Good Monday morning my friends!  I hope that you had a great weekend and are ready for this week.  I don’t know where you are in the world right now, but the weather here in Chicago today is AMAZING!! Fall is definitely in the air and while I am still clinging to my last few days of summer, I am just about ready for my absolute favorite season.  And the food that comes with it.  Mmmmm food….

Moving on.  This past weekend was my sister’s bachelorette party and despite some less than favorable circumstances, I think that everyone had a fairly good time.  I’m not a great party planner, and as the MOH I’ve put together her shower and this party.  I was really worried that I would throw the worst shower and bachelorette party ever and Jodie would fire me as her sister and MOH.  I promise I’m not dramatic at all.  But with the help of my mom, sister, and tons of other people, both parties have gone fairly smoothly.

So this weekend was spent with friends and bridesmaids doing things to honor and celebrate the bride-to-be and her upcoming wedding!  Here are a few things that I learned this weekend:

Plans can and will change

I mentioned before that we had a few bumps in the road with planning and executing this party.  Without going into extreme detail, my sister wasn’t feeling 100% this weekend but didn’t want to totally cancel her party because it was one of the only weekends before the wedding that we could do things.  So in about the span of a few hours we worked to totally restructure the weekend to work a little better for her.  While we might not have done what she originally wanted/planned, we still managed to have a good time.  I was very surprised at my ability to remain fairly calm and collected while all this plan changing was going on because I am a big control freak.  Maybe I’m finally maturing.  Hahaha yeah right.

Chickens and how they reproduce

Bet you didn’t think that this would come up at a bachelorette party!  But hey, we didn’t have a stripper so why not talk about chicken sex.  We were playing a game and how chicken’s reproduce came up, don’t ask how.  One of my sister’s bridesmaids explained it to the group and we were both intrigued and disgusted.  There are some things that might be left to the imagination.  If you really want to know, you can check out these charts, but I warn you.  Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.  Also, there is a dark and seedy underworld of black market chicken porn…. you had to be there.

I can do art…. sort of

One of the things that we did this weekend was a wine and art event.  You’ve probably heard/seen of these things.  Basically, you go to this art studio, bring along some wine, and then an art teacher will teach you how to paint a picture.  We went to Bottle & Bottega in Evanston and it was really fun.  I highly recommend if you’re looking for a fun activity to check it out.  Some of the girls (me included) were a little worried because we aren’t the strongest artists.  I regularly mess up stick figures, but we were assured that the instructor really helps you make a good painting.  It was fun to do something different and we walked away with some pretty art that we had made with our own little hands… and a few glasses of wine.

P.S. There might have been a pterodactyl in one of the paintings….

There is a lot of love for my sister and her fiance

I have to say that my sister has some amazing friends.  People never thought twice about having to change plans at the last second and were always putting my sister and her needs first this weekend.  As her big sister, it really touched my heart to see these girls surround her with love and support.  Not only do they love her, they really love Andy her fiance and can’t wait to see them get married and start their life together.  Plus these ladies can make me laugh until my sides hurt and tears are streaming down my face.  I can’t thank them enough for coming and celebrating with Jodie and making this the best bachelorette party I have ever put together (ok, ok it’s the only one I’ve put together!)

We love you Jodie and Andy and can’t wait for your wedding in October!!