Friday Already?

Honestly, I don't know what's happened to this week. I really don't.
And I don't know where to begin, so I'll just back up to yesterday.
Three of us traveled to the national writing conference to attend the annual general meeting of our governing group. I'm not going to go into that except to say it was an interesting learning experience and nice to finally put faces to names. I learned a lot and was glad I went.
I have complete and total conference envy. Though, since it's been so long since I've been to a conference yesterday was probably all I could handle. I still have a headache. And my feet hurt. The shoes I wore...well, I'd forgotten that I usually wear them to weddings and the reason I think they're so comfortable is because I take them off as soon as possible and it's not like I'm walking up and down hills or stairs in them. My calves don't feel as bad as I expected though.
(Now, let me back up enough to say that I absolutely hate conference crashing. That's not what we did. We went to the meeting, but we did not insinuate ourselves into any event or resource available. And we avoided areas assigned to conference attendees.)
My last conference was probably five years ago, so I don't have a lot of conference friends like my associates. I did recognize and talk to a few people I remember, but there was no one waiting for me. Not to mention, I'm a little more confident than I was way back then, so I'm sure my conference experience in the future will be much different. Meeting up with my compadre's friends was a lot of fun, most of them I'd only interacted with on blogs or email loops - now I have faces and new friends.
Lunch in the hotel was okay, if not way expensive. Everything was expensive there - three bucks for a bottle of soda. Dinner at a Thai restaurant was awesome. People watching was also pretty cool. The private wine party was a lot of fun - it's amazing how many people can fit into a small hotel room.
All I can say is...I absolutely wish I was there. I probably won't be able to go for two more years. The energy and friendliness is something I'd forgotten.
We didn't get home until three o'clock this morning. It would have been earlier, but we got pulled over in Maryland. And our driver had to take a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer. I wish I would have taken pictures. (she had a half a glass of wine like 5 hours before we left) And, she ended up with a written warning - no ticket for speeding.
I have a few pictures I'll post at another time.
I'll do Feel Good Friday later on today when I get caught up. My girls come home tonight and I'm so excited to see them.
Behave!