Why Getting Away with Your Girls is Important

I’m going to go on record and say right off the bat, Michelle and I are not best friends. I know that it sounds harsh, but I’m not trying to be. What we ARE, happens to be great friends. We met four years ago face to face at the annual Blog Her Conference in San Jose, California when she offered me a place to lay my head when I ran into a hotel room conundrum. I pretend to be huffy when I see her spending face to face time with her best friend on the East Coast, and she returns the favor when I’m spending time with mine over in the Midwest. We’re a barrel of laughs. It’s not unusual for a text to come through with the phrase “your little friend(s)” when one of us is not a part of the action. 

What she IS to me is my closest friend in this blogging universe. She is the person who I run things by, and who holds me accountable for things that I plan to do. She also dreams with me, and allows me to vent, cry, celebrate and just be normal with her. So, when I came to her with the idea of doing a getaway for us in the Midwest, she agreed. I think she did so mostly because she’s a Southern girl and wanted to see if I could really show her the charm of the Midwest properly. 

We visited Milwaukee during the week, and jumped in feet first with a customized itinerary from Lindsey at Visit Milwaukee. It was a mix of things that piqued my interest, and things that piqued Michelle’s and included lots of places in the Harambee Community, spots in the historic Third Ward, and a quaint little lighthouse in Lake Park. As you can see we stayed on the East side of the city, and STILL didn’t get as much done as we could have. We didn’t need to though. We NEEDED to spend time laughing and talking, or decompressing in our rooms in the Springhill Suites by Marriott downtown. We walked a lot. We ate a LOT. We relaxed a lot. We got just what we needed from the city of Milwaukee, and we left with fond memories.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing about the places that we visited, the food we ate, and the hotel we made home while we were there. Until then, you’ll have to take these five reasons why getting away with your girls is important. 

Why Getting Away With Your Girls Is Important

• Life is exhausting. Whether you’re single, married, or in between, you have to take breaks from “regular” life in order to decompress and recharge. Yes, doing it alone would be great, but sometimes you just need that one sister, friend, girl to help you out with all things getaway. Who else will you drink wine with, without promise of extras (Sorry Shomari) 
• Sometimes you need time to cry – without a spouse worrying or trying to fix it. There were no tears on this trip, but another trip I took with a girlfriend this past May resulted in a heart to heart in the car and a BUNCH of tears. It was cathartic, and apparently, my heart needed it. 
• Touring a city with someone new is really fun. I visited places in Milwaukee that I haven’t been to before, and it was as magical with a friend as it is with family. 
• You connect on a deeper level. While out dining with Michelle, we got to talking about where we wanted to be with our platforms and what we could do to get there. No big time mastermind was set, and I didn’t feel anxious discussing it with her 
• Connecting in real life is necessary. With the use of the internet, more long distance friendships have been forged, and while seeing each other at conferences, or large group meetups is fine, it’s not always the best. There needs to be that 
• Friendships are light. I don’t find it odd that we saw so many lighthouses on this trip. Friendships are light to me, and they help guide me when I don’t always think I need guidance. 

I’m guessing that Michelle will have her own perspective of this trip, but I would like her to know that I appreciate that she took the time to hang out with this gal from the Midwest. It really filled my emotional cup, and has set off an annual girls getaway for sure. I’m looking forward to making sure that I keep connected with my girls both in town and out.