I'm on my way to Las Vegas this morning! I'm so excited to get there and spend some time with a few of my best girlfriends (we'll miss you, Shawna). Raquel is one of my oldest friends, and I met Caroline in 2006 when we were both freshman at Longwood University. The funnest (is that still not a word or are we all going with it?) part is that all three of us were roommates for most of college--Caroline and I for three years (and Raquel joined us for the last two).

Our plans for the next few days are as follows:

• Drybar champagne + blowouts
• Sparkly dresses
• A limo ride to the Hoover Dam (that's real, we're doing it)
• Britney Spears (NBD...just kidding, VERY BIG DEAL)
• Hot tubbing
• Laughing until we can't breathe or speak

We're bringing our guys along, too; and we rented a big house just off of the strip, so it should be really fun. Feel free to follow along on Snapchat (flynnmd) and Instagram! (Side note: I'm really into Instagram Stories these days.) I'll be back tomorrow with some Friday Favorites for your weekend.

Cheers!

Photo by Carrie Michelle Photography.

We got back from North Carolina this afternoon, but before too much time passes I wanted to share a few snapshots of my friend Paige's baby shower that I helped co-host in Charlotte last month. It was my first trip back since we made the move out west and it was so fun to have my girlfriends together to celebrate Paige's sweet baby boy, who will be making his debut in February!

My friends at Minted were kind enough to supply the invitations for us, and Paige picked out this gorgeous watercolor wreath design that ended up matching her baby shower flower crown perfectly. I love a good flower crown as much as the next girl, but I have seriously never seen anyone pull one off quite as beautifully as Paige did.

It's really good to be home after a long stay for the holidays, but I'm pretty excited to plan a spring visit to kiss that baby! We love you, Paige; and I can't wait to meet you, Baby G!

Last year we spent Memorial Day weekend in South Carolina with our friends Tina and Michael, and this year we were lucky enough to do the same. Both times, Rob and I have come home completely relaxed, well-rested, and sore from laughing for three straight days. This year there were ten of us at the beach house, and it was a weekend packed with sunny mornings on the water followed by rainy afternoons of endless games of cards, homemade piña coladas, bottomless chips and queso from the grocery store, and our beach tradition of a Saturday early bird hibachi dinner at a Japanese steak house, which had us back at the house well before 6 PM for more cards (and queso). 

I really haven't been to the beach with anyone but Tina in some time--I wrote this post in 2014 after her Dewey Beach bachelorette, when my parents were breaking up and I was wondering what family trips might look and feel like after a divorce. I hadn't thought much about trips with friends before that point--maybe because we hadn't done too many of them, but Tina and Michael's house in Richmond has always been a place that felt a lot more like a second home than a place to spend a weekend away, so until we started vacationing together I hadn't really given any of it a second thought. Regardless, it's been such a gift these past few years to get away and relax with some of your favorite people.

I have always been blessed with friends who feel more like family, and multiple times over the past few days--as her husband and mine stood under the porch grilling burgers together or while Tina and I chopped fruit over glasses of wine and reheated cheese dip and wiped down the coffee pot before heading the the beach to catch whatever sun was left in the forecast--I was once again overwhelmed with gratitude for these rituals we've put in place as we've grown up. And I'm already looking forward to the next long weekend.

I hope you had a beautiful holiday, wherever you were.