My kind of bachelorette party.

So, this week was pretty exciting. I tried my first vlog, which was fun. I am loving this whole link-up party thing, so I connected with Vloggin' Vednesdays over at Adeline's Daddy when I posted my first video.  Also, I reached 10,000 page views on my blog! I have 37 followers... so either you lovely 37 people are stalking me and checking my little blog hundreds of times a day, or there are many readers out there that are not following me. So... if you are reading my blog, follow me! I would love to get to know all of you readers out there. Now, onto my weekend...

My weekend was dedicated to celebrating my best friend Lindsey and her upcoming nuptials. Usually, when I hear the words bachelorette party I groan and scowl. Luckily, Lindsey does as well. So, I planned her a bachelorette weekend at her family's lake house in the Poconos full of sweat pants, games, magazines, and food. No bar crawls, no embarrassing bachelorette games, and no penis paraphernalia. Well, there was one pecker ring toss. But otherwise, it was anything but the typical bachelorette girls' night out.

Lindsey, Kellie, and I were in our rental car and on the road by 6:15 pm Friday night. We whizzed up the West Side Highway and over the George Washington Bridge as the sun slowly went down over our beautiful city.

After driving for about an hour, a stop at Starbucks was necessary. And, in honor of our carefree weekend, Kellie and I both treated ourselves to peppermint mochas. Score.

We arrived at the lake a few hours later and threw on sweats a mere minutes after stepping through the front door. We caught up with the rest of the bridal party over snacks at the dining room table as a fire crackled in the fire place. After a long week at work, I struggled to keep my eyes open as wine glasses were filled and stories were told. I called it an early night and was in bed by midnight.

On Saturday, we slowly woke up over steaming hot cups of coffee, apple crumb cake, and pumpkin bread. Lou, Lindsey's mom, went to work in the kitchen and cooked us an amazing breakfast of perfectly crispy bacon, eggs, and toast. I am proud to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed six pieces of bacon over the course of the meal. It was really nice to get to know Lindsey's friends from high school better throughout the meal and the remainder of the morning.

We browsed magazines and talked hair, make up, and shoes as we showered and got ready for our big outing. Drum roll please... we went to Walmart.

I had to laugh as I thought about how this was our one time out of the house over the weekend. We stocked up on groceries for the remainder of the weekend and picked up some other fun finds (my lunch will now be packed in a Wonder Bread tupperware container, despite the fact that I have never purchased Wonder Bread).

As we followed the first carload of girls home, we wondered what was going on as they randomly pulled over on the side of the road. We pulled over, and as I looked out the front window I knew that Lindsey must have said, Pull over, Daina will want to take a picture. And that is why I love her so much. Because, of course, I did.

After returning to the house, our excitement and anticipation for Lindsey's wedding grew as our conversations continued. We searched for up do's for the big day, encouraged Lindsey to buy the bridal white Toms for the reception, and searched for the perfect black peep toe pumps to match our adorable Ralph Lauren bride's maid dresses. After pouring our first glasses of red wine, we played What's Yours Like. After describing a water bottle as big and plastic, our pecker ring toss had to return for a photo op.

Sorry grandma, I had to post at least one picture...

After noshing on brownies, taco dip, and snickerdoodles, we were in need of a walk. Lindsey and Kellie threw on some coats they found in one of the closets while I buttoned my puffy vest, and we were off. And let me just say, those girls were looking hot.

The air was crisp, cool, and clean and the sky reflected off the water beautifully.

On the way back, we had to make a stop at Big Rock Road. Check out that big rock...

We ended the evening with homemade lasagna, glass after glass of red wine, and several games of Cranium. Of course, my Monica Gheller was out in full force.

Sunday morning was even more lazy than Saturday, with later wake up times and quiet conversations around the table as coffee was sipped and refilled. Lou treated us to another delicious breakfast of peach french toast and ham. We were definitely well fed throughout the weekend (and will need to run extra hard this week because of it!). Enjoying a delicious meal together was the perfect way to end an amazing girls' weekend.

On our ride back to the city, we decided to make a stop at Woodbury Commons. Who can resist premium outlets?!?! My mission was to find some cute, but not too high, black peep toe pumps for the wedding. And I am happy to say, Mission accomplished! The outlets were amazing and I will definitely need to make some trips to them in the future.

The whole weekend from start to finish was perfect. It was great to get to know the rest of Lindsey's bridal party better before the big day in April. Also, it was wonderful to get to spend an entire weekend with Lindsey relaxing and having fun. Let the final wedding countdown begin!