End of Vacation, Beginning of the No Coke Challenge

They say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, right? So giving me three weeks of vacation is just enough time for me to get used to sleeping til 7, lounging in my PJs til 8, and then have the freedom to spend time with my dog or shop or wreak havoc on my house or whatever it is the day calls for... Well, my 3 weeks were up today. It was back to the daily grind. But first...
 
Bridesmaids Dresses, Check!
Yesterday was a great way to end my winter break from work... I was able to round up 3 out of my 4 girls, the flower girl, and my mom, and off to purchase dresses we went! We were originally going to buy these dresses like, a month ago, but I figured I should probably let everyone recoup from Christmas before making them put more money out. 

We began the day by going to Downtown LA's Santee Alley, where there is supposed to be some good shopping. I had never been before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We did manage to find a little flower girl dress for Brooklyn, the 2 and a half year old daughter of my bridesmaid Brigitte. It looks very similar to this one:

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Brooklyn's dress is ivory and the we got her a little latte colored sash with a cute little bow in the back (so ignore the red!) She's so cute- she has these big blue eyes and these pretty little blond ringlets... Super Cute!

Next, we had lunch together and I remarked that I think I am addicted to diet Coke... which I really do believe.  It's horrible, but sometimes, I crave it. Or if I feel dehydrated, I'm like, what water?? Give me my diet coke! I had about 4 glasses. Our poor waiter. We'll get back to more of this in a minute though...

After lunch, we headed back to David's Bridal to order the dress Rachael and Alexis were able to try on before. Brigitte is 5 months along and definitely showing, but we had her try on a dress in the size she thinks will work for her. (Her due date is May 19 and the wedding is June 11th... and Brooklyn was 9 days late... we're calling it close!) It was still a little big on her, but we all decided it's better to be too big than too small... plus she's not done growing yet! She looked great in the dress, as do the rest of my girls, so I know they'll look so beautiful on the big day!

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The dress to the right is the one the girls will be wearing. Perfect for all shapes and sizes, including post-pregnancy tummies! We got a really good deal price-wise too, so it was a good score all around! The color I chose is called "latte" and it's actually what's being shown in the picture. And then instead of the belt that is on the dress, we're going to cover it with an ivory colored sash. So the girls will actually be opposite of little Brooklyn and her sash! It should be really cute! I don't want a brown wedding, but I do want the main color to be neutral so that other colors (like the flowers) will pop.

Enough wedding talk for now! 

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We took Kevin to the dog park today after work. I feel guilty leaving him and going back to work. :( The park is up on a hill and it was super windy, but we still had fun! Here are some candid shots of Kevin (who is now asleep on the couch!)...

Kevin made a friend named Schlomo

Check out those ears- he's like Dumbo!

My favorite shot of the day!

And this is his current state:

Tired puppies are A-okay in my book!

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The No Coke Challenge

On Saturday night, Brian says, "Starting Monday, I'm not going to drink any soda." I asked, "Not even diet?" (Which is the only soda we keep in the house anyway.) And he agrees that no, that's not healthy for you either. So it's on. For a month. We'll see if we can keep it going from there. Like I said earlier, Diet Coke is number one vice, so I filled up on some DC at lunch, and then I had a healthy dose of some at dinner. And that's all for now, I guess...

Except I almost forgot today at work! Apparently I have some short term memory problems... The school and Domino's fed us at lunch so I grabbed my pizza and some salad and found my seat. Then I noticed a six foot tall glorious stack of 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke, so I decided I should go poor myself some. Just as I stood up, the volleyball coach was walking back with 2 bottles of water and he says, "Here Kristen, do you want some water?" 

Faculty lunch... with water... and my zebra-print clipboard! And see those notes?? PE teachers DO actually work!

 Now, this seems very out of character for him, so I'm sure he must have picked up an extra one by mistake... that can happen, right? But whatever the reason, at the instant I replied, "Yeah, sure, thank you!" I was like- oh yeah, I'm not supposed to be drinking soda anyway. 

So day 1 is in the books, just water and some green tea today. It's not so bad...

;-)