Bachelorette Weekend

Simply put, I am spoiled rotten. I have the best maid of honor, the most amazing sisters, and gosh darn fantastic friends. 12 of them came together Labor Day weekend to rock it out for my bachelorette party in Rehoboth Beach. We had an awesome beach house with the perfect front porch, more rum punch than any of us could handle, awesome homemade food, fashion shows, makeup sessions, great playlists, beach time, fun prizes, laughs, and growing friendships all around. It was so great for me to see friends from all parts of my life come together and have an amazing time.

Sisters

Imaginary friends

604 Representing

Friends since before birth (as Carrie dubbed us)

I can't thank everyone enough for making this such a perfect weekend. I wish we could all come together more often. Looking forward to more celebrating at the wedding in just a few weeks!

Dinner at The Palm

Karen & Nate stayed with us on Friday night as a pit stop on their way to vacation in the Outer Banks. We were so happy to have them. We decided to take advantage of Restaurant Week and try out The Palm for dinner. The restaurant was recently featured on Top Chef DC sowe thought we would give it a try. It was such a nice evening out, and the food was delicious! The service was a little shoddy but it didn't really matter because we weren't in any hurry. I can't believe I didn't take any pics of the food! You'll have to survive with just pics of us.

Nate with some of the caricatures.

My beautiful shower

The Buss family threw me a beautiful shower back home last weekend. I felt so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends. They did an amazing job with decorating - you know I appreciated how much they put into all of the projects! I was truly spoiled rotten.

See all of the adorable bird houses and ornaments hanging from the plants?

And the awesome "lovebirds" cake and more fantabulous ribbon crafts

Me and the Mommas

Sisters! See how lucky I am? Look at all of my sisters! And still, one is missing.

Friends forever - my best girls

The Buss Family

John came at the end (after golfing with the boys) to say hello and help get all of the amazing gifts home!

White Water Rafting

Kelly & Bob invited us up to Watertown to go white water rafting. It was a really fun day and a great experience - I don't think any of us had ever gone before. We had an excellent guide (that apparently looks like Dog the Bounty Hunter) that made our experience that much better.

After the trip down the river we headed back to Kelly & Bob's to relax. We were exhausted!

Started out with the signature drink

Checked out the goods from the Dutton garden. Big guys!

Little guys!

We spent the night out by the bonfire.

Playing in the cornfields.

And jumping.

And setting trees on fire?

And doing wheelies with an ATV.

Free Shoes!

That's right - I got my wedding shoes for free! I debated sharing a pic of them here, but can't resist because they are just so fabulous. I love them!

So how did I get them for free? Swagbucks! It is an online search engine that rewards you for searching online. I turn my Swagbucks into $5 Amazon gift cards. I typically earn 2-3 giftcards a month. If you have not yet signed up for Swagbucks, now is the time to do it! Through tomorrow, August 13th, new members can click here to register and use the code SwagToSchool to earn an extra 20 Swagbucks - that is in addition to the 30 Swagbucks new members receive.

How do I maximize my earning potential? In several ways.

• I installed the Swagbucks toolbar on my browser. I type any web address I am going to in the search box. So if I am going to Facebook, instead of clicking on my favorites, I type facebook into the search box. Its an extra click of the mouse, but a great way to earn. This is how I generate the majority of my Swagbucks. Also, you are also rewarded a Swagbuck each day just for opening your browser.
• Toolbar Inbox: There is a "From TSG" button on the toolbar. Occasionally a Swagcode will be released via a message.
• Daily Polls: Answer a quick poll each day and earn one Swagbuck. It literally takes a few seconds.
• Special Offers: Click on the "Go Now" button beneath "View Our No Obligation Offers and WIN Swag Bucks." Scroll to the bottom of each offer and click Next or See Next Offer. You don't have to sign up for any of them - just scroll through them. At the end you will be rewarded with one Swagbuck. I also do this on a daily basis - it takes less than a minute.
• "Like" Swagbucks on Facebook to be notified of any Swagcodes they might release during the day.
• Referrals: If you sign up through my link, I will get credit. The more people you have sign up under you, the more credit you get.

So get to it and go sign up! Its free, it doesn't take much time, and its exciting to earn giftcards - who doesn't want free shoes?!

Crafts

It looks like a designer paper bomb exploded in our apartment. The past two weeks we have been crafting fools! In addition to all of the DIY projects we have taken on for the wedding, I have been putting together a scrapbook for my sister, Ally, as part of her graduation gift. Its been a lot of work, but we are really enjoying it. Well, I don't know if JB is really enjoying the crafting, or crossing things off of the to-do list that I prominently hung on the fridge.

The pinwheels that we will use as cupcake toppers

Matchboxes

More work on the brooch bouquet. I think we are abandoning this method. After a couple of eBay purchases I think we finally have enough pins (see the "R" pin?!? - LOVE), but it just isn't coming together how we envisioned. This weekend we are going to pick up some more supplies and try another design.

Papers for Ally's scrapbook

Boom!

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated on Saturday at Carrie and Dave's house. Dave had lots of fireworks for the guys to play around with. They put on a great show and we had a blast!