The Right Kind of Support

So I have a strapless dress and even worse than finding the dress is finding the perfect corset in order to keep everything in its place. So I know it probably is not the kind of thing that most of you are interested in but I have talked about other awkward things here at least a dozen or more times so we are kind of like friends. Close friends. I mean seriously if you are reading this blog I would even go so far as calling us bff’s. So I was super stressed about finding the right corset and I visited all the normal places I go to purchase my bras. I went to Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and even Fredrick’s of Hollywood where I accidentally got stuck in a too small corset and almost had to embarrassingly ask the help to get me out of it. Thankfully I used my superhuman contortionist trick and a good half an hour to get out of it. What I found in all these stores is that the world of large chested women don’t buy corsets because they don’t sell them anywhere that will fit a D. I would think if there was a demand there would be a supply.

At this point I was about ready to go el natural for the wedding, which would have been totally NOT OK. I was at my wits end and then I found out that they sell bridal corsets at Mon Amie, my bridal dress headquarters. When I went in for my next fitting not only did they have a corset in my size, they had 7 different kinds for me to choose from. I seriously heart Mon Amie right now. Well the store and the seriously overworked, underpaid little helper that spent an hour with me to find the perfect corset.

Put it Back

In these times where Mr. Rogue are trying to save for the wedding I find myself repeating the same mantra when I feel an impulse to buy something that is NOT on my list. But I digress; I am trying out a new tactic to get me to spend less at the store. I have to make a list before I leave the house, and once I get to the store if it is not on the list then it does not go in the cart. You would be SUPRISED how often I went to reach for something that was not on that pesky list but it has decreased my spending drastically.

There are times however when I go to the mall for instance and I see something that I impulsively want to buy. First I ask my new mantra

“Well I like it but do I $50 dollars like it.”

if the answer is still OH MY GOD I HAVE TO HAVE IT then I go home and come back the next day if I still want it. This marinating process has successfully kept me from buying MANY things sometimes because I decide that I don’t REALLY need it and other times it is just because I am plain old too lazy to go to the store again. Either way things are looking up on the saving front.

Meet me in the Middle

So I need to book the rehearsal dinner location but I have been stalling. I know where I want to do it, I know what I want to serve for the menu, the only issue that Mr. Rogue and I are having is whether or not we have an open bar and have minimal guests OR we invite everyone and have a cash bar. We are torn because I think a cash bar is a bit tacky, but if we invite everyone that we want then adding alcohol, especially with the way our friends and us roll, will add another $1000 plus to the tab.

I think in the long run we will end up deciding to do a cash bar, even though it is a bit tacky, because we just can’t afford to double our bill and I don’t think we both want to minimize the list of who comes to the dinner. Actually I am sure that is what we are doing, I am just stalling because I wish we could have everything that we want. Concessions we have to make concessions.

For Richer or Poorer

It is difficult when you decide to marry someone based on love, I often thought the convention of arranged marriages had some benefit. Generally when people fall in love they don’t take into consideration how similar their backgrounds are, their religion and future parenting styles of how they were raised, or how they spend and treat the money that they make. Unfortunately with this last point is that most people divorce over money. Mr. Rogue and I are very fortunate that we have similar spending styles, we like nice things but we also know how to save for them instead of just whipping out a credit card. And even how seriously we have both taken care of our credit scores plays a huge role in our financial future.

I am hoping one day after we are married we will make the right choices so I am able to stay home with our children, and Mr. Rogue and I are hoping to live a frugal enough life so that Mr. Rogue can retire early. These financial discussions, going beyond just our budget for the wedding (which is an ever moving target) will hopefully lay down the road to a wonderful life together.

The Filter

Apparently I just found out that the best skill that a person can acquire is to know when and how to filter the vast amount of information that is thrown our way. I know it is a skill that I have been struggling with for years, especially now that I have so much time at work where I am doing nothing I have gotten into the habit, along with Ms. Pool Shark, of looking up anything and everything that I am curious about.

For instance recently I wanted to know
Is milk good for you?

A seemingly simple question filled with a wealth of information online all contradictory, all seemingly true. I have found that I have NOT mastered this technique. Must try harder next time.

