Saturday, November 30, 2013

Maryland Bridal Shower



Being the INCREDIBLY lucky girl that I am...I got to have THREE bridal showers. That's right. Three. :)

My second bridal shower was held in Maryland.  I flew in for the weekend and my cousin (and one of my best friends) Amanda hosted my shower. The shower was held in the "Barn", which is the community center for the neighborhood where I grew up.  




















I hadn't been to the barn in years. Amanda (and our mothers) had it decorated so nicely!! Finger foods (my fave!!) and lots of desserts were served. I had such a great time seeing so many of my friends and family. Preston was even able to stop by.  My favorite part was when some of the little girls helped me open my gifts :) It was a great day and I felt very loved. Amanda did a wonderful job!! 









Thursday, November 21, 2013

Big Deep Breath



Oh my gosh. I quit my job. Well, I gave notice. I gave a 2 month notice. Terrifying!! 

It's hard to believe that after talking about taking a big world trip for SO long---that I am REALLY going to do this. We are committed now. I WANT to do this. I've been thinking about it for years and years.

I must say, though, that now that it's actually becoming a reality...it's really scary!!

I'm really going to give up my job, my apartment, my life in California to travel into the great unknown?!!? 

I've done it before...I had the same thoughts and motivations for moving to California. It was a big leap of faith and it turned out just fine. I hope that this trip will be all that this adventure has been and more!! 

Leaving this job after nearly 6 years is bittersweet. I will miss a lot about it and I will miss my coworkers most of all, but life is about growing and moving on. You can't stop change from happening...you can only try to stay ahead of it, I guess? 

Those are my deep thoughts...for today. 

Monday, November 11, 2013

What Happens in Vegas...



Doesn't really stay in Vegas when you write a blog post about it ;) I went back and forth a leetttlle bit on what to do for a Bachelorette Party. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not much of a party girl. Never have been. I have this annoying problem with drinking...in that it doesn't make me feel good...it just makes me feel sick. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it does kind of stink when drinking is the #1 social activity of your culture. I guess there are worse things ;) 

Nehoo...I picked Vegas because its the quintessential Bachelorette party place. I mean, if you're going to do it...do it right. Vegas is a place that I've been to quite a bit. It just seems like someone I know from the east coast is always making a trip out to Vegas and I'll make a trip over to see them. It's only about a 4 hour drive from LA with no traffic. (hahahahahaha. That's funny if you live in LA). Vega isn't all about party party to me. I've had many different kinds of Vegas trips. From shopping and walking around with friends, to dinner and shows with my dad, to pool days and massages, and, of course, crazy party nights that end at a McDonald's drive thru in a taxi at 5am (Jen Moore cough cough). 

Vegas is an awesome place and can be so many different things, so it was to Vegas that I decided to go.

I drove over with Meredith and Erica. It was a pretty fun car ride listening to Janet Jackson and singing along. We passed one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It looked like something out of a Sci Fi movie. The pics don't really do it justice, but it looked like we happened upon some weird alien experiment. After googling, we found out that it was solar field. WHAT?! So hi-tech.

Alien Planet


I was super excited to meet up with my friends from home Nikki and Trisha. Trisha had never been to Vegas and I couldn't WAIT to show her around. Trisha has not traveled much by plane, so it was so special to me that she made the trip. I'm lucky to have such an amazing friend. 

We found them at the bar. Haha!! Another friend of mine had hooked us up with a sweet deal of a suite ;) I got to bypass the insanely long check in line (Thanks Fight Weekend!!) to go through the VIP check-in. Awesome!! 

Our room was actually 4 rooms strung together in a long winding path with a central sitting room. We automatically dubbed it the TONnel of fun ;) Haha. We ran some laps back and forth in our excitement.



















Gianna joined us soon after our arrival.

After unpacking a bit, we got dressed up to head out to dinner and a club.  Meredith and Erica handed out the most adorable gift bags with lots of treats. It was so thoughtful and kind :) :) 


Ready for the night out


AH-MAZING gift bags


A Bachelorette Party threw up here


After drinking copious amounts of champagne, we took our glittery selves out to Encore. Encore is one of my favorite hotels. It's beautiful and HUGE and smells like perfume all the time. 




