Part 1: Filling Our Hearts in Kansas City

I'm still smiling.

Our now-annual girls' weekend trip is in the books and I'm still smiling as I remember the past few days.

I haven't laughed so hard, smiled so much or had my heart full in so long. Maybe you can't really "go home" again, but you can sure find home when you spend time with the people who helped you become, well, you.

Yes, we shopped. Yes, we ate. (Man, did we eat! That Que39 place was so freaking yummy, I'm still dreaming about out and will tell you more tomorrow.) Yes, we got a little silly and loud and giggly. Oh, and we ran out of gas and had a nail in a tire. (Thank you, Skull-and-Crossbones-Belt-Buckle-William-with-the-Pretty-Eyes!) But the very best parts were just sitting around talking, learning about each others' lives, sharing our hard stuff and celebrating our good stuff.

And those plans I made to stay on track? They were good plans, but destined to change. Here's what didn't happen:

• No 5K ... we were lucky to get out of our hotel room by 10 a.m. Six women, one bathroom ... you get the idea. I did manage hotel fitness center treadmill runs on two of the three mornings we were there, however, to keep it in check. And on our heavy shopping day, we walked more than six miles on top of that. 
• No carrots ... I forgot one of the healthy snacks at home. We did kill a bag of pretzels and a whole lot of Werther's candy mix, however. We took full advantage of the free hotel breakfast mid morning and probably ate dinner too late each night.  
• No strength training ... it just didn't fit into the schedule. But my abs and glutes took a beating because I spent approximately 9 hours a day laughing my ass off as the old stories rolled and the new ones were created. And I think it's important to remember that shopping bags can be heavy and carrying them around counts for something! 

Six of my favorite people in the whole world. In fact, this photo
is nearly the whole Fort Atkinson Junior and Senior High
School basketball team, circa 1980-1986. And Jane. LOL.  

And while these things didn't happen, so much more did. I'll tell you more tomorrow.