“Our girlfriends can’t save us, for only God can do that, but girlfriends can help make a tragedy bearable. They can read our mind and our emotions, intuitively recognize what needs to be done — then do it. They can listen, empathize and show compassion. They can be used by God to comfort us and provide a timely shoulder to cry on.” -Unknown (if you know it, please let me know, I’ve been hunting for where this came from with no luck)

Girls Weekend 2016!

For years, years! We’ve always talked about having a girls weekend and head to NYC – see a show, slumber parties in a snazzy hotel and just take the city by storm. It just never seemed to happen. It’s always so easy to mention it, and then life happens and another year has passed and no trip was made. It seems as though when you loose someone very close to you, you take a step back and look at life a little differently. So when we lost Grandpa a few months ago after he fought such an incredibly courageous and powerful fight against that dreaded “C” word. #cancersucks …I decided that this year needed to be different. We needed to make that trip happen. We need a girls weekend to spoil ourselves, to build relationships and have something to get excited about. So let the NYC trip planning begin – well in the midst of planning Kay & Mitch’s wedding – we quickly realized a trip to NYC just financially wasn’t responsible for everyone. But that doesn’t mean we ditch the Girls Weekend plan, it doesn’t matter where you are, it just matters who you’re with. So a trip to Grammy’s house made sense. Slumber parties in the basement on the futon are just as good as a NYC hotel room, right?!

The weekend was, as we knew it would be, amazing! & exhausting. I feel like I need a weekend to recover from this weekend – funny how that works!

Grammy has been going through closets and boxes and cleaning things out. Well she discovered a pile of artwork and notes and letters from us grandkids from over the years. They were a kick to check out and read through. Kayleigh probably had the best letter of them all. Those were some good belly laughs!

Dinner on Friday night was at the Peanut Bar , we had our own private room! That was fun! Here’s Ashleigh(on the left- my cousin) and Kayleigh (on the right – my little sister).

All the girls at dinner on Friday night 🙂

Left to right: Aunt Robin, Me, Mom(Carol), Ashleigh, Kayleigh, Aunt Deb & Grammy sitting down.
These are my women. Well 6 of them at least. I have been beyond blessed to have grown up surrounded by some of the most incredibly kind, honest, hilarious and empowering independent women. Each one of them has loved me through my trials and pushed me to be better. Each one of them has shaped me into the person I am today and will continue to as life moves forward. Blessed doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about these ladies(and the others in my life)!

Saturday morning, we grabbed some breakfast. Piled into the car and of course grabbed some #selfies and hit the road. We headed for Orwigsburg, PA – my hubby is from there and his parents still live there where my mother-in-law owns a jewelry studio. She creates some of the most amazing jewelry by hand. Well these ladies haven’t been there before, so um, who doesn’t want to go jewelry shopping! So up to K-Ost Jewelry we went.

After some shopping, it was off to some winery tours! First stop, Vynecrest.

2nd winery on the tour for the day, Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery. This place had my favorite two wines of the day! Just scrumptious!! Love me some Savigonese & Turtle Rock Red.

We finished off our tour at Pinnacle Ridge. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of their wines (they were good but I was just so in love with Clover Hill), I LOVED their venue! The rustic nature of it. It really felt the most like a Pennsylvania winery.

After our tours, we headed to Kutztown Tavern for some incredible dinner and then home to watch a movie.

Sunday was some breakfast and a trip ride home. We’ve already started planning next years trip – we’re thinking a spa weekend?! We’ve definitely started a tradition here. A tradition I am so excited to enjoy over the next many many years.

A tradition, I encourage you all to start with your families! And boys, start one with the guys. You need a guys weekend just as much as we girls need girls weekends!