Temporary Time Periods

I am fascinated by temporary time periods in our lives. Times where the only thing important in your world, the only thing that deserves a great majority of your attention is the period you are in.

In High School you are concerned with fitting in, your popularity, your grades, or most importantly waiting for summer to start and bliss to last for two months. In College where you let go of your parents lead strings and take flight on your own, making mistakes on a grander scale and defining who you really are. Every ounce of energy is thrown into getting through with school so you can start being an adult. After College you worry about the carrer, starting off as a grunt and working yourself to the bone so you can climb up the corporate ladder faster and faster. And now wedding planning, something that has turned my attention to a smaller scale. I am now planning a life not just for myself but WITH someone else and that is a heady feeling. Knowing that no matter what he will be there with me, standing by me, taking care of me as I take care of him. Then hopefully in the not so distant future starting the journey of having kids, ah the drama that will go on with that future adventure. I can hardly wait.

Confessions of a Shop-aholic

I was with a girlfriend shopping so nothing in particular when I ran across these Steve Madden shiny pumps and as I skipped through the isles in the store I decided that I had found the standard with a twist shoes. Although Steve Madden and I don’t generally have the same taste in style I really liked these. Yea super cute!

I am an Official Aunt

Today far far away from LALA land my brother and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Lambchop gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Baby Lambchop is the most adorable little boy in the world. I may be biased. He is defiantly going to get a world of spoiling from me. And for some strange reason my little brother who is two years younger than I am somehow got married before me and is having a child before I get married. I so did not see this scenario in the cards when we were kids.

Today far far away from LALA land my brother and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Lambchop gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Baby Lambchop is the most adorable little boy in the world. I may be biased. He is defiantly going to get a world of spoiling from me.

Palm Springs: Home from Palm Springs

You would think that this morning I would feel like crap but alas I hardly EVER get hung over. No matter how much I drink it does not seem to phase me the next morning, I blame my mothers Irish jeans. So thankfully this morning I woke up happy as a lark. We stopped to take one more group photo before heading off to breakfast.



Did I tell you yet that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new canon mini camera I got recently? Being able to document this weekend in photograph form was one of those things that I missed through my college years. Oh what I would not give to be able to go back and take at least a FEW photos here and there. But I digress.

So we were on our way to breakfast and even this early in the morning the heat was OPRESSIVE. I am never coming back to Palm Springs in the middle of summer again. It is just too damn hot. Most of the girls opted for Bloody Mary’s but I was totally not going to push my luck with trying to imbibe more alcohol. I was afraid my system would overload. Lunch was greasy and super yummy just the way you like your first meal before you get in a car for the long ride home. There was one more cheers to Ms. Bulldog and then we all went our separate ways.



I ended up driving back to LALA Land with Ms. O.C. and we ran into a bitchy little electronic machine. You see Ms. O.C. has this navigational system, which really should have been very convenient since we were returning back to town and it would help us guide our way. Instead it was always interrupting our conversations with her annoying voice over and over demanding that we TURN LEFT… TURN LEFT… TURN LEFT incessantly. At one point on the trip she even ordered us off the highway only to get right back onto it. Because she was so annoying we decided to name her, we choose a name we did not like, a name that summed up our pent up anger at her rudeness. Gertie was named so now we have something to yell at her.

Palm Springs: Mrs. Bulldog Bachelorette party

After an abysmal night at the antique river lodge I finally escaped Utah and made it to Palm Springs. By the time I got a cab, put my things in our hotel room, changed and got to the pool everyone had already been there about an hour. My inspired plan was to quickly drink a few drinks and catch up to the other girls, now remember this is coming from someone who does not drink very often.



So I started drinking quickly but there were other things not in my favour that day besides to much alcohol. Did I mention that it was 103 degrees! It was so hot that you could not walk on the cement, so hot that I brushed against the metal rail to get into the pool and got a third degree burn on my leg, so hot that the bus-boys started dumping ice in the pool to keep it from boiling over, so hot that the PLASTIC CUPS WERE MELTING.



