mission: greece

today is the day patrick and i are traveling to greece....opa! we are super excited about this trip, going to a place that is new for us and exploring all the great historical sites while enjoying everything that is relaxing. we are taking a tour through trafalgar, and it is a "free and easy" tour group, which means we get to just do and see the things we want when we want.

so the first half of our trip will be spent in athens. we will get to go to places like the acropolis, zeus' temple, delphi, etc. etc. then we will embark on a cruise around the cyclades islands, i.e. crete, mykonos, and some other ones i can't remember the names of right now. we even get the option of going to ephesus which is in turkey, and because we have heard great things about the once port town, we are totally checking it out.

after the cruise we have one more night in athens and then we will be heading back to the states. i will try to keep up with what we are doing day to day, because this trip will be the best adventure yet!!!

well it is time to do some last minute packing.

this is beth signing off.

mission: beginning.

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mission: wedding part 3

ok, i have soooo been slacking on my blog lately, and i apologize for not yet sharing with you all about my sister's wedding. there is no excuse, but i would like to say that i thin the sunshine has cleared up my cloudy thoughts and am now able to write about my sister's wedding day.

so i last left you the night before the wedding with the bridal party and some friends singing and dancing. i tossed and turned for a good while, thinking of all the things that i needed to do to help tori have a most perfect wedding. finally, i drifted into deep sleep only to be awaken five hours later by a very excited bride. tori bounced into our shared hotel bed, grinning widely (well i couldn't see the grin, it was still dark in our room, but i could hear the grin) exclaiming,

"i am getting married today."

so i was up because i immediately joined in her excitement.

"yeah you are!" i yawned.

we talked and shared some sisterly moments before we turned on the tv. then we all began to get our showers so that we could have a girls breakfast down in the lobby. it was a very relaxing morning, and tori was as calm as she could be. before long, the hair stylist came to make us look beautiful. tori was first, and her hair looked absolutely stunning. it was beginning to feel real. my eyes began to mist as i watched her transform into the princess she al

ways wanted to be. flashbacks to our youth began to flood my mind, playing with barbie dolls and dress up, but i kept it all inside, taking new mental photographs for this time and place.

time was going by so quickly, but we all had everything going like clockwork. we were trying to stay on time as much as possible, and with the help of tori's maid of honor, marie, telling us all how beautiful we looked, everyone felt happy and ready for the rest of the day. when mom arrived to the hotel, tori wanted to begin getting dressed. mom, marie, and i helped tori put on her beautiful gown, which was ivory with silver beading and a gathered a-line skirt. she looked like belle from beauty and the beast. after mom went downstairs, the rest of the girls put on their lovely blue dresses and then gathered around my sister to spend time praying for her and dylan. it was my favorite moment of the day.

next on the agenda was heading to the church on time!!! the limo driver came to pick us up, and was he ever the most attentive driver i have ever seen! he would not let anyone else help him with getting tori in and out of the stretch suv. this made it easier for her though because it had just snowed and he didn't want her dress to get all dirty.

so we get to the church, and we waited in the chapel room until the ceremony began. dylan's mom, terry (hi terry!!!!), came to see us all and she pointed out that th

e sun was shining, just for them! the excitement began to really build up and then, it was show time.

tori could not have looked more beautiful, and dylan could not have looked more in love! i watched his face as he saw tori in all of her bridal beauty walk down the aisle to meet hi

m, her groom. the ceremony was perfect and before we knew it, they kissed and now my sister is mrs. dylan albright!

after taking loads of pictures, inside and

out (boy was it freeeezing) we ventured over to lucien's manor for a great party. the hall was beautiful and, with romantic candlelight centerpieces, enhanced by blue lighting over the dance floor, everything was breathtaking. before the reception actually began, i have to tell you that i totally wiped out on some steps there. my arm was sore for days, but my pride was hurt most of all. dylan's best man dave kept making comments to me the rest of the night, but i deserved them.

the reception then commenced as the party was announced. dave and i irish jigged our way in, and i have to say it was the best entrance ever! tori and dyl then came in and danced. from there speeches were made, food was eaten (the most food i have ever seen), the dj got the party going, dances were danced, cake was cut, and goodbyes were made.

it was a wonderful wedding, and probably the most fun i have ever had as far as wedding goes (the fun factor even beat my own wedding). much love and blessing to the happy couple!!!

this is beth signing off.

mission: phew...accomplished.

