maryly found her suiter

Hello, it's me.

This blog has technically moved, but I wanted a place to document a heartfelt speech I wrote for one of my bests on her wedding day on 12.31.16. It was a magical New Year's. Secretly (well, not so secretly anymore), I love writing wedding speeches for my soul sisters. Especially when they find a love that is oh-so-very-right.

Here goes...

Hi Everyone! I’m Gina Martini, and thanks to Mar and the Ousmans, I’m also referred to as Rose, Suzy Star, Suz, Stevie Nicks, and my personal favorite, Gina Ousman. One year Mimi even sent me my own version of the Ousman family Christmas card. On the front there’s a sibling picture of the four of us, and inside it reads ‘Merry Christmas & Season’s Greetings… Love, The Ousman Family (Mimi, Jim, Jamie, Gina, Maryly, & Nick). Now, I swear I have my own family (who are here), but I think for a while they were seriously concerned I wanted to disown them and become an Ousman! I tell you this just to share just how much I love them and how they’ve always been a second family to me.

I’ve known Mar since we were about 5 years old. Our friendship started carpooling to dance and grew over sour watermelons at Fudge Alley. We’ve been dancing, bump-set-spiking, walking, running, swimming, singing, road tripping, and laughing side by side to each other for nearly 25 years. We’ve truly been through every single life milestone together including our over-plucked eyebrow phase, which is a rite of passage, let’s be honest. Thank gosh that phase is over. When we were 16 we even made up our own secret word called ‘sakoosh,’ to describe a feeling that nobody else could possibly understand but us. (Yes, these were the weird things we did when we were young along with spend way too much of our free time at Linda Evans and eating Yogurt Park). Mar is the person I call about everything in life, good or bad. She’s the best listener I know and sometimes I think she understands me better than I understand myself! One of her many gifts is making life so much fun and I am so lucky to be on the receiving end of her friendship. She’s more than my friend, she’s my sister.

So, Scott, you better believe we’ve been waiting for your arrival for a LONG time. We also spent a lot of our free time choosing who our bridesmaids would be, what our kids names were going to be, and where our vacation houses would be long before a guy was ever in the picture! All I can say is, thank you for finally arriving!

I have one quick story I want to tell about Mar and Scott. I had the pleasure of talking to Mar on her way to meet Scott for their first date. It was a Sunday afternoon in February of 2014. I was living in New York City at the time and doing normal Sunday things like laundry and tootling around the house. Mar calls to chat and tell me that she’s, ‘Going on a date with this guy Scott Suiter that Miriam has been trying to set me up with forever.’ She tells me she’s going to get deli sandwiches and sit at Marina green. ‘Cute first date!’ I tell her, and that she has to let me know how it goes after. So I go about my business on that Sunday afternoon, and before I can even finish folding a load of laundry I get a call back from Mar. It can’t have been more than 45 minutes. ‘Mar?’ I answer. ‘Are you already done with your date?’ Needless to say Scott may have been a liiiitle nervous and they had literally ‘eaten and run.’ ‘I don’t know Gean, he didn’t say much.’

Fast forward about 3 months to June 2014. I did a little digging in the Gchat archives and found a very special conversation between Mar and I. Yes, this is documented. It’s from Monday, June 2nd 2014 at 1:38pm. Mar says, ‘I went to Bottle Rock with Scott yesterday!’ I respond in all caps ‘HOW WAS IT!?’ And Mar responds. ‘Good! I like have a boyfriend I think, Geans.’ Me again (in all caps), ‘STOP IT.’ There’s a couple more chats back and forth saying really sweet things about what a great guy Scott is, and then at 1:39pm on Monday, June 2nd 2014, Mar says to me… ‘And he doesn’t bug me at all!!!!!!!’ With count it… 7 exclamation points.

