It's pretty cool when my best friends get married to each other!

Alright... Back in business! Hopefully I will also be able to bang out a few posts during Winter break, which starts for me next week.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures from a few shoots ago, which was with ____. ____ was the makeup artist.

There are more from the same day, but a different photographer, but they are secret until my Mac Chic of the Month feature comes out, which will not be until after my website is done, which will hopefully be soon! I have also done several shoots (both as model and as makeup artist, but I am going to save them for the next blog. =)

Anyway, these pictures are pretty different from anything else that is in my portfolio, so that's fun!

Don't I look kinda evil? I think the next one is my favorite of this set.

This last one is another where I think I look kinda mean. I like the gritty feel on the last two - like I said, different from my port!

Alright, moving back to this Summer....

As maid of honor, it was my responsibility to plan the shower and bachelorette party. Fortunately, I had help! That is a lot of responsibility (especially since I am not a real adult) and it was a challenge to plan remotely, but we did it!

During the shower, which was held at Cari's parents' house in Warrenville, I gave my camera to Collette, one of the bridesmaids. Since it was on a screened-in patio, there was no flash, and we didn't realize that she literally took about two hundred pictures at Cari's shower! So, of course, I did not put all of them on here, just the funniest of the bunch, or those that are necessary to the details of the story (for the most part).

This first picture is pretty much my view of the bridal shower when I kinda looked left. Guests who were also attending the bachelorette party were encouraged to wear fuschia (and the bridal party got matching tanks). I wish I was some kind of awesome person who remembered everyone's name from this picture, but alas, it was in July, and apparently I suck at life! =P

These shots together sort of give you a panoramic view of the shower, as I basically just picked up where I left off and took another picture. Bri, on the far right, was in the wedding party as well (as you will see) but had a wedding to attend, and had to skip out on the bachelorette party. She and I were trouble.

The game we played at the shower was that we each brought Cari a pair of underwear, and wrapped them without labeling them. It was Cari's job to determine who brought each pair, based upon what type we bought her.

Collette forgot, and at the last minute, brought her a brand new pair of HER DAUGHTER's undies! Here's Cari with them!

Cari seems like the Dora the Explorer type anyway, right? P.S. That last picture is kinda an awkward closeup of my boob. Sorry!

Of course, the next natural thing to do was to make Cari pose with Charley's underwear on her head, and all of the rest of the undies she acquired that day. Who said bridal showers weren't fun?

Here is where the camera was handed off to Collette....

I felt kinda bad that Mrs. Gresh was there, because I kept making fairly inappropriate comments, and I am pretty sure that I made her a little uncomfortable, but if it is any consolation, I felt kinda awkward making the comments, since they pretained to Matt, and I just don't want to think about it. Enough, ok!?!

I would further drunkenly (ok, that is a definite exaggeration - tipsy at best) babble and make awkward remarks on the way back to Cari's parents' house on the way home from the rehearsal dinner. Mr. Gresh was VERY entertained when I called someone a douchebag.

I don't know what is making us laugh so hard in this next one, but we look like we're having fun, no?

Another one of my jobs at Cari's showers (I went to one Matt's family threw, too) was to make a note of what everyone bought her, so that she could write detailed thank-you notes. Obviously, I took this as an opportunity to write ridiculous comments on the paper.

I don't know what it was that made her make this face, but I am very amused by it, so here it is!

Have you ever in your life seen someone so confused by lingerie?

I had Tia make Cari something special and one-of-a-kind, and here is Cari opening the panties for it!

Sarah caught on pretty quickly to my ridiculous remark writing (say that a few times fast!) and soon was peeping the list and randomly laughing out loud, which got us weird looks, so I ended up having to explain what I was doing, assure people that I wasn't making fun of anyone (for once!), and ended up reading the whole thing to everyone!

I doubt that the conversation that was taking place when the next picture was taken is what it looks like, but it is damn funny either way!!!! (especially if you know Sarah!)

