Carrieanne and Rachel visit

We had a busy few days -lots to do, not enough time. We were exhausted. They arrived on time last Wednesday. The idea of the trip was to do 1) shop for wedding dresses and 2) have our family Christmas break. The pics we took are below - check them out, they're pretty cool.

12-3-08 Carrieanne and Rachel Visit

The first day the girls joined us at the gym and had an hour's session with Billy our trainer. Ready for Rachel's wedding next year we're all trying to get in shape. They have both joined a gym so we thought it'd be pretty cool to give them a couple of lessons on how to strength train correctly. I think they had a great time, although both were pretty sore after each session. We had a bit of drama with Billy on Saturday which resulted in Rachel not getting her second hour, but I'll write about that in a separate post.

Trev had to work Thursday/Friday so the girls and I started our Thursday well with a massage each with my fabulous masseuse, Cici. Having all had our butt cheeks knelt on we were all relaxed and then headed into ChinaTown for a Dim Sum lunch. We did that, then while I headed back home to go to the physio, the girls went fake bag shopping with Carrieanne getting a Coach knockoff cheap. They then did Central Park, Rockerfella etc. That evening we ate locally then spent several hours drinking cocktails and playing Rockband. We couldn't get the mike to work, but the guitars and drums worked great. Trev and I went to bed and the girls continued to play - that was such fun.

Next day was the wedding dress shop. Our first stop was Kleinfelds - and I have to tell you, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. It put us in a really grumpy mood. For those that don't know this shop is the biggest wedding dress shop in the world..... so, we're kept waiting for ages along with other families. You're then given a consultant where they help you choose dresses. Except our woman was crap. She walked into the reception, Rachel leans over and says "I hope that's not ours...". No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she walked over and introduced herself as Camille. Now...this is where I have to set the scene. She had black hair in a harsh pony tail, lots of make up, the worst of which was dark brown lip liner about quarter inch away from the edge of her lips. It looked HYSTERICAL. You couldn't help but stare. Apparently people look for dresses that are up to $20k....and that's not our budget. We never even got to talk around the floor. She shuffled us into the back and basically said - go and pick what you want and we'll try them on. Now....correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the consultant help you understand what you look good in? It didn't happen quite like that. Anyway, we got all grumpy and miserable and left.

We found out later that apparently she's famous. We had no idea at all. There's a show on the TLC channel called "Say yes to the dress". Check the link out. http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/say-yes-dress/expert-bios.html. Look here for Camille.....and you'll get the idea. It was awful.

We got rid of that and went to eat to cheer ourselves up. Next we went to a smaller place that was much nicer and then finally to Macy's. Suffice to say that while we found some nice dresses we all agreed that the dress she tried on in England was the best and the most flattering.

After that we took the subway to Soho and then hung out in a bar. Later in the evening we then headed back to midtown and went to fantastic 80s bar called the Joshua Tree. We had a blast - lots of drinks, some weird ass guys who tried to crash the party.

Saturday we worked out and then headed into Times Square, had a beer and came home. By this time we were all exhausted. Carrieanne was desperate to sleep, Trev wanted a nap, Rachel and I wanted to stop off for a cocktail. We were due at our neighbours around 10pm, so what we didn't want to do was go home and sit down because then we not want to go out. So Rachel and I had some cocktails and then walked home ready to go to our neighbours. When we got home, Carrieanne had gone to bed (even though she'd promised she wouldn't). Anyway.....Trev, Rach and I headed down to Nick and Jackie's where a party was in full swing with lots of karaoke. So, we joined in....after more cocktails Jackie decided that the best thing that we needed to do was wake Carrieanne up. Now, we all looked at her and said "knock yourself out" because we know what she's like. She was NOT a happy bunny at all....you can't see much from the single pic I took, but it was pretty funny. What was not so funny was that when we finally went to bed around 1.30am Carrieanne had locked us all out of the bedroom. Then I had to witness Trev and Rach try and pick the lock of the bedroom door. That was pretty funny too.

Sunday we relaxed....and did nothing other than eat brunch. Phew! And we're done. All I can say is that I went back to work for a rest.