I am so super excited. Dena and I are going to be flying to Helen, Georgia in October for a fun-filled, all girls weekend during Oktoberfest. Apparently, Helen, GA is THE place to be during Oktoberfest and so that is where we will be! I got an email from my friend Renee and her sister inviting me to the Girl’s Weekend:

You’re Invited to Attend
Girl’s Weekend 2007
for Oktoberfest in Helen, Georgia!

When:
Fri & Sat October 5 & 6

Details:
The idea is to get away with “just the girls” for a weekend in October. Since Oktoberfest is only 3.5 hours away from Charlotte (45 min. north of Atlanta) it seemed like the perfect location for this year’s festivities! I mean what could spell out more fun than beer (or I am sure other alcoholic beverages for those who do not drink beer), cool weather, and loads of things to do in the mountains??? Since the trip is still in the planning phase, I need to get an idea of who all is “in” for the trip. Check your calendars and RSVP by Tuesday, July 10. That gives you one week to talk to any other potential invitees (feel free to invite other people), take a look at your personal finances, and then decide if you can make this year’s trip. Just to give you an idea in the way of $$$- I hope to keep the cost for lodging at around $75 per person. The rest of the costs are up to you- depending on how much you like to drink and where you decide to eat. At the bottom of this e-mail are a few websites on the area. Check them out and then make your decision. Remember: RSVP by Tuesday in order to save your spot. I need to book our lodging ASAP! Let me know if you have any questions!

I am excited about going to Oktoberfest, but I am REALLY excited to see my friends Kerry and Renee. Kerry, Renee and I met when we all worked at Bennigan’s together, before kids, back when we were still in, or recently out of college. Here is a picture of the three of us at my wedding, which is the last time the three of us were together at the same time:

We hit it off and became the best of friends FAST. Kerry is a Wild Woman - and her humor reminds me of Cheri Oteri, which is why we hit it off immediately. Renee, was different. She was so quiet and shy - Kerry and I did not know if she was going to be able to hang - but MAN WERE WE WRONG! Renee is a closet Wild Woman and she kept us laughing all the time. We spent our summer days at the beach and our nights at our favorite bar O’Sullivan’s Irish Tavern, where we would bet each other on who could win at chugging pitchers of beer, and eat Trash Can Lid Nachos till we could not move! When it was nothing to push your tab and your credit card across the table to one of the others and tell them to pay it, cause you were too wasted to read what it said. The best nights always included either Kerry’s husband Barry (yes Kerry & Barry - it’s so cute) in his red swim trunks, ending the evening out by opening the front of them to show us what he had to offer OR Kerry and I waiting until Renee went to the bathroom, so that we could sneak in there with a pitcher filled with water to dump over the stall onto her head as she was trying to hover over the toilet to pee!

Some of my favorite memories are with these two girls. Like the time we taught Renee how to shotgun a beer and laughed till we peed our pants watching her try over and over until she was completely soaked in beer - or that same night, holding Renee down and cutting her bra off her with scissors as she screamed that it was one of her “good bras” and that “we were gonna be sorry.”  Then there was the time that they decided to bet me on who could do more shots of rum, except they were not drinking rum, they were filling their shot glasses with water…but I was too drunk to notice - man was I sick the next day. Kerry and I used to show up at Renee’s house ALL the time, unannounced, with other friends in tow and tell her that we had decided to have a cookout at her house and that we hoped she did not mind. I am sure her hubby LOVED us!!! And you can’t forget the Karaoke - oh god the Karaoke, and in coconut bras and grass skirts!

It was one of the saddest days of my life when it was time for Kerry and her husband to move to Pittsburgh, PA. Renee and I helped them load the U-Haul, then we sat around the empty apartment and passed around a champagne bottle as we cried our eyes out and talked about our favorite times together and how much we were going to miss each other. It makes me tear up typing this. Renee was next. She moved to North Carolina and all that was left here was me. We have all seen each other since, but it is never all three of us at the same time, except for at my wedding.

So you can see why I am so excited to see these two girls! Thank goodness we are grown-ups now and won’t be acting like drunken fools….or will we?  Ugghh, I am so excited!!!