Visit from an F4lie and her H4lie

One of my F4lies Niki, and her H4L Ryan came to the bay this weekend for a visit. (F4l - for those of you who need a reminder is the oh so super cool acronym that stands for Friends 4 Life that my high school girlfriends and I gave each other our senior year. 3 years ago when Whit, Niki, Christina and Maria got hitched, we started the H4L - which obviously stands for Husbands 4 Life - we are self proclaimed dorks :)). Niki and Ryan have been married for about 3 years now and they shared over the weekend that they are even more in love today than they were 3 years ago! So stinkin' sweet.

Before they arrived, I kept telling Joe how it kind of felt like family was coming to visit - Niki and I go back - all the way to the eighth grade when we were little 13 year old pipsqueaks. Those were the days when I curled my bangs and Niki and I and the rest of our bball clan would go to Open Gyms every night at the local middle school to get our game on! We were so flippin' crazy about basketball it makes me laugh looking back. Anyways, we were friends all through high school and managed to stay close even after I left San Diego for college, I was a bridesmaid in Niki and Ryan's wedding and well, sheesh now we are quickly approaching our 30s!!! It would be impossible to count the number of Friday nights in our lives that we have spent watching Dirty Dancing and the bond that we originally forged in our shared experience on the basketball court is something that is so special to me.

We started the weekend exchanging some home made goods - Joe and I gave them a jar of our strawberry jam and Niki and Ryan brought up a bottle of their home made wine and their home brew! We spent the weekend eating amazing food and drinking their homemade wine and beer AND lots of Philz coffee. Niki and Ryan are food and drink lover/appreciators like Joe and I and we love being able to appreciate these things with people who are equally enthusiastic! They are also new home-owners and have been having a blast doing tons of home improvement projects -their latest patio project inspired us! And I think Ryan and Joe shared a moment when they were talking about all the cool power tools in the world. Ryan is a pretty awesome guitar player which made Joe happy - he busted out his guitars and the boys had a jam session on Saturday night. During the jam session, Joe unveiled an "OG" which is apparently guitar player code for an original song. Joe's was titled - Old Mount Hoody's Top - the Ballad of Mt. Hood - Nov. 2009 (he made me write the full title) and he was just so darn cute singing it - I was swooning and it wasn't even a love song ;).

Here are a few pics of our weekend...

Drinks at the Cavallo Lodge Farley Bar.

Coffee stop at the beloved Philz.

Can never help myself on these jump photos.

oooooh and one for you lovers!

P.S. - Joe and I saw Adele in concert last night - the woman is absolutely beautiful and her voice moves me to tears. I heart sharing an evening of beautiful music wrapped up in Joe's arms.



Happy week to you!