I'm back from a quick trip down to Southern California this past weekend to see family and my college girlfriends. I'm so grateful that I was able to get out, despite the myriad of things that tried to trip up my ability to do so last week. It was wonderful to spend a little bit of time with family -- including my folks (even though we have had the fortune to see them recently up here), my sister and her family, and especially my grandmother. It was too short -- I would have loved to have more time to spend with them, but I guess those are the breaks.

The real purpose of the weekend was to join my college girlfriends for our annual reunion weekend. We realized that we have now known each other for 21 years -- more than half of our lives. I know that I am beyond fortunate to have a group of 11 women I can depend on after all these years. We are able to come together each year and pick up like we just saw each other last week. That is such an unusual thing and I can't help but smile in glee that we have managed to keep up such wonderful relationships with each other. This year we got to celebrate two upcoming babies (Liz will have her baby girl in January and Jessie will have a baby boy in April). We also celebrated my friend Meghan's upcoming marriage -- she's nearing 40 years old and getting married for the first time. There were sad things to share, too -- a friend getting a divorce that we wish she'd slow down about. But amidst the good, the bad, and the ugly, we had a wonderful time sharing, laughing, doing goofy dances in the living room of our condo in San Diego, shopping, and having a celebratory high tea at the Grand Hyatt in Carlsbad.

Yes, in some ways I pay upon return. I had nearly 5 hours of billable work yesterday, plus 4 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, a trip to Costco, and all of the afternoon kid related tasks (piano lessons, plus about 2 hours of extra homework for Cate as she attempts to catch up from a week missed at school last week). But it's worth it. Despite the busy-ness of the weekend and the return, I'm still feeling refreshed from a weekend with the girls.

Oh -- and that photo? The view from our balcony of the condo we stayed in at Carlsbad. Hard to beat.