Scott, I knew you were ‘it’ then. All of us who know and love Mar know that these words had never been uttered from her mouth about any other guy before. It’s one of the biggest compliments you could have possibly received. I’m so glad you got over your nerves and that we’re here now at your wedding weekend and that I get to give this speech and say without a doubt that there’s no one more perfect for my sister, Mar.

You check more boxes than we ever dreamed up when we were little including ‘will drink wine with me on Monday nights while watching the Bachelor and be totally into it.’

I love you both so much and I’m SO happy you found each other. So cheers, to Mar & Scott, to a lifetime of happiness!

Thanks for reading! This day was one for the record books. xo.

it's the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.

i've been meaning to post this forever, and today feels like the right day since it is exactly one month from 8.9.14... the wedding day of one of my very bests {happy anniversary!}. the one who happens to be saving my life right now in san diego, but that's a different story for a different day.

august was a month of speeches wasn't it? i realized i absolutely love writing them. not winging them, but actually writing meaningful words and sharing them with others. it's one of the most terrifying yet thrilling things i've experienced to date.

so, here goes...

***
hi everyone, i’m gina, and i am lucky enough to be kate’s maid of honor and to have had kate as my partner in crime for the past sixteen years. because i’ve known kate since the very formative age of twelve, i thought what better time than at her wedding to take us on a little trip down memory lane to remind us just how cool she was.

we've always called each other sisters. she's caitlin. i'm vix. we named each other after the two main characters in the book summer sisters by judy blume which was published in 1998, the year we became friends. 

we've always had our own language, kate and i.

we even created a very detailed glossary of code names in our top secret journal so when we'd pass notes back and forth to each other in high school, no one would know who we were talking about. we used nicknames like skittle, air. j, corolla, and lady bug. there was always a rhyme and a reason to how we got to a specific name, and of course no one would ever crack our secret lingo especially when all of our sentences went something like this, 'oh my gosh, vix, did you see skittle today? air j. totally likes you. i hope corolla isn’t mad at me. let’s definitely hangout with lady bug this weekend.' that was kate and i for you.

our summers were spent by our pools in matching striped j.crew swimsuits and lavender platform flip flops. sometimes we'd spend all day doing our hair and makeup and make my mom take model shots of us posing in several different abercrombie outfits in the backyard. we were our own creative directors. our friday nights were filled with aim'ing the boys we had crushes on and making up dances in the study on lowell lane to 'who let the dogs out?' there were family vacations to tahoe where we coined ourselves the 'tahoe twins' dressed in our matching denim jackets and also to hawaii where we wore the same seashell necklaces and, surprise surprise, made susan and john take pictures of us.

the list goes on, but i will spare you.

enter ryan.

though years had passed since kate and i's dance parties in the study, we have those sweet dance moves at a bar in cal poly to thank for the initial attraction between kate and ryan.

good thing we did all that practicing.

ry, when you first arrived, i was skeptical. i thought, who is this boy who's come out of nowhere and is attentive, sweet, and caring. he follows through and does what he says he's going to do, calls when he says he's going to call, and makes a huge effort driving thousands and thousands of miles to visit kate. you were too good to be true.

and what a relief, because, you know us sisters, we have very high standards for each other.

there was something about you that was different from the very beginning. you may have won her over with your sweet dance moves, but you really won her over with your good and selfless heart.

i admire you both so much. i have loved witnessing the bond you two share and being a part of your love story.

and, i just want to end with one last thing about kate. so, most recently, we've been living in different time zones. just a few weeks ago, late on a friday night I called kate and was reminded of this quote, 'it’s the friends you can call up at 4am that matter.' kate has always been my 4am friend. my 2am and 3am one too. it doesn’t matter what time i call her or how much time has passed since we've last talked, she answers. she drops everything she's doing and listens. kate is one of the truest, most compassionate, brightest souls to ever walk this earth. and when she says you're her best friend, she really means it.

ryan, thank you for being everything my best friend deserves.

i love you both with all my heart!

