Everyone's A Winner

On New Year's Eve, of the incoming 2009, I had two resolutions:  Foster my friendships, and accessorize more.  God must have thought my resolutions were more like a prayer request, because he put a ton of cute jewelry, hats, purses and shoes in my path.  More importantly, he brought people into my life that have made it better in so many ways. 

I have two life long best friends, but one lives in Arizona, and the other lives in Oakland (which may as well be Arizona for how hard it is for us to get together).  The previous five years of my life had been spent in pregnancy or child rearing.  I call those "foggy years" because I was completely absorbed in my children, and ignorant of the world around me.  During that time, the friends that Darrin and I had hung out with prior to having children, were having babies of their own, and we seldom got together anymore.  But with Ben being 4 and Lia being 2, I was ready to start having a little "me time" and had nobody to share it with.  That sounds sad, doesn't it?

That year, God sent my way three very special people:  Jen who has the best advice on relationships and a grasp on living God's way; Kate who had been my friend for a long time but became one of my best friends that year, and Shawna, who has by far been the best part of Ben being in school and sports.  These girls, along with my incredible sister, helped me get out of "the fog" and discover myself again.  I can drink wine with any one of them and completely spill my guts, or listen to them spill theirs, and we can relate to each other.  That relating part is the most important thing, and the reason we all need girlfriends in our lives.

And then, a year ago this month, Shawna started a Bunco group.  Trust me, this is not your mother's Bunco.  Although we are a group of moms (mostly of kids at my son's school) who all live in Wilton, we know how to have a good time.  We put real meaning into the slang term "Drunko".  Usually we will actually play a whole game of dice, but often we only get about half done.  We are so busy laughing, talking about our kids and husbands, complaining about HOA's or the school administration, and drinking wine, that the evening goes by before you know it.  Oh, and we tend to be slightly completely inappropriate at times.

Carla, my 24 year old sister, made fun of me when I first started with my bunco group.  Then about three months in I invited her to be a sub.  They made her a permanent member that night because she fit in so well.  Now she invites her friends to be subs.  I'd like to think that means we're cool. 

Last night Carla and I hosted the February Bunco - which happens to be our group's one year anniversary.  To celebrate (ok, maybe that's just an excuse) we decided to have Bunco on a Friday, with plans to go to the Wrangler after our game was over.  Well, we drank champagne last night (with pomegranate juice, yum!) and we never did roll the dice once.  But we did go to the Wrangler, thanks to our designated driver husbands.  And folks, I'm just not sure Wilton was ready for the likes of us.  In short, we had an amazingly fun, and completely slightly inappropriate time just being with the girls we love.  I wonder how many years it will be before we don't even get the dice out anymore and we just head straight for the wine?

(Since my 2009 resolutions came together so well, it really makes it hard to pick new ones each year.  This year I'm going for an end to the recession and that California becomes a Republican state.)

Here's some pics from last night's "Bunco Game" - at my house (missing Cyndi, Sandy & Candie, but with Kate and Lea as subs), and at the Wrangler writing "Bunco Bitches" on the ceiling.  That was Sarrah's idea, but she couldn't stand on the barstool so I got to do it.