Bridal Shower Follow-Up

Matthew and I just got home from Daytona Beach a few hours ago. What a busy weekend! Stephanie (the bride, and my best friend of 20 years) had no idea I was on my way to see her. She was quite surprised when I showed up on her door step. Her fiancee (Christian), whom I've never met before, is a really great guy. Intelligent, charming, and charismatic are the top three words I would chose to describe him. This was the first time I had met him.

Christian and I had been on the phone on and off throughout the last couple weeks trying to get my visit arranged. I filled him in on the planning and scheduling of the spa, and dinner reservations. He had agreed to watch Matthew while the girls 'hung out at the spa'. So while the girls were having their 'girls day out', the boys were having a 'men's day together' (ha ha ha) - I thought that was cute. Stephanie and Christian have a five year old (Stephen) whom Matthew got a long famously with. The two boys were practically inseparable the entire weekend. They played in the pool together at the hotel, and video games together while they were at Christian's house just to name a few of their many activities.

Saturday morning started out a little rough around the edges. There are three brides-maids, one maid of honor, and the bride. Between the five of us, four were supposed to go to the spa together. Everyone received an invitation, with only one declination (an out of town brides-maid). Come Saturday morning, we had the bride, and myself... but two of the brides-maids hadn't arrived by the specified meeting time. Stephanie wasn't aware of what the agenda was... and had no idea what was about to happen. Once the limousine pulled up to the house (right on schedule), of course she was shocked, but we had to start making phone calls... quickly. The other two weren't anywhere to be found. So we asked the driver if he was able to wait just a few more minutes to allow the other girls a chance to arrive. He agreed and we all stood around socializing. About three minutes later, Angie (one of the brides-maids) arrived. She was supposed to pick up Kimberly (the other brides-maid), but arrived alone. Apparently, Kimberly wasn't aware she was supposed to be going with us to the spa and decided to make other arrangements the night before - so she wasn't home when Angie went to pick her up. The three of us left in the limousine. Christian made some phone calls, finally found out where she was and then drove an hour to go pick her up to bring her to the spa so that she could join us. We all had a wonderful, relaxing afternoon. Its a good thing he was able to help out. After that, we went to see how the boys were doing. Each had four limbs and had been fed - so we figured the three of them were doing pretty good. They were all happy. They had been to the pool and though Christian was wore out - the boys still had some energy left so they went into Stephen's room and played with some toys. At 6:30, the girls left for the restaurant. Ocean Deck is Stephanie's favorite place to go... so that's where the reservations were made. After arriving, I realized that its not the type of place you really make reservations. It's a very casual, no shoes, no shirt required kind of place. Karaoke night. A lot of great talent ended up on stage while we waited for the manager. I wasn't sure where we would be seated exactly. Vernon, the manager, showed us to an outside private deck area. It worked out nicely because the weather just happened to be cooperating with us. It was a cool 75 or so outside with a slight breeze. We posted decorations and waited for everyone else to arrive. Ironically, the girl with the exotic dancer idea didn't show up. In attendance was: Vicki (the Mother of the Bride), Sandy (the aunt of the bride), Jennifer (Stephanie's brother's girlfriend), Angie, Kimberly, Stephanie, and myself. Small, but quaint. Sandy is a recovering alcoholic on many different psych meds. Needless to say, she had one Bahama-Mama and felt sick. She had a 'brilliant' idea to go lay down in the mini-van. Unfortuantely, the parking lot of the restaurant is two blocks away, on the opposite side of A1A (not in the best of neighborhoods). Obviously we couldn't allow her to do that, we chose to finish eating and call it a night. Which invaded our plans to go downstairs and join karaoke night. Oh well. Viki, Sandy, Jennifer, and Angie left together because they all car-pooled. Kimberly, Stephanie and I went back to the hotel. The plan then was for us to put our suits on and go down to the jacuzzi. Which was a great plan. It's nice to listen to the waves crashing against the shore while sitting in the warm water with your back up against one of the jets. It was around 10:45 when we got back to the hotel. I ended up with a pretty bad headache so I opted to stay behind and rest - seeing that I had quite a drive ahead of me for the next day. I gave them the room key and wished them a good time. I'm glad they were understanding. I think I fell asleep before I hit the pillow. I wasn't sure what time they came back up to the room, but I heard them giggling about Little Foot. Little Foot is my 8 month old rabbit. He was hopping up and down at the side of the bed where Kimberly had laid down. They (Stephanie and Kimberly) thought he was looking for his 'mama' (me). I think sleep paralysis had taken a hold of me again when all of that was going on... not able to move, or speak. I was completely exhausted. All-in-all, it was a great day.

Sunday morning, we all woke up, went to eat, and said our goodbye's. It's hard to imagine We get to do most of this all over again in two weeks for the wedding. Sigh.... it was a great weekend.
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After reading some of the responses to my last post....

I'm glad to hear I have Pizza Hut supporters (ha ha ha). Matthew and I are doing very well.

Despite the slight financial, and mental drain - I don't mind doing any of this. Stephanie has been one of my best friends, through good times and bad, for the last twenty years. It is nice to know that we have someone to count on when we need someone to lean on. I have leaned quite hard on her in the past - and now it's her turn. We have supported each other, even when we thought we couldn't. She is part of my family and I love her.

I'm not too sure who "EZ" is. By the view of the posted picture, I am absolutly sure it is a relative. That is the face of Grandma Pat all the way. But I'm not quite sure it is her. Please send a message to me with who you are. In the meantime, the color 'latte' reminds me of a cup of dark coffee with one tsp. of milk. Its sort of creamy, but I still think its too dark for a February wedding at the same time. The exact dress is located on this web page: David's Bridal - Bridesmaids, Dress Detail Please feel free to view the exact dress and comment on your thoughts. I am always interested to hear (read about) what other opinions are.

I hope this blog finds everyone in good hopes and spirits for the upcoming week.