Hangin' With My Home Girls

This past weekend I headed out to Seven Springs Resort to meet up with some gal pals that I go wayyyy back with...decades back, in fact!  We are all forty (or, will be soon) and we had been planning our "Girls Weekend" since January.  My friends, Cookie Mama (who I met in kindergarten and was my maid of honor), TP Queen, Vanilla J, and Crafty Lady rented a lovely 3-bedroom townhouse with a hot tub that we didn't use and no air conditioning (surprise!).  By the way, names have been changed to protect the innocent.  They all know who they are!

I wasn't sure if I would actually make it to the actual townhouse, since upon exiting the turnpike Friday evening, I drove into a parade taking place in honor of Somerset's 100th birthday (I think).  There is nothing that says adventure like being lost in a town you have never been to before, trying to find an alternate route.  With no GPS or cell phone coverage.  Ironically enough, it reminded of half of my road trips while back in high school.  In a strange twist of fate, TP Queen had been cruising the metropolis of Somerset earlier that day trying to get a tire to replace the flat she got on the way there the day before (and, because she has all- wheel drive, ended up buying four new tires! Happy Birthday to her!).  Since she has been to Seven Springs before to ski and around town tire shopping at Dumbauld's Tire Service (that name, however, was not changed to protect the innocent because we cracked up everytime we said it), she was able to give me some alternate directions in short 20-second segments until my cell phone dropped each call.  By the grace of God, I finally made it.

We had a blast.  I laughed so hard I cried and we stayed up to the wee hours eating cheese, fruit, bruscetta, and most importantly, Cookie Mama's world famous chocolate chip cookies that none of us have ever been able to replicate, even though she has given us the recipe.  She must add magic to them.  Or, opium, because once you start eating them, it is hard to stop.

On our last night we enjoyed a nice dinner out (despite poor Vanilla J not enjoying very much on the overpriced dinner buffet, little did she know that for 1/3 of the price she could have just had soup, salad and dessert so keep that in mind if you ever go there!) and tried to visit the gift shop on the way out.  I had promised #3 a souvenir to let her know I was thinking of her while I was gone and I figured I'd pick up a little cheapo something for all three girls.  The only problem was that the gift shop was closed.  I thought perhaps we could go back to the townhouse and with Crafty Lady's help, make some little trinkets with our recyclables and pinecones (and, maybe even sell the leftovers on Etsy.com to fund next year's Girls Weekend).  We started to look for some tape and then happened upon a large closet filled with ummm.....junk....lost and found items...and basic necessities like rope, rubber gloves and a badminton birdie.  Naturally, that led to a rousing game of Pot Lid, Pan, Baking Sheet Badminton (all the rage in Europe right now) between me and TP Queen while the others cheered us on.  It actually worked out well and brought us partially out of our food coma from dinner. 

In between deep discussions of how to properly store brown sugar and overpriced toliet paper from Sheetz, we talked about our families and the challenges and triumphs we have faced in recent years.  There were so many fun  memories of this weekend, but one thing in particular stands out to me.  We come from all different backgrounds, live in different places, and have very different political views.  None of it mattered.  Conversation flowed, laughter abounded and we could let loose around one another...part of what brought us all together so many decades....ah-hem....years ago! These friends are such a blessing!