MOMS On The Loose!

"Flo", Kym, Eileen, Jonathan, Me, Mary & Cecilia

Kelly, Hailey & Debbie left Thursday (2/7) and my MOMS friends arrived for a girls weekend the very next day

Mmmmm....chocolate!! Thanks, David!

(2/8)! It was a hectic turnaround but I wouldn't have had it any other way!  I certainly was not going to

Me & the girls at the Mall of America for 8 hrs+ !!

pass up the opportunity for more friend time.

Modeling our "Who Let The Girls Out" shirts

This time, my MOMS Club friends came for a girls' weekend.  Kym, Mary, Cecilia and Eileen made their way to Minnesota.  Since a fairly large snow storm was bearing down on the northeast, flight delays were being announced and there was some question as to whether or not the gals would actually be able to leave Buffalo.  Luckily, despite a delay in their departure, the girls landed in Minnesota at their scheduled time.

Sing along....."Love In An Elevator"

After a crazy travel day for the gals, it was decided that we would head back to my house after gathering

"Nurses" dining at The Local

luggage at the airport.  This would allow everyone time to get settled in, relax and catch up with each other.  It

Hanging with Mary Tyler Moore

was a very relaxing evening that was quite reminiscent of our book club nights (yes, back in NY, MOMS Club doubled as book club too!  I think "book club" was just code for "a night without kids").  It was rather nice how things fell right back into rhythm as though no time had passed and as though 900+ miles don't typically separate us.  Yes, this is friendship :-)  Our quiet evening consisted of an easy homemade Italian meal.  Many of my friends say how awesome David is for being so patient with our constant parade of visitors.  When I hear this from my friends I do assure them that we both **really do** enjoy company!!!  BUT....I am bringing this up to brag that David's awesomeness was taken up about 10 notches when he cracked out my fondue pot and pampered us ladies with chocolate goodness.  Can you say husband of the year award??

Game night...hmmmm, animals (ha!) came into the conversation quite a bit!

On Saturday (2/9) the girls and I headed over to the Mall of America.  I must say that in my year & 1/2 of living here and countless visitors, I do not think that I completed the mall in one day *with* the amount of shopping that was occurring during the visit.  Oh wait....we didn't do any part of the amusement park so does that still count??  All I know is that with over 8 hours at the mall I can only imagine how many miles we put on our feet.  These gals can shop!!! We had a great time and some good laughs but, without a doubt, we were ready for a dinner out.

Mary got "Kinky"!

As we were leaving the mall, we decided that we would head into Minneapolis for dinner.  We parked in a parking garage and we all did a quick switch-a-roo into one of the purchases we made.  We all bought some hot pink matching "Who Let the Girls Out - Minnesota" t-shirts and headed
out to dinner.  We went into a pub downtown ( The Local). It seemed like a good idea at the time but we had to be quite the sight to see.   A couple people asked what the shirts were all about.  The funniest exchange was with a guy who wanted to know if we were nurses.  Ummmm.....okay....because nurses all wear pink shirts?  And so we "nurses" (ummm...or what ever occupation might warrant these names) decided that we all needed to come up with an alternate name.   No longer were we Kym, Mary, Cecilia, Eileen & Amy but rather we were Mercedes, Chardonnay, Bambi, Ruby & Daphne.  I am also not sure if it is a good or bad thing that we bought these t-shirts early in the visit as we all ended up wearing the t-shirts the rest of the weekend - ha!  That same night the girls and I "got Kinky".  Oh....it is not what is sounds!!  "Kinky" is a yummy cocktail that tastes like a Cosmopolitan. Eileen purchased the board game, "The Game of Things" and so we went back to my house, played Eileen's new game and had a few cocktails.  I have to say that that I laughed so hard playing the game that my tummy ached.  A very, very fun and relaxing ending to an action packed day.

Happy Mardi Gras!

On Sunday (2/10) we had a fairly laid back kind of morning and

Dinner time

decided to head to the movies in the afternoon.  We went to see Identity Thief.  That movie was downright hilarious and was an awesome choice to see with a group of people.  We were all literally laughing out loud.  In the evening we came back and since Tuesday was Mardi Gras, we had an early Mardi Gras celebration. Donned in masks and beads (no we didn't have to "earn" them!)  we enjoyed jambalaya, muffulettas, king cake (Mary got the baby!) and hurricanes.

Mary got the baby!

On Monday (2/11) the gals had to head home, however, we weren't about to let any shopping time slip away from us.  We took the morning to head out to IKEA as we enjoy the last bit of our weekend together.  And....Zooooooommm....just like that, our weekend was over.  It went by way too quickly!!!  Special thanks to Mary, our MOMS Club paparazzi, we have countless photos to couple with the numerous memories we made that weekend.