A Day in San Francisco

Yesterday, *the boy* and I took a drive around the city. I had an appointment in the Financial District which was super quick and since *the boy* is walking but not a lot, I was saving his walking power for a little jaunt in the Mission.

I have been craving Peruvian like you wouldn't believe and so I already had it planned that we would grab lunch at Limon Rotisserie. I told *the boy* before he even came back into town and I've been looking forward to it for weeks! We had some yummy Ceviche Mixto, empanadas, lomo saltado with rice and sangria. I was a happy girl!

Afterwards, we drove over to another area of the Mission to grab ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery. I picked Brown Sugar with Ginger Caramel Swirl. This ice cream shop has "different" flavors so I try to pick something other than the standard Cookies and Cream or Vanilla. The Brown Sugar ice cream was good...but I got bored about half way through. I really wanted the Almond Joy which was the coconut ice cream with fudge, toasted coconut flakes and almonds. Good thing it's a pain to park there or I'd ditch work and go get it now. Doesn't that sound sinful?! But then, I'm one of those that actually likes Almond Joys. Yummmm!

Me holding my cup of ice cream:

After that we walked 2 square blocks. *The boy* moves slow and there are times when I pull on his arm and go "omg, hurry up! We're in a hurry!". But yesterday, I wasn't in any real hurry and I was enjoying the warm afternoon. So here are a series of pictures I took during our 2 block walk. Are you ready?!

You know you're in California when there is sunshine and palm trees...in November.

And the sun is shining into your camera lens when you are trying to take a picture,
And you are definitely in San Francisco, when you find interesting and cute sidewalk graffiti and stenciling. "Sanctuary City for the Rich; Try French Kiss". I have no idea what the heck that means but for street graffiti, it's pretty cool looking.
Does anyone speak German? I think that's the language in the sign. I think it says beware of cat? But look...there's the cat! He's a cute cat though...I can't imagine him being an attack cat!
And..ummm...apparently someone has a fascination for owls?! You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

So I saw a lot of pretty stuff and a lot of interesting stuff in two square blocks! After out little walk, we went for a visit to my parents. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but I called my parents the night before and said that I was going to come over for a visit on Wednesday. When I get there, neither of them are there! But I found a note from my dad saying, "Valerie, I went for a walk, I will be back in 20 minutes". It wasn't timestamped in any way but I sat and waited. My dad came about 15 minutes later and when I ask where Mom is, he says that she has her Wednesday routine and went to Kohls. WTF? I said I was coming over! They do this *all* the time. And they dare to say I don't visit! But I do...they just aren't there when I do! So we chatted with the Dad for an hour or so and made our way back home so I could stitch and stuff.

Thanks for the nice comments about my tassels. I wish I could show you what I made! I'm very proud of myself. LOL I don't even think my partner reads my blog but just in case, I will hold off to maintain the surprise. And the true achievement is that I finished my exchange over one week early!OMG, that never happens! I'll mail it off on Wednesday and should be plenty of time for my partner to receive it!

I hoped you enjoyed seeing my photos!

Until next time...

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Night

I have lost my stitching mojo. I haven't picked up a needle in over two weeks and there are times when I feel that this current state of affairs is odd and that I should try but I haven't had a desire to stitch at all. Things have been particularly stressful lately and whereas stitching usually brings me comfort, I feel quite down about my border mistake on the Snappers. I won't give up though! I just got my order of Dried Thyme GAST from Needlecraft Corner yesterday so there will be some progress or frogging happening on that shortly. Stay tuned!

