Long Weekend: Oakland & Berkeley

Gosh, summer always passes so quickly! It's already been a month since we were in California, and of course, I'm just now getting the photos finished! There are still a few photos to be added, but I haven't posted in so long, I thought it would be good to get at least something up!

The whole weekend was spent wandering around Lake Merrit in Oakland. We ate lots of great food, watched several movies, and generally just bummed about. How lovely it is to go somewhere without having anything set in stone!

On Saturday, we went to San Francisco and Trevor gave me a tour of the neighborhood he lived in last summer. We also ate dinner  at Stuffed, a Polish pierogi restaurant he frequented. 

 On Sunday, we had brunch at the Thai Temple in Berkeley and met up with my dear friend, Lorea. After brunch, we went to Fourth Street and almost adopted 2 puppies.

If you're ever in Berkeley, you have to pay a visit to Castle in the Air. It's one of my favorite shops of all time. The interior is just magical.

 

 There's nothing like a West Coast sunset

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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.

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