birthday girl

courtney is one of my friends with history. 

as in, 

we have been friends for a long time: 

since the days when we thought it was cool to wear xxl denim shirts and oversized overalls, when fine dining meant a trip to chevy's with 20 other people, 

&

when we talked about boys for hours 

despite aforementioned boys being hypothetical and not actually existing in our lives. 

as in, we have been friends for 15 years.

courtney was with me the morning matt whisked me away to propose, 

she stood next to me in a red bridesmaid dress the day i said 'I do,' 

and she showed up at the hospital within hours of little m being born. 

she is one of my very favorite people in the world, 

and i challenge you to find someone who is a better friend. 

seriously people. 

courtney is one of those friends who remembers to call you on the first day of a new job to see how it went, who drops you notes in the mail on cute letterpress cards, who always asks first how you are doing instead of talking about herself, who is good at being a long distance friend and a close up, day-to-day grind friend too. 

she listens, laughs, prays, and cries with me. 

she has truly taught me the meaning of friendship- and not in a hallmark card kind of way. 

she shows up in the good and the hard, and i love her dearly. 

last week was her birthday! 

so a group of us got together on saturday morning to celebrate 

our kind, thoughtful, amazing friend.

birthday massive sweet roll.

treats for the birthday girl.

(love the sunshiney flowers)

birthday french toast

birthday....whipped cream with mini chocolate chips?

um, apparently this is the restaurant's version of cake. a bowl of whipped cream.

matt and our friend larry were taking his kidlet brennan and little m 

on a walk around san francisco,

so they surprised us by stopping by!

then they headed back out to scout good food and coffee on their "hike"

the restaurant doesn't just give you a bowl of whipped cream...

you also get a blinking happy birthday pin!

saucy karen shows off her baby bump

yummy brownies

yay for good friends and creating longer and longer shared histories!

p.s. she no longer wears overalls.