Happy Birthday, Jane!

I have to begin the day by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jane. I am not sure what she has planned for the day, but I hope it's fabulous! The picture posted above is the 4 of us at her birthday celebration last year. This took place at McCormick & Schmick's at our favorite shopping center (Northpark). Jane wanted Northpark Gold for her birthday. We know how much Jane loves bodacious bling, so Wendy hot-melt glued the Northpark Gold coins on to some earring backs and made Jane a pair of Northpark Gold earrings worth $50 each. Jane loved them, but her biggest dilemma -- does she keep them or spend them?

Her annual birthday luncheon is scheduled for Monday, December 11th because that was the first day we could all get it on our calendars. Can't tell you what we have planned for this year because it would give away the surprise. We will be having lunch at P. F. Chang's (at Northpark, of course).

Here's to you, Jane. Hope your day is wonderful!

Good Holiday Recipe

As promised, I am going to share some holiday ideas. Here is a good holiday tip for my gal pals and anyone else looking for a good dessert recipe. Yesterday, I had to bring a dessert to my aunt's thanksgiving feast. I made a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle that I saw on the Food Network's Paula Dean cooking show. While it didn't turn out looking exactly like the one Paula made, it was a huge hit. Everyone tried a sample of it and thought it tasted great. The recipe can be found on the Food Network's Web site.

You don't have to wait until next year. You could serve this at any holiday party. The recipe makes a LOT, so if you are serving a smaller group, you should only make half. I ended up using my salad spinner bowl because it was the biggest one I had. Not the prettiest, but at least it was effective.

If anyone wants the recipe for the cranberry jello salad, please let me know. It's my cousin's favorite, and I had to bring it as well, by special request.

Giving Thanks for all My Blessings

Today was an awesome day! I have so many things for which to be thankful -- my friends and family top the list. I know this is a blog about my friends, but I have to pay homage to my family on this day of Thanksgiving.

I was able to spend most of the day with my family at the "Aunt Farm". Two of my aunts, along with a few of my cousins, live out in the country on several acres of land. We deemed it the "Aunt Farm" several years ago. It's a great place for family gatherings. My mother passed away many years ago, and being with my aunts is the closest thing to being with her. It's a rare occasion that all my siblings are in the same place together, but today was one of those occasions. It made the day all that more special.

We ate lots of turkey with all the trimmings, watched some football (Go, Cowboys!) and had time to catch up with each other. I am including a picture of me and my 2 sisters and my brother. Both my brother and 1 of my sisters are cancer survivors. I am so thankful that everyone is healthy and that we could all be together today. (Note: The little hand sticking out of the side of the picture belongs to my 5-year-old nephew. He wanted to be in the picture.)

We All Wish We Could Look As Good as Barby!

Introducing last, but certainly not least, our gal pal Barby. Barby is the most glamourous of the group! She is always very polished. All of her accessories actually match her outfits. She looks great in anything she wears! We all wish we could look as good as she does!

The other really great thing about Barby is that she "tells it like it is." We have an annual Christmas ornament exchange, and one year Jane insisted that we bring ornaments that we made ourselves. Jane remembers the year - 1993. She remembers it because I, who have NO time whatsoever to make homemade Christmas ornaments bought big gold bells, tied a ribbon at the top and painted "1993" on each bell. Let's just say that Jane was less than impressed. The next time that Jane suggested that we hand-make our ornaments, Barby just came right out and said that she didn't want any of that "crap" on her tree! I love it! She just comes right out and says what the rest of us are thinking.

I had to share this particular picture of Barby. It was taken at a luncheon the four of us had to celebrate Barby's well-deserved promotion. Now that you've met my best gal pals, I will share more about our experiences. We have some holiday tips to pass along, as well.

Our Honolulu Gal Pal, Wendy

I have known Wendy for approximately 25 years. In introducing Wendy, I hardly know where to start. She is one of the most fun people I've ever known. She is also the bravest. I think we all talk about what we want to do someday. Wendy went a giant step further and took action!

We heard her talk about moving to Hawaii, but I don't know that we thought she would really do it. It didn't really sink in with me that she was really leaving us until she started selling all (well, not all, but most) of her possessions. Yes, she and her husband, along with one of the kids and the dogs sold all but a few boxes of their clothes and personal momentos and moved to Honolulu this year. I still can't believe she actually did it!

I miss her a lot, but I am happy for her. Who wouldn't want to live in paradise? I hope I get to get over to see her in 2007. She has been keeping us posted on Dog the Bounty Hunter and other important news from Hawaii. I have invited her to contribute to this blog, so I hope you soon get to meet Wendy yourself. She is also known as Wendetta, but since she moved to Hawaii, her nickname has evolved to Weniki. You will agree with me that she is one of a kind!

Everyone Should Have a Friend Like Jane

I have known Jane for 32 years. She is one of those people you know that if you had to live your life over again, you simply wouldn't do it without Jane. Jane is one of those friends who will tell you when you have a piece of spinach stuck between your teeth. Back many years ago when we were both single, she and I were going out on a Saturday night. When I walked into her house wearing what I thought was a really cute jumpsuit (what can I say -- it was the '80's), she pulled me into her bedroom, and she told me to take off my belt. She went into her closet and pulled out several belts and had me keep trying on different belts before I finally put on one that she deemed acceptable. I was now ready to be seen in public.

When I had to have cortisone shots in my spine, Jane was the one who drove me to the hospital. We both knew someone who worked at the hospital. When they rolled my bed back into the hall, Jane was standing there with our friend ready to give me moral support. When I had surgery and wasn't supposed to drive for several weeks after, Jane was the one who drove me to the doctor.

Jane is probably the most creative person I've ever known. She can do anything with a hot glue gun. She entered a gift wrap contest that our local newspaper sponsored. Her package with the stretch velvet and silk flowers was a prize-winner! So, we had lunch at Neiman's yesterday, and we had to take a few moments to talk with the guys putting up the holiday decorations. We will share what we learned in a future post. We took a picture of a store window where they used bubble-wrap to represent snow. Strange, but it actually worked.

I will share more about Jane and our best gal pals later. Gotta grab another glass of wine.

Losing My Beauty Sleep

Wow! I can see how people get addicted to blogging! I have been awake half the night thinking of things I can post to this. Frankly, this is not good. I need 8 hours of sleep each night to be effective. I have to move my office to another floor today and try to get some work done at the same time. I think my colleagues need to avoid me today.

The best thing that is going to happen today is that I am having lunch with one of my best gal pals, Jane. We are meeting at the Mermaid Bar in Neiman's at Northpark-- one of our favorite spots to grab lunch. I will have the Mermaid Sampler, which is a cup of soup (you have to get the tortilla soup -- it's the best ever) and a half-sandwich (get the chicken salad). It comes with fresh fruit and poppy-seed dressing. Yum!

I haven't seen Jane in several weeks, so I am looking forward to catching up. The holidays are just the best time. We have our annual ornament exchange luncheon coming up. I will fill you in later on how that all got started and how we've kept it going.

Later.

Why Talk about Gal Pals?

I have the wonderful priviledge of having some of the best girlfriends ever! We all have such busy lives that we don't get together much. I had to create a blog for a class I am taking in e-Commerce. When trying to think of what might be fun and interesting for other people to read, I couldn't think of anything more interesting or entertaining than my friends -- my best gal pals.

Over the coming weeks, I will introduce you to my gal pals. I hope to get them involved in the blog, as well. The holidays are coming up. I will keep you posted on our activities and share some fun ideas with you.