13Apr
A couple months ago, I did a post full of random survey questions. People seemed to really like to know what other families were doing out there behind closed doors, so I thought I’d try Round Two.
Like before, please vote before viewing the results (honor system, people!) and if something doesn’t apply to you or you don’t want to answer something, just skip the question and move on to the next. Remember that your answers are completely anonymous. Even I can’t see who votes for what or what people’s answers are.
Okay, on your mark…
Get set…
GO!
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This weekend, we are heading up to Atlanta for a bridal shower for my sister. The trip sort of crept up on me and now I am frantically trying to get us ready for another weekend of traveling. Today, as I hauled out suitcases and rounded up outfits for the weekend’s festivities, I glanced over at Bean and stopped in my tracks.
His hair.
There was no way I could take him to a bridal shower with 45 of our closest family and friends with that toupe on his head.
So this afternoon while we were out shopping for my sister’s shower gift, we stopped in a Super Cuts for a drastic Bean make-over. We’ve had his hair cut before and Chris and I have done it ourselves at home, too. But we’ve never had so much cut before and we’ve never had a little style. We’ve always just trimmed a little here and there. This time though, it was intense. I told the woman to make his hair the same length all over.
Bean sat on my lap in the chair like a little pro. Like he gets haircuts every day. He was perfectly still and didn’t make a peep.
He didn’t even get scared when she turned on the razor. He just turned to see what the buzzing noise was and then he sat there while she worked on his little head.
In fact, the only person who flinched at all was me. When they cut off his little curls on top of his head. Even though it was part of the plan and I knew it was coming, I still jumped a little and cried out when she snipped those little floppy curls off the top of my baby’s head.
But in the end, I think it was totally the right decision. Bean’s hair is now the same length all over and he looks so much older! So handsome! I love it!
Chris was so proud of Bean. See, to Chris, hair cuts are almost as important as life itself. It was like a rite of passage. I don’t think I’ve ever known Chris to go longer than three weeks between haircuts. And he usually keeps them at two weeks, unless an act of God keeps him away. And even then, you can bet that he’ll be in the following week no matter what.
I used to think he got haircuts so regularly because he has really thick hair. And long, thick hair on a guy is just a little too…well…long and thick. But one afternoon a year or so ago, he called me after work to say that he was going to stop and get his hair cut on his way home. I told him I was almost to the salon where he got his hair cut and why didn’t I just meet him up there. He kind of hesitated and then started stammering.
“Well…I don’t know…Why don’t I just meet you at the house when I’m done?”
“That’s silly,” I said. “I’ll just meet you up there.”
“Yeah…okay…but…its just…I really like my time alone when I get my hair cut.”
“How come?” I asked.
“Cause my hair cut girl is SMOKIN’ HOT!” he said.
The truth shall set you free, Chris. The truth shall set you free.
So, I let him have his little “date” every two weeks with his hair lady. It seemed like the right thing to do. After all, I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m drooling over Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, so this seemed only fair.
But now that Bean is getting his little hairs cut like a big guy, I can just see this whole new world opening up for Bean and Chris. A world where the two of them ditch Mom at the house and go get their hair cut together. A world where every hairdresser is beautiful and haircuts last for hours.
In my family, father/son bonding begins in the hair salon.
After our afternoon nap on Saturday, we got ourselves all gussied up for a night out on the town. Ginny requested that each girl wear a black dress and as part of my hostess with the mostess theme, I told the girls I would provide brightly colored feather boas. I ended up finding these perfect Florida Gator boas. All of the girls went to UF and so these were perfect for this group.
Ginny, of course, got the all white boa.
For our big dinner out, we went to a tapas bar called Alta in The Village. It was gorgeous inside! I wish I had thought to take a picture. It was done in this mustard yellow color and trimmed in deep mohogony wood. It was mediterranean-style architecture and in the middle of the room was his enormous fireplace with a roaring fire. It was beautiful.
And the food was amazing. I can’t say enough about it, but if you’re in the NY area, I would recommend this place 110% for a nice dinner out.
