Whatever Happened to Predictability....

...The milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV!

That's right, folks. That's the Full House theme song, and my lucky husband got to hear me sing it every day during our trip to SAN FRANCISCO!

We decided to take a little anniversary getaway to San Fran over Memorial Day weekend, and naturally I'm just now posting about it. We had such a wonderful time. We flew in on a Thursday, drove straight to Napa for dinner and a wine tour on Friday, then headed into the San Fran Bay until Monday night. We ate a lot of delicious food, and drank a lot of fab wines, and went to a lot of cool restaurants and bars, and went on some fun cliche tours, and it was incredible!

Here are some photo highlights of our trip:

Anxiously awaiting our flight at the airport!

Our fun view of the Golden Gate Bridge - driving over it on our way to NAPA

Bouchon! DELICIOUS Thomas Keller French restaurant in Yountville.

First Stop, Day One: Robert Mondavi Vineyards. We took a "Wine Tasting Basics" class so we could actually figure out what we were doing all day.

Beautiful Mondavi vineyard, and a naked lady statue welcoming us.

Next stop: Sterling Vineyards! You had to take a tram to the top of this gorgeous hill - incredible views!

Last stop: Kendall Jackson. Beautiful mansion with lush gardens surrounding it. I got lightheaded and almost passed out so we missed the tour but...it was amazing other than that!

More beautiful views....

Our first night back in SF, we ate at a cute local Italian place, Brindisi. Awesome seafood!

Our second day, we went on a food tour at the Ferry Marketplace Building. This is a food lover's paradise! It's comparable to the Chelsea Food Market in NYC. They have TONS of specialty food shops and vendors, and on Saturday mornings there is a huge Farmer's Market surrounding it. We got to sample a variety of things from inside and hear all about the local businesses. Drew is seen here sampling a Sesame Chocolate. Tasted weird but interesting.

Saturday afternoon, we took a ferry over to Alcatraz!! We had a self-guided tour and loved it.

Saturday night, we had dinner at Town Hall (and I forgot to take pictures, naturally), where I had some of the best friend chicken of my life. We also stopped by an AMAZING speak-easy called Bourbon and Branch, where you have to have a password to get in, and after whispering it to the doorman, you are ushered into a labryinth of dark rooms and halls to have the strongest drinks you've ever had.

Sunday morning, we took a Cable Car Tour and saw all of the cliche, touristy, awesome things in San Fran....including perfect views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

After the Cable Car Tour, we headed to Foreign Cinema for brunch. It's a beautiful, light, airy restaurant nestled in the Mission District, and they make their own homemade poptarts! You're damn right I got one.

Sunday night, we ventured over to North Beach and ate at a world famous pizza place, Tony's Napoletana. I'm not someone who generally buys into hype about "this is the best ______ ever!", but....this pizza was among the best pizza I've literally put in my mouth. Wanna see a picture of this delicious pie? Well you can't. Because I'm an idiot who forgot to take a picture. I was too consumed with getting it in my mouth as fast as possible.

Monday morning, we walked to the Ferry Marketplace Building one last time (we'd gone every day, mind you) and ate at a fun burger place called Gott's Roadside. We shared garlic pesto fries, while I got a blue cheese burger and Drew got a regular cheeseburger (pictured). Delish.

We also stopped by Tartine, a cute bakery with amazing bread, pastries, and meals, and got a Chocolate Hazelnut Tart. It took everything in me but I managed to save it to eat it on the flight home, to combat the depression I felt leaving.

Like I said, we truly had a WONDERFUL time! Can't wait till our next trip - which may or may not be to New York in the fall, because we may or may not have drunkenly bought plane tickets last night. Oops. More posts to come!

Updated

Well...it's been another 4 months since my last blog post and man do I suck at this blogging. Every article or website I've read about blogging encourages one to blog often or else you will lose interest and followers. Here's part of an article I read:

"Finally, once your blog is ready to go, remember to keep it current. That’s not to say you need to post every hour on the hour, or even every day, but at least post weekly; don’t half-commit to your project. With any luck, you will have readers and they will look forward to your posts, so don’t disappoint them. Too often, great blogs go south because they aren’t updated enough…or ever. Don’t put in all the effort only to decide two days later that it’s just not for you."

