102 days...

...and I am exhausted. My bridal shower was a huge success thanks to my best friend and bridesmaid, Jill. She put together the whole "Paint" themed party with help from my mom and sisters.

That girl put me to shame. Yeah, I can paint an overweight, butt-crack exposing Santa on a gourd, but I would never have thought to make flowers out of paint sample strips, or paint-yer-own-frame favors, or framed famous painters' love quotes! I'm a rookie, an executive assistant, a golfer's caddie!

Annnnnnd, I'm over it. Now back to the party:

My favorite of the three quotes:

To express the love of two lovers is by the marriage of two complementary colors.

Vincent Van Gogh

The food was delish and an A+ for presentation. Chicken salad on mini croissants with grapes, kiwi, strawberries and melon balls on kabobs, (slurp) yellow, red, orange, green, and white veggies on kabobs with a ranch dipping sauce, multi-colored strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate cupcakes, (slurrrrrp) coconut cake, brownies, sugar cookies, (ssssluuurrrrp) chocolate chip cookies...what is the best way to get drool out of a keyboard? Hypothetically, I mean.

The paint-yer-own-frames turned out great. See? Everyone is working so hard. No pictures of me working on my frame. I scrunch up my face in a way you would not know what exactly I'm concentrating on...no, I will NOT elaborate.

Marlo, Erin, Kathy and Pat

Betsy

...and then the crazies came out. That's not me second from the left. That girl is a....neighbor we see every now and then walking out to the mailbox in pajama pants and a band t-shirt.

Ok, but seriously,

Up next, stories of big hair, slouch socks, and Saved by the Bell trivia. This ain't yo mama's bachelorette party!

107 days...

Small revelation about myself: I was a band geek. Am, if you consider the countless hours still spent watching my old performance tapes...or if you consider the number of people in New York State who have seen my old performance tapes. You see, I grew up in northern Indiana. The only thing to do was play basketball, come up with funny name combinations for neighboring states (i.e. Michiana), or join a marching band.

Sure we spent a good chunk of our summers at band camp, and yes, we gave up Saturdays and Wednesday nights for rehearsals and performances. But, I would say four consecutive state finals trips, marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and marching in a Honolulu parade made it well worth the extra effort.

What else made it worth the effort? Sombreros and bumblebee socks, Father Abraham, what-happened-on-the-bus-last-night gossip, Chinese fire drills, and trombone dance routines. Say wha...? You'd have to be there. Or I can show you the tape!

This revelation comes as I anticipate the arrival of my very best, fellow band-geek friends for my bridal shower & bachelorette party.

Monica - 1st chair clarinet, the best in the biz. My roommate for two years in college.

Amanda - clarinet. We had our geek parties at her house. Movies, brownies, and juice boxes.

Jill - trombone. Co-creator of the trombone push-up. The other creator: yours truly.

Will we relive some of our favorite band memories? Probably. Will other shower attendees look at us like we're crazy? Yeah, most likely. Will we care? uhhhh....If we could walk around downtown Indianapolis in granny shoes, cumberbunds, and feathers on our heads do you think we'll really be bothered by a few blank stares??