Girls Gone (sort of) Wild

I survived! Four days of chocolate martinis, good friends, good food and a bit of work around the house mixed in. What a weekend (in a good way).

The fun actually began early last week when I spent hours cleaning the house from top to bottom (note to Mrs. Matt: I’m just kidding. My house is always that clean.) Vacuuming, changing sheets, scrubbing the bathrooms… The Pretend Husband commented that we should have people stay over every week if it will prompt me to clean (I may have thrown a sponge at his head for that one.)

But it was worth it because Thursday night was spent with five fabulous women and more than my share of chocolate martinis. It was almost like a marriage counseling session as we talked about all the issues of engagement and marriage– what to call your mother-in-law? (I call mine by her first name, Mrs. Cheech calls hers by a nickname and Mrs. Matt uses the “Hey, you!” approach). When are you planning to start having kids? (That’s the point where the PH and BAC took off at a full sprint for some guy bonding). Does your husband ever [fill in blank]? (“Oh yes, he does. And it’s very, very annoying. I wish he would stop!” was the general consensus.)

Fear not, our alcohol consumption was kept to levels low enough to allow us to wake up at a decent time the next morning and spend a couple of hours assembling wedding centerpieces. I am so grateful to Mrs. Cheech and Mrs. Matt for their hard work (and to Mrs. BAC for her offer to help if she hadn’t had to rush her husband to the doctor).

Having Mrs. Matt see our house for the first time– and the fact that some of the tour included, “What we’re going to do in here…”– was enough incentive for me to spend most of the rest of the afternoon peeling three layers of (ugly, ugly) wallpaper off part of the kitchen. And because yesterday wasn’t hot enough on its own, I fired up the steamer again to finish the project, leaving just one layer of wallpaper to take off the rest of the kitchen. The advantage was the free facial I gave myself and impressing Molly by making it rain from the ceiling when the steam built up and then began dripping.

Most of all, I was reminded about how good it feels to kick back with good friends, to share sweet drinks, to laugh until it hurts, to know that you’re not alone in some of the things you put up with, to have your wedding work diminished, to be able to look around the room and think, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

To SJ, Mrs. Cheech, Mrs. Matt, Mrs. BAC and Max’s Mom… thanks! Now, when can we do it again?