Oh, yes it's ladies night!

Project 365 * 4
Day 431

     Patty and I took my mom out tonight to celebrate her...49th, yes. Her 49th birthday. And it rocked. It was awesome. Incredible night. It was so, so good to eat a meal uninterrupted. It was so good to have dessert and coffee afterwards. It was so good to sit and talk and laugh. And drive. We Otterstedt girls love to drive. We turn the music way up, and we drive to no where in particular. We drive down old familiar roads. We make lots of u-turns. We talk while we drive. And we laugh. We tell stories. Being in the car, driving down dark roads with my mom and sister tonight fed my soul. I have so missed driving around with the women I love. Patty and I are blessed to have the woman we call mom. She is literally, the best. And it has been way too long since we've spent a night together. And because Patty and I were so enjoying our long drive home, we took the extra, extra long way, to make our drive even longer. And while we drove, we listened to 200 songs by listening to no more than two minutes of each one. We turned the volume all the way up. And we sang and drove until now, 2:00 am, when I just got home. And even though I'm going to be dead tired when Tobin gets up for the day in less than five hours, this night was well worth it.

     Thankful for my incredible mama. Thankful to call her mom and best friend and family. Three of the best things I can think of. Thankful for a night to celebrate with her. She's amazing. And she deserves a million nights out. I'm not just saying that because she's my mom. For real. She is actually, amazing. One of the best people I know. At the top of my list. Thankful for a lovely meal. Thankful for dessert and coffee. Thankful for long drives down dark roads with my favorite girls. Thankful for a long night of celebrating, driving, dining, car dancing, and singing. I so needed this night. Thankful for how good my cup of coffee will taste tomorrow morning. For some reason, the more tired you are, the better coffee tastes.

By the way...I feel the need to say, I never edit any of my nature pictures, except maybe to crop them. I never mess with the colors, or enhance them in any way. I feel like nature is so beautiful, it doesn't need any help. It's beautiful all on it's own. I like pictures of nature that are real. I like to look at beautiful places or things and think, there is really something THAT amazing on this earth.