I am incredibly lucky to have a wonderful group of friends…who just so happen to be scattered all over the globe. Picture 13 of the smartest, funniest, best ladies you can–and that’s my college rugby friend group. We’ve got some who are fitness fanatics, others who’d rather eat pizza and drink wine and watch Friends (that’s me). We have some who are world travelers, lawyers, professors, moms, single ladies, math superstars, authors, and illustrators. They are on the East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and in Europe. It is an impressive lot and I am proud to be a part of it. These ladies know how to maximize fun, minimize drama, and enjoy each other for who each person is…and maybe because when we all get together, we are (only slightly) better versions of our carefree 20-year-old selves?

When this group gathers, you don’t want to miss it. So at the lovely hour of 3:45 AM last Thursday, Meg scooped me up and we drove to Dulles for our West-Coast adventure: to help Mina, our friend who lives in Oregon, ring in her 40th birthday. Mina is so awesome that she celebrated her actual birthday by giving birth to a child that she carried as a surrogate for a gay couple in Seattle. Yes–exactly. The best people on the planet.

Here we are ready for our early morning flight:

We landed and a small group of our friends were waiting for us in the tiny Eugene airport! We headed to Mina’s house, dropped our stuff, and met up with other friends (who drove in from Portland) at an awesome little neighborhood restaurant called Cornucopia. They served GOBLETS of wine there and tater tots so we spent pretty much the afternoon chatting and catching up in that spot.

Friends trickled in throughout the day. We ordered pizza and enjoyed lovely walks through the cute streets in her neighborhood, and most of us crashed early–the three hour time change is no joke!

Early Friday morning, a majority of us headed to Orange Theory where we worked our tails off and got really sweaty:

Here we are in the car waiting for our wonderful (and free!) Dutch Brothers coffee. We opted to skip the celery juice bar in favor of this. A good call!

We got back to Mina’s where the other friends had prepared a delicious breakfast. Then we headed out to the best store in Eugene–a combination of a party store, CVS, ACE Hardware, and gift shop. We got lots of essentials for the weekend then celebrated Katrina’s birthday at an Irish Pub. After that, Mina got the strength tattoo on her wrist! It was cool to watch but reaffirmed the sincere fact that I am not cool enough for body art.

Next it was back to our ‘official’ restaurant Cornucopia where our friend Bold was waiting…she flew in from the Netherlands to surprise Mina!

We all drank our goblets of wine and headed out for axe throwing! After Bridget gave everyone trucker hats. Because what else do you wear to throw axes?

The venue was really cool and there were 2 lanes with a target each. You had to throw the axe with the right amount of force–not too much or too little–to get it to stick. The target on one lane was not very marked up and it was much harder to get the axe to stick, comparned to the other one. But Lynne was the first to hit a bulls eye!

I eventually got there:

But Meg was the real Axe Throwing Champion!

We all had a really fun time!

Afterwards we enjoyed an Oktoberfest style beer hall–good beers, pretzels, and schnitzel (for Nicole anyway!) We ate at really long picnic tables and talked and laughed while a band played and the air was nice and cool.

Greer was Lucky #14 to arrive late that night, so in the morning we captured our full group shot–right before Kelly had to head back to CA!

We went for a nice stroll and had lunch…then the PARTY BUS arrived to whisk us off to the wonderful Willamette Valley wineries!

We had a tiny bit of fun dancing to Bridget’s Party Playlist and drinking on the bus.

And the vineyards were petty fun too!

We all were beat after the vineyards tour and went back to Cornucopia for one last goblet of wine, then watched the movie Wine Country and crashed early.

The next morning, after a fantastic weekend, Meg and I hopped on our flight to LAX and then onward to Dulles…where we got to watch the Emmys together!

Thanks for a great weekend, WAIFWYP!