Happy 40th Anne!

It is the year of the 40th birthday.  Last year, one or two of my close friends turned 40, this year a whole bunch of us will turn 40!  January kicked things off with my dear friend, Anne's 40th birthday.  Her husband generously covered our housing and food, we just had to get to Mexico for the weekend.  We stayed in this gorgeous house on a golf course.  It was welcoming and beautiful!  We were all game for a relaxing weekend with friends and food!

Nights were for dressing up and enjoying dinner together.  It was so fun to get dressed up with my dearest friends.  Thankfully, Ashley and I got to share a room!  She is one of my closest friends from our shared years at Stanford.

Our first full day was scheduled as an "Adventure day" we were going on a sailboat!  I was excited, even though I get motion sickness pretty easily, I thought I could handle a sailboat.  I don't get as sick on airplanes as I used to and I've been out on some bigish boats and not gotten too sick. 

Well...I haven't been this wrong about myself in a long time.  I got so sick I thought I was going to die.  In fact, at one point, as I was throwing up over the side of the boat for the 4th time, the boat lurched and I lost my balance a little bit.  Inside my mind and body, I couldn't find one single bit of fear or worry.  I just thought: If I fall into the ocean and die at least I'll be off this stupid boat.  

We were able to sail over to a nature preserve island.  We were only allowed to get onto the little beach for 15 minutes.  We had to jump off our boat and swim to the island.  We all got chewed up and spit out by the surf approaching the island.  Still, having 15 minutes of stillness was the most beautiful thing.  On the sail back to the port I decided I would have to throw up four more times before we got home.  I was right.  It was awful and I never want to get on a sailboat again...ever in my life.  

When we got back to the docks and were let off the ship I crumpled into a crying ball.  It was so awful.  Thankfully, all these beautiful moms just wanted to mother me.  They got me home, put me in bed and pumped full of Pidilite to recover some of the hydration and electro lights I had barfed up over the last several hours.  It was so nice to be on still land and doted on by these nurturing mommas.

The next day we got some yoga in!

And spent hours relaxing by the pool.  Some people went to town but I chose to stay at the villa and rest.  I had decided to go on the sailboat the day before because I didn't want to miss out on the fun.  Today, I decided I needed some missing out in favor of quiet visiting with a couple of the other ladies who stayed behind.  It was awesome!

That night was Anne's actual birthday party night.  We all got dressed in our finest floral print and put on our "statement necklaces".  To my total delight, there was a mariachi band!

I wish you could have seen my face when we discovered the band.  Ashley and I were going to play a song as we came down the stairs for a grand entrance.  However, Ashley happened to look out our balcony and see the mariachi band!  She called a halt to our music selection and we raced down to see the band.  The band started playing as we entered the main part of the house.  It was so awesome!  The band played beautifully and we had an absolute blast dancing and laughing and sweating our faces off.  It was one of the most fun surprises!

Anne's birthday dinner was lovely.

The last day was for resting and farewells.  Some of us stayed up until 3:00 am singing and laughing...we paid the sleep-deprived price the next day but were not repentant.  It was too fun. 

I was in the last group of women to leave that day.  We left the house and went over to the Saint Regis beach club to eat food and sit by the beautiful beach.  I learned about Falconry as the Saint Regis had a man and a falcon swooping around the beach.  The falcon's job was to keep little birds away from the beach so we could eat without them swooping in on our food.  It was brilliant. 

I decided this is totally where I want to spend my 40th birthday...or Disneyland.  Either way, this weekend was perfect and I was so thankful I got to go!  Happiest of Birthdays Anne!