Couple of things to remember:
1. She's a big girl and heavy. It's center of gravity is fairly low so it turns and manuvers well. But when you're stopped and you allow it to tip beyond a certain point, it's going to lay down. The secret is don't let it get to that point of lean.
2. Contrary to what you're friends may say, what you see on TV or what you might see on the road, the indicator of a good bike handler is not how fast you can go or how well you swerve thru traffic. It is how well you handle your bike at low speeds and in parking lots. When I teach some one to ride, I take them to mall parking lots on Sundays or schools on the weekend and set a course with cones (if you have them; blocks of wood if you don't). Learn how to turn at very low speeds both left and right. Once you mastered that, do it slower. Practice S turns around cones and circles around cones. Park on up hills and on side hills. Do everything they taught you at MSF plus a lot more.
MSF is the minimum needed to get you on the road. You need more and more practice. In aviation there is a saying that goes "there is no substitute for flying hours". That means on bikes you need to put on the miles. Drive as often and as frequently as you can. You might not think you're learning anything after a long boring trip but your body is. You need to be able do the most basic functions on a bike by reflex and correctly. When you put on the miles, you practice those things with out even thinking about.
Lastly, always where a helmet. If you don't think you need one do this one basic experiment. Have your GF drive a car and you hang out the passenger side a bit on some back road. Take a 10 pound watermelon and drop it from door height at 50 MPH (go faster or slower, if you want; it's the same results). Stop and go back and look at your watermelon - that's why you need a helmet.
After you have worked your ass off making yourself a good driver, when you have the right gear and your bike is safe - go out and enjoy yourself!
