FABULOUS times

I spent last weekend in Tampa for my bachelorette party at Stevie's house!!! When I got off the plane, my friends were at the airport with a sign to pick me up - it was as if I had a driver :) And then when we got to Stevie's house, the mailbox was decorated too!

I couldn't believe that friends had come down from Connecticut (Brittany), Virginia (Meghan), South Carolina (Megan and Wendy), Georgia (Blair) and my Florida babies (Stevie and Vickie). I was excited to see the renovations that Stevie and Eric have done to their home over the past three years too! She wasted no time and brought out her fabulous vegetable dip, drinks, etc and I was surprised with a bouquet of flowers Brad had delivered for me...then suddenly it was time for gifts!

They organized a lingerie shower for me and I think Brad now has some new best friends ;). My friends also created a beautiful recipe scrapbook for me that I carried home on the plane in my lap. There are pages from nearly everyone who was invited, whether they could make it or not. It is a real treasure!!!

*I'm having a problem arranging the pictures - again - so they are all over the place (obviously)*And make note that the majority of weekend photos are only for the party girls and Brad to see...especially those from our pre-party on Saturday night!**

We went to a country bar called Round Up on Saturday night and it was Brittany's first bar experience. Before leaving the house Stevie brought out dozens of colorful leis with tags that said "I got LEI'd at Shannon's Bachelorette Party August 1-3, 2008." We all took three leis and had to lei guys throughout the night, that is, when we weren't awestruck by Ryan Weaver playing on stage!

Saturday we spent at St. Pete/Clearwater beach and got to relax and chat all afternoon. While in the GUlf, Meghan, Wendy, Stevie, brittany and I got a horoscope reading by a sketchy guy in the water..yeah I don't know either. Vickie met us at the beach before we had a yummy lunch. Luckily no pigeons ate our food. Once back at Stevie's we were in the pool and all started getting ready for Saturday night and I had no clue what I was getting myself into!

A few weeks ago Stevie, Blair and Brittany e-mailed me a list of things to bring and it included random stuff like: aviators, a Clemson shirt, argyle socks, something camo, etc. So I brought all of it with me, but as it turns out I only needed the argyle (see below picture). And people were still asking us all night why we had the socks on??!! C'mon, really?! But before leaving for Channelside there was a visitor, no nothing that involved nudity, not at Stevie's house that night at least. I'll leave it at that. Let's just say that the picture of me laughing hysterically, was from the party :).

At Channelside we went to three different bars where I got on stage at the Paino Bar and the 80s bar to sing Jessie's Girl and a variety of toher songs with the band. It was fun times had by all. Oh, except when the waitress tripped and fell into me and Vickie - drenching the back of her shirt early in the night. We tried to clean it up in the Sit2P room! The night was fabulous and ended at 3:30am with me making my sister feed me before I went to bed. Good news - no one had a hangover on Sunday! So, we got to enjoy the pool and gradually everyone started to leave and yes, I cried. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!!! I hope to see these girls in a few short months at our wedding!!

On the wedding front: 85 days to go TheKnot told me this morning. I have gotten all the bridesmaid gifts completed, their dresses were delivered to them last week (and look great!), I purchased my veil, scheduled my first fitting and made arrangements for brunch on November 2nd at the Hampton Inn in a separate room. If only I was quicker at addressing envelopes......