Long Weekend: San Francisco

Last week, Trevor and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. To celebrate, I spent the weekend in San Francisco with him. Cool, cloudy weather put a damper on our little vacation (especially since we both forgot jackets), but it was otherwise a fun weekend!

The one thing I wanted to find was a new perfume, so on Sunday, we ventured to North Beach. We stumbled upon this amazing bakery called Stella Pastry. The cherry danish at the top of the page is one of theirs. They have tons of traditional Italian pastries to choose from and sell mini sandwich cookies by the pound.

 So chill.

I finally found my perfume at Nest in the Fillmore District. My choice? Evening Edged in Gold, by Ineke. It's a heady mix of Gold Osmanthus, Saffron, Leather & Woods. It's warm, and like all good perfumes, tells a story. I'd had a sample of their perfume a while back and was terribly sad to find that no shops in Washington sold it anymore. I've been waiting to visit San Francisco, their home city, to buy a full sized bottle.

Nest was listed as one of the stores that carried their line, so we made our way over from North Beach after our pastry lunch. What a beautiful little shop! Handmade quilts, luxe sleepwear & clothing, and perfectly curated antique trinkets, Nest is what Anthroplogie dreams of being.

The sun finally came out as we made our way back to the hotel.

♠

In Photos: Claire's Visit

So a little background. I lived in England for 7 months in 2006. It was a dream come true, but of course I was horribly homesick. I probably would have left early if it hadn't been for our neighbors, the Jones, or as I call them, the Duncans (I couldn't remember their last name, just the dad's name). Claire was just 15 when I met her. She's now an amazing young woman who saved up her pounds and pennies to come visit me. After a fab week and a half, it was a teary goodbye at Seatac yesterday. Here are some photos from our adventures.

MONDAY

We enjoyed cupcakes at Cupcake Royale and wandered around Ballard

One of the best photos anyone has ever taken of me.

TUESDAY

Shopping and dinner!

We're both huge fans of Gordon Ramsay, so we had to have dinner at Yanni's, which was featured on the latest season of Kitchen Nightmares. Honestly, I'm not even sure why, because this restaurant has always been great.

No more rumors! It's actually happening! Claire was not impressed, since Zara is plentiful in England.

WEDNESDAY

I usually avoid touristy things, but I'm so glad Claire was so persistent on going up the Space Needle. We went at sunset, found free parking (!), and the views were spectacular. It wasn't even cold and windy, like I had expected.

THURSDAY

We had lunch at Cafe Presse with my family and my best friends. We had a pomme frites eating contest, of course. I took her to almost all of my favorite restaurants and bakeries. We missed out on Top Pot, though, because we were both sick of sweets and baked goods by the end of the week. 

After lunch, we all went to Volunteer Park, since the conservatory was free for First Thursday. Then we sat in the grass and fed the squirrels, and ourselves, pastries from Bakery Nouveau.

On my way to dinner, I jumped out of my car into traffic to rescue this racing pigeon. Everyone keeps telling me how brave and awesome it was, but lets be honest. It was idiotic. I dropped him off with a man in Tacoma who has racing pigeons. Hopefully he can nurse him back to health, because I didn't know what I was doing. Someday I'll have pet pigeons, though.

FRIDAY

My dad and stepmom, who also lived in England, took us to Kingston for dinner. It was the most beautiful gray evening.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

We went down to Shelton to stay with my mom. That means more pastries, of course.

Raspberry tart and chocolate-banana cream (I think) from San Francisco Bakery in Olympia.

MONDAY

We took Claire to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time!

TUESDAY

After a stressful day stuck in a car with no A/C, it was nice to finally make it home to Seattle. We went to Kerry Park, had dinner at Mezcaleria, and watched the sunset from Queen Anne Boulevard. It was the perfect note to end our vacation on. Unfortunately, one of us had the idea of going to Ikea on the way to the airport. Claire made it home safe and sound, though.

♠

Photo-A-Day: Week 3

Week 3 of the June Photo-a-Day Challenge did not go as well. Most of these pictures were not taken on the appropriate days, but, hey, at least I'm taking them!

Day 15: From above

Looking over the edge of my roof

Day 16: Family

A small sampling of my family on my wedding day. Dad was working in England :(

Day 17:  Centered

Taken from Madrona, directly across from Bellevue

Day 18:  Street

My daily drive is pretty gorgeous

Day 19: Currently Reading

I wanted to take a picture of nutrition labels, because I read a lot of those :-/ 

Day 20: Cute

Not your usual cute: some sort of animal tail and a bug pin

Day 21: Lunchtime

Not much of a lunch, but I'm not complaining!

Tomorrow is my 10 year reunion! Wish me luck!

In Photos: California Christmas

Here's a photo recap of our holiday in California.

 We stayed in San Jose mostly, but not at this hotel.

My aunt said "Oh, they have homeless people in California, too." I replied "Yeah, this guy followed us around forever." It's my husband.

 We had pretty rainy weather for the most part, but it was warmer than Seattle, so I didn't mind.

 We did  stay in this hotel. It's called Andaz and it's in downtown Napa. probably one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in. Even had free stuff in the mini bar!

Christmas lights in Yountville

We spent a small fortune at Thomas Keller's bakery, Bouchon Bakery. He is a famous chef, or so I'm told. I'd never heard of him, but I had heard of his restaurant, The French Laundry, which is in the same town as the bakery.

 The raspberry macarons were delicious, but a little on the big side.

 If it hadn't been for Steven, I would have no pictures of me on this trip (as always).

My husband treated us all to a dinner at Ad Hoc, which is another one of Thomas Keller's restaurants. 

It was a four course meal, but I didn't take pictures of everything, since the cheese plate wasn't as interesting.

 Waygu beef pot roast

Toppings for our sundaes. I wanted to drink the caramel syrup.

Breakfast: Pain au Raisin from Bouchon Bakery

 Back in San Jose on Christmas Eve.

We were there for six days and this cat hissed at me the whole time. I've never had that much trouble getting a cat to like me. I even "cat sat" him once, but he just will not get used to me.

I felted this mushroom last year and brought it as a present for our hosts.

♠