Smalls

Eric and I left Ohio on Wednesday morning to head up to Grosse Pointe.  We arrived just in time to relax, shower and get ready for Mary’s bridal shower that evening.  Our good friend Mrs. Upmeyer hosted the shower at her home.  It was a margarita & fajita themed party.  The margarita glasses were our favors and we had pipe cleaners and beads to decorate them.  Not only was this a fun activity but it also allowed us to keep track of our own glasses!  Here is mine:

The bride to be – Mary!

This is Josh, Mary and Mrs. Upmeyer.  Mary and I grew up with the Upmeyer girls, Julie and Dianne.  We went to school with them, were in girl scouts with them, lifeguarded/coached at the City Park with them, etc.  Julie is one of Mary’s bridesmaids and Dianne is actually getting married the week before Mary!

This is the cake for the shower made by another good friend, Mrs. Catalfio.  A chocolate cake with fruit filling and marshmallow frosting.  Oh my was it delicious!  Mrs. Catalfio is a very talented chef/baker and she made both my and my other sister, Katie’s, wedding cakes.

One of the other activities for the evening was making veils for Mary.  Again we used the pipe cleaners, beads and some pink tulle.  Here is Mary and I with the veil I made.  My sister Katie said it looked like the Imperial Butter logo.  The red spikes at the top represent the time that Mary had short spikey hair.

This is my sisters and I with our friend Erin.  We’ve known Erin since she was a baby and she is really more like a sister to us.  We usually take this picture anytime we are together.

I got Mary the completer set to her dishes and I also made her a handkerchief with her new monogram on it to use on her wedding day.  I had also made one for my sister Katie to use on her wedding day.

These handkerchiefs were really easy to make.  I used a tutorial that I found on The Purl Bee.

What a week it’s been!  There are a lot of things to update ya’ll on, but I will begin with the annual Flan Clan Reunion.

I got to play host this year and have my girlfriends from college down for a visit.  Abby, Erin and Jodie were able to come.  Kelly was at a training course in Texas for work and Martha had her 10 year high school reunion.  Although we missed Kelly and Martha, we had a blast!

Jodie made this beautiful set of washcloths for me as a thank you for hosting.  She taught us all how to knit in our freshman year of college.  She was knitting all weekend, working on some blocks for an afghan.

Friday night I took the girls for some barbecue at the Rock Store Bar-B-Q in Stallings, NC.  This is a fantastic local BBQ place that my sister-in-law, Jessi, introduced us to.  They have very good BBQ, mac & cheese and their corn bread is delicious!

On Saturday we drove up to Linville Falls, NC to do some hiking and see the falls.  Here we are at the top of the falls.

It was a gorgeous day!  I wasn’t expecting it to be as crowded as it was though.  I want to take Eric there sometime, but we’ll be going a bit earlier in the morning to beat the crowds.

Enjoying the view of the mountains.

After hiking we drove across the Blue Ridge Parkway to the picnic area for some lunch.

That night we had a little Guitar Hero tournament.  We are all just a tad competitive and the competition was tough!  Erin came out on top, I came in second, Abby third and Jodie fourth.

When the girls came up for one of my bridal showers in 2007, we went to a comedy club.  The comedian was from Hickory, NC.  Hickory happened to be along our way to and from the mountains.  On the way back we took a drive through the town and stopped to get our annual shirt.  This year we each got a Hickory Red Tornadoes shirt.  Erin and I were the only ones to actually wear them that weekend.

On Sunday evening, Eric and I were planning to start our drive up to Ohio.  Abby’s flight was scheduled to leave around noon and the other girls’ flight was around 4.  I was planning to drop them all off around noon so that Eric and I could get to Ohio that night.  Well on Sunday I woke up with Jodie poking her head in my room at 6 AM saying, “Meg, can you drive me to the airport?  My flight leaves at 9.”  I was very confused and it took me a while to comprehend what she was saying.  She and Erin called the airline the previous night to see if they could switch to earlier flights.  Jodie was able to get a flight at 9 AM which allowed her get home in time to attend her grandmother’s birthday party.  Erin was also able to switch to a flight that left around noon.  Abby was another story (of course  :)  )…

Abby had planned all along to drive down from Arlington, VA for this weekend get together.  The night before she was to drive down, we were talking on the phone and I asked what time she was planning on arriving.  She said she wanted to be there in time to drive to the airport with me to pick up Erin and Jodie.  I said, “Ok, but you’re going to be leaving pretty early!  Like 4 AM early!”  Abby was shocked to say the least.  She hates long car trips and did not realize that the drive down to Charlotte was a seven hour ride.  We hung up and then about 20 minutes later I get a phone call from her.  ”My flight arrives at 10 AM”  Yep, she booked a flight which was probably better for her anyways.  She would have been miserable had she had to get up at 4 AM and drive seven hours by herself.  Jump to Sunday morning.  Abby gets on the computer to check her return flight info.  She turns to Erin and says, “Today is the 27th right?”  Erin – “No, it’s the 26th”  That’s right!  When Abby booked her flight, she scheduled herself to fly home on Monday, not Sunday.  Normally this would not be a problem, but Eric and I were leaving that day to go up north.  So Abby had to call the airlines and get another flight home for that day.  Thankfully she was able to and her flight left around noon as well.  Oh Abby…

Overall we had a great weekend!   Next year our Flan Clan reunion will be at SMC along with the rest of our classmates for Saint Mary’s Reunion weekend.  I can’t believe it’s been nearly five years since we graduated already!  Crazy!