There is something magical that happens at the end of the work day on Friday.
You punch the time card day in and day out throughout the work week and when it comes 5:00pm on A Friday afternoon you feel something sensational... you feel free.
Feeling that freedom makes excitement through your veins, your heart beat to a different drum, and makes your mind starts to think about all the possibilities the weekend can bring you.
As I sat at my desk finishing my last e-mails of the day this past Friday, I started to plan my Friday night. Although half of the planing was already done because my co-workers were g-chatting with me throughout the day, our plans still needed the finishing touches. I sat at my desk and sipped on a beer and began to chat with my co-worker about what I was going to that evening.
Now one thing I must mention working at Yelp we do have a keg on each floor. A beautiful sliver barrel that pours the most heavenly beverage that could ever touch your lips while still at work. On Fridays our days end with the sales floors being invited to a happy hour. Now to me this is a genius plan on there part. Keep the sales team sane. I mean we make about 400 calls a week, so giving us a reward in the form of a alcoholic liquid to me is smart. If you are like some of my co-workers and over indulge on his opportunity on a Friday, you may be able to forget every single one of those 400 calls.
Anyway where was I.. Oh yes final touches on my plans.
It had been pre-determined that it was going to be a Girl's Night. My two besties at work Alex and Mckensie had talked me into (with little convincing needed to be done) that the girls were going to get together and grab some drinks and venture out for the night. As I sat at my desk and punched "send" on my last e-mail, the feeling of freedom took over and Friday was all mine!
Alex, Mckensie, and I then decided that we certainly could not have a proper girl's night out unless we looked the part, so we made plans to go home change and I would drive and pick Alex up and then head over to McKensie's apartment and go out from there.
As I left work my mind began the endless conversation with itself of what I was going to wear. My virtual closet inside my head began to spew out outfit ideas while my memory was asking myself "when was the last time I wore that?" and "Oh I could wear that but lets be honest after the trail mix I have been eating this week, would it still fit?"
It took me off a few minuets while I was walking to the L to decided that maybe I should just have a quick stop in Forever 21 just to see the "new inventory."
Forever 21 is a girls dream here. The first time I went in there I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Three glorious floors of fashion. It makes the Forever 21 that I used to work at in St. Louis look like a flea market in Boise Idaho. No offense to the Forever 21 back home, but the SF one kicks your ass.
As I walked into the front entrance I noticed that their was the greeter sitting in a chair blocking off the main entrance. Oh by the way- Forever 21 has a greeter at their door in a full on suit and also serves as a security officer. He is like a member of the Fashion FBI. Welcomes you at the door, but he'll take you down if you steal any of their precious merchandise.
The greeter sat there and I noticed he was not going to let me in. I looked in the window and to my horror it looked like Forever 21 was bare inside. At this point my blood began to boil and I had a slight heart attack- did they close down?!? The greeter must have seen the look of horror on my face because he told me "don't worry they are still open just doing some renovating... use the side door." -Wheww, I almost had just fainted in the name of fashion.
Sure enough I walked into the side door and there way the good old Forever 21 I knew and loved, Now I knew that I shouldn't have been shopping, but this was really the first night out that I was going out with the girls so I made a sacrifice and used my grocery money I had saved for this week to use on clothes instead. You must sacrifice when times are rough. I figure I will just eat at work and scavenge their kitchen before I go home at night.
I went upstairs where they have the section that is more my style. I found some black leggings and a cute light teal floral top. This was perfect. I scanned my head for what shoes I would wear and decided that my red pumps would being out the little pinkish red flowers in the shirt. I figured I would pair it with my teal sequin jacket at home and this outfit was fit for a girls night out. With little time to go home and get ready I quickly went down stair and paid. I needed all the time I could get at home to shower and powder my nose!
Once home I took a shower and did my usual routine of getting ready. Shower, shave the legs, put on lotion, then set on my floor and do my makeup while my straightener heats up. There is something so fun about getting ready when you know it is going to be a good night. It is funny though because when you get ready and something is "off" it can ruin you whole night. Luckily this night was a good one, my makeup was looking good and I decided to be a bit sassy and throw on some fake eye lashes. My roommate Christie had convinced me that I should try them out because they make your eyes look great in photos. So I decided what the hell, I'll give it a go.
Two tries, 10 minuets, and an eye almost glued shut later, I had successfully obtained long luscious lashes.
I made the finishing touches on my hair and splashed on some perfume and it was time to go pick up Alex.
