What a weekend!!!

I headed home southeastern WI this past weekend for a couple different celebrations. The main event for the weekend was a bridal shower for my old and very dear friend Heather which I was co-hosting with another bridesmaid, Greta. But before that fantastic event, there was another bit of fun to be had.

Friday night, after a long drive from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee, I headed to Erin's house to change and gussy myself up a bit before heading over to Christi's house (see her blog link to the right - Babystepping My Way). A few weeks earlier, Christi had emailed Erin and I with an invitation to dinner at Balzac, a wine bar around the corner from her house. Little did Erin know, Christi and I had an invite of a different kind to offer one the night got underway.

Let me back up a bit here for clarification. Erin is getting married in October, and Christi is her MOH and I'm a bridesmaid. The two of us are the only two friends in the wedding; her other bridesmaid is her future sister-in-law. Well, about 8 months ago, Christi emailed me with an idea for Erin for her bachelorette party that would take a lot of planning, but would be a ton of fun. As soon as I read the email and all the details, I knew that I was totally on board and very excited! Christi had wanted the idea to be a surprise to Erin, but we needed to tell her in advance of the party so she could adequately prepare. We decided that we'd scheme and devise a plan to get the three of us together so that we could spring the news on Erin. Hence, Christi's dinner invite.

So, Christi and I had developed a plan. I'd take a half day off from work and drive down for the dinner. She would have a great floral arrangement made up and I would have my invite guru make up a most fantastic invitation outlining the details of the party. I would drive to Christi's house and drop off the invite before heading to Erin's house so that Christi could take the flowers and the invite to the restaurant before we arrived. It was a perfect plan.

When we arrived, Christi and I saw right away that the flowers and invite had been perfectly placed on our reserved table. We had Erin walk in first so that she'd see the production right away. She was a bit confused when she first sat down! She kinda looked back and forth between Christi and I, and said "What's going on?". We told her to open the invite, and she'd have some details. She opened it so slowly, and had a funny little look of confusion on her face the whole time.





After she was done opening up the invite, and after a bit of explanation from Christi and I, she figured it out. Christi and I would be taking Erin to Las Vegas for her bachelorette party. Erin could pick the dates and the guest list, but all other details and information will be left up to Christi and I.





Erin pretty much flipped out. And because Christi and I had been talking about it secretly for 8 months, we were just as excited for it to be out in the open and a reality! We quickly began to discuss possibilites for our weekend away - dancing and dinners and spa treatments and a show - we want to experience all that the city has to offer! Erin decided right away that the guest list would consist of her bridal shower - Christi and I, and Katie, the future sister-in-law. Erin's got so many friends that it would be really hard to have a successful trip with all of them, so she decided to keep it small and intimate. We're all so excited! It's definitely going to be the trip of a lifetime!! The rest of the night we just chatted and caught up on each other's lives a bit, of course with all of the Vegas excitement continually coming up in conversation! It was a great night.

Saturday morning I woke up early to spend time with my family before heading over to the salon where my cousin works to get a manicure. It was really fun to get pampered a little bit. After that, I headed home so that my mom could help me get the food ready for the weekend's main event: HEATHER'S BRIDAL SHOWER!

I have been excited about this shower for months! As I previously stated, I was co-hosting the shower with Greta, and it was so much fun to plan and prepare for the party with her. Heather's MOH is her sister, Lisa, but because Lisa lives in CA, she asked that I be in charge of the parties and such. I gladly accepted that role! Heather and I have been friends since we were 3 years old, and I truly feel like she's part of my family, so I was really happy and excited to be able to give her a great party for her and her friends.

Heather is one lucky girl - she has so many people who love her that she's having four showers! Her mom's family threw one, and the groom's family is throwing two of them. But there really wasn't a good place for her friends to fit in. So, I decided that it was only appropriate to have a fun shower where she and her friends could get together to celebrate her upcoming wedding.

When I started the planning for the party, I decided that we weren't going to do a traditional shower. No shower games, nothing like that. I decided that we needed to have something fun and outrageous that definitely catered to Heather and her personality - and so to Passion Parties I went! A Passion Party is a lot like a Tupperware party - only with sex toys! It was the perfect way to send Heather into married life. Greta offered to have the party at her parents' home because they have a nice large basement, and it was teh perfect place!



Greta and I made the food, I got some wine for the group, and I got decorations to fit the mood. By 6:00 PM, we were ready to rock and just awaiting the arrival of the woman of honor!



Everyone started to wander in between 6:00 and 6:30 or so. The group was made up of Heather's 7 closest friends - grade school friends, high school friends and work friends. And we all meshed so well together you'd think that all of us had been friends for 10 years!

After everyone had arrived and gotten some food and drinks, the Passion Party consultant, Amy, began her big production. And what a production it was! Before we knew what was happening, she had us passing around the products, licking our arms, smelling each other and trying on dick lipstick!







The Passion Party portion of the night was way more fun than I even imagined it would be. We laughed so hard our sides hurt, all while being completely intrigued by what Amy had to say. By the end of the party, we were all fighting to order our products first. It truly was the perfect thing to do for Heather's shower!

After Amy had packed up and was on her way, we gathered on the couches to watch Heather open her gifts.

Here's a side note - opening gifts that you've registered for is very funny to me. How do you react? Certainly not surprised - afterall, you did resgister specifically for these items so acting surprised would be a little awkward. It's just funny to me. Moving on...

So, Heather opened her gifts, and she received some really great items. Most were from her registry, but some gifts were little personal items that the girls knew Heather would love. For the rest of the night, we just chatted and ate some great cheesecake and drank some wine and caught up with everyone. We wound up staying at Greta's house until about 1:00 AM, just enjoying the night and the opportunity to hang out together.

It was by far the best shower I've ever been to, and not just because I was the one throwing it! We had so much fun - the guests were great and the conversation just as good. I really hope that Heather enjoyed herself as much as I did, and that it was a shower she'll never forget!