Much Needed Girl Time

Over the past month, I've been reminded multiple times of how many wonderful females are in my life. I can love Kyle because these women taught me to first love who I am and to be comfortable with all my quirks. It is no wonder that a weekend away with them added up to one unforgettable (for the most part) time!

My first bachelorette party (yes, I got 2!) was in Denver, Colorado. My good friends from college, along with my sisters, organized a weekend of fun activities. I can honestly say that I had the time of my life! Everything was just perfect, and reminded me of all the good times we've spent together in the past.

We stayed at the Curtis hotel downtown, walking distance from bars and activities. From a pretty tame dinner and martini bar hop on Friday night, to a spa day on Saturday, to a wild night of dancing and debauchery on Saturday night, even my Sunday morning hangover could not put a damper on the fun.

I learned a few things during the course of the weekend that I feel the need to pass along for your benefit:

• My sister does not like me trying to find her a date to my wedding at a bar
• Flabongos draw a lot of attention
• Bouncers love bachelorette parties
• I know a lot about Kyle! (We played a game [see picture below] where I had to take a shot if I guessed an answer wrong for trivia questions the girls had made Kyle answer)
• I need to remember to take pictures before entering a club and sweating my mascara off
• Drinking at altitude= bad hangover
• Wear your most comfortable shoes
• Avoid throwing glasses into the street, or kicking newspaper boxes
• Don't plan for breakfast the morning after your bachelorette party (before noon)

Here are some photos:

The whole family got involved for dinner the first night!

Martini Bar Hopping

Spa Time- complete with spritzer!

Muddy feet but happy ladies!

This is where the trouble started...

A 3-course meal with drink pairing per course!!!

Delta Gamma Pride!

This spells trouble...

Now this is what fun looks like!!! Bride sailor hat AND crown!

This is called a flabongo... I only took 1 over the course of the night!

The Friday night gang! Cassie, Sarah, Melissa, Kaycee, Jenna, Amanda, Erica, Jill, Irina, Katie

Meet and Greet- Maid of Honor 2

Cassie, the youngest sister, always having to wait for everything in life, well, you also had to wait quite awhile for my blog post about ya! SORRY!

Cassie just graduated from Purdue with a major in Biology, and is moving on to Veterinary School at the University of Minnesota in the fall. I am very excited that my wedding will be the first one she's been in! I'll be setting the bar pretty high, I know!

Cassie was the wonderful sister who really nailed the bridesmaid dress shopping. She and Amanda both tried on numerous dresses, but Cassie's eye for the unique color and modern style first spotted the dress we wound up picking.

Now that Cassie is an "adult" it has been fun taking her out, getting to introduce her to my many girly drinks, and with that our whole family has had some fun times out on the town over the past year and half.

I also get to share my love of the Golden Anchor of Delta Gamma with my youngest sister, both things I have a lot of pride in.

Hope that Cassie enjoys choreographing our wedding party dance with me in the upcoming weeks when I return home for a wedding planning visit! :)

Check out the size of those pancakes! In Albuquerque

Delta Gamma Sisters!

At Breckenridge Brewery, we tried the flight!

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The girls in Denver at Maloneys!

In Denver fall 2011, check out the creeper Kyle!

With the hat collection- Christmas 2011

Shots at Harry's Chocolate Shop- Purdue

Christmas 2011 Limo ride!

Our snowman!

At the DG house at Purdue

Meet and Greet- Maid of Honor 1

I couldn't have possibly chosen one sister over the other, so I am putting them both to work for my wedding! I know that neither of them has much experience in being in a wedding, but what better way to break them in than to be in their older sister's?! I am going to give each of them their own meet and greet page, since for most of their lives we've just referred to them lovingly as "the girls".

I am starting with the middle sister, Amanda. Amanda had to suffer and endure the torture my brother bestowed upon her when she became the third member of our family, AKA "slave". This traumatic childhood lead to her being the kind and compassionate member of the family as an adult. It is only fitting that she majored in elementary education. I am proud to share my teaching profession with her and love when we get to share stories about students. At least she understands my stress and annoyance when it comes to work.

Amanda is not just caring, but creative. She has been the baker in the family for awhile now, starting with an early experiment of melting chocolate in the microwave (caution: chocolate burns), and leading to a recent cupcake endeavor. She also creates endless crafts for the summer camp program she runs through our local community center in Shoreview, MN. She has even more of a connection to my past with her following in my footsteps at my former job as a daycare employee at the health club, and then in her involvement in show choir, although I believe she is a much better singer than I ever was. I also hope that I was a bit of a help in her choosing to attend Indiana University for college as I had visited it during my year of traveling for Delta Gamma and fell in love.

Currently Amanda is in charge of making a card box for my wedding, as I trusted her with the skills to construct one in a creative and practical fashion. I am sure she can apply her teaching tools to get the task done. 

Thank you, Amanda, for stepping up to the challenge of helping me out with my wedding, which I am sure from an outsider's perspective is starting to look like a total production! I hope you'll wear your red dress proudly!

