Bachelorette Madness

I have been seriously, SERIOUSLY, lagging in the blogging department. So let's back up to a little over a week ago...

The bachelorette weekend was a success! WAIT...that doesn't even come close to giving it the credit it deserves. The bachelorette weekend was phenomenal. Absolutely perfect in every way. Everything from the girls night out bus, to the dinner and brunch locations, to the tiny phallic symbol confetti adorning every surface of the hotel room was so perfectly thought out and executed with ease, and of course, surprise to me! That's right, I had no idea what was next on the "bachelorette agenda" until right when it was happening. Here's how the weekend unfolded...

Friday:

I left work somewhere around mid-day and nearly got a speeding ticket as I raced home to pack my bags and get the weekend started. After throwing nearly everything in my closet and drawers into my gigantic Vera Bradley duffel bag, Todd threw me AND the bag into the car and drove me out to my parents neighborhood. We quickly kissed goodbye and he raced off, not to be seen again for 2 days. No, he wasn't anxious to get rid of me, but he was anxious to get home to watch the Stanley Cup Play-offs.


So, Caitlin, Kim and I hopped in the car and headed to the Vienna metro. We had to take the orange line to Metro Center, change trains and take the yellow line to the National Archives stop. After about 45 minutes on the metro, the conductor announced "this is the last stop on the orange line in Washington DC". We were at Deanwood. Ever heard of it? Nope, us either. We immediately grabbed our stuff and de-boarded the train. Once out of the train we noticed we were most likely NOT in the nicest of neighborhoods...fortunately we also noticed a metro map. We were SEVEN stops past Metro Center. SEVEN. UGH. We would like to blame it on the fact that we were having such an enthralling conversation that we never even noticed our stop -- or that we were all exhausted and taking naps -- but in actuality we just weren't paying attention. At all. SO back on the train, we made it to our stop, switched trains, and made it to our destination.


We met up with Lori, Stef and Monica and they took me into the hotel to see the first (of a million) surprises! The whole place was decorated with bachelorette paraphernalia and there was even a beautiful "cake" to celebrate with. We immediately made a champagne toast and ordered pizza. After champagne we decided to have some "canned" beverages and the girls whipped out adorable drink koozies specially made for the weekend! One side said "Melissa's Bachelorette Weekend" and the other side said "To Have and To Hold, and To Keep Your Drink Cold!" Adorable! And they were navy and yellow, Todd's two favorite colors! After a few more drinks and chit-chat [read: endless giggling] we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool and hot tub. Well when we got down to the pool, there were a few "old folks" hanging around, so we decided to go back upstairs and play a game until we were sure the pool area had been freed up.



Well, the game was probably the most fun I've ever had. The girls had videotaped Todd, asking him a bunch of various questions (i.e. what is Melissa's Dream Vacation, etc.) and then paused the video before his answer. I was to give my answer to the question and if my answer matched his, I got a present (which let's be honest, I was getting the presents anyway) but we ended up matching probably 70-80% of the questions! One of the ones I missed, the answer was Chipotle Tabasco sauce...seriously? The girls know what I'm talking about! :) Anyway, the presents were all under-garment related and totally adorable...and some of them were hilarious and need not ever be shown again ;) ha!




After the game we headed back to the pool with our koozies and after a couple of hours in the pool and hot tub (we had the whole place to ourselves!) we decided it would be a great idea to walk to Clyde's of Chinatown for some late night snacks. After stuffing our faces full of delicious (but unnecessary) appetizers, we headed back to the hotel to crash. We had a long day ahead of us!

Saturday:

We woke up fairly early, got ready, and the girls whipped out the bachelorette party shirts! They were adorable navy blue T-shirts (designed by Sara!) with the words "Melissa's Gettin' Hitched" on the front and "CHEERS!" across the top of the back. Very fitting as we were headed to Tarara winery! The winery was absolutely gorgeous and we sampled about 9 different varieties of wine. Most of which I poured into the discard bucket...but there was a white and a cold red that I really liked (which most of the girls...including me and mom...bought bottles of to take home). After the tasting we headed to the deck for some more wine and a huge lunch spread. Seriously, those girls are so cute! We had a fabulous time Wine-ing, but by 3pm we were all exhausted from the heat and couldn't wait to head back to take a nap.

