sister by the bay

Last week (wed.- sat.) I got to go visit my sister in San Francisco. All by my lonesome! Can you imagine? It was so weird not having to pre-think about ANYTHING! It didn't matter when we ate, where we went or when we got home. It was fun and weird and hard and great all at the same time.

This is my sister. Isn't she so beautiful!?! She has lived in SF for a really long time now. Long enough that I have done all the touristy stuff at least twice by this point. So this trip was different. I had no plans or hopes while there. Honestly, I wasn't there to see the city. I was just missing my sister. So anything we did was great! She wanted to show me the side of SF that she experiences. We ate at amazing restaurants, like this one for her birthday! Oh my! They prepare food with local, seasonal ingredients- all from scratch! We had a little bit of everything- including the lavender creme brule. Holy smokes, that was good. I mean, just thinking about it right now...mmm...

And, well, ok, I lied. One thing I really wanted to do was go to Bi-Rite ice cream. Again, all organic, mostly local ingredients. My favorite there is the honey lavender, but this time around I got the salted caramel and toasted coconut. So delicious. It was 9:00 pm and there was a line out the door. Yeah, it's that good!

For two of the days we left the city and visited Napa Valley (my first time):

my sister kept insisting that I take a picture with just me in it. So here is my floating head.

I don't think I mentioned that mom came too! This is my mom- the lovely lady in blue! we are standing in a vineyard! Don't tell anyone but my mom stole a grape. Ssh!!!

this is a winery that was designed to look like an authentic Italian castle. It was really amazing!

sheep on the grounds

a building that I showed to John as an inspiration for our dream home! minus the handi-cap accessible bathroom sign, that is.

We visited Palo Alto to see where my sister works. While there we went to the Stanford Shopping Center. I went into my first Bloomingdales. And, being the non-shopper that I am, I thought that it looked an awful lot like any other giant store I've ever been in. But here, the ladies come with their tiny dogs.

dahlias as big as my sister's face!

We also went out to Half Moon Bay. A dreamy little beach town that was wrapped in fog. It was full of craggy rocks and surfers. As we pulled away from the town and went over one large hill, the fog was gone and we were driving in sunshine. That Bay Area fog is baffling!

We had a great time. I loved the farming towns we drove through, the hugeness of the Golden Gate Bridge, being able to walk to really great restaurants and stores. I love the people of San Francisco. Such a mish- mash of nationalities and people that were born elsewhere. I was intrigued by families with multiple small children making city life work- knowing what rent costs and the size of the homes. I loved spending so much time with my mom and sister. Getting to see the side of the city that is more adult oriented (like the ice cream shop **wink**). I loved meeting my sister's friends. Her family away from family. I loved getting to see her work, her commute, her daily walks, her favorite restaurants...and her.

I loved getting to see her.