Gratitude continues to be on my mind a lot. And now I have even more to be grateful for because I just spent a few days with some of my very dearest friends.

The destination: Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The occasion: We try to do this every year.

The secret to (9) thirty-something moms being able to do this: Amazing husbands and families who are supportive of our yearly girl time.

The best part of it all: I come home exhausted and yet completely refreshed. I am grateful for friends who uplift and inspire me. We all love motherhood. We all adore our husbands. This isn’t about escaping our lives at home. This is about reconnecting, reminiscing, laughing our heads off, and just plain having fun.

And it always, always feels best to come back home.

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We missed the peak of Fall colors, but Colorado Springs is beautiful and the weather was perfect. We spent a lot of time outdoors (thanks to our hostess with the mostest who happens to be the athlete of the group). I even experienced about 12 miles of mountain-biking for the first time and l-o-v-e-d it.

(We got a few cell phone pictures. No trekking around with an actual camera.)

Another big personal highlight was making it to the top of “The Incline” in Manitou Springs, CO. While it’s not literally vertical, it sure the heck felt like it. My sea-level lungs were not used to that altitude but it was sooo worth the climb.

I’ll claim the glow-in-the-dark legs on the far left. Those legs climbed over 2,000 feet, reaching an 8,595-foot elevation. Which is why we felt okay busting out the chocolate later on.

We can’t get together without some sort of creating or crafting. That’s part of what brought us together 8 years ago. My main project was putting together a couple floral arrangements for our friend who hosted everyone in her beautiful home. Isn’t this pot terrific?

And we helped her with a little mantel makeover. We found everything (pots, flowers, mirror, decor) at Hobby Lobby … and it was all 50% off so woo-hoo for that.

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Anyway — I’m happily back to “regular” life again and will soon be sharing …

- Winners from the holiday card design contest

- Free holiday card template downloads (resulting from the contest)

- Sneak peeks and more information about the new Project Life stuff coming early December

- Answers to your questions

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But first — the randomly selected winner of last week’s Posh Lily giveaway is Becky in Port Orchard, Washington! Congratulations Becky. Just shoot an email to poshlily@gmail.com and she’ll hook you up.