Yet another shower for moi!

Just for the record, I know that the number of showers being held in my honor is totally ridic. I just don't care! I love it! This past weekend my dear sister and our friend Shelli gave me a lovely shower at a local winery in their small town.

What winery shower is complete without a 3 year old? Caroline likes to party, and in no way are her mother and I encouraging her to be a booze hound.

We tasted. Note my animal print. I love loud obnoxious prints as I have mentioned earlier! If every surface in my home was covered in a cheetah, giraffe, zebra, or leopard print I would be thrilled. I don't think that will happen though. T thinks having Kashmir in the home is enough Wild Kingdom.

Here is the CAKE. I mean a fabulous cake. It was pink and fabulous, and had raspberry filling. I love raspberry filling, but opted out on it for my wedding cake. I was worried someone might have that diverticulitis, that disease where raspberry seeds get stuck in your intestines, and then you feel all crappy. I couldn't have that on my conscience. It might affect the mood on the dance floor. Plus raspberry filling is freakin' expensive. This cake was so good that I just ate another piece, 3 days later, at 9:30 a.m. Don't judge

Wine that tasted like raspberry jam. Sommeliers the world over would have turned up their noses in disgust! I loved it! I am no wine snob!

Meg, C, and I

Once again, the automatic present opener was in full on operation mode. She was rockin' a bubble hem. I love! Thanks girls!

Swoon Worthy

This past weekend, Sweet T and I were able to visit with our families. My niece's half birthday party was on Saturday, and my sister and pal Shelli hosted a wonderful bridal shower for me on Sunday. Sweet T's parents and Aunt Shirley met us for dinner on Saturday night. Aunt Shirley treated us all to a tasty meal. When the waitress brought the check, Shirley took out her wallet, and these beauts came to light-

Gasp! Sweet T back in '94 with a stylin' Zorro 'stache, and one eyebrow.

Here he is in a tuxedo for his senior picture. Its a good thing I didn't date him in high school, because his irresistible studliness might have tarnished my reputation. I had to grab my camera and get some photographic evidence. I can't be the only one with my awkward phases captured on this blog.(see fang post)

Ah, but I jest. Here he is more recently with a bit of facial hair, and two brows. Much better. Based on our previous looks, it is better that we met a bit later in life.

Serious Miscommunication and a Gang of Idiots

Idiot #1

Idiots #2 and 3

A couple of weeks ago I realized just how dramatic my family is. Since I grew up with my brother and sister, I knew that they could overreact. I learned that my soon to be husband fits right in with them. This is the ridiculous story of how my family decided that I was the next Natalee Holloway or Jaycee Dugard.

2 weeks ago my dear pal Jamie called me. Trinity was in the car with me, and Jamie's voice streamed through the Bluetooth. My dad bought me a new GPS system for my car, and Bluetooth is one of its features. This is great, and wonderfully safe, since I still sport a very high tech flip phone with no such capabilities. Now this Bluetooth stinks, with a terrible echo and it always sounds like I'm in a hole. It is so bad that I like to pretend that I am indeed in a hole when I talk on it, and I say things like "Hey Mister, I got your dog" like the woman in Silence of the Lambs. In retrospect, perhaps that joke got my family's minds spinning with thoughts of kidnapping. Anyway, Jamie called on a Monday, and invited me to go to see Jersey Boys with her on the Wednesday. Trinity heard this as she invited me, and the two of us discussed me going after we hung up. My point? HE KNEW I WAS GOING TO SEE JERSEY BOYS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Wednesday morning rolls around. T gets up and goes to work while I was sleeping, so I didn't get a chance to remind him of my plans. I tried to call him a couple of times that day to remind him, but I never reached him. I SHOULD HAVE LEFT A MESSAGE. That morning, around 11 a.m. I spoke to my sister and shared with her my exciting plans. "Jamie is taking me to see Jersey Boys for my birthday tonight. Isn't that fun? I can't wait!" Katie interacts as though she is listening. She was not.

I had to leave before T got home, and on the way to dinner I discussed my plans with my mother. She too knew I was going to the play. As I headed into the performance at 7:20, I sent T a reminder text message, then silenced my phone. I then proceeded to enjoy the fantastical show, along with my BFF's company.

At 10:30 I exited the theatre, got in my car and turned on my phone. 10 text messages from my brother, sister, and almost husband. Frantic voices mails from all 3 of them, screaming, "Where are you? Oh my God!!!!" One message from my friend Allison, expressing concern for my whereabouts. What the hell? I had told these fools where I was going.

I called Trinity. He answered the phone, frantic. He had no recollection of my plans from Monday, and the text message had failed. He had called my sister, area hospitals, and my local neighborhood police, which apparently had a recording, and not a person who answered. Barney Fife was out patrolling, and clearly unavailable for consultation. Did I mention he called my sister? The one who knew where I was? The one who doesn't listen? Did she tell him where I was? No, she got on the phone to the Indiana State Police!!!! Thank God you can't report someone missing (an adult, which I suppose I am) until they are missing for 24 hours.

Trinity told Katie that I had gone to yoga at 5:45 (my normal routine) and had never returned and was not answering my phone. Katie called my brother Rob, who then began patrolling the area surrounding my yoga studio, expecting to find a smashed window and traces of me. He also went to Allison and Steve's home in search of clues, thus getting them all worked up and in on "the search".

At this point, let me say a couple of things. I've watched Oprah, and know all of the tips for avoiding snatchings. DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE TAKEN TO A 2ND LOCATION. No need to worry about me. Also, Joran Van der Sloot does not troll midwestern cities, but sticks to South and Central America. Oh, and he's in custody. Lastly, I told everyone where I was. I called everyone, got everyone calmed down, and we later laughed about it. From this experience I learned two things, everyone loves me, and no one listens to me.

More Lake

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Lake Trip 2010

This past weekend we headed to East Tennessee for a fun filled adventure with our pals. Tim and Jamie hosted several couples at their beautiful lake house. There was lots of boating, boozing, and eating!

As we headed down to the dock on Saturday, I grabbed my camera for some action shots. I'm so glad I did, otherwise I would have missed this photo op:

This is Tyler, aka "Showtime." He brings the funk, yet posed so angelically!

Trinity and Tim

Jamie and I in our matching orange for Tennessee, I suppose-

The Captain

Rob, Meghan and T prep for some serious floating.

I have no pride so I decided to display my thunder thighs to explain a lake tradition that I learned on my first trip several years ago. In order to float comfortably, we flip life jackets upside down and zip them up with our legs through the arm holes. In lake lingo this is known as "diapering" and keeps us afloat while our arms are free for beverage holding.

The gang floating in their diapers.

Meg and I enjoy beer pong tableside.

T descending the stairs for the competition

Partners Tyler and Meghan-losers

Jodi and Trinity-winners

Sistas Jamie and Jodi

Robeghan

We had tons of fun and can't wait to see everyone together again at our wedding in a few short weeks!

Downs after Dark

I WAS VERY EXCITED.

My bachelorette weekend kicked off on Friday night in Louisville, when we headed to Churchill Downs for some mint juleps and evening racing.

My sister and mother

I was feeling overly dramatic, since I was sporting a feather-

Kate, Allison, Katie, me, Laura, Jamie and Meghan

sipping wine and juleps

My pal, Laura, a true Southern belle

My sister, a transplant who masquerades as a Southern Belle, and can trick many people!

Teri, Allison and Court

A jockey, who was roughly the size of my cat.

We wrapped up the night at Rivue, where the server brought me lots of dessert, including a candy bar!

Pooling it at the Galt House

We spent Saturday afternoon at the rooftop pool at our hotel. It was crazy windy and the lounge chairs were all chained together to avoid blowing onto the highway below us! We had such fun chatting it up with fruity frozen drinks.

I did a swaying dance to apply my spray sunscreen. For those of you who live in Indy, you are familiar with the swaying woman who resides on the corner of Mass Ave. She is a computer animated lady, who sways in the most mesmerizing way, and she transfixes me whenever I drive or walk by. I was recreating this for my friends, and everyone else at the pool.

* Sidenote for this ridiculous pic:

Trinity bought me a new swimsuit for our honeymoon for my birfday. He let me go shopping alone, but gave me some fashion advice. It went like this:

"Betsy, please get a solid colored suit. Everything you own is so bright and printed. I'd like for you to tone it down a bit. I like you in simple colors. Not so loud."

I came home with this. I can't fight my inner Mrs. Roper. He was a sport, and told me he liked it. Then he handed me my new July issue of Instyle, and turned it to a fashion poll inside. 59% report that they prefer solid colored swimsuits over 41% who like bold prints. "See, see? Instyle and I agree!", he argued. You lose, T.

This is as close as I dare get with swimsuit photos. My friends, all beautiful, would kill me.