was invited to experience and really enjoyed, on a visual and financial level (they range in price between $1200 and $4500). These dresses are so bomb. I want to be buried in one of these dresses. I want a miniature one of them made for my cheeky cheeks so she can crawl down the aisle with me and we can look like a scene straight out of the Real Housewives (it just feels like something the housewives would do).
Below are the pics I was able to take before I fainted from how much I loved the pics I was taking, mixed in with the professional pics from Lhuillier. Obvs the pics I took aren’t NEARLY as good as the professional ones but I figured I’d share them so you could get an idea of how the dresses wear in person and not on a photo shoot. I’ve added style numbers for reference if you wanna get yoself one of these babies..
I don’t remember what she was saying here but I think it was “and this is my favorite part..wait, no THIS is my favorite part.. no, THIS..” or at least that’s what I was thinking when I was listening to her..
By the way, she makes dazzling jewelry, too. It’s kind of great. I tried on every ring all at once and it was a bad look but I think individually they’d look phenom..
And the rest are below, because I didn’t have the heart to force the models to try on each and every single dress…
Any favorite dresses?
And for all the moms out there: OMIGOD THIS WHOLE CHILD RAISING THING IS INSANE. How’s it going for you? Any tips?? I could use them right now.
xo, Alison