I have a best friend since childhood too(we mostly keep contact in nostalgia now, but whatev. I still love her, but I also know she is a loon.) A raised-by-hippies sort of loon, so at least we could keep the ducats out of it, but she still won't be planning substantial stuff for me. Ever.

I have heard of paying for a bachelorette party. A no gifts expected, buy your own drinks at the bar kind of thing, but paying to attend a shower and being expected to bring a gift? so.very.tacky.

I'm trying to picture my bestest bud planning my wedding shower.

BB: So the beer tasting will start at 3 and the martial arts movie marathon will start at 3:30. Chocolate noshing will be ongoing.

Me: You do remember that I hate beer, right? The rest sounds great.

BB: Righty-oh. Beer crossed out, Aussi shiraz penciled in.

Hmmmm. It's almost enough to make me want to get married.

I have heard of paying for a bachelorette party. A no gifts expected, buy your own drinks at the bar kind of thing, but paying to attend a shower and being expected to bring a gift? so.very.tacky.

Yes, this. For a close friend's wedding this spring, the bachelorette party was a simple dinner out, at a BYOB place, so the MoH brought wine. We all chipped in for dinner, which we knew going in.

The shower was definitely hosted. Even there, though, I know it was hard for another friend of mine who was a bridesmaid, because the whole thing ended up being fairly expensive, and with dress, gifts, other expenses, contributing to the shower was hard for her.

Whatever happened to *not* having a shower at a restaurant? Mine was at a friend's house, and it was lovely and fun and low-key.

Also, are the same guests invited to these showers, other than the wedding party? Because that's also a big etiquette no no.

Hec, this might be a cat story you might like, believe it or not. My cat Rocky walked across my keyboard and pulled up a site. Not just any site...SF apartment-finders site.I can't remember visiting it, but I must have. Maybe he's hinting...though I look at the rates and despair.

Timelies.

One of my classes was cancelled. It's the one credit course that meets twice a week in September. So now I will only have my two classes on Wednesday, until my other 1 credit begins in mid October. I can't seem to find anything else that will fill the hole, and I'm not sure I should.

Sounds like a blessing in disguise. You have a sort of slow ramp-up to get back into the swing of student-y life.

~~Robin & Steph~~ (Those are the lovely waves of heat coming off heating pads).

P-C, glad things seem to be going forward in some fashion. Best of luck with however they pan out.

Anybody else? I distribute hugs and glitter indiscriminately!

{{Aimee}} Everybody else has said it more coherently than I could manage. Just gaah!

~~Robin & Steph~~ (Those are the lovely waves of heat coming off heating pads).

Oh, *I* don't have Teh Cramps; I was just commiserating with Robin b/c I *do* get cramps of doom; just not today.

Oh no, the shower's not at the restaurant. THe shower is at the St Regis Dana Point. [link]

It's where Joe's Christmas party was held a few years ago. The one I was terrified to go becuase it's very ritzy and very expensive and I was afraid they'd smell the poor on me.

So, the shower is in the room the MoH has purchased using points from her husbands travels. We (the guests) are invited to hang there or by the pool, then have the shower in the room, followed by the Bachlorette Party dinner whatever and then, we can all cram into the room for 10 of us to sleep there.

WTF.

I'm not staying the night because if we get caught, it's $50/person. I don't have it, I'm not risking it. Have a good time.

See, Andi is all polite and shit. My e-mail to MoH would be "Do you UNDERSTAND that when you're organizing/hosting a party, you don't MAKE THE GUESTS PAY?"

And I was trying to be stern and stuff. But why not send an email with a body combined of Emily's and my suggestions, and with this bit of Teppy's as a P.S.?

Alternatively, you could let us have this fart-snot's email address and let us express our opinions of her.