***
...until next speech!

more on my new life soon. xo.

on soulmates.

there's quite a bit of controversy around the word soulmate, and after lots of pondering, i think i can loosely {and slightly interchangeably, of course} categorize them into three groups, all with the common theme that a soulmate understands you on a soul level like nobody else does. there's the...

romantic soulmate: the life partner

kindred spirit soulmate: the soul sister/brother

best friend soulmate: the guardian angel

when it comes to romantic soulmates, i don't know if i believe in the cliché that there is really only one person in this universe made for us. i think with over seven billion people on the planet, the chances are that we are bound to have a couple of them.

but then i started reading the soulmate secret by arielle ford and the way in which she defines a soulmate got me right at my core. i realized that it doesn't matter if there is only one person for us, or multiple, it just matters that you find it. out came the mechanical pencil to underline the words and make notes in the margins. now this, i thought to myself, is something that's going to be read at my someday wedding.

if i close my eyes, i can see it now... a day in late summer. the sky is blue. the air is fresh, with a light breeze. the sun glistens its late afternoon rays. there's beautiful, tall trees and green grass, and lots of people staring. but, i'm gazing into my soulmate's eyes, and i hear these words...

in the movie shall we dance? starring richard gere and susan sarandon, there is a terrific scene where sarandon's character is describing why she loves being married to her soulmate. she says, "we need a witness to our lives. there are a billion people on the planet... i mean, what does one life really mean? but in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything - the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things - all of it, all the time, every day. you're saying, 'your life will not go unnoticed because i will notice it. your life will not go unwitnessed because i will be your witness.'"

it got me thinking about the cycle of life and funnily enough, my parents. they are still my witnesses, but someday i'm going to need to find one of my very own. because they can only fulfill this role for so long until i will need to experience a soulmate in my own way, and like my parents are doing for me, do the same for my children until they find theirs.

so, anyways, you guys. big epiphanies around these parts! thank you for listening. here's to finding our witnesses.

p.s. it's weddings galore in twenty fourteen. i have so many kindred spirit / best friend soulmates who've met their romantic soulmates, and i'm just so so beyond lucky to be a part of their special days.

*photo via cupcakes and cashmere {my absolute dream of a venue}. someday!

mind the gap.

the past few days i've had a very dear friend staying with me all the way from california, so posts will be light as i try and balance the craziness of work, the holidays, and taking the time to have quality moments and nyc adventures. oh, the whirlwind that is december. my, this year has been a big one... and so many thoughts, finally, so many thoughts!

tyler is pure comfort to me. so far, we've been doing normal things like equinox, trader joes, laundry, and going to the movies {frozen is a must-see!}. but, i've also been dragging him on random and spontaneous adventures around the city like brooklyn, tribeca, and bryant park to name a few. it is his first time in the big apple, after all.

we met in college and have been by each other's side ever since. he opens doors and walks on the busy side of the street, and even carries my heavy bags. he is charismatic, bold, passionate, curious, and follows his heart and intuition without looking back {and ladies, he's single too! just saying.} from santa barbara to san francisco to exploring new lives in different cities (him la, me nyc) he's been a constant to me for so many years, and i am grateful for our relationship that withstands time and distance. i think it's incredibly important for women to have good, quality men in their lives, so lucky lucky me. thank you for always looking out for me, friend. your care for me makes my life so much sweeter and you are without a doubt my definition of a guardian angel.

so anyways, my loves, see you around soon, okay? may we all be grateful for those constant and steady friendships in our lives.

ps. the mind the gap title is really borrowed from my dear friend in london. i miss you, sister!

sacred.

all of this moving business is really going to my head. it's like i've stepped out of my body and am watching a story that is my life unfold. as a result, i'm witnessing all of the main characters that play important roles in this glorious novel-o-mine. it's fun and interesting and, to be honest, quite humbling. i am learning that every single person who is apart of our lives {or has been apart of our lives} is for a reason. our relationships with others, both good and bad, are part of our stories on purpose whether we know it yet or not. always remember that. 

