Girls Weekend in Revue

Last week, my friends Jamie & Imee came for a visit. It was so fun to show them how much my life has changed since they were last here for my wedding! We have a house, a baby, two nieces, and a little more time to do some things around town. Kate was a little bit off her feed, but doing so many activities in such a short period of time is bound to tax a little girl! She still managed to completely charm my friends, though. :-) Enjoy our weekend vicariously!

We went for some exercise to Little Mulberry Park in Dacula. It is such a great park. I haven't walked the loop since before Kate was born. I think I need to do a few more circuits so that I can fit into some of my school clothes.


Becky came down for a visit with the girls and a quick visit with Jen & baby Lauren.



One night we got to go out on the town with just the girls. I haven't had that much fun in awhile! We got to Jillian's around 10 o'clock and partied until 12. I was reliving life BEFORE. I didn't have to worry about Kate because she had already had her last meal of the day and was down to sleep. That was very freeing. We had fun playing arcade games and being a bit silly. I got a good workout on the boxing & cop games. (Shh, I was even sore for the next two days). Virtual boxing required actual squats -- lots of them and right in a row. You know, bobbing and weaving. I was pretty good, but I got tired and gave up the gloves. We also raced, played air hockey, ski ball, and basketball.

Before we left, the Baileys had a bit of a photo shoot.



Jamie beat her nemesis, Marvin somebody. She has a great idea that gymns need to have these games. That way people would get sucked into exercising by the pure competetiveness of the boxing (without actually punching someone in the face).


Imee won in our race through Osaka, Japan.


The light in the photo booth was just right for a crazy "take-your-own-picture" shot.


We bought some Hot Tamales with our winnings.


The next day we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was very cool albeit crowded. We did go on a weekday, but I spose we were experiencing summer crowds. We weren't prevented from seeing anything that we wanted to see, it just took a bit of maneuvering with the stroller for a good line of sight. We bought timed tickets, but weren't able to quite get there by the time on our ticket -- thankfully, that wasn't a problem at all.


There were several opportunities to experience the wildlife up close and personal. These penguins were QUITE friendly.


Kate was a real sweetheart at the aquarium. She loved the borrowed umbrella stroller. She even took a little nap in it. She really loved the aquarium. The proximity of sea creatures, the lights and a smooth movements of the swimming fish were right up her alley.

My new favorite creature is the Beluga whale. Really friendly and kind of adorable in an oversized, white, lumpy versions of a dolphin.


Her cute little shoes were not only adorable accessories but fun, little toys!





My second favorite thing, beside the beautiful Beluga whales, was the enormous aquarium window! I could have watched that window forever. No picture could convey the scope of it -- it was REALLY enormous.

I'm so glad my friends came -- and we managed to cram a lot into six days -- including baby Lauren's arrival and a few afternoons babysitting Lydia. All of the above pictures were donated by my friends as my dig. was kidnapped at church. I do have some pictures on my film camera, but those will take awhile to develop.

Josh, Kate, and I leave on Wednesday for a ten-day vacation in Minnesota. We definitely need it at this point. I have only two days (Monday & Tuesday) to reset the household and pack and GO! I have left you all with a mammoth post because my next one won't be for awhile. :-)

Best Friends Forever?

When I entered the mini-hallways of Alvarez Elementary as a first grader, I was already behind the curve. I had attended kindergarten elsewhere, and consequently was assigned my future best friend as a guide. She let me follow her around the kid-sized classrooms, bathrooms, halls, and right into her life. We did everything together at school, and I tried to spend as many hours playing Barbie or My Little Pony at Sandra's house as I could. A friendship that would last forever, or at least until the end of the fifth grade.
But, three years later I came abruptly face to face with the fact that friendships don't always last forever. The last day of school, I sat sweating under the covered basketball courts. Sandra walked up to me and declared the end of our relationship. No explanation given, no closure for a nine-year old.
I still have not grown accustomed to the fact that some friendships are seasonal. I have accrued long lists of high school friends, college friends, camp friends, and Sylvan friends. And each time, the transition period has been difficult for me. This is not to say that I am perfect at keeping up or calling or mailing. Even as I participate in the slow unraveling (or quick) of the friendship, I am sad.
However, it has been wonderful to know and experience several friendships which I hope will be life-long. In fact, two of my childhood friends are coming to visit this week. Our friendship remained unscathed during college and singlehood, as frequent trips back home made for wonderful reunions. These days, we have tried to make a point of seeing each other once a year for a Girl's Weekend -- just to make sure our friendship doesn't go into retirement.

