Dear Holiday Golightly,

Are these questions from actual readers, or are you just making them up?

Thanks!

Peseuda

Well Pesuda, we're glad you asked. Yes, we are just making them up. No one ever asks us anything, but we're pretty sure they want to. Maybe it's like how girls in Junior High Math classes don't raise their hands as often as the boys do? Meh, we won't fret about it. No one reads the "Advice" blog.

P.S. Thanks for being my doll when I was 4, and I'm sorry for naming you "Peseuda".

Photo: jayjuice on Flickr

Dear Holiday Golightly,

What do you think is the ideal group size for a Girlfriend Getaway? Three people? Is ten people too many?

Sincerely,

Melanie

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Dear Melanie,

To give you the most annoying answer: It really depends! If the getaway you're planning is fairly "activity-heavy", then we think less is more.

If you're just planning to get a fab hotel, go shopping, and drink loads of wine and catch up with people you haven't seen in many moons, the more the merrier.

The focus should always be on spending time with your girlfriends, and doing what you enjoy.

Cheers!

Holiday Golightly

Dear Holiday Golightly,

I love spending time with my girlfriends, but what do I do if I want to spend time alone, away from the group? 

Thanks,

Jillian 

Photo credit:  um...Whistler 

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Hey Jillian,

Thanks for your question.  We love questions!  And sometimes we actually have answers.  Like this time!

You should definitely discuss the Alone Time at the very start of the trip, to manage expectations.  As long as everyone understands that, at some point, you may want to wander off by yourself for an hour or so, it should be okay.

For example, bad times might be:

1)  When the restaurant bill arrives, and you blurt out "Alone Time!" and run off.

2)  If an argument arises, and you just yell "Alone Time" and leave the conversation dangling.

Timing and expectation are really everything, and your friends will definitely understand that you want to be by yourself, as long as you are up-front about it at the beginning of the trip. 

Cheers and happy travels!

Holiday Golightly 

Erma Bombeck famously stated "when you start to look like your passport photo - it's time to go home".   And I'm willing to bet that most of you have taken an unfortuate driver's license photo, or two, in your time. 

This advice is going to sound:

1)  Shallow

2)  Silly

3)  Unimportant

and you will thank me for it, should you choose to accept your mission.

When it's time to renew that driver's license or passport, prepare as if you were going to your high school reunion.

Passport and driver's license photos, for whatever reason, completely wash you out, and flatten your hair.  Don't ask for an explanation - I'm not a professional camera technician.  Just trust me.  So, when you need to trot down to the DMV, or take those photos at Kinko's to send in to the passport agency, apply "nighttime makeup", and something as close to 80s hair as you're comfortable with.

In the case of passports, you are going to be looking at that photo for the next 10 years, so make it good.  The little ego boost you will get, each time you peek at the passport, is more than worth the 45 minutes it will take for you to get ready for the photo.

Possibly the most difficult part of this photo shoot, will be the dozens of bystanders who will be watching you get your photo taken.  Ignore them.  You will most likely never see them again.  What is more important:  appearing careless and aloof in front of strangers, or having a cover-worthy photo that is used to frequently identify you?

So sit up straight on that wobbly perch, point your chin "down and out" (which will make you feel a bit like a duck, but eliminates the double-chin issue), and pretend Cameron Mathison is standing over the left shoulder of the photographer, giving you this look:

There is just no reason to suffer a bad ID photo, and Cameron totally agrees.  

Please remember to:

1)  Take your meds

2)  Stay out of strange beds

3)  While in gas station bathrooms, wear your peds

4)  Wash your hair - to avoid the dreds

5)  Show up in court - to appease the feds

Girlfriend, are you listening?

Erf.  Are they over yet???

According to our Golightly Girl, Card, the holidays aren't officially over until February 15.  Also known as Independence Day.

However, the REALLY stressful craziness has pretty much passed, and you all deserve a round of applause for surviving.  That is, if a round of applause could massage every muscle in your tense body, to some soft Sade tunes, while simultaneously feeding you chocolate-covered strawberries and Veuve Clicquot.

My advice for you?  Do something nice for yourself in the next few weeks.  Be completely selfish about it.  Need ideas?  I'm frequently selfish, and have plenty.  Most of the following should be done only after unplugging/turning off your phone:

1) Aforementioned massage.  And don't let the masseuse talk to you.  You are paying for this, and you need Quiet-Relaxy Time.  Relaxy is a word.

2) Lie down on the couch with your iPod for one hour, and put on playlist entitled "Napping Time".  Don't be absurd, of course everyone has a playlist entitled "Napping Time".  And if you don't, make one, and include aforementioned Sade, along with Zero 7, Nick Drake, Damien Rice, Billie Holiday, and fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorite-mellow-artist.

3) Have a glass of wine with lunch.  On a weekday.  If you already, normally, do this?  Have two.

4) Buy yourself something you'd normally never buy.  Like a wig, or a hat, or rhinestone opera gloves.  Then verbally identify them as "ME!" items.  "This is my ME wig!"  It's all about you.

5) Take a "mental health" day, and just watch the Bravo channel all day long in your pajamas.  With any luck, there will be a "Real Housewives of Orange County" marathon.

6) Bubble bath.

7) Need I even say "new shoes"?

Now go!