Girls Beach Trip- A Planning Guide

I decided that since I don’t want to bore you with all the eating, gossiping and facebook stalking catching up and yakking that we did on our trip, I thought I’d encourage you and provide a FREE guide to how to plan your own trip. {Not that you would ever actually pay for my advice, but somehow things are more attractive when they are FREE.}

1. Gather group of girlfriends. Ours has a nice bond that we all pledged the same sorority the same year in college {we’re “pledge sisters” if you are in the loop with sorority vernacular}. You can have a connection of anything: same aged children, common workplace, bunko group or you all like sleeping, eating and margaritas.

See? Anything!

Blake and Alecia on a boat ride. My parents were nice enough to come down and dad took us out on the boat! He's starting a charter boating business if you're interested on a great trip the next time you're on St. George Island!

2. Find a place that is far away to escape. For us, we have tried meeting at people’s different houses before, but the person hosting usually still has a family to take care of, so I know it’s harder on them. For example, Emily lives outside of New Orleans, so we have always loved to trek down there, but she still has to be a mom and wife there. Not that she complained, but it is always nice for everyone to be able to get away. St. George Island is not only beautiful, but FREE {see, isn’t that word more exciting?}. Other Mama and Big Daddy bought the house almost 20 years ago and our family is delighted to share it.

3. Plan EARLY. We picked this date about 6 months ago. You will always have things that come up and since we had this FIRMLY on our calendars, we turned down everything from weddings to work trips and carnivals to conferences. {Did you like my alliteration? I’m a fan…} You wouldn’t believe how popular our weekend became, but we had our trip on the books!

4. Think about food. We e-mail around a rough draft about a week before of who will bring breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc. We usually eat breakfast and lunch in and then go out to dinner so no one has to clean late at night.

This is Amanda, me and Emily going out to dinner on Saturday night with no makeup on and one of us (*ahem, possibly me*) has not showered!

5. Have plenty to talk about. For us, the big news this year was that Amanda has adopted 4 children from the Ukraine! Their whole story is here. Thankfully, talking has never been a problem for our group and I’m sure not for yours either.

We have seen each other through marriages, divorces, pregnancies, children, infertility, spirituality, surgeries and all kinds of drama in between. There is something comforting about being with a group that knows all about you: your good and bad, your strengths and your weaknesses. We have all known each other for close to 15 years, so there are plenty of hairstyles, boyfriends and jeans that I might not want Y’ALL to know about, but these girls have seen me through all of it- including some Jordache jeans that may or may not have originated at Goody’s in Troy.

6. Write down your memories. I know this sounds awfully cheesy, but we have a book that we bring to every girls weekend. Each time we all write down a few things about the weekend, what’s going on in our lives and our hopes for the next year. It even feels awkward when you are writing it all down, but looking back on all our notes is precious.

How special will that book be 20 years from now?

OK! I think that’s it. Just add it all together for a wonderful weekend. We are all especially grateful to grandparents and husbands who helped juggle all our duties to be able to escape and come back more rejuvenated. I don't how I would make it without those momentary breaks from reality.

What an honor it is to know and love you girls! My life would surely be the poorer without you.
Until next year!