The Bachelorette Party

It took me a little longer to get this posted. Surprise, surprie huh? Last saturday was my friend Barb's bachelorette party. Barb has been one of my sister Amy's best friends since they were in high school. She is also friends with my youngest sister Erin. So all three of us were in attendance.

Erin picked me up around 11:30 am and we headed out. We were all supposed to meet at HotShotz (a chain of restaurant bars that the bride-to-be's husband's parents own) at noon. The bride-to-be was also getting her trial run for her hair done that morning. Once Erin and I found out that the hair was taking much longer then expected (no surprise there) we decided to go get some coffee instead of sitting up at the bar and waiting for them for an hour. Looking back, that was most likely a very good idea. Although starting the shots earlier probably wouldn't have made the ending any better. A couple of very sweet guys at the coffee house did offer to buy our coffees though. Nice. I also got into a very interesting conversation regarding soy with the coffee house owner who just HAD to know why I wouldn't want to drink soy milk in my coffee. I told her she didn't really want to know. She assured me that she did. She really opened a can of worms there.

Realizing we had been at the coffee house for much too long, we grabbed our lattes and jetted over to the bar. Upon arrival, there was still no sign of the bride-to-be, so we took some seats and hung out for a while. After a while, everyone started showing up, some shots were poured and some pre-party drinking began. I stuck with my latte... it was only 1:30 pm and I knew we had a very very long day and night to go.

I had packed my trusty green flask, a bridesmaid gift from my sister Amy's wedding, in my bag. It was filled with Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and nestled comfortably next to the rest of the bottle for refills later. For the last 2 years or so, I have started to bring a flask with me instead of ordering drinks while we are out. I get more for less this way when all I have to pay for is a soda to add my captain to. Call me a cheapskate, I don't care, but my budget doesn't have alot of extra room for drinks. I have also realized that I can longer mix my alcohols when drinking. If I just stick to one type of drink, I have lots of fun and I avoid vomiting or becoming completely useless the next day. Never was the latter more important once I became a mother. It took me one morning of having to get up early with the munchkin while trying to nurse a hangover. Never again. It is so not worth it.

After we finished up at Hotshotz, we climbed into the vehicles and headed downtown. On the agenda for the day: Head to the hotel to check in, hop in a cab and head over to the Octoberfest in Soulard, back to the hotel for a wardrobe change, dinner, a St. Louis Blues Hockey Game, and then out to the bars afterwards. Does this sound a little ambitious to anyone else but me?

Once we arrived in our hotel room, Amy whipped out the large cooler with her homemade sangria and set it on the desk. Sangria, which I love, normally would have been very tempting, but since I am avoiding all sugar and carbs right now, I passed it up. The cooler was emptied by the time we left.

After everyone finally got ready, we hopped in a van cab... all 8 of us and headed down to the octoberfest celebration. As we got out of our cab we saw the huge line to get into the festival stretching as far as the eye could see. That was going to be a problem considering we already were running late on our start for the day and we still had lots to do after this. We got out of the cab right near the entrance and walked across the street. The lights changed and once we crossed we realized that the line had been interrupted for traffic to cross the street and with mutual, unspoken agreement we all just kinda stepped into the line about 10 feet from the entrance right where it had been cut off for the street. I am sure no one noticed us line cutting. And once the light changed, and the rest of the people started walking up, I am also sure that all of their dirty looks were because they were hot and tired of waiting in line for over an hour. Not because they just saw us all step out of our cab and walk right up to the entrance. Is line cutting bad for your karma?

As we got closer to the entrance, I saw people getting their bags checked by security. Uh oh. I am not sure they would approve of me bringing my flask into their beerfest. Without any pockets or alternate solutions that I could think of, I hiked up my skirt and shoved my flask between my thighs up near my lady parts. What the hell else was I supposed to do? Yeah I might have walked a little funny into the park, but atleast I still had the captain with me!

After everyone else got their beers, we headed over to the large tent to watch the beer chugging contest.

Me and my girl Michele sitting and waiting for the contest to begin.

Barb, the bride-to-be and my sister Erin sitting to her left.

The contest is getting ready to start.

Below is the only girl team in the contest. Each one of them puked and continued on chugging. Impressive? I haven't decided yet. They did lose, but barely. They were so close to winning their round that the winning team was booed for beating them.

Here's our group of ladies. The preggo girl on the far right was a trooper!
Notice my beverage was much darker then everyone else's.

Amy and Michele sitting in the back of a car being auctioned off.

Barb and I sitting on the lawn enjoying some shade.

We wondered around aimlessly talking to random people. I watched as my friends and sisters became more and more inebriated. They were still pretty functional overall, but it was still early. I was feeling pretty good myself, but not quite as "good" as some of them. Barb also had a really bad head cold and wasn't feeling good at all. She did say that the more she drank, the better she felt. That would suck to be sick at your bachelorette party though! Two other girls joined us, Barb's future sister-in-law and another friend. Per Barb's request, I gathered up the girls like a mother hen and steered everyone towards the exit. It was time to move on to our next destination. With the addition of the new chicks, we piled all 10 of us into another van cab. For just having a baby 7 mos ago, Barb sure has a bony ass.

