This Is It. The Final Destination. You May Now Move Freely About The Cabin...

Does this look a teeny tiny bit like paradise to you? As well it should. The plane took me from Atlanta to Boise, Idaho. Once there, I met up with Ms. Ilene, who is a gem, and we headed north to THE CABIN.

THE CABIN is owned by Robin, and she graciously invited us to spend some time up there. By us, of course, I mean the people you see in this picture:

Paige, Kristen, Kimberly, Tristan, Ilene, Sally, Robin, Celia and Me.

I have gotten to know these women over the past four years or so, and have turned to them for advice, a listening ear, and a good laugh. They have come through repeatedly. A few of us are missing here, and I know we would've had even more fun had they been able to come. That's saying a lot, because we had a really, really great time.

This river runs right alongside the cabin. It was restful, quiet, and the weather was perfect. We ate so much delicious, fresh food, enjoyed the campfire, and got a little crazy playing games.

One of the highlights for me was white water rafting. I've never done it before, and I'm not a great swimmer. As it turns out, the life vest is a very simple solution. And mockery is a very effective motivator. No one was going to let me get away with chickening out, and in the end, I was grateful.

Tristan is a cosmetologist. (aesthetician? hair stylist? make up guru? You can check out her work here and then figure out what to call her.) So she did makeup on everyone, which seems funny when you're out in the wilderness to put on a full face of makeup. But we knocked the local town dead when we showed up in our camping attire and hottie faces to their local production of Singin' In The Rain.

We are all very different from each other, and come from a variety of places. But such a diverse group of women really have a lot to offer one another, and I am so grateful for their friendship.

The sad part of this post is that my camera was dying, literally, and so I didn't get as great of pictures as I'd have liked. I'm now getting a new camera, which should come this week, and I'm happy about that.

So that's it, folks. One of the most amazing summers a woman could possibly ask for. I still feel edified by it all, able to tap into more positive energy than usual. Like tonight, I yelled at my kid. Then a little while after, I actually felt BAD! So I went back for a do-over.

Phew. Here's to hoping it gets me through the year to come. I can't say thank you enough to all the friends and family who opened their homes to me this summer, who have both loved me AND liked me, and who have reminded me that life is really pretty awesome.