Friday, April 08, 2005
Chick Sisters Road Trip!
It's all finally planned and confirmed: my sister Katie and I are road-tripping down to San Francisco next weekend to attend the bachelorette party of our youngest sister, Carrie! (Did I ever mention I'm the oldest of 4 girls?) Carrie is getting married over Memorial Day weekend in Santa Clara, CA (and yes, we're driving to that affair as well only WITH the kids ) But next weekend is the bachelorette and we decided at sort of the last minute to go and kick our heels up. The best part? It's totally a surprise! Carrie has no idea that Katie and I are coming. We're relying on sister #3, Maureen, to help keep the secret and let us into her apartment in the wee morning hours when we arrive. We three sister are the bridesmaids in the wedding. Well, Katie and I are bridesmaids, Maureen is the Maid of Honor.
Sidenote: Quick family tree: I'm the oldest and have two kids but my sister Katie, who is 19 mos. younger than me, got married first by 2 yrs. She has 3 kids. Her younger two are the exact same gender and age as my two, within a few months. Maureen is 4 yrs younger than me and living the single life. Carrie is 9.5 yrs younger than me, which one would think would make her an infant far too young to be getting married, but really she'll be married just 2 days before her 26th birthday, so I guess she's old enough. But just barely.
Maureen is a co-organizer of this event and sent out really cute invitations that spelled out the agenda for the day/evening. Which is what made me think about going whereas before I just assumed it wouldn't be possible. But it just sounded like so much fun and it's ONLY a 9 hr drive (each way!), so I called Katie to rope her into coming with me. It's more fun to road-trip WITH someone, wouldn't you agree? Surprisingly, she was up for coming. I totally thought she'd blow it off but she's good to go. I think we are both thinking that it will be nice to ride in a car and NOT have to listen to the same annoying kid songs over and over and over and over again, and not have to make repeated stops for emergency potty breaks, or stop for food, or pick up something that dropped on the floor out of reach, or any number of things that happen when you drive with kids in the car. So we're going and we leave in one week.
The Plan: drive like crazy Friday evening, stopping only when we arrive in SF, which should be around 2am. Circle endlessly looking for a place to park my Volvo (parking is a big problem in SF...). Lug our stuff, including sleeping bags, pillows and inflatable mattresses, to Carrie's apartment and hope the loud buzzer will wake up Maureen so she can let us in. Oh yeah, we'll be hauling the wedding dress with us as well. Can't forget that. Surprise the shit out of Carrie and then crash on the floor of her very small apartment. The next day we all have appointments for manicures and pedicures at this local nail salon. Then we're having lunch at this restaurant, which features southwestern fare. We get the afternoon to SHOP in the City (hooray! just wish I had the cash to blow on shopping but whatever. Window shopping will have to do). Then we're having drinks and food at one of her friends' house before catching the bus that will take us to all the hot spots and nightclubs for the evening. From the pics on the website, the bus looks to be a party in it's own right. They're asking the guests to wear mostly black for the evening. I have just the cute skirt and sandals to fit the bill. But I'm hoping - reeeallllyyy hoping - that they aren't planning to do much (or anything) too tacky to Carrie. I KNOW it's her bachelorette, but nothing makes me cringe more than seeing some poor bride being dragged out looking like a tramp and being made to do ridiculous things thoughout the evening. Like get so many kisses on the cheek, or obtain x number of boxer shorts, or stupid stuff like that. I'm too old to participate in that type of embarrassing crap. I just want to hang out, have some cocktails, and get to know Carrie's friends so I'll be acquainted with them at the wedding. Fun, but not obnoxious. We'll see what unfolds. Whatever it ends up being, Katie and I have to drive all the way back home (and she has to go 2 more hours than me to get back to Portland) on Sunday. It's a quick trip, but hopefully worth it. We'll be in the car about as long as we'll be in San Francisco. And then we get to turn around and repeat that drive in just 6 more weeks. WITH kids. Thankfully, Katie and I have no trouble chatting the hours away and I'm sure the time in the car will pass quickly. Let the Chick Sisters Road Trip begin!!
Sidenote: Quick family tree: I'm the oldest and have two kids but my sister Katie, who is 19 mos. younger than me, got married first by 2 yrs. She has 3 kids. Her younger two are the exact same gender and age as my two, within a few months. Maureen is 4 yrs younger than me and living the single life. Carrie is 9.5 yrs younger than me, which one would think would make her an infant far too young to be getting married, but really she'll be married just 2 days before her 26th birthday, so I guess she's old enough. But just barely.
Maureen is a co-organizer of this event and sent out really cute invitations that spelled out the agenda for the day/evening. Which is what made me think about going whereas before I just assumed it wouldn't be possible. But it just sounded like so much fun and it's ONLY a 9 hr drive (each way!), so I called Katie to rope her into coming with me. It's more fun to road-trip WITH someone, wouldn't you agree? Surprisingly, she was up for coming. I totally thought she'd blow it off but she's good to go. I think we are both thinking that it will be nice to ride in a car and NOT have to listen to the same annoying kid songs over and over and over and over again, and not have to make repeated stops for emergency potty breaks, or stop for food, or pick up something that dropped on the floor out of reach, or any number of things that happen when you drive with kids in the car. So we're going and we leave in one week.
The Plan: drive like crazy Friday evening, stopping only when we arrive in SF, which should be around 2am. Circle endlessly looking for a place to park my Volvo (parking is a big problem in SF...). Lug our stuff, including sleeping bags, pillows and inflatable mattresses, to Carrie's apartment and hope the loud buzzer will wake up Maureen so she can let us in. Oh yeah, we'll be hauling the wedding dress with us as well. Can't forget that. Surprise the shit out of Carrie and then crash on the floor of her very small apartment. The next day we all have appointments for manicures and pedicures at this local nail salon. Then we're having lunch at this restaurant, which features southwestern fare. We get the afternoon to SHOP in the City (hooray! just wish I had the cash to blow on shopping but whatever. Window shopping will have to do). Then we're having drinks and food at one of her friends' house before catching the bus that will take us to all the hot spots and nightclubs for the evening. From the pics on the website, the bus looks to be a party in it's own right. They're asking the guests to wear mostly black for the evening. I have just the cute skirt and sandals to fit the bill. But I'm hoping - reeeallllyyy hoping - that they aren't planning to do much (or anything) too tacky to Carrie. I KNOW it's her bachelorette, but nothing makes me cringe more than seeing some poor bride being dragged out looking like a tramp and being made to do ridiculous things thoughout the evening. Like get so many kisses on the cheek, or obtain x number of boxer shorts, or stupid stuff like that. I'm too old to participate in that type of embarrassing crap. I just want to hang out, have some cocktails, and get to know Carrie's friends so I'll be acquainted with them at the wedding. Fun, but not obnoxious. We'll see what unfolds. Whatever it ends up being, Katie and I have to drive all the way back home (and she has to go 2 more hours than me to get back to Portland) on Sunday. It's a quick trip, but hopefully worth it. We'll be in the car about as long as we'll be in San Francisco. And then we get to turn around and repeat that drive in just 6 more weeks. WITH kids. Thankfully, Katie and I have no trouble chatting the hours away and I'm sure the time in the car will pass quickly. Let the Chick Sisters Road Trip begin!!
// posted by MP @ 1:01 PM 
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