Happy first day of spring, my friends! As many of you know, I am fond of making seasonal to do lists. Here is mine for spring 2012 (March 20-June 20).

Photos left to right: Flower Magazine // Hutker Architects // Kate Murphy // Cat Thrasher via Style Me Pretty

What’s on your spring to do list?

P.S. Summer 2011 and fall 2011

Y’all, we still don’t have bridesmaid dresses. It’s true – more about that saga soon. In the meantime, though, let’s talk about mother of the bride fashion.

Can we talk about how much I love my Mom for a minute? I love her. A lot. I am so thankful for the relationship we have, and so happy that she will be at my wedding. I don’t often stop and give thanks for something as “simple” as having my Mom at my wedding, but I know that there are girls out there that would give anything to have their Moms by their side on that special day, and can’t for some reason or another. But I can, and so I will be thankful.

But on to fashion! My Mom will be visiting in a few weeks, and we’re planning to go look for dress options together. I thought I’d get the wheels turning ahead of time, and here’s what I turned up in my search:

These first three options are all classic, flattering black. Though the models are not MOB age, I think these styles are all “appropriate” while still being “youthful.” Those descriptions sound ridiculous, but you know what I mean! From left to right we have a silk one-shoulder column gown from Banana Republic ($250), a silk chiffon empire waist gown by Robert Rodriguez from Rent the Runway (rents for $100), and a black crepe one-shoulder gown with pleated a-line skirt by Halston Heritage from Rent the Runway (rents for $125).

I think my Mom looks great in navy, so I’m loving these choices! From left to right, we have a chiffon gown with ruched bodice by Robert Rodriguez from Rent the Runway (rents for $100 – same as above, just different color!), soft trumpet skirt gown from Nordstrom ($194), and one shoulder ruffle gown in navy crepe by Carmen Marc Valvo from Rent the Runway (rents for $125).

Finally, from left to right, we have a navy jersey ruched gown by Badgley Mischka from Rent the Runway (rents for $100), a plum chiffon wrapped gown by Diane von Furstenburg from Rent the Runway (rents for $100), and a jersey gown with crisscross bodice from Nordstrom ($168).

You’ll notice that I included several Rent the Runway dresses in my finds. I’ve never personally used them before, though a good friend has. I just can’t help thinking that it makes a lot of sense to rent a dress, especially for a highly-photographed event like a wedding. My Mom is not likely to wear the same dress to my younger sister’s wedding as she did to mine, and other than that, she doesn’t attend a lot of black tie events.

What do you gals think — would you rent a dress for a formal event? Have you used Rent the Runway before? Any other sources for MOB dresses you can recommend? Which one of the above options is your favorite?

P.S. My apologies if the RTR links in this post don’t work! I think you might have to be signed into your account to be taken to the exact dress. If you don’t have an account but would like one, you can sign up with my link here!

I really adore fine china, and I always assumed we’d register for it. And now we have! We didn’t go the traditional route, though, and opt for all one pattern, but instead have mixed and matched between a few. Since several of the patterns aren’t available at my local Macy’s, I decided to order one of each piece to make sure they all looked good together. And then I had fun playing :)

Here’s the breakdown of what we’re registering for:
— 12 “Staccato” dinner plates from Crate & Barrel (not technically fine china!)
— 12 four-piece place settings (dinner plate, salad plate, cereal bowl, and mug) of Spode’s “Nectar.” I wasn’t sure whether John would like this one, but he actually loves the birds!
— 6 Kate Spade “Trimble Place” salad plates
— 12 Kate Spade “Larabee Road” bread and butter plates

What do you think? Would you mix and match patterns like this if you were registering for china/fine china? Do you think our guests will be confused? :)

P.S. Remember when I wanted to register for green and gold china? Still love those patterns.

One of my favorite Etsy sellers is Dimdi. She makes the sweetest watercolor paintings of animals, and they’re wonderfully affordable! Her 8×10 prints are just $25. She also does custom pet portraits based on a photo you send her, and I can speak to the quality of those because we’ve had both of our cats done. Yes, we are those people. I’ll show them to y’all sometime if you’re super nice to me :)

I also more recently discovered another watercolor animal artist, Eastwitching. Between Alison and Irene, you’ll have access to all the adorable animal paintings your walls could ever want. Here’s a small sampling:

All of the watermarked paintings are from Alison, and the others are all from Irene.

I love these paintings for a nursery or child’s room, but they’re also perfect mixed in with other pieces in a more adult space. Here are two of Eastwitching’s flamingos in a cheerful breakfast nook:

Southern Living