Warning to all my church readers: There may be content that you either don't understand because my family is super weird or may be slightly offensive but that is how my family rolls.
So my amazing sisters came up with the brilliant idea of a girls only weekend in Cleveland. No guys, no kids, no problem I am there. The best part was that we were going to meet there on my birthday which was a Wednesday. Long weekend and my birthday???Does it get any better??? So my mom flew in from OKC and I drove up from Louisville after finding help to keep my kids from being at home alone (thank you forever Suzanne).
After a five hour drive I pull in to find my sisters, mom and several friends (Debby and Natalie are out to get all their childhood friends to move to Cleveland--so far it seems to be working) waiting outside anxiously for me to arrive. Isn't that always the case? We decided that the best course of action would be to eat ourselves silly and stay in that night. Good plan. I kept forgetting it was my birthday (blocking it out actually) and everyone kept reminding me. We watched a cool movie called "Little Miss Sunshine" which convinced me that I need breakaway pants.
Debby lives in this amazing old Craftsman style house. It has all the old built ins with leaded glass, window seat, side sun porch (Annie the doggie loves to survey possible enemy invaders there) and this fabulous front porch that is perfect for sitting. Not just a regular decorative porch that is the norm today but a huge deep porch that you could fit tons of people on. Every morning we would troop out there with coffee (Diet Coke for me but I took deep whiffs of the lattes) and sit there for hours going "What do you want to do today? I dunno what do you want to do?" Old porches are just like that. You lose track of time and that is just fine.
Anyways we went with Natalie to buy a new car and she, Genny and Debby were a wonder to behold with the dealer. He had no chance. They have this routine down where they completely play off each other and act goofy. Build up his ego, etc, etc. By the time we left I think basically Natalie got the car for some ridiculously low price and the guy was under his desk crying and yelling "Not the face, not the face!!!!" The finance manager was next to him. It was a wonder to see.
I think that night we went out to dinner where we found out that apparently the Grinch has a key party which is why Whoville is such a happy place. Debby, Natalie, my mom and I were laughing so hard that the rest of the restaurant was hoping we would choke.
I was also introduced to a fabulous new game called Set. During the game Debby I discovered that we were very awesome and even came up with a cool hand movement (movement NOT gesture) to prove it. Debby had an unfair advantage because she kept calling attention to her rack and distracting us from the game. (We get really weird when our family is together. For example we have a Christmas snake that holds a more prominent position on the tree than the angel--told you.) Stacy Long lives close by and Ginny Meyers lives upstairs so they got to be part of the weirdness but they are equally as strange so they always fit right in.
Natalie is about the most talented person I have ever known but that is a whole other (long) post. She used her amazing talents in the kitchen to make the most delicious cupcakes evah. She and my mom also made the infamous family no-bake cookies. I was going to swan dive into them but Debby distracted me with her rack again and ate some.
While I was there we went to a museum at Case Western Reserve University where Natalie works. There was some really amazing things there. I got to see a Faberge egg for the first time ever. I LOVE Russian history especially the last ruling family so that was very neat.
We also weeded Debby's garden which is no small feat since she lives on a corner lot. Apparently this had not been done in about 10 years (according to several neighbors who were amazed at the change) but it didn't even take an hour with all of us doing it. Why is it so much easier to do those things at someone else's house? It looked great.
On the last night we went to the West Side market. People if you have ever been to a farmers market picture it 100 times bigger and in two historic train stations. On top of that they have anything you would ever want to buy: meats, spices, tea, milk, all dairy, cakes, pies, any pastry you can imagine. Some of the families have had their permanent booths there for decades AND it is year round. If I listed everything I would sit here all day but suffice to say if you are looking for it they have it. We bought $40 worth of desserts and made a rule that no one was leaving the table until someone got sick. So no one actually got sick but we all came close. It was great.
I have also learned to text like a pro (no I don't do it while driving). It was one of the best trips ever. It is definitely an annual event from now on.
My mom is absolutely convinced that we ate paint chips as kids after being locked up with us for four days but she had a great time on the porch. We also never took any pictures which my dad was less than happy about but we were too busy parking our behinds on the porch to bother. I think Stacy took a picture. Oh well.
Thank you so much Debby for allowing us to invade your home and to you and Nat for the idea. I desperately needed it.
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4 comments:
Ok I was laughing out loud like a crazy women through this whole thing, and am now all cry-eyed. My rack misses you desperately.
Love you so much, we'll see you in December. xoxoxo
Debby just go look at your rack in the mirror. It should ease the pain. If not go upstairs and stick a hair up Ginny's nose.
Listen, while I appreciate your creativity in waking your loved ones, I still have nightmares about you waking me that way.
I NEVAH did that to you. That was a cool trick I discovered to get Reece up. You should try it with Noodle. Does Annie still love Mummy or is she over it since Mummy abandoned her?
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