Michele Bachelorette Brunch 2016

We had so much fun during our weekend in Richmond celebrating Michele's bachelorette fun, that I had to separate it into multiple posts. I started counting all the fun things we did, and Friday through Saturday was #1-29: http://theclous.blogspot.com/2016/03/micheles-bachelorette-festivities-2016.html.

On Sunday, I got to sleep in again (very exciting for me, you guys). (#30) When I woke up I saw my wrist and thought- OH MY WHAT IS THAT? It was the bachelorette temporary tattoo from the night before. (#31) Haha. Ash, Angela, and I walked over to Captain Buzzy's Beanery so as not to wake Michele. (#32) Then we walked over to Libby Hill Park to check out the view and drink our coffees, or in Ash's case a dirty dirty chai. She'll never sleep again. (#33) When we came back Michele was up and ready so had group hug time. (#34) It was on the agenda even before we got there because she and Karen were recently passengers in a car accident and got concussions.

Going clockwise from bride: Michele, Tara, Kate, Susan, Angela, Ash, me, 

Hannah, Anne, Kristen, Karen, and Emily

For the highlight of Michele's bachelorette weekend we did the The Jefferson Hotel's Sunday Champagne Brunch. It's a Richmond tradition. (#35) It's an understatement to say I loved it. It's probably responsible for 2 of the 4 pounds I gained while I was in Richmond for 48 hours. Michele had wore a super cute outfit, which Hannah made even cuter with a little veil and boa.  (#36)

Emily, Michele, and Tara

Emily is Michele's sister-in-law and she told us the family tradition of telling fun little stories about the person who is having a big day. It was a great idea and helped us all get to know each other better. It's clear that Michele has super amazing friends (with exceptionally nice hair) and that they all love her like crazy. (#37)

Can we talk about the food for a second? The Sunday Brunch had buffet tables downstairs with breakfast, lunch, and dessert foods. There were: eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, Three Cheese Grits (you had me at grits- #38), Potatoes, french toast, an omelet station, and a waffle station. They also had smoked salmon, shrimp, oysters on the half shell and a bunch of meat dishes including some Indian food flavored pork thing. Obviously I only tried some of these things. Dessert was another story. I had all the desserts- well at least a few bites: chocolate truffle torte, chocolate cake, cheese cakes, tarts , toasted almond torte, pecan bourbon torte, creme brulee, and some mini cupcakes including red devil and peanut butter cupcakes. (#39)

Buffet tables and guest seating on lower level

Music by the Randall Pharr Trio (#40)

In addition to the food, there was bottomless champagne and orange juice which many of us used to create our own mimosas. (#41) Also, Ash I took a billion failed panoramic shots of the table-- this might be directly related to #41. (#42) 

8/12 people

7/12

10/12 and a very distorted Ash, panorama fail.

When brunch was over, Michele had little party gifts for those of us who couldn't come back for the rescheduled shower. (#43) We walked though the beautiful lobby of the hotel where they also do afternoon tea, and then we took some more pictures outside the hotel, because that's how we roll. (#44)

Susan, Kate, Hannah, Michele in the lobby

 

Michele and Kate outside the hotel

We got spoiled on beautiful Richmond on this trip. In addition to going to Libby Hill Park in the morning, Michele, Hannah, Ash, and I went for a walk through Jefferson Park in the afternoon. (#45) Obviously we took more pictures- made impossible and hilarious by high wind conditions. (#46)

Libby Hill Park in the morning

Me, Michele and Ash at Jefferson Park

We went to say goodbye to Arthur, Emily, and Avery before they left to go home. Did I mention how adorable and cute Avery is? (#47) Finally Michele dropped us off at the airport - we had more group hugs- and Michele went off to get her pending manicure from the day before. (#48) Despite the fact that Ash and I got to the airport ridiculously early, we went to charge my phone at another gate and almost missed our flight. But we didn't yay! (#49)

It was a great trip! We had so much fun!! But the BEST PART was that no one got a concussion!!! (#50)

Michele's Bachelorette Festivities 2016

Ash and I went to Richmond to see Michele and celebrate her bachelorette/sort-of-wedding-shower! We had SO much fun I decided to count how many fun things we did (like the birthday fun things game). I reserve the right to edit this post to add more fun things I forgot at the time of writing the post. Also because we had so much fun, I had to break this down into multiple posts! The fun started weeks in advance with Ash has been sending text pictures with signs since we bought our tickets (#1).

