i had the best weekend of my life + monday
jan 10-12
i’ve never really been one to celebrate my birthday. in the past, it was always spent with a significant other. but for the first time, i’m single and free, and this weekend was surrounded entirely by my closest friends and family. and my heart has never felt more full. there was no pressure, no expectation, no role i had to play for anyone. just love showing up in all these different forms. i didn’t realize how much room that kind of love takes up in the best way possible. and i can’t contain my happiness anymore. i feel like a bubble, stretched thin with joy, just waiting to burst
saturday
that day started with BP picking me up with heytea. we drove for two hours to point reyes with the goal of seeing waves crash against the cliffs and laying out in the sun. we never actually found the spot we were looking for, but we still settled by the beach and just walked, chilled, talked, and caught up. we try to do this whenever we can because we both have really busy schedules, and that’s something i genuinely appreciate. bp is a friend from college who i’ve stayed close with, and i’m so thankful for that. she’s the easiest person to talk to and always down to take spontaneous trips with me. later that evening, we ate thai food in san francisco, listened to throwback music, sang our hearts out, and went home.
sunday
i woke up early and started getting ready. my tasks that morning before picking everyone up were to clean out my car, get gas, place a pickup order, and desperately find a volumizing dry shampoo. once that was all done, i started picking everyone up. i drove us to monterey and carmel while we karaoked and caught up. the girls in my car have been my friends for over ten years, and as for alex–if you know me, you know him by now. in monterey, we walked around cannery row. then in carmel, we wandered through the cute village streets and eventually sat by the beach until the sun went down. after that, we headed to the restaurant. i originally planned to drive, but the route took us onto highway 17, and i was still uncomfortable, so alex took over. once we arrived, a few more people joined us. it was also a restaurant i used to work at, which meant we had an incredible server who took such good care of us–helping with discounts, drinks, and desserts. we talked and talked all night. it was surreal to see people from completely different parts of my life mixing and mingling in the same room. i felt so full in that moment, and i don’t think i’ve laughed that hard in a long time. it felt so good to be present and genuinely happy. that night alex drove my car and all my friends to san mateo to drop off a friend. not going to lie, i was pretty out of it and had a lot of alcohol in my system. i opened everyone’s presents in the car, and once again we did karaoke. we drove to a viewpoint first and took a ton of pictures, talked for hours, and reminisced about old memories. it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do this. life got busy, schedules filled up, and moments like these became harder to come by. being there together made me realize how much history we share, and how special it is to still be able to fall back into laughter like no time has passed. once we were finally too tired from all the talking, laughing, and singing, we made our way home.
monday
i slept the fuck in. man, i had to. the days leading up to this were filled with multiple shifts, constant plans, and late nights. i was running on excitement and adrenaline, and my body finally asked me to slow down. i finally got out of bed around 3 and started getting ready for the day. the plan was to go to a friend’s place, someone i know from the restaurant, who wanted to cook me a full course omakase dinner. when i arrived, he greeted me and the night slowly unfolded from there. we started with sushi as an appetizer, followed by three main dishes and two desserts. by the time we finished, i was completely full, sitting there quietly, realizing how loved and cared for i had felt all weekend.
