Austin With Lindsay

It's pretty incredible to spend a weekend with friends you haven't hung out with in years...

...and pick up right where you left off (we missed you SB, Jessica, and Jenny!!). This picture was taken at the Driskell Hotel, where we definitely would love to stay if we ever become millionaires :)

We'd heard about 6th Street in Austin, and that was our destination for Lindsay's big bachelorette night. In my mind, when I thought Austin, I thought: cowboys, bluejeans, and thick accents--all of which make me feel right at home. I WAS WRONG! While we had a blast on 6th Street with each other, we somehow felt that we didn't quite "fit in." Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the atmosphere was pretty similar to Bourbon Street, and we were out in peacoats:

and Sunday School dresses :) Or maybe it was our dancing?? Apparently some girls like to do things when they dance, that made us all want to shield our eyes. I'm not saying I didn't see one or two of us "drop it like it's hot," (or even "drop it like it was on fire"!) but we tried to keep it all above board.

The weeks of preparation I'd spent listening extra hard to our local booty mix station, really came in handy :).

We ended up spending a lot of the night tucked in secluded balconies like this one--where we could watch the action and dance with each other, but maybe not be accosted by strangers.

We did manage to find a place that felt much more like home at the end of the night, a dueling piano bar:

Lindsay got called up on stage for her very own serenade. We all cheered and laughed...

...and then the song took a slightly "different" turn:

And we all still laughed, but we had some red faces.

The next morning we relaxed in the Austin sunshine under these beautiful trees, and lingered over a THREE hour brunch at Perla's

where every single item on the menu made our mouths water. If and when I make it back to Austin, you can believe I'll be going there again.

After lunch we did some shopping and then went back to the hotel for some naps (I really did feel like I was in college again at this point :)).

That night we got all dolled up and went to Imperia for a sushi dinner. Here the service was perfect, the atmosphere beautiful, and the food SCRUMPTIOUS!

We went to a place in the Warehouse District after dinner...and felt much more comfortable than we had the night before :) We knew how to handle a "band party"

The Maid of Honor (the groom's sister, Meagan):

and Matron of Honor (Lindsay's cousin, Rebecca) tied the whole weekend together with a lingerie shower...that made me wish I could get married all over again BECAUSE I WANTED EVERYTHING SHE GOT!There's nothing like a weekend with the girls! I can't wait until we all get to be together again for the wedding...That Jon Mark's a lucky man ;)