At dinner, the girls presented Ginny with her Bachelorette List. The List is a Chi O tradition of a list of things the bachelorette (or birthday girl) must complete while out at the bars that night. Ginny’s list had things on it like, “Have your picture taken with a guy who looks like your fiance” and “Find an old man to walk you down the aisle at the bar.” It was a fun list and Ginny completed every one of them.
She didn’t waste any time starting either. One of the things on her list was to get a complete stranger to propose to her, down on his knee. She got our very nice waiter to make a very big scene in the middle of the very nice restaurant. It was pretty funny.
After dinner, we had our driver for the night complete the next item on the list – talk to Ginny in a foreign language. He was super shy, but he did it anyway. We all cheered. And tipped him more for the effort.
Our next destination was a complete surprise to Ginny (though she is the Queen of Snooping, so I’m pretty sure she knew what was coming). As fun as Ginny is, she isn’t into the raunchiness of a stripper and I was so glad because I wouldn’t have known where to even begin if I had to involve a stripper in the weekend. At first, I looked into one of the cabaret drag shows in New York. I have heard they are a blast and especially fun for bachelorette parties. But one of Gin’s friends said that the place I originally chose, Lucky Chang’s, was a little bit on the risque side and (more importantly) they really embarrassed bachelorettes. Ginny would have hated that. So, we ended up going with a burlesque and entertainment show called Le Scandal. Le Scandal combined all kinds of weird, abstract entertainment. There was a man/woman (we couldn’t tell…) who belly danced and swallowed swords – really big swords and then 12 of them at one time – crazy! There was a juggler who took his clothes off while juggling (oddly entertaining…). There was a contortionist who turned himself into all these insane positions and even fit himself through a tennis racket. And, once again, I got no pictures of this stuff because I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open.
NOTE: The most naive person in the group should not be the photographer. They are easily distracted.
The best part of the show though was this crazy old woman who was a singer and…I don’t really know what else to call her. Stripper? Exotic dancer? Lady who flopped around on the floor? She was really funny (and not intentionally, which made her even funnier). She was about 60 years old. Seriously. She’d get into these weird positions on the floor and then she’d practically need two grown men to come lift her up. I was dying laughing.
Ginny liked her because she invited Ginny up on to stage to play an audience game and Ginny won a prize!
And afterwards, we had a group shot with her…
I was a little worried about the girls at this show. It was a LOT smaller than it seemed online and it was a little hokey and cheesy. I kept glancing around to see if they were having fun, but they all seemed to be having a good time. I think the drinks helped.
The show ended around 1:00 AM and, once again, I headed back to the hotel with the Preggo Miss Larissa and our friend Alexis. The rest of the girls went out until about 5:00 that morning. At which point, I poured Ginny in all her bachelorette glory into the front seat of my car, fed her coffee, and drove her back to Connecticut to my house that was being packed into the last moving truck. She was a trooper, but she about kicked my butt when we got to my house and discovered that every single piece of furniture had been packed already and so, at 8:00 AM, there was no bed or even chair for her to sit down in and sleep. But she hung in there and we managed to get her to her plane later that day.
She made my day when she said that no one could have planned anything better for her. That isn’t true, but it was so nice to know that all my stressing and worrying had paid off and everyone had had a good time.
In a month, Ginny and John Michael will tie the knot and start the next phase of their happy little lives. I’m so happy for them. But I’m even happier that amidst all the change and transition and chaos in my own life right now, I was able to be there with Ginny that weekend. I had a blast with her.
But, I do have to say, I’m so stinkin’ glad this whole marriage thing is a one-time deal. I don’t know if I could handle another one of these…
Saturday morning, the original plan was to go to Max Brenner’s chocolatier restaurant in Union Square for a chocolate-themed brunch. On Sunday morning, we were supposed to go to this beautiful, dainty, much nicer place for a morning-after brunch called Hundred Acres. But we ended up switching and doing Hundred Acres on Saturday morning because we figured Friday night was going to be the tame night and all the girls would be in a much more presentable state on Saturday morning, rather than on Sunday morning after our big Saturday night extravaganza.