FRIDAY
Friday I finally got in on the action sending pictures of James, Miranda, and me wearing Mexican hats (#2) because Michele and Brandon will get married in Mexico in April! Ash and I had drinks at JFK with our hats (#3), and struck up a conversation with some people who offered to take our picture. It turned out that they're moving to Richmond soon so we tried to encourage them to join the Richmond Food Co-op. (#4)

Ash and I bought drinks on the plane and the attendant carded us in all seriousness. (#5) We greeted Michele and Brandon in RIC still wearing the hats.

Me, Michele, and Ash in our Meximond sombreros! (#6)

We went back to Michele and Brandon's and had some wine and cheese while catching up. (#7) Brandon also made us these amazing turmeric drinks. Yum. (#8) They showed us their awesome wedding rings! (#9)

Michi + Brando = Love

Because apparently turmeric is a happiness-inducing spice

SATURDAY
Saturday morning I slept in! (#10) Actually I still woke up first somehow, so I went to the store to buy wine and Girl Scout Cookies. Ash came with me, the walk was pleasant, and the tiny girl scout entrepreneur actually assured us that the thin mints go great with wine. (#11)

Brandon made us fresh scones! (#12) We ate them with honey made by Buddhist monks and wow- you could taste the delicious nirvana in them. Seriously. (#13)

So good this is a picture from my out-of-body scone experience

Michele went to Yoga, Ash went to see her cousin and I met up with Candice, Tim, and Cora. (More on my visit with them later.) (Separate but simultaneous #14)

I arrived at the spa, still super happy from my visit with Candice and as I walked in I remembered that I was scheduled for a couples massage with Ash. Let me just break that down for you a minute, I was already so happy, well-rested, and well-fed only to discover I was scheduled for MORE HAPPINESS. The massage was only my third ever (first was my prenatal one, second one was also with Ash) but it was the best ever. I tried to stay very focused on it and not let my mind wander during it. (#15) Michele and Angela met us there and we all had a group pedi together. (#16) And they gave us wine to sip! (#17)

At the spa getting pedicures

While we got our nails done, Michele had her massage. (#18) (She came back for her manicure Sunday, so she didn't miss out on anything.) There was so much unintentional comedy during the manicure that I laughed so hard I think I pulled some abs. (#19)

Then we met Brandon, Paul, Chris at Amour, the restaurant where Michele and Brandon first met! It's called Amour! Paul gave us very personalized wine recommendations so we loved what we were drinking. (#20) Then the boys headed out for part 1 of a very civilized bachelor celebration. (#21) We spotted them later eating dinner at a restaurant. I really wanted to take cute paparazzi photos of them but I restrained myself.

Ash, Michele, Brandon, Paul, Chris at Amour

KISS KISS- Michele and Brandon

Me and Angela had a lot of bonding time on this trip

We went to visit Emily and Avery at Michele's mom's house. Avery is Michele's niece and she's a little mini-Emily and is the cutest. The cutest. (#22) Michele not only showed us her wedding dress but put it on to model it. So gorgeous!! (#23)

Then we back to the house for out girls' night of pizza and wine! (#24) We also had our Girl Scout Cookies. They deserve their own number. (#25) Ash got us Bachelorette tattoos that said "Bride to Be" for Michele and "Bride's Tribe" for the rest of us, and she helped us apply them because she's the best. (#26) We wore the Mexican hats in honor of Meximond and their upcoming wedding in Mexico and took lots of fun pictures. (#27)

We played Dixit - a very pretty game- and we successfully battled the tricky Susan and Kate team. (#28) Michele also had a dress for some official document signing and she modeled that dress for us as well. (#29)

Cheers to Michi and Brandon's love!

