The Best Version of "Hallelujah"....and stuff ladies talk about while on vacation with wine!

August 1, 2013 Iron Springs - l to r: Sarah/louie, her daughter Emma, me, Julie/jj. I finally figured out my self-timer on my camera, which is why i'm laughing, i had to jump in quickly!

Just got back from a three night galpal trip, or as Emma likes to call it, "The Ladies' Vacation". (Emma is one of two non-family people  who i would be willing to adopt as my own daughter. I posted on this sometime last spring on this blog.) We went to Iron Springs on Copalis Beach, which is one of the nicer Washington ocean beaches because the cars can't drive between the inlets so there are fewer cars. Plus the cabins are very cool. (My husband and i were there earlier in the month.)

Here's what we did:

1. On the last night we played every version of the song the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" on our iPods. We had them by: Rufus Wainwright, k.d. Lang, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, JJ Cale. (I thought i had Jackie Greene's version, but didn't.)

2. We then voted on k.d. Lang's version as being the best. (Check it out and see if you don't agree.) Emma sort of likes Brandi Carlile's the best, and i might put her second, equal with Jeff Buckley's.

3. Then we gave some shit to Emma (who is 25 years old) for not knowing that Leonard Cohen wrote it.

4. Weird than none of us had Cohen's version. We found it on YouTube and then understood why.

5. We also drank 9 bottles of wine during the three days. We cooked every meal, steamed clams, marinated flank steak on the BBQ and pasta with homemade pesto and proscuitto. (We eat well on these trips and don't mind cooking. )  It was funny that we all brought goat cheese and granola.

6. We talked about lots of stuff. How young men are terrible in bed, family dynamics, actors we like and actors who irritate us, how to fix education (Emma is a teacher too, so we are all in education).

7. We also talked about how size doesn't matter (though louie didn't participate in THAT conversation, being that her daughter was present).

8. We talked about vegans vs. vegetarians and how irritating it can be to cook for them. Emma used to date a vegan and it was a stressful trying to come up with T-Day vegan dishes. I know, cause i was there.

10. We tried too late to make a drinking game out of every time that Sarah and Emma shared a funny endearment about Ron, (louie's husband, Emma's dad).

11. We watched The Big Lebowski and even though we had all seen it, Silver Linings Playbook.

12. I think we all agreed that Bradley Cooper is someone we would date.

13. louie and i played a card game Speed, for quarters. We were evenly matched, each winning four quarters. (We forgot to have our playoff. Too bad because Julie and Emma could have laid bets on who would win.)

14. We completed a 513 piece puzzle that had three missing pieces and three dog chewed pieces and entirely too much white.

15. We took two long walks on the beach. I ran once, but not long, i hate beach running, so boring going out and back.

16. We played Qwerkle and louie won one game and i am not sure who won the second. Emma kept score. We have to ask her.

17. We talked about how hard it must be to date when you are 50 - since this is what Julie is doing. And then laughed about what if you are dating someone who needs to sleep with one of the sleep apnea machines that makes you look like an aardvark. (How does one look sexy in one of those?) But if Bradley Cooper needed to use a sleep machine it would be okay. Though I realize he is not 50 years old.

18. We weren't careful of our language. Emma had the best quote. "She always uses the F-word more in July" ....(in talking about her mom).

19. We talked about our future....with the exception of Emma, i think we are all ready to be done with our jobs. But worried about what we want to do. Julie maybe Peace Corps, Sarah - uncertain, me - watching a lot of TV, taking bowling lessons, archery lessons. (I'm the least ambitious in the group, not embarrassed to say.)

So come tell us: what are YOU doing on YOUR vacation?

Notes to Self: 
Sunset: 8:43 pm
Sunrise: 5:50 am
All time blog views: 46,610
Shout Out: equeyaya....cause i know you love the song Hallelujah too!







Above is Alexandra from the X-FActor that louie is talking about.



Above is Swiss's link of Hallelujah of the guy's singing together. I actually like this one better than Alexandra. But i still think kd lang does it best.