FBCS Ladies Retreat

Janine planned a fantastic Ladies Retreat for our church this weekend. I think we ended up with 22 ladies attending.

We arrived at the church around 5:00 p.m. and then took off to eat at The Spaghetti Warehouse in Akron. I had the manicotti (like I always do there) and it was as yummy as ever. After that we headed to the Radisson hotel in downtown Akron, checked in and got settled and then met in our Community Room to watch a Chonda Pierce video together ~ this woman is a Christian comedian, soloist and pianist (not fair to have so much talent put into one person!) Her video was hysterical and heart-warming and inspired a great discussion amongst the ladies in our group. After that, we had “free time” that we could spend anyway we wanted to ~ a bunch of us ended up playing “Apples To Apples” and for the first time in my life I finally won more than two cards. I won six!! I was very impressed with myself even though I still lost the game.

Before the video, Janine made us play a really silly game. Two of the girls were models and everyone else on their team had to use the awful clothes Janine had brought to dress their model up. Each team then had to write up a description of the model’s outfit while the two victims modeled their new outfits. Peggy and Jessica were terrific sports about dressing up and everyone laughed themselves silly during the activity.

Victim #1 ~ Peggy Garn:

Victim #2 ~ Jessica Pomeroy:

Lori Gostlin laughing at them:

The next morning we ate breakfast together, watched another video and then walked down the street to check out the Christmas Tree Festival that was going on at the John S. Knight center. Before we entered the building, we saw a reindeer!

Lori, Angie and Candy insisted on having their picture taken with him:

There were at least 100 different Christmas trees, wreaths and other items decorated in different themes that you could look at for free. You could also purchase a tree if you wanted to (mucho expensive!) and then the proceeds would go to the Akron Children’s Hospital.

Janine, Jane and Diana “happily” posing for a picture:

One of my favorite trees was donated by a Pediatric “Bone Specialist” doctor’s office. It featured stuffed animals that wore casts, band-aids, etc. They were so cute!

We spent the rest of the afternoon going through the few shops that are left at Quaker Square after the buyout that just occurred, we ate lunch at the restaurant there and then drove a couple miles away to look at the Don Drumm Art Gallery. I’m not usually into artsy stuff, but this place was really cool ~ a lot of items were on consignment from local artists. The handmade jewelry was fantastic. Just couldn’t bring myself to pay $85 for a necklace though…I’m too cheap!

Here is the best picture of the weekend. I talked the ladies into piling into the train outside the restaurant where we ate lunch ~ too funny!

P.S. I’ve learned that if I’m the official photographer of an event…I won’t have any pictures taken of me ~ yeah!! 🙂 Janine probably won’t let me get away with that again though.