Michele, Karen, and Susan showing their hats and tats

Kate, Angela, and me - more hats and tats

The original three amigas

Me and Michi

Dixit!

Things got really fancy on Sunday...

My 36th Birthday in NY & NJ 2015

My birthday was low-key but full of wonderful things. Here are 36 fun things I did on my birthday!

1) Slept late.
2) Woke up this morning to a family pile-on! Thanks Kevin, James, and Miranda!
3) James and Kevin made me some birthday cards.
4) Breakfast courtesy of Kevin,
5) Kevin watched the kids while I indulged numerous mood swings.
6) Mood swings might actually have been a hangover as I went to dinner and drinks with college girlfriends this weekend. Though this was not actually birthday-related I'm still riding the happy wave.
7) Lots of birthday texts (I didn't have a smart phone last year so this is fun) and calls
8-17) Lots of presents and cards this year! Thanks Kevin, Andrew, Kathy, Janice, Ash, et al.
18) Italian subs for lunch- I was totally craving one!
19) Hug-a-thon from James that lasted like 10 minutes.
20) Lots of people coordinating to come to Clou-a-rama today! Yay!
21) Miranda and I had girl-time while James went to school.
22) But because she takes naps in her crib now I had child-free guilt-free time in the afternoon!
23) Kevin made dinner
24) My first birthday with two kids!
25) We had 4 different flavors of cup-cakes!

Cupcake with candle! Miranda is even more excited than I am.

26) Kevin and James sang happy birthday to me and James helped me blow out the candles

 
James is helping.

27) We also took numerous photos of this event.
28) We played cupcake-smash with the kids, the goal being to get as much frosting on our faces as possible.

Cupcake happiness.

 

Don't mind if I do!


Only frosting on his mustache could make him cuter than he already is.

29) Miranda decided this was the best day of her life yet and she expressed it with lots of smiles and happy sounds.

Best. day. ever.

30) Kevin gave the kids their baths ... and put them to sleep
31) ... and basically did everything all evening.
32) While I watched Dr. Who.  And I got to a lot of people's favorite episode "Blink" which was totally solid.
33) We had drinks after the kids went to bed.
34) And watched my favorite comedy Brooklyn 99.
35) Back massage.
36) Went to dinner and drinks with my gorgeous mother the following day!

Me and mom at Biggie's Clam Bar in Carlstadt

Jaime's Super Fun Birthday 2013!

Partially at my insistence, Jaime had a four-day birthday extravaganza, wherein she attempted to do 35 Fun Things. (Thank you Sarah B. for teaching me this game!) The numbers below track her fun.

Muy caliente at Hill Country

Jaime's birthday extravaganza started in DC on the 3rd, when she attended "A Capital Fourth" rehearsal with her friend Erin and got to hear some of her favorites live: Barry Manilow (#1) and Neil Diamond (#2). Neil Diamond even sang Sweet Caroline, which is a song that is very near and dear to Massachusetts girls and Red Sox fans like Jaime. (#3)

 

A Capital Fourth on the Third

Jaime and I have spent some of our birthdays together in the past, so I invited her to come on up to New York and do some of her favorite things here. This officially made her birthday a multicity tour, and she had no traffic on her way up! (#4) As per the last post, we kicked off the weekend with fireworks in Long Island. (#5) Then on the actual day of her birthday, she started her day with the famous FloPa mani-pedi andcomplimentary shoulder massage. (#6) James used his bath crayons to draw this surprise for her in the shower. (#7)

After a brief fashion show of outfits, we picked our favorites and went to the city to meet Christina for dinner at Hill Country. (#8) They have pretty good Texas-style BBQ but I think my favorite part there is all the delicious sides. I am very picky about mac n' cheese, but their's is so good I think it deserves it's own number. (#9) And Jaime even ordered a spicy margarita. (#10)

Rice to Riches! Yum!

