Top 10 Reasons Cecilee's Bachelorette Party Rocked

Cecilee and Jason are tying the knot New Year's Eve and this past weekend we celebrated Cecilee's bachelorette party Lake of the Ozarks style. That includes spending most of the day in your swim suit and wearing your "dressy" flip flops out.

Here are the Top 10 Reason why Cecilee's party was awesome.

10. Fashion Show! We hit the outlet malls Saturday morning and Arti and Melissa put on one heck of a fashion show in Lane Bryant. Sarah and I worked the dressing room managing traffic and suggesting sale items to all patrons. This is doubly awesome because Arti is fun to shop with and she came all the way from Hoboken "no jokin" NJ.

9. We discovered that the mini van is an excellent road trip vehicle. On the way home, Melissa and Sarah enjoyed "The Hangover" listening through wireless headphones while Arti and I visited.



8. A chubby little kid scolded me for stealing his tube. We were told it was abandoned and did lots of awesome tricks until an eight-year-old who looked a lot like Chunk from "Goonies" said, "Um...can we have our tube back?" The "What kind of a person steals a child's pool toy" was implied.



7. Even though Cory's flight was canceled on Thursday morning, he drove 24 hours round trip to make Cecilee's party. We're glad he was there to accidentally drop cigarette butts on other condo tenants, take surprise pictures with Sarah's camera and keep us in line with his signature phrase "get a grip" and the "What kind of a person (fill in the blank here)" was implied.



6. Willy made an appearance. I think he's been hibernating in Sarah's attic, but he's free again and ready to be passed on to the next Bearcat walking down the isle...Melissa?



5. Our cab driver also delivers pizzas. Although his car smelled like anchovies, I have to tip my hat to such a hard-working person. I love living in the mid-wast and encountering an honest work ethic.

4. I left Ben for the very first time. Ben is very cute and it was hard to go, but he had a great time with Chuck, Nanny Barbra and Papa Curtis. I don't think he even missed me, which is a little sad, but also means that he's a happy independent, trusting person and I'm thankful for that.



3. Other bachelor/bachelorette parties made the night memorable. We met some bachelors who shared pictures of their kids with me and we met a bachelorette who jealously pawed at Cecilee's engagement ring. She also had some awesome dance moves, tambourines, invited her mom and future mother-in-law and a blow up doll named Pedro to her party. This girl was a whole lot of fun.



2. Danielle created a game that kept us laughing through dinner. She asked Jason questions about Cecilee and their relationship and Cecilee had to answer the questions exactly how Jason answered them. We found out that Cecilee and Jason both remember their first date vividly (which is really sweet) and that Jason thinks Cecilee is most attracted to his rear end. Despite some set backs, it appears Cecilee got more than 60 percent minimum correct and is still free to marry Jason (Cory's rules).

1. Cecilee had a great time! She hit the outlet malls, soaked up some sun, danced the night away and told someone grilling hotdogs that she was a Wiener Auditor. Cec, we hope you know we love you and hope you really did have a great weekend!



Although we had a great time, this weekend was not without obstacles. At times it seemed as if even mother nature was against us. An unseasonable cold front came through and the sky was peppered with "panda-jerk" clouds as Sarah calls them. Only Katie, who opted for SPF 8, got any sun.

We also had a heck of a time getting a cab Saturday night. Apparently, there's a super secret spot to hail cabs near Toad Cove. I cannot disclose the exact coordinates of this location, but suffice to say it's a hike.

Katie and I failed to successfully channel Victoria Beckham and look beautifully angry in pictures. Even after practicing in the bathroom mirror, I only managed to look confused and Katie looks like she's scolding someone for stealing a pool toy.



So, Katie and Danielle thank you for planning an excellent weekend. Arti and Cory, thank you for traveling so far to celebrate. Sarah, thank you for the pictures (all photo credits by Sarah Gravlin). Melissa thanks for the most inappropriate gift (as this blog is G-rated I cannot describe it, but it was funny). And Cecilee, thanks for getting married! We really hope you had the best time!

