Like a Staycation but Different

Remember how Cute Collette gave our book club an overnighter for Christmas? Well, last Friday and Saturday it came to fruition (I love that word) close to home at Thanksgiving Point.


Collette checked in first (she'd taken the day off work) and had an hour in the room by herself to read and enjoy the quiet, then Michelle and I arrived and all of that ended.


We went over to the movie theater to catch "Dear John" at 5:00 (Jana and Jenn were going to meet us there, while Amy was at her daughter's dance recital) but we found that there were no good seats left in the theater (thanks to this theater's system of seat reservation we could see this BEFORE buying our tickets). $%#@!


We would have happily seen "When in Rome" at 6:00 instead, but Collette's husband had made her promise NOT to see that movie. So an hour into our getaway we were cursing his name..."Damn Travis!" and abandoning our plans.


We got popcorn to go because the smell was just too intoxicating and we were hungry. I've never done that before.


Jana and Jenn soon joined us back at the hotel room. (They were delayed because they'd taken balloons and a birthday banner to Amy's house so she could secretly decorate the room while we were at the movie--plan foiled!)


It was quite funny when Amy and her kids (Kaitlin dressed for her Hoe Down number) arrived to stealthily decorate the room but found all of us there! We just made Collette close her eyes while they brought everything in.


So the 5 of us sat in our little lounge area (3 of us wedged on the sofa) and talked for an hour and a half while Amy was at the recital. There was some laughing, some gasping, and some what thes?!


As we got ready to leave to meet Amy at JCW's for dinner, Collette finally wandered over to the bedroom side of our suite and saw the decorations.


Amy got individual bundt cakes for dessert and Jenn brought this stand.


JCW's was totally packed with people so we had to wait in line for awhile, but it was sooo worth the wait!


It was so loud and busy in there that we didn't even make a dent in the noise level.

We were finally all together in the hotel room after dinner.

Which is where Collette gave us a little demonstration of this teasing comb her friend invented.


Amy gave us our Christmas presents which she adapted to fit Valentine's Day instead. She's a creative genius!

We sat around and talked for quite awhile.

I enjoy detail shots like this.

We rearranged the furniture and borrowed 2 chairs from downstairs so we could play Quiddler. I can't remember what was so funny and I'm bugged my finger got in the way of the lens, but I still like this picture of Amy and Michelle laughing.


Michelle brought her homemade Artisan bread with spinach dip for our late-night munchie needs.


It turns out that Jana's Scrabble expertise made her a natural with Quiddler even though she'd never played it before! I can't say I enjoy this skill of hers.


We began our book discussion around 11:00pm, which is pretty normal for us. We all loved the book.


Jenn's treat invention of a raspberry inside a double stuffed Oreo was sooooo good!

We finally retired around 2:00am for a fitful and overheated night's "sleep". There was a symphony of snoring going on, yet none of us felt like we'd slept much when we woke up Saturday morning.


Collette was the first one up and showered (around 8:00am!) and had even gone downstairs to get some orange juice before any of us were up.

Eventually we all woke up, but continued to lounge and talk while we took turns getting ready.


I finally had to open the window and had to be happy with the 5 inches it opened!! I felt like drowning person gasping for air!


Then someone suggested we turn on the air conditioner, and all was right with the world again! My make-up didn't take because I was too hot, and my hair was weird because of the soft water at the hotel. I can't get a break!


Amy and Jenn cut up the little bundt cakes so we could sample all of them...that's my kind of breakfast!


We finally got our stuff packed up and got ourselves presentable and left our room at 11:30.


We were all bugged we hadn't taken our self-portrait the night before when we were still relatively cute, but oh well.


Our 2nd attempt at seeing "Dear John" was successful, though I can tell you that Nicholas Sparks books and movies are NOT my thing! Here are my pros and cons from this movie.

Pros
Channing Tatum is HOT!
The scenery was beautiful!
Some of the movie was about writing letters and there was a montage of mail-related scenes which I loved.

Cons
The story was totally formulaic and manipulative.

Alternative titles I came up with...
She Had A Choice!
We'll Try to Make You Weepy
Manipulation
Give Me A Break


Even though it could have been a made for TV movie, we still managed to see a movie all together so it was a success.


After the movie, Collette, Jana and Amy all had to leave, so that left Michelle, Jenn and I to fend for ourselves. We went over to the deli at Thanksgiving Point for lunch and to teach Jenn how to play the game we play using Skip-Bo cards, I don't know what it's really called.


We ended up staying in our corner booth playing and talking for 2 hours! Then Jenn had to leave, and Michelle and I wandered around the Emporium for an hour before heading home. Good times.

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I've made Miracle Bread and sugar cookies today, how about that?