Melissa's bachelorette weeked: LL's perspective

Yay, for the bachelorette weekend! I was really, really excited for Melissa to come for a visit...we don't get to see each other often enough and on top of that she's been a sortof shy bride and hasn't let us heap all of the parties and showers on her that we wanted to. This first picture is one of my favorites from the whole weekend. We don't look particularly cute or anything, and actually you can't even see the GG bridge. But we were just so giddy and excited to be together and happy to be at the beginning of a fun-filled weekend.

After our Friday afternoon hike (see Clay's post for more details) we headed back to our apartment and kicked Clay out for the night. The five of us girls hung out and continued the stream of non-stop chattering. I "made" dinner for the group--Euro-style cheese, crackers and fruit (purchased by Clay...that guy comes in handy!). The highlight of the evening was definitely the home videos. Erin brought a dvd of her and Melissa when they were awkward pre-teens and they were HILARIOUS. The best was their school report on the Comanche Indians. Clearly they were obsessed with horses at the time because they mentioned them and showed them at every chance they got. Erin was dressed in (authentic, I'm sure) traditional Indian attire and Melissa was wearing gigantic blue glasses. I'm sure she was wearing other clothes as well but really, all you could see was the glasses--they were that huge! As a side note, pre-teen girls look like a lot of work. I think I want boys that sit in their rooms and play violent video games all day. Less shrieking and screaming that way.

Anyway, after a restful night of sleeping on air mattresses and couches everyone rallied in the morning (no doubt fueled by Clay's cereal-scape) and we caught an early Caltrain into San Francisco. Above are Melissa and Erin on the train, looking quite chic for so early in the morning. Though perhaps that's because I spent so much time looking at them as awkward 11 year olds the night before? Nah...they're just cute.

After a train ride and a BART ride and a 4-block hauling of the luggage we arrived at the Sir Francis Drake hotel, dropped off our bags, and jumped straight into tourist mode. Our beefeater (yes we had a beefeater...doesn't everyone?) found us a nice cab driver and he squeezed us all five in and drove us through Chinatown, and then down Lombard Street, famous for being the crookedest street in the world. Above is Melissa enjoying the windy road--we are big on cheap thrills!

Next we tackled Peer 39, where we admired Alcatraz and the local sea lions. Note the sea lion showing off for Melissa and Erin in the background...clearly a male trying to impress. Next we went down to Boudin for clam chowder in a bread bowl. Kristin had never had clams before but she loved it as much as the rest of us!

Next up was Ghiradelli square, where Susan and Melissa humored me and posed in front of a mermaid fountain. We walked through the store and got our free chocolate samples (the new peanut butter flavor!). Some of us (I won't name names) walked through twice to get an extra sample. Necessary sustenance for the long day ahead!


After our chocolate break we took a ride on the Powell-Hyde cable car. Here we all are, happy to be finally be toward the front of the line. I am embarrassed by my ugly sensible shoes...I'm used to hanging out with Clay and having cute shoes scorned, but this group was clearly pro-style. I'm kicking myself for the missed opportunity!

Here is Melissa on the cable car...it's just a cute picture. She pretty much looked cute and happy the whole weekend!

After a quick shopping trip in Noe valley we got all dressed up and went up to the Starlight room to get the evening started! Here we all are in our big city finery: Kristin, LL, Melissa, Susan and Erin.
Melissa opened up her gifts, and for someone that dreads having people pay attention to her she sure looked like she was having fun. She also gave us a teary and touching little talk about how important we all are to her and how happy she was to have us there. But then I ruined it when I blurted out in shock "Oh, wow...you just made a speech!". Sorry, sissy!

The best gift was the Bride Caboodle from Erin. They were both obsessed with Caboodles back in the day, and what bride doesn't want to take a plastic sparkly-filled Caboodle on her honeymoon!? It was filled with fun bracelets and shot glass necklaces and all sorts of girly goodness.

Ever the good sport, Melissa let us dress her up a little bit! Erin brought the lovely veiled tiara, and I had the "Mrs. Stromblad" sash custom made by Mema. Melissa's dress was so cute I sortof hated to cover it up with the bacheloretteyness, but it turns out she still looked great.

Next she gave me my hostess gift...the cutest apron ever! I absolutely love it.


Here we are all piled into another cab and off to dinner. We had tapas at Cafe Arguello, compliments of Erin's dad, Paul "Legs" Steinhoff. Every single thing from the calamari to the mushrooms to the sangria was fantastic! And the mood was even more celebratory with Paul picking up the check. A huge thanks to the Steinhoffs! Dinner also featured a Spanish dancer, who was super sweet and spent some time trying (unsuccessfully) to teach Melissa to play the finger cymbals.

After dinner we were off to the Bubble Lounge. We took a cab, hailed by Erin and her bare right leg. Perhaps we should call her "Legs", too? Once at the Bubble Lounge we enjoyed a few rounds of Bubble Bellinis and deflected the advances of random guys eager to join in the fun. After that we headed back to the hotel where Susan treated us to one last bottle of champagne. Brilliant!
The next morning there were flights to catch, so we got up impressively early (well, most of us did) and went across the street for breakfast. We also took a second to pose with our faithful beefeater. He is sortof like a member of the family now.

Alas, next came the good-byes. After such a busy weekend we were all tired, but not too tired to realize that saying good-bye sucks. Fortunately the wedding is only a month or so away, so we don't have long till we get to celebrate again!

Poor Melissa broke her suitcase making it almost impossible to roll, so the four block walk to the BART station was tougher than it sounds. Considering that it was filled with her new flimsy lingerie, that bag sure was HEAVY!

I had to hop off of the BART one stop before the airport, so after a (not too teary!) good-bye I managed to take this funny picture of Melissa being whisked off into the yonder. All in all a perfect weekend!