Girls' Weekend Part 1

Over the weekend I attended my family's annual "Girls' Weekend."  It was so much fun!  So much fun!  Honestly, I'm not sure that it really matters what we do when we get together, just being together makes it fun.  Having said that though, we did some really fun things that I wanted to share, so, I am going to take a few posts to tell you about the fun things we did (and made) and the yummy food that we ate.  

The cast of characters:

Mom-  The organizer of this yearly event, and this year, our gracious hostess.  The steady metronome of the family.  Asked each of us to bring a favorite thing to share with everybody and to come prepared to teach something (more to come on this).
 
Amber- My adorable sister-in-law, mother of toddler twins (plus three other cute kiddies), and foodie extraordinaire.

Marci- My sister, currently expecting her third baby, nevertheless, the strongest woman that I know (oh, and the funniest, too).

Kari-  That's me. :)

How it all started:

First, we met at Massage Envy for massages (thanks to my generous sister-in-law Kathy, who we missed so much).  I should mention here that I've never gotten a massage before, and I was a little nervous.  (Okay, maybe more than a little). 

My massage therapist, (what was her name...Amanda? Samantha? I really can't remember) took me back to the room and instructed me to get undressed "to my comfort level" and then quietly shut the door behind her.  I stood alone, fidgeting in the middle of the dimly lit room, unsure what "my comfort level" was.  As I haltingly undressed, I was unexpectedly seized by an attack of nervous giggles.  Luckily, Samantha (or was it Cassandra?) took her time coming back and by the time she returned, not only was I securely covered beneath the sheet but I had also regained my composure.

Two things I learned about massages:

#1- They really are very relaxing.  (I know this seems obvious to most people, but for me, it came as a nice surprise.)

#2- Massage therapists are magicians with those sheets.  What's-her-name did an amazing job of keeping me covered up.  I was surprised by all of the ways she could manipulate the sheet in order to expose the area she was working on and not anywhere else.  This helped me feel much more comfortable.

These massages were such a nice luxury (thanks Kathy!) and a great way to start our weekend together!

Favorite things:

As previously mentioned, Mom asked us each to bring one of our favorite things to share.  This was so fun!  It gave us a chance to get to know each other a little better and to share something that we love best with the people that we love best.

I brought my favorite lotion from Bath and Body Works for everybody.  All of their scents are luscious but my favorite?  Twilight Woods.  Yummmmy!

Amber brought us each spring flowers (namely daffodils), Utah Truffles (orange flavored) and a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine!   

I would have posted a picture of the chocolate but it is long gone!

Marci brought delicious scented pine cones and these awesome (and huge) Guittard chocolate chips!

 

And Mom gave us these beautiful handmade scarves, made to benefit one of her favorite charities, Mother's Without Borders.

By this time our Girls' Weekend was starting to feel like Christmas!

The rest of the weekend I'll split into the following categories, each with their own post.

Kari's class
Marci's class

Amber's class

Mom's class

Recipes

I am so excited to share things that we learned and the great food that we ate.  So, stay tuned!