brandy crawford.: It's great to see friends!!

Last week I went to San Francisco with my best four girlfriends from college. We had an amazing time. The food was bananas--we never had a bad meal and a lot of that is thanks to Yelp. Also Google Maps introduced us to the MUNI bus system and we didn't take a single cab the entire time we were there even though at one point we spent a good 20 minutes trying to hail one. Our hotel was great and had terrific views of the city. We walked the Golden Gate Bridge and we went to Alcatraz. All the while talking with each other as only we can talk.

Having been in NYC for almost 6 years, I forget that I have a whole life of people who know me pre-NYC--these are the girls who I basically grew up with. I came to University of Georgia completely ignorant about a lot of things that happen in a young person's life: namely that people my age did drugs and had sex on a regular basis. For example: my after-prom party was spent watching Friday the 13th in sleeping bags in my friend Megan's living room and her mom made her famous cheese dip and sausage balls. We drank Coke. I was happily ignorant and I recall my senior trip to Myrtle Beach (I know--CLASSY) when we stayed at my friend Danny's beachhouse and we were upstairs and his cousins were downstairs and they were smoking pot and I just couldn't believe they were laughing in the face of the law like that--why weren't they so scared--drugs are illegal. So it was great to be around people who really know the complete dork I used to be. And I loved reminiscing--I don't get to do that often because there aren't many people from my Georgia life who are also a part of my New York life.

Some fun moments from our trip:

Spig from the costume shop. There was a vintage costume shop behind our hotel. The guy working there was so happy to have a customer that he talked to us for about 45 minutes straight. He could float among us--talking to Stacy about Atlanta of 1977, Caroline about some things she should try for her costume, gave me directions complete with handrawn map of what we should spend the rest of our day doing. Spig never paused.
I never rode a cable car and I'm pissed.
Alcatraz was much more interesting than I thought it would be and my tip for if you ever go: Skip straight to the audio tour. Those breakout groups are a shitshow.
Karaoke bar = right outside of our hotel. It was like God was smiling on me.
We took the bus once back to our hotel and the entire back of the bus was filled with a AA group. I know they were an AA group because each of them spoke very loudly about their various addictions and the effects of said addiction. It was kind of like the meeting was pregaming on the bus.
Walking the Golden Gate Bridge was awesome. Did you know that they have a big suicide problem there? I was kind of nervous because I am not into bridges or heights and the edge is totally like RIGHT there so I was kind of freaking a little. And then there are all these signs that are like "There is hope. Call someone." It was a little surreal and I'm glad no one jumped while I was there. San Francisco has a beautiful skyline and there was this amazing low fog that was just indescribably beautiful and serene.

San Francisco is a fantastic city and it was wonderful to share it with such good friends. I'm OVER the hills but if I lived there I would have such great legs.

Here's a little before and after for you: