birthday pub crawl

thursday was chris' birthday, and so he planned a pub crawl for saturday to celebrate. the weather was foggy and overcast, but that didn't stop us! first stop was alembic, on haight street. i had heard of this bar about a year or so ago, but i hadn't made it there. saturday was the day, and alembic did not disappoint. great atmosphere, cool interior, and delicious drinks made for a great first stop!

this is not it (that was chris' drink), but i got a drink called bees knees--gin, lavender honey, and lemon juice. so delicious!
next stop was magnolia pub & brewery, where we enjoyed beer and some french fries. sara and i discussed sewing machines and affective filters, while everyone chatted most likely about more normal things.


next stop, toronado, a bar in san francisco known for it's bajillion beers on tap. okay, so maybe bajillion is over-exaggerating, but there's still of draft beers. after toronado we had drinks at elbo room, famous to us for their photobooth. more chit-chatting, more people, more fun. after elbo room it was definitely time for dinner, so we went and grabbed some tacos at a nearby taqueria, where chris got to enjoy a birthday cupcake, courtesy of annie.


after dinner, before parting ways we decided that ice cream sounded delicious, so off to bi-rite we went!

a tasty way to end our pub crawl adventure. it was a fantastic day of drinks, friends and fun. thanks, chris, for organizing the outing!

the weekend (so far)

so far, this has been quite a lovely weekend. it started out with a baseball game on friday night in amazing seats (they were given to me), and then followed up with a drink with kelly and shane, who are in town for the weekend. it was great to catch up with old, dear friends!

today was the great urban race, that josh and brandon participated in.

it's basically a scavenger hunt/race throughout the city--like the amazing race, but only in one city, not all over the world. brandon and josh had a great time, but are now absolutely exhausted. while the boys were racing, my sister and i were on internet duty to help the boys decipher some clues. we also had entertainment in the form of claire while we waited...today she ate some carrots for us, and we giggled at the faces she made



after the time with claire and jen, i headed up to the orbit room for birthday mojitos for sara's birthday. YUM!

swings!

i only wish i had seen or thought of this, but some fun-loving, brilliant minds decided to put swings on bart. i LOVE this type of thing!

here's the article: pranksters install swings on bart
and a flickr photostream: bart swings

"in my dreams, i see myself hitting a baseball"

so tuesday night was my first baseball game of the season, and what a perfect night for it!
and yes, this was how the sky actually looked--no photoshop enhancement here!

we played the padres, and it turned out to be a great game. warm weather (read: i was wearing capris and a tanktop. i put on my baseball hat by the end of the game to keep warm), a grand slam (by the giants), some excitement over what we thought might be a bad call (it ended up being the right call), good friends, and a win! what more can you ask for.

saturday fun

so saturday was busy. 8 miles in the morning, then i met up with my parents, sister and claire for some shopping and lunch, then home for natalie's bachelorette party.

first stop: downtown. we ran into an anti-war, anti-occupation protest/parade, so i wasted time taking a couple pictures while the parade passed


claire sporting her new giants gear...go black and orange!
and a few pics from the champagne toast at kristin's and dinner after for the bachelorette...

this was taken at beretta, where we ate a delicious dinner...

academy of sciences

today, chris was kind enough to escort me into the academy of sciences so i could go with my family (they have passes). it was great, but SOOOO crowded--i can't wait to go and explore more! here are a few pictures from the day...

saturday run

saturday was a major accomplishment...right around 10 miles! i hit the runner's high, so that was fun. here was our route this week:

it actually felt really good after about mile 5. i just had to look sort of down in front of myself (so i'm not looking at how much further i have to go) and tune into my music. we ran from our house down along the water, across the golden gate bridge, back across, then back to the marina green.

that night, brandon and i decided to heed jessi's advice and move around later in the day, so saturday night we decided to go on a little walk. we went down to union square, got some ice cream and went into the westfield to eat.

friday friends

friday night, my friend katie came into town and brought a college favorite, woodstocks pizza (there is one on her way from sacramento). it was a fun mini-reunion of cal poly people on a random friday night.

gotta love the cinnabread

chris and brandon, giggling about something...up to no good always
it was a glorious evening!

run!

today was my first long run of half-marathon training. well, actually my first long run EVER, but also the first long run of training. brandon went to a baseball game, so chris was kind enough to be my running buddy. he was a great motivator--most of my run was spent thinking "just...follow...chris...keep...following...chris..." i was pretty proud of myself, seeing as i've only started training in the last two weeks.

anyway, today i accomplished a 7.1 mile jog. it was slow, but i made it. yippee!

here was our route:

another reason...

just another reason i love san francisco...

the grilled cheese invitational in dolores park

glorious saturday

saturday morning started off with a lovely friend date at the de young with one of my oldest, nearest and dearest friends. we have been attempting to see the yves saint laurent exhibit at the museum and finally got around to it. we started out with a long chat at the cafe, and then we wandered through the many pieces in the ysl collection--it was amazing! it was a perfect saturday morning. i hope to have these dates much more frequently!
if you can't tell, the rain went into hiding for the day.

after the de young, i went home for a few hours and then headed back out for a dinner party with some other friends. we cooked a delicious meal, but afterward brandon and i were exhausted and we had to get up early today so we decided to head back home. on the way, we passed city hall which was feeling a little green, apparently.

i guess many of the monuments around the city have been lit up with green lights in celebration of the arrival of the play wicked.

friday rain

so we are FINALLY getting some winterish weather again. thank goodness because all the little plants in san francisco need the water!

i know i complain about the weather a lot, and i happen to live in an extremely desirable climate, but this time i'm jumping for joy at the rain. i love this cozy weather!

saturday afternoon

saturday afternoon was beautiful, sunny...not a cloud in the sky. while brandon helped our friend adam move, i met up with sara for a long overdue (and much anticipated) mojito at our favorite mojito place, the orbit room.

it doesn't get much better than this.

inauguration day, 2009

today, as most people know, was inauguration day, and what an historic day it was! brandon and i were planning on watching at home, but we got a text from chris (well, brandon did, i tagged along) saying that he was heading to civic center and did we want to come along. we decided that watching the inauguration in that setting was a little more exciting and fitting of such a monumental day, so we quickly got ready, grabbed the cameras, and went on our way.

obama street, formerly known as bush street

obama bobblehead

the applause just after president obama took the oath

i was proud to be a part of such a monumental day, and i look forward to the years/months to come!

congratulations to president obama and the first family!

san francisco photo adventure

so it has come to my attention that i've been spending a lot of time at home, and if i am out i am not with my camera. i mentioned this to brandon, and we decided to remedy this with a photo adventure on saturday morning. we first walked to civic center to drop some books off at the library, then wandered down to the federal building and through soma for our little excursion.

yes, that is brandon in the background

i took this next picture to commemorate my completely unnecessary trek up this hill...i started way down yonder at the flat part--about 10 blocks from the water. you know the hill is steep when it has actual steps in the sidewalk.