Nine Ladies Dancing

The surprise worked.  In fact I think Blair was actually stunned, she just stood there for a minute with this dumbstruck look on her face.  I'm so glad I went early... I pulled off a surprise, got to see an old friend, spend a few extra hours with The Nine, and *drum roll please* got to eat in my favorite place in LaGrange- Peking.  [yummy] Peking is our college place... feels like it never changes, in a good way.    

Later Friday night and then Saturday morning the rest of the girls began to arrive.  Everyone was able to come this time.  And to quote Megs, "this was the best gathering since college we've had yet!"  Full disclosure:  She says that every time we get together.  But this time I kinda think she might have been right.  We ate great food (really phenomenal- I'll work on posting some of the recipes later), enjoyed fellowship time, and exchanged thoughtful ornaments in three beautiful homes (Megs, Katie, and Noelle all have homes within a block of each other- perfect for our progressive dinner).  The ornament exchange was so fun and its strange how even when we draw names the right person always seems to receive the right ornament.  Before the meal, some of us got a chance to walk around our college campus again... it's only about a mile from "the Nine compound." [smile]  We even happened to run into our freshmen year dorm RD, Ms. Kirby, who let us revisit our old haunts.  All around the best day and a half I've had in a long time.  It sounds so corny, but sometime you really do need to go "where everybody knows your name."  On the way back home Saturday night I was listening to a new mix tape Blair had given each of us and when this song "You don't know me at all" started to play I realized that if you count "The Nine" as one entity I can count on two hands the number of people who actually really know me.  And I'm so grateful for the time I can spend with them.    

Thanks to the appendages for taking photos... yes we call husbands of the Nine "the appendages."  Now that I think about it we kinda have our own language.  Maybe we should publish a dictionary. [smile]

If you want to get some perspective on the weekend or just see more photos, check out these other blog posts:  Blair (December 2oth and 21st) and Katie.

Just, Margaret