When I arrived at her house she was waiting for me and she hopped in. Alex is just adorable. She had on the cutest jeans I had ever seen and a headband that held back her strategically placed curls. When then were off and to Mckensie'e we went.
On arrival to Mckensie's apartment we realized she was still in her PJ's! This was not a problem because that only meant we could have a drink while she finished getting ready. As she was getting ready she did a mini fashion show until we found an outfit we all agreed on. Choosing between blue kitten heals and Jessica Simpson pumps can be a hard choice, and having the suggestions of two other girls can only complicate things. We decided to go with the Jess pumps: a.) because they were more comfortable (who knows how much dancing we were going to do) and b.) because they were new.
We then called a cab and off to the first bar we went.
The Bar scene is a funny thing in San Francisco. Depending on what part of town will depend on the type of people you will see there. Going out in North Beach will get you all the hipsters, wanna be screenplay writers, and the girls/guys who think they are all the "next big thing." If you go to the Castro you will submersed with gay bars and will probably see some things that you wouldn't see on the average bar night. The last time I went out in the castro I went to a event for work and got sandwiched while I was dancing with two tranny's who looked more like a woman than I did. If you go out in the Marina you get a lot of beach boys and swanky sushi bars. I prefer going out in the Mission or the Marina. they have a lot of bars that pull a good crowd and usually you will run into someone you know.
The girls and I decided to go bar hopping. We met up with Alex's friends at Eastside West and got a drink there, then decided to go find somewhere with a bigger crowd. The next bar we went to was so crowded I didnt have room to even breathe so we got out of there. Our final decision was to go to Colombus. It was a dive bar where some of our friends from work were. By this point we were a few drinks and tequila shots deep, so we didnt really mind where we went.
Colombus was an interesting place I must say. The girls and I stayed there till closing time and dont think that we payed for a single drink. The bartender kept offering us shots. We were to the point we didnt need anything else so I just stated adding OJ to my shot and sipped on that. I tend to make some strange concoctions when I can't even taste what I am drinking anymore..
I would have to say the most fun happened when we left the bar and this is getting to the heart of my story...
The best thing to do when one is drunk is to indulge in some late night eating. Alex was shouting that she wanted a burrito, I was saying I didnt know where any eating places were, and Mckensie kept talking about how good her bed was going to feel. As soon as Alex said "burrito" we all automatically dropped whatever we were thinking about and set our sites on getting some grub. Pizza, sushi, hell at the point I would have gone to the grocery store, bought a steak, and cooked it.
We decided on ordering pizza and getting it delivered to Mckensie's house. So we called a cab to get home. We must have gotten the best cab driver in San Francisco. His name was Joshua and he was blaring the best sing a long music ever. We all piled in and finally got to throw the dance party we had been wanting to throw all night.
We turned his cab into studio 54.Mckensie had her arms up in the air, Alex was singing into her had which she had made a microphone, and I was playing a mean air guitar. The cab driver was breaking it down himself and shouting every word of the rap song that was playing. I wish I had a video of this.
It was a priceless 15 min car ride that I will remember forever.
As we pulled up to Mckensies house we joked with the cab driver that his car ride was the most fun we had had all night. We got his card and told him if we ever needed a cab again that he was going to be seeing a lot more of us if he kept up his selection of tunes.
As we all piled on Mckensies bed and talked about our night we ordered he pizza. We had no idea what we had ordered when we got off the phone, but as long as it was pizza I don't think we cared. It seemed like weeks had gone by before the pizza actually touched our mouths. We were so hungry and by the time it got there the delivery guy must have thought we had not ate in days. Between the three of us girls we devoured a large half and half pizza and a whole order of cheesy bread sticks. All that trail mix I told you about in the beginning of this.. yeah I don't think that mattered anymore.
3:00am had come and we had declared out girls night out as a success. We had gotten dressed up sassy and classy, gone to a few bars, gotten our drink on, and made some great memories along the way. Us three girls made a night that was something to write about. It didnt matter what we wore, how many cute guys they ran into, or the fact that my eyelashes had stayed in place all night. What mattered most was that I had a night with two of my closet friends here and it was full of giggles and an occasional great dance move.
Surround yourself with people that bring out the best in you. Find friends that think you are funny. Laugh at each other. When you have a long week and maybe something doesn't go your way, erase them on a Friday night with your closet girlfriends. I can tell you from this personal experience that I am lucky to have friends that bring out the best in me, and also don't mind sharing the last slice of pizza...
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