Monday Meet and Greet!

Lenny, it is your turn! Lenny was my sorority "mom" in college, which was a blessing as at first I was skeptical about sorority life. The fact that we wound up together was fate, as she was president, then I became president, and the love for the anchor sealed our friendship. After Delta Gamma, I also helped to set up Lenny with her husband, and was a bridesmaid in her wedding way back in 2003. Needless to say, she has rightfully earned her spot in my wedding.

Beyond the commonalities we shared in college, Lenny and I have an uncanny ability to talk like we only saw each other yesterday, even after weeks of not having a conversation, or months of not seeing each other. There is never a dull moment when we are together, laughter fills the air and hurts our stomachs. We love martinis, girly things, and we are both neat freaks. She is going to be an extremely vital resource to me when we start to have children, with 3 of her own, and I thank her for taking one for the team and having kids first to help us and provide hand-me-downs.

My memories with Lenny range from sitting on her front porch and playing "Traffic", to spending countless hours at the DG house working together as a part of Chapter Management Team, to visiting her and Nick in New Jersey and touring around New York. I can say that whenever a major event happens in either of our lives, we have always been a part of it. She was the first person to answer my late-night text when we got engaged!

So Lenny, thank you for being my friend for the past 13 years, and keeping me from going crazy.

We even found an anchor at her wedding- July 19, 2003!

My surprise 30th birthday trip to Colorado Springs (from Kyle) at my favorite bar- Jack Quinn's!

Monday Meet and Greet!

Kaycee, bridesmaid number 3 that I've profiled, is another former college roommate. Best known for her late night missions, from raiding friends' houses to making stops at Wendy's after the bars close, she was my partner in crime. We wore our sunglasses at night, and black hoodies, and drove with the parking lights on to remain discreet. One time I tried to get a free burrito from Seven Eleven, which failed because I fell on the ground in front of the cashier. She shared many a Grateful Dead with me at Jack Quinns, danced with me on our hydraulic kitchen table senior year, and made sure that the Air Force boys didn't take over our apartment every weekend.

Senior year, I lived with Kaycee in our 3 bedroom apartment, where one room was for all our many guests. Her original late night missions started with renting carpet cleaners from Walmart when she couldn't sleep. Then we escalated to breaking in our friend's when they turned us down for a guy. We soaped a car window once with evil messages about leaving our girl friends alone so they could spend time with us. We also spent my most memorable Super Bowl ever together, where we didn't care about the teams at all, but made the entire thing a drinking game so we could make it through.

Beyond the crazy college antics, Kaycee is the friend I can call on whenever I need to vent about life. She is supportive of my emotional stability. She may live in the middle of nowhere Colorado for now, but even there we found fun in the gas-station-converted-to-yoga studio. I couldn't imagine my wedding without her yelling at me to stop freaking out, or handing me the bottle of champagne to ease the tension. I got a chance to be in her wedding, and now both she and her daughter are in mine!

Thank you for keeping it real, Kaycee. And making me laugh. Keep those tricks up your sleeve in the case of tears on my wedding day, please!

At Kaycee's Wedding

A preview of part of my wedding party!

Wednesday Wedding Review!

I am very excited to share some of the awesome details of my good friend Jill's wedding on April 21. First, the wedding was held in the beautiful chapel of the University of St. Thomas, where so many friends from my high school attended college, so I was quite familiar with the area. The reception was located in a historic country club on Lake Minnetonka, where we were fortunate enough to stay the night (due to the college friends being procrastinators, we got rooms there instead of the reserved hotel!) 

Jill and Justin

We all knew the Jill's wedding would be epic, as she kept mum on the details throughout the past year of planning. In college she was notorious for her intricate scrap books in the sorority, and when we saw the invitations, we knew that she had put her skills to the test.

Then, we arrived at the reception to rapidly enjoy as many cocktails as we could during the 1 hour "pregame", complete with drink holder in our friends' baby stroller :). Only when the doors opened to the dining hall did we take in the entire picture. See the following pictures for all the details:

The card box- AMAZING!

The appetizer- spinach dip love!

The homemade (wrapped) candy bar

Centerpieces and glittered table numbers

The Guest Tree

Delta Gamma Love

Bachelorette- Vegas Style!

We are lucky girls!

Alright, I have just witnessed, participated in, and survived my second Vegas bachelorette weekend of all time, and this time I had real cause to celebrate with my own upcoming nuptials.

The last time I was in Vegas for a bachelorette party was for my college friend Melissa. The weekend involved such shenanigans as "travelers" (drinks to go, with the lax open-container laws of Vegas, only ours were full-on bottles of booze), yard drinks by the pool, flamingos, and some sun-poisoning.

This visit was to celebrate my friends Jill and Sarah's bachelorette parties, and I went along for the triple threat! Nothing is more fun than telling people that ALL 3 of you are getting married. We were joined by other friends and Jill's families (current and future), and it was one of the best times I've had, ever, not just in Vegas.

Friday night we hit the country bar/restaurant, Toby Keith's, and danced the night away. Saturday we hit up Fremont Street (the "classic" strip) and went ziplining. After a necessary stop at the buffet at Fitzgerald's (you can't avoid a buffet in Vegas!) we returned to the hotel, when the REAL celebration began!

Saturday will go down in history as epic and unreal, and full of crazy laughs and crazier memories (we can only remember thanks to the digital photo evidence). As graduates of Colorado College, no night can commence without a classic dancing and drinking pre-party! This pre-party came with a little surprise, let's just say of "Russian origin", from my fabulous fiance. None of us really expected that, but it was certainly a highlight for the ladies! After that excitement, we scored VIP entrance to 1 Oak, the club at the Mirage where we were staying. We had comped drinks for the first 2 hours, which was plenty, and we all danced until our stilletos burned holes into our feet and we literally began collapsing to the dance floor. What night in Vegas would be complete without additional debauchery, with visits to Subway and McDonald's at 5:00 a.m., snapping photos with a bride and groom, walking though the casino, and starting our own dance party in the middle of the empty lounge. Oh, and "Tebowing".

<record scratch> Whhhhaaattt? 

Oh, that's right, Jill and Nadja started to Tebow all over the place, in random people's pictures, with random strangers, and yes, even with the bride.

Notice the man walking by and staring...

Hilarious. 

Guess you had to be there.

So, what happens in Vegas doesn't really STAY in Vegas, but the truth is, do we really even know what just happened in Vegas??

(It is probably better that way...)

That is us ziplining Fremont!

Dancing at 1 Oak with my DG girls!

Sarah bought us these shirts!

So cute!