More lingerie, fun times!

Because I don't really think I would like a stripper at my festivities, should they ever occur, I didn't want to have a stripper show up at her mom's house. However, since I have somehow (definitely unjustly!) been given some type of reputation as Cari's crazy friend, I had to do SOMETHING! Fortunately for me, when I was shopping for pirzes for my students at the dollar store, I came across a few things that I couldn't pass up, and one of them was for Cari's party. It was a "Grow-A-Stripper." He was about one inch tall, and and if you put him in water, he supposedly would grow to a much larger stripper! We named him Tony, and here he is with Cari!

I had seriously bought this little dude (as well as a Grow-A-Boyfriend for me and a Grow-A-Husband for LL, neither of whom have been grown yet... maybe soon? - Note: At the time this was written, I was single... Not so much anymore! I will explain that in the next blog, too!) like six months in advance, and was mad proud that I didn't lose him or forget him when I went down for the shower.

Tony wasn't all that heavily remembered, however, as we forgot him in a mason jar in the limo. Oops!

Speaking of limo, once the shower was over, the limo came to pick us up.

We were told it was open bar. Apparently to this dude, open bar meant a couple coolers of beer, and some carafes with either "V" or "S" and a pretty random selection of sodas. OooooK! Perhaps he thought he was going to be driving a bachelor(ette) party of dudes? It was weird.

Anyway, always ready to get the party started, I decided that I'd have an S & 7, because I figured that V would be more popular, and I didn't want to hog it.

Here's Kate pouring!

She was an incredible bartender. And I got the opportunity to sing "I love scotch... Scotchy scotchy scotch...."

Our first stop in the limo was to see the interactive Tony & Tina's wedding. I am not really a musical or theatre person, but this was quite fun and entertaining, and I thought it was perfect for Cari (who is very much a musical/theatre person!).

Here's Cari talking to one of the cast members (I think the grandmother of the bride?) in the bar before the show.

After the ceremony (which was in a church and hilarious), we were seated, and Collette was ready to cut some rug!

Then the creepy, skeezy groom's dad came over and hit on Cari and made her dance with him...

Gotta love Tulin's face in that one! Hahaha.

Here they are back at the table....

Cari was then instructed to find a replacement dance partner for her, and I think we know who the natural choice was. LAWD!

While we were dancing, he asked me if I liked to dance, then told me that he had an amateur night at his club, and that I should stop by. I am not a stripper! Haha.

While we were waiting for our turn to go through the buffet line, the craziest of the three crazy bridesmaids came over to ask Cari (and me because I was sitting next to her, although by no means qualified to advise on this topic) how she got Matt to marry her, and for ideas on how to trap her boyfriend and get him to propose!

Her boyfriend, by the way, went around giving his card with ridiculous little love notes on the back to just about everyone at the show with a vag and a pulse, and eventually was talked into proposing to her. She was so happy! Haha...

Shortly after her departure, the bride's drunken drug addict ex-boyfriend (who was actually kinda cute a little) came over and tied Cari and I together for obvious reasons?

You may notice that this did not slow my roll on the eating front, hahaha.

I am pretty sure that one of the cast members actually made fun of me for my healthy appetite, but I could be making that up. It just happens a lot!

Obviously, the next thing that happened was a group dance to the YMCA...

I don't know who had my camera at this point.

Next, Cari danced with the groom, Tony, who was also kinda cute! You may wanna pay special attention to the brother of the bride on the left, who was very effeminate, and had some amazing moves!

After the show, we of course wanted to get a group picture, so here it is!

The alcohol situation in the limo DEFINITELY needed to be rectified, so the next stop was a liquor store, where champagne was purchased. The night would definitely be VERY champagne-tastic!

Cheers!

So apparently, wherever it was that we were going out down there liked bachelorette parties, because every place we walked past offered us free bottles of champagne. Whenever we left, they told us to come back in a little while for another free bottle. So yeah... The rest of the night was pretty much champ & shots!

