Rob and I are flying to Virginia today (for the last time until the wedding!) to get our marriage license, and for me to attend a lovely bridal shower that my mom's sweet friends were kind enough to throw in my honor.

This really has been the most amazing year of celebrations and champagne toasts, and I feel so lucky that after an engagement party, a couple of super-fun photo shoots, a fantastic bachelorette weekend, and now this spring bridal shower that I've been looking forward to for months, I still get to top it all off a month from now by marrying the best guy I know.

What's everyone else up to this weekend, and how's the weather where you are?

Last weekend, I was in Washington DC with a group of my very best girlfriends for my bachelorette party. It started, like most good things, with brunch. After head massages and blowouts at Drybar, but before a sweet hotel bridal shower with wine provided by La Crema, we headed to Founding Farmers for some amazing food and gorgeous cocktails.

After brunch, we headed back to our hotel for a little bridal shower. My Maid of Honor, Tina, did such a fantastic job putting together decorations and games and even got Rob to answer some questions in a really cute video for us to watch. And La Crema was nice enough to provide us with some of their new Pinot Gris for the party!

We usually drink their Chardonnay at home, but the Pinot Gris is just perfect for a girls' weekend away--first of all (and kind of a silly thing to point out, but whatever), the bottles have screw tops instead of traditional corks, which makes opening them up in a hotel room that much easier. And it's just a great "oh my God, spring is almost here" wine. (You can read more about it here). Tina also put out grapes, gluten-free crackers, cheese, and chocolate-covered strawberries and we all had the best time together.

My mom even came for brunch and the shower! She brought her friend Linda (my friend Patrick's mother) and a homemade veil and fake bouquet. After the party, we explored Georgetown a bit more before getting ready for a fabulous girls' dinner at Del Campo. It was exactly what I had in mind for my bachelorette weekend, and I miss everyone so much already.

This post is sponsored by La Crema. Thank you for your support as I continue to work with such wonderful brands. Visit their blog today--I'm sharing a simple DIY for the party favors I gave out this weekend!

After shooting in that field at pretty much the perfect time of day, we ventured over to Hampden-Sydney to finish up our engagement session with Ashley of V.A. Photography. It's hard to believe that five years ago at the end of October, I would walk into a Halloween party with my roommates and meet Rob. Time has really flown by.

Hampden-Sydney is so many things to us--the place where Rob studied and made life-long friends, my running destination (I'd run the six miles down Back Hampden-Sydney Road and stop at Rob's dorm, where he'd give me a Gatorade and we'd talk before driving me back), our weekend hang-out and our long-distance relationship training wheels.

Midnight breakfasts, tailgating parties with more chicken wings and oysters than you could ever eat, and cheap beer popping out of every cooler. There were stomach-aches and hangovers and country music, and there were great times with friends and big Sunday brunches in the dining hall at a huge table where we'd all laugh and eat omelets and drink fresh-squeezed juice from that juicer that you had to throw oranges into like a basketball. We stayed up too late and ate too much pizza and it was relatively un-glamorous, but we fell in love and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

  

  

Thank you all so much for letting me share these photos with you over the course of three weeks! 

I am so thrilled with the job that our photographer did. Thank you, Ashley!

In case you missed it: Part 1 | Part 2

(Outfit Details, same as Part 2:

My shirt is from Everlane, my jeans are these ones from Levi's, and my shoes are Converse.

Rob's wearing a tee from Eddie Bauer, J.Crew jeans, and Keds.)