Friday Five: The Girlfriend Edition

By definition, Fridays are yay. I mean, we just love to love them, for all the obvious reasons, so I knew I’d be in a good mood today regardless. But when you wake up on a Friday morning to find it’s 70 degrees and flawless outside, and you were half afraid you’d sleep through your morning workout because of a girls’ night the evening prior but miraculously managed to not only hit the path for a 6am run but actually really enjoy it, and you found a cute sundress you totally forgot you had and have casual Fridays at your new job and know you’re seeing your boyfriend tonight, well…

Friday just feels extra fabulous.

Linking up with the DC ladies Mar, Courtney & Cynthia for the Friday Five’s free Friday!

Five Things You Learn from Your Girlfriends

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of my girlfriends and am constantly gushing about how grateful and blessed I am to have the very best friends a girl could wish for. After waking up with a happy heart from last night’s girl date, I knew this topic deserved today’s post.

1. Sometimes, you just need to be girlie — and be okay with it. Last year, one of my girlfriends (who has since left me and returned to her home city of Seattle, and whom I miss dearly!) told me, “You’re the girliest tomboy I’ve ever met.” An adorable and funny statement, and I actually think it’s a pretty accurate description. I don’t see myself as all that girlie, but if I’m at a flapper-era speakeasy and one of the drink choices is a gin-and-champagne cocktail served in a dainty rosebud teacup, well…that needs to happen.

2. The importance of genuine listening & empathy. Okay, so girls love to talk — but it’s more than that. We all have “stuff” that impacts us, and even if our stresses and annoyances and day-to-day struggles all look very different from one another, they’re very real and personal and important to each of us. To have friends who acknowledge the weight of those situations (even if they don’t relate to them specifically) and are willing and happy to listen as you vent (even ad nauseum sometimes!) is absolutely invaluable. We all need to feel heard and validated, and we’ll all need more support at some point or another, so to have those authentic friendships where you know you can bring any and everything to the table and not have to think twice about how you’re expressing yourself or what they’ll think of you is such true gift.

teacup cocktails & conversation = happiness

3. How to be a cheerleader. Last night, we were talking about how crucial it is to choose girlfriends who build you up and are always on your team and want you to be the absolutely most successful, best version of yourself, howsoever you define that. It made me think of this quote, which stopped me in my tracks the first time I read it:

Isn’t that the point of being a true, loving, supportive friend –that we share our friends’ successes and joys and don’t see them as having any adverse affect on our personal paths or life stories? Sure, it’s hard if you lose your job or break up with your boyfriend or have a health issue or anything else life might throw your way, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to begrudge someone else their slice of happiness. I have friends who own beautiful homes and make more money than I do and take amazing vacations and have their dream jobs, and I couldn’t be happier for them and want the people I love and value to have everything their wonderful hearts desire — and I know they feel the exact same way about me. That makes my heart so very, very happy.

4. Celebrate your differences. I didn’t grow up in a very diverse area, and it really wasn’t until I moved to NYC and met so many people from all over that I learned the true beauty of diversity and felt the desire to meet as many people who were different from me as I possibly could. Today, almost six years later, I feel so fortunate to have a truly diverse group of close girlfriends from all over the world and different parts of the US, with different cultural backgrounds, personalities, affinities, careers, and unique traits that make learning from and with one another such a blast. It’s one of my favorite things about living in NYC, the ease of interacting with people from virtually everywhere, and I feel that I’ve learned so much (about others and myself) and grown exponentially as a person because of my friendships with amazing girls who are so very different than me.

5. Heart talks & wine make anything better. And there’s no need to expound upon that.

Cheers to friends being the very best things you can ever collect.

Favorite girlfriend dates?
A valuable life lesson you learned from your girlfriends?

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