Now I will attempt to finish the update of the past weekend. Here are the players:
Angie- Born & raised Louisiana girl. Met her Freshman year in Tenn. and then followed her when she transferred to Louisiana. She was my Maid of Honor. She lives in DC after moving there for grad school ten years ago.
Andra- Born & raised Louisiana girl (whose parents are originally from Mass.) Met her my first year at college in Louisiana. She moved to DC to prusue a job on Capitol Hill. We laughed at her until she came home a few weeks later with a job with a Senator. She then went to law school, got married and still lives in DC.
Holly- Born & raised Louisiana girl. She was a Freshman when I started at college in Louisiana. We became friends along with her 3 suitemates. I can't even remember how we met. She moved to Chicago for Grad school, did a year in the Peace Corps, went back to Chicago and fell in love. By a strange coincidence her mom moved to new England a few years ago, thereby allowing us to see eachother on holidays. I will be her Matron of Honor on Nov. 29 in Chicago.
Erica- Born & raised Texas girl (whose family is originally from Mass. too) She was Holly's suitemate. Moved to Boston for grad school. Kept saying she was going back to Dallas but never budged. Fell in love with local guy and is getting married Feb 21.

Since all the girls were going to be in town for my baby shower, my friend Holly (in from Chicago) wanted to celebrate her 30th birthday. Her mom lives in York, Maine so it was convenient to have it there. When Holly also decided to get married on Nov. 29th we turned it into a Bachelorette party too.
After unloading all the stuff in the nursery we headed East. There was tons of yummy food and it was all appetizer-sized (perfect for my pregnant belly). You can fit a surprising amount of filo dough goodies in, if you stack them right.
After lots of food and wine, the latter for them not me, it was time for games. Because really what is a Bachelorette party if you don't pin something on someone? Or in this case stick the pickle on the stud.

Andra looks on as Erica makes her move.

And the prizes? Well removable tattoos of course! I have pictures of everyone's tattoos but let's just say they aren't fit for consumption by the general public. I will be filing them away in case one of these ladies becomes famous one day. No shock they wanted to put mine on my belly.

Baby's first tattoo, how sweet.

The rest of the evening got progressively sillier. To include Holly unwrapping the lingerie we bought her and everyone's overpowering need to touch & talk to my stomach in order to get better aquainted with Peanut. I was so proud that I stayed up until 2am! I hung in there like a champ.

Sunday after a delicious breakfast we bid farewell to Erica because she was off to pick out wedding invites. The rest of us went down to the beach and then over to N*ubble Lighthouse.

Holly, Andra & Angie

No wonder it is one of the most photographed lighthouses.

And we finished up the stops in Maine with a visit to the St*onewall Kitchen factory store. They stocked up on gifts for people back home and I bought salsa to satisfy one of my many cravings. Yum, Peach Salsa & Mango Lime Salsa.
Andra, Angie & I headed back to New Hampshire to get them ready for their flight back. We had chinese food with my parents and then I dropped them curbside at the airport. That is about the time my adrenaline ran out and I crashed.

There is something about spending time with people who have known you for 14-12 years. I never had that growing up because it was too hard to keep up with all the moves. Nothing like having history with someone. I feel like I watched them all grow up. And now with the last one getting married my work is done. It's only fitting that I be the first to lead them into the wide world of babies.