But I will show you what I've been up to and it's been making things less stressful. Reading!! I used to be a voracious reader. One book in a single evening. I loved it! But then I found stitching again and I would usually stitch and watch tv over reading. Now I am a slow reader and a book takes me forever! *sigh* But I have a couple of reads under my belt now. First is Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. Being a Top Chef fanatic, I thought it would be cool to read this book based on a tv cooking show celebrity chef. It was a good read. Lots of characters but not so many you get all confused. Light and fluffy...no heavy thinking.
A while ago, during my knitting phase, I read the A Friday Night Knitting Club also by Kate Jacobs. I remember it being a really good book and it ipitomized the whole essense of a knitting club...the need to connect with other women who loved the same thing but had different lives. I read that book voraciously and loved it despite it requiring much kleenex. I figured I would read the sequel, Knit Two. This was a good book as well but not as good as A Friday Night Knitting Club.
Now this next book has a long history with me. I have been trying to read The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory for months. Yep, months! I checked it out 6 times (I should be ashamed to admit this but I am not...obviously) last year. The problem would be that I would go to the library and find a ton of books I wanted to read, check them all out and then read one or two very slowly and then I would never get around to reading it. Towards the end of the year, I had read 80 pages before having to return it before the holiday rush as there was no way I could get back to the book. Before *the boy* got hurt, we went to the library and I checked out these three books. He asked why I was checking out The Other Boleyn Girl again and I had to explain I had not finished it. Well, I've now reached my allotment of three check outs on this book again and I am only on page 240...of 667. This does not mean it's a bad book. It's quite good and well-written...I only just picked it up to actually read again over the weekend but the book is due back today. I know the library has more copies of this book so I will be returning my copy and checking out another so I can continue the story of King Henry, Anne and Mary.
I had mentioned that there was good things that happened last Thursday...despite how bad that day was, there were a couple of bright spots. I decided to take the day off from work so I could go to the Artistic Luxury: Fabrege, Tiffany, Lalique exhibit at the Legion of Honor. Despite it being a Thursday morning, the parking lot was full! But after doing a round about, I found a great spot. I am always amazed at the view from the museum so I took a couple of snaps.

Sea, mountains, trees and puffy white clouds

A far-off cityscape and more puffy clouds

And the Legion of Honor museum on a gorgeous day

I had planned on taking loads of pictures of the exhibit but photography was not allowed. The pieces were amazing! Jaw-dropping amazing...like how in the world were these pieces even created!? The detail in all of the pieces were beyond comprehension. I could have stood there gazing at fabrege eggs, art nouveau jewelry and glass pieces all the day. It was well worth the trip and the exhibit fee to see and I was happy I took a day off to go see it. Since the pieces on display are small, people crowd around very close making it hard to see and necessary to wait for people to get their fill before they move on so you can get a close-up view as well. It was a great way to fill the morning. I then had to move on to take *the boy* to the doctor and you all know how that went. But we were able to get a table for dinner at Absinthe. This is one of my favorite places...more the bar than the restaurant and the executive chef is Jamie Lauren of the last Top Chef season. There were no Jamie sightings but we had a fun time for dinner. Lots of cocktails, small plates and laughs. It was a nice evening...despite everything else.

The weekend was a grooming weekend for *the boy*. He desperately needed a haircut and some new clothes so I dragged him to the mall and made him try on clothes. He probably thought I was a fashion nazi but he said later that he was happy with all his purchases so that's most important. Overall, it was a nice weekend. I brought *the boy* to come out and stay with me for the weekend after that whole hoopla about the rent. He managed to get up all the stairs and we watched lots of videos and ordered in pizza. Pretty mellow weekend despite the driving. Be careful out there driving. People drive like maniacs! Over the weekend, someone drove into a group of Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies in front of a grocery store in my neighborhood!

Today is supposed to be stitchy Tuesday but I doubt stitching will happen. I see reading, video watching and dishes in my immediate future. But I do have a stitchy deadline coming up. I've decided to take the entire weekend to myself so I think that time will be best spent lounging in pajamas, watching tv and stitching. I will find my stitching mojo if it kills me!

I hope everyone in blogland had a nice weekend too...

Until next time...