What I did not realize in my intoxicated state was that I should be alternating my margaritas with glasses of water. It was hot and I was getting dehydrated baking in the sun but instead of hydrating with water in my thirst I reached for more margaritas. The group pretty much stayed in the pool the entire time surrounded by noodles which were a super convenient way to prevent all the drunks from drowning. I found them very helpful. Hotel Zoso I want to thank you for helping me stay above water in the pool.



By the time we got out of the pool to get ready to go to dinner and continue our bachelorette party extravaganza I was the one complaining that we needed to stay just for a little longer and as I shouted “I was born drinking” my friends knew that I was toast. They kindly convinced me to return to the room. I think they offered cookies. Which was very smart of them

Trying to get ready I knew I was in trouble. I was dizzy, my stomach felt like crap and really I was having a little bit of trouble walking. I ranted at myself for being so stupid why oh why did I not plan a little better and pace myself. We still had dinner and the clubs to get through and I knew it was going to be a very long long night. All I wanted to do was crash on the bed but I sucked it up, pulled myself together and forced myself to go to dinner. See here in this photo I am smiling but on the inside I was a mess. I am pretty proud of this shot I actually look happy.



I did make it to dinner, I even managed to eat some of my food but by the end of the meal my friends convinced me to give up the fight. I wished Ms. Bulldog a great time at the clubs and took myself off to bed. Lesson learned, when in Palm Springs in the summer ALTERNATE DRINKS!

Connecticut: The Utah Airport Sucks

I woke up early to get to the office. I am in Connecticut now sitting here at this empty desk on a business trip doing nothing. Yes I know that sounds pointless it is. Seriously it is. I tried to get out of this trip, I really did, so instead I drank a lot every night and watched bad cable television in my suite all week while I charged lavish dinners on my company card. I guess life could be worse. Anyways I woke up early today to get to the office early because I am leaving early. I have a 3:00 flight to Palm Springs for Ms. Bulldog’s bachelorette party. Now you may ask WHY I am going to work early then, it is because last night I was finally given a project. Normally I would be thrilled to help but this time I am not. They need this particular project done Monday, they asked me to work all weekend. I said no. But I am going in early today so I can get as much as possible done so whatever poor sap gets stuck with it this weekend will have less to do. See aren’t I nice :)

I got the secretary to get me a driver, the driver arrived on time to take me to the airport, I got through the lines reasonably quickly and got to my gate in plenty of time to grab a snack before I jumped on the plane. I am so pissed that I hurried because once we were all loaded onto the plane we pulled away from the ramp and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for THREE FRINKIN HOURS! The only reason that this is an issue is because I am potentially going to miss my connecting flight in Utah which means that I will get bumped to a later flight and I would not be making it to Palm Springs until very late. Damn stupid electrical malfunctions. Getting to Utah I had two minutes to try and make my flight. The flight attendant did manage to relocate my seat right by the door and as soon as that door opened I was running to my connecting flight. I dodged small children and leapt over bags of luggage and basically made an ass of myself. I arrived at the gate sweaty and dishevelled and five minutes too late. I was informed that the plane had already pulled away and that I should talk to customer service.

Resigned to my crappy airport problem I headed to customer service where I learned that even though it was only 8:55pm that the airport closes at 9 and that I would need to get a flight from Utah to Palm Springs in the morning. This is why I love LALA Land, it is not like you would ever hear that the airport closes at 9, hell you can get pizza and sushi in the middle of the night there. I was escorted to my crappy hotel, it had a country theme, the furniture was made of antlers and there was a big stuffed bear in my bedroom. I called for room service only to find that room service stopped forty five minutes ago, yup at 9:00pm. The only food I could order was pizza. Not exactly following my diet but that was all there was. I took a shower in my duck motif bathroom and went to sleep on my musty bed thinking about how much fun all my friends were having in Palm Springs while I was stuck in this hellhole.

