Oh me, Oh my…where do I even begin to describe the laughter, chats, and fun time that was had at my GIRLS WEEKEND with 7 of my best friends?!
As expected, it is very difficult to get 8 women together (7 of us were roommates at Miami, and Courtney is our honorary roomie), especially when there are 6 children, 5 husbands, and graduate school involved. HOWEVER – we managed to do it this year in Indy, as it was halfway for 5 of us from Chicago, and 3 from Columbus, OH.
From pumping parties (4 of us are nursing babies, which required 4 pumps and a rented refrigerator - “I’m so worried about spoilage,” Tracy – it was quite the scene) and used toiletries to a fabulous dinner in a private room at Harry & Izzy’s (I still say that was Ryan Diem…) overlooking Lucas Oil, it was FABULOUS!
We started the weekend off at The Conrad (home to the smallest double beds ever…it was wonderful spooning!) as our home base and ventured downstairs to Tastings – a really cool wine bar downstairs. I forgot how much I miss getting ready to go out with other girls – switching outfits, exchanging accessories, shoes, drinking, making fun of each other…we had a blast. The wine was flowing, the flatbread was scrumptious – the coolest things about our circle of friends is that it doesn’t matter how long we have been apart (for instance, Kristie just moved back to Chicago from San Diego for 6 years?), we fall RIGHT BACK INTO PLACE when we are all together! And it doesn’t seem like any of us have changed our personalities – we all fit into our “roles” so well and it JUST WORKS!
Krista (my college roommate and sleeping partner) – workin’ the whites at Tastings
Can we have one of everything? Cozzi ---
Okay, or maybe TWO of everything
Cheers!
pretty girls!
Tracy taking her phone case off since “Jenna isn’t here to destroy it – Mom’s night out!”
After some good wine, we moved on to Howl @ the Moon, a favorite of ours from our college days near Cincinnati. It was pretty good people watching, dancing, and we forgot how TERRIBLE it is to smoke in bars? Seriously, Indiana? How is that still legal? F MINUS. We were all excited to get a “walking taco” (uh, genius) on the way home, but ended up passing it by and ordered Hot Box Pizza (yes, that was the actual name) back at The Conrad along with the worst wine ever pressed from our favorite town, Troy, OH (sorry, Trace – the strawberry donuts would have been a bigger hit). Another pumping party and 2 Tylenol each later, we were spooning like old times in our tiny double beds…
Krista’s face is priceless…
Jane hasn’t changed a bit…
After a night of 4 hours of sleep and the WORST feeling of being parched EVER (i literally woke up and was licking my 1/4 full glass of sprite for a drink) it was time for the SPA! Kate and I enjoyed a prenatal massage and facial and then met the others over at the nail salon. It was Lincoln Park After Dark for most (we are nerdy like that and try to be trendy…:-) ) followed by lunch at Palominos (REALLY YUMMY!). Jane enjoyed a leisurely 3 hour soak in the tub with above said wine (she never gets to relax, we were so happy for her – she is a work-at-home mom and is always GO GO GO!) and the rest of us took nice long naps with Jersey Shore (GTL!) in the background…just like the college days, except for it was Friends re-runs on TV.
We got all dolled up and hit the town again, this time starting at Harry & Izzy’s for dinner. I was SUPER EXCITED when we walked in and thought we saw Ryan Diem. Turns out it was just some other big football-player looking guy, but I am still telling everyone that it was Ryan Diem. :-) I was also uber-geeked, as they placed us in the same private room that Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane dined in the last time we were there! Ahhh!!! Dinner was A.MAZ.ING – I had my usual fave, short ribs, and they had Fried Green Tomatoes! I could have gone to heaven right then! The dirty martinis were possibly the best (and most expensive at $17.25 each!) that I have ever had…needless to say, we only had one!
the “dirty” girls!
heaven on a plate
Gotta support my guys!
After dinner, we asked around the “locals” for somewhere to go and someone recommended “Coaches.” Well, Coaches was a BUZZ KILL. Some of us were starting to get tired (boring!), but we headed next door to an Irish Bar for about another hour. Then – I personally just decided that I was calling it a night. It was a boring mom-move, but I was really looking forward to a straight 9 hours of sleep and that looked better to me than my Miller Lite at the time…a few of the girls stayed out and ventured to The Wild Beaver Saloon, which they said was an interesting experience in itself…
Shower time! We were also celebrating our dear friend Kate (and one of my other college roommates from sophomore year on) and Baby Glanz to arrive on Christmas Eve! We had a Holiday-themed shower at Cafe Patachou on Sunday morning and it was so fun and nice to shower Kate with lots of love and goodies. Kate is such a loving, kind, and fun person – she and her husband Darren will be amazing parents and we can’t wait for the big day!
Whew – that was a long re-cap, but i wanted to record the great details of our trip since they don’t happen that often. Many more laughs were had (we were seriously thinking of re-kindling our “quote board” from college), stories told, and memories made. We are all pretty talkative, so every time we get together it is basically one loud conversation, everyone just talking over each other… :-)
I love all of my girlfriends so much – next year will be our 10 year Miami Reunion where we get to STAY IN THE DORMS and hopefully be joined by the few missing MU roomies! Can’t wait for more fun memories then!
