My best friend and I went on a moms’ retreat weekend to Chattanooga.

What? Didn’t you know Chattanooga is the new Vegas?

She and I both turned 38 this summer and I had a wild hair idea to actually go somewhere for the weekend and not just meet for a hurried celebratory lunch which ends way too soon. The best friend and I have known each other since 4th grade, back in 1979 when the Grease soundtrack on vinyl was the High School Musical craze, thus an hour does not do our conversational marathon skills justice.

We decided to cruise to Chattavegas in her minivan as it’s a relatively short drive, and we were able to indulge in a lot of shopping and talking and eating and drinking and then some more shopping of the discount variety. You know, basically the staples of life. The weather was gorgeous and the sales were plentiful. We indulged in beer and pizza before noon on Saturday al fresco and topped that off with some Ben and Jerry’s. It felt decadent to be sipping on a bottled beer next to parents wielding baby bottles. There was no calorie counting allowed. We may venture further next year and who knows what we’ll do for our 40th. There was talk of a spa retreat or a trip to NYC or the Bahamas. Moms gone wild!

Some quotes from the weekend:

I’m just looking forward to not wiping anyone’s butts.
My best friend has three boys (ranging from 3 to 11) and I have two girls. No further ’splainin needed.

It’s OK. We’ve got wine and chocolate!
Upon radioing the hubby’s shop and realizing that there were two wrecks less than three miles apart on I-24 as we headed out of town and traffic came to a complete standstill for at least a half hour. My best friend, being the prepared genius that she is, had packed M&Ms and Halloween Reese’s Pieces and party mix, as well as enough varieties of Coke to keep us awake for 72 solid hours. And then of course, there was the Fat Bastard Shiraz in the back seat, waiting for us when we got to our hotel. If necessary, we would have been prepared to uncork that baby.

It’s buy one get one free martinis!
We had no idea it was happy hour Saturday night when we ordered our martinis and were greeted with four from the bar.

There were no celebrity sightings in Chattavegas, but our server Friday night at PF Changs sounded amazingly like Keanu Reeves. The best friend and I did have a riveting conversation Sunday morning about Kenny Chesney’s sexual preference (she works with someone who knows Kenny fairly well and the verdict is that he is most definitely not gay, just thought you’d want to know.)

Being someone in much need of a technological break and not wanting any temptation to sneak down to the hotel business center to blog or check e-mail like some sort of Internet addicted mommy blogger who checks her Sitemeter stats daily, I left both my laptop and digital camera at home. I know, I know…crazy! We slept in late and didn’t order anything from a kids’ menu all weekend. We browsed in Barnes & Noble Saturday night and sipped on wine and read our new books when we got back to the hotel. Hey, we’re small town girls. It doesn’t take much to thrill us.

Overall it was a fun and much needed mama’s retreat. There was nary a chicken finger or juice box in sight and the only objects subject to swiping were our debit cards, no poopy bottoms allowed. If there was any niggling ounce of doubt that I shouldn’t have taken off for two nights, it was snuffed out the moment the hubby called me Friday night from our neighborhood pizza joint and I could hear the girls in the background, squealing with joy as they played air hockey with my dad.

One of my favorite bloggers and someone I consider a friend, although I have never met her in person, is hanging up her blogging hat.

One of the first blogs I discovered in the summer of 2005 and immediately identified with was R*Belle’s blog, Musings of a Former Jr. League Dropout (now called Southern and Sublime). I was drawn to the humorous title of the blog and the fun juxtaposition of the beauty queen holding a can of cheap beer that greeted you when you clicked on her blog. I knew the woman behind such a fun blog had to have a great sense of humor. Like me, she is a mom to two little ones and works outside the home. I could relate to so many of the things she wrote with such wit and sass that I really felt like I was sitting at a table with a girlfriend and talking over a glass of sweet tea or a margarita. In fact, one of the first times she commented on my blog she mentioned that, should our paths ever cross, we should meet up for margaritas.

R*Belle, your blog will be missed! And I still hope to join you for that margarita.

I know earlier this week I said it was the year I was going to grow cajones, but it’s also the year of the margarita.

Nicole (Margaritabelle) and I met for margaritas (OK, OK a grand total of TWO between us) at a local Mexican restaurant last night for the second time since the first of December. How awesome is it that our monthly margarita get together is mentioned as part of her New Year’s resolutions? Nicole and her husband and their adorable daughter are moving to Charleston in June so our monthly margarita outings will come to a halt, although my tequila radar senses that margarita night will live on, despite the long distance.