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mission: wedding details part 2

after the rehearsal dinner at charlie browns, tori hopped into the car with lauren and i, and the three of us were on our way to the residence inn. the rest of the bridal party, as well as a few more friends, were waiting for my sister's arrival, and when she stepped into the room, she was excited to see it decorated just for her. we put on our pj's and donned the bride with a hot pink bachelorette sash, tiara, and a classy penis lei. oh yeah...it was time to party!

we began the night with tor opening up her lingerie presents right away because my mom was there for only a limited amount of time. marie, tori's maid of honor, and i came up with a game for the purchase and opening of the gifts. each girl was given an adjective, such as "vixen" or "bridal beauty," and we had to buy a piece of lingerie according to that word. we thought that this would increase the variety of fun things for tori to wear on her honeymoon. then! she had to guess who bought her what based on the adjective that was labeled on the package. i have to say that everyone did a great job buying for her and it was fun watching her try to guess the person behind the word (she got most of us right).

after the presents were opened and admired, we began the real party. this was not a typical bachelorette party because we did not have any real plan to go out. marie and i thought that it would be fitting to have a dance/ pajama party where girls just want to have fun! and that iswhat we did. we celebrated and toasted tori's final single night with sparkling wine and schmirnoff. tori had to drink hers from a penis shot glass...once again, super classy.

mom then left us and from there we all danced, laughed, and sang at the top of our lungs for the next couple of hours until we realized we better head to bed and get our beauty rest. we turned the music off and talked a bit about the next day's events when we got a phone call. marie picked up the phone and chatted with someone from the front desk. apparently people were complaining about the noise level from our room (or so they thought), and marie was asked if the noise was bothering us. she replied with a, "noise? no it hasn't bothered us at all...thank you." we all cracked up, feeling we did our job at having a super fun night with the bride!

now, i cannot share some of the other exciting details of the night...what happens on bachelorette night stays there!

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished...and details part 3 still to come.

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mission: wedding details part 1

i cannot believe it has been over a week already since my sister became mrs. dylan albright! i also cannot believe it has taken me this long to actually blog about the event, but as my husband, employer, and myself know, i have not been on my "a" game this week. so i am finally ready to share the fabulous details of a most beautiful winter wedding.

the wednesday night before the wedding, patrick and i headed down the pike to stay at my sister's apartment, for the following day we had a lot of last minute things to do! we spent the night playing rock band, and tori's friend, sarah, came over for a bit to chat. the boys (dylan, his best man dave, and patrick) went out to celebrate one more time together before the big day. we girls took it easy and went to sleep at a reasonable hour.

thursday was a whirlwind of a day. tori and i began it with a doughnut run to dunkin, which became disappointing because tori's had mold on it! she was too disgusted to eat anything else for a while, so we got ready and headed out to five below to buy some last minute gifts. then, we headed over to walmart where tori got a nail fixed as i shopped for a list of makeup, pantyhose, and other girly items, making sure we were using our time wisely. after our shopping, we took the time to get a sandwich from subway, also located in the walmart. that place kept us a little more sane because it was a one stop shop for sure! however, the time was flying by, and i knew that i had to get over to the residence inn to set up for tori's bachelorette/ lingerie party. not only that, i had to get myself ready in time for the rehearsal at the church!

when i dropped the walmart items off at tori's, i had to catch up with the boys to find out their plans. patrick told me he needed our car to take to the reception hall, lucien's manor, so that we would have a ride home from there the following day (we were all going to be in a limo to the the church and then to the reception, but not afterwards...so that became a dilemma). i told him i needed the car because it had everything in it for the party, and i didn't want tori to see it until later that night. our argument was going nowhere, until dyl solved it for us and decided that they could drop the car off at lucien's after the rehearsal dinner! great...i was off.

now, i was running 30 minutes behind my schedule, and my brother, josh, called me on my way over to the hotel. he told me to calm down and to remember that this was not my wedding (never thought that, but it was sound advice nonetheless). he made me laugh, i felt better, and i ended up having plenty of time to set up for the party. lauren, my sis-in-law, came over to help me add the final touches to the room, which was a lovely two bedroom and bathroom suite, perfect for five girls getting ready at the same time! we made it looked pink, and girly, complete with a bachelorette sign, 3 dozen pink roses, and fun games already to play.

i then got ready as quickly as i could, and lauren and i headed over to the church where we had the rehearsal. it was probably one of the funniest rehearsals i have ever been to. old man rivers (the assistant pastor) stood in for the head pastor who would lead the ceremony on the wedding day. he told us many unnecessary and slightly strange stories throughout the night. my favorite was when he was a youth pastor and the kids would call him daddy, and then when they got older they would call him grandpa. now, i thought that was a little odd...i have never referred to a youth pastor as daddy, but i guess that is what happened to him. hmmmph.

my mommom said we all acted horribly up there, but it was just too funny, and i think we kept the whole family as onlookers laughing. it was free entertainment for sure! the wedding crew then ventured down the street to charlie browns for a wonderfully fun dinner. i had the steak and mashed potatoes. i couldn't finish my meal, nor could my sister, so joshy came over and took both of our plates only to return them completely clean. he then polished off two or three pieces of cheesecake for his dessert. good thing he didn't have to worry about fitting into his outfit the next day. it was a good time with never a dull moment, and tori and dylan were chraming hosts. the bridal party and the parents were given their gifts by the happy couple, and then we were said goodbyes to head over to start the real party!

part 2 will recount the bachelorette party. stay tuned.

this is beth signing off.

mission: accomplished.

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