rejuvenate

These are some of the women from my mission. We try to get together once a year for a girls weekend. It is one of the things I look forward to all year! We laugh, eat, talk about our lives, cry over each others struggles, hug, laugh, and eat some more. It is never long enough...or as Liz said...maybe it is just long enough to leave us yearning for more. Each of these women are so interesting, smart and fun. We fit together like a jigsaw puzzle; each offering something different that the whole needs. I love each of them so much! Some couldn't make it this year. They were missed.

This year we met in San Fransisco since Millie was already there for a business conference. We had a 3 bedroom, luxury residence on the wharf in the Ghirardelli Building. It was perfect (almost...Kristen still had to sleep on a blow up mattress!) Saturday, all of the girls went on a bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausilito while Martha and I searched the city for food and interesting encounters with people. Martha hadn't been in San Fran before and I was her tour guide, sorta. We had an interesting taxi driver. Kind of a cross between an old University Humanities Professor and a homeless man. He drove us down Lombard Street and then on to the Ferry Bldg. for the Saturday farmers market. There we tried a cone of meat. Don't ask. Then we were off to find Dynamo Donuts. We were attempting to obtain a Maple Apple Bacon Donut that I had seen featured on the Food Network. We rode the subway most of the way but had to hoof it the last 10 blocks or so in the Mission district. We weren't sure we were headed in the right direction when we saw our opportunity to ask two beat cops if they knew of the donut shop. Yes. We knew there was a chance they'd take offense to the question. That is why we asked them (: They were charming and yes...they asked if we were asking them because they were cops! They sent us on our way in the right direction, though. It was a pleasant conversation with some giggles. Bacon donuts were sold out when we made it to the shop. We tried some others. Nothing to write home about. The mission district was fascinating though. Lots of interesting murals. It was fun to insert ourselves into this neighborhood for a while. It had a totally different feel than other parts of SF. Then we made our way to Chinatown. There we encountered a funeral procession. A marching band led the way, the family cars and then the hearse next. They threw symbols of money out of the car windows. We were told that was to pay the evil spirits that might want to take their loved ones spirit away. There was a street festival happening that made it almost impossible to maneuver through the streets.
We made sure Martha got to ride a trolley car. We waited in line for 45 minutes. Oh, but we weren't bored. We were next to strategically placed born-again Christians, standing on milk crates, yelling at all the sinners through a microphone. We liked the trolley ride better. Dinner that night was Asian fusion. Some girls from Temple Square, that live in the Bay Area, came in to join us for dinner. It was nice to see them. I hope they didn't feel too much "on the outside". Our little group has lots of inside jokes and we tend to be a little racy with our humor. We loved seeing them, though!
We binged on sourdough bread and cupcakes from Kara's cupcakes. We had to walk by the cupcake shop to get to our living quarters! I think we all had at least 1 cupcake a day...maybe more (: We always have a lot of laughter during our time together...lots of inside jokes. This year some of the things that we'll remember have to do with one free, large Boudin baguette, a granite etching, and Martha's killer joke about Jason not recognizing the granite etching of his lovely wife. Alwyn will never live IT down. And I can't reveal any more...I hope that I will remember forever these funny moments. Martha and I will try never to forget the Asian shop owner and the egg rolls. I wish I had snapped photos of our taxi driver, the cops, the donut shop, and the proselyters. They'll have to remain in my head.
Sunday was our last day. We lazily talked, sitting on Millie's and my bed, until we just HAD to get ready to go. No one wanted it to end. It goes by far too fast. I love that these women are part of my life. A blessing from serving a mission? Whatever the reason...I am so very lucky!