I can turn a 20 minute task into a 2 hour project

And that's exactly what happened on this dress.  I knew that all I had to do was put in the zipper and attach the straps.  Simple.   Arghhh!  Exhibit A:

My machine does this sometimes.  It will be sewing along fine for months, and then it will start this crap.  Looping threads on the bottom and skipping stitches.  So, I ripped out the whole zipper.  For whatever reason, I could not get the stupid thing in straight after that.  Finally, I got it in, matched the bodice seams, and had to tweak the top edge with some hand sewing to get them to match (sort of).

But now, the dress is finished!  It's a little low cut for the party, so I stitched up the front of the bodice by hand.  Still low, but not as bad.  I'll take pictures tomorrow after I get ready for the "big event"!

 Actually, I'm sure the party will be low-key and lots of fun.  Great group of friends.  I'm pretty sure now that my brother is NOT coming, but we will all have a great time anyway.  Food, wine, friends, great summer weather (well, if you call 100+ degrees great, but we do have A/C), and the river.  What else could you ask for?  Oh yeah, and I didn't have to do any of the planning or work!  Thank you DH and my great friend, Jennifer!