i am grateful for the connections that have brought me together with so many i wouldn't have had the opportunity to be lucky enough to get to know. i try to always always give that gift back to the universe by merging lives and making connections. i believe our stories are richer and sweeter the more good people we have in them, don't you think?

so, in this biography of sorts, that i am observing as of late, one character stands out in particular. her name is stacie. we'll call her the protagonist's wiser-older-sister-that-she-never-did-have. and for this self-proclaimed sister-seeking main character, this particular sisterhood was a given from the start.

i knew it during our first slumber party when i opted out of partying with the kids my own age. instead, i stayed in with stace and it was on this night that she gave me some of the best advice i've ever received, even to this day... i think life can be really simple. some people just make it really really hard for themselves. it was in context of course, but i knew at that very moment that stace and i were destined to be sisters. 

i would not be where i am today without her. and you guys, this is not a joke. the course of my life would be completely different. please don't let that sound dramatic, it's simply the truth. and if i was on a different course that one would be great too, i'm just sayin'...

i got my first job in digital advertising because of stacie. i learned about the blog universe because of stacie. i got built-in everyday advice about navigating your twenties because of stacie. i gained confidence and courage i didn't know i had because of stacie. i became fully prepared for pregnancy because of stacie. i met wonderfully amazing people i wouldn't have otherwise met because of stacie. see what i mean? pretty prominent character in this story. because. because. because. of stacie. of stacie. of stacie. i promise i won't use those words throughout the remainder of this post. but, you get the picture, a lot of things in my life would not be happening if i did not know the one and only... stacie.

no one. and i repeat no one knows me better than her. she is my daily rock. she lets me talk. and talk and talk for hours. with no filter, of course. and she listens. and she is my biggest fan. how did i ever get so lucky to have this angel by my side? i am an older sister myself, but i swear in another lifetime {because most of the time i believe in those} i must have been the wiser-older-sister-that-someone-never-did-have, and the universe gifted it right on back to me.

stace, you are truly the most pivotal character in my story. i am leaps and bounds beyond grateful for you. thank you, from the bottom of my heart. for everything. for the inspiration. for the encouragement. for the advice. for every last ounce of energy and love you have ever given me. it's made me who i am. and you know what? because of you, i am a better version of myself than i ever thought possible. our sisterhood is sacred to me. i love you. forever.

honor.

you know that game you play as a girl… if i was getting married tomorrow, these would be my bridesmaids... {oh i hope that's not just me}.

well, to be honest, the moment i met alexis, i knew she'd be by my side forever. there was no question we would not have each other through every single phase of life... college, traveling, twenty-something-and-figuring-it-out, someday marriage and babies, and so on and so forth. she taught me what it means to have a true best friend and, more importantly, what it means to be one. we all need our very own alexis.

she recently came to san francisco {possibly one last hurrah for a long while} and moments before she arrived, i got a very special package in the mail...

she asked my to be her maid of honor! and what a true honor it is. i am proudly wearing a little something on my right hand in preparation to be one of her right hand gals.

to be completely honest, i am not fully up to speed on maid of honor duties. after all, it is my first. all i know is that i feel blessed to be apart of her experience, and to celebrate her lifelong love.

here's to many more years of firsts and friendship. i love you.

and ps. sweet readers, please do not hesitate to share any moh duties...

*maid of honor pic found on our pinboard.

merrymaking.

so i wrote this bucket list {see here & here} not too long ago and, boy, does it seem like it's becoming a mad race to the finish line {february second, by the way}. actually, no, i take that back. not too mad. more like a game i kind of wish i had been playing all along.

i am in absolute awe of how many takers i have willing to participate in this bucketlistgame with me. if this was the game of life, my car would be squeezed full with pink and blue heads. they'd have to double buckle! i'd even want to put in a special request for a super stretch limo. but you know what they say? the more the merrier. and, i am so incredibly content merrymaking my way through san francisco. and see, that's the lesson in the bucketlist. the one i want to stick with me {and all of us} forever as we open new chapters, start new years, and, well, wake up every morning.

