A couple weeks ago I turned 26 and officially became closer to 30 than 20 (of which I say in a positive context as I whole heartedly believe my 30′s will be the best years of my life).  When I was younger I remember birthdays being a day to celebrate and get lots of gifts – to feel special and important.  I find that as I grow older birthdays now have become a day to relax and escape ‘real life,’ to reflect about the blessings I have or the things I’ve achieved since the year before.  For my 26th birthday I was really hoping to do just that and escape the grind of work and spend time with loved ones.  Not only did my birthday wish come true but I got so much more as one of my best friends surprised me with a trip to San Francisco for the weekend!  So me and my friends packed up our bags and spent the weekend away. We did all sorts of things like visit the house in the opening credits of my favorite childhood show, “Full House;” we went to the Fisherman’s wharf for clam chowder every day; and we did olive oil tastings in Napa Valley and drove aimlessly through the hillside together..  I took all of my vacay photos with my film camera and just got the scans back now – how fun it is to look back and already reminisce on so many good times during those 3 days.  And the one that I’m most proud of all – that of the Golden Gate bridge.  I almost thought that I wasn’t going to get a photo of the classic landmark since the day we planned to visit the bridge was both our last day in SF and a big fog cloud decided to roll through the area.  The fog was so intense you couldn’t even see any of the bridge from far away (which apparently is the norm in SF).  After we had dinner and I’d thrown away all hope of capturing it, we noticed the sky had cleared up so we drove by to take a peek.  Unfortunately in the midst of our trek there, we missed our exit and in a wave of panic I made Kevin pull over.  I jumped out of the car on the side of the highway, hopped the fence to the viewing point and took my picture right as the sun was disappearing over the horizon (when I want something bad enough I’m very determined ha!)