Days of Wine and Roses (5c)

The last big event before the day that we'd all gathered for was upon us - a ritual that all women must go through before they get married. A ritual that a woman's best friends and family use to embarrass her, pamper her, shower her with love. A ritual that THIS woman was ready to skip but a ritual that this woman embraced when she heard about all of the work her bridal party was doing to make it happen. A ritual that says, "You're special. We're going to celebrate you. Just like you celebrated us. Just like you will celebrate us in the future." A ritual...a must...a tradition...

This was no wild and crazy bachelorette party, which most of you know never would have suited me! We used the resort's "Le Spa" and Cindy, Lindsey, Laura, Beth and Emilie, along with my wedding planners and the resort staff, transformed the spa into a dream world! When we entered, we chose our nail colors and the pedicures and manicures began! There were at least 7 nail stylists there to help all of the 17 ladies who came to the party. We shuffled from room to room getting our nails done and checking on the progress of everyone else's with exclamations of "oooh's and aaahh's" echoing off the walls. Of course, I got to wear this lovely crown and ring...



While we got our nails done, we listened to a mix that Lindsey had made just for this occasion and we snacked on lip-smacking, girl's night out-kinda treats! See a few of them below...





There was even a strawberry cheesecake/pudding dessert that was named after me!



And the drinks...



Then came the presents! I'm not going to tell you in detail what I received but I will tell you this... My 7-year-old flower girl was helping me by giving me each gift when I was ready for it and near the end of the present opening, she came up to me and whispered in my ear..."You're sure getting a lot of night gowns..." Hehehe!!!

We played some games and then wrapped up the bachelorette party as the moths started to come in and dive bomb us! It was so fun and it was cool that we were able to include everyone that was there - even my grandma came along! :)

Seeing as it's not Chinese tradition to have a bachelor/bachelorette party, Haike's friends didn't know to plan one so I asked some of the Americans to help out. Haike, Dietrich and a couple of Haike's Chinese friends ended up playing cards, watching the World Cup and drinking beer - not too bad, I suppose. ;)