why it's important to have girlfriends...................

All of us together this weekend....

I've been through a lot with these amazing girls!

 ''B9'' - 4 of the original 6 roommates...

pretty lady on the left just got engaged!

There is something so energizing about surrounding yourself with intelligent, funny and beautiful {inside and out} women. I'm used to hanging out with mostly guys {not to mention living with one} and I often miss the estrogen! I love love love my husband, but every once in a while I just need a girls night. I'm sure you can relate.

I'm so very lucky to have these girls in my life. We've been through it all. And I am so thankful that we can come together, after not having seen some of them in almost a year, and things are exactly the same as when we left each other the last time. That's how you know you have good friends.

It was a weekend of deep belly laughs, secrets, inside jokes and all around ridiculousness! Just what I needed in order to get back to my center and focus on what lies ahead --

thoughts.

I turned in my application for grad school last week, for my Master's in Social Work {and a certificate in Gender Violence!}. I can't believe I'm actually excited about school, when I was counting down the days to graduation six years ago. I hope the excitement lasts, and I'm not getting myself into something that's overwhelming. But you wanna know why I think this is the right step for me? I want to advance my career. I'm burnt out of the Substance Abuse Case Manager role, and I'm ready to be a therapist. I'm ready for a pay increase. I'm ready to sign my e-mails Kara Hooker, MSW. You know what else I'm ready for? GIRLFRIENDS! LIBERAL GIRLFRIENDS!

Haha... I have a solid group of really great friends in Richmond as it is, however they are all boys and the only other liberal that I hang out with on a regular basis is my husband, Sean. It's lonely. And being the only girl 99.9% of the time is starting to lose it's excitement. I'm really excited to meet new people with similar views.................................................especially girls!!!

Sean said that if I get in, he'll buy me a bike for my b-day. Honestly.... I'll get the bike either way, but I like the idea of carrying my books to class in a little basket and being trendy. Remind me of this when it's cold and/or raining.

Can you see me riding to class on this beauty?

<3

Speaking of amazing, liberal girlfriends... I do have some, and they're pretty rad! This weekend we're getting together for a mini-reunion and I can't wait to kiss each one of them directly on the lips and tell them over and over again how incomplete my life has become now that we are no longer living directly down the hall from one another. You may recognize one of these beauties...



Aren't they beautiful??!!