You are the Official Winner of…A RIBBON HAT!

I know, I know. Where have I BEEN? Don’t I have anything interesting to say about anything? Make some effort, Sutherland!

Well, I’ve been in Cape Cod (parade!) and in New Jersey (surprise bridal shower!) and I’ve had guests (Mom! future sister-in-law!) and I’ve been assembling invitations and choosing ceremony music and buying stamps and making registry spreadsheets and addressing envelopes and reading fascinating blogs about weddings instead of my usual fascinating blogs about TV.

Conclusion: Weddings are very time-consuming!

But also fun — like my surprise bridal shower last weekend! Woo hoo! OK, I was a little suspicious that something was going to happen, but I had no idea how awesome it would be.

Kari and Mom and Dayna gave me…an Amazing Race-themed bridal shower!!!!!!!!

I think perhaps they read this blog, don’t you? Or else they know me really really well. It was seriously the best party of all time ever, at least for me, since I got to play all the games and open all the presents, la la la! And there were Roadblocks and Detours and different international food stations and Mom’s living room was decorated with all their international paraphernalia. And there was a really real-looking clue box and RIDICULOUSLY real-looking clues (laminated and everything!)! SO cool! I am SO ready for The Amazing Race now!

Me and the Best Maid of Honor of All Time Ever, Also Coincidentally A Potential Most Amazing Amazing Race Partner

New Zealand!

Italy!

The Finish Line! Eeeeee!

You’re not getting a photo of that one, though, because I can’t stand pictures of me eating. Note to self: Warn wedding photographer! I mean, we wouldn’t want me throwing outraged cake at him or anything.

We also played a version of Don’t Forget the Lyrics, which was AWESOME! The categories were mostly wedding-related (“First Dance Songs”, “Father/Daughter Songs”, “Songs on Tui’s Don’t Play List”, “Songs on Adam’s Don’t Play List”, etc.) and then there were two songs to choose between, and they’d play the beginning of the song, and then cut it off, and I or my opponent had to sing the rest.

Can you guess which is Adam’s Don’t Play List? I’ll give you a hint…it’s possible he doesn’t know that we own a copy of Spice World…

(The best part? The tie-breaker was “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” which was literally the first song I ever memorized, off the first cassette I ever owned when we moved to Miami in fifth grade. My reasoning was (a) knowing all the lyrics would make me totally cool, and (b) I’d learn something about history! Conflicting goals? Hrm, perhaps.)

THIS IS THE GREATEST BRIDAL SHOWER GAME EVER. Seriously, steal this idea and use it at your bridal showers. I’m sure it’s much more fun if the bride can actually sing, though! Very sorry about that, shower attendees.

Yes, that’s me singing into an eggplant. Hey, there was no microphone, and on The Amazing Race, you have to be resourceful! This microphone, you can sing into it, and then you can EAT IT! Not if you’re still full of cupcakes, though. Blergh.

Oh, and then, of course, there was the most important part:

THE RIBBON HAT!

Admire THE RIBBON HAT!

Marvel at my bravery in sharing these pictures online!

Oh, I love the ribbon hat. It’s the goofiest, funniest shower tradition I’ve ever seen, and I’ve loved it since I saw my first ribbon hat. And now I have a ribbon hat of my very own! Adam is going to be so excited when he finds out that I absolutely refuse to ever get rid of it. Woo hoo! Our first family heirloom! Won’t the far-distant-future grandchildren be thrilled.

OK, I think that’s enough silliness for tonight, but to make up for my long absence, I’ll try to blog again before next week. We might even have a surprise guest blogger on Friday! It’s just a theory, but wouldn’t you think that if someone licks your fingers every time you try to type, she might be saying “Let me blog! Let ME blog!”? We’ll find out soon…

And I haven’t even talked about TV yet! Hooray for Sabra and Danny! The perfect final two! I was so happy, I knew I wouldn’t mind whichever of them won. And have you been watching Mad Men, as instructed? It is well on its way to being one of my top ten favorite shows of all time, and that’s after only five episodes! Usually it takes Joss Whedon to manage that. It’s just AMAAAAAZING.

More soon!

Quote of the Day: "My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am." — Unknown