U!S!A!

Guess who is ready for this weekend's America themed float trip?

Not pictured: my cut off shorts, camo beer coozie, and tiny tee I found on ebay that has an eagle holding a flag --- wait for it -- all bedazzled.
I love summer.

Florida Vacay

Please excuse my inexperience with Shutterfly as these are borrowed pictures.  My BFF and neighbor Emily had a SURPRISE bachelorette party in Florida. 

She is marrying into a pretty sweet lake house in Boca Raton.  Her sisters-in-law to be were whisking her there for the weekend, that much she knew.  What she did not know is that the rest of her bridesmaids would be waiting for her at the baggage claim bar, ready to scare the beJesus out of her as she is officially welcomed to her bachelorette weekend.  She was screaming her head off, we were laughing hysterically, it was wonderful.

The rest of the weekend consisted of beach time, pool time, boat time, gratuitous boozing time (hey, it's a party), applying aloe to my sunburned leg time and most of all good times.  Our last night in town we went to a low key bar and managed to have a hilarious dance party when we returned to the house.  The dance party devolved into a 'do your old cheer/dance routine' party.  This was where I showed them the glory that is the MHS fight song.  Except that I was wearing a maxi dress, the limited circumference of which turned my high kick into an epic fall. 

The best part was that Emily was beyond happy! The other 'maids are a total blast and I can't wait to relive some of the fun next month at the wedding!  This past weekend was just perfect!

Click here to view these pictures larger

*There is this ridiculous fad on the internet called planking that made the news because kids were getting hurt, ironically, by laying face down on random objects (they were doing it on dangerous things like bridges and tops of buildings.. not chairs and bars).  Obviously we wouldn't pass up the opportunity to participate in such a pointless game just for the jokes. 

I MET BILL CLINTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I was going to blog this week about the epic birthday party I went to, or perhaps the obscene Christmas cookie making, or even the New Orleans trip chalk full of good food content.

No.  This waits for no man.  For yesterday the Universe smiled upon me.  Birds sang.  The sun was shining.  It was beautiful.

First, let's back up.  I have had a framed autographed picture of Bill since I was ten.  I voted for Hillary.  I am unabashedly pro Clinton.  My desire to be among them is second only to my desire to marry into the Kennedy family. 

My brother is back for the holidays and last week suggested that I take a day off work for us to road trip to Little Rock to see the Clinton Presidential Library.  From Kansas city it is approximately 7 hours each way.  That's 14 hours of driving (through some freezing rain no less) and only 2 hours in Little Rock.  It was crazy.  It was fun. 

Hey Arkansas, how You doin'?

Mad camera aiming skills (PS here we're still on the Missouri side and still freezing.. so ready to make it to sunny AR and their 54 degrees!)

At last!! We made it around 1 pm.  Pay no attention to the guy out front on foursquare and facebook telling the world his location.

Hooray for the Presidential Library!!! (steve holt)

In the exact replica of the cabinet meeting room. 

Sitting in the president's chair.  Those cost 20K each, so keep the swiveling to a minimum, will ya?

Signing up our friends and family for the email list.  You're welcome Dad!

In an exact replica of Clinton's oval office. Check out the Remington, just like yours Dad!

And best for last.  We only had 1.5-2 hours to spend there and then we HAD to get back on the road (as it was I got home at midnight).  We walked down the street to the Clinton bookstore to load up on memorabilia. There were secret service everywhere in the store so we wanted to loiter as long as possible to see if anything happened.  Our library tour guide had said Bill was in town for the library's Christmas Party that night  (if you're wondering if we considering applying to work there, you are correct). 

I was in the back of the shop, and the back door opens and BILL CLINTON and his entourage step through.  I was only two feet away and was the first thing that he saw.  I clearly looked as though I was going into cardiac arrest (an alarming sight to pass I would imagine), so he stopped and shook my hand and asked me my name.  I'm not entirely sure what I told him but I did ask to take a picture.  Unfortunately I COULD NOT find my camera or my phone anywhere in my purse.  This may have had something to do with the my speech and motor skills failing me at the time. (dear God Lauren find your camera say something funny/charming/hilarious/memorable).  The secret service told him they needed to keep moving. I yelled at Bret who was ten feet away to grab his camera.  Apparently he had been fumbling for it in his pocket anyway and then proceeded to drop it on the floor.  A secret service guy took the photo.  They walked out of the room.  Then Bret and I died with happiness.  We left the shop and went next door to celebrate with beer and call the family and put this baby on the internet PRONTO.

 Lack of playing-it-cool aside, this was one of the most exciting moments of my life, and the best Christmas present ever.  Hooray!!!

Perfect Wine Country Wedding

So My college roomie got married this past weekend.  She did not get married to Justin Timberlake as was the plan circa 2003.  Good thing he's still out there for me.  Are you reading this Justin? Call me.

