A Bachelorette In Charleston ~ Girl's Weekend!

This is my bestest friend in the whole world...Melissa. Love her to pieces.

Melissa and I have known each other since 7th grade. The two of us...boy... do we have some memories! We went through middle school and high school together, relationships and break-ups, vacations, getting into trouble together (well mostly just me in trouble!), college apart but always in my heart, lots of dinners, girl time, and millions of laughs in between. I love this girl...more than any other! Obviously, Melissa was my Maid of Honor (my sister was my Matron of Honor), which is why she gave the speech at the reception and caused this...

And now... it's MELISSA'S TURN TO GET MARRIED!!!

A while ago (before this blog was created), I got this text from Melissa...

Melissa: "Breaking news!" and the photo that followed...

Woooohoooo!! I was pretty excited about this!! Naturally, a call followed with all of the details! Congrats Melissa and Joe!! Oh, did I mention that her wedding is in April 2013...in HAWAII?!? Yeeeesss!

Naturally, we had to celebrate this joyous occasion with a Bachelorette weekend! Melissa lives in Charleston (one of my favorite places on this earth), so we all decided to come to her. Ya know, since she's in Med school and all and super busy.

I flew in Wednesday and spent Wednesday night, Thursday, and until Friday afternoon with just Melissa - which was awesome! The weather wasn't as warm as I would have loved it to be, but we still had a good time! Melissa and I went to the gym (#duh), ate at Whole Foods (a lot), shopped, and made dinner together.

The rest of the girls arrived Friday afternoon. After the girls got to Melissa's apartment, we packed up our stuff and headed to the condo we were staying at on KING STREET in downtown Charleston for the rest of the weekend. Get a load of this place! Holy AWESOME!! Oh, did I already say that when we walked out the door we were in the middle of downtown?!? No biggie...

Friday night, we dressed Melissa up in all of her "Bride to Be" finery and paraded her around the town! We ate dinner at the amazing, new Starz Restaurant. Absolutely fabulous. Both Melissa and I had a Filet Mignon with fried mashed potatoes. Yeah...it happened. The table split a bottle of wine and enjoyed girl chat! After that we went out on the town, but not before we stopped to get some Froyo! Bride's request! No pictures were taken after Froyo ;)

Saturday morning, we got up, ate some breakfast and then set off for our one hour massages. Ahhh....glorious! We had our massages at a very historical Hotel in the heart of downtown Charleston called Wentworth Mansion. Did you know that celebrities like...uh...Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon have stayed here?? Actually, the stayed at the Wentworth Mansion on their Honeymoon Night!! Before our massages, we went up to the roof top viewing and had a gorgeous look at the city.

Saturday we spent the day shopping along King Street. *Sigh*...I sure do miss the south, Charleston, and everything Southern. Especially the shopping!! There is nothing quite like southern couture. Saturday night we were out again for some more Bachelorette shenanigans!! The Bride-to-Be wanted Mexican, so we went to a popular Mexican restaurant for some chips, dip, and margaritas! They were huge! While we were there, we even got our picture taken to be put on the restaurants Facebook Page. I guess we made quite an impression!

Sunday morning we got all packed up and said our goodbyes. I was lucky enough to spend Sunday afternoon and night with my family and then my mom brought me back to the airport on Monday. It was a great visit. I was so thankful that I was able to go and see so many of my loved ones and make lots of memories! Love you Mel!! Next memory stop...Hawaii!! Woo!

Brunner Family Bridal Shower

This shower was the 3rd and final Bridal shower for me/us. This shower was hosted my all of the ladies that my mom works with. My mom has worked with them for about 15 years, so these ladies have seen me from early on and all the way until now. My mom works as an accountant at the school that I went to from Middle school through college, so it was pretty easy for me to stop in and say "Hey" to mom and all the ladies. I have known some of these ladies so long, they are like mom's and grandma's to my sister and I!

This shower was hosted by my mom's office, but was an open invitation to my friends as well. The shower was a drop-in, so friends came and went! It turned out wonderful and again, Brad and I got some great stuff! My mom took some pictures, although I wish I had gotten a lot more with all of my friends! My sister was the "scribe" of all things gifts. She's a cutie patutie! Thank you mom and the Business Office ladies! You are all so wonderful!

Sister, red tea pot, knife set, towels, and Jaimie got me the cutest BRIDE glass

Obviously I was excited about the KEURIG!!

Bishop Family Bridal Shower

My in-laws are awesome. I definitely lucked out when it comes to Brad's family. Love them!

Mrs. B and Sister Beth planned our "couples" Bridal Shower in June 2012. It was so cute and all the food was delicious! Momma B (my mother-in-law) even made a scratch Red Velvet cake...Brad and my favorite!! The shower was at Sister Beth's house. The decorations were teal to match our wedding colors, everyone contributed to the food, and Sister B even found a fun wedding shower game for all of us to play! It was so nice to spend the afternoon with all of Brad's family (except the Sides :(  who couldn't make it). The day was beautiful and the family time was quality!

ENSA Bridal Shower

Can I just say, I love my school. East North Street Academy has been my "home" from student teaching in college, to my last day in June 2012 before we moved. I love my school. I love my kiddos. I especially love the faculty and friends that I worked with. I could not have "grown up" as a teacher in a better place.

My First Grade team and the faculty at ENSA threw me a Bridal Shower on one of the last days of the 2011-2012 school year. Wow! They were all so loving and generous. Being there for 4 1/2 years brought me so many blessings with a faculty that I adore and will miss very much!

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera that day?!? So my bestie, Hamilton, took pictures for me...from my iPhone! Bless.

They also thought it would be a great idea to have the shower in the cafeteria, up on the stage, with a microphone. If you know me, you know I don't really like being in the spotlight. Especially for something like this! I was told to speak into the microphone too many time! I made it through and appreciated everything that everyone did and gave. What a family!!