Reunion of Las Chicas

I JUST DID IT!
Late Saturday night, one week before I arrived in Houston, I got an e'mail from FareWatcher on Travelocity saying that the prices to Houston, TX had dropped $130. Unbelievably, I was able to carpe the deium and buy the tickets that night. It was so great to be able to hang out with my old high school buddies. We're really more than that, but that's the quick way to describe us. Imee and I have known each other since babyhood, and Jamie and I have known each other since we were both 10 (or is it 11). I remember standing on the driveway of their new home, waiting for them to pull in. We were the welcoming committee. Or, maybe dad had the keys. I'm not really sure why we were there. Much of the weekend included reminiscing -- but there was some good old fashion fun mixed in there, along with serious talk -- catching up. We almost convinced Jamie to get her hair cut. I mean, we almost supported Jamie so much that she decided to get her hair cut. :-) Let us know if you do, James!

DEBUT
Jamie and I arrived on Saturday just in time for Imee's big coming out party. She was coming out of her Mary Kay closet. :-) We had a great time hanging out with girls and getting facials. It sounds really pathetic, but it was somewhat informative. We even tried some Microdermabrasion treatment, and I must say that it worked. Well, after all of that girl stuff, we were hungry, so we got the closest thing we could to a Valley botana -- I don't even remeber what the restaurant called it. It was grilled ribs, fajita, chicken, and shrimp on a skillet with delicious charro beans, rice, and tortillas to accompany. Let me say that this vacation lived up to my culinary hopes. I ate great the whole time -- especially when Imee made us yummy tacos de la casa Villareal. Other fine food included Cafe Express, and my new restaurant that I should go to more often -- The Cheesecake Factory. The name is just a cruel irony -- but the Luau salad I had there on Monday for lunch was fenom! Well, I hope you all enjoy the highlights of my great weekend con las chicas.

THE TOUR
On Sunday, we took a little tour of Imee's town, The Woodlands. It's referred to as a Master Plan Community. Once you get over the quasi cultish feel to that title, the concept is quite interesting. From the inception of the town, they planned which types of businesses would be in each spot, from gas stations to churches to neighborhoods. They even planned for the ever popular intermingling of low income families with 1/4 million dollar homes. So, this produces a situation where Imee's church is right across the street from her apartment, which is right across the street from her high school. The neatest thing about their town was the downtown area called Market Street. They have a really cute down town area of shops, boutiques, restaurants and a little open space for gatherings -- like a town square (without the town hall). They even have an old fashioned movie theatre that only shows artsy movies. Right across the street is the real mall, which also sports an outdoor shopping area (akin to Mall of GA where Barnes & Noble, etc. is, only COOLER.) We spent a very relaxing Sunday afternoon just strolling through Market Street. The picture with the magnificent fountain is Imee's church. I love their idea of interior design (or should I say exterior desing). The two 'side' walls of the sanctuary are made of glass, and on both sides one can view these enormous fountains. Really interesting approach! That's really the way to maximize your landscaping.



FIESTA!
Since our weekend fell in between Jamie's birthday and my own, we had a little bit of birthday fun! There were birthday meals, birthday cookies, birthday seafood, birthday scarfs, and my birthday present from Jamie. Her thoughtfulness was completely touching!

HARWIN DRIVE

Monday morning, 'the girls' woke up desiring to experience something uniquely Houstonian. After weighing our choices (many of which were stricken from the options by the mere fact of it being MONDAY) we decided to visit this charming shopping district by the name of Harwin Drive. We read romantic accounts of it being a sort of Chinese and Indian market in which trendy, chic items could be bought on the cheap, and where bargaining was even acceptable! Well, we finally turned onto Harwin Drive, only to find that I had flown three and a half hours and driven 20 minutes to find myself in the centro of McAllen, only this centro was run by Chinese people. There were U shaped street malls lining both sides of the road offering luggage, shoes, jewelry, etc. We finally saw one mall that looked "safe," so we embarked on our journey. In the end we actually found some real bargains -- a $3 belt scarf and $5 red Valentine shoes.




MOVIE STAR?
By the way, apparently, Jamie is a celebrity in China, so going to a mini-Chinatown in Houston was good for her. How do I know that she is a celeb in China? Last year she visited China with Operation Smiles and while there received a lot of attention from Chinese people with cameras. She was on the front page of the newspaper TWICE mind you. Apparently, her looks are just what chinamen love! Unfortunately, we didn't meet with many Chinese men on our ghetto shopping trip. Well, we did find these men in the shop window. :-)


YUM! YUM!

The night before I left, Phillip and Imee took me to the best seafood restaurant I have ever been to. The atmosphere was fantastic, created in most part by our waiter. Our waiter was officious, but super fantastic. Unfortunately he had absolutely no sense of humor. I remarked on the drama of his dessert presentation, and he practically apologized! However, I have concluded that a waiter with no humor far surpasses the waiter who sits at your table and nudges and giggles like he was one of the party.

GOODBYE!

Not only did Imee have to say goodbye to Jamie and myself, but to her husband, who was taking a little trip to the Valley. Perhaps she will have a chance to relax a little bit. Thursday before last, she and Phillip moved from their townhome to an apartment nearby. Of course, when I arrived at the apartment I expected boxes and boxes of stuff, but there was none to be found. Everything looked lovely. Her pictures were even up!