girl-friend night

Last weekend three of my sweet friends and I had a little girl time.  Veronica surprised us by taking us to her parents' place to spend the night.  They have a beautiful home in a beautiful, serene location.

To top it all off, Vron bought Buckhorn tri-tip salads.  So good.

It is a fabulous salad with candied walnuts, blue cheese, tri tip, "roadhouse" onions (kind of like onion rings only 300 times better) and yummy dressing.  Pair that with a ice cold 2011 Diet Dr. Pepper and you've got yourself a meal to beat all.

Mojitos were made, and I must say it is now one of my favorite drinks.

Virgin, naturally.

This, of course, was only a great beginning to a great time.

Because Rachel "Photographer Extraordinaire" was present, I managed to finagle some really great pictures of the whole event.

And because Rachel "Photographer Extraordinaire" was present, we had a little girlfriend photo shoot, with Veronica's mom shooting the pictures.

Me, Val, Veronica and Rachel
Their whole area - house, land, garden - is practically begging to be photographed.

I fell in love with this old, very weathered adirondack chair.  Rach got a good shot of it.

The rest of the evening was filled with soaking in the hot tub while soaking up the joy of being with great friends.

Yes, it is really cheesy, but oh-so-true.

Rachel was the only smart one and had cozy Uggs to wear to and from the hot tub.  It was a charming fashion statement.

We slept up in the "barn" loft - a beautifully furnished room with antiques, quilts and big breezy windows.

After a little late night giggling (do "women" still giggle?) it was off to sleep.

We all decided the next morning that the combination of cool breeze, warm blankets, cozy beds, good smells and cool sunshine in the windows to wake you up made for a pretty close to perfect sleeping environment.  We all slept wonderfully.

A beautiful morning requires a great time with God.

 It seems that it would be impossible to wake up, walk out into the freshness of the day, and not be filled with gratitude for all that He blesses us with.

And the blessings kept coming.

In perfect bed-and-breakfast style, Veronica's mom made us eggs benedict.

Exceedingly tasty.

Unfortunately we had to cut out time shorter than desired as we all had agendas for the day.  Mine included traveling to Lodi (about an hour) to share at a ladies missions tea.

Regardless of the brevity, I'm sure we were all refreshed and so thankful for an incredible time.

Veronica's mom did so much for us, as did Veronica.

We had great talks, good laughs and some interesting photo shoot memories.

Very interesting.

I am a blessed person having these three as my dearest friends.