when the lights...go down....on your thirties

McCall is a genius and decided we should buy $44 plane tickets to San Francisco for the day to celebrate Emily 's 40th birthday.  

If Emily were a color she would be Golden...it doesn't get much better than her.

Was she surprised when we showed up at her house around 6:30 am on a Tuesday with Brooke in a bikini?

Yes.  

Was it the best day I've had in a long time?  Yes again.

We used Uber to get downtown, the bus to get to the farmer's market, a bus to get to our bikes, bikes to get to Sausalito, a ferry to get back to the city, a trolley to get downtown again and BART to get back to the airport that night.  I kept thinking that every mom needs a day...on a bike...in the sunshine...in a totally different place.  Just a reminder that life exists outside of the daily.

Speaking of BART, I want to publicly apologize to everyone riding that night whose heads I hit with my backpack (by accident) and I will not go into detail about what happened on Bart but let's just say I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

The weather was perfect.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the city looked from the bridge.

Farmer's Market where we bypassed most of the produce and each spent about $30 on chocolate.

This picture at Dottie's (which is closed on Tuesdays, FYI) was taken after a horrifying walk through an alley where Heather may or may not have stepped in (human) feces and about ten homeless men killed/robbed us with their eyes.  

My friends are smart, funny and resilient. Their stories are filled with happiness and heartache. What I love about them is they're always trying, always getting back up, always moving forward.

Inspires me to do the same.  Just keep going.  There are bike rides in the sunshine ahead.

I vote somewhere tropical next time.