A Beach Bachelorette Weekend

This past weekend was my bachelorette party. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend with a better group of friends.  It was great to have a weekend off from work and even better to get the chance to spend some time with my favorite ladies at one of my favorite places... the beach!

I headed down to the beach on Friday with one of my bridesmaids/favorites/adopted little sister, Sara for what promised to be an awesome weekend.  We had a fairly uneventful ride... minus the rain cloud that I swear was following us for the first portion of our trip.  We made a stop in Ocean Grove to visit Gram & Pop and I think we successfully surprised them!  It was so nice to start the weekend off with a few hours of catching up with them... I was definitely sad to go at the end of the visit when we got the phone call that the rest of our group had arrived at the hotel.

Friday night was just a small group of us... me, Sara, Amanda (another bridesmaid), Anna (my MOH), and Becky (my glittle in Chi Omega).  We had decided to go to dinner at Avenue in Long Branch to start off the weekend right.  Avenue is a Parisian themed seafood restaurant right on the ocean.  We were seated right away and immediately started to have a good time.

Starting off my beach bachelorette weekend

Welcome Bags

Lovely ladies at dinner

After an amazing seafood dinner we all headed upstairs to Le Club for some more bonding, dancing, people watching and enjoying the gorgeous view of the beach and the Atlantic from the outside rooftop.  While at Le Club we saw many "Situation" look alikes... people pretending to be Snookie and JWoww... as well as met people who hated Philly for no apparent reason and even a guy who graduated from the same elementary, middle and high school as Anna & I did (only he graduated 20 years before us).  We ended up closing the club down before heading back to the hotel to get some sleep.

View from the Club

Hanging out in Le Club

Our friend who went to Roberge, Holdrum, & PV... just 20 years before us

Saturday morning we all got up pretty early so that we could head to the beach for the day.  After talking to my dad before the weekend I had decided that I wanted to go to Belmar for the day as he said he thought the beaches were nicer there than some of the other local beaches.  The beach was a pretty relaxing day where we all enjoyed ourselves.  One of my friends lost her bathing suit bottom to the Atlantic at one point, but no worries we were able to get it back together so that she wasn't stranded in the ocean for the rest of the afternoon.  We had lots of laughs all throughout the day.  While at the beach the original crew was joined by some of my other friends... Karla, Lisa, Sam, Kelly, and Jeannine.  It was great to have such a large group enjoying some fun and sun.  After spending most of the day at the beach we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Meghan, Sarah & Angela who had just arrived and to get ready for dinner and a night out.

Beautiful Beach Day in Belmar

We went to dinner at Vic's in Bradley Beach which is a family favorite of mine.  Every since I was a little kid we have been eating pizza from Vic's just about every trip down to my grandparents.  It was awesome to get to go with such a great group of girls and we enjoyed some delicious Italian food before heading back to the hotel to go out for the night.  Back at the hotel we enjoyed a nice champagne toast before heading to The Draft House in Long Branch for the night.  Of course before we went out I couldn't resist putting on all my bachelorette gear that the girls had gotten for me...

Rocking all my awesome bachelorette gear

Favorite Pizza Down the Shore

Standard "sorority squat" pose with my Chi Omega ladies

Photo Shoot before heading out for the night

We all piled into cabs to head to The Draft House for what promised to be an awesome night out.  We danced and drank the night away... once again closing the place down!!   Who knew we all still had it in ourselves to stay out until 3am!

Fireball Shots

All of my fabulous friends out for my bachelorette

By the end of the night we had even made new friends!

Sunday morning we all "slept in" and by that I mean we stayed in bed until about 9am.  Once everyone was moving we headed into Asbury Park to go to Toast for brunch.  Our experience at Toast was interesting to say the least.  We were quoted a 45 minute wait and then after that had passed they kept telling us 10 more minutes every time someone would ask what was going on.  Once we finally got seated it took a while before anyone even acknowledged that we had been sat.  By this point we were all hungry and cranky, but the wait was definitely worth it because the food was DELICIOUS.  We had a great time together and I was sad to see brunch end because it meant that I would be saying good bye to most of my friends.  I know I make this seem like a dramatic goodbye, but we are all so busy that who knows the next time we will all be together (I am guessing my bridal shower or if not then the wedding)... but the times we can all get together are definitely few and far between.

After saying goodbye to most of the crew I headed to the Ocean Grove beach with Meghan, Sarah and Ang for one more day of fun in the sun.  Unfortunately our fun in the sun didn't last as late as I had hoped it would as it started to rain, but we still got some good rays in for the day and had a great time.  After the beach we all headed back to the hotel for dinner and then to toast to the end of the bachelorette weekend with some champagne.

Ocean Grove Beach

Another Gorgeous Day

End of the Weekend Champagne

All in all it was an AMAZING weekend with some of the best friends that a girl could as for.  I am so lucky to have these ladies in my life and I can't wait to have them all there in October as Mark and I begin the journey that will be the rest of our lives together!