"i'm not drunk, i'm just licking gills!"

~megan

oh me, oh my. what a weekend! I am too exhausted to give you the ENTIRE story, so you'll have to settle for my synopsis. we got on the road around 630 on friday with a full full FULL car. Megan and I did crafts in the backseat--making our boy-parts shaped name tags, cutting up paper for the games, etc. Oh, and blowing up an inflatable item. In the car we (I think Cassie or Megan, not for sure who) named him "li'l blaze" because Nicole's hubby-to-be used to go by David Blaze (or something like that) during his wrestling days.

oh yeah, and as we went in I carried up "li'l blaze." and as we were unloading the car another group walks by--with a girl who was probably seven. I was saying "hide blaze! hide blaze!" I'm sure the parents thought we were awesome with our li'l blaze and cases of beer. rock.

when we got to the house the rest of the girls were there and deeeeeeeeeeeeeeerunk. and having a blast. we found out we'd missed out on picture ops like this one. can you IMAGINE trying to put 14 girls in a pyramid? (one would have to take the pictures!) We also realized that our car had pretty much all the snacks and all the beverages, oopsie! I brought cups for everyone (so we wouldn't use disposable ones AND so we'd know whose drink was whose) and we started decorating those.

we played some catch phrase, drank some drinks, told how we all knew nicole and the like. it was good stuff. nicole and I stayed up until THREE just talking and chilling. we were both exhausted before we even got there, but figured you gotta take advantage of these situations as they present themselves. I really enjoyed our talking. We keep finding out that we have more in common and get along better and better every time we hang out! there was a game about getting your virginity back (cherries in the bottom the bowl--nicole won in like two seconds!) and megan did an EXCELLENT job with all the games!

In the morning some of the chick-a-dees made breakfast (we had assigned meals) and then everyone but megan, erica, lindsay and I went to the beach. We decorated. See?

And just as we were leaving Nicole was heading in for a minute. We were pleased to show her the place!!! And I think she liked it.

Half of us (or so) went to the beach again, I in my 85 sunblock, 50spf cover-up and floppy hat. I also sat under my umbrella. I was quite the sight! I think people (especially those I didn't know) thought it was overkill, but when they saw that my arms were getting a little pink after I sat for half an hour with the cover-up off they understood. I mean, at that point I still had on the sunblock and was sitting under the umbrella! in case you cannot tell, in all of these pictures I'm the whitest one!

We went back for a little break and snack and went back out for an hour. Around, oh, 3ish? we came in, showered and I napped. I had slept SOOOOO poorly on friday night. I had a room with three others--we had bunk beds--and my roomies were wonderful, but I'm not a good sleeper to begin with so all the noise made it extra difficult. Oh well!

We all got ready in our cute tanks and denim and made Nicole guess about who got her what. She finally got most of 'em, but not before quite a few drinks (if she was wrong she had to drink)! I think mine really surprised her! I also had only flipped through the pages quickly, and when we actually looked through the book--yowza. Not for the timid or modest, just fyi.

Then it was beach picture time! Thank goodness for my gorillapod and camera with a timer! A member of another bachelorette party came over and helped with the picture-taking as well. We looked cute, yes?

We went to a japanese steakhouse, and our guys were HILARIOUS. They made us a heart out of rice (and made it thump), they had a little plastic dude that "peed" sake, they squirted sake into girl's mouths and were appropriately obnoxious. It was good stuff. AND I am quite proud that the other Carrie and I were the only ones who caught the hibachi when they launched it at us. For some of the girls on my side of the table the guy half-aimed it at their chests! It was hilarious and everybody was a good sport about it.

Oh AND. So, we got there and I ordered a beer--a 22oz sapporo. The guy said "we don't have the sapporo, do you want a large kirin?" I said "sure!" He came back with this--one thousand milliliters of beer. That's almost 34 ounces, 3 beers in one can. Holy smokes! I was a little slow drinking it--three beers at dinner takes a while!--but I did finish it. Some people tried to make me chug at the end but I refused--and thank goodness for Lauren, the maid of honor, who sat down beside me and said "don't worry about them, I'll sit here with you for as long as it takes for you to finish that. there is no need to chug." And she was right--chug and go or sip and be able to hang out for more of the night? I'll take option 2, please! We talked about being green and how she likes that and just chit-chatted. It was nice to take the five minutes and drink the beer!

