Emily’s Musings

I must confess. Sometimes I turn on the TV, for no reason in particular other than to fry perfectly good brain cells. Tonight was just one of those nights. I turned on TLC and a show called “Say Yes to the Dress” was on. I had never heard of it, but as I started watching I became very intrigued. Not only because it was all about a bridal salon selling wedding gowns, but because the store looked vaguely familiar. Then, I noticed the owners of the store. Um, yes, the bridal industry is a small world. I recognized the owners of the shop, therefore telling me where the show was being filmed. Kleinfeld’s in New York. This is by far the largest, most elite bridal salon in the USA.

You see, in my previous life, (when I put on make up, wore great clothing, and went to work) I actually owned a bridal salon in Dallas, Texas. I was involved in every aspect of the business from hiring, training, floor sets, marketing, advertising, and selling, to the designing of wedding gowns. I would see a dress sketched out on paper, and then have that exact dress on my floor ready to sell in nine months. Yes, I secretly was a Jane of all trades in this business. Both David and I experienced SERIOUS BURNOUT in this business. I AM SO GLAD I DON’T HAVE TO WORK WITH BRIDES ANYMORE. Thank goodness for the burnout though. It caused both of us to evaluate our current and future life very seriously. After a good long, hard evaluation, we both felt right about getting out of our business, selling the house, and car (we kept one) to move to a deserted island in the middle of the ocean so David could start Medical School. Yeah, I’m still scratchin’ my head on this one.

As I was watching this show, I desperately wanted to turn it off, but I couldn’t! How could I look away? It was like watching a reality TV show filmed in my old store, except I was missing. From the emotional brides to the flat out CRAZY brides, I have dealt with them all. They also highlighted the alteration department, and truthfully, any alteration department in ANY STORE could hold a reality show on its own. The DRAMA that exists in just that one place is enough to make you go gray early, or possibly loose 15 pounds from stress. (Not recommended for a diet plan)

Needless to say, watching this show CONFIRMED to me why I am SO GLAD we are no longer in that business. What a headache.

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My sister Jenn called asking for my “Professional Wedding Gown Advice”. This topic always seems to challenge my memory because part of me has tucked away those bad memories in a very, very, safe place, the other part of me feels like that was such a lifetime ago, (okay, like three years ago) do I really remember anything? Well, the mind is an amazing thing. Even after you have had a baby and been vacationing on a teeny tiny island in the middle of nowhere for the past two and half years, you can STILL REMEMBER STUFF.

Here’s the situation in a nutshell: Her friend bought a wedding gown. The wedding gown is dirty. How does she clean it? Well, the answer is very simple. You throw it in the washing machine. What? You’re gasping too? I forgot how sharing insider information about the bridal business can make someone have an instant brain aneurysm. YES, YOU TURN THE GOWN INSIDE OUT, AND WASH IT ON A DELICATE CYCLE IN COLD WATER WITH LIQUID DETERGENT.

Now I must make a disclaimer, this is for MOST wedding gowns. There are a few fabrics out there for which this would not work. Like silk-satin for one. However, if you paid less than $1,500 for your gown there is a 99.9% chance the tag on your wedding dress says POLYESTER, (regardless if it feels like Italian Matte Satin, or Satin, or whatever. Polyester is made to look and feel like a lot of fabrics. Again, don’t gasp when you find out you actually wore polyester to your wedding.) and it is safe to throw it in the washer. Now, this may be a shocker as well, but almost all Bridal Stores have a washer on site, in their back room. I know, this seems deceitful and wrong, but lets face it, do you really care how your dress was cleaned?

To prove the truthfulness of this crazy concept to my sister (who had a mild heart attack over the phone when I explained how to how clean the dress), I sent her some photos I took while visiting a major factory in China that produced most of our gowns. It shows them washing BRAND NEW WEDDING GOWNS IN A WASHER. How do you think we learned this great trick? From “the people in the know” of course! Here is a peek into what goes on in a Chinese factory:

The worker is hand washing one gown in a RUBBERMAID CONTAINER. Check out the washer and the other gowns just hanging out in their very own Rubbermaid containers.

Check out this worker’s handy work. All beads are hand sewn. Watching her, I thought she was in fast forward. Her hands were lighting fast.

This worker is also sewing on beads. Check out all the pins! An average dress is worked on by 13 different seamstresses. Each specializes in an area.

I can’t remember why they are intentionally making a mess on this fabric, but it has something to do with outlining a design. If brides only knew the beginning phases of their dress!

This is the initial process of making a dress. Cutting out the design.

There are entirely too many talented seamstresses in China. Check them out, going to town on wedding gowns!

These gowns are ready and waiting for final inspection. Notice the gown on the floor; it is being folded and wrapped up for shipping to the States. It passed the final inspection.

These are the hard workers going to dinner. Everyone wears the same outfit to work; men in dark blue, and women in the light blue. They are off to dinner. Each person puts in an average of 14 hours a day, with only two meal breaks for lunch and dinner. They all live on site at the “compound” in dorms, and only see their families a few times a year. Many of them send all of their earnings home to support extended family.

So there you have it.

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Lydia is so dang thoughty. You see, while she was in Los Angeles last month, she came across my favorite candy in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, and I am not exaggerating. I discovered this particular candy, HI-CHEW (aptly named for being really chewy) in Taiwan. You can find it all over China, because it is a candy made in China; not a Chinese candy. It’s kind of like how our kids favorite toys are not “Chinese toys”, they are just made in China. Trust me, I have been subjected to all kinds of NASTY food in China, and I can honestly say, Chinese people (real ones, the ones that live in China, not the Americanized ones) do NOT like this candy. This is an American candy. The kind that will rot your teeth right out.

David loves this candy as much as I do, and his only request when I would return home from Asia: HI-CHEW. On one business trip, several of us (from our previous business) were being driven to the Taiwan airport, and we were running late. However, I knew I certainly could not show my face to David without bringing home a Texas sized supply of HI-CHEW! I distinctly remember asking the driver of our car to PULL OVER! When I spotted a store that sold this wonderful candy. We basically raided the store (I can’t really call it a gas station, it certainly wasn’t a grocery store, but it was a store that carried HI-CHEW, and LOTS of it!) We literally dumped entire boxes of HI-CHEW into our bags, and depleted the store of it’s entire stock. The cashier watched us very closely, waiting to see if we were going to rob the store too. When purchasing my stash of HI-CHEW, the cashier asked me, “You like?” Um, obviously “I like”. I asked him if he liked the candy. “No, No. I NO LIKE“. Great, this confirms that HI-CHEW isn’t a nasty Chinese candy, but a fantastic American Candy!

Ahem . . .it has been brought to my attention that this mouth watering candy can be found in highly populated areas of the United States. And by highly populated, I mean big cities, with diversity, you know, like lots of cultures and lots of people in those cultures; enough people to make an entire town, like “China Town”. So, if you find yourself in such a city and are wondering what to buy in a town like “China Town”, search every store high and low for the best candy in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. It is TOTALLY worth it.

It comes in many flavors. Thanks Lydia!!!

Fruit-tella is a poor imitation of HI-CHEW, but it will give you an idea of what HI-CHEW is like.

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