Food filled Saturday

On Saturday, we started the day with a delicious breakfast...courtesy of Chef Erik!

He made homemade bagels sandwiches with egg & cheese. So good!!

I took Evie for a long walk down to Dolores Park. It is about a four mile round trip for us from home. It was a "warm" 70 degrees out and Evie was huffing & puffing the whole way. She loved it when we arrived at Dolores Park because she was able to lay in the shade and rest.


On our way home, we stopped at Duboce Park and she relaxed again. haha



After her walk, she passed out for the afternoon. If only I could get her moving like this in the AM, I wouldn't feel so bad about leaving her home all day. But, she is so tired in the morning. haha

Here she is passed out on the couch. We watched a movie that was super boring & I almost fell asleep too....Mao's Last Dancer. Anyway, for dinner, we went to a pizza place where a band was playing. Pay for the pizza, get a free show! Mattson 2 was playing at Una Pizzeria in SOMA. Mattson 2 plays a LOT of music in Erik's surf movies so I know them through the movies. It was cool to see them play!

I don't think Una Pizza Napoletana was all that cool, though. It was like the Soup Nazi for pizza. Authentic, Italian pizza that was expensive-- $20 for a tiny 12" pizza and you cannot request any subsitutions or toppings like red pepper flakes or shaker cheese. There are no toppings like mushrooms or peppers - every pizza is a variation of Margherita. I think I would be very disappointed if I ate pizza in Italy. I love NY pizza!!

There is a loooong wait to sit; at least 45 min. There is ONE guy making pizza in a brick oven, in the middle of the restaurant. The hours of this place are 5pm - until the dough runs out.

The drink menu is super limited and pricey. Everything they offer is Italian - Italian beers, wines, sodas, etc. The wine I ordered tasted like grape juice mixed with fizzy water...for $9.




The pizza we ordered had fresh mozzarella, fresh grape tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil. It was pretty good but I wish I had some shaker cheese and ranch dressing to dip it in!! I'm sure some die hard Italian pizza lovers will tell me I have no clue what I am talking about but oh well.

After dinner, we went home and tried to watch Ironman 2 but you know how that ends up. 5 mins into it & everyone is asleep on the couch. haha

Well, we had a great day and glad to try a new place to eat, of course. Even though we won't be back!

Chill Friday

On Friday, we got out of work early...thanks to Summer Hours. I went downtown to return some shoes I ordered online. I should really learn my lesson and stop buying shoes online. They NEVER fit. I order 9.5 and size 10-- 9.5 is too small and 10 is too big. Grrrr. Anyway, I found two pairs of shoes at Macy's that were NOT online and fit great. Can you believe I had to buy 9.5 in one brand and a size 10 in another. Haha.

After managing through the crowds of Union Square, I headed for the bus. There is a huge music festival here this weekend called Outside Lands. The buses were PACKED with people trying to get down to Golden Gate Park for the show. Thankfully, the concert site must have only told people 2 out of the 4 bus lines that will get them down to GGP because when my bus showed up, no one got on and it definitely will get you to the park.

After getting home & walking Evie, I started in on the laundry. We have been backed up since I haven't been home to do any laundry. We also ordered pizza in and watched some TV. It was really great to just stay home and hang out.

MIA

Well, work has been super busy as we have been preparing for a new business pitch. It honestly felt like I was writing papers for a college final. It involved a lot of research, brainstorming, and writing. Yesterday, we did our presentation and now we wait to hear if we are going to be working on a new client! I am exhausted and so ready for the weekend.

I would like to give a big shout out to Erik for taking care of Evie and everything while I have been working like crazy & working late nights. He definitely walked and played with Evie since I couldn't be there and I cannot thank him enough!!

Wedding Dresses!

Today, Amy & I had a fun time looking at wedding dresses. I pulled some images of dresses I liked before we went shopping. Turns out, what I thought I wanted, I didn't like on me! Funny how things work out like that. Things I didn't think I would want, I really liked!

We narrowed it down to 2 dresses and now I have to think about what I want! With the wedding, I like to find what we need, make a decision, and move on. So, I won't be searching and searching for "the perfect" anything for months & months. I will probably decide on the dress, buy it, and cross that off my list in the next few weeks. Yippeee!!

While I can't spoil the surprise, I will say that these two were a no....


After shopping, we came home and Erik had made a great dinner. Homemade chicken soup, cookies and ice cream. All from scratch - delish!!

Well, here's to a busy week!

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Saturday started out as it usually does - chores & walking Evie. Took Evie for a nice walk in Buena Vista and the sandpit so she can run around.








Here she is, running around -


After we were ready to go, we headed new a new place for lunch. Greenburger's opened a few months ago in the Lower Haight neighborhood. It's a pretty low key spot where you go up to the counter to order your food & they bring it out to your table. The food was delicious!