When we arrived back at the hotel in DC, it was almost 4pm so we decided we had about 40 minutes to take power naps before having to get ready for the night of fun. After about 35 minutes of giggling and attempting to sleep, I finally passed out...which = grumpy mel trying to wake up 5 minutes later. So I dragged myself off the floor and Lor and Monica set out to make me beautiful :) They did my hair and make-up (that's right, the bachelorette gets the royal treatment!) while we all sipped champagne. Then I donned my bright blue dress (all the girls wore black) and we made our way to dinner. Minus the fact that we were running about a half hour late (which running late kind of turned out to be the theme of the weekend), we all scooted out the door to dine at the District Chophouse. WOW. YUM. The food was amazing, but after a day of wine drinking and snacking followed by little sleep, we all got full very fast and had a hard time finishing our dinners. So we packed up leftovers in hopes of destroying them MUCH later in the evening ;) and headed back to the hotel to drop them off.

But once outside the restaurant, SURPRISE! There was a big white van for us all to board. The Girls Night Out bus! The drivers dropped us by the hotel to drop off leftovers, pick up some beverages, and adorn me in bachelorette paraphernalia -- a sash, crown, and even a veil -- before hitting the streets of DC for a bar-hopping extravaganza. The first bar we graced with our presence was McFadden's. I relished in the fact that we got VIP access and were allowed to cut the line and head right in...but once inside I immediately felt embarrassed. I was "THAT" girl in her bachelorette gear with her posse of girls, taking over DC bars. BUT to my astonishment, everyone was excited for me/us and people immediately started buying us drinks and shots. Turned out to be about 3 other bachelorettes in the bar! I received advice and congratulations from a million different people in the bar including "congrats!" and "you girls look great!" and even a "don't do it baby!" from a guy with the worst body odor I've ever smelled. Probably why he's giving out anti-marital advice, because, well, nobody wants to marry his stinky pits.

So we bar-hopped to several other places and found ourselves in Adams Morgan, where I managed to find a flower in the bathroom, which I put in my hair... (gross, right? it was clean, ask Caitlin)...change from my heels into the flip-flops Stef was so graciously carrying for me in her purse...and proceed to proclaim that every song that was played was "my jam" and do endless fist pumps and "roof-raising" (seriously, how 1990's am I?!) until my arms were sore. I am the only person in about 96% of the photos taken in Adams Morgan. Which tells you how embarrassing I must have been.

As the lights started to turn on in the bar (I think we were at Tom-Toms?), we decided there was only one thing that could complete the evening...JUMBO SLICE PIZZA! So we pushed our way through the crowds, and I hugged every bachelorette I saw on the way (and a few of them gave me presents...I ended up with lots of pink beads and even a pink boa!) Stef and I made our way to the front and as Stef said "we need 9 cheese slices please" I busted up laughing because I thought it was a hilarious request. Well, apparently EVERYONE in Adams Morgan was ordering 9 slices of cheese pizza because I was the only one laughing.

Somehow we made it back to the hotel with (most of) the pizza still in tact and I made a bee line for the coffee table and ended the night somewhere around 4am, just like this:

I woke up the next morning in brand new PJ's from Lori...and am still not 100% sure how I put them on! Thank goodness for good girlfriends!

Sunday:

We woke up around 10ish and no, we did not shower. But we did manage to comb our hair and remove remnants of leftover makeup from the night before and head out to brunch! At this point only six of us were still standing - Lor, Caitlin, Mon, Stef, Marissa, and myself (Larissa had to get on the road back to PA and Katie and Annie had gone home at the end of Adams Morgan the night before) -- and we were verrrry tired.

At this point me verrrry tired also = me a littttle cranky. So as I was getting dressed, I sort of "demanded" that Lori tell me where we were going so I could dress appropriately. A few times I have been quoted as saying "I'm tired of being fun". I deny those allegations, but perhaps I was still a bit hazy from lack of sleep and too much excitement and I might have said something along those lines.

Anyway, we went to Old Ebbitt's Grill for a delicious brunch, complete with bloody mary's and mimosas, as per my wishes! As we sat eating and piecing the night before together through Monica and Caitlin's camera's (they both took tons of fabulous...and some not so fabulous...pictures) I was overcome with sadness. Whether it was the fact that my weekend with the girls was quickly coming to an end, or the fact that I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open, I told the girls that I was getting that "after Christmas depression" feeling. They agreed.

So we all headed home, and I immediately plopped on my couch (still no shower), put in Bride Wars (one of my fabulous weekend gifts!) and passed out until Todd came home. Actually, even when he got home, I could barely open an eye to say hello to him (even though I was very excited to see him!) and all I could hear was Todd talking to a buddy on the phone saying "well, she can't even get off the couch, so she MUST have had a good time!"

No...not a good time. A Great time.

Thank you to all my fabulous ladies who worked so hard to put together such an amazing weekend in my honor. It could not have gone any better or been any more fun. I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends (even those who could not make it but contributed in HUGE ways!). And while it may have been my "last fling before the ring" I know we'll remain the closest of friends and continue to have many more wild and crazy nights together in the future...just next time, no pictures of me singing please. They are never attractive.

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!! XOXO