TOFW 2011: Friday

What if you had the chance to take a weekend to discover something new?
What if this was the year for you to make meaningful change?
We did. This is!
"CHOOSE TO BECOME just a little closer to the woman you were meant to be—through your testimony, through your relationships, and through your personal improvement. There is a whole world of possibilities out there just waiting to be discovered…come find the ones waiting for YOU!"
This weekend, the TIME OUT FOR WOMEN 2011 TOUR came to Minneapolis, MN. Eleven of my dear sweet friends and I joined 800 other amazing women  for an inspirational weekend of messages and music. [We're so sad that Lisa and Cheryl couldn't come- we missed you ladies!] This was the 3rd time that a group of Fargo Friends made the journey. As always- it was an awesome adventure!
We met at the Church this morning where we and all our luggage piled into a 15 passenger green van (so funny since last time we went in a Green Beast as well) that we had rented especially for the occasion. KTuck even stopped by to wish us luck and bring us a couple of bags of treats for our trip. She is AWESOME! I so need the recipe, lady! The popcorn was the best I've ever had. Thank you so much! We luv ya and wish you could have come.
After a prayer from the Bishop Sean (this was not an official Church activity so we called him Sean ;), we loaded our junk stuff into the back AND in the extra seats AND under the benches LOL! and all piled into the van. We were definitely cozy but so glad we could all ride together. Stories, laughter, treats, each other's laps and a box of chocolates were generously shared.

TOFW Tradition requires that we make a stop in St. Cloud, MN at the Gruber's Quilt Shop. I actually thought the tradition might not happen this time because my die-hard Fab buddy wasn't joining us (Brooke has a tiny baby at home this year and couldn't come). But most ended up wanting to go- so off we went. Beautiful fabric in every color you can imagine and idea after idea after idea. A Fab-Addict Heaven! 



Another tradition we enjoy on our TOFW trips is lunch @ Panera's. Yummy and quick! There's something for everyone which is a bonus! Yeah for delicious traditions!

We finally made it to the Millennium Hotel around 4 o'clock and Kristen did an awesome job of parking the Green Beast in the parking garage. She deserves a Green Machine Parking Metal! Then we got our key cards and got the ladies assigned as roomies. We were a bit bummed cuz they actually told me we had rooms across the hall from each other. In reality, we had 2 rooms across from each other and the other two rooms were on the other end of the 6th floor. Bugger! But we didn't spend a whole lot of time in them anyways so... whatever, right? I had an early meeting so I took off while the other ladies got settled, visited or took naps. I met up with them at the event at 6:00 PM. Yeah- let the fun continue! While we were taking pictures in front of the sign, Breanna (the TOFW Minn Team Lead) came and took pics and did a few videos of our group. We'll see if we end up famous!!! ;)

The Friday Night Event was awesome! I'll share some of the things we learned in a different post. After the event, we got together with some other ladies from Fargo (Martha, Brittney, and Marvia) for a late dinner. There was a fun, little restaurant in the lobby of the hotel which was open late and could seat all 17 of us. Perfect! The prices were way decent and the staff was great! Better yet we didn't have to load everyone in the van and drive anywhere. Lucky us!

Back in our rooms, we stayed up late and visited (at least we did in our room). That's what you do at a sleepover, right? Not much sleep but good times! Wahoo!