The Kitten has a Name

Well, we finally named the kitten and true to form, we opted for a name that wasn't even on the short list. The kitten's name is Leon Phelps after the Ladies Man. I think I'll call him Sweet Leon. Do you think he favors his namesake?

Chuck's Surprise Birthday Party

Well, we successfully pulled off surprising Chuck with a super galactic bowing birthday blowout. It wasn't easy, but he was genuinely surprised and so grateful everyone came out to celebrate. He also bowled a 174 on one of his several lanes so that was pretty good too.

I was a nervous wreck yesterday and wasn't sure that I could even get Chuck to his party. He kept saying, "I don't really want to go bowling." What?! And Adam kept alluding to a fake (although enticing) birthday surprise at Power & Light.

But we made it (only 15 minutes late) and Chuck had the time of his life! Gladstone Bowl was one of Chuck's favorite places to bowl and eat growing up. He raves that the diner has the best onion rings in three counties. I'm not sure which three, but they're pretty good.

I'd like to thank some of the people who helped make this party happen.

Christi & Adam: Thank you for coming down from Omaha, taking us to dinner and vigilantly throwing Chuck off the scent.

Sarah: Thanks for picking up the cake and balloons.

Ethan: Thanks for fibbing to the birthday boy and getting him to the alley.

KP: Thank you for your awesome commentary. My favorite, "TG's up again and oh no another gutter ball. For those of you keeping score at home, that's number three."

Mom and Connie: Thank you for babysitting Ben, Austin and Jack so we could go out and celebrate.

Party Goers: Thanks for making Chuck's birthday so specail and displaying really animated victory dances.

We're so glad everyone could come. Tell us your favorite part of the party.

My Life With Chuck

My husband is kind of like a cartoon. He often manages to get himself into sticky situations and he generally misunderstands what other people say.

Years ago, my friend Jess suggested I write a sitcom called My Life With Chuck. This is my answer to her suggestion. Look for Chuck to star in lots of entertaining stories.

Today he read my post and said, "I didn't know we named Ben after your great-grandfather." I'm not sure why he doesn't know this because of the following:

1. I told him that's what I wanted to do.
2. My parents thanked us.

This is part of why I love him. I can always count on him for a surprise.

New Arrival

This post marks two new beginnings - the start of my blog and a new addition to our family. We adopted a kitten!

Because my parents own a veterinary hospital, we are always coming across kittens in need of a home. A pregnant cat wondered into their technician's yard and had five kittens in her window well. Last night we took a little black and white tuxedo cat and he's seems to be right at home.

He loves Brandy and slept with her last night. He doesn't mind Ben's yelling or pounding and always comes back for more after getting his tale pulled or ear crunched. He likes to cuddle and nap with Chuck and purrs all the time.

We are having a hard time naming him, though. Here are some of the front runner choices. Let us know what you think.

Spaghetti Cat: The cat eating spaghetti that stole our hearts on "The Soup". If we go with Spaghetti Cat, we'd like to call him a good mafia nickname like Fat Tony or Rocco.



Curtis Dee: Curtis, Chuck's mom's husband, asked us to name Ben after him. Although, we opted to name Ben after my great-granddad, we'd still like to honor Curtis.



Harry Houdini: We lost the kitten for a couple of hours and turned the house upside down looking for him. He had crawled under the dishwasher. When the door is open there is a two-inch space between the dishwasher and cabinets, he squeezed in and was catting around under the cabinets. We think we'll call him Harry...maybe spell it Hairy.



Earl J. Hickey: Because this kitten has a sweet mustache, we thought about naming him after someone else with a sweet stache - Earl Hickey. Earl found karma through Carson Daily and lives by the mantra "Do good things and good things happen." He also has a pretty incredible mustache that drives women crazy.



Please tell us what we should name our kitten. It's sad calling him "kitten" all the time. Here are some other pictures too.