Par-Tay Time

I have been a busy girl this weekend.  I have just goofed off to my heart's content!

Saturday late morning Callie and I went dress shopping.  I wanted to find a pretty dress to wear to my friend's wedding.  Callie has turned into such a great little shopper/stylist.  (When I told my mom this she was shocked because shopping with Callie used to be the worst possible torture I could imagine- well... next to taking Callie for a blood draw.  I'd suppressed all of those shopping nightmares and pray that we are on the other side of that cold dark crevasse!)

(I like to add "helpful" information to my stories by making use of parentheses.)

(Lots and lots of parentheses.)

So, anyhow, we shopped around, found a cute dress, a purse to match, and had lunch.  It was the perfect date with my girl.

On the way home we stopped by Nuray and Mahmut's flat to help a bit.  That's when I got to make her bed.

Then we went to the salon.  My tribulations at the salon have been well documented.  What I think I have forgotten to tell you is the fantastic thing about the salon.

You see, bathing is not an everyday sport here and hair washing is about a weekly event.  (I, too, have started washing my hair less and less.  It is healthier than ever.  So don't gross out.)  Lots of women go to the salon to get their hair washed and styled.  Ironically, just like our grandmothers did every week- shampoo and set.  Except, minus the little pink curlers and hair-dryer globe.  It only costs me 5 lira (about $3) and I LOVE how they style my hair.  So about once a month, I treat myself to a style.

The style was completely necessary because I was headed out to paint the town red with my (foreign) girlfriends.  My three dear friends and I went down to the fancy part of town.  They treated me to dinner at a really yummy italian place and then to a progressive dessert sort of thing.  Don't judge, we did walk from each dessert place to the next!  HA!

All in all, it was such a fantastic evening.  I love these girls, and it is so nice to just escape a bit and laugh together!

Sunday morning I was up and at 'em, ready for my communal bathing experience.  Yall, I promise you that this is one of the best things about this city.  Sure, it is very awkward for the first minute or two.  But you get over it really quickly because of all the relaxation and goodness- sort of like a massage.

Again, I had so much fun with these friends.  They are so fun and so dear to me.  My friend Nuray, the bride, had never been to the hamam before.  So it was fun to walk her through it.  She has been so stressed trying to get everything ready for her wedding this coming weekend.  It was obvious how much more relaxed she was when we left.

Deep sigh of happiness for communal bathing.

We went home and Justin- my AWESOME husband- had the house perfectly in order.  He had done laundry, cleaned out the dryer vent, washed our (extremely yucky) fan, and taken care of the kids.  He is such a good man!!

We went down to visit our friends (Nuray's family) because her brother had come in town for the wedding.  He lives in Ireland and has only been home one weekend in 5 years!  Needless to say everyone was so excited to see him.  It was fun to meet him and hear him speak English with a strong Irish accent!

We came home and Justin and I got ready for our big date.  Justin had bought me concert tickets for my birthday (yes, we are still celebrating 5 days later!)  We went to dinner at a yummy restaurant and then to the amphitheatre to see this country's equivalent of Barbara Streisand.  It was amazing.  It does not get any better than sitting next to my man under the stars, with a light breeze, listening to an incredible singer accompanied by a huge live band.

Perfect night.

Today, I have 4 baskets of laundry and some precious kids to attend to.  Life is back on track.  But it was fun to par-tay all weekend!!  Maybe middle-age won't be so bad!!