Next was to a bar called the giggling mackerel. It was beside a place called "Sharky's." I think you can guess why. Megan, Erica and I had a leeetle too much fun taking pictures with it, let me tell you. there are pics of megan and erica too, but I do not have them. and one of our booties. maybe I'll update later. maybe.

And at the giggling mackerel...there were drinks and dancing and 80s music requests. A song came on and Nicole said "I want to dance on the table but I don't want to do it myself!" so of course I escorted her up and danced for .5 seconds until the fun police made us get down. Kara and I also (unintentionally) caused a stir when she gave me two bucks for her drink--I owed her from sushi but the drink cost more than that--and suddenly we found ourselves taking pictures with dollar bills. yikes.

We headed back to the place, watched dave's answers to the questions (which, by the way, I was pleased as punch because I'd suggested quite a few of 'em from when I came up with them for jessica's bachelorette) and played dirty bingo, which was a hit! Jessica and I came up with that game on the way to Renee's bachelorette last month, but this time I added five "shapes" instead of just two. Oh AND--I'd gone to the dollar store last week to pick up a bunch of odds-and-ends prizes--lotion, lip gloss, ridiculous fake nails, little packets of lube, bubbles and the like. We gave 'em out when we played dirty bingo and during the questions--and it was so funny. Nicole kept operating on a "one-for-you, one-for-me" policy--when someone else earned a prize (for bingo-ing or whatever) nicole grabbed one for herself, too. It was cute and HILARIOUS! She ended up with a big ol' pile of loot! (and, jackie, I got to reuse the bag you gave me!)

megan and I took a walk and freaked everyone out because they couldn't find us--oopsie! and then it was time for bed. and on sunday we got up, packed up and came home. of course there was a bit of drama throughout the weekend--hello, there were fifteen girls!--but overall I think everyone--including the bride-to-be--had a most excellent time. I know I did! when I got home I CRASHED and slept for two hours.

and then matt came home and we exchanged stories--it was so funny, we spent like ten minutes talking while he was still on the stairs before I was like "go get your stuff, let's not sit on the stairs for this!" it was pretty funny. eventually we got to-go pasta and watched a good year, which I enjoyed quite a lot. it's a wine movie, but it's also a story of family and memories, and I would totally recommend it!

you know when you're getting ready to go on a trip

and you're at work and it's hard to get things done? yeah, that.

I am glad that this is going to be a LAZY trip and that I should get plenty of sleep. that's my plan. during the day when the non-vampires are in the sun, I will hide from the orb of doom and catch some shuteye. or read. or get my shower taken care of or clean up the dishes or whatever. I am trying to put a spin on the lack of outdoorsy time (although I'm also kind of bummed to miss out on the outside action) And then at night it is time to party and giggle and take pictures. this should be fun. :)

last night I went to dinner with a handful of the girls who are going to the party--ones who'd just gotten in town. It was pretty great, actually. I am glad I was able to go! We learned there were quite a few of us whose last names are not what they "should have been." For instance, mine should be Summerford. My dad changed his first and last names (but not his middle) when he was a little boy. It was kind of remarkable that quite a few of us were like that!

and then I ran errands, made puppy chow and got some shut eye. I am still tired and a leetle afraid I'll fall asleep in the car (I intend to bring earplugs just in case). I leave work in two hours. I'm not sure if I'll make it until then...we shall see.

oh and, I'm sure many of you have heard about the whole let's-redefine-abortion and eliminate-birth-control thing that's going on. which I think is a load of hooey, particularly when there are FOUR MILLION OTHER ISSUES that are more pressing than that, but anyway. all unwanted and born-of-rape babies and overwhelming other reasons to keep it just how it is aside, you might want to read this. if you start though, please read until the end. trust me on that one.

roadtrip-day 10

alright, kids, we're in double digits now...

we got on the road way, WAY later than planned. WAY. I think we were shooting for 12 or so, knowing full well it would be 1230 at the earliest. SO not what happened.

we got up, started packing and then went to eat brunch with my granny at one of her very favorite places, first watch. it was, per usual, YUM. there's some bacado omelet thing that's bacon and avocado and tomatoes and mmmmmm. in her typical way she told us about stories of the past and we talked about granddad and how she loves it that I'm a KD and all sorts of warm fuzzies.

after we got home we began loading up the car. matt loaded while I packed things up. we needed to make sure that most of our luggage could just hang out in the car the whole time. so I had to combine our luggage that we needed, organize the rest so it would fit, etc. we also had two six packs of beer, the leftover liquor from the hotel after-parties and the beer from that, too, a shelf, two big plastic bins full of my old stuff and a bunch of odds and ends. MAN the car was FULL. We actually used the shelf compartments to hold different things.

