Grown up sleep

As you know, the bed bugs ruined our old bed. It had been Brian's bed since he finished college. He was sad to see it go. And I was sad because he was sad. But we were *both* sad because, with it gone and our bedroom infested, we had to sleep here:


Some of you have had the privilege of sleeping in our guest room/library/storage space. If you have, you'll recognize what has been our bedroom for the last two-plus months. The bed has been with me since *I* finished college and while it was perfect for single me and okay for guests visiting for one or two nights, it is not so awesome for me and my 6'3" husband. Certainly not for 60+ consecutive nights.

Imagine our happiness, then, to have this delivered today:


Nice, huh? Just wait until you see it dressed! Thanks to the many C&B and Macy's gift cards we received for the wedding - and the flexibility of credit cards - we were able to purchase a very fancy bed (from C&B) - you might not be able to tell, but that's a leather panel inset in the headboard - and a super luxurious mattress (from Macy's).

And thanks to those who bought us the bedding on our registry, our bedroom is now quite grown up. Witness:


Sweet dreams, all!

MOH fashion advice

As most of you know, Maggie is getting married soon and I am the MATRON (!) of honor. The wedding is happening HERE (indoors) on a Saturday evening in November.

I am starting to shop for my shoes and could use your help. My dress - each BM is wearing a different dress - is this beauty from Bill Levkoff (in case you can't tell, it is navy, not black):


I originally hoped to wear something along the lines of an emerald green satin shoe, but I cannot seem to find one in my size that is the shade of green I was hoping for. So, I have rethought my options and have decided that I can be happy with one of the following four options. But, of course, I want to know what YOU think!

Option #1Option #2
Option #3
Option #4Sorry the sizes are so off; most days I don't have the patience to play around with formatting here. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Skeptical

I am always amazed when things work the way someone says they would. Not normal everyday things, mind you. I mean, I'm not amazed when my car starts or when hand soap gets the dry erase marker smudges off my hands, but when someone shares a less than well-known use for something and swears that it works...well, I'm a little skeptical.

Brian and I have tried every bathroom cleaner in the store in our attempt to combat the mildew buildup in the corners of our shower (you know, the place where the bathtub edge meets the tile wall). Nothing has worked. Last night, my latest issue of Real Simple offered another option. A reader suggested that you can soak cotton balls in bleach and wedge them into the aforementioned corners for an hour. She swore that this removed the mildew completely. I told Brian, but cautioned that it might just lighten the mildew as other chemical cleaners have done.

This morning while I was running errands, Brian put this new method to the test. I couldn't believe what I saw - clean white grout where mildew had once been. Thank you, lady from Lindenhurst, IL, for sharing this wonderful cleaning tip. Who'd have known?