After a quick bite to eat, we got on the VIP list for Tryst, which is an outdoor/indoor club. It was ok. The music wasn't great, but it was nice to sit poolside under the stars and they passed out free drinks to girls. I, of course, felt mostly nauseous the whole time after the champagne. Meredith was awesomely on top of the fact that I wanted to go, so we cut out early. Well, Vegas early...it was still kind of late for regular people :D



Star Gazin
































On Saturday, we had a ridiculous buffet brunch at MGM. The fight was happening there and the number of people was out of control!! Brunch was really fun and we started a funny new Vegas rule: to be completely wasteful whenever possible. Food still on your plate?! TOSS IT!!


The randomness of a buffet brunch


















We walked around a bit and were joined by my friend Julie. I love walking the streets of Vegas. You can see anything and everything.  We bought matching ballet flats in anticipation of sore feet later on :)


FIGHT NIGHT!! 

Drinking on the streets


You can kind of tell form this picture that the man who took this yelled "Who's your Daddy?!"






The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool at LVH. I love the Vegas heat.






We got gussied up again and had dinner at Benihana. The food was sub par (as usual. Miyako for the win!!), but it was highly entertaining and a good choice for dinner before a big night out.


We are the coolest.




 Gianna got us a SUPER VIP hook up at Marquee, which is located at Cosmopolitan hotel. Cosmopolitan is new and very very nice. It was fun running into other brides.  As I said, I'm not much of a party girl, so the club, while nice, was pretty boring. I switched to my ballet flats preetty early. I decided to just dance the night away, so we hit the lower level hip hop room. Hilarious. We danced to hip hop until the wee hours of the morning. It was a great time. 





After a bit of a hung over brunch on Sunday, we bid Vegas adieu and headed back to LA. No trip to Vegas would be complete without a stop at "The Mad Greek" in Baker...gyros, yum!! 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Chicagooooooo Bridal Shower



As I said, I have a lot of catch up to do on what's been going on in my life :) For one, I'm finally Kelly Villers!! Preston has been calling me Kelly Villers since our first few weeks of dating. This might have been creepy if I hadn't just KNOWN that it would be true :P Now finally my blog name makes perfect sense!!

My wedding festivities started with a bridal shower in Chicago.  Preston's mom has a great group of friends. They get together about once a month or so and discuss life, count grandchildren,etc. I do not know many of these women well, but they threw me a bridal shower. Is that not the nicest thing you've ever heard?? Perfect strangers wanted to throw me a big party and give me gifts?? Ok, I'll go ;) 

Preston's mom (Debbie) graciously allowed me to invite my mom and my best friend, so we all met at Chicago's Midway Airport (see post on water bottle filling station. AH-MAZING). I love visiting Preston's parents. Their home is so comfortable and just home-y to me. I feel like I grew up there too. They make me feel so loved and accepted. 

My BFF and I ready to party ;)


My mom and Nikki fit right in, of course.  The shower was on Saturday and Debbie drove us down into the city.  It was a beautiful, warm day---my first in Chicago!! I swear that city is ALWAYS cold. Debbie's best friend Alison hosted my shower in her gorgeous apartment that boasts views of Lake Michigan.





The food was wonderful and there were adorable little bride cookies. 


















Opening presents was kind of funny, because I would read the card and then look up and around the room to try to figure out who the heck had given me the gift. Haha!! The gift giver would give a little wave ;) Again, how nice for total strangers to throw me a party!! They are no longer total strangers :) Some of them I had met before, but throughout the shower I had a chance to talk to each woman and get to know her better. Debbie is really blessed with some wonderful friends. I look forward to my new and extended family!! 


Preston's friends came too :)



After the shower, I got to go meet my soon to be new niece Cora :) She's a doll!!



Stay tuned for Bridal Shower #2 ;)