It was FAR OUT!

What do you do after you buy a new pad built in the 70's and before you remodel it all, you throw a 70's party!

Our host and hostess for the evening were Steve and Cheryl.  They put this shindig together and it was a dyno-mite!

There was plenty of primo eats and liquid refreshments for all.  The best part was even though it wasn't required, most everyone showed up rocking their 70's vibe.  That is how this group rolls, we most definitely like to have fun together.

Here are a few pictures of the cool cats and foxy mamas that came out to party down.

Until the next time we run amok...

Peace out!

Celebrate, Good Times!

It has been quite the wait, but the day finally came and we couldn't be happier! Congratulations to you Scott and Diane.

Welcome to this circle of crazy love Scott Chapman.  You married the love of your life, your partner, lover and best friend.  We couldn't be happier for you and we most definitely couldn't be happier for our sweet and amazing Diane. She has found a great man to share the rest of her life with, love her with all your heart.

Oh by the way, we are a package deal.  So you have also gained the love and friendship of all of us here on 8broadsabroad.  We will always be here, part of your lives, here to share the great times, the not so great times, and all of the times in between.

It was a great time spent with wonderful friends.  Every moment we get to spend together is special.  We even let the spouses, significant others, etc join in the photo fun.  Well, I'm not sure they thought it was fun, but I sure am glad they played along anyway.

Just to round this post out, here are a couple of other random pictures.

Cocktails before the wedding???  Not us, never ever. Oh wait, yes, yes we did and we knew the bride would approve and if it would have been possible, she would have been here with us.

And of course, you have to have a picture of the bride and groom with the best ever head table waitress!  

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Chapman for allowing us all the privilege of celebrating your wedding with you.  It was simply amazing.

And finally, we leave you with this...

We pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding.  Philippians 1:9

We love you!  Congratulations!

The Motley Crew

Girls weekend in the lovely land of Motley.  This years attendees were our lovely hostess Kim, Cheryl, Mary, Diane, Dana, Jodi, Joann, and well me.

Jodi is new to the 8broadabroad blog, but definitely not new to us.  So to be consistent let me give you a bit of an introduction to our adorable Jodi.  She has been part of the crew since we were freshman in high school so we consider her to be one of the newbies.  You know, we have only been friends since about 1979, so yes, she is one of the newbies.  Jodi is hands down one of the nicest people you will ever meet, but do not ever take her sweet demeanor as a sign of weakness because she will school you quickly.  Jodi has been married to Dan for 20 years and they have two beautiful daughters Mari (19) and Ali (17).  Their life together is always an adventure and we hope that will never change.  Jodi loves her job as it is both challenging and rewarding.  She travels all over the world for her job and gets to visit numerous five star locations/resorts to ensure her clients will have the best experience.  This group would never be the same without her.  We love you Jodi!

There were reports of a shark siting, but the reports were false.  Mary was already running away from the shoreline before it was determined that it was merely a frog.

Kim's sweetheart of a husband, Colin, was nice enough to gas up the cabin toys for us, well at least for me.  I did take advantage of the jet ski and am thankfully not nearly as sore as I thought I would be after abusing my body with several fast, bumpy, air borne rides.

As usual there was lots of fun, laughter, food, and talking.  Lets not forget about the silliness.

Games were played, several of them were made up including the singing of random songs that had to then be named.  Cheryl won that particular game with "An Austrian Went Yodeling", who knew...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8yEeaRwIPk

The quote of the weekend, at least the quote that I am willing to put onto the blog because some of the others are slightly inappropriate and we try to keep this a family friendly blog.  "Conviction is a luxury for those who stand on the sidelines."  - A Beautiful Mind.  Thanks Mary!

A big thank you to Kim for hosting this crazy group of women.  Looking forward to seeing all of you soon for the next big event.

Time has gone by so quickly

A year ago today, the 8broads abroad were spending our first day in Italy.  We had landed in Rome and were SLOWLY making our way towards Tuscany to the villa that would be our home for the first leg of this amazing adventure.

A lot has happened in the past year most of it good, some of it not so good.  We have been together through it all.  We have endured the issues that come up as your parents age, sometimes no longer knowing who you are, but there is still love.  Some have mourned the anniversaries of the passing of our loved ones.  Others have watched their children mature into amazing adults, who are now in relationships that are going through the peaks and valleys as relationships tend to do.  We have faced cancer and come through it, forever changed.  There have been grandchildren and reuniting with classmates from a long time ago.  So many things have happened over the past year, but through it all we have been there for each other and we always and forever will be.

We have many things to look forward to in the coming year and you never know what else lies in our future, only God knows what is yet to come.  We are good with that...

So for now my sweet friends, I leave you today with a few pictures from our most excellent adventure.

Much love to too you all!  I cannot wait to see you again!

Stephania

One More Day

Our last full day of Spring Break and how do we spend it, just like we have spent all of the other days.  We are creative like that...

Heidi headed down to the Shell Shack to pick up our fresh seafood for tonights dinner and even the Shell Shack guy knows it is our last night here.  She also whipped up another batch of salsa and guacamole for us to enjoy this afternoon.  We have eaten our way through numerous batches of salsa, guacamole, and popcorn this past week.  She may be happy when we are gone.  =)

We headed down to the beach this afternoon all sporting our shirts that Heidi gave us as a welcome to Spring Break gift.  She also gave each of us a little shell with a candle, very cute.  Best hostess ever!  We managed to wrangle up another victim to take our pictures this afternoon and here are the results. Pretty cute for a bunch of 50+ women.

Tonights dinner was peel and eat shrimp, grouper, salad, and garlic bread.  With caramel cake for dessert.  Finally, dinner was completely finished by an amazing sunset.

It has been such a great week of Spring Break with my HS girls.  Looking forward to our next adventure.

Peace!

Another Day of Doing Whatever

The day began with a little bit of church on the beach.  Well not for us as most of us were still either sleeping or in pajamas.  Except for Heidi, who had just gotten back from her morning run.  But it was nice to listen to from the comfort of the house with a cup of coffee.

A little bit later a stroll was taken through part of Mexico beach.  Here are a few pictures of this rather cute little town including a place to rent some bikes, some of the local shops and picture of part of the beach taken from the town pier.

After a walk through part of the town, some of us wandered the other direction to grab a little lunch from Mr. G's Smokehouse & Seafood grill.  Their restaurant is merely a trailer with a big ole smoker out front and a few picnic tables to eat at, but everything we had, which included ribs, brisket, and an ahi tuna taco was outstanding.  The owners were kind enough to come out and let me take their picture.

More walks and some napping was done in the afternoon and then Cheryl whipped up a batch of Pinot Grigio Sangria.  This also was delicious and may become the summer get together beverage of choice.

The day was capped off with a quick run down to the sand to take a couple of pictures followed by a movie and dinner at the house, which consisted of burgers and salad. No worries people, Heidi and I had Boca burgers, not the beef ones.  =)

Another wonderful day spent with some of the most amazing women...

Peace!

Just Put the Song on Repeat

Today we amused all of the people hanging out on the beach with our Max Dance Infusion choreography session held on the deck overlooking the beach.  If those folks learned nothing else, they should now know the lyrics to "Lord I Lift Your Name on High." The only person not giving any input on the choreography was me, because I have no skills in this area.  However, I was highly entertained, not to mention educated by everything that the other ladies put into it.

We all took part in what has become our daily routine of running, walking, 3x3 rings, tripping, falling down, etc.  Well not the tripping and falling down, but it could happen, it did in Italy, so you never know.

This was the view I had today as I contemplated throwing myself down the steps once I was told we were going to take group pictures.  Thankfully I decided against it.  Just kidding Dana and Heidi, I love group pictures, love them!!

Here is the token group shop, if you squint you can see us. 

We walked down to Toucan's for dinner tonight.  The food was good and the company was even better.  Tomorrows plan is more of the same, but we all know you will be back to check it out.

Peace!