As we each passing retreat, once again I had the most amazing time. This year Camille, Aysha, Angie, and I were the first ones to arrive at the house, and therefore we were all able to secure bottom bunks, and this was just the perfect start to an amazing weekend.
On Fridays, at the start of the retreat it’s all about securing your bed, greeting each other, sharing love, catching up and getting unpacked. After dinner, everyone is ready to kick it in gear and start creating, and is prepared to stay up all night, usually with the last person shutting it down around 5:00 in the morning. After not having much sleep for the past week in a half, due to very long phone conversations catching up with a childhood friend, I was sleep deprived, but I was on such a natural high about this trip I just kept it moving. Usually, I’m one of the last to go to bed, but after being up for over 24 hours (the night before the trip I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight, and had to get up at 3:21 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. flight) I couldn’t stay up past 4:00 in the morning.
Rise and shine around 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and the fun begins all over again. Each October, we take a field trip to the Local Scrapbook Store and Hobby Lobby in our PJ’s. When we return to the house we check out each other’s purchases and again begin trying to be creative. Our fearless leader Tiare is all about eating healthy, exercising, loving our hearts & self, and breast cancer awareness; and in some way, either through conversation or activities, she tries to incorporate all of these aspects into each retreat. There are several challenges and projects we create as a group, and this year we had to make a bra card. These women are talented and the cards turned out amazing. Every retreat we have to dance and it’s usually the Cha-Cha slide, but this year we learned a new dance called the wobble, and everyone had a ball. We were supposed to jump double-dutch, but Tiare forgot the rope, a blessing in disguise. Still sleep deprived I retired about 3:30 a.m., only to wake up at 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning.
Usually the retreat ends on Sunday at 3:00, but this year Tiare extended our retreat until Monday, at noon. However, Monica, Brenda and Donna had to leave… and then there were 11. The festivities continued throughout the day, with us taking a break at 6:00 p.m. to go to dinner at Longhorn. We never go out to dinner during the retreat as meals our included in our regular stay, but we all agreed this would be a nice change to venture out. Dinner was great, and we all maintained our inside, around company voices while dinning. By 2:00 a.m., I could no longer see straight or talk coherently, so I went to bed (my earliest retreat bed time ever).
Monday morning and the retreat ends at 12:00 noon, so it’s time to get packed up and ready to leave. Most of the ladies all head for home, but Tiare, Angie, and the NYC & Me ladies (Camille, Aysha and I) continue on with our adventure. We all head to Woodstock, Georgia were Tiare lives and have breakfast at J Alexander’s, did an impromptu photo session, hang at Tiare’s house for a while, and ended our trip with a stop at Archiver’s, all before heading to the airport for our trip back home to Maryland.
Although I love every single retreat, this year’s retreat was one of my all favorites. I can’t wait until May 2011 to do it all again.
Aysha, Camille, Tiare, Lisa Renee and Angie
No comments:
Post a Comment