My Beautiful City

A couple of weeks ago, *the boy* and I headed into the city to see the North Beach Columbus Day Parade and watch the Blue Angels. My amateur picturetaking did not capture essence the parade or the Blue Angels very well. The parade was interesting but both our tummies were complaining and we went off in search for food and grabbed slices at Golden Boy Pizza. Oh my, talk about yummy pizza! How come I've never been there before?! After finishing our slices, we raced to our viewing spot where we would watch the Blue Angels and here are the snaps I came away with. Below is a snap of the Transamerica Building, Financial District with the Bay Bridge in the background. The day was beautiful with nary a cloud in the sky!
And here is St. Peter and Paul Church in North Beach which sits on the edge of Washington Square. A truly beautiful church which looks even more stunning from the height we were at as you can see the San Francisco Bay with all the little boats out for a sail on a sunny day.
And even more boats out on the bay...and if you look really closely, you'll see Alcatraz to the far right...also known as "The Rock". If you ever take the night tour...it's super creepy being there after sunset.
And to the right is Coit Tower which does in fast look like a fire nozzle. Seems fitting to have this picture considering where I work. You can read more about the history of this tower here. The view from the hill is incredibly picturesque and the murals in the interior of the tower are true works of art.
And the only decent snap I actually captured of the Blue Angels. It's hard taking pictures of jets flying at lightening speed all over the Bay!! But if I got one decent one, I'm happy it's this one. You can see all six jets breaking their formation in a nosedive. Scary, yet amazing and beautiful. I'm glad to have battled the massive crowds to see these talented pilots in action.
And here ends my *show and tell* of a day in my beautiful city. My heart truly belongs to my hometown and I am happy to explore it (and act like a tourist) whatever chance I get!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope that everyone had a lovely Easter Sunday. Mine was very nice! I managed to drive into the city (yet again...third time this weekend) because I had to go pick up a St. Honore cake at Victoria's Pastry in North Beach for my aunt's birthday. It was her birthday on Friday but today was the first chance I had to stop by considering my hectic Saturday. This cake is my favorite cake ever and my mom loves it as well. I will make the trek into the city especially for this cake...it is that good! I love that Victoria's makes it in a smaller size that is good for 6-8 people. Usually, the cakes are garmongous and we are left eating cake for the entire week (which doesn't help my lose 10 pounds in '08 quest). With 5 people, only one generous slice was left as everyone wanted extras. Good thing I left that slice at my parents since I probably would have eaten that as well by now. North Beach was beautiful today. I drove in, found street parking right away (the Gods are truly with me today!), picked up the cake and went to my coffee version of Cheers...Caffe Greco. The guys who work here know me on sight and they are a funny bunch. They make my coffee just how I like and it's a primo spot to people watch all day if I want. I didn't have the time to people watch though. I read a bit while I drank my coffee and then it was time to head to my parents. I tried stopping off at Joann's and Beverleys to get fabric and goodies for my exchange but both places were closed! Looks like I will have to push the deadline. The Joann's near me is not that great and I really wanted to go to the one near my parents since it seems nicer and better organized. I don't know when I can get there now. Easter at my parents was nice and low key. We chatted, I arranged a ton of flowers, ate homemade chicken soup and ate really yummy cake. After that, I headed home to work on my exchange piece and relax. I chatted a bit with the new guy and I'll be seeing him at the end of the week. So overall it was a good day and a nice Easter. Above is a picture of daffodils that I bought at Trader Joes (so cheap!). Daffodils always remind me of the beginning of Spring and their bright yellow color makes me smile and feel cheerful. I thought I would share them with you as they sit on top of my tv so they are in my constant line of sight as I'm a tv junkie. Happy Easter!

A Beautiful Day

A couple of days ago, I asked Claire if she would check out a new place for brunch on Saturday. We always go to the same place and I just wanted to mix things up and I had gotten a Yelp email about comfort food places and it mentioned Slow Club. I like comfort food and I have heard good things about the restaurant in the past. Claire is a big walker so I have to trade going to brunch with taking a walk. Ok, I can do this but I should say that taking a walk with Claire is more like taking a three mile hike up and down hills or stairways within San Francisco so it really is a workout and I get very whiny which luckily, she can tune out. So we picked a walk in Potrero Hill and I know that Hill is part of the name but I never realized how hilly it actually is! I got a major glutes workout! At one point during the walk, we hiked up a moderately steep hill and this was the view I saw from downtown. Not the nicest view considering the freeway and new construction but it is a view that people don't usually see in postcards, etc.
We walked through a park called McKinley park which is dog-friendly so we made nice with the dogs. And as a native, I learned something new. Right off the park is the city's second most crookedest street. Everyone has head of Lombard Street but there is a section of Vermont Street that is as crooked if not more. The turns are 90 degree with about 4-5 curves in the street. It is not as scenic as Lombard but it was interesting all the same. We finally got back to the car after climbing the biggest hill ever and we made our way to Slow Club.