Once again we were the last customers to leave the restaurant. Once again we talked and talked and talked about work, kids, friends, and blogging. I think it’s pretty amazing that someone I met in “blogland” lives practically within spitting distance of me. What are the odds?

I joke about the celebrity status in my post title because the server said he remembered us “from last time” after we told him we weren’t going to order any dinner from the oversized laminated menu. Once again we chose a booth and ordered nothing but chips and salsa and that artery clogging white queso that is so good. Our hangout is a little smoky neighborhood Mexican restaurant, the kind that leaves your clothing and hair steeped in the essence of deep fried Chimichanga. The cool thing is last night I realized I have been going to this particular restaurant for more than a dozen years. I’m glad to share the familiar cheap tequila margaritas with a new friend.

I’m trying to do more “girl nights” this year. Tomorrow morning the girls and I are going to hang out with my best friend and her three boys in my hometown while the hubby does some work there. She and I have known each other since 4th grade and have survived bad perms, bad choices in boyfriends, big hair, the too much Bacardi and Coke freshman year episode in 1987 I think we’d both like to forget, and bridesmaid duties. We’re now in the “let’s do lunch” phase and the “if you ever need a casserole, call me hon” phase and the “oh my Lord, my kids are kind of driving me nuts today” phase.

True friendship transcends time and distance and really bad fashion choices, like my sophomore year of high school when I thought neon clothing was so hot but was really just plain ugly.

So have you done lunch or margaritas with a girlfriend lately?

Mrs. Flinger is pregnant and has photographic evidence! Go visit her and send her well wishes on her pregnancy. She and Mr. Flinger and their cutie pie LB have recently moved and I can’t think of a better way to start a new life. Except that LB also pooped in the potty this week. So much to celebrate.

I still have my positive HPTs from both pregnancies. I can’t seem to throw them away. It’s not like I’m going to put them in a shadow box or something for the girls but there they sit in a dresser drawer. Do you bronze pee sticks? Because I think Mrs. Flinger may want to bronze hers. She’s had a rocky road! Congratulations girly.

Last night I prayed for my best friend’s sister-in-law who is dying of cancer. As I asked God to comfort her and her family something I hadn’t thought about in a very long time came to mind. About six years I had plans for a fun girls’ night out with my friend and her sister-in-law to see Dwight Yoakam in concert here in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. My friend had to cancel at the last minute. She was in the first few months of pregnancy and was experiencing horrible morning sickness so a night out at a concert was the last thing on her mind. I went to the concert with her sister-in-law and we danced. We hooped and hollared. We made fools out of ourselves as Dwight put on an incredible performance…in incredibly tight jeans. It made me smile. I thanked God for putting that positive image in my mind right before I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

Reading all the wonderful 9/11 tributes yesterday made me realize what an honor it is to remember those who have passed on by memorializing their lives and what made then unique….what made them smile…what made them dance.

The Golden Panties

Originally uploaded by blondemom.

When I sorted through our mail last week there was a lightweight package from my friend Kaye in Kentucky. Before I greedily tore the paper I knew what it was without feeling the luxurious nylon/lycra spandex blend between my fingers. The golden panties!

For the past several years, whenever my college buddies and I get together (which, unfortunately, is getting fewer and farther between considering we all live in different states) we always pass along the same prank gift–a gawdy pair of antique gold high waist panties purchased by Kaye from Dollar General that have been finely crafted from a “light weight fabric” that gently “molds the figure.” They look like something a WWF wrestler or fashionably inept superhero might wear. Kaye heard that I had pneumonia and she knew the powers of the Golden Big Ass Panties would magically heal me (or at least make me laugh.)
(Read on …)

St. Patrick’s Day Weekend 1998

Originally uploaded by jamiemom.

We’re getting together with my college buddies next weekend and I thought I’d post this fun photo of all of us eight years ago in Savannah, Georgia. That’s me and the hubby on the left. We were visiting my friend Noelle, who now lives in South Carolina. Kaye is missing, but she is behind the camera. This was such a great trip. We went to Tybee Island and ate huge platters of seafood. Kaye and I also participated in the “shoot the chair” weirdness at a local bar. It’s hard to believe we’ve been friends since the late 80’s in college. We were all journalism nerds together and now we’re all playing adults in this thing called life.

Updated to add: We have been having the most hilarious e-mail exchanges getting ready for next weekend. There has been much talk of packing fiber tablets, Pepto Bismol, Alka Seltzer, Bugles and Diet Sugar Free Mr. Pibb, but mostly talk of antacids because we’re all getting so old. Oh and we’re taking the chilluns, too, so there will be four children under the age of 6 hanging out with us. God help us.