May 23, 20164 min read

5 Ways to Stay Connected with Your Girlfriends

During college, it couldn’t have been easier to stay connected with your girlfriends. You’re all so close to each other and have so much free time for TV nights, impromptu lunch dates, and random phone conversations. Once life happens and the adulting begins, staying in touch with your BFFs gets a little trickier. Up until last week, I was in Japan for 6 months and one of the things that I missed the most was quality time with my girls. It was definitely a challenge to stay in touch with my leading ladies when distance and time got in the way, and even when we’re not thousands of miles apart, it’s sometimes tough to talk and hang out as often as we once did. We all have such hectic schedules and so many things going on, but it’s so important to stay connected with your girlfriends and there are a number of easy ways to make it happen.

In need of some girl time? Don't let life get in the way! Check out these 5 simple ways to stay connected with your girlfriends.

5 Ways to Stay Connected with Your Girlfriends

Follow Along on Social Media

Let me start by saying that social media should’t be the only way you communicate with your friends. In this day and age, so many times we rely on social media for human connection and forget about the “real life” ways of communicating. Although Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter shouldn’t be the only ways you stay connected with your girlfriends, it’s a great place to start! Follow along to stay in the loop on what your friends have going on. Like and comment on their posts so they know that you’re paying attention and care about their updates. Stalk their social media pages to make sure you don’t miss a beat and use this information as conversation starters when you communicate with them in other ways.

Schedule Phone Dates

I don’t know about you, but I rely on my calendar and my to-do list. From meal planning and outfit planning to meetings, upcoming events, and what shows I want to catch on TV in the evenings, everything is in my planner. Schedule phone dates with your friends just like you schedule every other aspect of your life. Whether your preferred method of communication is Skype, FaceTime, or an old fashioned phone call, be sure to pencil it in so that you don’t forget. Plan it ahead of time so that your friend can clear her schedule as well. My best friend and I have FaceTime dates every week. When we’re ending one week’s conversation, we pick a date and time for the next and both put it on our calendars so that we don’t forget. No matter where in the world I’ve been, what time difference we’re facing, or what we both have going on, scheduling our dates ensures that we connect at least once a week.

Host Watch Parties

If you and your girls are in the same area and have shows that you all watch, why not watch together? TV time was something my friends and I always did in college, and I love the idea of doing it now that we’re “all grown up” as well. From Shonda Rhime’s TGIT line up to Pretty Little Liars there are quite a few shows that we all love that the men in our lives aren’t thrilled to watch. Since we’ll all be watching anyway and won’t be busy doing other things during prime time, it’s the perfect time for us all to get together in our PJs, pig out on snacks, watch out shows, and chit chat during commercial breaks. Last year during Pretty Little Liar’s big “A” reveal, I have one friend over and another join the party via Skype. It was the perfect excuse for us to get together, enjoy our show, and catch up, and I’ll definitely be hosting more TV watch parties this summer.

How to Plan the Perfect Girls Trip Sidebar

Plan a Girls’ Trip

From Bali to Paris, it’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of a girls’ only getaway. I even wrote a pretty awesome e-book providing my tips for planning the perfect girls’ trip from top to bottom! If you ask me, a girls’ trip is the perfect way to connect with your BFFs, especially if you haven’t seen them in a while. With smartphones and laptops, we’re all so easily accessible and it’s easy to get distracted when you’re spending time with your friends. A girls’ trip is a great way to keep the distractions to a minimum. Leave your work, your man, and your kids at home and dedicate a weekend to uninterrupted girls’ time. There are so many destinations to choose from, but I love the idea of going somewhere with awesome spas and great restaurants where you can get in some R&R while chitchatting with your girls until the wee hours of the morning about any and every thing.

Attend Major Events

Attending weddings, homecomings, and graduations are great ways to stay connected with your friends. My girls and I look for any excuse to get together, and although some these events aren’t technically reunions, we treat them as such. Make time to attend events that a lot of your friends are attending, not only to celebrate the person (or couple) of honor, but also to hang out with everyone else who will be there. My wedding weekend was obviously special to me for a whole lot of reasons (mainly because I married my best friend), but one of the best parts was honestly spending time with all of our friends from college that attended. My husband and I were the first of our close college friends to get married, and it was so nice to bring everyone together to celebrate such a major milestone. We joke that we want to get married every year just to bring everyone to one place again. This past weekend, my sorority sister graduated from law school. When I realized that I would be back in America in time to attend, I quickly booked a flight to D.C. and started making plans. It was a blast not only because I got to be with her as she celebrated a major accomplishment, but also because I got to spend time with all of my other friends who attended as well. We went to brunch on Saturday morning to chit chat and catch up over bottomless mimosas and here’s what I wore: