The Best is Yet to Come: 3 Words... Operation Chick-LeNoir

I hate to admit it, but the bridesmaids got me AGAIN! With the help of Ryan, they surprised me last weekend (at the Target in Ellicott City, no less) and took me away to the Outer Banks for my bachelorette party. Apparently, the original plan was for them to meet at the Target and then come to our house to surprise me. I think I threw Becky into a panic when I told Val earlier that week that we were "supposedly" going to PA to visit Ryan's family for his mom's birthday. I really had no idea that anything was going on... I am just paranoid/suspicious after the whole "having lunch with Mom-Mom" bridal shower! The plans were changed just a bit, and Ryan got involved. On Friday, he sent me a message at work to see if I wanted to go to dinner in downtown Ellicott City that night, and of course, I said yes because I was thinking it'd be nice to try one of the restaurants downtown. We really haven't been going out much so I thought it'd be a nice change. In addition to asking me to go out to dinner, he also seemed to be making quite an effort around the house that week - he straightened up the living room and did most of the laundry (very unlike him). If there is one thing he dislikes doing, it is definitely laundry. He also took all the beach chairs out of the car to clean them from our trip to Bethany the weekend before. I didn't really think much of this, other than how much I appreciated that he was really making an effort to help out since I have been kind of stressed with all the wedding stuff lately. Turns out he was really doing all the extra work because he knew I'd probably be upset b/c most of my beach clothes were dirty - either way, I'm thankful that he did it! So, we're getting ready to leave for our "dinner" on Friday night, and Ryan tells me that he needs to stop at Target to get his mom a birthday card and also pick up a prescription. Ok, made sense to me - his mom's birthday is today. By the way, Happy Birthday, Linda!! Right before we're about to leave the house, he says he needs to run upstairs real quick and when he comes back down, he told me he was checking his prescription to make sure that he knew which prescription he should be getting at Target. I later find out that he was actually texting Becky to tell her that we were 15 minutes away! Sneaky!! We got to Target and I definitely had no idea that there was anything going on. So, we walk in the doors and all of a sudden, Becky, Val, Stacey, Ms. Eavey (Becky's mom) and Gran (Becky's grandmother) are there and yelling "Surprise" at me. I could not have been more confused. Looking back at the video and pictures, I definitely look mad. I don't really think I was mad, but I kept thinking, "this is my Target, what are they doing here?!" They really got me. After I got over the intial shock, they told me that we were going to the OBX until Monday, and we were heading back to my house and that I had 15-20 minutes to pack. Talk about stressful. Oh, and they were all wearing super cute pink shirts with navy writing that said "Operation Chick-Lenoir Bachelorette Weekend 2008".

We ended up leaving around 7pm, and we stopped at Subway for dinner before we hit the road for the OBX. Becky drove the first leg of the trip because we had a stop to make that no one would tell me about. The only thing I could figure out was that it was before OBX because the mileage that showed on the GPS didn't really make sense. Right around the time that we get to Newport News, we got off the highway and turned to go to the Newport News airport. Of course, Becky starts teasing me and asking if I had my ID with me (as if we were taking a flight somewhere). Again, I was confused although, I was pretty certain that we weren't flying to OBX from there. We pull up to the terminal to "drop our stuff off" and there was Melissa (who lives in Boston) waiting for us to pick her up! That was the second surprise of the trip!! We finally made it to OBX at 2:30am that night. As I was unpacking, I realized that I left my toiletry bag at home - guess that's what happens when you have 15 minutes to pack.

The whole weekend was amazing! We basically spent both days and a little bit of Monday sitting on the beach (our hotel was steps away from the beach). On Saturday night, we headed out for a late dinner and then went to Kelly's in Nags Head for some dancing. We were all Dancing Queens for the night. We all were wearing our cute t-shirts and of course, I got to wear the veil. The veil definitely attracts some odd characters, but it was so much fun! On Sunday, we went out for a great seafood dinner and then came back to our hotel where we drank and played some drinking/bachelorette party type games. Kim and Robert, Becky's former co-workers, made us a theme cake for the weekend, so we had that for dessert. Very good and pretty true to life! I won't go into much detail here, but for those of you that have seen the pics or heard me talk about it, I'm sure you'll understand! Thanks, Kim & Robert - the cake was AMAZING! The weekend was so perfect - just the right amount of debauchery, but nothing too extreme. Thanks to Becky for listening to me! (When I first got engaged and we were talking about the bachelorette party, I threatened to either demote her as Maid of Honor or not invite her boyfriend to the wedding if she got a stripper for the bachelorette party.) Thanks Becky, Val, Stacey, and Melissa for making the trip down and for making the weekend so freaking amazing! Also, thanks to Ms. Eavey for making my favorite dips - Mexican and Dill. We devoured them!! Crystal and Alexis - we missed you both, but can't wait to celebrate with you at the wedding!! Here are a couple pictures from the weekend.

Melissa, Stacey, Becky & Val at Kelly's in Nags Head