Best. Weekend. Ever.

I'll begin an update on this weekend's trip to Kansas, though it may take several edits to complete...

As the title says - it really was the best weekend ever! I met up with Marissa and Sarah at the Kansas City airport. We then set out in our posh Cadillac for Harveyville, home of Nikol and her magical schools. After a few mishaps that I maintain were "short cuts," we found the schools and got the grand tour.

The schools are absolutely fantastic. Built in 1955, they have all the great architectural designs of the era. I'll get some pictures up at some point. There are lots of lovely wood built-in cabinets, one of which houses Nikol's mammoth yarn stash. There are tons of other fun details too, and we had fun exploring the nooks and crannies of the buildings.

Everyone else arrived as we were looking over Nikol's project designs. Everyone else included Jenn, Carolyn, Adrian, Amber, Rebecca, KellySue and Jen, who brought Brian to play with Ron, Nikol's man. I was meeting Adrian, Amber, Marissa, Rebecca, KellySue and Jen for the first time, and seeing Sarah, Carolyn, Jenn and Nikol again. It was an amazing group of fabulous women... I really can't imagine a more fun group to spend the weekend with.

When everyone had arrived, we ended up on the front porch for drinks and chatting, which brought the opportunity to meet the locals. At the risk of sounding terribly derrogatory, the locals in Harveyville, KS, are an exact charicature of what you would expect of rural yokels. Oh my. We were first schooled in the absolute dearth of entertainment for rural youth. Having discovered the presence of a large gathering of people (mainly female people!) - a carload of teenagers proceeded to drive up and down the road in front of the school no less than a dozen times. Lest we not notice their presence, they were thoughtful enough to alert us, using duck calls. Perhaps this is a local custom in Kansas. Perhaps teenagers are idiots everywhere. The hooligans were treated to Ron's high-powered spotlight, which, it seems, is not a teenager-deterrent. It did, however, work to draw more local youth, who arrived in a pickup truck. Yes, cars are indeed a rarity there. The two guys, one in a Bud Light shirt, and the other in a shirt that simply said "Rodeo" (and I suspect this did not refer to the Copeland symphony) got out and postured up the sidewalk toward us. Upon reaching the stoop, they stood there for a seemingly long time, with their arms crossed, looking for all the world like bouncers at a roadhouse. Finally, one drawled "Y'all live here?" To which Ron replied, without missing a beat, "Yeah, but I'm only married to these three." Ron is my hero.

Apparently a gathering of people signifies an invitation to the public in Harveyville. The two visitors soon summoned more of their ilk, which drove us inside. We retired to the gym with our projects, where we talked and laughed and knitted until way into the early hours.

Saturday brought more knitting, along with an abundance of excellent eating, drinking, giggling and fun. It also saw us embark on a mission to Topeka, for booze and tortillas. Marissa and I accompanied Amber, who braved the roadkill-riddled roads to get us to our appointed task. Topeka is an unfortunate place to have to go, and we were glad to get back to the happy coccoon of the school. Nikol made the endeavor well worth it however, with the astoundingly yummy enchiladas she whipped up on our return. More eating, laughing and drinking ensued.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the silent star of the weekend, Nikol's ancient pup Herman. Miss Herman was the most lovely hostess, seeing to it that we always knew where the food was, helping to untangle yarn, and generally providing love to all. She also does the cutest doggie trick ever - the stealth dog french. When you least expect it, she'll slip you the tongue. I suspect this is born of interest in whatever you may have just eaten, rather than a desire to be intimate. Although I would not tolerate such tongue-related behavior from most, Herman was such a lovely charmer that it was entirely adorable.

The weekend continued in this sublime vein until we all departed on Monday. The conversation, food and general atmosphere was never short of sublime. My recap here certainly does not do justice to the fantastic time I had. It was just so good to meet and spend time with all of the lovely ladies who were in attendance, as well as the two fine gentlemen. I had wonderful conversations and full-on hysterics with everyone. It was wonderful to get to know most of the ladies, and to spend time with those I already knew. Again, I can't imagine a lovelier group of people to spend the weekend with.

Since returning, I've been floating along in a state of bliss rather unatural for me. I was so inspired by everyone. It was such an experience to be around people who are really living life, doing things outside of the mundane existence. While I suppose anything would become mundane if repeated enough, I found inspiration in being around people who are open to the fun and magic that life has to offer. And every person there was an example of this. From Nikol and Ron who ventured out of the ordinary and bought schools in Kansas to turn into an artist retreat, to everyone else, who were all willing to jump in the car or on a plane to be a part of this weekend - every single person was a reminder that there is lots of stuff to do in life, and the regretable thing would be to miss it.

So thank you Nikol, for having us and for being such a lovely hostess and for making me a fat and happy piglet, and thank you to Sarah, Jenn, KellySue, Carolyn, Amber, Jen, Rebecca, Adrian and Marissa, for being such wonderful companions. It was the best.