My GIRLS!!!

So turns out... most of my girlfriends have already hit the 40 mark, so I'm getting a lot of "congrats" and "welcome to the 40s" greetings. One who I love but have lost touch with in recent years (we each did cross-country moves) recently re-connected by email, and likes the idea I pitched of a girlfriends getaway. I just threw it out there, sort of half-seriously, but when she bit on the idea I thought: that's EXACTLY what I want to do to celebrate 40! So I'm hoping before the year's out you'll find my and my best girlfriends laid out at a spa somewhere laughing and just enjoying the wonderful-ness that only girlfriends can share.

My mom started an annual 'Girlfriends Getaway' when she turned 55 and boy has it taken off! We (yes - I'm one of mom's girlfriends!) have been everywhere from the beach to the mountains. One year we got caught in a blinding snowstorm trying to get up a mountain to the remote cabin where we were staying. (When I say 'remote,' think one-lane road to a dirt road... etc.) We ended up giving up our keys to a mountain guy - who I call my angel - to drive my car up the mountain in the storm!

Then there was the earlier mountain getaway where I had some of the best homemade cheesecake I've ever tasted. And the Myrtle Beach year where we kept wondering why all the Krispy Kreme donuts kept disappearing ('girlfriend' - we know who you are!!!)

My mom's friends are a great group - so diverse in age, lifestyles, geography... but alike in all the things that matter, like faith and family. I've had SO much fun on those trips, and hate that I missed this year's. But now I'm thinking, maybe it's time to start my own tradition with MY girls!

Look out girlfriends - Palm Springs here we come!!!