Retreat week

On Thursday, I left to go to my writing retreat. The three days prior to that are kind of a blur. I did highlight my hair one of those days and then had to go get it fixed by a professional. It was only a small fix. I didn't totally ruin my hair or anything. It's blond again. Not that you can tell in this picture.

I really like how my hair curls now that it's long and I've been looking into helping it look its best. I found a book called Curly Girl: A Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Curly-Girl-Handbook-Michele-Bender/dp/076115678X/) that gives a lot of great advice. One of the things is to not dry your hair with a terrycloth towel--because it takes too much moisture out of your hair. They recommend using an old t-shirt, so I've been doing that to see what I think. The best part is I look like a "Girl with a Pearl Earring" every time I wash my hair. :)

Thursday morning, I ended up having two of Mira's friends over to play. Not the best idea when you're trying to pack for a long weekend, but I can be rather dense when it comes to time management.

Mira was making funny faces at me while I was working on my computer.

Thursday afternoon, I took all the kids to my mom's house so that she could watch them until Steve got off work. I then drove to my friend's house so she could drive us the rest of the way to the retreat.  Of course, after months of unseasonably warm weather, it decides to snow for the first time this year, on Thursday. So not only did we have to drive up into the mountains in a snowstorm but we got ridiculously lost. What should have been an hour and a half drive ended up taking us four hours. Bah!

But it was SO worth it! I had an amazing tmie.  This was our view from the condo we rented:

I volunteered to make the breakfasts while we were there. One morning I made them all shaped pancakes. They turned out really good.

I got a ton of writing done, ate SO MUCH good food, laughed and laughed and laughed, and got to know some amazing ladies even better. It was a balm for my soul. Looking forward to another one next year! :)

When I got home this morning, my kids were excited to see me. But Cecily was the most excited. It made my heart happy that she was so excited to have me back.

Her face when I walked in the door:

I am so blessed!