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This weekend, I went to Columbia, home to my alma mater, to visit friends and help my friend Squish narrow down her wedding dress options. I woke up Saturday morning (in Kansas City) at the time I said I�d be arriving (in Columbia), so I called Squish to let her know and she said we�d just skip going out for lunch and just head straight to the bridal shop. I hope she trusts that I will show up on time for her wedding since I have a lot of Very Important Duties.

I arrived in town around 1:00 p.m., met one of Squish�s bridesmaids (who is about 5�0� and might weigh 100 pounds), and we headed over to the shop. It turns out that this particular bridesmaid does alterations at the shop as her part-time job, so Squish was adamant about getting her dress and all of our dresses there. She tried on four dresses and decided on one that she liked best for her parents to see later on in the week. I thought she�d either be really indecisive or a really controlling Bridezilla, but she was just a robot of unstoppable efficiency. She knew exactly what she was looking for and tried on all four dresses that met those standards, and the only reason she even cares which one she buys is the (significant) difference in prices. So, one Major Wedding Thing down, many more to go.

We chose a few bridesmaid dresses and I was very adamant about what I would not wear: no strapless, no spaghetti straps, no tea length, no cap sleeves, and nothing that would require investing a lot of money in strapless bras, such as weird off-the-shoulder designs. We narrowed the field down to three options that come in many colors, and all were two-piece dresses with sleeveless, wide-strapped tops and floor-length, full skirts. I�m still concerned about finding a manufacturer that will accommodate the range in sizes � the Shopgirl bridesmaid probably wears a size 2 or maybe even children�s sizes in some things, and I am the exact opposite of her body type. (I�ll even say the PS words: I am Plus Sized.) Shopgirl also pointed this out to me no less than a dozen times, and the last time, I just said �Really? Because you hadn�t mentioned that and here I was just thinking we could all order the same size. I had NO IDEA that I am at least FOUR TIMES bigger than you are.� But Thin Girl Superiority aside, we don�t have to order our dresses until July so I have several more months to work on getting into shape and losing the 50 pounds I committed to losing (as in forgetting completely, with no reunions) this year.

The whole process was very annoying. For one, if you are not a perfect size six, the wedding dress experience would have to be completely depressing. If I get to have a wedding, I plan on buying something off the rack at David�s Bridal or a store that actually carries dresses in more than one size, where I can get an idea of what my body will look like in it. Second, only Shopgirl lives in the same town as Squish right now � and so requiring us all to buy our dresses at Shopgirl�s store means all of us having to come in and get measured and then subsequent visits to pick them up and get them altered (we�re all 5�3� or shorter). Apparently, the Shop won�t accept anyone else�s measurements, and they will not ship the dresses to anyone. Also, the three styles Squish settled on were all in the $200 range. Now, Shopgirl and Squish�s cousin are both students and the other bridesmaid and I are both right out of school and barely keeping our heads above water. And Squish is a graduate student her own self. I am thrilled to be able to do this for Squish, but her parents are millionaires and I am no longer on the dole from my non-millionaire parents, so I think her sense of Affordable is sometimes skewed. She e-mailed us all yesterday and said she�d probably buy one dress and one pair of shoes and let the other three of us (not Shopgirl � she gets her stuff practically at cost) split the cost of two ensembles. Awesome! I am still kind of cringing at the thought of shelling out cash for gifts, hotel room, wedding attire, rehearsal dinner attire, showers, parties, etc., but I love sweet little Squish and want to do what I can to make it a special weekend for her and her fiance. I just had to vent about that a little bit.

Anyway, we went out to my favorite bar in Columbia that night and I was amazed at how quickly I�d forgotten what living in a college town is like. It�s so cheap to go out! The cover was $3 for the crappy band that was playing and pitchers of Miller Lite were $4. Our final tab for six people, five of whom were quite tanked, was $50 plus tips. I miss that. I ended up drunk-dialing T�s voicemail about a dozen times throughout the course of the evening, which he is still teasing me about now. Oops.

I came back yesterday afternoon and stopped at a crappy outlet mall to check out the Gap store, where I bought two short-sleeve t-shirts and a � sleeve shirt on sale, and I got six sports bras and two pairs of running shorts on sale at the Reebok outlet. I am finally going to throw out all my worn-out college sports bras and start anew. I still have to wear two at a time, but at least they are new (and more likely to do their job) and they are pretty. So, I have no excuses for not working out � I got several Pilates and yoga DVDs from Netflix over the weekend, so I�m going to test them out and buy the ones I really really like. Hot Male Yoga is shipping to me tomorrow, and The BGK and I have a bet going on whether the target audience is straight girls or gay boys.

Tonight, T is coming over to watch the Tivo�d Apprentice from last week and I�m making teriyaki steak and�something to go with that for dinner. I haven�t seen him in a few days and I�m really looking forward to just hanging out with him tonight. He�s going on a three-week trip in April (a week to hang out with his brother who is studying in France and then traveling with his mom to spend two weeks in Nigeria) and I have to find something to occupy my time while he�s away because I know I�ll miss him terribly. I�m also really excited for him � he hasn�t been to Nigeria in ten years, and I know he�ll have fun being there with his mom. It kind of makes me want to plan some international travels of my own. Now if somebody would just give me a big box of money...