Shower Me With Your Love (aka the Longest Blog Post Ever)

My shower and bachelorette party this Saturday were AMAZING! I'll post some more pics once I get them in, but in the meantime you can enjoy this recap. My shower was held at Brent's parents' great house. It's huge so it could easily hold the 35+ women who attended. I was very excited to wear the dress I found especially for the occasion at JC Penney, of all places! My maid of honor, Shelby, brought her sister, Megan, a professional hairdresser, so I was fortunate to use her fabulous talents to make my normally straight hair into a fun and curly mane! Because we didn't have an engagement party, Brent's mom went all out and hired our wedding caterer - who does all the dinner parties for her circle of friends - to make delicious treats for the tea party. We had watercress, chicken salad and other yummy crustless tea sandwiches, shortbread with lemon mousse and berries, lavender orange cake, scones with jam and creme fresh, brownies with macadamia nuts, tea and a tea-infused punch. There were tons of leftovers, which are thankfully not at my house otherwise I'd need to get my dress taken out instead of in! In addition to the "tea party," there was a theme for the shower gifts. My shower organizers - Shelby and Brent's mom - asked that attendees bring gifts that Brent and I could use for entertainment. (Get your dirty minds out of the gutter!) So, we received a fabulous assortment of gifts, including gift certificates for cooking classes (three different kinds!), a dance lesson, restaurants (including Versailles!), movies, community theater, Disneyland, and a fun set of gift certificates especially for Third Street Promenade that included gift certificates for dinner, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, movie, Sephora and even a tip for a street performer! I also got a gift certificate for a wolf sanctuary (this was from my wacky aunt. Don't ask), as well as other great gifts like a fondue set and cookbooks, baking pans, cocktail shaker and bartending book, board games, a picnic backpack, and a wine insulator with adorable plates and silverware. I also got to see my flower girls (Brent's second cousins). I had met the eldest flower girl, Jadyn, when she was about 7 months old; she's now 5. Her younger sister Alexa is 3. They were adorable in their matching dresses - Jadyn in green, Alexa in pink! Our wedding colors! I couldn't stand it! It was cute overload! And they were so well behaved the entire shower. They sat quietly while I opened my presents and watched in awe as I got ready for the bachelorette party. Apparently the upcoming wedding is all they talk about! Jadyn even talked about coming to the shower at her class show-and-tell last week! After the shower my gals got me ready for the bachelorette party. I was presented with a shirt I had to wear that included a checklist of specific kinds of guys for me to find, including "Named Brent," "eldest child," "went to Cal Poly," "drives a Honda Civic," "28 years old," "was married or getting married in April," etc. They also dressed me in a white boa, an awesome tiara that said "Bachelorette" and tulle for my veil. We started at Jillian's Hi Life, a club/bowling alley at Universal Citywalk. We bowled two games there, where I found almost all the guys to fit the descriptions on my shirt. Then we headed to Buca di Bepo for dinner, where some of the gals found a guy who'd pretend his name was Brent, the last item on my list. This was after walking around Citywalk, scaring the crowds by screaming, "Brent! Is there a Brent here?" So as Fake Brent is initialing my shirt, his friend runs up screaming, "Calvin! What you doing?" to try to get him busted, but my girls let it go and I was able to finally change into the top I bought just for the occasion. Dinner was delicious and instead of a celebratory dessert, the waitress agreed to a celebratory shot for me. And when they brought it out my gals burst into their rendition of "Going to the Chapel," which sounds amazingly nice sung by 10 girls (and some women at a nearby table who sung along). Next we headed to Howl at the Moon, a really great piano bar at Citywalk, featuring two baby grand pianos and singers who offer renditions of songs like Brown Eyed Girl, My Humps (HILARIOUS!), Roxanne, Kid Rock's Cowboy and other fun-to-sing-along diddies. My group bought me a shot from one of the waiters who straddled me and injected a giant syringe filled with a Jello shot, followed by a squirt of whip cream. We hooted and hollered! Not too long after the first shot, he came back because someone else (not from our group) bought me another shot from him! I thought it was Fake Brent because he was there and said hello to us, but it turns out that a really nice woman standing nearby with her boyfriend generously decided to buy me a Congratulations shot! I had a really great time with a bunch of awesome friends. And now I know where I'm going for my birthday in July! I need some more piano bar time! "You may kiss the bride - and if you don't, I will." - Jolly Minister, Brokeback Mountain