A Wicked Treat

Readers of WoodWords know I love a little girls' getaway.  Fun times with best girlfriends is always fabulous!!!  Tracy and I decided to surprise Maren with a night on the town.  We got tickets to Wicked and a hotel room in downtown Dallas.  We cleared everything with Charlie and showed up at her house!  It was awesome!!!

We had a fun dinner....

And, we really enjoyed the show!  Although, times have definitely changed.  We were back in the room watching Saturday Night Live before it was over.  HA!

It was a super quick trip, but really, really fun.  That Sunday was Mother's Day, so I came home to these cuties....

How sweet are they?!?!?  It was a fantastic Mother's Day weekend.

Fun with the Blackburns

My mom and I love hanging with Beth Ann (Bessie) and Lee Ann.  Mom and Lee Ann have been friends for almost 40 years.  Which means Bessie and I have been friends forever… literally!

I'm so thankful that we make an effort to spend some time with them, because they are so darn fun!  We took off for a fun filled weekend in Fredricksburg.  I haven't ever spent any time there.  It was a blast!

Shopping, wine tours, good food and laughter…. what else could you ask for!

Here are some fun pictures from our wine tour! 

Bessie randomly found a tour group called Cellar Rats.  Wow, we loved it!  Our guide was knowledgeable, professional and overall a blast….

And, I have to include this selfie…. this cracks me up!

Laughter is good for the soul!!!!!  I love that we all get along well and can enjoy a fun getaway.  

I'm thankful to Clark for being understanding about girl getaways and to Nanna and Bubba for helping with the kids!

Can't wait for our next adventure with life-long friends!

Raise a Glass to ZTA

To my dear, loyal readers of WoodWords, you've heard this story before.  Every year I get together with my sweet Zeta sisters.  I always come back home and blog about how special our group is and say things like, "when we're together, it's like no time has passed" and "we laughed a LOT" and "nobody has as good of friends as me". Well, it's all still true!!!!

But, this trip was different.  There were TWELVE of us!  Usually we manage to get six or seven.  Something was special about this weekend, because the whole crowd came.  And, it was fun!  It's amazing what we've all been through.  This trip, we got celebrate a new baby boy who will arrive in May.  We heard not fun details about a divorce.  We talked about lost family members.  We talked about all of our sweet kids. We celebrated an upcoming marriage, which is amazingly special considering the divorce she went through.    See, we've been through a lot.  But, we're always together.  No matter time or distance.  That's special.

There was a lot of disbelief that we've all known each other for 19 years.  Amazing.  We all showed up to TCU and decided to go through rush and ended up pledging together.  Obviously, we all made the right choice!

I love this group shot!

Celebrating Baby Smith!

Love this pic of me and Maren!

My parents introduced the art of toasting to our group long ago, so I was the toast nazi all weekend.  And, let me tell you… there were some special ones! (I know I wear everyone out on this, but I do love the toasts.  It's part of what makes us #reallycool!)

We also got a good ego boost…. we were able to make quite a scene when walking into a bar.  WAAM in full effect!

I love all of these girls so much and I'm so thankful that they are in my life.  I LOVE that we all make it a priority to spend time together, and that we get to say, "it's like no time has passed!"

And, just because I want to remember it, Sara, I am publishing your toast:

A toast:
To Deana's radiant smile
To Julie's thoughtfulness
To Amy's gentleness
To Erin's joie de vivre
To Tracy's loyal honesty
To Rachel's gritty strength
To Tinsley's cool factor
To Maren's effervescent laugh
To Ashley's wide-eyed innocence
To Tiffany's positive light
To Kate's quiet grace

To each lovely, amazing sister's steadfast friendship these 19 years.

I love you all.
"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's something unpredictable but in the end that's right"
Girls, I hope we always have the time of our lives. Xoxo

Maren's response to this toast was, "To Sara - who makes us all go back to toast writing school! "

Sara, Ray says he's still waiting on that great American novel!

See what I mean about my friends?  They really are the best!  Can't wait for next year.

Blackburn Reunion

 I'm very fortunate, I got to laugh in Santa Fe.... and, I got to laugh even more this weekend.  We have some wonderful friends from Grand Prairie.... the Blackburns.  I was thinking about it today and I truly don't remember life before them.

Mom and Ray have always been friends with Ed and Lee Ann, therefore I grew up with their kids.  I have so many great memories with Beth Ann (aka Bessie).  LeeLee and Bessie came down to our neck of the woods this weekend.

