Get Carried Away

Put your best Oprah voice on...

"It's our Favorite Things party!"

I have five really awesome girlfriends from high school. We have known one another since high school, which was over a decade ago. Between the 6 of us, there are 6 husbands, 13 children, and countless hours spent talking about both. We get together regularly to talk, laugh, eat, reminisce, and eat some more. We take overnight trips to reconnect and destress and talk about our kids and husbands and everything under the sun. We laugh. We laugh so hard we snort sometimes. And maybe one of us laughed so hard we peed one time. Anyway, we have WAY too much fun together.

Those five friendships, each person individually and the group as a whole, is one of my very favorite things.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated some exciting life milestones. Debbie was days away from having her first baby (Baby Nixon, who has since joined the crew!), Kristyn was days away from entering a new age bracket- the first of us to cross the threshold into thirty. Rachel had the awesome idea to include something a little different for this shindig- a Favorite Things Party.

We were each to bring 5 of our favorite things under $10- they could each be different, or all be the same. There really weren’t many rules except that you had to really love it, and be willing to give it away. It was like Oprah’s Favorite Things: Dollar Store Series.

After a few chorus rounds of “Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, we started- one by one laying out the items that bring a special joy to our lives. Each girl took a turn, explained each item and why she loved it, and then we picked numbers to give them away to avoid what would have probably degenerated into a hair-pulling, eyeball-scratching, knock-down fight.

Here’s a list of our favorite things- and us pretending to be a Price Is Right girl with the loot we brought.

Allyson’s Favorite Things: Mickey Mouse Cookie Cutter, Coupons, Coke, Homemade Christmas Table Runner, Diaper Caddy, Danish Delight dessert imported from Utah, and Teacup Roses.
Rachel’s Favorite Things: Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent, Forever 21 Jewelry, Trader Joe’s Sauces- Red Curry, Arrabiata Pasta Sauce, Masala Sauce, Book- The Help, Sno on the Go and Frappy’s.

Carrie’s Favorite Thing: Nana’s Almond Rocha- each girl got the recipe, a Milk Chocolate Pound Plus Bar from TJ’s and a bag of Almonds.
Kristyn’s Favorite Things: Book- Glimpses, Candle, Notecards from Target, Magazine- Vogue, Forever 21 Jewelry.
Debbie’s Favorite Things she wanted to bring: Arrested Development, Small Flower Bud Vases, Netflix, Coupons at CVS, other...stuff
Debbie’s Favorite Things: Authentic I Heart NY shirt and NY Plates, Flavored Marshmallows from Home Goods, Mini Colander, Recipe Cards, Reusable totes from Home Goods, Stationary Sets, Garage Sale Best Tips (3 pages long!) She is THE best garage sale shopper EVER- can't wait to get my hands on those tips!

Valerie- we missed you and can’t wait to give you what you won, and see your Favorite Things!

Girls: this was beyond fun, and added an awesome element to what is always a fun time together. Thank you for sharing your Favorite Things and your love and friendship. Excited to see what the next few decades bring us!