Nashville Weekend Pics & CO

Here are a few pictures of my weekend with my TX friends a few weeks ago. If these pictures don't show that we had a GREAT time, I don't know what does!!!!! It was one of the greatest weekends!! Love you girls!!!!!!!

Giddy girls in the dressing room! (Me & Summer)

Tricia & Crysty

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On another note, there will probably be a blog silence from me for the next several days. My parents are coming up the 3rd. We are heading to the Louisville Zoo on the 4th to see Dora the Explorer!! Then on the 5th, we are heading to Colorado for a week!!! I am so excited to be getting away with my family. There is no huge agenda. We are going to go and do as we please, or not go and do if we don't please. ;o) (Nathan & Kacey, we wish you guys were going with us! We'll have to plan a trip closer somewhere next year so that we can all go!!) Anyway, we will be back on the 13th. So, watch for plenty of pics soon after!!!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

I hadn't realized until I was driving down that I had never left both Sydney & Ryan. Typically when I leave Sydney with someone, it is because I am spending some quality time with my hubby. This time, it was just for me. I have to say that I felt very selfish while driving to Nashville. I told myself that I really needed the time away with some friends to recharge, but I didn't really realize how true that was.

Summer and I stayed up talking until 3:15 AM!! If that doesn't tell you that friends are happy to see each other, I don't know what does! We finally got so tired we couldn't figure out what we were saying. So, we decided it was time to go to sleep.

The next day, we all went to Cracker Barrell for brunch...ok, it was lunch time, but it felt like brunch to us! :o) After brunch, we went to Opry Mills. Shopping with 3 other girls = fun! We had a blast! We would all try on clothes if one person was going to try something on even though we knew we weren't going to buy anything. A lady even asked us if we were sisters or just really good friends. Isn't that awesome?! We haven't all been together since Ryan and I left TX over a year ago & we are still close enough that someone could mistake us for sisters.

Friday night, Summer left. That was hard because we had only been with her for 24 hours. It was great having her for that small amount of time, but it had us all craving for more time. Crysty, Tricia, and I went to Olive Garden to treat ourselves since we were feeling sad. For me, it was a great treat! Ryan and I never go there because it is a quiet restaurant & my daughter doesn't really know how to be quiet.

After dinner, we went back to Tricia's sister's apartment (Thanks, Jennifer, for letting us crash there while you were away!!!!). We stayed up & talked, but crashed a little earlier. It was great spending quiet time with the gals.

Saturday we ate more, shopped more, and laughed more. Tricia and I dropped Crysty off to ride home with Summer. After that, we shopped a little until I had to head to Paducah.

It was such a refreshing time with people who know and love me. I had never really experienced what a true friend was until I went to TX. Thank you girls for being such an amazing support to me. I can't wait until the next time we are all able to get together!! LY!

Friends

Leaving Texas was a very hard thing for me to do. One would think that moving closer to family would be a piece of cake for me since I am such a family gal. But no, it was terribly difficult. I was thrilled to be getting closer to family for me and for my daughter. The difficulty came because I left the best friends that I have ever had. I had never been able to be myself around other girls before TX. I feel like most won't open up & be themselves, which to me typically equals fake. I had 3 friends with me in an prayer group that really allowed themselves to be vulnerable & open up about their wants, desires, fears, struggles, etc. They allowed me to be me. I never once had to act like someone that I'm not. You just don't find that very often. So, when we moved there was the mommy in me that was thankful that my daughter would know her grandparents. Then there was me...Lesli...the one who wanted to selfishly say, "We're staying!!" 

As you all know, the mommy won over & we moved. I have now been living in KY for a year & 3 months. I am thankful for my decision because my daughter LOVES her grandparents, aunts, & uncles (and soon to be cousin!). We made the right decision, but that doesn't mean that I don't miss my friends terribly. 

Me with Tricia

Today is a special day. All four of us are meeting in Nashville for a girl's weekend!!!!! We will all get there about bedtime tonight...which means we will be terribly exhausted tomorrow since it is a given that we won't go straight to bed. :o)  We won't get long all together, but at least I'll be able to be in their company for a few days.

