Saturday kicked off with a bang. I met up with the girls, about 11 of us, for a sunshine-filled brunch on the outdoor patio at Jackson's. Never having had brunch there, I was shocked to see such a huge, and refreshingly inexpensive, menu loaded with French toast, biscuits and gravy, and every omelet combination you could think of. We indulged in mimosas, cheese grits, au gratin potatoes, and delicious main dishes underneath the umbrellas, looking forward to a really great day. After brunch, the local girls headed their own ways to enjoy the perfect March day while my sister, my college roommate, a dear Birmingham friend, and I headed to a neighborhood park stocked with sweet tea, blankets, and enough magazines to fill an entire week in a waiting room.
Sidebar: The weekend had some amazing moments, but I have to say that a few of my favorites were in the downtime: lunch with my sister on Friday, reading with my best girlfriends in the park, and traumatizing the Wal-Mart bakery lady.
After we'd had our fill of sweet tea and gossipy news, the group headed home to get ready for the main event of the weekend: Saturday night. My former roommate and her new roommate hosted a fabulous shower filled with all thing honeymoon-related. (I tried to write that thought for about 10 minutes, keeping in mind that both Moms, as well as many of our friends, keep up with this blog. For those that need an alternative ending, just pretend it was a spice shower, rather that a spicy one.)
The girls really outdid themselves. Aside from the cookie cake (which ended up with the fortuitous inscription of "Bachelorette Today, Bride Tomorrow, Party Tonight!"), the girls stocked the shower with yummy dips, an amazing bar, and little man cookies with the card, "Don't Bite Their Heads Off!"
My sister did a fun thing, asking all the girls to write me notes with either a sweet memory, an encouraging thought, or just a little advice, so I loved watching the colorful box fill up with little notes. At the end of the night, she also dropped a camera, loaded with incriminating photos, in as well. Can't wait to see those!
After a few rounds of drinks, we got to the gifts, which are unmentionable in all senses of the words, but let's just say I've gotten my payback for the naughty/nice gifts I've handed out in the past. Gotta love the girlfriends!
At the end of the shower, Louis, our driver for the night, showed up in his party bus and took all the girlfriends, plus out cocktails, to one of my favorite Birmingham restaurants: Sol Y Luna. Louis, an older black man in a smashingly fabulous fedora, had only two warnings about being on the bus: You can't smoke, and don't forget that there are cameras on board. Eek! As he dropped us off at dinner, we promised him some cheese pizza when he made the return trip.
We celebrated with an amazing tapas dinner, with a side of sangria that was even better than I remembered from last time. Maybe it was the green boa, the light-up ring, the "Bachelorette" sash, or the flashing "Bride-to-Be" button...
After dinner, we headed next door to the Rare Martini for a night of drinks, dancing, and just general merriment with the Nashville-based band and the other lucky club-goers.
We headed home late, arriving safely thanks to Louis. As we settled in with jumbo cups of water and a few snacks, I broke out the pizza, prompting the pizza-promiser to run out in the front yard long after the shuttle bus was gone and shriek, "Lewis! You forgot your pizza!" I'm sure the neighbors loved us last night...
This morning, my saintly sister got up and make a delicious brunch of breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, and mimosas to close out the weekend. Sitting around, sharing highlights from the past few days, I remembered how lucky and blessed I am to have such great girlfriends. I napped most of the day away after everyone left, then decided to take a wedding-planning break and enjoy a night off. As Scarlett would say, I'll think about that tomorrow...
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