Hurray! I got my package from Diene today! Diene, you did a fantastic job of selecting plants I don't have. Lavender made the whole box smell delicious. 2 different sedums that I do not have will go in my sedum bed. Yarrow-perfect for cutting. Astilbe for the shade garden. Golden Bleeding Heart- I love it! I also received a lovely natural sand dollar and snail shell, a wind chime and a terrapin as well as seeds for crocosmia, bachelors buttons and stocks. The terrapin is going in the vegetable garden where the living prototype is eating my tomatoes. Maybe they will think the area is too crowded and move on? Vela, I am glad you liked your box. You have been a great hostess! I won't be participating in the next round. I am busy with the wedding, and there is not much in the garden right now that I would feel comfortable digging up; too hot and too mature. With the water restrictions we have been placed under, it is really hard to keep everything going. I will be peeking in now and then to see what everyone receives and how things are going. Late July, early August is a great time to divide iris and daylilies. Hopefully one of you will host a swap then. I have lots of those I need to divide and obligating yourself to a swap is a great motivator. Some photos from this morning: Fuchsia Koralle Shasta Daisy Sunny Side Up a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"> Pentas, Grafitti Pink Morning Glory, Flying Saucers

I think you need a pop of color somewhere within the look. If everything matches, it just blends entirely too much, including matching close to the skin if you do not have a darker complexion. I'd put the color either in the clutch (though you won't be carrying that every moment) or the earrings - a drop down earring with a bolder stone that will get noticed, but not too large. Just my two cents. If you do it right, you can even do a color pop in both, if they are similar in color.

I would hardly think that the happy folks at that wedding give a hoot about what others think, so titter away although some folks who did wear strapless at 61 might feel a little sad hearing it was gauche . . . I would laugh off such thoughts. I've been counterculture my whole life. My wedding dress was nice but ended up being a tad unflattering. I let it go. I had a blast that day. The worst faux paus at our wedding was we ran out of wine. We had no idea our friends were such winos! We ended up with almost a case of beer left . . . also the buffet servers packed up the leftovers pronto for taking them home themselves, leaving a few folks who wanted seconds unsatisfied . . . that was weirdly unexpected. Our volunteer sound person was kind of off the ball, he didn't utilize well the five hours of songs hubs downloaded. Also our volunteer wedding photographer was a no show. We got by with employing some last minute requests for friends to take some extra shots and share. I was disappointed in the table centerpieces, but finding something affordable was a challenge. We wanted mums but even though they were everywhere a couple of weeks prior, we had to settle for some rather sickly looking celosia. We went to a produce market right before the wedding to save money.

In my mind, black is for a more formal wedding. I like that first dress you show but I don't think the next one looks too small, in fact I think it shows your waist off more. Unless it pulls across the hips and it doesn't appear to. So I might order it in a smaller size. But, depending on time of day and what color the wedding party will wear, I'm still on the fence. For a spring wedding I am seeing a pretty color instead of black. I also think as we get older, black can be a bit harsh against the face. Hmmm strappy silver shoes would look good with that dress though!! Do you know when other son's wedding is (month?)