March 10, 2009

Beverages, Bathrobes, and Party Crashers

Eleven women. No kids. No husbands. Add a spa and you have a weekend to remember.

This past weekend was the annual trek to the Hershey Hotel and spa. A bunch of my girlfriends from Pitt planned it last year and I was unable to attend. This year, I committed to the weekend months in advance because I knew I couldn't miss it.

We arrived on Friday evening and spent the night sitting in the middle of our three hotel rooms and having beverages, lots and lots of "beverages." One of my friends brought the board game "I've Never." If you haven't ever played the game "I've Never" then just imagine being about 12, at a party, and it's your turn to go into the closet with some random boy for "7 minutes in Heaven," not that I've ever done that or anything (Ok, so I did it once, but we both sat there under the coats and talked about ice hockey. I kid you not). The uneasiness and discomfort of that junior high scenario. . .can you remember that. . . well "I've Never" is the adult version when it comes to uncomfortable situations.

Clearly I didn't have enough of those beverages on Friday; and clearly, women are way worse than men when it comes to talking about sex. Clearly.

Also, there was much discussion about important things like how to solve the economic crisis in our country. Don't worry. These girls are on the job.

Actually, I believe they're debating lime or no lime. Or not.

Saturday morning, I was up before eight, dressed and out the door. The Hotel Hershey had a really nice fitness center and I was going to get my money's worth. On Friday evening, one of my friends said she would come along with me, but that was a beverage-induced affirmative. Saturday morning found most of my fellow girls either still sleeping or having a desperate need to stay horizontal.

They got some amusement out of me showing up in my "Lazy Sucks-Just Do It" t-shirt before heading off to the gym. At 8:15 a.m. I started my workout. I spent some time walking and running on the treadmills that overlooked the Hershey gardens. I made my way around the fitness center trying to figure out their equipment (Note to future hotel guests-the slant board sucks). At 9:30 a.m., I returned to the room with an apple to find my room still completely dark. They were awake, but no one was moving very fast.

Many of the girls thought I was insane to go to the gym so early on a day when I could have slept in, but the truth of the matter is that being able to get up and go to the gym without having to get other little people dressed and to sitters or Kidzone was like a little slice of heaven.

Soon after I returned, it was time to hit the spa.

We were shown to a locker room where we changed into bath robes and slipper/sandal things. Then we were given a tour of the spa and told where to wait until we were called for our spa appointments. It was 11 a.m. and after a hard workout and only an apple I was starving, but as soon as I picked up a muffin my massage guy came to get me.

Yes, I said guy.

In the past, I've always had a woman whenever I've gone to get a massage. The guy was super nice and he did a good job, but I just couldn't relax the way I was able to when it was a woman. After the massage, I met up with my friends and we had lunch outside, in our bathrobes. To say that dining in such attire, or lack thereof, felt weird, would be the understatement of the century. At one point, I told my friend it kind of felt like we were in a mental institution, let out for some fresh air or something.

After lunch, I spent some time in the steam room, dry sauna, hot tub and pool. It was a relaxing afternoon and I was sorry to see it end. That's all of us, minus the one working the camera.

For dinner, we went to the Forbay restaurant at the Hershey Lodge. My dinner was spectacular, but the highlight of my weekend came after we arrived back at the hotel.

The lounge was featuring a jazz band as the live entertainment and upon entering, we brought the median age down to around 70. I ventured off to find a restroom with two of my friends when we happened to walk by a banquet room where there was an awesome band playing.

"We should totally crash that party," I said to my friends. We laughed about it between the bathroom stalls, but as we were about to walk by it again, we couldn't help but linger a bit longer. We started dancing out in the hallway and before you know it, and much to my surprise, my friend Kim strutted right into the banquet room and onto the dance floor. I was happy to follow her.

At first we thought it was a wedding we were crashing but a quick glance of the room revealed there was no bride. Another one of my friends ventured off to find out exactly what kind of party we had crashed and found out that we had crashed an "Auto Traders Association's" annual banquet.

It was obvious that the three of us were the best thing to happen to that party. One of the guys from the band came out on the floor, took our purses and put them up on stage (to keep us there), and practically begged us to stay. They kept playing songs "for the crashers," and we spent the night dancing to jazzed up Santana, Amy Winehouse, and Christina Aguilera tunes. At one point, the main band guy wanted to "slow it down" and when I protested he found me a dance partner.

I found out more about my friend Kim at that crashed banquet than ever before. First, she can dance like Tina Turner, better actually. In fact, I spent the rest of the weekend calling her "Tina." Second, she's up for anything once you get her out of her shell. Third, that girl can play a mean tambourine.

Needless to say, it was quite fun.

I came home yesterday afternoon to an empty house and was able to snag a decent nap before Mr. BBM got home with the girls. I woke up thinking that the spa weekend was really nice, but that party crashing might just be my new calling.

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