I recently took a trip to visit my recipe competition girls down in the sunshine state. This trip came at a perfect time because as a natural born Chicagoan, I start to curse the constant state of cold, dark and wet weather that hangs on in the Midwest. So, I had a bit of an ulterior motive to visiting my Florida girls in March. Now, before I get started on what happened on this fab trip, I have to tell you about the nutty journey it took to get to my buds in Florida.

The week leading up to my big trip was crazy-busy with family and work.  Beth’s Table classes were in full swing (long days packed with lots of work), kid stuff (both a band and choral concert, a stomach bug, and someone had pink eye). I also had a fundraiser to attend on that Friday night.  The big event though, happened on Saturday night… the P!NK concert! I had been waiting anxiously for this concert since I bought my tickets in September!

So, after this exhausting week, I was really ready for a nap and not ready for a full night of dancing, singing and screaming, all while wearing high heel boots at the P!NK concert.  As the week rolled on, I started to realize that maybe taking the earliest Sunday morning flight to Florida after an event that would have me getting home much later than my typical suburban bedtime was perhaps a bad idea.  I kept thinking, “I’ll just sleep on the plane.  I’ll be fine.”  I determined myself to push on.

That is just what I did. After the nutty long week, I took some vitamins, drank my green juice and power shopped, power packed and powered through getting ready for the night. I got a little concerned at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday as I closed my eyes for just a second and was barely able to pull myself up. But, I was determined! I got myself up and pushed forward as I was not about to go lame right before the P!NK concert! I rallied (I’m really good at rallying. The, “I can sleep when I am dead” kind of attitude gets me through).

The rocker-girl fun began at 4 p.m. that Saturday night. As typical for our epic concert adventures, my girlfriends and I started the night at one of our homes. We always start our night with hugs and compliments for each other’s super cute outfits over cocktails and tasty treats.  I was all-in on my rally at this point as I wasn’t about to miss out on anything, especially the all-important group picture that we post immediately on Facebook.  Once the picture was taken, all 17 of us shuffled ourselves onto the party bus and headed for the concert. The music started and I managed to grab some inner energy from somewhere. The concert, the dancing, the singing and the fun ensued…P!NK was amazing!  We danced, we sang some more, we hugged it out and then got back in our disco bus. P!NK would have been proud because we certainly did this night up right, but as you will see, I paid for my antics. 2 a.m. comes around really fast on a night like this. And so does a 4 a.m. arrival at the airport for that 6 a.m. flight.

Concerned on the way home, the girls sweetly gave me the facts.  I was basically getting only one and a half hour of sleep before getting on a plane.  “Yes,” I said, “but I am going to be on a beach tomorrow with my recipe competition girls, eating award-winning food.”  The thought of my recipe girls waiting with a picnic on the beach was serious motivation.

Finally, the bus got me home safely. I bumbled into our dark house, kissed the kiddos and got in my bed for a solid one and a half hour.  The first of four alarms on my phone went off. Snooze, snooze, snooze. Finally, my chauffeur-hubby nudged me to get my butt up and out. Scramble, scramble, scramble and more kiddo kisses and then it was back into the dark, cold March weather to head to O’hare.  Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get a lovely cup of coffee to keep me alert enough through check-in.

I just barely made my plane… and no, I did not sleep on the plane on my way to the sunshine state. Wait ‘til you hear what happened next! Did I make it to New Port Richey to my awaiting friends? Did I get some sunshine and a picnic on the beach? Check back to my next post to see if I actually made it to Florida to see Josee, KC, Susan and Debi on that early Sunday morning.