In the midst of all the relationship stuff (which is pretty damn awesome, btw), this past weekend, I flew to Austin, Texas, for my sister’s bridal shower/bachelorette party/general celebration of her awesomeness.

Yep. That’s Texas, no doubt. (Also, I cut my arm on the barb wire fence while trying to take pictures of the damn longhorns, because clearly I am gifted.)

I flew in on Friday morning and hung out with the girls. We had lunch, went shopping, took naps (my favorite), then had a wine tasting and dinner at my sister’s condo. I have to give props to my sister’s friend Renee, who is SUPER organized and put all of this stuff together. Where I fail at being maid of honor because I suck at all of the little traditions, Renee picks up all the slack. She is a way better maid of honor than I could ever hope to be.

That night, we stayed up late singing along with 80s songs on my sister’s iPod, telling stories, and just generally goofing off. It was fantastic.

Saturday, we slept in and had brunch. Then most of the girls went out shopping, while I lounged around my sister’s condo, ate, and napped.

(Side note: I haven’t really blogged about it, but I’ve been dieting and working out a lot over the last couple months and I’ve been doing really well with it, but I decided that for one weekend, I was going to kick my diet to the curb. I ate carbs and cheese and drank booze and it was FANTASTIC. It was also surprisingly effective – by the time I got home on Sunday night, I couldn’t wait to get back to eating healthy on Monday.)

Saturday night, we met up with some of my sister’s local friends and had dinner.

Oh! See how I’m the tallest one there? I’m actually not, but I was wearing my sister’s really amazing wedge heels, which made me crazy tall. I loved them, and then after I got home, this showed up from Zappo’s on my doorstep.

My sister found me a pair of wedges almost identical to hers and bought them for me. Sorry to all y’all with sisters. Mine wins.

Anyway, back to Texas. After dinner on Saturday night, we went to one of those karaoke places where you rent your own private room, so you only embarrass yourselves in front of your friends instead of a whole audience.

I have to say, I wasn’t totally into the karaoke idea because I had volunteered to be designated driver, and let’s face it, you need at least a couple of drinks for karaoke. But it ended up being pretty damn fun anyway.

This picture is blurry and out of focus, but it pretty much sums up the whole night. (And yes, if you note the captions on the screen behind them? They were, in fact, singing “Copa Cabana.” Because why wouldn’t they be?)

I flew back to Raleigh on Sunday, and while I was happy to get home and hug my babies, it was a bummer to leave my sister and her friends, because they are such a blast to hang out with.

On the upside, I’ll see them all again in about six months at Tracy’s wedding. I already can’t wait.