Gypsy Rose Dancing

A few weekends ago I traveled "up" to Boston for my good friend Kirsten's bachelorette party. Kirsten was my partner in crime here at Maryland for my first 2 years (we held the same position and nearly the same desk). Her wedding also unfortunately happens to fall on the same weekend as Meghan's...so I'll be unable to attend. Therefore I didn't want to miss the party.

As a bonus, my uncle (mom's bro) Kevin, aunt Jill and 3 cousins (Alivia, Mitchell and Grace) live in the Boston area and I have yet to visit them there since I've become a resident of the East Coast so it was a good opportunity to pop in. Contrary to Kevin and Jill's story about accidentally showing up to Erin and Shane's place in NYC a week earlier for a graduation (could you imagine the surprise on their faces when they opened the door to see their relatives on their doorstep saying "We're here! Congratulations!") - I communicated the correct weekend.

The fam picked me up from slightly delayed flight at the Boston airport Friday evening around 9:00pm and we headed to Harvard Square to eat dinner. A 30-minute wait at the restaurant flew by pretty fast as we chatted and Kevin and I shared a brew. After dinner we toured the area on foot for a bit (while our food digested and Alivia froze to death) before heading home.

Before bed, Mitchell showed me his artwork (he's really good!!!!) for school and Grace "graced" me with a piano concert. She then let me sit down with her and attempt to be her partner in a duet her teacher and her will be playing for an upcoming recital. Needless to say, I need work. But it was still a lot of fun...and Kevin's trusty camera skills captured most of it.

The next morning Jill and I headed to Grace's baseball game (shown on left at first base - number 8). Her team was far better than the opponent in my opinion and wound up winning although we did not stay until the end. Grace had to leave early for a soccer game (Man, this girl is BUSY!) and Jill kindly drove me to downtown Boston where I was meeting up with the bachelorette party. We said our goodbyes and I tromped up the stairs to the Gypsy Rose Studios above (see www.GypsyRoseDancing.com).

The bachelorette party actually started the night before with the ladies getting together and decorating shirts to wear Saturday evening. I entrusted another girl to make mine, however, because I was with my family. Saturday's agenda, which I met up with them to participate in, started with Exotic Dancing Lessons (floor, chair and pole routines). I was actually really excited for this and it wound up being AWESOME. When I arrived there was a costume room I was ushered into and encouraged to "pick out my outfit" and get changed. I went all out, selecting some boots, a ripped up strapless tanktop/short-short-short-dress(?) and a pair of "booty shorts" (who are we kidding. This was like underwear).

I walked into the room and instantly made a first impression on about 8 ladies (I only knew Kirsten and her friend Kathy). I laughed at the thought of what I must look like. Then, jumped right into the routine (I was a bit late). We learned a floor routine, pole routine and chair routine and it was an absolute blast. Great way to bond with strangers let me tell you.

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Kirsten's to hang out until dinner. Later on, as we walked to dinner and Kirsten had her "tasks" in hand (obtain 10 business cards from men that have to write "good luck" on the back of them, get a picture of a guy's wife, etc.) we happened to pass by a fire station. If you know Kirsten, I'm pretty sure you know what came next. Yup. She asked permission to practice her new pole routine on their fire pole...and they LET HER! It was a riot! I managed to snap a picture on my phone...not the best quality but glad to have captured the moment.


Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant and then we headed outside where our party bus awaited us. One thing to note, is that Kirsten had no idea of ANY of the activities of the weekend until each happened. Thus, when they were walking to the pole dancing class, she had no idea where they were going...and after dinner she DEFINITELY had no idea that we were headed to a brand new limousine party bus (only its 2nd night of use!). We had rented it for 6 hours...which with it picked us up at 8:30pm, gave us until 2:30am to have a blast...and we did. We made a few stops along the way at various bars...and not only danced the night away at the bars but on the bus as well.

Sunday was just a lot of laying around and relaxing until my flight left and headed back to good old Baltimore. Overall it was great to see family and a dear friend...but it is always great to slip into your own bed too :)