Bridal Shower

I have the most amazing friends and family in the whole world! On April 30th I went to two amazing parties both in honor of ME! The first was my bridal shower. It was held at my friend and bridesmaid, Katie's house. Everyone went through so much work to get everything ready. My sister and Maid of Honor, Holly, worked her butt off organizing and planning this amazing party. When I arrived (late, of course) the whole house was beautifully decorated. There was all this great food and the most incredible centerpiece I've ever seen that was created by another of my wonderful bridesmaids, Jaime. All the guests were there including my "mystery guest" which was my cousin, Stacey, that traveled all the way from Colorado to surprise me even though she is incredibly pregnant! It was a great surprise and just her being there was such a thoughtful gift. The party was wine themed because if you know me you know I love the vino! So, we started everything off with a wine tasting presented by my amazing friend, Amanda Tucker. She described the wines and went around and poured us all samples just like a professional. And, just like a great friend, the samples all got a little bigger as we went along. =) When we had some wine, we played a few games that Holly had put together. Then I spent what seemed like 10 hours opening gifts. Once again, if you know me, you know that I am extremely uncomfortable opening gifts in front of people but there's no way to get around that at a bridal shower. It was so cool though. I got a ton of amazing, thoughtful gifts. I received enough wine to really get a collection going. One of the funniest times was when I opened a card from my friend, Laura, who lives out of town and couldn't make it but sent her gift along with Jaime. I opened the card and immediately realized that it was a gift intended for my bachelorette party and NOT the bridal shower. It caused a bit of a stir so I put those gifts away to be opened later as opposed to doing it in front of my mom and aunt. The best moment was when my mom gave me the final gift. It was a small hope chest from her childhood and inside it was a beautiful handkerchief that had been made out of the lace from her wedding veil. I was sobbing because it was all so meaningful and had to let my mom explain it to the rest of the guests. I can tell you that I was not the only person in tears after that. The whole party was just amazing. The food was great and the company was better. The gifts were thoughtful and all the games and activities were tons of fun. I don't remember the last time I had felt this lucky and loved. By the end of the party I felt like I could be done with the entire day and feel completely content. However, that was not the case. I was not done with the day because I had to go home and get ready for my second party. I'm going on to tell about the bachelorette party in the next blog and I will warn you now not to read it if you have notions of me being an innocent angel. ;-)