life is too short not to merrymake. find people who you love doing it with and who love doing it with you. the ones who should be by your side, will be. it's that simple. don't worry about the rest.

so, dear lovely red-lipstick wearing and martini-drinking ladies,

thank you for accompanying me on a night out on the town at bix. it's official, we can do this now: martini's and dinner at bix {can you tell i love the strike out!?}. and i have you to thank for it. thank you for pretending we were in an alleyway in paris. for the gabbing over cocktails {of course i got the manhattan!}. for indulging in history lessons from stuey. for sharing bites of your truffle burger. and, most of all for loving me. somehow i got lucky enough to have you three as guardian angels. each protecting me in her own unique way.

i do not say this lightly. i say it with full, genuine intention... what would i do without you?

all my love,
geenz, sweetie, puddin'

texas is so close to the sky.

austin really captured my heart, darlings. to be honest, it barely had to try though. one moment after the next, it continued to woo me in and shamelessly flirt with me so that upon leaving i was right in the palm of its hand. right where you wanted me, huh austin? gladly.

i am beyond grateful to have such a dear, true, and inspiring friend in austin willing to open the door to her box and let me jump right in and embrace life from her point of view {just like we did on my turf back in june}. and oh boy, do i just love the life she's created for herself along with our nurturing, stream-of-consciousness, unfiltered, therapeutic conversations.

so, here's what i learned in austin.

it fascinates me how two women can be at completely different junctures in life - single in the city and married to your soulmate ready for the universe to give you babies - and have many of the same triumphs and challenges. austin reminded me that life is one big classroom no matter what phase of life we are in. we navigate through our days trying to communicate clearly, set boundaries, and grasp what we want out of life. it is so comforting to know that maybe we never perfectly figure it all out, but instead constantly strive to live with purpose. i've decided that a day-in-the-life of each of your soul sisters is a mandatory exercise. learn from them, soak in their routines, and allow them to positively affect you.

visiting old friends forces us to reflect on our big pictures. ya know? we must summarize days, months, and years into an overarching feeling about our lives. talk about a good way to check-in on your happiness level!

there is nothing quite like a quintessential summer day. i said this exact line aloud as we drove home from a hundred degree day filled with whole foods, hike & bike trails, countless shrieking jumps into barton springs, cherry limeades from sonic, and uninhibited fits of laughter. it's days like these we are reminded that life is good.

it's okay to frequent whole foods four times in one weekend {i mean, it is headquarters after all!}.

austin has the yoga scene i thought might only exist in san francisco. i'm so glad i was proven wrong. yoga studios {and every kind of fitness studio really} seem to populate every corner. health and wellness is a way of life. see austin, here you go again speaking my language! to top it off, labor day happened to be a city-wide free day of yoga instigated by none other than lululemon.

sweating buckets becomes a natural and unavoidable occurrence that you just have to sort of start loving.

the most perfect cities have just the right mix of driving and walking.

if you keep your eyes peeled austin loves their wall art in the most mysterious of places.

i wish i felt comfortable saying y'all. somehow it doesn't feel the slightest bit natural, but oh a girl can hope {and practice in the privacy of her own home}.

try playing crazy eights to make you feel young again. it's funny how card games flood you with memories of the first time your grandma taught you how to shuffle.

pausing for open discussions during oprah's life classes makes it a whole lot more meaningful {okay okay, i need to call comcast and order more channels, i'm finally caving}.

finally {and most importantly} friends who believe in you and think higher of you than you could ever possibly think of yourself are the best kind of all. if you are lucky enough to experience this kind of friendship in your lifetime, well, consider yourself blessed. while i learned this long before austin, allie is one of my guardian angels. the kind that pick you up from the airport at one am, leave you welcome baskets full of magazines and snacks on your bed, and make you hot chocolate for a cozy treat. she's the mine is yours type with a special spot in her heart for the ones she loves the most. i admire her unlike any other. she knows what works for her and what doesn't and she embraces that with reckless abandon. she is not afraid to be who she is, grow from her experiences, and remain curious about the world. al, you remind me of the simple things i love most in life and i always part ways from you with a fearlessness to be the very best that i can be.