Here are the ladies getting the first bottle ready to be served. We drank out of plastic glasses because we are classy ladies. It would only get classier!

Of course, we got shots, too....

Cheers! (These were lemon drops, hence all the steps. Photography is courtesy of Sara, Cari's sister-in-law, who was - and still is, which means I didn't take TOO long to write this - pregnant. Another note: She had the baby! Peyton Hope - a little girl! Crap, this has taken forever to finish!)

Because I didn't know what kind of crowd I'd be dealing with, not having met many of the bachelorette party attendees, I thought that it would be a good idea to give Cari a list of tasks to complete for a reward (which I still owe her - don't worry, Cari, I haven't forgotten) to sort of give the party a direction or goal, so that we weren't randomly standing around talking about the weather or something. And no, before you think so, these were not trashy. Some may definitely have tried to test Cari's boldness, but nothing skanky. And yeah, we made some ammendments to the list to incorporate our surroundings and things that came up in conversations.

Now that I have both emphasized and reiterated that all the challenges were classy, here is a picture of Cari earning a few minutes of massage (her reward) by dancing on a stripper pole! (We were pretty much the only people in the place).

She's SO into it! =P

Next on the agenda was shadow dancing!

Kate & I joined to liven things up a bit, and so Cari wouldn't be alone!

I like Cari's emphatic storytelling in the next one. =)

There was obviously a good song that Cari and Kate liked on at the time of the next picture!

The next stop was apparently Bootleggers, where we had another free bottle of champagne, and where they had some cheeky signage....

I thought that these were good pieces of advice to send Cari off to MATTrimony (HA! I just thought of that now. Sooooo cheesy!) so I took a picture. I am sure that Matt agrees with my decision.

We encountered shot girls, which meant that Cari encountered another shot.

The next list item Cari attempted to cross off was to get a guy to show her his belly button. Here are Cari and Kate in negotiations.

Success!

This list item gave birth to a new list item - the hunt for cock lines.

For those of you not familiar, cock lines are apparently the lines from muscles a guy's abs have that pretty much point to his crotch. They remind me of how the legs on a Ken doll attach. You know what I am talking about? Shortly before the bachelorette party, I was showing my friend Jen a picture of a guy I had been dating that was in VERY good shape. Jamie made a comment about his abs, and then Jen said "Yeah, and he has nice cock lines, too!"

Jamie and I were so confused! Come to find out, this is an accepted term, and was all we talked about for a few months. Girls, I say we bring it back!

Speaking of cocklines, you can kinda see this guy's right one. Sorry for the horrible photography!

Speaking of photography, here's Cari with the guy she got to agree to buy her a shot (also on the list) under an "Absolutely no photography" sign (Yes, I know that it says "during the show," but I still find it mildy amusing!).

\

As you can see, we were very diligent about the list and keeping track of it!

Another thing that was on the list was to find a buff guy and make him show his muscles.

Cari handled this very maturely. I, however, did not.

I guess it seemed like a good idea for me to get a parting gift. If you are not familiar with the terminology, please reference this blog about Danny Glover.

Apparently, there was no way I was leaving without his shirt, and to get him to part with it, I guess I had to kiss him? I evidently thought he was cute and also gave him my number. A few days later, he sent me a text, and told me his name was Rico (which I either never knew or had forgotten - LAWD!) and we figured out who he was. He also shared with me that he was a rapper! Perfect. He sent me links to his myspace pages, Rico's MySpace Page #1 and Rico's MySpace Page #2, which feature his music and some pretty awesome pictures of him. Seriously? I kissed this dude? Please help me.

He tried to get me to come to Chicago to hang out with him again over the next couple weeks, but I was not really into that idea, although that is probably very surprising, after going to his MySpace page. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend more time getting to know the artist behind the song "Rabbit in Heat?" I am starting to regret not taking this further... He is still in my phone as "Uncle Rico Suave" hahahaha. DEFINITELY not my proudest moment!