The Slacker Bride

I joined the theknot.com when I first got engaged. And let me tell you, the second I got engaged I got bombarded with married and engaged people asking me if I had signed up or not yet. Apparently theknot.com is a serious wedding planning helper and they keep this site a secret from all those single girls so they don’t feel bad that they don’t have a reason to join too. So originally I was super excited with the site, there are a ton of ideas and checklists and super helpful things to keep you on track for your special day. I was so happy and in love with how useful it was. Lately however I have been feeling a little anxious about our relationship. The site sends out emails to make sure you stay on track. In the beginning it would only email me occasionally, but as the wedding gets closer the emails have been getting more frequent. It keeps emailing me reminders only 116 days to go till the big day and it is starting to totally stressing me out. Should I feel bad that for now I am ignoring their checklists and I am being a rogue with my time table. So what if I skip ahead to some of the tasks I find more fun, so what if I live out of state and I decide to cram 3 months of things into 3 days so I don’t have to travel so much. It is as if they are trying to scare me into action. I still feel like I have plenty of time although I am sure the weight of it will scare me as it gets closer to the date, for now my man will have to love me and my evil list skipping procrastinating soul.

Twilight

I borrowed a book from a friend and lost 4 days of my life. Ok so I KNOW that Twilight is a book written for young teens, and I know I am probably not going to increase my knowledge of life or world views or politics by spending hours reading this series but like sitcoms sometimes it is great to just curl up with an entertainment book and boy oh boy do these books entertain. And delight. And capture all of my attention so I forget the world and everything in it until the last page is flipped. I read the entire series in 4 days which means that laundry was ignored, Rogue was left to find his own entertainment, don’t worry I supplied plenty of peanut butter because I felt guilty ignoring him. Finishing the books this fast also meant I was sleep deprived so concentrating at work was a bit more of a chore than normal.


SOURCE

Spike Me

I am a shoe lover, I cannot remember when it started but as soon as I could get a job I have been working and shopping for shoes. Now I have so many that if I may get to wear a pair once a year. And the only thing I love more than shoes are STILLETO SHOES! The higher I am the happier I am which leads me to be SO THANKFUL that I am with an incredibly vertically endowed man. I am 5’ 7” so when I get a high heel on I am a little over 6’ tall. Mr. Rogue can top that by two inches and I love the fact that I can stand in my impossibly high heels and still have to look up into his eyes and reach up to give him a kiss. There is just something so impossibly sexy to me to be shorter than my man, it makes me feel girly and makes me see him as strong. I love my Mr. Rogue and his tallness. And with that here are some shoes I have been drooling over recently:

Pointless Business Travel

It sucks when you have to travel for work. It sucks even more when you have to travel for work and there is no actual work to do. Basically I am going to go all the way to Connecticut to meet a few people and sit in the office and surf the web which is exactly what I do at my office right now. Which to me is pretty pointless we are a cutting edge advertising company for God’s sake I can meet the few random people they want me to meet via Skype.

I tried my best to weasel out of it. I insisted it was not mandatory for me to go, that I really did understand how the rest of the team who DID have work to do should go, but seriously that I could probably just stay in LA and hold down the fort. Translated that I would come in late and take super long lunches where I would shop and then leave early because I would be the only one in the office. That did not fly so well.

So I am going. And not only do I have to deal with a crappy plane ride, I have to go to a crappy town and sit in a crappy office and be gone from Mr. Rogue for a week all for nothing. At least I got them to buy my return flight to Palm Springs Friday. That way I won’t be late for Ms. Bulldog’s Bachelorette weekend party extravaganza.

Out of Town Baskets

Because I have so many guests coming in from out of town (almost half of the guests are) I have decided that we defiantly need out of town baskets. Basically they are something left in the hotel room to welcome them to the wedding, thank them for coming, and offer them small gifts or directions of fun things to do. I plan on doing them myself by arranging lists and giving myself a day to buy supplies and make them when I go to Michigan for the wedding week. Of course everything will need to be printed beforehand.

Although I love the look of something like this:

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I am trying to keep the budget for these under $200 dollars. Instead of doing baskets I will probably end up doing gable boxes like these:

Or simple bags like these:

Ms. Ivey League is helping me organize what to put in the baskets. So far we have decided to do a Michigan theme. Here is what our bags will contain:

-Chocolate covered cherries

-Cherry wine

-Two plastic wine glasses

-Two Bottles of water

-A thank you greeting letter

-A map of the food and fun stuff to do in the area

Because I will not have time Ms. Sweetie Pie, who lives in Michigan still, is going to help with the items that will need to go in the map. Hopefully this will just be a small thanks to our guests making it out for our big day.

