I ended up having to get gas today, being as I was literally driving on the E. I was kind of surprised walking to the register because I realized I had immediately reached into my wallet, passing up the 5 dollar bill for five 1's. After paying in ones behind a man who payed 136$ I thought about how the cashier must view people. Everyone seems to be showing off their financial status and maybe even their bargaining techniques? 


Oh dollar, how I love thee

     People deal with money so different: perhaps they are the spender, the saver, the splurger. It amazes me how others feel when I compared them to myself. Often I am reminded of two out of my four grandmothers, Grannma Alice and Grannma Mary, who would NEVER -never!- leave loose change on the ground. We picked it up and put it into a collection for our annual vacation to Lake Eufala; I idolized those two ladies and their shopping ways! Times like those made me exactly who I am: a cheapskate who never shops if it isn't on the clearance section and can't leave a penny on the ground, heads up or not. Sometimes I think about all types of people and still find myself reeling: how can people justify paying for lavish items when there are generic brands that are just as good?
     To satisify my nonbelievers, I offer this true analogy: Without question, I can hardly justify paying $15 for a pair of pants, seriously. A month or so ago, I was window shopping at the St. John's Towncenter when I noticed a store Graham had mentioned. I went inside and nearly fainted when I realized they sold blue jeans for over a hundred dollars! (That itself was almost two days worth of work for me, at slightly above minimum wage!)  All of the color drained from my cheeks and I was fixing to walk out of that store, complaint on my lips. Right before I could, the woman behind the counter asked if I was wearing the store's peach- colored jeans (which were displayed at 119 bucks, I might add). In fact, no, I wasn't weird their jeans. I had found mine at another store on clearance for 12$ and they were still able to pass for the namebrand kind. Smug smile on my face, and 12$ jeans on my hips, I left feeling great!
    Power to the cheap shoppers, I love people like YOU!


Said pants on that glorious day my point was proven correct! SPOILER: That is my new love seat I'm sitting on!

"Just come get your money back"

    WEDDINGS.. I had two kinds of advice from people: fight tooth and nail for what YOU want or compromise because ultimately it isn't that important. I think now I am kind of lying somewhere in the middle. I'm okay with that. Yesterday however, I was NOT okay with compromising.
    Mid- January (three months before the wedding) I had still put off getting a wedding dress. This quintessential piece is crucial to a wedding, I can't be convinced otherwise. I knew what I wanted but hadn't found any online or in stores. Total depression. Finally I entered a local wedding shop, took home a magazine and picked out the perfect dress! Two weeks, tops, and it would be mine. So the waiting game began. Finally it was the big day and I called only to discover that my dress wouldn't be in for another week. That was okay because I had ten more weeks. So I called every day, just to be sure that I wouldn't miss it. Irritatingly, no one never had specific wear-abouts about the dress, any ideas about timing and never would call after promising to do so. I know, I know, seems slightly annoying but by now I began to factor in whether or not the seamstress would have time to take in the dress, add sleeves, add a slip and be prepared in time for the wedding.
    Finally, three weeks after ordering the dress, it came in (YAY). As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted with "Hi, the dress came in but I'm returning it." By this point, I was chuckling because she was pulling my leg because of my incessant calls, right? Wrong, so very wrong. The dress had come in white in the back, beige in the front and with dirt caught between the layers. Considering the time waited I was frustrated. So off the dress went and an identical one without the flaws was en route.


So much beauty in one picture.

    This should have been the point where I pulled the plug, I guess. At least seven other people told me about different mishaps from this shop, but I wanted to extend the benefit of the doubt. Well the expectant date for the new dress was another two more weeks, roughtly the final week of February- a mere 7 weeks before the wedding. Then I began calling every two days or so, just to make sure she hadn't forgotten to call me (again). Well finally, finally, the two week mark was up! Another phone call happened like this, " Oh hi. No, no dress. I don't know when. I haven't worked in a few days." Then the owner promised to call me back with information. She never called. I continued calling every day until yesterday. Yesterday was almost the SIX week mark- let me repeat- SIX weeks which was originally supposed to take TWO. This left me with seven weeks before the wedding and first reception. The aloof manner she presented seemed ridiculing and beyond my comprehension- isn't the customer always right?
    So I used Mama to call and demand that my dress gets overnighted or something drastic like that. Yet again, I had no dress, nothing resolved and a promise to return my phone call within 30 minutes. As the 30 minutes rolled past, I was fuming. I mean, I'm being patient, I'm trying to give a fair chance to the store yet no one is trying to do anything to help me! So I called, prepared to demand my money back if the dress wasn't in through the week, only to hear the owner say, " No I haven't heard back from the man. No I don't know when it'll be in. Why don't you just come get your money back?" Floored that she suggest it, I quickly used every ounce of sass I possessed to say that I surely would be getting my money back.
    I picked up my money an hour and a half later, dropped by the other local bridal shop which came with excellent reviews, found the PERFECT dress for half of the price of the other dress, and left with it in my arms. Talk about a relief! :)

