Girls Poker Night

Kimmie is the hostess with the mostess. I have never been to her house where she has not had every detail planned to perfection. Last week, she invited a bunch of us girls over for poker night. Much to my surprise, she whipped out the mojitos and peni (sp?) as soon as I arrived.

It was a theme that ran throughout our evening. :) It was such a fun way to spend a Monday night.


DeeAnna Hafen* and Kim Strand enjoying their drinks.



Kara carefully examining her cards.

*Names have been changed to protect identity.

Girls just wanna have fun

Before I got sick (or as I was getting sick), my wonderful friends from law school through me a very fun (naughty) bridal shower. There was a long list of distinguished guests, including the infamous Peter Pecker. Despite being the only male at the party, he was a good sport. He was an active participant in the ring toss and dressing game, but couldn't quite hack with American Idol karaoke. Instead, he just hung out downstairs by himself, startling whoever ventured to the kitchen for a drink.







Nici and Mellie put some much time and effort into this incredibly fun shower. Thanks you guys! And thanks to everyone who came. It was SO fun.

Rod has been sick . . .

And now I am too. On Friday night, I came home to find Rod sleeping fully clothed, half on the bed, half off. He stayed like that until 10 when I woke him up to make him take his medicine and see if I could get him to eat.

By Saturday night (in the middle of a bridal shower my friends were throwing me), I was barely able to stand. I stayed in bed almost the whole day Sunday until it was time to take our groomal photo shoot(groom + bridal = groomal and, yes, I know it is bad luck, but if we are relying on luck to make our marriage last, we are in BIG trouble). I know I should have re-scheduled, but honestly we have no time. Rod and I will be out of town the next two weeksends. I could stand for two hours, right? Wrong. I was fine for the first hour, but started to get woozy after that. About an hour-and-a-half into the shoot, I fainted! Luckily it was a shot where Rod had his arms around me and caught me before I "hit the ground so hard [I] bounced", like the last time I fainted. Instead, I just slowly crumpled to the ground. After a few minutes of resting on the ground (yes in my dress), I tried one more time to take a picture. My legs refused to hold me up and we called it a day. I'm so disappointed that I didn't get to take full advantage of our truly talented photographer. I have been looking forward to this shoot for SO long!

I guess it is better to get sick now than three weeks from now, but it is still VERY BAD TIMING!!!

Wedding Weekend: Restaurants and Attractions

Here is a link to a map with directions to all the important locations for the wedding weekend. Also, if you are coming from out of town, there are links to some restaurants or other places you may want to check out if you have time. The map is password protected. If I haven't sent you the password, please email me and I will send it to you.

Father's Day Pool Party

After brunch, Rod and I headed over to Dave and Inga's house to help celebrate Dave's first father's day. Rod and I both went to law school with Dave and have been friends with Inga ever since she moved here. Their son, Gabe, is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. He had so much fun playing in the pool. Dave grilled up some chicken and chorizo and made us some killer margaritas.It was such a nice break from all the wedding planning.

A lovely brunch

Even though it was Father's Day, all of my book club friends gather together to throw me a beautiful bridal brunch. Seth, an unofficial book club member, made a truly excellent breakfast: mushroom quiche, leek quiche, waffle bar, fried polenta with salmon and capers, pasta salad, and fruit of every imaginable variety (even lychee).

It was beautiful and so fun to spend time with my book club friends. It is hard to believe that I started attending book club approximately four years ago not knowing anyone but Kelly. They all pitched in to give me the (COOLEST) gift basket of all the things Rod and I will need to start cooking Asian food. Rod and I have been toyinng with the idea for awhile, but didn't really know where to start. Seth, Kelly's husband, used to be the chef at Wahso (our FAVORITE restaurant). So he was the perfect person to show us where to get started. We cannot wait to try our our new gadgets and ingredients! Thanks guys!

In case you were wondering . . .

Here is how our bathroom turned out:

An Unforgettable Weekend: Girls Gone Wild

I have the BEST friends in the whole world. Three weekends ago (yes, I know, still very behind), my closest friends in the whole world flew out to NYC for the best bachelorette party ever. Mindy, my MOH, lives in Brooklyn, and she carefully planned out every minute of the oh-so-fabulous weekend. There was shopping, pedicures, manicures, spa treatments, sightseeing, and . . . oh . . . drag queen karaoke (yes, you heard me right) and Hunk-o-mania (I refuse to go into more detail), and (BEST OF ALL) spending four uninterrupted days with my best friends. I have known Mindy, Carley, Alicia, and Courtney since seventh grade, more than half my life. It has been almost ten years since we have all been in the same city together.

Now, I know I will probably regret posting photos . . . A word of explanation: After dinner with Ginger and the other drag queen divas we left Lips armed with baloon "animals". We hopped to a couple of bars, then headed home. On the way, we found a mannequin, which we thought looked like he could use a couple of "baloons". We carried him home. Even though it was NYC, we still got some very interesting reactions. The next night, it was Hunk-o-Mania. My girls, who by the way managed to plan this whole weekend and keep it a secret, got us VIP tickets so we were in the front row. I am sworn to secrecy, but will tell you it was a much more interactive show than one would think (I got pulled up on stage at least 3 times!).

Monday, before I left, Mindy and I had a chance to spend some time just the two of us. We had lunch at Mindy's favorite restaurant, then explored the cute shops in the neighborhood. We had dessert at chocolate heaven.

The weekend was everything that I could have asked for. Thanks girls!

Happy Birthday Carrie!

Yes, I know, I am a couple weeks behind. I will try to catch up, but I make no promises until July 12. Anyway . . .

After my bridal shower, my Mom came with me for my second dress fitting. Sorry, no pics. That night, we went to Jess and Sarah's cabin in BFE (somewhere near Oakley) for Carrie's B-day party. It was so fun to be up there with all of our friends. Sarah and Jess grilled up some scrumptious burgers. Then Sarah made her famous ice cream cake. It was so decadent!







Lily, Phil and Tara's daughter decided she wanted to live outside. We took her cue, and built a bonfire. What bonfire would be complete without s'mores.

May Showers

I knew it was going to be beautiful when I saw the invitations, but Pat, a close friend from work, threw an absolutely perfect bridal shower for me on May 24. Pat is such a wonderful hostess, she thought of every detail. Her house and the spread were gorgeous. The shower started at 11, but my mom, who had flown in from Colorado just for the shower, showed up early to help Pat. It was great to see all my friends and to introduce them to my Mom. It was bit uncomfortable being the only person opening presents (like the evil stepsister at Christmas). I forgot how uncomfortable I was being the center of attention, though, when I started opening my presents. I got such beautiful and creative gifts. Rod was especially excited about the Wusthof steak knives; he commandeered those and the gift certificate to Liberty Heights minutes after I walked through the door. I loved everything, and am already plotting where we will use the household items when the remodel is finished. Thanks Pat (and everyone else who came) to make it such a memorable day for me and my mother.