happy birthday to me!

Before I had a chance to open my eyes, Christine texted me from DC reminding me I'm a birthday gurl.

The countdown is on! I'm heading down the stretch....and when the clock strikes 01:49 on November 15th....I will celebrate my entrance onto this world stage back in '57. Actually I suspect I'll be sleeping and dreaming about it..or not!

Me thinks I'll be happily snoring away the wonderful day I had. My new wetsuit came in today and the surf shop gave me a 10% percent discount...Go Aqua Surf Shop!!! You guyz RULE...They're having a promotion where if you pick up debris left along the coast they offer the discount this week. George was sweet enough to still offer it, knowing that I've done my share of beach cleanups and then some. In fact last year, I spent my time cleaning up the coast from the Marin Headlands and the Berkeley marina to the San Mateo coastline, after the Cosco Busan oil spill. You'd be surprised how messy we are as people, garbage gets strewn about and lots of it does end up in the ocean and along our shorelines.

Char met me at the shop and then we skedaddled....have you ever tried that in a wetsuit?...not sure it was pretty but definitely fun. We headed out to Ocean Beach around 10:30am. The ocean was ripping and there were huge swells...at one point I mentioned to Char...ummm there aren't any surfers out in the water. She noticed it too! :) That's the beauty of boogie boarding...so many more waves you can actually ride....much less disappointing.

We caught about a dozen trifecta's....triple rides where the waves just pile up to give you an extended ride. Ahhhh sheer bliss it is! Of course, at one point there were so many cross currents that we had to get out and move to another spot, only to have the same thing happen there. It didn't matter we were enjoying the surf, the amazing weather, the sunshine, the beautiful scenery and most of all, having each other to laugh and catch just one more wave with.

As if that wasn't enough fun, I stopped in to see my best friend of 30 years, Laurie and her roomie Breda. Those women are true blue friends, the kind who will help you bury the body. Breda is from County Cork in Ireland and just a hoot with the sweetest heart, but trust me...I'm glad that she's my friend and I plan to keep it that way. Both of these are strong women who can put a serious hurting on someone, should they need to! :)

They gave me the BEST present, a gift card to my fave store....Ross. It's a bargain hunters paradise. As Laurie said," if anyone can stretch a dollar...it's you!" Yea, I'll take that! We capped off the afternoon having fish tacos at my favorite joint down the street, Dos Pinos. Friday's it's $2 Coronas.....I know!!!!

I came home to find the mail had even more cards and wishes for a Happy Birthday from Mare in Kona and Joanne in PA.... I love it...I mean if you're going to have a birthday, having it between Halloween and Thanksgiving with the weather in the 80's is definitely the way to go. ..but none of it matters if you don't have the best friends in the world, who love you and support you in good times and especially when times aren't so good. And that is the greatest birthday present a woman like me is so incredibly grateful for...the BEST of FRIENDS...and they're all Mine!