Another thing on Cari's list was to kiss a bald man's head, and here's evidence of completion of this task!

My next photo is of an object that I think many of my friends and I could put to good use, however, ownership of such a device could prove to be very dangerous.



Yep! A Jamo fountain. That is probably not an appropriate name for it, but doesn't it sound like fun?

As if me making out with "Papi Chulo," and all of the shots and bottles of champagne I referenced didn't give you the hint, the next picture will...



Sobriety had fled. And it was pretty hot out!

Sometimes, glasses are an unnecessary evil.




I was very amused that this particular brand of champagne was called "Wycliff." Perhaps it is a former member of the Figees brand of champagnes? Ok, that was a terrible joke, but I was very drunk when I came up with it, so let it slide, ok?

Cheers!



Umm, didn't we just do this?



Time for Jenn to make a silly face for the camera!



Tulin followed suit....



I'm not really sure what's going on here, but it looks like we're all having a good time, which we usually are!



That was the end of the bachelorette party pictures! Early the next morning, I flew to NYC to meet up with my good friend Carlington for a day or two, then to drive his new convertible (which he named Mandelicious, awww) back to Chicago.

The following weekend was Parker and Cayce's wedding. Parker worked at Decibel before he and Cayce moved away. Their wedding was sure to get out of hand, and it did!

Here are Maj and Blake at the reception.



Gotta love how coordinated the whole thing is! Their outfits, the drink....

Next up is a pic of Josh & Drew - how romantic!



The rest of the pictures are at the after-party at Decibel, but before I get to those, I want to talk about one of the funniest conversations I can remember from that wedding reception...

Vincent came up to me while I was sitting at our table, and put his leg against my arm...

Vincent: Is this creepy?
Me: A little.
Vincent: Let me tell you about something that is very immature that I am very good at. There is a thing called "Sharking" where you take someone who isn't paying attention's drink, drink it all, and then slam the glass upside down on the table. Josh and I are having a contest. I am winning, 8-0.
Me: Vincent, you might be the coolest person I have ever met.
Vincent: If by "coolest," you mean "creepiest," then yes.

Hilarious! Anyway, this sharking thing got pretty out of hand!

At Decibel, I ran into (ok, it was pretty planned), a friend from Middle School, Terrail, and his girlfriend, Amanda! She was so cool! Here we all are.




And Jason, who I text "All day" and "!" to every time I play bar dice, was there, too! Of course we played bar dice (just what I needed) and did shots!



At some point while that was taking place, shirts went overboard! It was bound to happen, I guess....



Steve looks pretty damn creepy in the next one. Look out Vincent, he's getting into your territory!



Blake and Aziz must've been feeling the love in the air from the wedding... Awww...



Of course they had to take a normal one, too! Or was the kiss a normal one for them? Hmmm....



If Blake and Aziz can love each other, their girlfriends Maj and Rachel can, too!



Look at this crew of troublemakers!



Drew is in serious thought here... Hard to take him seriously in a vest, tie and no shirt, though!



Debauchery...



Absurdity....




I don't know why that's there twice! Here Drew and Michelle (who I miss so much!) are having a heart-to-heart....



This picture of Shawn looks pretty scandalous!



At this point, I've got nothing!




Awww!



I guess I just couldn't get enough of taking pictures of Steve? He must've been entertaining.



At the end of the night, I didn't wanna leave (common theme at Decibel), but had to because Maj didn't have a key to get in. I guess we yelled at each other? Absurd. Anyway, moving on....

Here's a random picture of Refugio yawning in a cubby!



Back to Cari and Matt... Matt wanted to send Cari flowers that would arrive on their wedding day, but the flower company f'ed up, and she got them a day or so early, but I still thought it was so sweet!





In case you are having difficulty reading it, it says "I can't wait to see how beautiful you look in your wedding dress. I love you and am excited to spend the rest of my life with you. Love, Matt."