I don't actually have too many followers but I definitely don't now, judging by my once-every-six-months posts. Here's another part of the same article I found interesting:

"The first step to starting a successful blog is to decide what you want to write about. There are literally millions of bloggers already out in the blogosphere, so how are you going to differentiate yourself? It’s important to start by writing about something you love and have a substantial knowledge of. Whether it’s horticulture or hot dogs, entertainment or enterprising, fitness or finance – love it, live it, blog it. If you don’t have passion for something, neither will your readers, and if you can’t provide more insight than a quick Google search, why would anyone bother reading? Make it stand out. Show your personality and your passion, and most of all, show your expertise."

I never officially decided on a category. There's no specific "theme" to my blog, except a chronicle of our lives. I should probably add more cooking/baking, and maybe some more traveling, and some more restaurant reviewing, and home decor, but I haven't. I will though! As God as my witness!

Since my last blog post, I have....

• Quit training for a 10K or even a 5K. Maybe one day.
• Decided to move out of our apartment due to increased bullshit rent.
• Witnessed the marriage of one of my b-fris to a handsome Texas cowboy.
• Witnessed the engagement of another one of my b-fris to her cutie fiance.
• Joined Twitter. (WTF?)
• Gone to San Francisco for a lover's getaway with my boo.
• Found a fabulous new (small) apartment.
• Developed a new interest in home decor.
• Joined this awesome site called Pinterest where I can hone my home decor and posting skillz.
• Watched the Mavs enter the FINALS! (Currently watching Game 5 of the Finals right now, with my husband who curses incredibly loudly at the television every. single. time. the other team scores.)
• Completed my 1-Year Anniversary at the job that I currently have and love.
• Best of all: gotten my husband back from his job. Busy season is over and I am alone no more. Gracias a Dios.

I'd say that's a pretty busy Spring. I plan to blog more about each of these accomplishments...SOON. More next time.

New Year, New...Me.

I just noticed that the last time I blogged was October 26. That's outrageous. I started my blog as a scrapbook of sorts, not really to ever say anything of importance, but...it sucks. Scrap-booking is fun, but it's not as fun to read. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to blog more and write more REAL things, as I've said before. And so far I've done a shitty job.

I started this blog around 1 year ago (I believe my first post was about Valentine's Day 2010) and I really don't have much to show for it. Dangit! I need excitement to happen in my life. I told Drew we either need to move to a new city or buy a house or have a baby so my life will be worth blogging about. (Don't worry - we're not doing any of those things. Dangit!)

In an effort to be more real, I thought I'd share a few New Year's Resolutions (1.5 months late) - mostly so I can check myself and my progress. And putting it out there makes them real!

1. Run a 10K. So far this isn't going very well. I am almost running at 5K but I'm not entirely sure how well the 10K training will be/go. And I can't find one I want to do when I want to do it. Or maybe that's just an excuse. Leave me alone.

2. Lose 15 lbs. I'm about a third of the way there. We shall see.

3. Be more assertive. This means making more decisions for myself and doing things based on what "I" want or what WE want and not worrying about what others think of me/us. I am unfortunately driven by what people think and wanting to please everyone and I just can't do that anymore. So far I think this resolution is going swimmingly.

4. Read/work through The Artist's Way. This is a book my friend Molly sent me and it's supposed to help one be more creative and think more creatively and live the creative life you've always wanted to and never thought you could. I've gone through and worked on one chapter and I've slowed down. I need to speed it up! It's worth it! I shall be the creative person I was meant to be! God willing.

5. Start a book club. Me and my friends have been trying to start one for 2 YEARS now and it has yet to happen! This is our year, damnit.

6. Learn to make pasta and other different, non-conventional recipes that I haven't already mastered. This might not be a "resolution", more of something I should put on a to-do list, but...still. It's something I wanna do this year. So sue me.

I have a few others but I'm choosing not to reveal EVERYTHING about myself to my adoring public. But...it's out there now, and I shall keep myself/whoever reads this updated on my progress throughout the year. If I can remember.

I have other things I'll blog about later but I think this is a great start for now! Wahooo.