A Healthy Dose of Fun: San Francisco with my Girls

I just got back from a weekend in Northern California visiting some of my best friends from college and had the pleasure of meeting their adorable wonderful babies for the first time. My girl Ash's baby Parisa (Baby P)  just turned one, and Alicia's lil muchkin Finley (Munch) is 4 months.  You might already be savvy to this information, but having babies changes things. Normally our Bay Area visits entail sake-laden sushi dinners, late nights out, and sleeping till noon followed hangover fueled brunches, but we spent a long weekend drinking great wine, eating cheese, laughing till our stomachs hurt (seriously...my abs are killing me still), gossiping, and squeezed in a little bit of workout time as well. It was divine and a hundred million times better than the old status quo.

At the risk of getting sappy, spending QT with my college friends is hugely fulfilling to me.  I'm very blessed in that I've had the opportunity to make a lot of very close friends from many walks of life but there is something about this particular group of girlfriends that is always just what the doctor ordered. Over the course of living together for 5 years, we never fought. Ever. I can literally count the number of arguments we had  one hand.  When I left for college at 18 I had no idea female relationships could be that way. I had good friends in high school but I was so turned off to the way girls fought and gossiped viciously that many of my friends were male - so when I met these girls my freshman year of college, my view on girlfriends changed drastically.

Circa 2003. One day around this time, Karie told us that her mom said that one day we'd look back at pictures of our frosty eyeshadow and wish we hadn't worn it. We thought she was so rude. Doh! 



And us in 2005 at Amy's wedding.



It's been 10+ years since we graduated and we've remained so important in each others lives. No matter what the physical distance  between us they're always been the first people I call for major life events, everything wonderful and tragic.  Relationships are really an important part of overall health, never overlook that. I am beyond blessed to have these chicas!

Speaking of overall health, I would be remiss in not admitting that we let the normal habits slide  from the get go. Delayed flight=extra wine



But we got right back on it.



Getting ready for an easy 9 mile run around the Lafayette Reservoir



Then we saw this. Understatement of the year left us gasping for breath and cutting 9 miles down to 6.



Quick pit stop at the hippied-out Lululemon in Berkeley



Lunch al fresco on a perfectly sunny San Francisco afternoon. Grilled chicken & peach salad, white wine, and oysters. Yummm.



Miss Finley - this lil face just melts my heart.



Lunch with my girlfriends and my new BFF, Baby P.



Blue Points & bubbly in one of my favorite cities, San Francisco.