Ms. Dancer's Birthday

This evening was Ms. Dancer’s annual Beach BBQ party. It was a beautiful sunny day when we left the house around 4 but by the time we picked up liquor, found our friends and set up our blankets the sun started going down and the temperature dropped. We had to make do with what we had to keep warm, hence the towels used as blankets and the legwarmers I had in my car from my dance class.

MR. ROGUE AND I

Once the time the boys got the fire nice and toasty I was able to unthaw. We roasted some marshmallow’s had a marshmallow fight, totally childish but so much fun, and basically just watched the fire. There is something so hypnotic about an open flame; I love the calm that rushes over me with the warmth that it brings and the beauty that it displays. We unfortunately did not end up staying late even though we were having a great time because I was just exhausted.

MR. DANCER AND I

An hour later found Mr. Rogue and I cuddled on the couch, wrapped in tons of soft blankets watching ‘The Other Boyeln Girl’. Natalie Portman is my hero, she is definitely one of my favourite actresses and I have loved her since I saw her in The Professional.

All You Can Eat Meat

After a whirlwind week all I really wanted to do today was to stay home and read a book alone, without anyone near except some certain furry sweethearts and a box of chocolate. That was not to be though because a good friends Mr. Viking’s birthday was here and I promised that I would not flake out on him a month ago when he asked me to come. Plus Mr. Rogue was about as excited as a fat kid with all you can eat cake because Mr. Viking’s birthday celebration was at Fogo De Chao a Brazilian all you can eat meat restaurant in Brentwood. We ended up going although we were nearly a half hour late. We wished the birthday boy a happy one and then proceeded to GORGE our selves with so much meat that I am worried my stomach lining may rupture. If it does I am sending the bill to Mr. Viking for tempting me with this wonderful restaurant.




MR. VIKING AND I

Alone

I am exhausted. It is such a bone wrenching exhaustion that I feel as if I could sleep for months. Seriously hibernation right now seems like the only option to keeping myself together. I don’t know if Mr. Rogue is gonna allow me to sit at home all the time but for now I am going to be coming home and sleeping every single day from now until the numbing pain in my brain goes away. And although I am sad that everyone is now gone I am happy that I get to rest, and relax.

Bachelorette Party: Departing

This morning I dropped off Ms. Poolshark, Ms. Babydoll and Mr. & Mrs. Bitch. That left only one out of town guest Ms. Ivey League. I did go to work all day and then we spent a wonderful evening with Ms. Dancer at the farmers market and outdoor mall. Of course we had to go to the Cheesecake Factor, which was Ms. Ivey Leagues only demand for the time she was in town. We also managed to do a little bit of shopping while we were there. Ah shopping with girlfriends and then gorging yourself on Cheesecake there is nothing better.

Bachelorette Party: Wicked

Unfortunately for me I had to drag my super tired behind to work today. Having company is OH SO FUN but it is also EXAUSTING. I did however get to leave early but the plan got messed up as plans often do. Originally I had left Mr. & Mrs. Bitch, Ms. Babydoll and Ms. Ivey League with our extra car. They went to the Getty and tromped about town. Then they were supposed to get ready and then meet me in Hollywood so we could have dinner before we saw our play. However, Ms. Ivey League had accidentally locked her bags in Ms. Dancers house without a key so she did not have a dress to wear, or shoes, or her makeup, basically she had nothing but what she was wearing which was totally inappropriate attire for a nice dinner and Wicked. So I ended up having to drive all the way back home to let her in, waited for her to get dressed, and then we were on our way to Hollywood. The only thing is that with LA and traffic timing is EVERYTHING. If you are only a few minutes past the window of traffic than it is too late so basically we sat in over 2 hours of traffic which meant that we had to miss dinner. Miss dinner that Ms. Wise was waiting in Hollywood for us to eat with her. Instead of the nice steak dinner I had planned that evening we ended up getting Subway.





All things aside we did manage to meet up with a now slightly inebriated Ms. Wise and make it to the Pantages Theatre on time. And even though this was my sixth time seeing Wicked I was still in awe of this play. It is so wonderful and the actors were incredible. Everyone loved the show and that is all that matters in the end, that we were together and that we had such a amazing evening.