Slow Club was pretty cool. I wasn't fond of the interior...lots of silver, chrome and cement which made it seem too industrial. Potrero Hill is fairly industrial though. The food was good. I had the fried egg sandwich which was very yummy...and messy. Claire had the turkey sausage hash which wasn't like any hash I've ever seen but very tasty as well. I think next time, I'd like to sit outside if it was a nice day and there was a table free.

The rest of the day was busy. I had dinner and Symphony plans with another friend and we headed to Absinthe for a pre-dinner cocktail. Despite my curiousity about Absinthe, I couldn't bring myself to try an Absinthe cocktail. I opted for my usual sidecar and they make them perfectly here at Absinthe. It's a fun bar that has that whole feel of the "Belle Epoque" French period. I think next time, I'll have to ask the bartender to help me choose an Absinthe cocktail to say that I've tried it. We headed to dinner and to the Symphony. It was a great performance of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite that was conducted by an up and coming conductor from Venezuela who is only 27 years old. All I can say is Wow!

Saturday was a perfect city day!

And the Wine Cabinet Saga Continues!

OMG...so frustrated! And sadly, when I'm frustrated and/or stressed, I cannot stitch whatsoever. I think that despite it being enjoyable and relaxing on a regular basis, I fear completely screwing something up and that would, of course, frustrate and stress me out even more.

I did have an enjoyable weekend despite the issues of the wine cabinet and other annoying little things. Friday, I watched La Vie en Rose on video which won Marion Coittard the Oscar for Best Actress this year. The movie was superb! I love Edith Piaf's songs and I can have "La Vie en Rose" stuck in my head for days on end. I never realized that she led such a tragically sad life though so that was very eye opening. They also did a good job with makeup as Marion Coittard doesn't really look all that much like Edith and the scenes range from when she is a 20 year old to her death at 47 years of age. It was a fantastic film! Since I had to concentrate on the subtitles, there was no stitching for me that evening.

Saturday was a super day in the city. I drove in for an appointment and some errands, one which included going to Britex, which is the super duper 4-story fabric store downtown but as always, I couldn't find any fabric to fall in love with although there were great notions and trim. I'll have to go back with the projects to pick that part though. Perhaps next weekend. I decided to cancel my evening plans to tackle the problem of the wine cabinet. I drove to Crate and Barrel to switch out what I thought was the defective piece. In my original piece, only three of the four screws would tighten. On the second piece I got, only ONE of the four screws would tighten! What a fricken nightmare!! Of course, I've had it! I went back to the store to talk to a manager and did my spiel about how I don't expect to pay $300 for something that I still need to assemble and it still be crap. This isn't Ikea and as much as I love Crate and Barrel, I'm having second thoughts about the quality in the store. Blah blah...you get the drift. Then the manager suggests that they can give me a discount if I want to jerry-rig the cabinet. Excuse me?!?! So there went another little tangent about how that wasn't acceptable and how inconvenient this was since I had to ask friends to help me plus borrow a truck as I can't do this by myself up to my THIRD floor apartment in my little compact car. So the manager said he'd talk to the STORE manager today and get back to me. Okay, fine...all I want is a solution that will make BOTH of us happy. Happy customer = happy store with more purchases from said customer. The rest of Saturday had me cheering myself up by watching Moulin Rouge. And in the middle of me singing and dancing (yes, I am a dork!) along to the tango scene, my dvd player decided to conk out...literally. Gah!!! Multiple poundings has not fixed the problem! How am I going to watch my movies?! Looks like it's time for me to head out and buy a replacement. I did start my HoE Pinkeep exchange project and continued to work on Santa's hair and beard. Slow boring progress but I'll take a picture tonight to share.

Sunday, I headed to this little spot in the Mission for brunch called Maverick. It was tiny but oh, so yummy! I had the cornmeal pancakes with pork sausage and about 10 cups of coffee. You could have rolled me out of the joint. I was going to get the chorizo and eggs...mmmmmmm....memories from my childhood. But the ones at Maverick came with grits and I don't know about grits. What the heck is that? I had a try from my tablemate and they kind of reminded me of salty cream of wheat in a way. Overall....great experience. Oh, and their cinnamon encrusted donut holes are tha' bomb (as the kiddies say). I could have hoovered the whole plate of them! The rest of the day was boring stuff like errands and then I visited the folks. My brother stopped by with his little chihuahua, Mondo, who is a total trip. It's like he thinks he's a bunny. He goes around doing this little hoppy-run all over the house. I never considered myself a small dog type considering I am waiting for the day I can get a place with a yard so I can adopt a boxer but Mondo is a lot of fun. I pick him up and he calms down and then I put him down and he does the hop-run all over the place again. Strange little dog.

