Shower recap!

Lauren's bridal shower for me was a great hit! :D When I walked into the room, most of my friends had already arrived and were waiting for me. There was a drink station (nothing alcoholic, lol), a pasta bar (complete with chef), a gift table, and desserts strewn all over the dining tables in between the place settings.

I got to wear a pretty daisy corsage and a cute (and silly) feathery tiara. The tiara eventually stopped fitting on my head and had to come off, but it was fun to wear for the majority of the afternoon. After everyone had arrived, I started the line at the pasta bar. I had tortellini alfredo. Now, here's what I expected when Lauren said there would be a pasta bar--I figured it would be a cold pasta bar (more like pasta salad)...I didn't know we were getting a chef! After we selected our pasta, the chef cooked our pasta in the sauce so that it was nice and freshly cooked for us. The food was amazing! :) After I chatted with my mom, Robert's mom, and my aunt while they waited in line, we all sat down and dug in--it was so funny because all that could be heard were compliments on the food. After our plates were taken away by the wait staff, the guests started eyeing the desserts that were all over the tables...when I say there were at least fifty types of desserts, I am not exaggerating. We were all calling out what desserts were directly in front of us for those who couldn't see. The desserts were from a selection called "Chocolate Extravaganza." When my mom and sister ordered it, they thought they were getting a small sample of a few chocolatey items. We got practically everything that could possibly have ever been made with chocolate--and tons of it! :) It was amazing. We were all so stuffed.

After eating, we played a few games: guess how many rings are in the jar (583, I think--my guess was 351), don't say the "m" word ("marriage" or any derivation thereof), and how well do you know the bride quiz. The answers during the quiz were hilarious, and a couple of my friends really hammed it up--they were the comic duo of the shower. Robert's mom turned to me at one point and whispered, "Those two ought to be rented out for all bridal showers! They're hilarious!" We just had too much fun. The other sort of "game" played was that my cousin wrote down some of the things I said in reaction to the gifts as I was opening them. The comic duo also wrote done some things. After I opened the gifts, my cousin's list was titled "Things You Heard at the Shower." My friends' list was titled, "Things You'll Hear on the Honeymoon." I kept the lists, and I'll be writing them up here after I post this entry (maybe after we eat breakfast, depending on how much time I have this morning).

Another fun tradition at bridal showers, which I had forgotten until my mom and future mother-in-law reminded me, is that during the gift-opening, if the bride has to break the ribbons around the package to get into it, that broken ribbon counts for one child the couple will have. I broke five ribbons, which means Robert and I, despite our desire to have only two children, will have five, lol. One of the packages actually had two ribbons on it...and I had to break both at the same time, which means I'll have twins. ;) Robert is carrying the twin gene on him, and the most hilarious part is that it skipped a generation--we're up. When Robert's mom and I told my mom about that, she got so excited and said, "If they have twins, I am definitely retiring from my job, moving to town, and playing with those babies! There'll be one for me, and one for you!" (speaking to Robert's mom, hehe.) Robert and I have talked about that phenom, actually--and we decided that if we end up having twins on the first pregnancy, we will reconsider the hard and fast "only two" rule because we do want to have two pregnancies. So, according to the ribbons, it looks like we're going to have one set of twins and a set of triplets, hahaha. It's just a lot of fun to be so silly and play these games. :)

After I had opened the presents and we played our games, the shower was over. We all helped in packing things up, and then we went our separate ways. We truly just had a blast! After the shower, my family (immediate family plus Lauren's boyfriend and my aunt, uncle, and two cousins) and Robert's mom all went out to "have dinner." Yeah...the women were not hungry in the least. Most of us just snacked on little things. Robert's mom didn't eat. My mom and I ordered little salads and only ate about half of those. We were so stuffed from all the delicious food and desserts at the shower that we just couldn't think about eating dinner. Once we finished having our dinner, we all went our ways for the evening.

This was such a fun day! I'm getting really excited about the wedding, too. We got engaged on Christmas morning last year, and then we were looking at a 17-month wait. Now, we're at eight months to go. We've already waited nine. I feel like the wedding's around the corner now! :) My mom and Robert's mom were talking to me about all kinds of silly girly things yesterday; I can't wait to go dress shopping with them!! :) I really feel like the most fun part of being engaged has officially started, and I'm truly enjoying myself.

(Oh, and I left the photo-taking to everyone else. So when I get pictures from people, I'll publish them on my Facebook.)