Missymuh

He-who-must-not-be-named always referred to these girls as my “invisible” friends. In fact, most of our husbands struggle to believe that they are real people. We all met online, spoke to each other for several years, each state got together occasionally but really most of the time we only speak to each other via facebook or msn. But that doesn’t seem to matter to us. We are all real people and also real friends. Regardless of where we met or how we communicate. And the fact that 12 of us managed to congregate all in the one place at the same time from all over this fine land is nothing short of a miracle (especally considering the current volcanic ash issues disrupting flights) but we managed to do it (for the second time, the first was in Sydney about 4 years ago).

Conveniently this little get together happened to coincide with my …ahem ….cough-30th-cough-birthday-cough which made it all the more special. We wined and dined, talked and shopped, and ate and shopped, and walked, and ate and drank. We rode around in circles on trams. Walked some more, ate a bit more. Consumed the most delicious hot chocolate. Ate. walked. talked. giggled. laughed until our jaws ached. Ate again. I was given the lovely gift of a massage and manicure on behalf of everyone for my birthday, so i toddled off to be pampered on Saturday morning at a spa in the city (the first time i have EVER had a massage and probably the second time i have ever had a professional manicure in my life. Exciting times).We didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. And we only did a small portion of things that we had planned (too many things not enough time) but it was the best time i’d had in…well….way too long.

Generally though we all just enjoyed each others company and hung out. It is a bit strange to say, but i personally feel completly relaxed around all of these women. It’s like, instead of being separated by states, they are actually in my living room on a daily basis sharing coffee with me. Even though most of us have only met once or twice in person, we all feel completly comfortable and relaxed. No awkward silences or uncomfortable vibes. Just total and compete ease. We have all been through quite a lot together in the past almost eight years that we have known each other. And i am sure that we will still be meeting up for National Giddy Meets in another eight years to come. (Don’t ask about the “giddy” thing…none of us can remember where that came from or why we call ourselves that lol…).

Oh and i HAVE to mention the cake. Oh. My. God. the cake.

Leonie (aka JustCallMeMartha) totally blew me (and everyone else) away with the incredible cake she made me for my birthday. I knew they were all conspiring to do something (oh, yes girls..i knew ) but when this came out my jaw dropped. You will have to go visit her blog to see the cake in all it’s glory, as i only had my iphone on me at the time (and pinched this photo from her blog..shhhh), but i still have the camera part and i will take some more photos of it in the morning. It is life sized and the detail she has put into it. OMG. I am so nervous about actually cutting it up, but i don’t want the delicious cake to go to waste. So i have told the kids we can cut it up and have a piece each on my actual birthday (this Wednesday). We all shared the bottom tier on Saturday night and it perfectly topped off an awesome weekend.

I’ll need another few days to recover and then i will get back into all the things i need to organize (including a few new workshops i’m holding. Details over on See Be Art).