I wrote the title for this before I started writing the actual post, and I planned to just dive right in to the continuing festivities, but I feel that it's worth a chuckle to mention the fact that as I clicked on 'edit post' and re-read my title, I had absolutely no idea what I was thinking. Or talking about. Well really just the first bit, "Bubbles Wear Hats." Fortunately, after I (with eyebrow raised) asked myself what the heck I could have meant enough times, it finally came to me! So now I shall tell you. :)
Bubbles Wear Hats
Our second day in P-town, Maranda came to our room and woke us up, with the exception of Emma who was already dressed and ready when she went to answer the door. As for Jackie, Michelle, and myself, we remained wrapped up in our sheets slumbering peacefully, as we were anticipating another hour of sleep before the alarm went off. Oh well! There she was, so up we got. After making our rounds in the bathroom we headed for Maranda's house, making a quick pit stop at Sonic for some lunch. We chowed down at Maranda's, and when her mom got there we were all put to work.
Instead of rice or confetti or whatever other "They're married, let's throw stuff!" stuff, our bride wanted bubbles. Ingredients? Small bottles of bubbles, tulle* cut in circles, mini cowboy hats (black AND white), and ribbon (red, white, and blue).
I'd like to take this moment to add that until this trip I had no idea what tulle (pronounced 'tool') was. Not only did I learn what it is, but I also learned that it is CLINGY. After the initial wrap-your-bubble-bottles-in-tulle-and-secure-at-top-with-ribbon, the leftover circles were appropriately trimmed, snipped, cut, and snowflaked. We found tulle remnants in the car, on our clothes-- not to mention somehow in our luggage-- even after we made it back to Midlo!
So dutifully we wrapped, tied, and curled the bubbles. I seemed to have a hard time holding the tulle up around the top while at the same time tying a rather even knot with the ribbon. But doing it numerous times helped to cure that inability, and soon I got the hang of it. We had a makeshift assembly line, some of us applying the mini-hats, some of us wrapping and tying, some of us curling the ribbon. We hatted, tulled, and ribboned all of the bottles and loaded them into a box to be taken to the church later.
Then was when we realized there was still quite a bit of tulle left over. Jackie grabbed some scissors and started to snip, making a number of happy little tulle-flakes. :) Good times were had by all.
I think it's worth mentioning that Jackie jumped into action when it was necessary to save a
tulle-flake that leapt right from Michelle's hands! We thought all was lost, watching with shock and despair as it drifted skyward. Piling back into the car, we mourned. But then Jackie spotted the flake! It was floating back towards the Earth, and in a daring and gutsy move, she stopped
the car, pulled up the parking brake, and snatched the wayward tulle-flake right out of someones yard! Our hero! :)
Practice Makes Perfect
After the bubble wrapping extravaganza, Jackie, Michelle, Emma, and myself all headed back to our room. Some of us needed to change for the rehearsal. We had a couple of hours to kill and we were all beat from the amount of sleep-- or lack thereof-- that
we had gotten the night prior. So we flipped on the TV, put off changing until it was absolutely necessary, and facilitated our subsequent sleepiness by stuffing ourselves together on one of the beds (a full, and we had two in our room) to girl-talk and rest.
I very nearly fell asleep, and I most certainly wanted to, but as I was an edger, I was nervous that I'd slip and fall. Jackie and Michelle, the middle of our proverbial sandwich, were quick to doze off. Emma and I (both carefully poised on the edge of either side of the bed) eventually got up. Not wanting to disturb either of our nappers, we did our best to not make noise. Or, you know, gracelessly plunge off of the edge and onto the floor. Jackie and Michelle were, I believe, already dressed for the rehearsal anyhow, so Emma and I took the time we needed to get ready and didn't wake them up until we had to. Again we made our rounds in the bathroom, touched up our hair and makeup, grabbed our purses, and headed out.
