Polka dots and patience

Last night I threw a ladies only pre-wedding bash for one of my best friends, Dionne. I decided to do it in in the back garden seeing as I actually *have* a back garden, and a cute one at that, and seeing as I am living in a place where it is still so hot at night that I can still sit outside wearing a strapless dress at night and feel completely comfortable.

Dionne and Todd are getting married this Saturday in Vegas. Straight out of a movie, right? That's what I thought. It is going to be a gorgeous wedding. 

Dionne loves polka dots. Her grandmother loved polka dots, and she passed this quirk along to her granddaughter. So polka dots were a must. Another must were fairy lights in the trees. And coconut passion fruit mousse cake. And fresh grapes. And a watermelon from the youth garden that I volunteer in. I also had passion fruit mango iced tea (hey, you can never have too much passion (fruit), right?) and a bouquet of flowers that all had meaning (I looked them up at the back of The Language of Flowers: A Novel): Calla lily (modesty), Stock (you will always be beautiful), and Aster (patience, because the owner of the flower shop said: "Honey, she's gonna need a hell of a lot of that!")

The carpet I threw in to make us feel more at home out there. It was hand made in Cyprus and was on my bedroom floor throughout my childhood. Hey -- at least *I* felt at home!

We ate, we drank, and we told stories. Stories of our first loves. Of our first kisses. Of our crushes, our disaster dates, our most embarrassing dates, and our heartbreaks. We also talked about our dreams, our hopes and our fears. It was a night filled with laughter. A faint breeze was blowing through the trees. The lights in the trees shed warm light down over us. The moon was bright above us in the sky. A violin was playing...(ok, ok--not really, but it would have been PERFECT if there had been a violinist)...

 

 and the polka dotted tablecloth rocked, if I do say so myself :-) 

We didn't have any men jumping out of cakes or anything...*sigh*.... (although I was told today that one woman's husband --a fireman-- HAD thoughtfully offered to come over and light some fires, but she banished that idea right out out of his head as soon as he verbalized his offer to help us out), but we did have a lot of fun!

It is such a gift to have such a great group of female friends to celebrate moments like this with. Women who remind me to laugh at myself. Women to eat cake and sip tea with. Women who have such truly awful dating stories (I'm looking at you, Meredith!) that they put mine to shame. Yep. I am glad I have such a great group of female friends here in Sacramento, and I'm incredibly grateful that Dionne is one of them.

 
Dionne and Todd fly to Vegas in the morning. Standing on the sidewalk late last night saying goodnight to Dionne, I felt a mixture of sadness and excitement for her. Sadness because she herself was full of the emotions that come right before such a big transition, and in all truth, a chapter is ending. But excitement because she is embarking on a new adventure with a man who is absolutely crazy about her. I cannot wait to see the wedding photos!

Do you have a tight network of incredible friends in your life that make every day just that much better, and that are there to support you and celebrate with you during times of transition? Do you buy them polka dotted underwear? ;-)  

Have a great Thursday friends. See you Friday!