Erik had their veggie burger & fries. I had the Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese and a side salad. Everything was sooooo good. This Mac & Cheese was out of this world. Spicy, Cheesy, Deliciousness. I'm pretty sure they use the one & only....Frank's Red Hot sauce, which is my absolute favorite hot sauce


After lunch, we headed down to Gilroy, CA. It's about an hour & 15 min drive down there and it's near Santa Cruz. Each year, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is held there and each year we say we should go. We finally went this year and can now say, we will never be back. haha. Gilroy calls itself the Garlic Capital of the World but in fact, it does NOT grow the most garlic in the world. Gilroy Foods processes more garlic than any other factory in the world; most pickled, minced, and powdered garlic come from Gilroy. Interesting.

The festival was your typical festival of food, bands, crafts, etc. It was jam packed with people of all walks of life. I guess that is the funniest thing about going to festivals - you get to see all of these different types of people.

It was SO hot down there. It must have been over 85 degrees. We were definitely sweating & got in the shaved ice line, right away. I got Pineapple Mango. Erik got Grape.


They have every type of garlic food you can imagine....even garlic ice cream.

The line for free garlic ice cream was like 50 people deep so we skipped that one!

This seems like THE place to be, if you are from the area. It was not worth the drive to get down there. We decided that we are going to stop going to all of these weird festivals that of course, I find. They are all the same & never worth it!

The fun part of the trip was stopping at the Gilroy Outlets where everything at the Ann Taylor outlet was 50% off! woohoo!!

We chilled out the rest of the night & watched Season 1 of The Walking Dead. It is a really gross show about how people turn into zombies and take over. It's sooooo gross watching them eat flesh and blood. ICK.

Happy Friday

Friday was a busy day at work but we were able to get out at 2pm and go to happy hour. We had a business partner in town who is pretty chill & young so we went to Pier 23. Pier 23 is a fun bar on the Embarcadero. It's right on the water and fun to just relax there. We went there awhile ago when Jaime came to visit back in 2008.

Guy Fieri even came here on a Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives episode!



After Happy Hour, I came home to walk Evie and then Erik dropped me off at Sarah's house. Sarah & I used to work together. I left a few mos ago & she is leaving now, too. She got an awesome new job! Her & her boyfriend also just moved in together so I went up to see her new apartment and we had dinner. We went to Ace Wasabi.


I have not been to Ace Wasabi since 2007. Erik & I were out here visiting SF and we went to sushi with Amy.

Here's a pic of the trip when we were in Napa. Feels like sooooooo long ago!

Always a great time to see Sarah & get to hang out together!!

Running in the Fog

Over the past two months, I have fell off the workout wagon. I was really inspired by Kristine's motivation for running. She is a Mom with two young boys, who gets up at 5am to run before getting herself & the boys ready for the day. If that doesn't kick you in the pants to get up & go, I don't know what will!

I am also really inspired by runners that I read about in Runner's World who are 75 and running marathons, lost a leg & do races, or cancer survivors. As the great Billie Jean King said, "Pressure is a Privlege" well so is running & working out. There are a lot of people who can't work out so if you can, why give that up?

So, I have a goal of running a 10k this year & found one in October. I was doing well with running & doing 5Ks but honestly, you don't need to train for a 5K. Its 3miles. So, the whole training part started to come apart as I realized I could go out and get thru the race without running or working out. That does not mean I was winning the race, by any means, but I wasn't scared of it enough to practice. A 10K, I will need to train.

Therefore, I got up this AM and went for a short run. It was foggy and around 60 degrees. I know the rest of the country is in a heat wave and here I was in leggings and a sweatshirt.

Yes, the city literally looks like this in the fog. This AM, there was a light mist that was all around and it makes your hair damp. It's like being on a Ghost Ship. haha

Anyway, hoping that making a plan & signing up for a race will keep me going!

Sunny Sunday

Today was another fun & relaxing day! I walked Evie, made us all breakfast(Erik is the usual breakfast maker!), and we hit up the Farmer's Market. Afterwards, Erik went surfing and I finished up some chores. Evie & I took a nice, long walk in the sun. We sat in the park & just relaxed.



Evie loves this sand pit where she can dig & run around in the dirt!


This is why I love SF. In the AM, we were in the bustling Mission district and in the afternoon, we were strolling through a park which makes you feel like you are not in a city!


Me & Evie


Here is Evie after our walk - loooove it!!

After Erik got home, we went to a Pi Bar for a Local Brewing Event.


We saw that this event was taking place to benefit two women who are trying to start a brewery so Betsy, Greg, Erik & I went to check it out. These ladies are brewing their Glen Park Ale and having 12 different bars serve it. We thought this event at Pi Bar was a fundraiser/tasting event. When we arrived, there was no signage for the event except for a small sign near the door. We noticed the Brewers wearing these Local shirts but other than that, there was no 'event' for this. The beer was on the menu to order though!

As a Marketer, I think there could have been a bunch more things they could've done to advertise themselves, the business, and their goal. Greg & Erik tried the beer & said it was OK. Everything worked out because we were able to chill out, have some beers, and pizza. We sat at a table and shared a pizza which was pretty good!

A nice way to end the weekend before a busy week!!