Awww!

I took a picture of all the ladies and Cari's dad sipping on Cristal before the ceremony. It was fun and the champagne was yummy! Colette wasn't there, because she was already downstairs, since she sang in the wedding! Don't they all look so beautiful!?



Bri stepped out for a pic and I stepped in, so it's like the same picture with slightly different ingredients...



And then Cari's dad took a photo, so again... Same picture, different ingredients!



Cari and Kate are really big into recycling, and do a lot of work with the kids with it at school, so they wanted this picture for their bulletin in their classrooms!



I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony, obviously, because I was smiling until my face hurt and holding the heaviest flowers in the history of mankind, so here we are to the reception.

You know I love food, and this looked sooo good, I had to take a picture!



Then Cari and Matt got on the piano....



And started a trend... Here they are with the groomsmen...



During the beginning of the reception, they played a slideshow of pictures of Cari and Matt, and here is the happy couple watching them.



Sarah and I got someone to take our picture....



I had to get a picture with my roomie! I love her expression in this one!



Next is a picture of Oha and Tom. What a pair!



Bride and Maid of Honor, obvi.



Cari and Sarah... =)



Like often is the case, I befriend a bartender, and before long, he/she knows my drink and just pours it without me having to ask.

This wedding reception was no exception. Matt was so impressed that when he came and saw this occur, he couldn't help but exclaim "Alice is the man!"

Ummm....

But since Alice was so incredible, she rolled with it, and let me take this fantastic photo.



The Prince and Princess of Armania clearly needed a photo together... So much love!



And here are Matt and Sarah....



Half of the married parts of 1418... Jon, Jamie, Dave, and Kat!



Awww, the bride and groom again!



Sexy ladies on the dance floor!



Same picture, different ingredients... ;o)



The Princess and Oha!



This looks like so much fun! I wanna do it all again!



I took a picture with Tom, who was... well... as drunk as only Tom can be!



This had to be "Shout!"



Absurdities....






Lawd...




Eric and Laura...




I love how Oha and I are dancing with my drink in our hands. How cute? Ok, not really.



That's a loooootttttttttta love!



I LOVE this next picture of Kate & I. It screams fun. Who knows what we were screaming?



Cari's face = priceless.






^ Two of my favorite people to spend time with! ^




Had to take a pic with the best man... With my shoes off!


At this point, I kinda went around taking photos of everyone in sight! It was the last song, I believe, and I had no one to dance with, so I thought I'd make myself useful!



Cari and Matt....




Kat & Jon....



Eric & Laura...



Mike & Danielle....



Tulin & her boyfriend (whose name is escaping me!)



Frank & Lorraine...



Scooter & his date/girlfriend? (whose name is escaping me!)



Jenn & Nate....



Dina (I'm pretty sure!) and Pat....



Rick & his girlfriend (whose name is escaping me!)



Joel & his date/girlfriend (whose name is escaping me!)




Uhh.....



Matt's mom (queen Jean!) and someone....



Cari's dad and another woman! AND her name is exactly the same as Cari's mom's!



Ok, there are the parents of the bride! The right woman this time! =)



Cari's sister-in-law and brother's and someone named Mandy, I think!



Groom & Best Man, of course!




Threw in Timmy's girlfriend, Mindy!



Nafin & UA!!!



Told you the piano thing was a trend... Nathan's really good at it!



Wow.



This chair game was really fun!



Clearly, Dave needed to drink two beers at once!



Happy couple & marital booty grab!



Shots of triple sec, of course!




Royal shot with the pool boy....



I <3 br="" oha="">


The next morning, Nathan was drinking water out of a Smirnoff bottle. Wow.




I love that the Wedding Crashers poster that I helped Cari pick out for Matt is in the picture! We bought that (well, she did) when we were shopping on State St. in Madison FOREVER ago!

Whew, finally finished! Now it's time to go off to a Sunday Funday! Trouble!!!