thank you for being the best host a girl could ask for. in the words of our friend joseph campbell, it is a privilege of a lifetime getting to be who you are. thank you for always helping me be who i am.

gioconda said that when she began practicing yoga she didn't have a lot of room left in her life for things that were part of her previous lifestyle. if her life was a lake, yoga was the drop that created a ripple effect allowing her to only include beautiful things and good habits. that's a bit how i feel whenever i spend time with allie. she is my good luck drop creating a positive ripple effect to keep only the good. namaste, soul sister.

busy.

ever since a dear friend sent me this article on busy-ness, i hate to come right out and say it, but oh boy have i been busy! and, if we refer to the good 'ol fashion definition, it means - actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime. yup, that sounds about right...

hello, work. it's nice to meet you. i see that you like to occupy quite a bit of my attention. oh, but don't you think that's a bit selfish of you? {as you sit and stare back at me with folded arms and a tapping foot}.

now we're well into august and sometimes i think i have the words to write to you, but mostly i don't. the gift of travel has a flipside of exhaustion. sometimes amidst the chaos i forget to be grateful, even though that's truly when we need it most. for now i will leave you with... gratitude according to iphones. sometimes pictures say what words cannot...

yoga with a view.

 summer adventures.

therapy walks turned dance parties.

affordable fresh produce.

country concerts.

@ aol nyc.

subway rides.

central park.

 wine country.

northern california beauty.

mail surprises.

san diego mommy practice.

true love.

denim twinsies.

homemade granola deliveries.

 

wedding reunions.

beachtime.

overall, i feel lucky and blessed. these photos are a reminder that no matter what, life will work itself out. just surround yourself with people who make you blissfully happy and who lift you up... make them your guardian angels.

see you soon and lots of hugs and stuff, g.

caitlin and vix.

we used to think we were models.

the hours spent dressing up... hair and makeup, outfit changes, overalls, matching lavender j.crew flip flops and bathing suits. these were our biggest worries. and boys. we had secret code names for just about every one of them.

i'm so thankful for kate.

we've been friends since the awkward teenage years, the best years. when school dances are the events of the season. when driving the red mercedes without a license around the block {or to longs drugs store... once! shhh!} was the most rebellious thing we ever did. when many-a-friday night were spent making up routines to classics like who let the dogs out? see, big nerds.

some of the best kind of friends are the ones who know us as our most dorky selves. the ones that could fill up a book with memories and inside jokes. that's us.

love you to the moon,
vix.

minnie.

it's time for an honorary, dedicated post. oh how i love these. words about my most beautiful well-deserving friends.

have you met my friend minnie?

yes, that's her name. and coincidentally she is also tiny in physique. it's so symbolic.

we go wayyyy back to the lulu days. you may know that she is an excellent gift giver, cd-mix-maker, and card surpriser. she loves celebrating life and has a knack for finding inspiration. she's also one of the tribal beauties.

oh, she's one of a kind, this girl.

minnie wants the absolute best for me.

it's as simple and as easy as that. the older i get, the more i see how incredibly rare and unique it is to find this quality in others. she is the most unselfish person i've ever met. ever.

she genuinely wants her bestest friends to have all the love and happiness in the world. you can feel it in every ounce of her being. in every word. in every action.

when i search her email address in my inbox, eighty emails appear in the history of our gmail communication. i'd say that seventy five of those notes are her just dropping me a line... hey geans, you'll love this: ______. hope you're having a great day! fill in that blank with inspirational quotes, thoughts, wisdom, videos, pictures, recipes, and more. she just wants to spread a little joy right on over to me.

i hope she knows how much those inbox treats mean to me. how comforting it is to have friends who know you so well.

she's so filled up to the brim with love and happiness that it overflows onto others. isn't that the best thing in the whole wide world to be known for?

see, i told you she's one of a kind.

someday we're going to take our coffee-yoga-running-veggie-wine-free-spirit-loving-selves and adventure around the world.

you just wait.

