Meet My Wing Women

A little surprise showed up in mailbox today. And I am more than thrilled. My two beautiful MOHs put together a little par-tay for yours truly. I've been looking forward to celebrating with my closest female friends and family for some time. The sweetly handwritten invitations say "Join us for light lunch, dessert, and cocktails." And, it's at my parent's house (where I grew up). 

After getting this, I realized I've talked on and on and on about the dresses that will adorn my beautiful bridesmaids, but I have yet to introduce you to them. When choosing my bridesmaids--I will have five by the way--I decided to go with friends who I've known for years, who have been close to me during significant points in my life, and who felt like natural choices. None of my bridesmaids live in Santa Fe. In fact, the closest are a six hour drive or an hour-and-a-half flight away. Not to mention they are completely spread out from each other (LA; Boulder, Colorado; New York City; and Upstate New York). There are numerous other friends I'd make bridesmaids if I could, but I had to put a cap on it somewhere.

First, I'd like to introduce you to my two (yes, two) maids-of-honor. We'll call them MOH J and MOH A. I've known MOH J since we were little 14-year-olds out on the soccer field in Los Angeles. My junior year of high school, I transferred to her school and we randomly had lockers next to each other. We spent our senior year of high school stalking a young, handsome, male celebrity who lived across the street from me. We've been best friends ever since. During my junior year of college, I transferred colleges and ended up in Boston with her, too. I met MOH A my junior year of high school in chemistry class. MOH A and MOH J were already friends. MOH A and I were lab partners and quickly became good friends. We both have parents that are psychologists so, subconsciously, I think we relate to people in a similar way. Senior year, we attempted to learn a song on guitar together for the senior talent show, only to fail miserably. But, we got to have private lessons from a very handsome young lad. The three of us have been tight for years. Both ladies currently reside in Los Angeles.

MOH J

MOH A and her puggle, Jackson

Next, Bridesmaid Georgia* (*this is a nickname)
I met Georgia in line at JFK airport in New York during my junior year of college. Where were we headed? Florence, Italy, for a semester abroad. How many people did each of us know going into it? A whopping zero. Thanks to my family's chatty ways, Georgia made fast friends with my grandmother and mom and soon we were introduced. We spent the semester hopping all over Western Europe together and bonding over snowboard trips to Switzerland and Austria, during which we partied with pirates and fended off butt-pinches from drunken Italian men. We've stayed friends after our semester and visited each other in our respective cities--Georgia in Boulder. I even spent a snow-filled Thanksgiving/birthday at Georgia's parent's house in Maine where we hot-tubbed under the falling snow and drank champagne.

Bridesmaid Georgia (looking at camera)

Next up: Bridesmaid FSIL
Bridesmaid FSIL is Mr. Cowboy Boot's step-sister and the person I most look forward to seeing when we head back east to visit his family. She put together the decorations for our engagement party (which were gorgeous!!!!) and is game for pretty much anything! Not to mention, she's a seriously good cook. Even though Bridesmaid FSIL lives in Albany, NY, we've spent a reasonable amount of time together during visits, work trips, and holidays. We've even giggled over an episode of Rock of Love Bus together. To her right is Junior Bridesmaid A (we'll call her JBA for short). She's is Mr. Cowboy Boot's niece. She'll be 10 at the wedding and will be arriving by train with her grandfather (Mr. CB's dad) after a cross-country trip. Now, that's a bonding experience I wish I had when I was little.

Bridesmaid FSIL and JBA

And last, but certainly not least, Bridesmaid AC.
I met AC in British Literature (our teacher was half Greek/half Australian, wtf?) at Emerson College. I can't remember our first date, but we had so much fun in Boston together--heading to Manchester-By-The-Sea on the weekends and to Montreal in the bitter cold of February! Besides constantly being asked if we are sisters (I wish!), we are extremely similar--we love to chill out when we're tired, party it up if the mood is right, and be in the mountains skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and camping. The only dissimilarity we have is that I can't speak a lick of French. Oh, and she's got a good five inches on me.

Bridesmaid AC

I am more than thrilled that these girls will be standing by me on the big day. They've already been uber-supportive (dealing with my dress schizophrenia) and lovely to this day.

How did you pick your bridesmaids?