My Weekend was so GOOD!

First, Erika’s right, I am very geriatric. There is no way around it, I’m just going to have to embrace it. My weekend away has completely thrown me for a loop. It’s taken me nearly 5 days to recover. My husband is wondering what has happened to me; I can’t keep my eyes opened past 8:30 pm. But it was so worth a week of geriatric-ness!!

A few months ago Ashley Eiler {bottom right in picture above} emailed me about attending a girls getaway weekend in Birmingham; a weekend away with other moms for fun and R&R! It sounded right up my alley until  I hit the outskirts of Birmingham on Friday evening, which is when I started sweating, panicking, thinking: what on earth am I doing, what if all these women know each other, or worse what if they’re total WEIRDOS from outer space!? But after I had driven 3+ hours to get there I knew there would be no backing out, no turning around, so I put on more deodorant and got out of the car! And… I had NOTHING at all to be worried about! I was greeted by the most precious, fun, hilarious, and sweet Christian women and I’m SO glad I went! {And they didn’t all know each other either! Whew!}

Just fyi: Ashley owns Blessed Be the Name {trunk show} & Favorite Laundry {wholesale} children’s clothing lines and is a sponsor on the side bar but more important than all of that she is a friend and someone I’ve wanted to meet for a LONG time!! 🙂  This was a fun weekend she put together for some of her reps/employees,  her friends, and some of her blog friends… just a group of women that she thought would enjoy being together! She was very right and I’m so glad she included me! She is such a hard worker, her store is amazing, her clothing lines are beautiful, but more important than all of that is her sweet and humble spirit… oh and giving spirit. Wait ’til you see how well she treated us! At some point in the weekend my motherly role kicked in and I couldn’t help but tell her how proud I was of her. If you see the Blessed Be the Name “back room”, see the quality of her clothes, feel the softness and quality of her tees and see how many people across the country are ordering her clothes… you, too, would be proud of her! And she handles all of this with such humility and class!

We started our weekend off by meeting up at dinner in Mt. Laurel at A Stone’s Throw {which used to be Standard Bistro} on Friday night. It was absolutely delicious and despite threatening storms we had some time on the patio before we had to move inside! I loved running into a sorority sister. Hello, Brooke! So fun to see you! We made our way back to Ashley’s house that night so our weekend slumber party could begin. I loved her house,  especially her kitchen…

And these funky chairs in the sitting room off of the kitchen…

Before bed Friday night, she handed each of us one of these…

I think my response was, “Are you serious?” And she was. After fresh fruit, bagels and homemade granola, we headed out bright and early to Greenhouse Day Spa for a morning and early afternoon of pampering and luxury! And LUNCH!

This was my first spa experience… and it was even better than I thought it would be, especially since I am always the one doing the painting of toes, the washing of the faces, and the brushing of the hair & teeth. My little Raiger is high maintenance and needs a color change at least once a day!

You can imagine how nice it was to sit in that chair and be pampered! From the spa we headed home to regroup and retrieve our cameras because our next stop was Susanne King’s photography studio for a photography lecture and photography session with ALL of us {she shot us together & individually– bless her patient soul!}. Susanne teaches photography at Samford and it was such a treat to glean from her, she is very talented!

While she worked her magic in the back with Paige, I coveted her camera…

The rest of us stayed out front and played our roles of the Mom-togs that we are.

Susanne kindly served us some bubbly so we could celebrate our time together and loosen up a touch; it seemed to work quite well… Lindsay was CONVINCED that Ashley could fit into that tutu!

Saturday night the fun and fellowship continued over a delicious meal at Ashley’s home. I only took a few photos… so this is about all I have to offer.

Sunday morning, we miraculously made it to the early service at The Church at Brook Hills. We could be easily spotted in our pink t-shirts! 🙂

I interrupt this blog post to share that I was so incredibly encouraged by the service. This is a church that is truly living out the Gospel and it was evident to me that they are the hands and feet of Jesus to their community. I left the service so encouraged and couldn’t decide which I wanted to do first, be a foster parent or adopt.  This church is making a major impact in their community and have single-handedly  taken care of almost all the children in the foster care system in their county. If I had to sum up what I felt about the church I could do so through the words of the song “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love”. I loved everything about the service, except for the fact that I didn’t get to meet Haley. 🙂

After church we headed back to Ashley’s store in Mt. Laurel.

And in the backroom the walls are lined with Blessed Be the Name clothes that are ready to ship and no doubt make some people very happy when they arrive!

After picking out a few things for the kids I said my “good byes” to my new friends, thanked Ashley again for inviting me and treating me to such a wonderful weekend… and made my way to downtown Birmingham to meet up with friends for the Magic City Art Festival.

Abby blogged about it here, and since I left my camera in the car, what pictures I have from our time at the art fair/chef sampling/wine tasting/dinner are all hers that I stole without permission! The weather was perfect and I was so thankful that Justin graciously allowed me extend my stay an extra day for a little more “girl time”.

The art fair was so fun and we had a few hilarious and somewhat awkward moments none of which can necessarily be blogged about but trust me, we laughed a lot. From the art fair we moved over to the chef sampling and wine tasting. It was called Corks & Chefs but because I am slightly geriatric every time I said the name I would botch it and call it Corks & Forks…  which just naturally rolls off my tongue.  I admit that I know very little about wine and have been known to choose based on the label, so this one appealed to me.

Jeremiah {Abby’s husband} kindly kept their children so we could continue our evening at Jinsei in Homewood for sushi! Abby, Ashley and I pretended like we hadn’t just been to a chef sampling and met up with Berkley and ate all over again! The food was delicious and the company even better. We sat outside in great weather, toasted to a girls night out, and devoured delicious food… including this appetizer that took us a matter of seconds to finish off. I don’t even remember what it was called but it involved a fried rice patty, spicy tuna and avocados and it tasted as good as it looked!

Abby, Taylor {her sister}, and Ashley {her sister-in-law} are going through P90x every morning at 5:30 am. So, bright and early Monday morning, with hot coffee in hand, I made my way to Abby’s basement to be a spectator in the sport of “P90x yoga”. First of all, I am not athletic and second of all, I am not flexible. But, for whatever reason I thought some of the positions looked a little intriguing and I wondered if I could do them, I could not, but I tried and this is why my obliques have just now recovered 5 days later.

I loved my time Monday morning {post-P90} with Abby’s precious little girls. By this time my heart was aching to see my little ones and it was such a treat to see these little sleepy heads.

I had Mary Aplin to my left.

And Pace to my right.

As the girls ate their oatmeal I wondered if I’d be able to walk that week.

I made my way home Monday morning and enjoyed being reunited with my little Rovers & Justin. My sweet and selfless husband was so gracious to tend to all their needs while I was gone and I’m so grateful that he was willing to so that I could have some time alone! I had an absolutely fabulous weekend thanks to him!

But I sure missed my little Yanomamo warrior…

and his silly sisters {who might just have expected mommy to bring them a toy or candy not cute clothes! 🙂 }!

Before I wrap up… I want to introduce you to these wonderful women & their blogs:

Top row left to right:
Ashley Eiler {Birmingham}, Amelia {Birmingham works with Ashley}, Paige {Atlanta}, Shelly {Birmingham works with Ashley}, Lindsay {Birmingham– sells precious tutus}, & Melissa {Atlanta}

Bottom row:
Andrea {Florence, AL}, Mandi {Macon, GA}, Sarah {Knoxville, TN soon to be Charlotte, NC}, and me

I loved meeting y’all and spending the weekend with you! Thank you Ashley, what a blessing you are to me!! And thank you, Abby for letting the fun continue a while longer!