girls weekend and what follows

i've been meaning to write for a while now. actually since december first. i was out on a girls weekend from november 28 to december 2. it was at the banff gate mountain resort. i spent the weekend with 3 of my best ladies. it was a fabulous time of sleep, sleep, and more rest. rest being different from sleep because i was able to just be quiet and not have to be on the go or have to answer to anyone or give answers to anyone. i find those times in my life are fewer and more rare all the time. i have dropped some pictures in so that my ladies are represented. this first one is the highly and most awesomely talented vicky.

these next two pictures are by jenni. the mountain picture was actually taken at about 11pm with a full moon. fabulous. jenni is the one on the right in this picture taken in canmore. i made numerous jokes throughout the four days when something funny or ridiculous happened that i would blog about it.

i've decided that i'm nothing if my threats are empty. but as i sit here and blog (in an effort to avoid completing my annual budget for work), i am failing to remember anything that i really threatened to blog about...except one thing that stands out more than anything...

the puzzle. for the purposes of this story - participant's names have been changed.

i think if i were to live to be 100 i will never take part in putting together a puzzle. jane and sally embarked on the great puzzle conquest of 2009. jane, the Puzzle-Veteran and sally, the Puzzle-Virgin spent 24 hours working on this puzzle (i believe it was The Lonely Planet) breaking only to eat and sleep and perhaps go to the washroom. they triumphantly finished it and then, as if they had not spent five minutes assembling it - it was destroyed. taken apart and put back in the box so that someone else could feel the rush of...the puzzle. if you google jigsaw puzzles...you'll find that the puzzle assemblers are often referred to as addicts. yup - addicts.

i'll tell you this...i'm not an addict. but this lady claims she is. anyways - i poke fun at this but really, it was good - the whole weekend was great. looking back on it, it is merely the second installment in what will be a long and glorious list of girls' weekends for us...at least that is my hope.

but it's been a couple weeks since the girls weekend concluded. we'll have to wait for another year to hear how we all fared. christmas is all but upon us now and i leave in just over a week for st. louis. those who know me are well aware (though i'm making efforts to not be as vocal as i have been...apparently making statements like: "I hate Christmas" aren't easily forgotten) that i am not the biggest fan of the merry season. mostly it's the rush and commercialism of it all. i know and believe in the "Reason" for the season but i just can't wait until it's finished. the -41 hasn't really made it any easier. i've stayed home more this month than most other decembers which again, i haven't minded too much. but it will all start again in january with a week in saskatchewan and 5 teacher conventions following that. hurrah for winter! i'll let you know how st. louis turns out!

anyways, i'm going to sign off now. this last picture is taken at 8am. have a great picture - regardless of how you spend it.