A couple months ago, my friends and I signed up for a women's retreat with the church I've started getting more involved with. I'm still working on attending on a regular basis, but we're getting there. This was another great way to, not only connect with my friends, but get to know others who have been in the church and that I hadn't met before. Finally, the weekend arrived last Friday through Sunday. 

I took the day off just so I didn’t have to feel rushed with finalizing tasks and projects, then hurrying to finish packing. I woke up around eight o’clock, just so I could have more time to ease into the day. I had a slow morning, which is my favorite. I got to catch up on some TV shows, reading, finished getting ready. My friends picked me up, we stopped at Dutch Bros. for a burst of caffeine before we hit the road. We were set. We yapped, caught up on all the things, laughed a lot.

 

Around 4 p.m., We made it to the hotel; checked in, got comfortable and changed to head out. We decided on Buca Di Beppo. The last time the three of us traveled together, we stopped at that same Buca, so we just wanted to do it again. We did family style with the chopped antipasti salad, a family style pasta dish and each of us had our own load of bread, which was adorable. We had some deep Biblical talk, talk about life, news and talking plans for the weekend…It was good. 

 

We made it to the church, which was tucked in this beautiful spot on a hill. You drove up through a winding street with trees all around. It was right near sunset too, so the sky had that perfect reddish orange glow. We met up with the rest of our church group and caught up with them for a few minutes before making our way inside.

 

The conference began at 7. We found our seats and they got started pretty shortly after.

We started off with worship, a little old-school style by singing from our hymnal/notebooks they’d given us at the door. There’s something special about singing hymns as the body of Christ. Some were new from the artist who was on stage, Sandra McCracken, from Nashville, TN, who brought a bit of that Tennessee rhythm and hospitality with her. Loved hearing her take on some of the Psalms and a few classics, like How Great Thou Art and ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.

 

Jen Wilkin was the only speaker, but I’ve read and done some of her studies so I was very excited to hear her. She didn't disappoint! It's been a week and I've still been thinking about all of my notes and the truth bombs Jen dropped in her messages. 

After, we talked with a few others from the church and stuck around a bit to figure out next steps.

 

 Our other friend, Clarissa, went to the hotel. We went to Target to get a few necessities and snacks. It’s always fun visiting other Targets. Whilst in the parking lot of Target, someone mentioned donuts and that was all we could think about. So, we looked up donut shops near us.

We found a really cute one called the California Bakery & Cafe. They served fresh donuts, pastry items, tamales and more. I got a couple donuts. So good! 

We were dying of laughter and getting a little loopy, but made it back to the hotel. We weren’t going to wake Clarissa up, but it happened anyway. We ate our donuts, got ready for bed and stayed up way too late. 

 We set our alarms for an earlier time, around 6:30 (for Kaitlyn and I) to make sure we had enough time to get ready, grab breakfast and head to the church.

 

 We’d gotten all of our things together. And after going out the wrong door, Clarissa and I realized Kaitlyn and Ally had already gotten in the car and drove around, so I hopped in her car and we drove to the breakfast spot.

 

It was this cute little eclectic Parisian looking crepe shop called “Crepissima.” I ended up getting a Montecristo Croissant (Swiss cheese, ham and strawberry monetecristo sauce. I also decided on the Nutella iced coffee! It was all delicious. Everyone’s plates looked spectacular.

 

We made our way to the church and stopped by the Conference Store, where I picked up a couple of books that sounded good. We were in our seats and ready to go as the morning session kicked off. There was a time of worship once more. There were hymns, the second session diving into more about wisdom, which was the theme throughout the two-day conference. It's been one week, but it was so powerful, that I've been digesting and thinking back on a lot of what was said over the last seven days. 

After the conference ended, we stuck around and talked some. Then, we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A before hitting the road again to Manhattan Beach. I rode with Clarissa, which gave us a chance to talk more and get to know each other better. We've always just hung out in group settings, so it was fun to hear more about what she does for work and hear about her family. 

 

We'd decided to make it a bit of a longer Girl’s Weekend, and went to Manhattan Beach. We stayed at the WestDrift, Autograph Collection, which was in a more industrial part of town and tucked away from the busyness of the main streets closer to the beach. It was excellent! Great job, Kaitlyn.

 

Saturday, we’d checked in and got settled in the room. We changed, got comfortable, had deep conversations, then decided to go to the beach. We had time just before sunset to do our Bible studies. Each of us are in a different study, so we were able to have some quiet time with us and our journals.

