The Absolute Necessity of Having Girlfriends

After being home from a ten day trip to Colorado for all of four days I left again. That's enough time to do laundry, pay any bills that caused utilities to be shut off, throw out slimy vegetables and furry food, and sleep in your own bed. At least that's what I told myself.

What started with a group of four women has grown to about seven, sometimes eight; women who have shared enough of life that we are bound together, regardless of differences in our life situations. We've started a tradition of getting together for birthdays, and once in awhile somebody finds a way for us to get away for a night or two to a cabin or condo or such. One of our friends had just finished building a beautiful cabin in the mountains near here, and she invited the gang up to celebrate a birthday.

Some went for two nights, some of us were only able to join for one night. We took tons of appetizers, bottles of wine, plenty of desserts which might have been mostly chocolate, junk magazines, chick flicks, comfy pjs and that's about it.

It rained the entire time we were there;
we didn't care.

We all came home tired.
We weren't there for sleep.
We might have all gained a bit of weight.
That's just the sign of a successful girl trip!



I'm beginning to feel like I've learned a lot about friendship in the past fourteen years here in PA, and I owe my thanks to this beautiful group of women.

Thank you, Cathy, Becky, Carol, Lisa Beth, Robin and Karen for making life rich and fun and full to overflowing with the blessing of friendship. And for not wearing makeup the entire weekend.

Here's a great recipe that Carol brought to share; we could not stop eating it! Funny, I was planning to make it today and was in the grocery store without my copy of the recipe, wondering if I was remembering all the ingredients - ran into Carol who was there, recipe in hand, shopping for the ingredients to make it for weekend guests. I'd forgotten the red pepper and the red onion. You're going to love it - it's perfect for watching fall football.

Texas Caviar:

1 can pinto beans (the least offensive, BTW) drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red onion, diced fine

Mix together in a bowl then make the marinade:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Dissolve sugar in vinegar. tir constantly while adding oil. Pour over bean mixture. Refrigerate overnight. Drain excess liquid before serving. Use scoop style chips to eat it up!