MONICA!!!

I met Monica in Finland, 15 years ago. She's kind of an all-caps, three-exclamation-points kind of girl. Looooooove that Monica. She was here for a conference and we got together last night for Thai food and catching up.

I picked her up at her hotel in downtown San Francisco and we headed up to the Castro for some excellent Thai, people-watching, and late-summer blooms.

Stopping to check out local real estate prices is always good for shock value.

After dinner we headed back to her hotel because she mentioned it has an incredible view. Which it did. I must file this away in my brain: Downtown Marriott. Incredible view. Check. The following pics were taken at the top-level bar, where we just gawked at the view and didn't order anything. Damn tourists.

This is the view from her room, up on the 29th floor. Pretty darn nice.

We laughed, cried, drove around like madwomen... just a typical night out with Monica. She's one of those people who attract events. As in, her entire life is an EVENT. Things HAPPEN. It's fun to be in her orbit for that reason. And then I get to come home to my nice quiet house with my sweetie, cats, and books. It's allllll about the balance, you know.