Excellent choice.
Hundred Acres was beautiful. Out of all the brunches I’ve had in New York – the city that made brunch famous – this was the best one I’d had. It was a gorgeous restaurant in SoHo that specialized in trendy Southern-style food. Oh, my word.
Let me just describe my meal to you. I had two poached eggs, each served on a homemade sausage patty and topped with a hollandaise sauce that makes me drool just writing about it. The two sausage patties and poached eggs were served over (…wait for it…wait for it…) JALAPENO CHEDDAR GRITS.  I almost cried. In fact, I might have. And the biscuits there were heavenly and served with sweet almond butter. That is brunch done right, I tell you. I would have taken a picture of the plate, but I got too excited and I ate the whole thing first. And then I scraped my plate with pieces of biscuit. And then I licked the plate. So, after that, there wasn’t much left to photograph except a really clean plate.
After brunch, we headed back to the hotel for the lingerie shower. I had the girls keep Ginny busy in one of the other rooms while a few of us decorated for the shower. I think it ended up being just perfect. It was girly and feminine, instead of raunchy. Even the penis cake (which I debated about having, but ended up deciding that it really wasn’t an official bachelorette weekend without SOME sort of male body part on display). Ginny’s friend, Amy, made the cake and it ended up being sort of… I don’t know… Cute? Pretty?
This is getting awkward.
Let’s just look at more pictures….
Ginny loved it!
She had a crown that said, “Bachelorette.” She also had a sash that said, “Bride to Be.” Just in case any of us forgot who she was or what we were celebrating.
Ginny has always loved beauty pageant attire. It suits her.
Before the festivities began, we toasted Ginny and John Michael. I told her how proud I was of her and how happy I was for her and JM.
She cried.
I cried.
We’re emotional people.
After that mushiness, we, appropriately, ripped into some penis cake and presents. Ginny got some beautiful lingerie. And after we made all the necessary catcalls and hoots and hollers, I insisted that we play every known shower game on this planet. I love shower games. LOVE them. We played things like guessing what was in Ginny’s purse, answering questions about Ginny and John Michael’s relationship, and making Ginny leave the room and then asking the girls about what she was wearing to see who could remember the most. But the afternoon ended up being a hilarious recount of ever funny Ginny story we could all think of. I had a blast hearing about Ginny’s time in college and I learned a lot about her. Not just about her drinking and dating habits (which I believe the entire South is aware of…), but I heard some really sweet stories of friendship and loyalty. Not that those traits surprise me in Ginny, but it was really great to hear them from all of her friends.
Most of the girls there were Ginny’s sorority sisters from college. I never joined a sorority and I’ll be the first to admit that the stigma of “sorority girl” was a major reason I didn’t. But having spent time with Ginny’s friends this weekend, and a few times while Gin was in college, I can tell you that I might not know about all sororities, but I do know that the ladies of Chi Omega at the University of Florida are about as high class and down to earth as a group of girls can be. They are supportive of each other, encouraging of each other, funny, humble, the first to laugh at themselves, and smarter than most professional women I’ve ever known. Each of them are accomplished and unique in their own lives, but collectively they are a group of women who make you want to do more with your life. I was so proud of Ginny that afternoon. She has made some pretty damn good decisions in her life, but one of the best she’s ever made was to join this group. She has friends that define friendship, and that is really what that afternoon was about.
After the lingerie shower, we had nap time.
Seriously.
We all took about an hour nap in our hotel rooms. Some of the girls were hung over from the night before. Some of the girls were full and sleepy from a big brunch. Some of the girls were resting up for the big night out later that day. And some of us were trying to catch up on nine months of sleep since the arrival of our first-born child.
After naps though, we broke out the fishnets and short black skirts to celebrate the bachelorette in true bachelorette style…
I’ll be posting the last Bachelorette Weekend post later today. Be sure to check back to catch all the details and pictures from the Big Night Out! Complete with feather boas, good food, and 60-year-old exotic dancers…
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