Gal Pals + Food + Fun = Girls Weekend!

For the last couple of years, my gal pals over at Going Jane and Bathtub Mama and I have been getting together at least once a year (maybe twice if we can swing it) to shop, scrapbook, talk and generally laugh our butts off at a Girls Weekend (GW).

Last year we TRIED to re-live our college days with a little too much rum, lots of chocolate, and some late-night crank calls to the hubbies (theirs, not my imaginary guy - he never answered). Unfortunately we re-lived the bad, as well as the good. WARNING: Never, ever drink rum from a Listerine bottle. Trust me on this one!

This time the gals are each bringing their daughters so there will probably be a little less re-living of the glory years, but still lots of fun.

Basically, I live smack dab in the middle - a four-hour drive for each - so this year GW is rocking my place.

Right now, I'm channeling the Pointer Sisters..."I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It!!" (Imagine me singing and dancing through the house. OK, maybe you shouldn't.)

I already have some of our weekend planned.

Last GW just happened to fall while New Moon was in theaters. Since the new Twilight movie - Eclipse - won't be out until NEXT weekend, we have to fill our time with other activities.

I do have some movie theater gift certificates that I got a rockin' deal on recently at CVS and Toy Story 3 is in theaters so maybe we'll trade Edward and Jacob for Woody and Buzz.

Or there's always Redbox (I heart Redbox, as they say over at GOODEness Gracious) where we could go with Remember Me and still get our Edward fix!

In non-movie news...I was totally excited to learn that one of Bathtub Mama's and my favorite haunts when she's up from her southern home is having a monster of a sale this weekend! Half Price Books is having a huge clearance sale at the state fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday and we are SOOO there. Everything is under $3. Awesome.

Add in some swimming time and all that left is figuring out how we'll feed ourselves!

I've been drooling over a multitude of recipes in the blogsphere and have decided to attempt at least one or two this weekend.

First, I've stocked up on biscuits so we can gorge ourselves on Going Jane's strawberry freezer jam. I'm also going to attempt a variation of The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon toast with English Muffins - an ode to my days out East. I also have a wide variety of cereals that I have gotten for a steal so we are good to go for breakfast.

I'm taking advantage of the homegrown ground beef (hamburger) in the freezer and doing tacos or spaghetti or maybe loaded nachos...dishes the wee ones will enjoy as much as we will.

For dessert, I've been craving these Grasshopper Cupcakes over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff since I joined the Cupcake Carnival earlier this week!

Of course, it wouldn't be a weekend visit to my house without going out at least once (usually more than that). Bathtub Mama and I always hit Ruby Tuesday's for their delish salad bar and I have a coupon so here we come.

I'm sure some Malibu will find its way into our Diet Cokes & Coke Zeros so maybe, just maybe, there will be some dancing as well..."to the windows, to the walls."

Day 7 of Summer Slim Down: Wii Action

I admit it.

I'm a fair weather walker. If it's scorching hot with no breeze, I'm not going out. You can't make me!

I had plans to walk with Lil' Sister again Friday night and she was bringing Ty-Ty with her because her hubby was working.

I decided that it was just too hot to subject lil' Ty-Ty to the heat. Aren't I the best Auntie ever?

Instead I grabbed a movie from Redbox (I love Redbox!), and headed over to Lil' Sister's house for a different type of workout.

Yep, a little Wii Sports action!

We started off with tennis but it wasn't pretty. For someone with little to no eye-hand coordination, I never got the swing of it (excuse the pun).

So we switched to boxing and I found my true calling. I jabbed, I cut, I swung. I was a natural. Lil' Sister wasn't too bad either.

It actually was a pretty good workout for our arms. Not sure we burned too many calories though!

After several knock-out rounds of boxing, we switched to Wii Carnival Games. I really enjoy the carnival games and we competed in some head-to-head games.

Can you tell it was exciting? Notice the dog...she couldn't stand it and had to close her eyes.

I should tell you Lil' Sister is really, really competitive. Me not so much. After besting her in the first few games, she got serious and kicked my butt!

However, I had the largest cheering section:

He was super-excited at his Auntie's total domination in the boxing ring!

After our vigorous workout, we rewarded ourselves with a true chick flick - Valentine's Day! Cute movie, nothing earth-shattering. Worth watching just to see if you can name all of the movie stars in it.

The best thing about playing Wii games (besides the company) was that I didn't snack the entire evening - that's helpful in terms of the slim down campaign!

Stay tuned...picking some toning exercises and doing them!

Disclaimer: Lil' Sister and her family are living in a great little rental house while they build a new home. So the window treatments and carpet in the above photos do not reflect her decorating tastes!