Bridal shower/bachelorette party for my oldest daughter

My oldest daughter is getting married next month.  We began the kick-off to the traditional parties that proceed the wedding.  Her wedding is a destination wedding which will be in Gulf Shores AL.  I cannot wait! She is marrying a great guy.  My oldest daughter has given me so much joy.  All of my kiddos have.  Each in their own way.  My oldest has by showing me that all of those talks, all of those times I tried so hard to tell her the things I wanted her to know, remember and most of all APPLY to her life got through.  Seeing that all come to fruition gives a parent such a great sense of accomplishment.  Like it was all so worth it.  She is such a beautiful woman inside and outside.  I am just so happy for her but more than anything I am PROUD!


She was such a great sport throughout the party.  Embarrassed on occasion by the personal gifts given to her by her wonderful friends. My daughter is very very beautiful but she is also unbelievably modest.  After a few drinks she did lighten up quite a bit.  The whistle she was given shaped like a certain male body part was blown more and more as the shots came her way!

I made my daughter a couple of things.  I got the tutorials to make them from one of my absolutely favorite blogs Shanty2chic.

I made her this plaque. Honestly, I had my doubts about how this was turning out.  It just needed something but I couldn't come up with what! Eventually I decided to do a finish on it.  It came out pretty good.  Again, had my doubts but it all came out great in the end.

She liked it and that is all that matters right?   You can make of of these too.  The tutorial is here.  I made mine on a piece of MDF.

I also made her a set of apothecary jars.  I had made a set for myself and my mom too.  I did hers a little different.

Again, I got the tutorial to make this gift from Shaty2chic's site.  You can find many other sites that will give you a tutorial to make them.  I just like the tutorial style they made the best and went with it.  Again, she loved it.  I used some wired edge burlap ribbon I had to embellish them.  They came out great I think.  I tried to make them a little different from mine and my mom's set.

After the gifts were given it was off to the bachelorette party WOO HOOO! Nope no male dancers, (not that I didn't beg for them!) strippers or any kind of pickup bar! My daughter isn't into that kind of thing.  We had a blast though.  An unexpected one.

We went to a restaurant/bar in Rockwall close to home.  It had recently started having dueling pianos much like the place downtown called "Pete's Piano bar" which is a really fun place to go.  We had been before to Pete's.  My brother in law Richard, worked there in the past.  He is not actually my brother in law.  To be exact he is my brother's brother in law! Yeah, go figure out that one!!!  Richard is a VERY talented pianist.  He is actually a Grammy award winner.  He wrote some of the music in the Beverly Hills Cop II or III and the soundtrack won a Grammy! Pretty cool huh! How many peeps can say they have a Grammy award winner in the family?  Anyway, I got off track there! The surprise was when we walked into Avante, there was our bro Richard! We had no idea he worked there! So he really did make the night special.  See the pics.  As you can see it was a blast!

The above pictures really need no explanation do they?  Girls just having fun and acting crazy!  Then they called ME to the stage.  I am VERY VERY shy! I was NOT drunk at all so I cannot TELL you how much I didn't want to go up there.  But after all this is for my daughter and they had all been such great sports, I really had no other choice.  This is when I was sang to by on of the other pianist..lol.. Honestly, I cannot even remember what he sang.  All I wanted to hear was you can leave the stage now!! lol The best thing was when I looked and there was my daughter, coming to the stage with me as we my other daughter.  They came up there so I didnt have to do it alone! Boy was I thankful to them! 

Here are my two oldest girls...beautiful aren't they.  I am biased for sure.  

Here we are for our photo op! Just the family.  My daughter Ashley, Richard, my sister Kelli, me and my other daughter Ryan.

It was a great time! They went on to another place after Avante closed.  I went home.  Not the party girl I use to be I guess! But still, I had such a wonderful time.  It is really nice when you can go out with such wonderful people, have a blast and the best part is some of those people are your family! Now that is when you know how truly lucky you are!