We had a ball.  Talked a lot and laughed more.  They are truly the most witty and hysterical people I know!  These are the type of friends that even though you haven't seen them in years, it's like no time has passed.

Bessie is an excellent hairdresser.... I wish I lived near her so she could do my hair!  But, the person who got the perks of having Bessie around... Everly!

Check out those french braids!!  Wow, poor E, soon she will realize that Mommy is inadequate at hair. I feel bad for her.  Hopefully I will get better.

Anyway, Everly loved Bessie and got a big kick out of getting her hair done!

Such cuties!

And, just cause this is fun.... we were trying to get a good picture of the four of us and someone else wanted in....

I do have to brag on my sweet babes... They were so good all weekend.  Really, really good.  They went shopping and to lunch with us and were great.  It's amazing how old they feel.  We don't have babies anymore!

It really was a wonderful weekend.  The best part... we're already planning our next event.... this time with the husbands.  I can't wait!

Santa Fe FUN!

I've said it before and I'm not sure people believe me.... Traveling with my mom and Linda (aka the Midget... this is not a negative name, it's just what we call her!) is more than you can imagine.  We drink champagne, talk and laugh a lot.  It really is great fun.  We went to Santa Fe together almost 10 years ago, then we took an epic trip to Europe almost eight years ago.  Good times.

So, we were in need of another "Goates" trip.  Goates was the maiden name of mom and Linda's mothers.

Santa Fe is the perfect spot for us.  It's beautiful, there's good shopping, great spas and lots of champagne.

CHEERS!

I'm so proud of us for getting some great pics....  Aren't they cute!

This is framer.  Such a wonderful dinner.

My fun mama.

Did I mention that we laughed a lot?

 Finally, I got a pic with the Midget.

Something that makes me sad... the fact that I haven't always blogged!  So, just for fun, I went back to find some of our European vaca pics!

The three of us having high tea at the Savoy in London.

In front of Buckingham Palace.

Double decker bus tour.

And, finally, us in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Like I said, some epic trips and amazing memories!  Love you Mom and Midge!

Take Me to the River

It just wouldn't be June without a post about my annual Zeta girls' trip!  This year we went to Wimberly.  It was great.  We had a connection to a house on the river.    Although, I have to say.... we could be in the desert, snow, or jungle.... all we need is a room to talk!

We did go shopping both Saturday and Sunday, but other than that, we sat on the couch and laughed... a lot.

There's this great app called Heads Up.  Ellen created the game and it is great fun.  I am truly not exaggerating.... we played that game for six or seven hours.  It was an addiction.  And, the more adult beverages we had, the funnier it got!  It was a great time.  There's nothing better than laughing with great friends.

Unfortunately, I didn't end up with many pictures.  I'm shocked that we actually took these two:

I'm so glad we snapped these when we did.... not long after this, a big ole snake swam right in front of us!  Yikes!  But, it was good timing.  We needed to play some more Heads Up!

I'm very thankful that Clark is so supportive of me spending time with my girlfriends.  He took the kids to the farm and I think they had a great time, too!

Can't wait until next year!

Twilight Friends

I am not ashamed to admit it... I LOVE all things Twilight.  Well, most things Twilight.  I can't remember a book or books that I've ever loved so much.  I remember little details that are in the book and I remember little details of what I was doing when I read them (the first time).  I guess it's easy to remember.  I was pregnant with Walker.  Really pregnant.  And, if you don't already know this.... Bella and Edward have a baby in the fourth book.  So, it was little bit of common ground.... considering I'm not a vampire.

Honestly, the one part I don't remember, was actually watching Twilight.  I didn't see it in the theater, but I guess I saw it soon after it came out on DVD.  This was not a great movie.  The acting was bad, the wigs were worse and the makeup was the worst.  But, for the most part, it stuck to the book and made those of us who loved the book, happy.  The same with New Moon.  The best part of this movie.... Jacob's abs.  I saw this one with my Mom and Debra.  Then came Eclipse.  My favorite memory of this one... Everly was due the day it came out.  Thankfully, she came a week earlier, but my friend Stephanie had me prepared.  She made me a door hanger that said, "I'd rather be watching Eclipse" to hang on my hospital doorknob.  I didn't get to use it.  Each movie was better than the last.