Summer, skinny me, & Crysty

Thank you Summer, Tricia, & Crysty for being such amazing friends. Even though we've been apart for over a year, you still are as close to me as you were the day we left. I can't wait to be with you this weekend & will cherish every moment! 

Now, I don't want you to mistake me to say that these were my only good friends in TX. That is SO not the truth. I had another friend that was like a sister to me. I also miss her terribly. She also, has girls that are really close to Sydney's age. I wish so much that Sydney could have grown up with them. That is a playdate that you don't have to worry about! She is a great mom & they are great girls! I miss you, too, Brit!! One of these days we'll have to meet in the middle with the girls. :o)

I will post again after the weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend, too!!! 

Not Great Hosts

If you read my last blog about having one of my bestest friends come to visit, you know we had a good time...all except Sydney. She had a good time. She just got sick while Crysty was here. As it turns out, we have ALL gotten sick! I got a message from Crysty yesterday saying that she was sick & had been for a day or so. It seems that we adults got the virus much worse than our little counterpart. While I'm thankful she didn't get it as bad as we have, did we really have to be worse? Ah...I hope that we will all be better by tomorrow so that our sickness doesn't interfere with our Easter weekend plans! 

Thanks, Crysty, for coming!! Sorry we got you sick! I promise, we don't make it a habit to get our guests sick!! You can come back one day. ;o)

Great friend

My friend, Crysty, from Dallas, has been here for 5 days!! It has been GREAT having her here. She was one of my closest friends in Texas & I have missed her dearly. It had almost been a year since I had seen her, but as soon as we got together it felt like we were together just yesterday. I am blessed to have a friend like that! 

Thursday afternoon, I picked her up at Lipscomb. We then headed to Opry Mills!! We were in search of an Easter dress for Sydney. After much searching & ending at Rivergate Mall, we were successful. Yay! We then headed home.

Friday, we went to Louisville to shop for Easter dresses for ourselves! I was successful in finding & buying mine. Crysty has picked hers out, but will be making the purchase in Dallas. It was so much fun shopping with her!! 

Saturday we were L-A-Z-Y!! It was great! We watched home improvement shows all day. After all the education in decorating, we should be qualified as interior designers!! Well, the day could have been better since Sydney had a stomach virus & was not feeling well. Because of that, it was the perfect day to be lazy. 

Sunday we weren't quite as lazy, but still had our moments. Sydney was still sick, but felt better than Saturday.

Today was the sad day. The day that we took Crysty back to the airport. If it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't seen her husband in almost a week, we probably would have kidnapped her & not let her go back to Dallas! 

We had a great time! I am so thankful to have a friend that can live 650 miles away, but always feel like she's right next door. There aren't that many out there like her. Thanks, Crysty!! 

I MISS DALLAS!

No, not the traffic or having to work & take my baby to daycare. Minus those things & being away from family, I miss it so much. I miss worshipping at PRCC!! Besides one time at PBC (camp), PRCC is the only place that I have ever been able to really worship. After I got over the issues that you deal with when working for a church, I was able to let go & worship God each & every Sunday. I was moved. There would be mornings that I would be so down & empty then would leave the worship so full & refreshed. There were moments that moved me to tears while singing. I can't describe it exactly. Actually, I'm noticing that I'm not doing a very good job of relaying my feelings. Just know, I felt closer to God in some of my moments in the PRCC building than I have felt in my whole life. So, seeing pictures today on a friend's blog got me teary.

Then seeing the friend's husband standing on PRCC's stage, I lost it. I miss my Dallas friends SO much! I knew leaving would be hard. I just didn't realize that 6 months later would be just as hard as the day I left. There's a void where friends once were. Sure, we're still friends, but being 13 hours away doesn't allow us to have a close friendship like we once had. And...Grey's Anatomy is getting ready to come back on. I miss my Grey's Anatomy buddy. :-( I guess it is several things happening at once that make me remember how good we had it there. Go girls...I'm missin' ya tonight. LOVE YOU!

Disclaimer: I'm ok. I'm not depressed. So, don't worry. I'm just having a moment & missing some friends.