 

There was a lot happening on the beach — Photo shoots of all kinds (Sports Illustrated type, family portraits, a wedding proposal that had just finished and some friends taking Instagram shots, getting every single angle possible long after the sun had gone down).

 

I'd been struggling with a headache, which started to feel a tad better, but I was also starting to feel nauseous or just like something was off. I debated on staying back since our other friend, Clarissa, was going to. But, figured I'd just sit in the room and dwell on things and it wasn't going to help. 

 

I thought I was feeling better — So I joined Kaitlyn and Ally for dinner on a patio outside overlooking the golf course. We could see the little “Braverman” (as I call them) lights below, there was a fire pit, people were in the pool. And there were only a couple other women on the patio with us.

 

Kaitlyn ordered an appetizer of ceviche, Ally and Kaitlyn got different types of tacos and I went with a poke bowl. The conversation we had is one of the most special I've ever had, so I'll leave that where it is. It was a really delicate moment and I'm grateful for those. 

 

Let’s just say there were tears, raw conversation, honest admissions and also sparks from one of the lights that literally popped/burnt out. Possibly a product of how they kept turning the lights off and on. It was wild! Thankfully no one else was sitting there at the time. 

 

But, soon after we finished eating and were moving into some lighter things, I felt so sick and immediately had to leave. I went back up to the room, where I was knocked down and sick (throwing up) the next few hours. Occasionally I get hit with these “episodes” which I'm trying to get to the bottom, and figure out what the cause is. 

 

My friends were very sweet to check in on me and found a Sprite and cold water, to help me stay hydrated. It's just so overwhelming. I stayed up a while talking with Kaitlyn and Ally about ridiculous things and trying to ride out the waves of the headache and nausea, which eventually passed. 

 

None of us set alarms, but we ended up waking up around 8. Clarissa had gone down to the lobby earlier and called Ally to say that “Everything is fine,” but that there was a fire alarm going off and people were evacuating. We couldn’t hear anything where we were

 

Then the elevators stopped working. We weren’t sure exactly how we were going to lug our stuff and Clarissa’s down four flights of stairs. And, thankfully, after about 10 minutes or so, we learned we wouldn’t have to. The elevators were working again, she came back up to the room to finish getting ready and pack up her things.

 

We finished getting ready, loaded up the cars and drove downtown to eat. We'd gone back and forth on a couple of restaurants, but most didn't open until later. And we wanted to get started with the day. We ended up at the North End Caffe, which had so many delicious options from pancakes to breakfast burritos, roasted potatoes and specialty coffees. I went with the Dos Burritos and roasted potatoes, and a Capri coffee. It was all delicious, and everyone else's food looked fantastic, too. Plus, a couple of us ended up with leftovers for lunch that we could take home. 

 

We spent the next few hours a couple of streets over, taking a peek in some of the stores we didn't have a chance to visit the day before. We went to the cutest bookstore, Pages, that had all sorts of specialty items and signed books. I had to practice self-control. We hit a couple of coffee shops and other stores with such neat, interesting items from dishes and bowls in the kitchen to hobbies and decor items for the house. So fun! 

 

Finally, we were all pooped out and decided to call it a day. We grabbed waters at one of the deli/grocery stores on the path and went our separate ways. We made it home in good timing!

 

My friend, Ally, dropped me off. I lugged my bags inside and flopped down on the couch. After all the driving and Sunday Scaries settling in, I was ready for a nap. I turned on the Emmy Awards Red Carpet on E!, and watched with my mom. I told my parents about some of our trip, then unpacked some and pulled out a book. My head was still hurting so I just wanted to zone out for a bit.

 

 Turned to CBS to watch the Emmys LIVE! at 5 p.m. I’m so glad we don’t have to wait until 8 p.m. to watch them now, although, it does kind of lose some of the primetime excitement, for me. Alas… I watched a few minutes, then fell asleep for about an hour.

 

I woke up to the words “Gilmore Girls” and became coherent, just enough, to get emotional about Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) reuniting on a stage. They stood in front of a recreated Gilmore house backdrop, as if they were on the backlot of Warner Bros. Studios. They reminisced about the magic of celebrating 25 years of the show, and had all of us in our feels. 

It was a really beautiful weekend! I'm so glad I went and that I can feel God moving in this season, and that even when I don't, I'm continuing to lean into Him. I'm setting some goals and prayerfully considering things ahead. It's a good place to be.