Finally, we get to Breaking Dawn.... but, those smart Hollywood people decided to split this book into two movies.  By the time Part 1 came out, I had found my Twilight sisters.  Stephanie, Jessica, Amy, Suzanne and Staci all love Twilight as much as me and have been having Twilight weekends since the beginning.  Thankfully, they invited me into the woman cave.  These girls watch all the movies back to back and analyze them to death. Then we go to see the new one together.  I love it!  It makes the whole experience that much better!!!!!

We celebrated the last movie this weekend.  I know it sounds really stupid, but I'm very sad that the saga is over.  It was so fun looking forward to the movie coming out, because that meant we would go back and start from the beginning again.  Although, the good news.... we will be going back to woman cave, but we'll just watch what we've already seen.

I am very thankful for these friends.  I met them all at Crossroads and it didn't take long to find the Twilight connection.  You gotta love the fact that vampires and werewolves helped bring us together!

I'm already looking forward to the DVD coming out.... that means we'll analyze one more time!

Tinsley's Getting Married!

And, that means Tinsley needs a fantastic bachelorette party!  I'm happy to say.... she got it.  We had a great time in San Antonio this past weekend, celebrating our fabulous friend.

You've heard me talk about the Zeta girls many, many times before.  We've had many bachelorette parties.  A couple in Vegas, one in New Orleans, some in Dallas, some in Fort Worth.  All of them were amazing fun and we have lots of stories from those parties. (although, we can't tell you those stories, or we would have to kill you.)  A common theme at all of them... Tinsley!  She's an awesome friend!

So, it really was great fun to make her the center of attention for an entire day!  We showered her with some nice lingerie, had some drinks, ate some mexican food and then went dancing!  Back in the day we all liked to dance, but it's been awhile.  I think all of us were so excited to be at a dance club, we just kept dancing.  For THREE hours.  Seriously, we had good stamina for a bunch of old ladies! (we also learned that we need to start training for the wedding.  Julie suggested wearing heels all day, every day until December 8th)

Tinsley is the last of our group to get married, so I think all of us are making sure to enjoy all these fun things we do for each other.  I'm so glad I got to be at her bachelorette party and I can't wait for the wedding!  (did I mention it's in Aspen?!?!?)

Here are some fun pictures from our night:

Yep, the Future Mrs. Smith!

CHEERS!

The whole party!

All of us on the dance floor!

Tinsley taking over the dance floor.  Gangnam Style!

Pick Up Where We Left Off

I blog about it every year.  I can't help myself... it's always so fun.  I'm talking about my annual reunion with some of the greatest girls ever, my ZTA girls.

We all met up in Austin and had a really fun weekend.  We drank wine and talked.  Did yoga and talked.  Went to lunch and talked.  Went shopping and talked.  Had a fantastic dinner and talked.  Went for after dinner drinks and talked some more.  You get the point.  We talked... a lot.

It's so fun to get away without our men or our kids and catch up.

Our favorite saying.... "it's like no time has passed."  It's true.  When we get together, it's just like old times!

The best part?  Yes, we talk about all our old, silly stories (and when we are all together, we actually put the pieces together for the full story!) but, we also get to talk about the grown up stuff.  Marriage and kids.... you know, things actual adults talk about!

We started to add up the years and we were shocked to realize that we've been friends for 17 years.  17 years?!?!?  Doesn't seem possible, but it's true.  We've been friends for half our lives.  So cool.

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Julie's new career... yoga instructor!  She taught an awesome class!

I've been friends with Andrea for more like 30 years!  So fun that we grew up together and she's my ZTA friend!

Love hanging with Maren!

Tiff needed her crown and coke.  Some things never change!

I call this one, "We've Still Got It".  He's on the older side, but couldn't resist sitting down at our table to talk to us!

All the girls!

Pedicab!  Such a great way to get around Austin.  

Tiffany, Erin, me Maren, Julie, Tinsley

Okay, had to include this one.  Our waiter who called me "sassy".  After he told me that I had Britney Spears' eyes I decided everyone needs a gay best friend.  It's good for the self esteem.

I must give a shout out to the most fabulous husband and father ever.  Clark is so supportive of me getting to spend time with the girls.  He kept Walker and Everly for the weekend without a single complaint.  I think they had a ball together.  In fact, when I went in to get Everly up from her nap she looked at me funny and asked for daddy.  I don't think any of them missed me a bit!

Can't wait until next year!