Monday, September 29, 2003

back from vacation...

..and back to the normal routine.

Dick just went back to work after being on vacation for 2 weeks! I didn't blog much because we were too busy running around SF!

I'll try to recap some of the highlights:

Beach Chalet - it was really hot a couple of weeks ago. Dick and I decided to start our vacation by cooling off by the beach. We went to The Beach Chalet for dinner. Unfortunately, it seems the rest of the City had the same idea. We ended up waiting for a table for 1 1/2 hours! Dinner was good, but we were ready to come home and go to bed by the time we sat down!ti

Dick's bday dinner - we had a small cocktail party at our house, then went over to Timo's for dinner. Yummy tapas food. That's tapas - not topless.

We spent one day in Union Square. Did a little bit of shopping, and enjoyed a stroll through Yerba Buena Gardens.the My favorite part of the gardens is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It's just beautiful, and so well done. What an amazing man.
We met Jim and Cynde for drinks at The View Lounge (the top of the Marriott Hotel). Great view up there- hence the name. As the story goes: The Marriott/View Lounge opened on the morning of the 1989 earthquake. All but one glass was broken!

We spent a lovely afternoon visiting The San Francisco Zoo - we saw baby Flamingos, teenage penguins (they are a shiny silver instead of black, and don't have any stripes/rings yet) and watched "the big cats" eat. There were two lion cubs - born in February.



We also checked out the recently renovated Ferry Building! The building is gorgeous, and the new businesses seem to be doing quite well. We found a terrific produce stand, and bought some delicious heirloom tomatoes. We also went to a butcher and bought some porterhouse steaks that we grilled that night. Lora met us at the Ferry Building, and came over for dinner. Omar was in Japan for the week. We had a great dinner, and topped off the night with a rousing game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit

Dick and I went to Lucca, our neighborhood Italian Deli, and picked up some salami, and cheese for a Picnic at Golden Gate Park! We drove around the park, discovered all of the tucked away lakes, and ended up spreading out our picnic blanket in the Botanical Gardens. We ate, took naps, and read. it was very nice and relaxing.

We tried to visit the newly restored Conservatory - it had just opened the Saturday prior, but i was closed on Mondays! too bad.
Instead we went down to The SF MOMA to see the Marc Chagall exhibit.

Last Tuesday, we ventured to the East Bay for the afternoon. We went to 4th street in Berkeley to the Crate and Barrell Outlet & Dansk outlet. We've been meaning to replace our drinking glasses. The last set of glasses we had had chips on the rim - apparently, they weren't dishwasher safe! I started to feel silly warning our guests to watch the rim of the glass to make sure they didn't cut their lip!

We met my sister, Tiffini for lunch at Fenton's Ice Creamery in Piedmont. That was delicious. They could quite possibly have the BEST ice cream shakes I've ever had! (and that's quite the statement, thank you)

Last week, we bid a fond farewell to Dick's 1992 Honda Accord. The poor car had been neglected for several months now, and it was time to find a new home. After he attempted to sell it to the local Honda dealership (where they offered Dick a shocking $500), Dick decided to donate it to the San Francisco SPCA. That made our kitties happy. It's a great organization, and we're happy to support them. We're elated that we're finally down to 2 cars and 1 motorcycle between the two of us. No more worries about street parking!

Painting the Interior of the House
Well, we didn't actually get around to the actual painting process, but I'm happy to report that we did manage to select the colors that we'll be using. Our good friend and interior designer, Richard Robertson came over and helped us select colors for the office, master bedroom, front room, parlor and hallway. It's a lot of paint, and a lot of colors! we're very excited.

Last Friday, we spent the day up in beautiful Napa Valley! The only set plans we had was lunch at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville. We had a delicious dinner there a couple of years ago, and lunch was just as good! Along the way, we came across The Napa Premium Outlets. We didn't have any plans to shop that day, but decided to stop because we had some spare time before lunch. Oh my! We did lots and lots of shopping. Dick is now a huge fan of the Barney's New York Outlet. After doing some major retail therapy, we made our way to the Beaulieu Vineyard. Dick is a member of their wine clubs. One of the perks to being a member is that you are able to reserve a tasting table where you can sample their premium wines free of charge. It's a nice service, and the wine was terrific!

Saturday, September 27th was Grace's 3rd Birthday! Grace is Dick's youngest neice. Happy Birthday to Grace! Dick tried to call, but the birthday girl was taking a nap.

Omar and Lora adopted a kitty on Saturday from the San Francisco SPCA!!! We're so happy for them! they adopted a 6 month old blue cat - perhaps a Russian Blue mix like Claude. The name he came with is "Elliott". Last I heard, they are not certain whether or not he'll be keeping that name. Congratulations to the Shahine Family!

We went to the Folsom Street Fair yesterday. It was a gorgeous day (probably mid-70s) so it was completely packed! i think it may have been the most busy I've ever seen it. Lots of good people watching, although it was kind of hard to see through the thick sea of people.

Yesterday was Vivian's Birthday! She turned 24 - what a youngster! :) We helped her celebrate by going to The House of Prime Rib for dinner. Mmmmm. Great Food. I'm most impressed by Vivian, because she's the only girl I know (and a tiny one at that) who can eat her whole meal, and even manage to ask for seconds. Impressive.

And of course, there was LOTS of Ghost Recon throughout the week. Oh yeah.

Wow. turns out we did a lot more than I thought! Dick had a restful vacation, and got to enjoy the wonderful city where we live.

And now I must get back to some of my daily routines. I just returned from my morning walk, which I haven't done in a couple of weeks (my own fault of course). Feels good to get some exercise again! I've been feeling awfully sluggish lately - been eating such great vacation food!

What a great couple of weeks. Thanks, Dick!

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