these are days

happy birthday catherine!

i'm not only the president of cathy's fan club, i'm also a member.

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a TRUE FRIEND challenges us to be REAL with ourselves and with them.

one minute i'm ready to have a nice dinner with friends and the next minute, i am potentially on my way out of town to an exotic place for the weekend. such was my weekend...never quite knowing where i'd end up. i do believe it all worked out the way it was suppose to. i love my friends...the real ones. the ones that share, listen, understand, see, recognize and are themselves.

on friday, which i just started typing accidentally as frienday, i had an opportunity to help support one of my best during a difficult time...i was willing to go and do whatever. it ended up that she just needed my availability for comfort which was fine because she's got bigger fish to fry in the grand scheme of things. but then, the evening opened up for another way to connect with a friend who i've been away from for way too long. no excuses, i was going to see her. so i did. the visit ended up being the cherry on top of an exhausting but absolutely wonderful week. she and i talked about so many things that i rarely get to talk about with anyone. the sign of a great friendship is the inspired conversation that comes along during your time together. because of this experience, i shall return along with mr. wonderful so that she and i can resume the conversation while the guys take on the little people. thank you for welcoming me, embracing me and challenging me to think about what's important.

saturday, mr. wonderful and i did our breakfast thing. i'm thinking about breaking the law and marrying a blueberry pancake. as strange as that sounds, i just love 'em. if they weren't so starchy and topped with evilness, i'd have one every day. instead, i mind the thought...too much of a good thing...i can't even remember but you know how it goes. we prepared the koos for our departure later that afternoon. we've been traveling with kitties, litter box and insulin shots but this time, i put my foot down and said, "no! we travel with people only today!" cats are way too stressed in a car and i had arranged with catlover friend, to take care of them for the whole 27 hours we were planning to be away. got to the big house by dinner and enjoyed family time and football in the background. met up with joe at square one which was so dead. i remember when that place was packed wall to wall. what happened? despite the lack of people, we had a swell time.

sunday morning breakfast is key...where to go? i basically turned right out of the big house neighborhood and trusted that i'd find something yummy. sure enough...i did. they had great coffee, great food and most importantly, a display of the most beautiful cakes you ever did see. jackpot! along with the coffee and cake, was a casserole of conversation that continues to shed light on the crazies and all of the corruption in the cracker box. i can't complain. life is really good. after breakfast, there was a flurry of activities which included a quick shopping trip and a joint push out the door of all the males. i was left by my lonesome which was the plan all along. i did what any woman in need of some relaxation would do, i soaked. i was in the tub almost an entire afternoon. since i finished my other book on the car ride, i started reading the new one and got about halfway through it while i sat in the tub. it was absolutely perfect. to round it all off, i traveled down and got myself some phad thai noodles. excellent. it rained. i didn't care. jets flew over the house and made the earth shake. i didn't care. the jags beat the cowboys. i didn't care. the only care i had was to relax, read my book or not read my book and thoroughly revel in the beauty of allowing myself to just be. i highly recommend it.

a few best things of the day -
friday: pumpkin pie with cool whip and the love it was served with
saturday: dancing with mr. wonderful
sunday: where do i begin? solitude.