"Southern Hospitality with Key West Charm"

The title of this post is the tagline at the B&B I'll be staying at this weekend, SO excited. Eight of my favorite girls and I will be heading to Charleston, SC for a weekend of girly indulgence. You could say it's my bachelorette party, but considering I'm already married - I'm saying it's a "Girl's Weekend" - whatever, it is... what it is... a chance for me to hang out with my closest friends, drink fruity drinks, lay in the sun and RELAX. And contrary to DJ's belief - I will be wearing my wedding ring [jackass, haha].

My MOH [Smed] is doing an amazing job planning and I recently found out where we were staying [she couldn't hold it in anymore] the Water's Edge Inn! SO BEAUTIFUL, we're staying in a villa (with an extra room too the first night).

[here's a pic of the Villa at night]

I lived in the Carolina's for the past six years and it's Charleston is one of my absolute favorite places in the world [Wilmington reminded me of Charleston & Savannah which is one of the main things that attracted me to moving there]. The other thing, is that the tagline couldn't be more perfect for me, other than the historic old southern cities my FAVORITE place in the US is Key West... I spent every [yes, EVERY] spring break in college in Key West and if it wasn't so damn far that is where I'd want to be for "Girls Weekend" - it's nice because only three out of the nine of us need to travel to get to the South [KJ from NYC, me from the 'shire, and Smed from the Midwest] everyone else is already in Wilmington!

If you can't tell I'm so excited... I love these girls so much and it really is hard being far away from your friends... that's the thing I miss the most about college - you're surrounded by your friends, especially when I lived in the sorority house... literally lived with 40 of my friends. One huge closet, there is always someone who wants to go out, someone who wants to lay on the couch, someone who wants to eat... full of laughs and never lonely. Don't get me wrong though - I love living with DJ.... we don't exactly share clothes [except I steal his to sleep in... they're just more comfy] and he doesn't like fast food or dessert [which let's be real, is a GOOD thing] but I get to spend every day with my best friend... what's better than that? :)

I'm also excited about taking pictures in Charleston... I'm going to bring the Nikon... I was debating but I know I'll regret it if I don't - especially since we're staying on Folly Beach... aaahh the beach, I MISS YOU!

I remember when one of my best friends got married last year we spent a week together in California for her bach party, bridal shower, etc. and she said something that really strikes true now - the best part of her bachelorette party was that all of her closest girlfriends were together from different circles... friends from college, high school, grad school etc... hardly every do you have ALL of those people together.

I'm excited to experience that this weekend. I know DJ and I eloped but it was important to me that we still get to experience all of this "wedding madness" - bachelor/bachelorette parties [of sort], planning, the actual wedding... I want to experience that with him and for myself. We eloped because we wanted to be married - we finally found what we were looking for [even though it was in front of our faces for 14 years] and didn't want to wait anymore to spend the rest of our lives together. We experienced our day for the two of us, now we want to celebrate our love with our family and friends... good stuff. Can't wait.