abundant life: celebrate we will. cuz life is short, but sweet for certain (the day before the big day)

I shall continue my coverage of the wedding weekend with a post on the happenings of Friday which included our super-fun lake day and a fabulous cocktail party with a view.

Lake Day - Kingsland Style

After a very full night on Thursday, I slept like a baby and was ready to hit up the lake the next morning for some fun in the sun. A huge group made their way to the lake including my family which was a treat since they hadn't been to the new lakehouse yet. We were greeted with a serious spread of food - no surprise there. The table was covered with deli sandwiches, wraps, chips, dip, fruit, veggies, brownies, cupcakes, cookies and pizzas were pulled out of the oven about every 30 minutes (courtesy of Christina and me - ha).

rambo, i mean elisa and a blooming flower (meredith)

a whopping 4 generations all in 1 pic

Everyone was able to relax, hang out inside, play cards under the deck, float in the water and take a ride on the jet ski. Pearl, I mean Haylee, even donned her mini life vest and went for a dip in the lake. Considering her aversion to anything floating in the water, I was shocked she got in with all the little fishes swimming around so close to the dock. Kudos Haylee - you're doin' some things!

nick and pearl swimming with the fishies

me and the sis with a postcard background

Since their current boat is still on the fritz, they rented a pretty big pontoon boat which I got to take a couple rides on. It wasn't the fastest speeding bullet around, but it was definitely nice to get off the dry land and out on the lake.

a gaggle of girls on the boat (did I just say gaggle?)

sisters on the boat, livin' it up

Christina and I even took a tandem turn on the tube which was pretty comical. I felt like a kid again and found myself uncontrollably laughing the entire time for no apparent reason.

it was so fast we could wave hi

I stayed on the whole ride!

After a solid 4 hours of eating, boating, swimming, tubing and chillaxing, we made the drive back to A-town to wash the lake off of us and get ready for a little cocktail party at a hotel downtown.

Cocktail Party with a View

Once we had donned our party dresses for the night, we commenced with the obligatory fousin photo shoot outside. I must say, I am quite pleased with the lighting.

fousin love, ready for a cocktail

me and Lianna

a little bit crazy...except for the super-serious bride

I also must comment on the fact that I got to be with the girls (including the bride) throughout the entire weekend, whether it was riding with them to and from events, getting ready together, borrowing jewelry, selecting outfits, having a Baileys nightcap (love you E), chowing down on leftover beer bread at 1 in the morning or watching My Best Friend's Wedding repeatedly - I can't begin to express what a special time it was for me.

a couple crazies in the car

The four of us cruised on downtown to the spot of the cocktail party. We took the elevator up to the top, and were amazing by what we walked into. The room was pretty standard by most accounts, but the balcony was easily the size of 4 hotel rooms and had a prime time view of downtown Austin, specifically the capital building. The view alone was such an amazing experience and truly breathtaking. Can I just say for like the 900th time how much I love our capital city? Well, even if you didn't give me permission, it's my blog and I just said it. Boo-yah!

hark! who goes there?

We also had the distinct pleasure of Michelle's company who got a brief night off from full mommy duties. She had to tote Mere-bear with her, but Pearl was with Nick back at the hotel. Having her there was the bees-knees, just like old times and I'm so glad she got to be a part of everything that went on Friday. It put the shamma-lamma in the ding-dong.

sisters with the glorious capital kinda visible (it was uber windy if you can't tell)

just like old times, love it!

mama bear and her 2 girls

The beer and wine was flowing, the food spread was snack-tastic and the balcony was packed to the brim with party peeps. Suffice it to say, the good times were definitely rolling, but we had to make an early exit on account of the bride. Everyone knows a good night's sleep is essential for any bride-to-be. I think the beauty sleep definitely paid off because the bride looked absolutely radiant the next day. However, I'm getting far too ahead of myself. You'll have to wait for the next post to get all the pics and details!