"I know I promised you a badass gift, but they couldn't sell alcohol on Sundays!"

So, forty-eight hours of work down, 952 hours to go. Totally do-able. Temp jobs are awesome like that.

This weekend was amazing. I went with my group of best friends (the title of this post was something one of them told her boyfriend on our way home) on a trip for a "Bachelorette Weekend" for a friend who is getting married soon. We brought her awesome little boy with us as well since after all he's getting "married" to the guy, too! We rented a gorgeous cabin near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is full of all kinds of fun things for both adults and kids. I highly recommend it to anyone. The little guy and I quickly became best friends for the duration of the trip after I helped him dismantle his Lego firetruck, then he reminded me that the fireman would become a zombie if we took him apart, so we did that too. Did I mention that this kid is awesome? He held my hand throughout a good portion of the trip, all through town and during all the activities we did. One of the girls compared us to "Rob & Big," or at least the theme song. I saw her point. Little dude was all energetic and silly and hilarious, dragging me into all sorts of interesting situations (sure, I'd love to crawl through this secret tunnel, who cares about claustrophobia?! And please show me everything in the gift shop one more time, I'm pretty sure I missed it all the first time around!), and I was right there having fun and making sure he didn't hurt himself. I don't think I would've had it any other way! The trip just wouldn't have been the same without him.

I also experienced some warm/tingly feelings at sleeping (or at least trying to sleep) in a house full of people, which I really haven't experienced since I left home. I grew up in a big family, so I got used to trying to get to sleep (or to stay asleep) when I could clearly hear everyone else breathing, snoring, tossing and turning in their sleep, and especially the morning noises: showers running, toilets flushing, refrigerator doors opening and closing, coffee being made, quiet conversations, people moving around while trying to be quiet... Now that it's just me, the hubby, and the pets, and especially now that the hubby and I work different hours, I don't get that experience so much. I have always been a light sleeper, but I'm really stubborn about getting up. So this weekend I smiled (but stubbornly kept my eyes closed, willing myself to/back to sleep) at the noisiness of it all, enjoying the feeling that this too is my family.

I love spending time with the girls. We are all so different, and are in all kinds of different places in life, but somehow it just works. And I love the way it works. We can just talk and joke around for hours, and in instances like this we easily keep it up for days. There's so much history to remember, and every get together brings new things we can build on in the future. The inside jokes and the stories and those little moments of hilarity and depth and all those other things that stem from the happiness, familiarity, and comfort in a satisfying, long-running friendship. We've dealt with some major issues, and we've laughed at and with each other. Hard. The best times are of course the times when someone says or does something... and all I have to do is look at whoever else is around to know that they are thinking the same thing I am: "Wow. Did that just happen?" And then we start cracking up, because my group is definitely capable of saying and doing totally idiotic things on a regular basis. It's those things that you can't explain to anyone else, because they weren't there, and they are probably sane. It's that comfort with each other that allows you to totally be yourself and know that even when you're getting laughed at for saying something stupid, and stories of years-old exploits are being re-told to the same gales of laughter, you are loved just as much for your mistakes and shortcomings as you are for your particular brand of awesomeness you bring to the group. But I think that's just friendship in general. At least that's my experience of it, and it's wonderful. I've just been especially lucky to have had this group of friends (especially this large of a group) for so long. What's awesome is that we're already tentatively planning the next Bachelorette Weekend for another one of the girls, because she's getting married towards the end of the year. I can't wait to see what that trip brings, and all the stuff in between!