So not much stitching but I'll report later with my progress on Sweet Dreams.

Home is Where the Heart Is!

And my heart belongs to San Francisco. I tend to talk a lot about work and dating and crafting that I don't really talk too much about the city that I love. I don't live in SF proper anymore and I've been missing it a lot lately but I live close enough to make multiple trips in a week if I'd like. Just this weekend, I made two trips to run errands and visit with friends. Today was a federal holiday so I had the day off from work. Woohoo! Gotta love 3-day weekends! So I decided to take advantage of the easy parking and head to North Beach with a friend. North Beach is the "Little Italy" of San Francisco and it's my favorite neighborhood. It's lively and fun; has great coffee shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment and makes for great people watching. But besides the gastro-delights of the neighborhood, there are amazing views. One of my favorite things to do here is to drag my lazy tush up to Coit Tower and go down the Filbert Steps. So today I decided to take my camera along so I could share this walk through my eyes!

Filbert Street...walking up the steep grade to get up to Coit Tower. The street gets so steep towards the top that there are little stairs etched into the cement so you aren't so angled trying to get up there.

Coit Tower (not the Leaning Tower of Pisa...I suck at pictures)

Whew...made it up to the top of Filbert Street. I turned around and wow...look at the view! Far in the distance you can see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Along the walkway near Coit Tower, you see an amazing Financial District shot that includes the Transamerica Building. This was a daytime shot but with the lighting, it looks like dusk.

Filbert Street and Telegraph Hill. This is the juncture to head down the infamous Filbert Steps.

As I go down the steps, I turn around to show how the steps are engulfed by gardens, trees and lots of greenery. It always seems so cut off from the rest of the city.

And along the stairway path, there are cottages and bungalows that look like this one. Isn't it cute?! How do people get their groceries up or down all the stairs? I still don't understand. I don't think you could pay movers enough to get furniture to one of these little homes. And my friends complain about my third floor walk-up! But it sure is a lovely setting.

And we get to the very bottom of the Filbert steps across from Levi Plaza. I turned around and here is a shot of the scary part of the Filbert Steps. The stairs are so steep here that I always fear I'll trip and slide all the way down. Yep, this is me living on the edge! We feel good but I'm not crazy enough to turn around and head back up as my friend suggests so we go out to the Embarcadero with the intention of walking to Broadway. As we walk, we come across this plaque imbedded into the cement.

Apparently, way back in the Gold Rush days, shops were on floating ships out in the Embarcadero. As that era passed, the ships were buried under landfill and built upon and that area is now the Embarcadero. I was born and raised in San Francisco and never knew that! So I learned something new today. We kept walking and my friend dragged me up another steep stairway and I saw this abandoned on the sidewalk. In the city, people will dump their junk on the sidewalk because one person's junk is almost always someone else's treasure. This hadn't found a home yet though but it was well worth a picture.

"Don't watch me watch tv" What?!?!

We finally made it to my favorite coffee shop in North Beach, Cafe Greco and just sat, talked and people watched. This is always a challenge because right across the street is Stella Pastry.

See! Stella Pastry and I always have to test my willpower. I have no willpower when it comes to pastry. OMG and their stuff is soooooo good. My favorite is their Sicilian Cannoli. If you live in SF and have never had a sicilian cannoli from Stella Pastry...what are you waiting for?! It is sinful and decadent and omg, so good. Obviously, I went to Stella and got my cannoli and it made me very happy but then I feel bad because I may as well just slather the filling onto my hips as that is where it will stay until I can workout enough for it to melt away. But you know what, I don't care because if there's anything worth extra time at the gym, it's anything at this little italian bakery. YUM!

And that was my fun-filled day in the city. I so love 3-day weekends. I wish they came around all the time!