Kelly's Bridal Shower (and a ukulele tangent)

Did I tell you about the bridal shower I hosted for my friend, Kelly? Don't lie to me and tell me I did, because I know I didn't, and you're only saying I did because you don't want to hear about it. Too bad, sucker!

This was the easiest shower I've ever planned, but we all had a great time! I invited the ladies from work and a couple coworkers' wives. I reserved the back room of a bar that's near the office on a weeknight, immediately after the office closed. I ordered drinks and appetizers. So far, so good. No cleaning and no cooking!

Just in case things got out of hand, I thought it would be best if we all remained anonymous. Therefore, I prepared fake name tags for everyone. Kelly's said Olive Tyler because she's in love with a guy named Tyler. And she's going to marry him! Everyone else got to choose their own. (I left off a couple raunchy ones because I try to keep it real classy here.)

• Anita Bath
• Barb E. Dahl
• Carrie DiBabi
• Crystal Boll
• Emma Royds
• Gaye Barr
• Helen Back
• Iona Braugh (real person who went to college with my Aunt Claire)
• Marsha Mellow
• Mary A. Richman
• Missy Sippy
• Paige Turner
• Peg Legge
• Sharon Weed
• Summer Love
• Wanda Kiss

Then we played a few games. First we did a Purse Scavenger Hunt. On the back of that page, we used crayons to draw the bride and groom. The winners of those two games won traditional shower prizes...Halloween decorations!

The last thing we did was play a game called Fortunately/Unfortunately. It's a good travel game my mom taught me. She's a fun person to travel with! When I was little, we took an annual seven-hour car adventure to Ponto Lake, Minnesota. Remember when I wrote about the lake here? One of the best things about the trip was that my musical mama would bring her trusty ukulele and several copies of her 25-page camp song sheets. My mom typed the song sheets on a typewriter and had them mimeographed at the library. Until one sweet day in the 80's when my dad got a deal on a copy machine that took up half of our our den. Anyway, we would sing our little hearts out in that Oldsmobile. I remember people looking at us as we drove by, and I remember thinking they must be wishing they were in our car. At the end of each song, we would flip through our song sheets and shout out the number next to whatever song we wanted to sing next. After a couple hours, my dad would say "That's enough!" And then my brother would take a nap in the back window and my sister and I fought over who got the seat and who had to pile pillows and bags on either side of "the hump" to make a comfortable place on the floor.

My dad and I were the night owls in our family, so I usually stayed awake with him while he drove. A lot of times he would let me sit on his lap and steer. We played a game to see whose eyes were better, and whoever was the first one to read roadsigns was the winner. My dad always won, but I think I could beat him now. One time I was sitting on my dad's lap in the middle of the night, and he used the steering wheel to explain the solar system to me. That was pretty cool. I decided that some day I would teach my kids about the solar system when they were sitting on my lap steering the car. But then someone came up with a few safety laws, which is the main reason my kids don't fully understand the universe.

WHERE WAS I??? Oh, yeah. We played Fortunately/Unfortunately at Kelly's bridal shower. We all took turns telling the story about Kelly's wedding day. I started the game by saying, "Fortunately, Kelly woke up on time on her wedding day." The next person said a sentence that started with Unfortunately, the next person's sentence started with Fortunately, and so on. Make sense? It's actually a pretty fun game.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the decorations! I kept them elegantly simple to go along with the sophisticated feel of the shower. I printed pictures of Kelly and Tyler and put them in the bathroom.

Kelly with one of the pictures in the bathroom

P.S. A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for a Uke Circle. It's a thing where ukulele players get together and jam. I called my mom immediately to see if she was interested, but she just laughed. Maybe now that she has DG (Dollar General) sunglasses, she thinks she's too cool for her uke. And then she reminded me that her uke is at the cabin in Minnesota. I may organize a special Uke Circle up there as a nice surprise for her. At her cabin. I think she would really like that surprise, don't you?