{you may say i'm a dreamer, one of her all time favorite pics}.

gangs all here.

aren't they darlinggggg!?




you know, the gang. you may have heard me mention a thing or two about andrea, margo, stacie, minnie, and kelley.

sometimes i'm taken aback by how utterly blessed i am to have these five stunning brunettes as best pals. they've got my back, always.

i love you.

one foot in front of the other.

there's nothing like a good run.

but, even more so, there's nothing like a good running buddy.

in my lululemon days, a running coach once told me, just remember... one foot in front of the other.

i know it's not always easy, but i think of this often. in life, if we are constantly putting one foot in front of the other - pushing our energy forward to persevere - we'll get through it.

andrea is a living example of this mantra.




her strength over the past few years is unlike anything i've ever witnessed. for what she was unprepared for, she's dug deep inside herself to overcome her sorrow.

we all manifest our grief in different ways, but there's something special about andrea. she grasps every ounce of love in her life because she knows that will get her through. she is rational, and stares the pain right in the face. she allows herself to feel weak, but more importantly be filled up with love and gratitude and happy memories.

we can all learn a thing or two from this dear girl.

i love her with all of my heart and soul. and i hope she knows how much i admire her courage.

we meet on the corner at six a.m. one morning a week. i would be lying if i said this early morning wake up call was easy. it's not. but i'm comforted every time i see dre on that corner.

she takes care of me. there's one water bottle on each hip.

one for me. one for her.

and, when it's dark out, she provides the head lamp.

it's the little things that are most important, don't you think? dre taught me this.

in honor of the lessons learned from my beautiful friend, let's not sweat the small stuff.

{big hugs}

for the record books.

i had one of those days today.

you know, the ones that make you feel grateful to be alive and well. the ones that promise you, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. it was a simple day full of simple things, but it made me appreciate san francisco more than i have in a long long time.

let me re-cap so i can remember forever and ever.

it started with sunshine - always a plus - and a walk with my older {soul} sister that i never had. but i do have now, so all is right in the world.

a walk with her and the little one . nothing like starting your day with an eighteen month old to remind you that it's okay to get excited about the little things. like every "bus!" that passes by. he is nothing but pure grace. i am so lucky to witness him grow.

then a coffee. hot latté to go along with the hot day. why not?




it's more than just a power walk, really. it's a baring of the soul. it's this comfort that exists from being in step with your soul sister. to be able to say anything your heart desires. fears, hopes, dreams, giggles, embarrassing moments, pointless facts, random stories, epiphanies. everything. it's so nice to have a buddy like that, wouldn't you agree?

so we walked and we talked and we shopped and we mani-pedi'ed. and, we all know that's on my top ten favorite activities. my toes are feeling la la lavender.

the rest of the day included more of my favorite things.

ready?

the grove, hummus, salads, kombucha!, coconut water, bathing suits, sun tanning, picnics, becoming fearless book club, chatting, blue sky, music, yoga, phone catch-ups, sushi, and chocolate.


i mean, if only every day was as carefree as this one.

but, it's okay that they aren't, because these ones become all the more blissful. this day is one for the record books.

one of our best laughs was our chant {thank you, mom, for this one}

sun sun do your duty
make my bod a bod of beauty

followed by stace admitting,
geans, i don't think i've ever been in a bikini at the park before.

me either!

and why wouldn't we add in a downward dog in a two piece? it's a free day.

thank you, stace, for spending it with me. i know you don't believe me, but you truly taught me everything i know. and for this i am eternally grateful. my inspiration, my soul sister.