Monday, April 21, 2008

I'm back! And better than ever, baby!

Got back yesterday from a long weekend in Grand Lake. Went with my cousins (H1, H2, H3, T, Ginger and Susan) for our Try-to-Make-it-Annually girl's trip. It was a really great time and something I definitely needed.

The cabin in Grand Lake was beautiful, with a fabulous deck that looked out at the lake. We spent most of Saturday on the deck drinking mimosas and now I've got a wicked sunburn. T kept telling me to put on sunblock and I was like, "Bah! I don't care if I fry!" Hmph. Well, I care now. Too much champagne makes a girl irresponsible.

Anyway, my face is now a piece of beef jerky. My nose especially, and I'm all puffy. Ugh. It's not going to be pretty when it all peels off. Even so, it was a heck of a lot of fun, just hanging out with the girls, drinking and telling outrageous stories. I wish I got to spend more time with all of them.
What I love about my cousins is that they are each fantastic in their own way and I have a different relationship with each of them. H1, H2 and H3 are all sisters and for much of my life, they pretty much came as a single unit. But now that we're not kids anymore, I also really enjoy spending time with them each separately. I like the focused attention – we're a pretty loud bunch and when you get us all together, it's pretty crazy. Hella fun, but hard to have much of a conversation with anyone in particular.

So we did a lot of drinking and talking and either I'm getting sick or I talked too much because I've sort of lost my voice. And we were going to go in the hot tub but it turned out to be not all that hot so the rest of us skipped that after H2 bravely tested the waters for us. 87 degrees? That's not even a warm bath. Pfft.

H1 & T made an awesome dinner on Saturday – best mashed potatoes I've ever had. Must find out what was in those! (Or truthfully, I prolly really don't want to know and should just keep eating them when she makes them.)

And I'm a huge sappy dork, but I was away from Mr. Fantastic for three days and really, really missed him. A lot. I was so excited to see him when I got home. I think I actually made a little "eee" noise when I jumped out of the car to hug him.

What a great trip, and just what I needed right now. I didn't think about Dad or Steve or anything – just focused on the girls and having fun. I'd be totally relaxed right now if it didn't hurt when I moved my face. Anyone have any sunburn tips? I'm doing aloe, cool cloths and some kind of pain-relieving spray on thing.