Amigas de la Van and beyond

Holy cow! I have such fun friends! My family is wondering what's up with me, because I can't keep the grin off my face. Normally that's evidence of a) a new man in my life or b) THE man of my life (still) emailing me. But today, it's seriously just because I have the best friends in the world.
It was a good weekend, for sure. I'm trying to even remember Friday... OH! OK. Got it (can you tell I'm a bit sleep-deprived, as usual?). I went to the Nativity display/Messiah concert with my new pal Emily. Nash, Pamsicle, T and I sang our old standby "Star Bright" for prelude and got to feel all warm and fuzzy. Em and I sat with Margaret Ann and Wendy during the concert, and W always has something entertaining to say. It was all just peaceful and enjoyable.
Saturday was even better. After an excellent (and productive) shopping morning, I met Pammy at Gardunos. If you haven't been there in a while, GO! Run like the wind. It was super yummy, and a great time. The one at Winrock isn't even crowded anymore. Anyway, we then went to see "Twilight" with Nash and some girls from choir. Ruthie and Jessica were HILARIOUS! There's something so funny about seeing grown women drool over teenage vampires that never gets old. It was Pam and Audrey's first time as well, and they are insta-fans. And I'll admit, I'll likely see it at least once more (probably more, when it hits the dollars).
Saturday night was hectic, with T's bridal shower and lots of errand-y things. I didn't accomplish as much as I'd like, but I went to bed pretty grateful.
SUNDAY, however, was a circus and a riot. Church was good and uplifting and spiritual, as always, but the after-parties (aka Break the Fast and the girls coming to dinner) were outrageous. First, BTF: somehow the VT girls plus some of our honorary members (read Elizabeth and Karissa) were all kind enough to learn some Polish. They sang a rousing rendition of "Panie Janie" for my friend Nathan's voicemail. By the end of our lunch, they were yelling to random boys, "Chodz mi. Czesc! Pocaluj mnie! Szybko! Kocham ciebie. Na razie!" Basically, it was "Come here, hello. Kiss me! Hurry! I Love you, and see you later." It was AWESOME! Or, as we say in Polish, bardzo spoko. I feel really good that they've learned the essentials.
Later, the ladies came over for some tomato soup, Lou's yummy rolls, and Italian cream cake. The food was good, but the company was better. I love my girls! We laughed and laughed. It's heartwarming to know that I have friends who I can share all my deepest, darkest, most awkward stories with. And it's really comforting to know that things like that have happened to most of them as well. I feel like I learned a lot about my friends this weekend, and I'm going to miss them terribly when I don't just have them at my disposal!
And beyond the few people I got to spend time with this weekend, there are so many more of you out there for me to love! Hearing from my Polish BFFs about their pending visit has me bouncing off the walls. A phone call from a former roommate put that same slap-happy grin on my face. I reconnected with a boy I love (platonically) and I wondered why in the world we haven't had time for one another this semester. I get my daily text messages from Paul as part of our Christmas countdown. There's so much love in my life that I guess my heart is just expanding.