Anyway she lives in San Francisco where nature, wine, and good food are a-plenty.  Needless to say, it was the most ridiculously beautiful and fun wedding I've ever been to.  Seriously, there were three days worth of events and I felt like people laughed at my jokes all wekend long (a rare occurence, let me tell you).  I was actually out west for a week helping get ready... .as my friend is an uber creative, crafy, and detail person, there was much to do for her big day.  Obviously having much to do requires many breaks at wine bars.  Did you know you can milk the engaged/bride/just married thing for free drinks? You do now.  Thank you bottle of champagne.

The wedding was an hour or so north of SF in Guerneville (for you blog readers, that's about 10 miles from Jenna's Healdsburg) and required a little road trip.  That's me riding with a very pretty white dress.

The bride, below, and a sideways Golden Gate bridge (I tried to punch my computer screen to get it upright, and then I was out of ideas... why does blogging make me feel so not tech savvy.. what is the deal with this internet machine? why can't Al Gore invent something that works more gooder for me)

Road tripping is also hard, and required breaks at more wineries.  Also you're supposed to spit out your drinks so you don't get drunk.  Also you're supposed to use inside voices. 

In a particularly adorable move, my friend hosted a ladies tea party for the bridal party and families.  Some of the groom's family is British, but any chance you get to wear a tea dress and eat cucumber sandwiches should be taken.  (note to self: new idea for a bumper sticker)

Tree hanging decor courtesy of Martha Stewart.  Tablecloth was a roll of fabric she got on clearance, cake stands she made with plates and candlesticks found and flea markets.  Get that girl a show on HGTV, asap.  Hey Hey, she's crafty!

She found different English china teacups and saucers on EBAY for everyone to take as a party gift.There might have been vodka in the lemonade.She also gave everyone a tea bag with an inspiration 'women's quote and a note thanking us for being an important woman in her life.  Perhaps the best part? Her new Betsy Johnson tea party shoes.  ME-OW.

The rehearsal dinner was in a redwood forest (Armstrong National Forest) and had trees larger than I'd ever seen in my life.  They were amazing!  They made me think of Ewoks a little bit from Star Wars... but you have to be careful to mention such nerd speak when you are meeting new people.  Ditto for the 'forbidden forest' Harry Potter references. 

So the bride and groom met when she and I went to Jamaica our junior year of college for spring break.  Can you believe they've been together ever since? Crazy!  Obviously a Jamaican themed rehearsal was perfect.  It was even catered by a friend of theres who they met in Jamaica, lost touch with, and then he found them on FB and told them he was opening a restaurant.  How serendipitious can you get?

Tree Hugger.

Note to self: that Jamaican bread (made with cononut milk) is SO DENSE and amazing! It's like pound cake!  I normally am not a fan of spicy food but this was SO SO good.  Extra TLC for the pinapple that rocked my socks off.

The small resort (can you call it that? it makes it sound like there's a lido deck to me) had 50-some-odd cabins which were booked the entire weekend by guests of the wedding -- we had the whole place to ourselves! 

Everyone got a note on the door with their name and an AMAZING goodie bag filled with candy, snacks, personalized maps, flyers with local attractions, a 'pocket' schedule for the weekend and so much more.  

The bride was of course beautiful and glamorous while getting ready!  Mimosa time :)

The reception was in the meadow.  Seriously these pictures don't do it justice, it was ridiculously pretty and has ruined me from liking any other normal church/reception hall wedding.

There was an acoustic guitar playing here comes the sun and other lovely beatles tunes

Her uncles walked her half way, and then she walked the rest on her own.

She had ribbons, fans, and yay signs for people to use!

The cocktail reception was in the meadow and it was even prettier in real life.  The parasols helped provide shade and looked pretty great too.  There was bocce ball and croquet there too.

check the shoes, check the shoes..

She had their vows printed on canvas so guests could ink their fingerprints on them. 

The reception was in the orchard and was SO pretty!

Table assignments hanging from the trees. 

Different cakes for each table.. all of the food was AMAZING!

A shoe cake server, obviously

A pretty hilarious speech, if I do say so myself.

Busting a move.

People like myself were such dance floor hogs they had to clear everyone out half way through the reception so the bride and groom could do the official first dance that they practiced. 

The bride had stashed a basket of Pashminas (in wedding colors of course) at the end of the dance floor for people to use if/when it got chillier outside. 

The next day, some seared polenta fries with chunky red sauce were JUST what the doctor ordered.

A pork salad with fancy things in it.  Sidebar, is pork really trendy right now? It's never something I get at home and rarely order it out, but when in a trendy California restaurant, you order the special.  Am I right or am I right?

Back in SF before we left, we hit up a coffee shop downtown to get some veggie breakfast burritos with extra avocado.  Behold the delicousness:

Raaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr delicious

I'm still on a high from this beautiful perfect vacation wedding.  It was my everything, note to self, travel westward more often.  Justin, are you still reading? call me.