Bachelorette Party: Sightseeing in LALA

I still had a few people in town. There was Ms. Ivey League, Ms. Pool Shark, Mrs. Bitch and then Mr. Bitch who had flown in yesterday, and Ms. Baby Doll. None of them with the exception of one had been to really see LALA. Today I took them to the Boulevard of the Stars because really we all just want to see famous peoples names under our feet and take photos of the Hollywood sign. I am a good LALA host I know what these out of towners crave.

First we went to the Mann Chinese Theatre which is a cornerstone of Hollywood for over 75 years. The forecourt is home of some of the most famous cement hand and feet prints of the top celebrities of all time. This is still the most sought after theatre for premiers in Hollywood.



Of course the other reason to parade past all the stars and walk down the boulevard is to peak into all the weird stores along the route. Jokingly we sauntered into a shoe store where we convinced Ms. Babydoll to try on 10 inch stripper shoes. Poor girl could not walk in the damn things I cannot imagine how anyone could dance in them.



While walking we passed an electronic store and I did what I have been wanting to do for a very long time. I bought a simple point and shoot camera. With the bachelorette party and everything going on for the wedding I found myself frustrated with the fact that I had to attempt to use Mr. Rogues complicated nice camera. Also it was not like I could take the nice camera out to the bar or on a drunken party night. This little camera is going to help me capture all those moments that matter the most. It will also help me beef up the photos on my blog. After looking at several different models I decided to get the same one as Ms. Pool Shark. I had been using it all weekend and I was really happy with how easy it was to use AND with how good the photos came out.



After gallivanting around we were hungry and ducked into the famous Pig and Whistle. Because it was a weird time, not quite dinner but defiantly past lunch we almost had the entire restaurant to ourselves. The building is classic Hollywood through and through. With its vaulted ceilings and intricate original architecture the building alone is a sight to see. There is so much history that happened in this building including the first ever after Oscar party and Julie Garland’s 15th birthday. Old famous stars were regulars here in particular Shirley Temple. What a yummy lunch.


AHH THE FIRST SHOT WITH MY NEW CAMERA

Bachelorette Party: BBQ

Most of us surprisingly were only moderately hung over the day after wine tasting. I was happy to say that even though I got a bit tipsy the night before I woke up feeling wonderful. The girls decided to stay on at the Mansion and hang out by the pool for the morning and that we would leave mid afternoon. Ah those hours by the pool. We felt like P-I-M-P’s.





The sun was glaring and after I while I also succumbed to jumping into the pool. The thing was that I was not quite as daring, I did not jump, instead I more eased into the pool and oh was it OH SO CHILLY.



Walking out of the house I snapped this last photo of the beautiful pool. I so wish I could fold it up and put it in my pocked so I could unfold it in my own back yard in the city.



I had arranged a BBQ for the night entertainment because there were so many people out of town. We ate yummy food, we played the WII and I got aggravated with a few stragglers who decided to go off and do their own bit of wine tasting on their way home.





I could have been very angry and let it ruin the night, instead I talked to everyone and let them know I was upset and then we all moved on with our evening. Small disappointments are sometimes really just having your expectations to high.

My Bachelorette Party: Limo Wine Tasting

Everyone wore black and I wore white for our day at the wineries. The limo picked up us promptly at noon and I found it a bit odd that our driver looked more like a small yard gnome than a man. That is a yard gnome with the most pronounced uni-brow I had ever seen and a bowler hat. I wonder if he cultivates that growth between his brows as some sort of proof of his masculinity. Maybe his is bald under his bowler cap and he cannot get rid of ANY hair on his head even if it is so incorrectly placed as between his eyebrows. Anyways he insisted that we treat him as “A Professional’ which caused hours of amusement for my friends and I.



Here is a shot of us right before we left the house. See how we are all sober here. Do not expect this in later shots.



We visited four wineries, the first being the most small and calm and the last being on the larger side and much cooler. Here at our third stop you can see three of my friends either working on a butt war OR attempting to mimic a power ranger stance. Either way I love this photo.



I also really liked the third stop because they had a green lawn out back that you could take your testing samples. The other tasting rooms were dark and cramped so I loved the fact that you could enjoy the sunshine here.



