New Friends That Immediately Feel Like Old Friends!

How is it that you can meet some people and from the very start it feels like you've known one another for ages? That's exactly what it was like this past weekend. Wonderful!!!

Arrived at the hotel around 11:30 Friday night. The other gals were still on the road so I checked into my room, unpacked and what else...hit the business centre to check out my emails! It was referral day! I felt I'd done well to wait until after going to my room!

I couldn't access my email at first! Ahhhhhh! (Only slight hyperventilating followed. Nothing a paper bag and putting my head between my knees couldn't fix.) After recovering, checked Julie's blog to see if she'd posted anything new about sweet Tess. I also read Lisa's blog and saw adorable Maisie's picture for the first time. What a sweetie with that adorable shaved head! (I'm partial to little baldies as mom says I didn't grow much hair until I was 2!)

Checked with the front desk around 12:30 and still no sign of the US contingency. Tried another computer and phew...could access my email! There was an email from Connie saying that they would be arriving early Sat am (2:00ish) so not to be concerned. (I confessed to the girls Saturday that by about midnight I began scheming Plan B in my head if they didn't show up. Hey...the rooms were paid for. Why not treat my friends to a weekend away! ;o)

Knowing my counterparts would arrive in the wee hours of the morning, I left a note at the front desk for them to call me when they arrived and headed back to my room. Turned off the lights around 1:30, set the timer on the TV and drifted off to lala land.

Shortly after 2:30 the phone rang and this fun, bright voice with a great accent said, 'Good Morning Sunshine!' Yup...the US gang with their fun accents had arrived! Connie told me their room numbers twice but in my sleepy stupour I didn't remember them in the morning. A quick call to the front desk confirmed that we were all on the same floor. Yeah! That was a nice bonus as when I checked in I was told they would probably be on a different floor. That would have made it much more difficult for Saturday night's PJ party if I'd have had to ride the elevator in my fuzzy pink pj's!

We met around 10am and it quickly became evident that we'd get along famously! No worries there!

Our first stop was back at the business centre to check out Julie's blog once again. Here is our gang posing with Tess' picture. Julie, you may not have been there in person but you were with us every step of the way in our hearts!

As the weekend moved on we shopped, talked, laughed and ate. Shopped, talked, laughed and ate. Repeat......and again! I'm guessing you get the picture.

It was so neat to see how 4 people with such different personalities and histories can get along so well! To see (and hear) us you'd never have guessed that we'd just met! There was never a lack of conversation (like you're surprised!) and we just fit together so well. No stress about where to go, what to do or where to eat. Ahhh...a wonderful, comfortable friendship!

Let me introduce you to my new friends!

Stacy hails from Kentucky and after watching this season of Amazing Race I was wondering if I'd need an interpreter to understand her. No concerns...she's originally from Boston. Phew! Stacy is so sweet and she and I often commented over the weekend how we wished we lived closer than a 10 hour drive from one another.

Stacy claimed to be shy but after an hour or so we no longer believed her! She was fun and my back seat buddy for most of the trip. Her shopping warmed up slowly but once in the groove that girl could shop! I often laughed as she'd enourage the rest of us to buy things if we even dared mention we were thinking of doing so. While at Ikea (can you believe they don't have Ikea in 'Ohier'?) I thought about purchasing a large white mirror I'd found and she was ready to take me back into the store to get it. It's dimensions are 2 1/2' x 5 1/2' so not sure how we would have fit it in Connie's SUV but it sure was nice to consider. Thankfully it was out of stock so there was no pressure to decide. (My main floor at home is quite dark in the afternoon so I'm guessing a large mirror would help to open it up and brighten it too.) I'll keep this idea in my back pocket for another time. (Just found out in looking up the link above that it worked out better too because it's the same price in Canadian and US dollars so it will cost me less to purchase it here. Great!)

Back to my friend Stacy. We laughed, shopped and enjoyed getting to know one another. She's calm in frustrating situations we found out too. Saturday her room was not cleaned. No problem right? Just call the desk and they'll take care of it. Ummm...no. The less than kind kid at the front desk told her that rooms are only cleaned when requested. Ya right! Our other 2 rooms were done. Anyway, 'Ashley' (real name used in order to show the guilty) was quite the piece of work! Eventually Stacy's room was cleaned and towels, water, etc. provided but we still wanted to talk to someone the next day about the way she was treated. It was only 9am when we were at the front desk and we were complaint #2 about her already that day. Let's just say that by the time we came back Sunday night, Ashley was no longer employed by Sheraton. I hate to think of people getting fired but this chicke was nasty!

Stacy, Can't wait until we get together again!! Love ya!

Next is the infamous Connie! If possible, she's even funnier in person than she is on her blog! She was our driver for the weekend and most times was great! (Let's just say I learned a new word for that handle in the ceiling of the car when she almost missed a 90o curve that the road took! :o) We laughed, shopped and she was officially named our shopping queen for the weekend! Little Jadyn is going to be the best dressed kid in all of Ohier! Connie loved to tease me about my accent (what's she talking about eh?) and before the weekend was over I had her speakin' real good Canadian! As a 'professional baby catcher' I learned a ton about being a midwife! Sounds like a great job and Connie's fun, happy personality would be the kind of person you'd want in your delivery room!

Connie will be the first in our group to get her referral so we're all excited for her! We still don't know when it will be but you know we'll all be tearing up in front of our computer screens when we see Jadyn's beautiful face for the first time.
Thanks for all the work you went to in setting everything up Connie! Much appreciated!

Last, but definitely not least I'd like to introduce you to my friend Penguin...err, I mean Krista! Krista is all about penguins! I think little Mia is going to be wearing new, adorable little penguin pajamas every night for the first 5 years of her life! I've never realized how much penguin stuff there is around until spending the weekend with Krista! Just today while out at lunch I saw some penguin clothes and immediately thought of my new friend from Ohio, Krista, the baby of our group is a detective! Who woulda thunk it? She had a ton of great stories to tell us and we often probed for more. She was the observant one in the group and could tell us what was going on and who was around us at all times. Thanks also for placing my supper order Saturday night Krista! :o)

I'd looked forward to this weekend with great anticipation but a part of me was concerned. What if we didn't get along? What if we ran out of things to talk about or places to go? I need not have worried one iota! The entier weekend was AMAZING from start to finish and I met 3 awesome women that I am pleased to call friends!

Looking forward to Motor City Bloggy Meet-up II in February gals! We'd better start saving our pennies now!