with a little help from my friends

After high school and college, it gets harder and harder to have all of your closest friends in one place at one time. Therefore, I've tried to make it a priority to set aside one weekend a year to make this happen. So last March was the first annual "Davis Girls Weekend" where the five of us (me, Ashley, Kate, Amy, and Susan) all congregated down in Orange County to stuff ourselves with cupcakes, do some shopping, and catch up on each other's lives.

The 2009 girls weekend destination was switched to the Bay Area, since 80% of us live up in NorCal now (woot woot), and I became the self-designated planner for our activities. The weekend was fabulous fun and here are some pics to prove it!


We began the weekend by lunching at the Ferry Building, where I experienced the gloriousness that is the CowGirl Creamery shop (it's like cheese heaven!). We also saw Meredith from "The Office" and we tried to get her in this picture (she was buying coffee at Peet's) but we just missed her.


When then went to check in at our amazing hotel in Fisherman's Wharf, where I got an unbelievably good deal on Travelzoo: $99 for a night versus the normal $250 a night. The nautical theme was a little over the top, but it was a very posh hotel that included a free wine reception hour, which we all gladly took advantage of before heading off to dinner in North Beach.





We then took a pleasant stroll over to Little Italy and ate at what I think is the most delicious Italian restaurant in the city, Mona Lisa. I have a long history with this place (we went there the night David proposed! ) and it just hits the spot for any kind of pasta creation you could imagine. After dinner, we were walking down Columbus Avenue to our next destination when I run into two friends from college, Kristen and Brad! It was a hilarious moment where in disbelief I shouted out "Excuse me?! What are you doing here?" not realizing that I probably sounded really rude to the other people in front of me...haha. But really, what are the odds of running into two friends at the exact same time on the exact same street in a large city? I love life's little coincidences.



Kristen gave us the name of the bakery she works at in the city, and I promised that we would try to come see her the next morning for breakfast. We then began what turned out to be a mini-trek to our next stop, the Red Devil Lounge in Russian Hill. Unfortunately, Kate thought that it would be a good idea to wear new heels, and on our walk to dinner she already had several nasty blisters in the works. Using her wonderful iPhone, I tried to find the closest MUNI stop and realized that even with taking MUNI, we would still need to walk 6-8 blocks uphill. The rest of us were in comfortable walking shoes, but poor Kate was limping along. It truly was a group effort in trying to ease Kate's pain.....Ash gave her piggy back rides and I let her have my socks, while Amy and Susan offered up words of moral support. All I have to say is argyle socks and zebra heels make an interesting combo.





After we got a little lost (even with the iPhone), Kate and Ashley gave up on walking and hailed a cab. But me, and Amy, and Susan forged on...mainly because we wanted to walk off what was a very filling dinner. So finally, by car or on foot, we all arrived and our night of dancing began.

Since a night out with the girls is rare now that I'm an old married lady, I had done some research of a fun place to go dancing. Fortunately, through the wonders of Google, I found that Wonderbread 5 was playing in SF on the night that we were there. They are a cover band that play hits from the 80's and 90's, which is definitely more my scene than some ultra trendy club playing electronica and trance.

We got our dance on and moonwalked to Michael Jackson , shimmied to the B-52's, rocked out to Journey, and even tried to rap to Vanilla Ice (I have to admit, I have forgotten the words). It was a most excellent time.








We made an early morning stop at the Fisherman's Wharf In-N-Out before heading to bed and two creepster guys in line asked Amy and Ash "Are you two here for pleasure?" Seriously? Is that supposed to be a smooth pick up line? If only Amy or Ash had thought to respond "No, actually we're here at In-N-Out for a 2 am business meeting."

The next day, we made good on our promise to pay Kristen a visit at La Boulange, the super cute French eatery where she works. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed another sunny walk in the city. I got what I think was the best omelette of my life: goat cheese, avocado, and bacon. It was a perfect Sunday brunch meal and was made even more perfect when Kristen snuck us some free pastries, which included a banana caramel muffin, a raisin custard croissant, and a sugar bun....scrumptious!

As if we hadn't had our fill of sweets, we made a stop at Kara's Cupcakes in Ghiradelli Square before checking out of the hotel. I agree that it is a little ridiculous to pay $3.25 for ONE cupcake, but you only live once right? After laboring over all the choices, I went with one Kara's Karrot and one Meyer Lemony lemon cupcake...and resisted the temptation to buy more. We then made a brief stop at the ocean for a photo op and headed down to Union Square.



The rest of the day involved a really fun makeup consultation at Sephora, a delectable Thai dinner in Walnut Creek, and a nostalgic viewing of an awesome movie from the late 80's, "Troop Beverly Hills". The next morning, we all woke up a little dazed from staying up late talking but Kate made sure to feed us a healthy breakfast of whole-grain toast, fruit and oatmeal before we left for Davis. I am so blessed to have so many great memories with my friends and I look forward to next year's girls weekend!