I forgot about my peace

This whole mover saga caused me to forget the peace and quiet that I came from just a couple days ago.

Shaver Lake...ahhh, see, I'm calming down already.

4 girlfriends, myself, and 2 very sweet and well behaved babies trekked up to Shaver Lake for a night of peace, chatter, junk food, cards, and laughter. One last trip before Dorothy clicks her heels and heads off to Oz.

We started out the trip with a stop at the outlet mall an hour up the road. Banana Republic and Gap were calling our names. From there, with almost every square inch of the car filled with baby stuff, shopping bags, or junk food, we made our way into the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Now, before the peaceful relaxation could begin we had to make it through the winding roads and up a few thousand feet, but then that childhood scent of pine trees hit me. I looked down the mountain into the smoggy valley, and man, was I glad to be up in the trees. We stayed at a friend's cabin, a beautiful, spacious townhouse just outside the town of Shaver Lake.

This trip was also to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday, but later that night when she fell asleep on the couch while we all chattered away, we almost turned it into a 13th birthday party when we threatened to freeze her bra. The funniest part of this story is that our dear friend suspected we would do that, so she HID her bra. There is NO way we are in our 30's!

We stayed up late into the night playing cards and sharing stories and secrets...so we slept in the next morning. Our wonderful gracious hostess got up before the rest of us and cooked us a yummy breakfast...which had to be delayed just a little when the power went off suddenly. In true chick fashion, we took until noon to get ourselves ready, and then the Nertz competition began (think Solitaire on speed, with 5 screaming girls). By 3pm, we were dreading heading home, but knew we had to, so the clean-up began. In record time, we got everything done and prepared to get in the car.

Of course, the usual always happens after a getaway...the junk food was catching up with us, we were sad we had to go home, we were exhausted from staying up WAY too late, and emotions were high for a TON of different reasons. Our car had our hostess, me, another friend and her baby. We got to the bottom of the mountain and stopped for a caffeine hit and to give the baby a break from the car seat...and for some much needed REAL talk between friends.

It's amazing what you can learn new about a friend over a cup of coffee...even after you've been friends for 15+ years. I'm so thankful for my buddies, and life will not be the same when I'm 1500 miles away from them.