Pucker up!

I love being in love. I love the idea of love. I love it when I hear others are in love. I am a romantic and love happy endings. I love love. I recently went to a bridal shower for a friend who looked for love for a very long time and kissed a lot of frogs in the meantime waiting for her prince to arrive. The guy she is marrying is perfect for her and it was worth the wait. Going to bridal showers (and baby showers for that matter too) are much easier for me to endure and enjoy knowing that I've found my prince too and my life has gotten on a great track moving forward in the right direction. This particular bridal shower I went to was nothing like anyone has ever seen before. The theme was Mad Hatter and the bride's sister's house, where the party was held, was transformed into a flawless, over-the-top Wonderland from "Alice in Wonderland". The amount of work, creativity and time planning and executing this bridal shower was nothing short of amazing. I can't even begin to do it justice describing all the little and big touches seen throughout the party.

Overall, the bridal shower was very nontraditional and not one toilet-paper-wedding-gown or gift bingo game could be found. However, upon entering the house, the host did have us write down two things on separate cards -- advice for the bride and jot down one of our favorite memories of Karen (the bride). All the cards were collected and Joanne made opening the presents a much more livelier event by reading aloud the advice and memories while Karen opened gifts.

There was one piece of advice offered by one of the guests that I am putting into action at home. It was to give your partner A 10 SECOND KISS EVERY DAY. There is something that I find so appealing about this idea. Amidst all the craziness and chaos, taking a few seconds (10 to be exact) and stopping what you are doing to have more than a quick peck on the lips is fabulous. Downright scrumptious. I love this reconnecting. It doesn't cost anything and it is a special moment with the one you love. Apparently this idea originally stemmed from an Oprah show. I can't believe that one slipped by. I highly recommend every one reading this to put this idea into action too. And, please give it the full 10 seconds the kiss deserves. It doesn't need to be scheduled in advance and the kiss probably 99.9% of the time won't lead anywhere. For me, it makes me fall head-over-heels in love with Jeff all over again.

Even if you hate going to bridal showers or didn't even have a reason to be there because you didn't know the bride, seeing the Mad Hatter theme executed made it worth it alone. What an experience it was and Joanne could have a wildly successful career in event planning if she ever wanted it. But I do enjoy bridal showers because it is showering the bride-to-be in good wishes and presents for the upcoming wedding, which is celebrating two people getting together who are in love. And I love love.

A vision in white.

My sister Lori is getting married in October. We threw a bridal shower yesterday for her at a lovely restaurant in Winter Park. It was a beautiful setting and the food was delicious. The wait staff and event planner at the restaurant went overboard in serving us and made sure everything was perfect. I found a wonderful bakery to make a gorgeous cake that tasted as good as it looked (think chocolate with peanut butter cream -- yum!!). We had two fun activities to do at the table - 1. using only various colors of play-doh make a wedding gown on a 6x8 card stock. Lori judged the top 3 designs for prizes. And, 2. On a heart shaped construction paper attached to a green pipe cleaner (to look like a flower) write down advice for the bride. Lori then read aloud each of our words of wisdom for her to live by in her soon-to-be married life with Ben. She can then take these 'flowers' home in the vase provided as a keepsake.

I even found these adorable, miniature black patent leather purses that opened to reveal a manicure set that made a great, useful favor; which had the ladies in attendance excited to put in their purse.

I wanted everything to be perfect because I know that Lori deserves this more than anything. She has been an amazing sister to me my whole life and I feel so fortunate to have been able to do this for her (along with my team of co-hosts).

To everyone who made the trip to come to the party and celebrate in Lori's pre-wedding festivities, THANK YOU!! I know it meant the world to Lori to have you there and it made my day to be able to include you.

I am close to feeling like the plane trip from hell to get here was worth the angst for how incredibly well the bridal shower was. Everything I envisioned played out perfectly.

Fortunately my other sister Meghan is only 17 and I have more than a few years before I need to host a bridal shower for her and take this flight again with 2 kids by myself. Although, now that I think about this, if Lori and Ben move as quickly as Jeff & I did on starting a family, I could easily be back in 9 months for a baby shower. Maybe so they don't regret their decision, I leave the kids at home with Jeff. :)