Back in the day! Amanda on the left.

Many family Christmas photos of "the girls"

Girly drinks at the lake

In Branson watching Cassie perform in the show choir.

I think this may have been her first martini

She attended my graduate school graduation from ASU! I fell the first time we tried to get this photo.

At cousin Ben's wedding

"I have to be related to you in the future?!"

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!

Tuesday InTROduction!

I may be a day late, but I never run out of creativity!

Today I am introducing you to my bridesmaid Jenna! Jenna and I have been friends for over 12 years now! I first met Jenna during sorority recruitment my freshmen year of college. She probably doesn't remember that, though, as she was suffering from a concussion!

Jenna, on the left, and another bridesmaid Kaycee. This is from when they surprised me with a trip to CO for my 30th birthday! Kyle was in on it, too.

Over the years of college, I got closer and closer to Jenna as we spent time with each through Delta Gamma. Freshmen year, she would lend me her Audi to go to Walmart or return our friends to the Air Force Academy. When she studied in Washington D.C. for a semester, I remember being her pen pal. Junior year she became my roommate. Senior year, I visited her when she moved to Kansas. It was an endless party when Jenna was around. She worked for Red Bull, so needless to say we were always supplied for late nights. She was more than just fun to be around, though, she was trustworthy, intelligent, athletic, and a great ally. It is no wonder that our friendship has lasted over the years.

Jenna and I after our epic ski crash, trying to jump over a creek in Winter Park.

Part of the ski gang, me, Kyle, Christian, and Jenna at Copper Mtn.

Currently, Jenna plays the role of "organizer" for our college yearly reunions. She is great at finding deals for condo rentals in ski resorts, and her husband and her become our resident mountain guides each winter. Now residing in Steamboat, Colorado, I look forward to many more ski weekends and continuing our tradition on into the future. She just had a little boy, Arthur, and I have had fun visiting and playing "aunt Erica".




Jenna- Thank you for always being my rock. For letting me vent to you when I needed to, for sharing our funny stories, for our shared love of Greek life and Delta Gamma especially, and for being there for me on a long awaited day, even after you have to stand up in two other weddings this year!

With baby Arthur!

Bridesmaid Meet and Greet!

Like the old adage states, "something old, something new", my bridesmaids fit into these two categories. The "new" bridesmaid is one of my new family members, Shannon, Kyle's sister. I wanted Shannon as part of the wedding because Kyle and I both wanted our siblings involved. It didn't seem right to have my two sisters and his two brothers, and to ignore the siblings of the opposite sex. Kyle also took part in Shannon's wedding as one of her bridesmen. I know in modern weddings we could have done this with our siblings, but I liked Shannon in dress too much to pass up the opportunity to see it again!

Shannon and her husband, Nick, live in beautiful San Diego, but they have also lived in Hawaii since I've been with Kyle. Kauai is one of the coolest places I've ever been, and I think the experience was enhanced because of their expertise. We thanked them with a booze cruise to see whales and dolphins!

Along with exotic travels, we also get to spend a lot of holidays with Shannon and Nick because they live fairly close. From Christmas and Easter, to Thanksgiving and birthdays, there are numerous fun times to be had. One particular memory involved Nick belly dancing on his birthday at a Greek restaurant.

I also have fond memories of their wedding, which occurred over 5 years ago already! They got married in La Jolla, San Diego on the beach. The most memorable part of their wedding may have been the Scuba divers emerging from their dive onto the beach right behind the altar, but nothing beats following up a wedding with a relaxing day in the water. Although we chose to go the mountain route instead of the beach, Kyle has taught me to love the ocean, and Shannon gives me the opportunity to enjoy it more and more each time we visit.

Shannon- I am so excited to have you as a bridesmaid, since Kyle only listens to you, after all, and I'll probably need some back up to get him down the aisle in once piece (and sober)!

Seaside Marriage

Confession: I am a bad bride

Lately, I have had to face the realization that I am not a very good bride. I am not a Bridezilla, so don't take it that way, I am the opposite, I don't have enough opinions or enough "vision" in my mind to insist upon perfection.

For example, although my sisters found a fabulous bridesmaid dress that they both liked on the first day we shopped, I waited until recently to give the go-ahead for the dress. Then I have procrastinated sending out the information for ordering to all my other bridesmaids. I feel like such a slacker!

I tried to dissect this issue. I believe part of my problem is the fact that I'm afraid to disappoint my girls with my choice. Since day one, I've been worried about making everyone else at the wedding happy (as you've seen in previous posts). I also just think that I gave myself a LOT of time between the engagement and the wedding, so I am not working well without the pressure (once an AP kid, always an AP kid!)

But anyway, I hope that this is just paranoia and that I really am not falling behind in my planning, nor do I have as much to do as I fear (lurking behind every corner, more wedding must-haves that I missed).

Here's a teaser for you:

Which one

did I

choose????

 

 

 

 

 Dresses from Pinterest collection- Da Vinci, Impressions, Dessy, and the Perfect Palette blog