PJs at TJs 2: "Yay! You made it! Okay!"

For the second year in a row, I spent a fabulous February weekend with my friends from the internet. Yes, I have a lot of them, and many of them are better than some of the people I’m IRL (in real life) friends with. And many of them have also become IRL friends – because I know them now and I’ve met them and I can legitimately say they’re not just friends from the internet anymore. Anyway. I went to PJs at TJ’s. Last year, the event was at Kelly’s house and it was relatively small and intimate and fun and there was a snack wall and a bed in the living room (which stayed in the living room for a very long while after, which is brilliant). This year, Kelly found an amazing house in Gilbert to rent, expanded the cap on the number of attendees, and once again showed us all a fabulous time. There was a still a snack wall and there was still a bed in the living room, but this year there was pub cheese and a cake quite a few new faces.


Since I live about an hour from the party house, I decided that I would treat myself and go all out and rent half a bed for the weekend at the house rather than waste the money on gas driving back and forth, and I’m so glad I did. I would have missed out on so much fun if I’d stayed at home at night. I arrived after work on Friday and was greeted with big hugs and introductions to the new girls. We hung out, talked and overall had a nice time getting to know each other until probably midnight or so. I got to meet my roommate, Deja (also known as PinkieBling). I have to say, she is awesome. It was only the beginning, and we all had the best time, especially when Kelly broke out into highly animated book synopses and reviews. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time.

On Saturday, we hung out in the morning, then headed out for lunch and Targeting. Poor Noemi got lost (and I don’t know the area at all, so stupid me didn’t even realize I was following her to nowhere rather than correcting her and helping her find the way to the promised land that is Chili’s queso dip and margaritas), but we eventually got there and had lunch with a big group of girls. The up side to being lost was that I got to hang out with Deja and get to know her better. After lunch, Deja, Linnea, and I went to Target and then back to the party house to help Kelly decorate. I must say, we did an excellent job of purple-ifying, and all the décor Kelly picked out was just perfect and festive and fun. After a quick nap, it was time to get dressed (is it called ‘dressed’ when you’re wearing PJs?) for the big event: the pajama party!

Kelly really went all out with everything when it came to this weekend, truly. Not only did she take the time to make sure everyone was comfortable and happy, she spoiled us when it came to food. She had a pudding tower, the snack wall, pizza, snacks galore, this thing called crack dip, pub cheese, and – oh my gosh, people – cookie butter. She even had a cake featuring her main squeeze, Tom Hanks. The Canadian, Lara (whose hair is still fabulous), brought some snacks from her homeland, and would you believe one of them was a sponge candy bar? (My mom just gasped) I can’t tell you how much I love sponge candy. It reminds me of visits to my mom’s home town – there’s a candy shop that makes it and it’s just my favorite thing ever. And they have it in bar form in Canada. Bars. Of sponge candy! I might have to move there. Anyway, once again, we stayed up ridiculously late talking in our PJs. There were little groups dispersed all over the living and dining rooms, and they would evolve and shift, and you could just sit down and pick up on the conversation. We laughed so hard sometimes – enough that there were tears (I’m looking at you, Deja). I think I got a chance to talk to just about everyone at some point in the evening, whether directly or in a group. As people left for their hotels or to go upstairs to bed, the group got smaller and eventually – around 3am – we trudged off to bed, having laughed our way through a fantastic day. It really is the best kind of tired to be worn out from giggling and talking with friends for hours on end.

Everyone was really wonderful to see again or meet - I'm scared of trying to list everyone because I certainly don't want to leave anyone out. I loved seeing girls again from last year and getting to talk to them more. It was great meeting new girls, and I hope that our conversations will continue through this year, just as they did with last year’s crowd.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all (but most of all, Kelly) for an incredible weekend! You all are wonderful and I’m so thankful to have fallen in with the right crowd.