Ah, where to start? Last weekend I celebrated by bachelorette party in Daytona Beach, FL. How did we decide on Daytona Beach? Well, Stephen’s grandma (who is more fun and has more energy than probably anyone my age) lives in New Smyrna which is a beach town about 15 minutes away. I like to describe her as the “fun grandma.” You know, like the “fun mom” in Mean Girls, but shes not handing out condoms, just cocktails. Although she did insist we take a photo together of me with a penis straw…LOL. Anyway. We originally thought about New Smyrna but there were limited houses to rent so Daytona Beach it was.

There were 15 of us total, 11 of us which arrived on Thursday night. Not a lot of the girls knew each other, but I’ll go ahead and say that everyone got along so well. I feel like with 15 girls you never really know how things will go, but so many of my friends came up to me independently and said how much they loved everyone. So that was pretty awesome. I’ve picked great friends, what can I say? 😉 Thursday though was pretty relaxed–we just stayed at the house we rented, ordered pizza, and had drinks.

On Friday, a few girls and I went to the beach around 9AM to go workout. Basically the whole trip we just made up HIIT workouts that we could do without weights. Side note, pretty sure we looked pretty hilarious doing the beach workouts. HIIT workouts in the blazing sun and in the sand…it’s a struggle lol. But yeah, afterwards we just had breakfast at the house with everyone and then spent the rest of the day at the beach.

That night we planned on staying in at the house as Missy (aka grandma) was coming over and doing a seafood boil. She is an amazing cook and such a blast to be around, so when she offered to cook a giant dinner for us I was all in. Prior to dinner, my sister Jane (my MOH) and I went to go drop off a rental car and when I got back to the house everything was set up for the evening. When I walked into the house there were giant gold balloons that said “WHOOP IT UP” (Vicky from Real Housewives, anyone?) And actually, they lost the “H” from a fan blade when they were setting up LOL so it just read “WOOP IT UP.” We all agree the H was the best letter to loose though ha. But anyway, there was also a gorgeous cake when I got there that had “Future Wifey” on it. The cake was seriously perfect! Rainbow sprinkles and all. They also had all the favors set up on the table. Part of which were these cute tanks with pineapples and sunglasses that read “Aloha Beaches” and “Aloha Bride.” Upon arrival they also shoved a glass of vodka in my face and made me drink the shot with the giant penis straw lol. I told everyone I wanted limit penis paraphernalia (no inflatable penises, thanks) and they had the perfect amount haha. We all just hung out, Missy made an incredible meal (lobster, shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, rolls, etc). She also made giftbags for each girl which were amazing (so thoughtful too!) Each bag had hand painted wine glasses with either flamingos or fish; the bags also included mini bottles of champagne, artisan soaps, snacks, etc.

After we ate we ended up playing a few games. Everyone divided into teams and we basically played Jeopardy with categories like my “early years”, things about me now, questions about Stephen & my relationship, and then things that I say about Stephen. For those games I obviously didn’t play and just the girls guessed. For the last game, it was things that Stephen said about me, and so I had to guess. Some where, what annoys you most about Claire, what do you love about her the most, or like, every morning when you wake up, your *blank* is on her *blank.* Questions were both eye opening and entertaining 😉

 

Oh, and of course the other big thing about Friday is that Paola (@paosfitworld) came!! We’ve been talking everyday for over a year but have never met, and she flew out from Houston for my bachelorette party! It was so surreal meeting her (pretty sure I was on the verge of tearing up?!) But she was just as adorable and amazing in person as she is via phone and IG. I was just so grateful that she came and loved getting to spend time with her in person!

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the house and the girls surprised me with mimosas, and wait for it…donuts!! They went to this homemade donut shop early that morning and picked up a couple dozen (they really do know the key to my heart!) After breakfast, we then went to the beach. We ended up playing a few games on the beach which ended up being pretty comical. We divided into three teams and each had a “uniform.” Our team had these animal masks which in hindsight may have been slightly terrifying for the children on the beach lol. But the games were things like, take a plastic cup and run into the ocean, fill it up, and run back to handoff to the next team member. Clearly they weren’t the most complicated games haha, but they were fun to break up the day. Plus were are all pretty competitive in the best way, so it was game on 😉

That night I knew we were going out to dinner, but didn’t know where until I got there. We ended up going to this seafood restaurant on the water. I felt like it was a great choice! There was a live band that was playing, which was a nice touch. We hung out on the dock while waiting for a table, and then sat outside on their patio. TBH afterwards, I would have been totally content just going back to the house (I am discovering that I can be SUCH a homebody! Lol). But it was a bachelorette party after all, and I figured most of the girls would want to go out. Plus, I was like, Claire, suck it up. You can go out for a few hours haha. We ended up going to this indoor/outdoor bar and club in Daytona Beach which ended up being really fun! We danced, A LOT. And then around midnight I was ready to go home and sleep hehe. So, I left with about half the girls and the other half stayed out. I was glad that they stayed out and had a good time though–I would never want anyone to feel like they’d have to call it a night because of me!

 

Sunday was basically clean up the house + recovery day. Most of the girls went ahead and flew out that day, but 6 of us stayed behind. The 6 of us drove to Missy’s and basically had one big slumber party there! Once we arrived, Missy took half of us out for some infamous local Bloody Mary’s while the other girls rested up. At night we just ordered pizza, made salads, and just relaxed. It was perfect. The rest of the girls left the next day on Monday, and Julie (@juliesu.fit…another girl who I met on IG several years ago…I love this woman!) and I stayed until Wednesday. Our remaining days consisted of working out, tanning, and eating good food. She, Missy and I had a blast. It was a great last couple days.

Overall, you can probably tell that I’m not a crazy partier. If I had it my way, I’d go out for a nice dinner, have a couple cocktails, hydrate with water, and then go to bed. Guilty. I get that some people may think that I’m boring for wanting to do that, but it’s just what I like! Everyone is different, and that’s okay. I will say that I felt like my bachelorette party was the perfect balance for me. While I’m sure all the girls had some input in the planning, my sister Jane, and my bestie, Nora did a pretty epic job. Everything was literally all I could have asked for!! I will go ahead though and do a blog post soon about how I try to stay balanced while on vacay and my overall mindset and approach. But for now, I hope you guys enjoyed reading up on my bachelorette!