Now I realize I said that the boys deserved their own post, but there is something that I simply must include right here and now. Upon arriving at the church (after a brief stint at Maranda's, waiting for all to arrive so that we could follow them) we realized that Best Man Bobby had left his truck [Maxine] running. I don't remember exactly who pointed it out, thinking he'd be appreciative as gas is ridiculously high, especially for a diesel baby like Maxine, but that's not the point. What was absolutely incredible was the words that came from Best Man Bobby's mouth. The whole conversation, short as it was, went a little something like this:
us: "Hey Bobby, you left Maxine on."
Bobby: *glances back at truck* "Oh, I'm leavin' her on."
us: *eyebrows raise* "What? For the whole rehearsal? Why?"
Bobby: *looks at us like we're nuts* "Otherwise the beer'll get hot!"
us: ...*blink*
It was both entirely unexpected and completely fantastic all at once. We followed everyone inside and bee-lined for a room. I'm not sure what it was called. Probably a fellowship hall, or at least that's the closest thing I can think of in terms of what
my church would call it. There we had finger foods, little snacky things, drinks, and conversation. We also met some of the other girls that were going to be bridesmaids with us. Shortly after the food, we trekked to what I'd call the sanctuary, and the rehearsal commenced.
All went really well, actually. We had some questions, myself included, just to keep things clear for the actual wedding. They put strips of tape on the stairs with our names on them so we would know where to stop and stand after the initial walk down the aisle. The groomsmen pretty much stayed put. We, however, came out, stood in place, took three-ish steps back when the bride was handed over to the groom, took a few more steps back when they lit the unity candle, and returned to our second 'three-ish steps back' spot after the candle was lit. But we did get it down. Really the only 'hang up' was the order. Maranda put us in order of when she met us. However, when our groomsmen matched up to that order, let's just say it went something like "shortTALLTALLshortTALLshortshortTALL". Well, you get the idea. So the boys were rearranged to be more...aesthetically pleasing, and then we matched the order they were in. Which, ironically, moved us to 1) Jackie 2) Michelle 3) Emma 4) Me, and so on.
I wasn't about to complain. :)
Especially because I knew that after the rehearsal would be our little
make-shift bachelorette party...
The B-Party
Before we went to Maranda's to throw her a 'bachelorette party', we stopped by the nearest grocery store we could find (and the one that we were told involved english-speaking people), United. There we searched for a cake to bring, but when we couldn't find anything we settled for the makings of sundaes. Chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, waffle-cone bowls, the whole nine. We resisted getting her an "I'm Sorry" balloon, although I'm sure she would have found it amusing.
Once we got to Maranda's, we ate our self-made sundaes and then settled in on a round of I Never. It was a bit...awkward at times, but for the most part really fun. And it was yet another experience wherein I learned more about some people than I ever would have cared to know. And I mean I learned some things I REALLY didn't care to know.
But I did offer up my little I Never.
Are you ready for this?
Here it comes.
I have never (NEVER) eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I know, I know. I'm a freak. A freak of nature. Don't worry-- all of my friends have already made sure that I know this. :)
Anyway, even though Jackie, Michelle, and myself remained 'dry' as it were--instead of beer, we took a drink of our water whenever we needed to-- we had quite a bit of fun. And watching the not-so-sober people was...highly entertaining. But then again, we already knew it would be thanks to our first encounter with the boys. :)
We ended up leaving Maranda's sometime around midnight, I think. I don't quite remember, but I remember being really tired. And knowing that we needed to wake up at 8 the next morning to start our RunRunWeddingDay.
Leaving the bachelorette party essentially wrapped up Day Two of our trip, and I can only speak for myself, but I know I slept really good that night. And I also know that sleep didn't happen for near as long as I wanted it to. :)
To Be Continued...
*tulle –noun [tool; Fr. tyl]
a thin, fine, machine-made net of acetate, nylon, rayon, or silk.
[Origin: 1810–20; [F, after Tulle, France, where first made]
