Sister Weekend.

psssst: this is a small sample. we have 300+ pictures from this weekend.

Oh this weekend. I could write a book about this weekend.

I could write a book about only the food we ate this weekend.

But this will have to do for now:

Sisters:

Shaeli

Loretta

Heidi

Gina

Mom

Me

Friends:

Jenny

Natalie

Derik

Food: mmmmmmmmmm

basil pesto

cheese ravioli

french bread

caesar salad

santa maria style tri-tip

barbecue sauce

fruit salad

german chocolate cake

peanut butter cup ice cream

dark chocolate velvet ice cream

refried beans

mexi rice

pork tamales

tacos

enchiladas

redvines licorice

peanut m&m's

pretzel m&m's

grasshopper cookies

chicken lettuce wraps

cantaloupe

ghiradelli chocolate squares

cracklin oat bran

san luis sourdough bread

garlic and sesame naan

butter chicken

pita chips

tandoori chicken

spicy chicken

jasmine rice

lentils

carrot dessert

...

Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did. Is it any wonder I ate myself sick?

Activities:

• Il Divo party
• Shopping spree game
• My favorite things
• Ladies-only tombola
• Belly dancing
• Baby shower for Loretta
• Twilight b-day party for Mom
• Pedicures
• Chinese massage
• Chocolate tasting: (Camel's milk chocolate. Yes, you read that right. It was delicious and ridiculously expensive. Mom brought it back from Dubai, the only place in the world that sells this stuff.)
• Swimming in the backyard
• Double dutching

We were spoiled all weekend. We crammed in every bit of girly fun we could, and still made time to lounge around and stay up late giggling and talking.

Thanks to beautiful loving, generous, creative, fun sisters who made this annual event the best ever. (this is our 4th year and it is a wonderful tradition.)

Thanks to great friends who made time to stop by amidst our (admittedly) insane schedule of events and eating.

I always have to catch my breath when I walk into my parents house. It is so beautiful. I love that house. But Bakersfield doesn't really feel too much like home anymore. Its familiar, but not comforting. Its my past...it echoes vaguely with memories and dulled images of years gone by. There were more tumbleweeds than I remembered, but I still love the swimming pools and the palm trees and the dry heat.

I cherished this time I had with my family and some friends. I soak them in. I am growing up, I think. I was very contemplative as I took off into the sky after saying goodbye to my mom at our tiny airport. The sun was setting behind the mountains and the sky was a perfect gradient of colors- bloodred to bright orange, rosey pink and a dusty yellow fading into the hazy blue that is the polluted sky of the drought in a California summer.

Life is strange. Things are changing. I was overwhelmed with emotion at both ends of the spectrum. My heart was heavy. Lets just say I'd seen it all. I was ready to close my eyes.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The dark night was spent on a cross continental red-eye flight, where the extra inches of legroom in my lucky exit row seat didn't remediate my restless leg situation and the resultant sleeplessness. At least I got to walk through my all-time favorite part of the Chicago O'Hare airport at 4 am. The tunnel connecting the C and B terminals. It reminds me of my psychedelic childhood, during which my little legs walked through this tunnel many many times, bleary-eyed from our international flights, on our way home to the west coast to visit the aunties and my grandparents. Over the Atlantic and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go. This time, I literally laughed out loud with delirious happiness as I descended into its colorful depths. Lets just say I was very relieved to see my smiling husband and collapse into his arms after then waiting a couple of hours in a freezing, desolate waiting room for my 6:15 thrill-ride airport shuttle back to Champaign, (the tired driver swerved back and forth across the freeway multiple times in the course of our 4 hour drive), where he picked me up on campus, took me home and promptly plopped an exhausted me in bed.

Man, I'm wimpy. Where have my rock solid travel skills gone? I guess I'm rusty. Though, I would like to say in my defense that I was able to quickly and effectively navigate my way to an area of the large airport I'd never been, without so much as pausing to read a board or ask a question. My scanning eyes quickly caught all the signs and I was able to march straight there unaffected. I've still got that, at least. :)