It was when we were about 80% packed that my granny started trying to give me things--things that she had already designated as "mine." She also let me pick a single piece of green glass from her collection--I took a small footed bowl. There was some pink depression glass as well, AND I got to pick a snowglobe, so I got the one of Tulsa. They were all little pieces of no real "value" (and therefore if you're family and reading this and thinking "hey, that's not fair," please just let it go) but the sentiment was HUGE. I also was like "matt, we gotta make room for this. I have been eyeing some of these things for TWO DECADES. if she's up for me taking them then I am most certainly going to!"

Then we went to my mom's to collect my computer, grab the boulevard wheat and summer shandy that no one else drank and head out. As always, it is way sad to leave tulsa. I love it there. I still stand by not wanting to live there for many, many reasons, but my family is not one of them. Departing was made much easier because we were already running so far behind. :)

and then, the roadside america fun began.

first was a stop at the uss batfish, which the good folks of muskogee insisted they have. in theory it was a cool stop. in reality Jack took us the wrong way, it added 40 minutes to our time AND the gate was closed. we were both like "this is the first stop that we have really regretted making."

the next one was better though--a small town in arkansas is the spinach capital of the world. it is in alma. we had some fun with popeye and stopped for a snack at braums. and then it was back on the road.

and then, this was pretty remarkable. it's pugh's mill park, and it was AMAZING. it's a reproduction of an 1800s mill. it is ALL made of concrete. the guy who made it would mix things in the trunk of his car and wouldn't say how he did it. he was super secretive. and detailed--the trees he would make were so ornate you could actually tell the species of the tree from the way they looked. yeah. crazy. ALL of the things you see are concrete (well except for the water or plants, duh). but the bridge, all of the mill, etc. also, we saw a girl who looked like a princess. matt said it's something about in some hispanic or latino cultures they have a big to-do on a girl's 15th birthday, and we thought maybe that was this. she looked lovely. If you have kids and live near here I highly recommend you visit. There's also a nice lake nearby that made me think of swan lake but twice as big.

at this point we started worrying about getting to memphis in time to take pictures. yikes. we saw mccain mall (and genuinely hoped it had nothing to do with the man) and kept on chugging. we didn't make it there in time for the sun to be out, but we DID get pictures anyway. we saw america's largest pyramid and got attacked by gnats. I was so confused, too--my camera wouldn't auto focus. when I turned that off I got the picture of all the little dots. do you know what that was??? GNATS. gross gross gross.

we tried to take some pictures downtown (I figured I'd find a cool sign or something) but it was SKETCH-VILLE and after we saw the man without a shirt on and the people walking around I insisted that we go elsewhere. I DID NOT feel safe.

next was graceland. I think we listed to the paul simon song like ten times. matt had never heard it. (losing love is like a window in your heart). we parked and walked around the little area across from it and also saw the grounds proper. well, from a distance and through the gate, anyway. there were a couple of elvis' old cars, some restaurants and the like. it was late and we were tired, but that was okay.

we had one more little stop on the way to tupelo--graceland, too. after reading an article on the man who owner and operated the house we realized it would probably be best to NOT go in. seriously, the shortest tour he's ever given was more than two hours. plus it was late. and creepy looking. yikes. it is not pink anymore though. I was afraid that if he saw the flash he would come out and invite us in. geez.

tupelo was just an hour down the road, and we got to our hotel. it was NICE. and not sketchy. and clearly intended for business travelers--free internet, swank alarm clock and a do not disturb sign that had a man in a suit talking on the phone with the words "Deadline pending" splashed across the photo. it was SO good to sleep. SO. so. so.