Saturday,SundayFunday

    Guess who's back, back, back , back agaiiin? Ugh I am such a nerd. Sidenote for potential readers, you may be interested to know that I have an extremely self- depricating humor. It's kind of awkward because generally that isn't a quality I enjoy for my companions to have, but I find myself making derogatory remarks often enough that I have resolved to stop. So now that you guys know that on to the good stuff!

   My weekend. Oh my glorious weekend. Everyone loves them right? The vast majority of the work force is off, lots of laziness is involved and everyone is in an eerily happy mood. All of these things are cool and all, but I kind of obsess over them for a different reason- MY SWEET ANGEL COMES TO TOWN. That's right, baby boy Graham drives that beloved Camry over the Florida-Georgia line straight on to my heart, every single weekend. This blog, for all those worried, will not be an ode to my favorite boy, but sometimes it is crucial to mention him when explaining! So, anway, my weekend finally arived. I have been tickled pink over my Engagement Party. Little uncouth Lacey had never even heard of an Engagment Party before, so I was pretty honored to be the center of one. Basically it is a gathering of families for both of the engaged prior to the wedding. My sweet Aunt Sharon and Uncle Joey offered to use their home for our shenanigan which we gladly accepted. On the day of the Party, Graham came to Douglas with a small posse of his own: his grandparents, parents, brother and sister- in- law. I was in tow with my own family who, being much bigger, consisted of three Grandmothers, my parents, my three siblings, three cousins, four aunts and three uncles. I had a wonderful time!! I can't express my feelings for our two families accurately- I absolutely couldn't have asked for better people. 

    So Saturday = Success.

    Sunday was toned way down... Anyone been paying attention to the weather lately? It's driving me nuts. It's either freezing cold in the morning only to lead to a stifling midday temperature or raining enough to wash out the dirt roads. (This is a huge deal- I live on a dirt road people! With a Volkswagen!)  But Sunday, the precious Sabbath day, I opened the door to hear  quintessential birds singing and the sun brightly shining. That describes my day to a T: Perfect. Simply began by being with Graham, then attended church, and ended it by watching movies with my  family. I can't think of anything better.

Dear weekend, I can hardly wait for you to return!

Beginner Blogger: Lacey

   Woah! I can hardly believe that I am writing on my own blog!
    This is pretty exciting, and kind of a dream I've had. It spawned from my old Coffee High days when I wrote for the school newspaper- which I thought was an honor. Um, yeah right- hardly anyone would buy the papers, and even then they just wanted get a free Jerry J's biscuit coupon on the back page. I always had to count on Mama and Grandma Marilyn to buy a few to help me reach my quota. And I always did that, so thanks to everyone who gave into my incessant stalking to purchase a .50$ paper to satisfy Ms. Joiner.
 Anyways, as you can see, I can hardly guarantee that it will be anything worth reading, it might end up being filled with constant flashbacks or age old idioms. But, I hope that it will be filled with all kinds of fun, new stories. Hopefully, my life will become cool enough to write about, especially as I embark upon my new journey in Jacksonville... For now my interesting topics primarily consists of wedding shenanigans. Seriously, I almost feel sorry for my friends on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. They constantly see my awesome crafts, cries of outrage and groveling for their addresses.  Almost feel sorry for them, but not quite- because hey, it will only happen once right? Right.
 Speaking of weddings- anyone miss my Wedding Website? You know I gotcha covered!
                             http://uw.theknot.com/view/9110939363212848/33128084
So if anyone chooses to read my blogs, I'll try to tone down my insanity and extend my creativity into fun, relatable ideas. If anyone has any pointers, please let a girl know!

PS- Speaking of my old Journalism days, here is a picture of The Chariot staff! That's me trying to look all cute with my knock- knee'd legs and duck lips. Oh goodness.