Costa Rica or Bust

I have to say, this whole "get ready for vacation" thing sure is fun. It beats a regular week of chores with a stick, I tell you.

For example, my to-do list this week consisted of things like:

• buy sunscreen


• locate passport


• dig out straw hat


• bronze with self-tanner


• find rain jacket (for hike in national park)


• get foreign money


• set out-of-office notices to say na-na-na-na-boo-boo to colleagues

All of which are pretty darn fun. At least, they will be on the flip side. Which, incidentally, is less than 36 hours from now. When we started planning this trip, we were counting in months. Then it was days (and the number was huge). Now, we're doing to a measly hourly ticker.

I wish I could say that I was organized and prepared enough to have a post pre-written and post-dated for publishing for each day that I'll be gone (from Saturday through Friday) but I'm just not that girl.

So, you'll just have to imagine the trip. I'll give you a few suggested starting points on which you can ruminate, marinate and salivate:

• 5 girls that have known each other since at least 1991, most earlier, all in one house for a week


• 4 husbands of The Posse whom have grown to love us, or at least put up with us


• 1 couple that is newer to The Posse but will get along just fine


• aforementioned house is a 8,000 sq. ft. mansion complete with 7 bedrooms, 10.5 bathrooms and about 12 plasma screen TVs


• a private chef to make us breakfasts, appetizers, dinners and stock the bar with our requested alcohol


• 2 golf carts for us to use as we peruse the rest of the resort, hopefully NOT to tip over the way we did in 1989 in Florida


• our own pool and hot tub, complete with a swim-up bar and yet another plasma screen TV


• one guitar for late night sing-a-longs with a crowd that really likes late night sing-a-longs


• a sunset booze cruise in the Pacific, Ziplining through the canopy of rainforest jungles, surfing lessons and sea kayaking, deep sea fishing, a round of golf along the resort's cliffs, couples massages at our house, a trek to the nacional park where we're bound to see monkeys, macaws and lizards, oh my!, and many more adventures


• and enough time to really, really get to know one another, as adults, as part of couples, as halves of a whole, as friends for life

I have no doubt that this trip will be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, and I can hardly wait. I am pretty sure the countdown is down to 35 hours by now. But who's counting?

I'm off to the country that is nestled between Nicaragua and Panama. I'm off to Central America! I'm off to Costa Rica!

Stay tuned for many great blog stories and photos. I'm pretty sure at least ONE post will entail some humiliating, ridiculous, hilarious story about me that I'll be too embarrassed to write, but will have to by force of The Posse, my loyalty to you readers and my sheer will and determination to tell great stories.

Don't hold your breath until then, because that would just be awkward.

¡Adiós y tiene una gran semana sin mí!
[Goodbye, and have a great week without me!]