RILEY’S LAST ROMP

Riley’s Last Romp| July 22-24 | Santa Ynez

I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing bachelorette party weekend. I seriously feel so blessed and so lucky to have such a wonderful group of girl friends who were willing to fly across the world, travel across state lines, and carpool up to Santa Ynez wine country to celebrate me and my upcoming nuptials. My bachelorette weekend was a dream come true complete with flower crowns, wine tasting, pool parties, lingerie games, mimosa bars, delicious dinners and dancing!

Everyone knows that I am the girl who has been DREAMING of my wedding day since I was a little girl, I mean let’s be honest, I’ve been dreaming of meeting the LOVE OF MY LIFE and wearing WHITE since I was in the womb. I am 32 years old, and there were times over the last 3 decades when I thought it would NEVER be ‘my turn.’ I was the girl who dreamed of romance, and wanted a true love, but never had either. Don’t get me wrong, I had boyfriends and went on more dates than I care to remember, but nothing ever stuck. I remember thinking that not having the high-school sweetheart, or a college sweetheart or a mid-twenties sweetheart meant that my life was not as FULL or complete as it was suppose to be… but what I came to realize that not being tied down with boyfriends allowed me to cultivate amazing friendships that have stood the test of time and distance. What I was lacking in true love, I made up for in SOULMATES.

My girlfriends are my soulmates. They have seen me through my childhood years, my awkward teen years, the striped dye-job years, the apple green contact years, my quasi-athletic years, my college years, my singing years, my bad dating years, my adventure years, my graphic design years, my professional years, my surf industry years, my growing years, my photography years, my jumping years, and the years when I finally found my true love.  These girls have cried with me, celebrated me, challenged me, honored me, loved me, and supported me through it all. I feel SO lucky to have friends who have known me since I was a snot-nosed freckle face in pigtails, and are STILL my friends. There wasn’t a single girl at my bachelorette party that I have known for less than 8 years. How incredible is that?? I have been finding my soulmates for the last 32 years and they ALL came together to celebrate me this past weekend. These soulmates of mine, from different walks and paths and journeys all came together and melted into one.. It was the best weekend of my life.

I can’t even begin to explain how overwhelmed with happiness, joy and love I felt. I can’t thank my friends enough for ALL of the hard work, time, energy and money that they put into creating this perfect weekend just for me. I especially want to thank my maid of Honor, Kelly Pierce and bridesmaid Rachael Hill for making my bachelorette dreams come true!

YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. THANK YOU, SOULMATES.