My Bachelorette Party in Austin, Texas

Way back in October of last year, just as Adam and I started to plan our wedding, I took an afternoon to think about who I wanted standing next to me on our big day.Now, I suppose I should back up and start this off by saying I know some people shrug off big weddings. They find them silly and not worth the money or stress, etc. Some if not all of these things are probably true for a lot of people, but to be completely honest, I've never had any of those thoughts. Even on those days where I feel super overwhelmed with the number of things we still have to get done, or I'm worried we can't afford to fill every table with real flowers because they literally cost an arm and a leg (and does anyone even care??), or we're trying to figure out silly stupid details like where to rent table linens, I don't regret agreeing to have a wedding of this size. No matter what our budget was, I knew I wanted a big wedding and desperately wanted to make it work, even if that meant getting married for free in a field somewhere, haha. I guess I've always felt this way simply because there are too many people in my life that I love so dearly and I couldn't imagine any of them not being there to celebrate with us. Adam, of course, has been so great, and from the very beginning just wanted me to be happy. I mean, what Seattle native passes up the chance to have a small, beautiful wedding in the mountains to instead travel to the middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin to get married in a barn? He really is a keeper, you guys... I tell ya.That being said, when I thought about the ladies in my life I wanted to have by my side, the decision was easy. There would be six of them, which meant not only was our guest list huge but suddenly our wedding party was huge, too (since Adam would also choose six guys to stand on his side). But, as I said above, this is what I wanted! It felt so right to have all of our best friends standing with us, and I wouldn't have it any other way.So, the planning began... And at some point months ago, Adam's brother decided to throw a Bachelor party for him, so a few weeks ago, roughly 12 of his guy friends all partied it up in Leavenworth. Only one ER visit, too... Impressive!Well, since my bridesmaids are so amazing, they wanted to throw me a party, too. After communicating with each other without me even knowing about it, they eventually sent me a list of cities and told me to choose one. What! It was so unexpected and awesome. So... Where did I choose? Austin, Texas! It's somewhere I've always really wanted to visit, and it was the perfect meeting point for us since we were literally flying/driving in from all over the place. (California, Washington, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Texas.)Arriving at the Airbnb the first night was unreal. Seeing some of my oldest and dearest friends standing right next to my newer friends was mind-blowing. Having them all in one place was so, so exciting and the best feeling in the world. (I'm tearing up just thinking about it! It was magic.) Here they are!:This is my favorite photo from the whole weekend. Look at how beautiful they are! Granted, I wish I had told them to stand in a regular pose after snapping this one, but that's okay! They were showing me their "Amanda's getting Meowied" tattoos Ashley had made. Isn't that so sweet?! They were the cutest.The Airbnb was decked out in cat decorations and I was just beside myself. Megan made these adorable kitty masks (see top photo!), she baked and decorated kitty cookies, and Kendal flew in early to help her get kitty balloons and all the rest set up in time for my arrival. Since Megan lives in Texas, Ashley had been sending decorations right to her house so she could drive them all to Austin - so smart! The planning and attention to detail that went into all of that was so incredible. I felt and still feel totally spoiled.One of the first things we did in Austin was eat brunch wearing our kitty ears (obviously) and then visit the very first Whole Foods because why not?? I love Whole Foods! We ate at a swanky restaurant that night called Emmer & Rye where we had the most amazing waiter on the planet (and the tastiest food on the planet, too!), and then we walked up and down 6th street afterward, checking out all of the house bars the neighborhood is famous for.We visited the coffee shop that has the "I love you so much" graffiti on the side and tried to get a good photo but we were only semi-successful.The next morning, we walked down to a taco truck for breakfast and then went to the Barton Springs swimming area. That place was so cool! There are lots of natural spring areas in Austin, so I'm happy we were able to see and experience one. Even if Mirela did slip and almost break her toe there... (Urgent care visit #1 of the trip!) She's okay though, no broken bones, just a very sad, purple toe.

Oh, have you heard about the bats in Austin???? I had no idea this was a thing, but from March - October, every single night at dusk, over a million bats fly out from under this bridge to eat. We had to check it out, and I'm so glad we did. Watch this video! We were all amazed.

We had to wait around for a while for the bats to emerge, so we took this opportunity to have a photoshoot. Thanks for bringing your camera, Kendal!Saturday night, we had yummy sushi at Uchi, sang our hearts out at karaoke, and then tried to go to bed at a decent hour since everyone had 6 or 7am flights back home the next morning. Well, everyone but me that is since I got heat stroke and had to go to urgent care (visit #2 of the trip!) and then change my flight because I was too sick to travel...! Yup... I don't wanna talk about it. All is well now though and I'm finally back to normal, but it wasn't a fun day, that's for sure! Shout out to Megan for taking care of me literally the entire day. Don't mess with Texas, y'all... That heat is no joke.Other than those two unfortunate urgent care visits, it was a great weekend with my girls. I love them so much and cannot wait to have them all standing beside me on our wedding day... Which is in 22 days, if you were wondering... But hey, who's counting?? ;-) As always, thanks for reading! xo