Oh and I did make sure not to leave one single drop left in any of my glasses. I was a good bachelorette like that.

By the time we crossed the threshold to the fourth and final taste testing winery we were a gang of 14 rip roaring drunk girls. We were sad when it was time to go back to the mansion.

We did however make one more stop to pick up plenty of supplies for the evening. No one wanted to be out of liquor tonight.

My Bachelorette Party: Getting to The Mansion

Because it is only a 3 hour drive to Temecula for the Bachelorette party extravaganza I had a few hours to kill in the morning with the girls. We started by making a wonderful spread for breakfast. There were eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, toast, grape juice and orange juice.

We decided during our breakfast feast that we would spend a few hours relaxing at the beach and the two hours following breakfast was the time it took to get six girls showered and dressed and out the door. This is one of the only reasons I am happy that I was the only girl in the house.

The beach was lovely. The California sun was blazing, it was a Friday during the day so the beach crowd was relatively light. I was a little worried about the personalities of my girls all mixing together. There were such a great range of styles and ages that I thought there would be some awkward pauses but everyone seemed to get along really well.

Getting back from the beach and SHOWERING AGAIN left us just enough time to gather our bags and get into two cars for the trip to the mansion. AH the mansion was everything I had hoped it would be and by the time we made it up to the house everyone had been able to get a little closer with others in the group. So close in fact that I paired them up as sleeping buddies because all the beds were queen or king.

Of course the master suite was mine and OH HOW I WISHED that this house was my own. The master suite alone was about the size of my current house and the closet; ah I could have filled it with the most beautiful shoes. I did sit in there for a few moments and daydream about how one day a closet like this would be mine. And although this photo does not show the sheer hugeness of this closet it does accurately portray my blissful euphoria at being in a room of such greatness.

Our group getting there first we explored the mansion and fell in love with how beautiful it was. The house was wonderfully beautiful but it was the views that really took your breath away. The house was situated on a huge hill that overlooked the Temecula Valley and the architect had created vast balconies that spread across the back of the house. It was truly a beautiful site as the sun set.

Everyone arrived at different times and by 8:00 PM we were all in the hot tub and drinking all the liquor we had brought. By 10:00 PM every drop of alcohol was gone and some less inebriated people went off to the nearby town for a run. We managed to drink all that alcohol also but at least by then we were resigned to find our beds and start getting ready for the wine tasting extravaganza tomorrow.

Bachelorette Party: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I have been scrambling around the past few days to get everything ready for when my girls get here this weekend for my Bachelorette party extraordinaire. Since 6 of my seven bridesmaids are out of town, and they are all coming, including one other girlfriend who is flying in for the weekend, we are planning to have a lot of houseguests which means a lot of cleaning and preparations. I am happy to say that I managed to finish the last of my list just as Ms. Babydoll arrived. Unfortunately we tried to time it so all 5 girls who are flying in today would land at the same time but that just did not happen. As it is I am picking up the first three girls and then while we are at dinner my MOH will be getting the remaining two.

So once Ms. Babydoll, Mrs. Bitch, and Ms. Sweetie arrived we headed to the Hermosa pier for sushi. Because sushi and martinis are DA BOMB! Once we got there we all found out MUCH to our surprise that cute Ms. Babydoll had never tried sushi, had never used chopsticks, AND who never had edamame. She tried edamame and LOVED IT, she ate with the chopsticks like a beginner but a true champ because she tried, AND she fell in love with the vegetarian sushi.



After dinner and a few too many martinis we headed next door to Sharkie’s for a few games of pool and some more drinks while we waited for Ms. Pool Shark and Ms. Ivy League. Ms. Pool shark arrived and I almost cried because now the GAME WAS ON. We both rocked the table and played so many games I lost count. What I did not lose count of was how many games I won. Oh yea I left a winner and someone else left as the looser. We closed the bar and still Ms. Ivy League plane had not arrived. It ended up being perfect timing as we pulled into the front of the house they called.
I managed to get everyone situated on a couch or a blow up mattress and say hi to Ms. Ivy League before crashing myself. With my excitement at so many close friends I hardly ever get to see in the house at the same time I am surprised I fell asleep so fast.