Ah snap... She is getting hitched..

So in my years I have attend many weddings and such but I have never been in one. As of mid- August I can now say I will have now been in the wedding party. It is my pleasure to be the maid of honor in one of my besties (of 20 some years now) weddings. However, not going to lie, when she asked I had not the faintest ideas of where to start. Pretty sure it started with me on google identifying the roles of the maid of honor. YES, I went to google. She knows, I figure and she didn't demote me so she can't me too mad : ) So I also think this will be a great opportunity to blog about the adventures as a maid of honor. It is also partly why I changed the name of the blog.. I think weddings have a lot to do with sparkles . Plus I know there are tons of girls/friends of mine that are in the same boat.. kinda clueless, busy, and yet want to do a stellar job for your friend. So if I can help one person, I did my job. Plus everyone that knows me I love to talk (and that might be an understatement) but I want to document my journeys as best I can.

So what the heck do I have to do as a MOH (as the site referred to it)? Okay from my research a MOH does....

1. Be the emotional life boat. Okay I think I can keep a level head for everyone?!
2. Keep the bridal party informed about what is going on. Well I guess that gives me an excuse to talk on the phone longer, check.
3. Shop for dresses. Love an excuse to shop, however my bestie got this one down on lock. Just need to get a style and it fitted.
4. Plan and attend all pre wedding parties. OKAY, I now understand why she picked me...
5. Help the bride out during the ceremony, in all ways she deems necessary... ok, okay I will stash a flask in the ready room.
6. Hold the groom's ring... Hope he trusts me muahahaha...
7. I get to hold the flowers during the ceremony... I like flowers, who doesn't like flowers.
8. Give a speech somewhere during the reception - this could be good - first time I slept over at her house... I threw up on her and rolled back over went back to sleep. We are still friends, go figure?!
9. Arrange and manage the train and dress... okay I just recently found out what a bustle is.. so yeah we will see how this one goes. I will try to do my best hunnie bun!
10. I have to keep track of the gifts received...
11. I get to sign the marriage license. BOO-YAH.. they get my autograph
12. I get the priveledge of seeing and being apart my best friend get married to the man of her dreams. As a bestie that is truly the best part of my job... Love you girl!

I want more Chowda... Boston '11

DAY 1

So nursing school has taken up most of my summer but we got a brief repreive and off to Boston I went! So along for the journey was Kendall and Kathryn; two good friends of mine. Now this trip had been in the makings for several months but due to busy schedules most of activities planned were done on the fly : ) Upon arrival to Boston we made our way to the hotel and got in some shopping. Typical girls right? After getting settled for the evening we went on a ghost tour. Yes a ghost tour of the most haunted places in Boston. Now if you are screaming nerd alert at this moment... you are correct and I enjoyed every minute. We lucked out that it turned out to be a very informative/historical tour as well including everything to the beautiful OmniParker Hotel to the Cranary/Common burial grounds. After the tour us ladies went out for a round or two.

DAY 2

Day two got off to a late start after our one or two beers turned into three or four : ) But never the less the girls and I took in some more of the sites. I love being a tourist. I am sure that lost 99% of the time and looked confused but I absolutely love it. So to wrap a day of being the tourist we had to have a meal that examplifies tourist. We went to Cheers. Now if you do not know what Cheers it was a long standing sitcom of the 80s and early 90s. I remember my dad watched it religiously. Now his grown daughter has the same appreciation, so we had to go Where every one knows my name. We opted for the traditional burgers and beers. However, we had one brave soul of the group take on the Norm Burger. It is their version of Man v. Food. And Kendall dominanted it with flying colors. If you want to see how big this multi-patty burger is check it out on their website... Eh. Oh and Check out kendall's name for dominating that sucker. Needless to say we had a couple groups of guys taking bets to see if she would truly finish it. It was pretty funny, especially when she stood up and realized she is the size of my pencil. Just to kick it up a notch one of the groups of men bought her a sizeable slice of cake as a congratulations. She demolished it too. I have to say it was quite impressive. After we rolled Kendall out of Cheers we head back down to the North End which has large portion of Italians! So we headed for canolis and some more shopping. Upon arrival we found out there was a street festival. In Italian tradition a family will put on a festival in honor of their family's patron saint. Street vendors and carnival games alike line the streets. There is music and an area to give offering to the saint for their blessings. So the girls and I cruised the streets and checked out the sights. Bellisimo.

DAY 3

Day three. The original plan for day three was to get up and rock and roll out of Boston to NYC. NYC was going to be a short visit to see

some of my favorite girls from Minnesota. It was to be a reunion on the east coast. However it was not meant to be. After a small late start, give us a break were on vacation.... and some difficulties with a traffic jam in the rental car parking lot. Then to follow up a MASSIVE traffic jam on the Massachusette pike way. FRICK did not know "the Cape" was such a big thing on the weekends. Go figure right?! After three hours of traffic and frustrations we turned around and high tailed it back to Boston. We saw Fenway on the way out.. sooo we decided to stop on the way back. Parked right next to the park and found the tour times. We had a phenomenal time at Fenway. Beyond my profound love for baseball, it was cool to hear the history of Fenway. During the tour we made friends with one of our tour guides. In making friends, we got to take the long way to the Green Monster... which was through Fenway's Hall of Fame. Saw the Babe's jerseys, Ted Williams rookie jersey, and other assorted memorabilia... Cool history. Even for a Twin's Fan. Beyond the awesome tour, our tour guide recommeded some place to go for the evenings activities. Based on his recommendations we ended up at a place called Ned Devine's. It is a local chic bar/club. We had a blast. Made some friends and rocked the night away... there was a local band playing rocking some great covers. All and all an unsucessful attempt at NYC turned out to be another STELLAR night in Boston. Thanks to Coach Adams we ended Saturday on a great note!!

DAY 4
During our tours, we had stopped by Old North several times. Old North Church was built in 1723 and is famous for the ride of Paul Revere where they hung the laterns to signal the British were coming. Old North still run service every Sunday. So we went. It was a beautiful service, we sat in Theodore Roosevelt seats?! There a little plaque stating that Teddy himself had attended service seating in these seats. Pretty cool. After service we bopped around the North End again, and made our way to the Science Museum for the famous duck tours. Now the duck tour was pretty cool because you see Boston by land and by sea, however definitely make it one of your first stops. Since we had been a couple tours already, it wasnt as compelling. Moreover, when the water portion of your trip is more exciting for the 5 year olds to stir the boat then what you actual saw. But we can say we did it. I guess, right?! The picture below was taking from the North End on Hanover Street. You can find the best Canolis down this street and some fabulous gnocchi and other assorted Italian cuisine : )

DAY 5

The Finale. I'll keep this day short and sweet. Due to the fact it was short day and it was spent tour the lovely campus of Northeastern University and the West end of Boston. It was the business end of the trip. To sum up the trip... It was AWESOME. Truly, I did not know what to expect of Boston beyond it is some where I was looking for potential graduate school options. I woulod HIGHLY, recommend visiting Boston if you ever get the chance. From the history to culture it is truly one of kind. However, now it is back to reality in Nodak for school. Thanks to Kendall and Kathryn for an awesome time out on the coast!

Sweet Summer Time...

So officially back at the blog. I can blame the hiatus on school. So it is officially summer time in my book, well at least for a couple more days. The time to enjoy the lakes, travel a bit and spend the dog days enjoying the sun light in good company. I have had the priviledge to be able to do all of them in just a few short weeks.

Although this summer vacation has been cut short due to school, it came with a wonderful lesson. The summer session for school pushed me to the limit and in wonderful ways. I feel as though stress and pressure will draw out our true nature as humans. Either you rise to the occasion or fall flat. I think I rose, well I rose enough. But all that said. I worked hard to play hard. In the past two weeks I have gotten to the lakes, been the Boston, Minneapolis to visit the family, got asked to be a maid of honor for my bestie of 20+ years and now I am back in Nodak prepping for another my last fall here! Just wanted to say a quick hello and stories from Boston and wedding planning to come!!