stampin4fun: A Happy Girls Getaway!

Hi friends! I'm back from a fantastic getaway. I had so much fun and enjoyed it so much I thought I would share some photos and experiences with you!

This getaway with my girlfriends has been in planning for probably about 5 years. Gloria, Lee-Ann and I were university roommates when we studied at Queen's and we've been friends ever since. Since we are all the same age we thought a 50th birthday girls trip would be a perfect excuse to celebrate our friendship and do an extraordinary trip.

We had talked about France, Australia, an island off the coast of Africa and more. As our milestone year got closer and a pandemic halted most travel, we refused to give up the dream of our girls getaway. In the end we decided on Quebec City. We knew it wasn't as exotic as we had hoped but it seemed safer and more convenient to be in Canada. Lee-Ann now lives in Scotland but comes back to Canada to see her parents so our trip to Quebec City could serve a double purpose.

There was so much excitement leading up to the trip that I almost couldn't believe it when the day finally arrived.

We all took rapid covid tests the morning before we met up just for an extra measure of reassurance.

So many trips and plans have fallen through because of Covid that I was giddy with excitement when we all sent each other the photos of our individual negative covid tests.

Lee-Ann: negative

Gloria: negative

My whole family tested since the girls were going to sleep over at my place before we hit the road the next morning. All of us: negative!

This trip was actually going to happen!!!!

When we packed up the car and hit the road we were all giddy with excitement. I think we all couldn't stop beaming!

My beautiful top performer bag that I earned from Stampin' Up! last year finally got taken out from the closet! (please note the bag of chips behind...can't have a road trip without chips!)

First stop: Kingston, Ontario to visit our favourite university hang outs.

We even dug out our old school leather jackets which still fit! This was the first sign of many that affirmed to us that fifty is fabulous and we are more amazing than we originally thought!

After one night in Kingston, we were back in the car to head to Quebec City.

It was my first time ever using Air B&B and it was great having so much space instead of being cramped in a standard hotel room. We each got our own room and even had a full kitchen and entertainment room!

I cooked a simple pasta dish on the first night which my girlfriends enjoyed (amazing how much more affirming they were about my cooking compared to my children!)

The following days were a whirlwind of sightseeing and chatter and laughter.

We had decided to hire a local photographer to take some photos of us to help commemorate our special trip and our special friendship. The photos turned out so well and were another sign that fifty was fabulous and we are more awesome than we think!

Some of the funny moments on the trip:

My carbon monoxide detector which some how overheated and started blaring a shrill alarming sound...resulting in a concerned text from the property owner. Wait...has he been listening to everything going on in the house the whole time?

My pleasure and pride at my French conversation skills with any staff or local I would interact with. My efforts were rewarded on the second last day of the Quebec trip with a staff member at the sugar bush attraction/restaurant telling me "good effort" on my French and that he really appreciates me speaking to him in French. Whaaatt??? Only good effort? I thought I was amazing!😂🤣

Watching a You Tube video of a lady who gives tips on how to look better in our 50's.

Her tag line in many of her videos was: "you can do better"

Okay. I like to wear stretch pants and oversize sweatshirts and not bother with make up but now I feel challenged because I realized I can do better! The rest of the trip I tried to make an effort to dress in a way that was more flattering and put on some make up. We three girls encouraged each other to "do better" from everything like how we stand, how we dress and how we treat our husbands. However, this often resulted in giggles and reaffirmation that we were already quite awesome and how much better could we do?

Gloria gifted us with 50's glasses and sashes so we could truly celebrate our 50th year.

These glasses made us feel awesome too.

It was so sad when our time in Quebec was over. It went by so fast!

On the way back we made a one night pit stop in Ottawa because it was an excuse to see my son who is living there for his Co-op work term plus Lee-Ann wanted to re-create an old university photo she had where she and Gloria had sat on the knee of the Lester B Pearson statue in front of parliament.

There were security cars all around parliament and access to the statue was blocked off so an exact re-enactment was not possible but Lee-Ann was happy nonetheless.

Lee-Ann had also gotten her ears pierced on that trip to Ottawa some 30 years ago but we all decided there was no need to get anything pierced this time.

Our final experience on this trip was a stop back in Kingston where we enjoyed high tea together.

It was such a wonderful trip mostly because of the company!

Even though I'm home and back in the craft cave, this trip isn't officially over until I create a scrapbook of our experience together.

I'm so glad I can count on my monthly Memories Matter sessions to scrapbook my memories!

If you want to try scrapbooking, I make it easy for you with step by step instructions and precut pieces. You can always try out one of my Memories Matter classes by signing up at my upcoming classes link: