simply taking some girl time

i'm always impressed at how i manage to carve out time for myself even with the three kids, husband, full-time job, house, and endless appointments. but i do, i have to, because otherwise i would go absolutely crazy. since moving to upstate new york we've fallen in with some friends who take annual girls and guys trips. the guys go to a hunting lodge and spend a weekend bbq-ing and playing lawn games and ingesting insane amounts of alcohol. while there is some logistical planning that goes into the weekend, the time of year, the location, and general itinerary are always the same, so man camp is so easy to plan. the girls' getaway is kind of a logistical nightmare, especially considering that there are 10 of us in the group and we don't all enjoy the same things.

plus we have to change up locales every year and not everyone can make it every year and there's a whole lot of drama. one of the husbands jokingly called the weekend cramp, and that's the moniker that stuck, and it's hard to argue that it isn't absolutely fitting.

this year we are going to lake placid, ny. it should be fun, once we are there i know i will have fun. but the lead up to the weekend is always stressful and exhausting. i always think that i'll have time to read or watch tv shows i haven't caught up on but that is never the case. (in fact by tomorrow night i have to watch episodes of vampire diaries and the originals lest i fall too far behind and the episodes fall off hulu.)

but lest i make it sound like this weekend is a total nightmare--it's really not--here are some of the fun things i got to do to prepare for it. i was put in charge of souvenirs for our weekend. a little too optimistically i decided on monogrammed flip-flops for everyone. here's a snap of mine:

one side has my initials and the other a logo i designed for us for the weekend. i bought the flip-flops at old navy and found two etsy shops to supply the vinyl decals. i'm so excited about the logo decals. i love it when i get to use illustrator for stuff. it's the nerdy graphic designer side of me that gets all excited, even though lord knows i'm not even all that good at it. it's still just something i love to do. and i'm excited to share it with my friends. i also made monogrammed stemless wine glasses and a goody bag full of treats like lipsmackers lip balm, mini nail files and polish, face cleansing wipes, chewing gum and some fancy hand lotions. now i just have to wait for them to open their gifts to see if they like it. waiting is the hardest part.