the bachelorette weekend: why it's more than just a party

the SKANK Bachelorette Weekend tradition was started in 2007 when our "S," Staci, was the first to be married. at the time, she was living in Virginia with her then-fiance-now-husband, Shane. us SKANK's up north thought we should pay her a visit to see the couple and their brand new house they just bought. also, we knew she needed a Bachelorette Party.

the idea spiraled into a surprise visit, with special help from Shane who made plans for them all weekend...that were fake, cause we were going to come crash them. we surprised Staci on a Friday night, stayed at their house, then went off to Baltimore for a fun-filled day and evening. we drove home Sunday morning.

thus the tradition began.

when Katie got engaged the following year, we knew the SKANK Bachelorette Weekend had to live on, but we didn't see the *surprise* aspect to be fully attainable. we reserved Katie for a weekend and planned the trip with her only other bridesmaid (maid of honor), her sister Amy. Katie's trip involved the Finger Lakes, a 2-night stay in a full cabin, a day of wine tasting (since it rained and we couldn't go kayaking) and drinks and dancing with a random band.

Nicole got engaged a few months after Katie and was married a few months after her. Nicole's surprise was Toronto, Canada, with a stop in Niagra Falls on the way. Nicole's only other bridesmaid (maid of honor and cousin Jen) also attended. we did the Maid of the Mist, visited the Toronto Zoo, walked Chinatown, visited Steamwhistle Brewery (did not make it in time for the tour, however), went to the biggest nightclub i'd ever been in and ate at the amazing Pickle Barrel.

we all joked that each weekend had to top the last, so we started getting excited that the last party would be Vegas, or better yet - Europe.

now up comes my weekend. my desire was for all my bridesmaids to come, but because my sister just had a baby and started working, my cousin is only 19 and my friend Alicia lives in FL...we thought we would just stick to the original five.

Alicia told me several times how frustrated she was that she didn't know what the girls were planning. she knew she couldn't come, but felt so left out without them telling her anything.

i really had NO IDEA where the girls were going to take me. i knew we would leave from Erie or drive to Pittsburgh to pick up Katie and Nicole, but that's about all i knew.

i'm going to end this post here and pick it up in a few days with day 1 of My Bachelorette Weekend! stay tuned...