My friends are slackers.

So the day started off with me trying to wrangle up the cats before heading out to the car (and driver) waiting for me by the curb. Needless to say they had to wait longer than they wanted to. Then on the way out to the street my large gunny sack that I had stuffed with all my gun stuff that wasn't specifically a gun (ammo, cleaning gear, more ammo, ear muffs, even more ammo) started ripping apart as I was walking. Thankfully it was just the strap, but it did make carrying it a bit more of a trick. I made it to the street and with help from Brian, to the car. To Johns we go!
After a brief bit of glad handing and bull $#!?ing, we started making the calls to everyone that wasn't there. After 15 min of this it became clear that nobody else was coming. Dan & Azim had rock solid legitimate excuses for not being there. Everyone else I'm going to give a hard time for years to come. Thomas and his bro Richard were meeting us at the range, so off we went.
To the shooting range!
Trap shooting is great way to start any party. I don't care that I missed almost every damned clay pigeon that flew across the sky. I had fun. We all did. All five of us shot the hell out of our shotguns. John managed to bruise up his shoulder by letting the butt of the gun slip away from his shoulder just before pulling the trigger. This causes the gun to punch you square in the shoulder real hard. It hurts a lot. I laughed at him for this. He would've done the same for me. That's what good friends do. And John is the best kind of friend. He takes a joke almost as well as he takes a shotgun to the shoulder.
Prado shooting range is great for skeet and trap shooting. They have a good pistol range as well, witch was good since Thomas, Richard, & my self brought a few hand guns to play with. Sadly though Prado is not set up for riffle shooting, so almost every long arm we had had to spend the day in the trunk of the cars. : (
So after filling our noses and lungs with the scent of burnt nitrogen and hot brass we packed up our toys and headed to the next stop.
To Dave & Buster's!
This place is great. I love the bartender we had. She is one of the few drink slingers that didn't turn me down when I asked for the spill matt shot. She cringed at the notion, but went around the whole bar and poured all the spill matts into a Collins glass for me. I love asking for this drink. I love it even more when someone will actually pour it for me. Believe it or not, its usually a tasty drink. Most of the time its more mixer than booze. This time it tasted like a lot of sweet&sour and a little bit of rum. Not bad for a free drink.
After much play time in the arcade it was decided that it was time to start winding down. So Thomas&Richard headed home while Brian, John, and my self headed back towards HB to have a bit of dessert before dropping off Brian before he passed out. Then it was just me, my self, and my best friend. So we headed out to Stubrik's in Fullerton to shoot some pool. This brings us to the afore mentioned hitch of 2am close down. We didn't even get to finish our first game when the place started closing down.
To Denney's!
Like all good parties it ended at Denny's. I tell ya, there is no better place to people watch than a Denny's near 3 bars at 2am. Oh my gosh drunk people are fun to watch. So that's what John and I did till about 4:30am.
All said and done, it was a good day. I had fun with my friends. I did get to pull off 1 of 2 bachelor party traditions I have. The first is the spill matt shot. Did that. The second is a bit more risky. I've been known to streak an In&Out once or twice. Alas this did not happen last night.
I know, I'm disappointed in me too.
So the bachelor party went off without a hitch.
Well, that is unless you count all the people that were invited that didn't show up. Then you could say that there were a few hitches. But aside from that it went well.
Well, unless you count the shooting range not allowing the use of almost all the rifles that we brought.You could sat that all the ammo we bought for them was a waste. That might count as a hitch. But aside from that it went well.
Well, there was also that pesky 2am closing of all the bars that kept my best man & I from spending any great amount of time in the bar. Or the pool table that we were playing on for that matter.
So that was my big party. It was good. Had some laughs. Had some good beer. And got to hang with some good friends. What more could I ask for?

Getting Wedding-Ready

So, I had never really given a wedding/being a bride much thought. I was never one of those little girls who, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, said, "A mommy!" I never dressed up as a bride for Halloween. (I was Princess Leia once, but it was against my will and was not pleasing to me at all)

So now that we're planning this big party where-we-just-happen-to-be-getting-married, I have to start using a Bride-Brain; and part of *that* is deciding on a dress.

Which I have done, and pretty easily (it helps that I'm making it myself).

HOWever, I also have to think about who/what is going *in *to that dress, and that is where this post and the following magazine comes in.

"Shape" magazine might come out with these every year; I do not know, I have never looked for, noticed, or thought about it until this year. But this issue (which is March 2010, with a "sell until" date of May 16, 2010) was snapped up in a hurry. It is one of the two three wedding-related magazines I've purchased to date (I also picked up a Bride mag from 1991 at the thrift store - the dresses are So Much Better! gah can't believe I'm saying that about late 1980s fashion!).

I am overall confused by the magazine as a whole; it gives three full-body workouts as well as an eating plan to get 'dress ready', which is nice, and the main reason I picked this mag up in the first place. The exercises are all pretty much geared toward already-fit and/or already-extensively-exercising folks, but that is OK, I can adapt. It has a couple articles typical of bride magazines ('the right dress for your shape' (where have all the sleeves gone???), two 'beauty countdowns' so you look fresh and glowing by your Big Day).

But there is an article in here that has me deeply disturbed. In a magazine about Health and Fitness, one of the Beauty Countdowns focuses solely on cosmetic surgeries to make you 'look your best'. This is very disappointing, especially when it talks about skin care (botox!) and firming up (lipo!). It just seems completely counter to the other 85% of content, and even counter to what I've been reading in other mainstream bridal mags (InSty!e, M*rtha Stew*rt, even the Kn*t).

I am enjoying the exercises in the magazine (although I have NOT bought the $200+ of 'required' equipment to do the workouts, thank you very much), and am curious to try some of the recipes; so I guess it was a worthwhile investment.

That 1991 Brides magazine still has this one beat, though! LOLZ