Some of the best times in my week involve
“girl” time.
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| Where else would girls go for morning tea? |
I have coffee at the same cafe each week with one friend and we love taking a
breath from jobs and kids to talk about dreams and share a piece of the
naughtiest looking cake in the cabinet.
I have a monthly Friday night drink date with another friend and there’s always a cocktail or two and a moan about the bad and cheer about the good. There’s writing group every second Tuesday, book club monthly on a Wednesday, and regular Skypes with girlfriends who live far away. At each of these outings I get to have fun with women who inspire me, make me laugh and make me realise how important the girls in my life are.
I have a monthly Friday night drink date with another friend and there’s always a cocktail or two and a moan about the bad and cheer about the good. There’s writing group every second Tuesday, book club monthly on a Wednesday, and regular Skypes with girlfriends who live far away. At each of these outings I get to have fun with women who inspire me, make me laugh and make me realise how important the girls in my life are.
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| Arriving at the airport. |
This week there’s even more girl time than usual as my
twin girls (who are NEARLY 13!!) and I have flown up to the BIG city to stay with
my sister. I figure it's my duty to initiate the girls into everything that's great about being a girl and we're going to have nearly a week of it. Yep, I'm succumbing to all the stereotypes and we'll be shopping, eating chocolate, getting our nails done, seeing a great rom-com and we couldn't be more excited.
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| OMG there are even shops inside the airport! |
The girls and I have travelled before but always with the boys who, funnily enough, don't see the joy in shopping for the perfect skirt or searching out the best hair tie.
I haven't fully succeeded in the girl stakes, though, as we're missing the One Direction concert by a week but there are certain girl things I don't feel as though I qualify for anymore....
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| Design your own yoghurt sundae for lunch! Which genius thought of that? A girl, obviously. |
Barb, what fun! I'm sure your girls will always cherish mum and daughter time. Sadly my sister and Mum live a long way away so I rarely get the chance to do some serious family-girl stuff (although my sister is coming to NZ for Xmas, so we'll get lots in then :) Oh, and we're heading down to Blenheim too- my sister is very partial to a glass of Villa Maria Sauv Blanc apparently!! ;) )
ReplyDeleteI do love catching up with my girlfriends, though, as often as I can - there's nothing better than a glass of wine and a good long chat- and there's usually lots of laughter too!
Hi Louise, I'm sorry that your mum and sister are so far away, but how lovely to have your sister is visiting for Christmas! I'd love to catch up when you're down south. We could organise a special little tour of the winery for your sister and make sure it morphs into a good long chat ;-)
DeleteBarb, I think initiating your girls into the joys of girl time is so necessary! It's an important treat in busy lives. I still have fond memories of a rare long days out with my mother, catching a train to Sydney and shopping till we dropped. Sitting on the train with aching feet and slumped shoulders, looking over what we'd bought and discussing what we didn't, then moving on to other things, was always such a treat.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, your recollection of train trips home sounds just like us yesterday! We brought all our bags home and then had a bit of a fashion parade for each other. There were a few that "got away" yesterday but we made sure we went and got them this morning :-)
DeleteBarbara
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic time you are going to have I love girl time as well I am one of 4 girls and I have 3 daughters so I do have lots of girl time I also have lunch once a month with my romance reader girlfriends and what a time we have when we are together and I always make time to spend with my daughters and we often include my 2 grand daughters with us even though they are only 3 and 6
Have Fun
Helen
Helen, I can just picture you with your daughters and granddaughters. Before the girls and I came up here they had a week with their grandmother and she took them to all sorts of shows and exhibitions. They're very lucky!
DeleteI love spending girl time with my daughter. The difference between girl time and boy time was brought home starkly to me last week when we had to visit Ikea. My daughter wanted to go slowly, look at all the furnishing, talk about how this or that piece could work in her room, chatted about what looked good, what didn't and why and asked if we could stop in the cafe at the end to look at the catalogue. When we left she asked when we could go back.
ReplyDeleteMy son spent the whole time saying 'can we get out of here now' and looking for short cuts to the exit.
I laughed at this, Jen, my boys would be EXACTLY the same! If it doesn't involve a ball or mud, they're just not interested. I do feel it's my job to prepare them for when they have women in their lives, though, so even though they hate shopping they know when to compliment a girl on her purchases!:-)
DeleteNice to see another woman passing on the delights of Girl Time to her daughters! Women are the communicators of the world and we learn to do this, I believe, by emulating our mothers. And mother's who say, stop, take some time out for yourself because you are worth it, raise girls who know how important they are.
ReplyDeleteGirl Time with daughters is about raising strong women, I reckon so kudos to you!
I love a girly night out with my girlfriends. Or a weekend away or a day at a spa. I love how much we laugh and how stronger and more connected we feel which is often forgotten in the rush and hurry all round us!
Three cheers for Girl Time!!!
I'm cheering big time, Amy! Day Two was fabulous - bus ride into the city, yum cha for lunch, a bit more shopping, and then we faced our vertigo and climbed right up the Sky Tower. Cake and hot chocolates after that and now home in trackies and slippers to watch a movie. Bliss!
DeleteGreat post, Barb. Girl time with my daughter always involves great coffee, and with my girlfriends wine is top of the list.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't food and drink always makes the best girl times even better, Sue!?? Today was sandwiches at the zoo, a drink down at the waterfront (mocktails for the girls, of course) then out for Mexican tonight :)
DeleteBarb, I just spent a week with one of my sisters - I love girl time too! And I love that you're showing your daughters how fun it is. I can see you all doing this for years to come!
ReplyDeleteNothing like a week with a sister, Rachel! How lucky we both are that we have sisters close enough to see regularly. Yep, I can see us still doing this when we're "old girls"!
DeleteBarb, it sounds as if you're having the most fabulous girl time. :-) I think it's vital to initiate your daughters into the delights of shopping, finding the perfect skirt and stopping for cake. I expect the three of you will be enjoying these treats now forevermore. I love girl time. There are days when there's nothing better than catching up with girlfriends over coffee and cake...or a movie and a glass of wine. And some of my funnest days are window shopping with my sister. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was the zoo today, Michelle. We got to the hippos (my FAVOURITE!!) at feeding time so I was extra pleased. I'm taking a leaf from your book and only doing window shopping with my sister tomorrow as the credit card has taken a bit of a hammering!
DeleteLovely post, Barbara! And you have (nearly) 13 year old twins! How gorgeous - though I guess it's also double trouble at times!
ReplyDeleteYour girl-time with them sounds delightful! Even if you have pummelled your credit card! ;)