Our trip to Rice to Riches was more of a friendship pilgrimage than just a craving. Those of us who like rice pudding seem to be in the minority, but Jaime and I both really like it, and she introduced me to this Nolita treasure back in 2007 when I was working in New York for the summer. Since then, we talk about it regularly even though we haven't been back there together since then. (I think I did once drag Kevin but he doesn't like rice pudding so it wasn't too much fun.) Anyway, we finally made it back there, and we greedily ordered 3 flavors. (#1`) she also discovered her favorite flavor, "Fluent in French Toast." (#12) Despite the picture, Christina doesn't like rice pudding so... more for us!

Since we were already in Nolita, we decided to stay and go to some bars there. First we tried Milano, which might be my new favorite dive bar in the city. They were super nice and the place was plastered in photos. I approve! (#13) I got Jaime a birthday drink. (#14) Milano's bartender recommended the cider to her because it has "handpicked apples, so it should taste of sweat used to make the cider." (#15) Sounds kind of gross to me, but I guess the bartender and Jaime share the same sense of humor.

Jaime, Christina, and me at Milano

Then we went to Botanica, where we were carded! (#16) Botanica was a little nicer, but super weird with random people seemingly dancing by themselves on a non-existant dance floor. Jaime seemed to like it though, in part because they had Anthropologie-scented candles. (#17) The drinks were great though and Christina treated Jaime to something called a "Ginger Yum-yum." (#18) Yummy indeed. Some guy kept trying to chat up Jaime, though she generally denied it, so I can't count it as a "Fun Thing." Then she thought she saw Corbin Bernsen dancing. At the time I didn't know who he was, but after I looked him up on Google I thought he really did look like him... and maybe it was him? (#19) Now a few yum-yum drinks in myself. I psychoanalyzed Jaime and determined that she is generally untroubled. (#20)

Jaime at Botanica

We made a half-hearteda ttempt to go home after that, but instead we went on a longish walk through Nolita and SoHo. Jaime came to a sign with her name. (#21) When we finally got on the subway, we rode with the most fabulous dragqueen ever, (#22) and a significantly less fabulous group of guys that were talking nonsense using big words. The latter group inspired Jaime to try to talk like them, creating new amazing words like "Jacksonomically" and my personal favorite, "stimulicious." (#23)

Street sign named for Jaime!

Since we managed to completely miss our first train home, we went for a walk in Koreatown, which Jaime had never visited before. (#24) We ended up at an Irish pub, where we shared another drink, and took a cutesie selfie. (#25) The bartender probably thought we were an item, haha.

Selfie!

By the time we finally got on the train it was 2:30 a.m. Jaime is a big fan of How I Met Your Mother and declared that we were "officially on the drunk train!" (#26) We proceeded to eat more rice pudding on the train. (#27) The last time Jaime visited we had so much fun that we missed our train stop, and we had to call Kevin to pick us up which was decidedly not fun. So this time, when we successfully got off at our stop, Jaime decided that not missing our stop was a fun thing, and some locals knowingly smiled and agreed with her. (#289) We were pretty excited that despite our advancing age we had managed to party until 3:30 a.m. (#29)

The next morning, after more rice pudding for breakfast (#30) we went off to Jones Beach for the day (#31). We had a little time to ourselves before a bunch of other friends and a time-intensive James joined us. We even dipped into the icy ocean. In the evening we cooked out in the backyard with friends. (#32) James was a big fan of Jaime and gave her hugs and kisses and even washed Jaime's car for her. (#33) Finally, we ended the evening drinking and playing a hyper-dirty version of Apples to Apples. (#34)  Kevin was in such a good mood after the party that he even conceded to Jaime that she was right about something. His exact words were, "You're right." Jaime was beyond gleeful at this admission. (#35) I think all in all, a very fun 4-day birthday celebration even if, as Jaime says, I was "slutty with counting fun things." 

Jaime hearts Jones Beach 

Cookout spread

Friends at the cookout

James washing Jaime's car