Deuces

I created a new Pandora playlist- It's my Emeli Sandé station.   Love her. It's been a banger station, hit to hit as I transition into this week back from some much-needed time away from my computer- a week away from the noise raging in my head- a week away from the mail I haven't looked at for a while that sits in wait on my desk. The one word to describe my trip to England... Necessary. Though there are so many layers to the trip I couldn't fit it into a blog.  The layer that involves necessary time with extended family and friends, the layer that revolves around the unique time I spent with Sayler in the confines and freedoms away from WiFi and work, a layer involving time with my husband as his passenger- because it's a great feeling to be a passenger, both literally and figuratively.  To rest my head for a short while and let someone take lead.  And there was the layer of focus on creating a great and memorable experience for Ariel...

Things escalate really quickly when I don't get a reply from my sanchita. Ariel can be so elusive! But she's sweet too. We often have "sancha" days just her and I and a nice long hike or pedicure or run or massage... And like a good sancha she sends me texts like this: She can read my mind in an eerie way and sends me Groupon codes for massages and vacations and everything else she knows I dream about. That's my Sanchita.

Through California, lunch in Vegas, a jaunt through Arizona and seeing what we dubbed "the birth canal" of Utah. 10:30 pm and we're still driving, determined to reach Colorado before getting a room for the night. Conversations: endless. To the point we realized we hadn't turned on the radio all day. Finally, to fight the fatigue, we found a Britney Spears mix cd in Lloyd's car (wtf?). Highlights include playing the "ungame", dangerous pulling over quickly on the freeway to capture photos like this: And seeing a tiger cross the highway:

Leaving for our Girl's Only Road Trip. No husbands, sanchos, boos, boyfriends or babies. And though we'll miss our little families for these 5 days ahead, we're looking forward to celebrating our years of friendship by hitting the open road, leaving behind the messes in our homes, the to-do lists, the work that has been piling up, the demands, obligations and stack of bills. Because within every mama, wife and girlfriend is a dame who likes to laugh so loud with her girlfriends, let her hair down, confide in another and to enjoy the presence of the relationships that have sustained her the longest.  We have no agenda except to get to Colorado and to this cabin: