Mandy's Bachelorette Party!!

This past weekend was Mandy's Bachelorette Party in Atlantic City! This trip was seriously TOO.MUCH.FUN!! Mandy's sister, Sam, did an amazing job of planning the weekend and it couldn't have been better. Plus...Mandy has a FABULOUS group of girls as her bridesmaids, so would we expect anything less than amazing?

We got a HUGE suite at the Borgata, and of course, were surrounded by other suites who were also holding various bachelor and bachelorette parties of their own. We had a great view from our window, and a huuuge bathroom, it was the perfect size for the 7 of us.

When we first arrived at the hotel around 4:30 and were waiting in line to check-in, we were doing our share of people-watching, which is always fun but it's especially fun in Atlantic City. We noticed this couple walk by that were not only dressed to the nines, but the woman was wearing the most ridiculous, fanciful hat I've ever seen. Being judgmental, I immediately thought "OMG..who does that woman think she is??!!! She looks ridiculous!!! Why would she feel comfortable walking around in that hat in the middle of the day?!?! Everyone else here is just wearing regular beachy-day clothes...does she think she's royalty or something? I can't believe the nerve!!" ...among other equally uncalled for responses. (I had been driving for 5 hours so hopefully this was a little understandable). After expressing my hard and fast feelings, I was luckily able to move on from them and carry on with my day unfettered. Once we settled into the room with all our luggage, and all of us had finally eaten some lunch (at 5:00!) we had 4 hours to get ready for our night, give Mandy her gifts and have a few drinks before our 9:00 dinner reservation.

At 9:00 we headed down to Seablue restaurant where we had amazingly delicious cocktails and even more amazingly delicious food! I had eaten a good amount at 5:00 and was snacking up in the room, so I was very content with my "make your own salad" dinner that actually was the perfect amount of food for me and soooooo delicious. As we were finishing up dinner we got wind that Michael Phelps was dining in the same restaurant. Sam and Becky went on the prowl to find him...but all it took was Mal to look up for a second before she spotted him walking back into the restaurant. Sam was able to get a picture by walking right up to him and saying "Hi, I know you're Michael Phelps. [as in don't even TRY to deny it]. My sister is a really big fan of yours, and it's her bachelorette party and she'd be so happy if you could take a picture with her" to which he replied without even looking up at Sam, "Fine..bring her over." Sam came back to the table saying "Mandy...we have to go get a picture with him now..Michael Phelps is NOT Happy!" Haha so they went over there, and thanks to Sam...got their picture!

Sam, Michael Phelps and Mandy!

After dinner, we went back up to the room to freshen up and have some more drinks before heading out to the club Mur.Mur.  We were blasting music and laughing a lot per usual, thanks to Mal's dance entitled either "The Seal" or "The Walrus". (You'd have to see it to understand), when we heard a knock on the door. We opened the door to a very nice couple who said "It sounds like you guys are having way too much fun in here..is this a bachelorette party?" To which we replied "Yes!!! Come have some shots with us!" So we invited our new friends Rob and Susie into our room to have a shot with us.

They were such a nice couple, who we talked with for a few minutes and asked them what they were up to tonight. They told us that they had just come back form a Kentucky Derby party where not only did they win the "Best Dressed Award" (an award certainly earned, how dapper do they look?!) but Susie also won the "Best Hat Award!" As soon as they told us that, we all looked at each other realizing that THIS WAS THE WOMAN WITH THE HAT THAT WE SAW EARLIER!!! But of course!! It was Kentucky Derby Weekend!! How else should one celebrate the Kentucky Derby other than wearing a large and ridiculous hat?! Not only that, but she was so nice and down to earth! This woman didn't think she was all high and mighty or royalty, she merely just wanted to win a "best hat" award at a party...and really, why shouldn't she? Anyone has the right to want to win a fun award such as "Best Hat". My wise friend, Belle, said to me after hearing this story: "To know all is to forgive all". I learned a lesson that night and Susie: I'm so sorry for passing such harsh judgment on you AND your hat in the Borgata Lobby on Saturday afternoon, it was unjustified and rude. Phew...I'm glad I got that off my chest!

Susie and Rob were only with us for a short while before they left and we prepared to head back out again to the dance club Mur.Mur at around midnight.

Let me just state for the record that under normal circumstances, this is soooo not my scene. However, I'm totally willing to make it "my scene" when it's called for, and certainly when it's for a best friend's bachelorette party. And you know what? It was pretty darn fun...sure...there were guido-mcjersey's everywhere (sorry for all my Jersey friends...and Guido friends). Sure...it was really hot and crowded on the dance floor, sure...sometimes the fog machine produced such thick fog that I couldn't see in front of me. Sure, Mandy kept spilling her drink all over my feet (love ya!)...but all in all...it was an experience, and a pretty fun one at that.

At around 3:30am we decided to "evacuate the dance-floor" (you like that?) and went back up to the room. Mal, Lizzy and I had been drinking caffeinated vodka earlier in the night, so none of us were really very tired at all. 3 of the girls pretty much passed out asleep as soon as we got to the room, but they missed out on some more shenanigans. For instance, as I was walking back with Mal and Becky, we discovered a poor, lost soul who was asleep in the hallway outside his door because he didn't have a key and didn't know where his friends were. 

Austin sleeping in the hallway!

After waking him up to see where he belonged, we learned his name was Austin. So...we took poor, little, lost Austin (or Scottie as we liked to call him) under our wing and sheltered him. Austin hung out with us for awhile, gave Mal, Becky and Lizzy foot massages, and fell asleep in the corner of our room for a few hours, but got up and left without a trace in the early morning. As Mal put it the next morning "Austin was a breeze that flew through the night and was only a distance memory by morning," or something cheesy and eloquent like that. She also constantly announced that "Austin was magical"...which in all honestly...was true. The rest of the night was packed with tons of other ridiculous and hilarious little stories that will forever remain in our hearts and memories...but the next morning as Elizabeth was calling the hotel's lost and found to see if they had her Credit Card (it was in her jeans pocket the whole time) someone appropriately asked her to also double check if their dignity and pride was also left down there. Well played...well. played.

We were packed, dressed and out of our room by noon on Sunday and headed off to the Phoenix Diner for a much needed brunch. We seriously were non-functioning human beings until we finally got food in our systems at that diner. Then we sadly said our goodbyes to each other, got in our respective cars and headed back home. Monday was a HARD does of reality being back at work.

Mandy has an amazing group of girls as her bridesmaids who not only all get along extremely well, but have a damn good time when they're together. I hope that we can plan a weekend just like this again soon....or at least next May as a sort of "one-year-bachelorette party anniversary!" I'm so happy for her and Billy, and I didn't think it was possible, but this weekend made me even more pumped for the Strassman/Leef wedding, which is only 27 days away and sure to be an amazing time!