We headed back to our hotel to change. I had brought my own dinner, a grilled chicken salad, which I ate while everyone else got ready. We then headed over to the restaurant, but not before I refilled my flask!

Here is Barb, doing another shot, and waiting for some much needed food for her belly.

The restaurant manager wanted to show off his flask. Amy wanted to try it out.

Me and my little sister Erin

Our group of ladies, minus myself.

We finished up our meal and headed over to the Blues game. It was their home opener and I was kinda excited about seeing it. It was my first hockey game ever. Unfortunately, our group should have never been at a sports event in our collective state. I might have actually sat and watched a total of 20 minutes. We didn't even arrive until it was already halfway over.


Below is me and my girl Michele. I dig this chick... she is not only a great wine buddy and always up for a good time, she is also the only reason I can afford to keep up with my hair. Which I am going to have to do something with soon... come to think of it. I am thinking darker with some reddish for the fall.... hmmm....

Another shot of me and Erin.

You wouldn't know it by the look on her face, but she is actually not a hockey fan.

I am not sure what is going on here.

Luckily the game ended soon after and everyone else caught up with us.
We stepped outside and found someone to take another group shot.

We wandered around downtown for a while before we finally ended up at another Hotshotz location. I am not gonna lie, I was wondering why they wanted to hang out at this bar, when many of them are at a Hotshotz ALOT (Barb is marrying into the family, the soon to be sister-n-law's parents obviously own them, Erin works at one, and a couple of the other girls use to at some point...). Not only that, but the place was dead and we were surrounded by all the great Blues bars with awesome live bands playing that I could hear as we walked by them. But it wasn't my day... so I kept my trap shut. And I watched as round after round after round of shots arrived. I just didn't see this ending well for some. The place did make a pretty awesome salad though. Around 11:30pm I was STARVING and I broke down and got one. It was delicious.

Another shot of me and Michele.

Barb, our poor sick bachelorette.
I think she was still feeling pretty good at this point.

Amy, Michele and Barb

Another group photo. We were pretty much the only people there.

But hey, we had the entire patio all to ourselves to do whatever we wanted!

Amy cannot believe how much all those shots cost!
And where is our friends and family discount anyway?

Michele may or may not also be appalled at the prices of shots these days.

Finally around 1:00 am, Michele and I decided we were done. We both had to take care of our children the next day and were hoping to be halfway present while doing so. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the hotel room. We brushed our teeth, washed our faces and put on our comfy clothes. Around 2:30 am, we crawled into bed. Even though it was calm and quiet now... it most likely wouldn't be for long.

Eventually they showed up. Her and Amy returned and were telling us about how the other girls were getting sick and not feeling very well in the other room. I felt bad for them... especially Barb. She was now sick in two different ways. I was relieved that my sister's seemed like they had it together.

Finally the morning came. I didn't sleep well at all. I usually don't in beds other then my own. Michele and I were starving, so we headed to the hotel restaurant for their breakfast buffet, while Amy stayed behind to finish packing up their stuff. That was really a mean buffet too. All kinds of fruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapples, grapes, they had scrambled eggs with cheese, cottage cheese, waffles... well you get the picture. It was yum!

So for the most part, I had a blast. It really sucked not getting any sleep, but whatdya gonna do? I just hope Barb had a good time, as that's all that really matters. I am sure she was hating life on Sunday.

This week has been so crazy. I need to figure out some other way to organize my time better or something. I pick up the munchkin after work roun 4:00 and we head home. We hang out a while, then I make dinner, then we eat dinner, hang out, sometimes get a bath, and then she goes to bed around 8:00. After that I have about a 3 hour window before I go to bed and I seem to have way more then enough stuff to fill that time. And a huge chunk of it is spent in the kitchen. I love making all of our food from scratch and wouldn't do it any differently, but there is definitely a downside to it. It does take up alot of time. I have started to work on making more stuff up in larger quantities to eat off of for the week and to freeze some. It's getting a little better by doing that. Before I go to bed each night I also have to make my lunch for work and the munchkin's lunch to go to the sitter. I am sure I will figure out more efficient ways to do things... I just hope it happens sometime soon! I miss blogging and reading blogs... and since I have been so busy at work (when I use to try to do it), I feel like I just don't have much time anymore. It sucks.

Okay enough complaining.... really other then my lack of computer time, I am actually pretty happy with everything else. Joe is doing so good in school and is really loving it. This is awesome, because obviously he is making a major career change here and if he didn't like it, that could definitely cause a problem!

This morning I got to see my girl Anna!! We went to the St. Louis Fashion Designer's Trunk Show. It was pretty cool and I really really wanted to buy a bunch of the clothes I saw. I just love handmade clothes. Love them! I just wish I could afford them. Ofcourse, even at a trunk show, they clothes were still too expensive for me. I did get a necklace and ring though and I was able to spend some time with Anna, which seems to happen less and less these days.

Tonight Joe and I are going out to see a movie while my mom comes over to watch the munchkin. It will be the first time we have gone out by ourselves without any friends, family or the munchkin in almost a year. I think it's about time! I am really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow is our photo shoot at the park with the munchkin and her cousin Quinn. I can not wait to see how the pics are going to turn out. I am so excited about it!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! I am really hoping to catch up on some blogs myself and find out what is going on with everyone else. I miss everyone!!