Congratulations to the bride-to-be! I flew to Tampa, Florida for the weekend of February 29- March 2, to attend Leanna's Bridal Shower on March 1. I took a red-eye flight Friday night, which was interesting to say the least. My flight from John Wayne to Vegas was fine, but the 3 hour layover, plus the fact that we had to change air crafts, caused the flight to be 3 hours late to Tampa. I had fallen asleep on the plane waiting to take off from Vegas, and all of a sudden I hear over the loud speaker that the dent in the front of the aircraft was more serious than they thought, so we had to haul ourselves off the plane on to another aircraft which happened to be located at the other end of the airport. I was half asleep walking through the airport, the sounds of the slot machines all blurring together trying to figure out what gate I was supposed to get to. Luckily, I never really fully reawakened and the moment I found my seat on the new plane I fell asleep until our descent in Florida. I reached the airport, Leanna was there to greet me and the day began. I met her mom and her sister and we all went to get pedicures. After that, we cooked all day long, appetizers and food to bring for the shower. It was a slightly warm yet cool day in Tampa, a little on the hazy side. But it was perfect weather to cook and grill hamburgers on the grill. At 5 pm the fiasco began. Leanna opened her dress that she got cleaned at the dry cleaners, and lo and behold it was not cleaned. There were spots all over it, and it was still wrinkled, therefore proving to us that they did not even bother to press it. Leanna and her mom quickly went to some boutiques, one of which was closed, but when they saw Leanna come up to the door banging and sobbing, she found the perfect long gown, and with an added bonus the boutique let her take the shoes to wear with the dress. Needless to say, we made it to the shower only 20 minutes late. I don't know anyone that can find a gown an hour before their own big event...props to you Leanna.
Leanna and I
When we arrived to the home of her manager, who was hosting the Bridal Shower, we were instantaneously greeted and led to the bar. Leanna's sister, Jo Ellen, took over the drink making and created tasty Cosmos all night long. Then the games began. Leanna took names from a bag and we created teams to play "Toilet Paper Bride". I am now 2 for 2 at Bridal Showers to be the one that gets to be dressed in toilet paper.
After laughing a good long while from the toilet paper bride game we had dinner, which was a buffet of all different appetizers. We just couldn't wait thought to get our hands on the beautiful cake. The color for Leanna's wedding is like a periwinkle, blue gray, which will also be the color of the bridesmaids dresses :-)
After we were contented eating cake, Leanna got to opening her gifts. She really did get such great things, and this is only a foreshadowing of the items that she is going to get at the wedding. So Leanna, be prepared, it's going to be a lot of opening of boxes. Being one of the bridesmaids, I had to do my duty and write down each and every gift and who it was from, hence my legs to the side of the picture and holding a pad and pen in my hand.
The Bridal Shower lasted until 10:30 pm. It was such a fun night, and I am so grateful that I made it out there to be a part of this time in her life. Leanna has become one of my closest girlfriends and I'm glad that I can be in her life to share this with her. Ben is a wonderful man, and I hope the best for the two of them. And hopefully he will be in the US soon.
I left Tampa the following morning at 11 am. Unfortunately it was too early to really be able to do anything on a Sunday morning, so I spent my Sunday waiting in airports for my flights. Luckily there were no problems getting home, I must admit, after a 24 hour trip across the continent, it was nice to be home.
