Well, I am going to try this again; write a nice long post and get it to stick! Hahaha.. we shall see.
As I had *previously* posted, Mr. Sweet Thang and I had travelled to San Francisco to celebrate my 40th birthday. After leaving 2 1/2 hours late, we finally got there. What a wonderful difference in temperature/weather it was. When we arrived it was probably high 60's with wind and Sun, Sun, oh glorious Sun! (We have been inundated with rain for the last two weeks or so).
Once we finally got settle into the hotel and decided on what was for dinner, we headed back to the airport to catch a BART train into town. Now, I had it all figured out on how to get to the restaurant in North Beach. Of course I did! I had a Map that showed Bus routes from the BART stations... Ummm the dang blasted map was evidently out of date even though it was just about 3 months old... Yeah... we ended up walking more than we had thought we would! But alas! We finally made it to a lovely little Trattatoria called Pinocchio's. The food was Divine! DH's Chicken Parm was excellent! and my Ravioli Pomodoro was just as good! I was just amazed at how many restaurants we came across as we walked to for dinner. They were all busy, but you never had to wait for a table!
Saturday was a busy day for us. We had a plan of attack and got the day started with gusto! We took the BART into town, and got off. Walked up through Union Hill! Wow.. all the stores!! I got to check out LUSH. Oh yeah.. I have heard so much about that place and now I am ADDICTED! It was soo good that on the way back from the day, I had to stop again and buy more stuff!!
Once done with LUSH, I convinced Mr. Sweet Thang that I wanted to visit this Yarn Shop on Sutter; ArtFibers is a lovely little shop with lovely colors and textures. It resides upstairs in a small building but is very quaint. There was a lovely area to sit and knit if you wished. This is, though, not your typical yarn shop in that I did not see any brand names of yarns, like Debbie Bliss, Berrocco, etc. Though nice stuff, I am not at the level just yet to use such wonderful fiber.
After that little diversion, we headed off on a "walking tour" that would take us to Grace Cathedral. On the way, we did pass China Town. This was at one end; on Friday, we had seen it from the other end! LOL. Now, let me tell you in that this is where I really found out about the hills. They are STEEP!! Hahaha. Life is flat here in Texas. The steep hills are a shock to this person!
We trekked two very steep hills and let me tell you that the workout on the legs and calves were fantastic! So much so that I am not feeling one bit guilty about missing the gym all week! Once to the top, we headed over to Grace Cathedral. What an awesome place. I walked around inside with my head cocked backwards taking in all the beautiful stained glass, tapestries, everything. I would have loved to have been able to attend the services. I have goose bumps thinking about it.
We did hit up the cable car museum on the they way down to Ghiradelli. That was pretty neat and interesting to see. Of course we were hoping to Hop on a Cable car to get down there, but every time one stopped it was way too full. We ended up walking (down hill!! thank goodness) to the wharf area. I did get to see Lombard street from a distance and wished that I could have been closer to take a picture. Our plans after visiting Ghiradelli, which I was not impressed with at all, was to hop the Hyde Street Cable Car and take it to Lombard. Walk down Lombard and then trek over to catch the Cable Car on the Powell-Mason line. Well, the line at the cable car turnaround for Hyde, there was a 1 1/2 hour wait. Mr. Sweet Thang doesn't like to wait. We ended up back at the cable car turnaround for Powell/Mason with a 10 min wait. So I finally got to ride one and good thing too.. we would have NEVER Made it back up those hills!!
Sunday was the big trip to Alcatraz. We had to catch an early morning BART into town in order to get to Pier 33 on time to take the ferry over. If you ever have the chance to go, do it! It was extremely informative. Narrated by four former guards and four former inmates, you get a huge understanding of life there. What is amazing is that though it looks huge in pictures and from the shoreline; it's not that big! Check it out at the Alcatraz website.
Afterwards, it was lunch at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39. The garlic bread was to DIE FOR! Food was pretty good as well. Once done we headed over to the Ferry Building to shop and kill some time before meeting up with friends. I found this lovely shop that carries the best olive oil. The Stonehouse Olive Oil company is a California based company. The oils are freaking fabulous! I came home with a bottle of the Roasted Garlic and I can't wait to try it out.
We met up with a friend of Mr. Sweet Thang from High School/College. They hadn't seen each other in five years and I finally got to meet the infamous friend that my DH got in trouble with all the time! He and his significant other are really great people and I am glad that we had the chance to meet up. I know my husband was happy to see his old buddy!
After a long weekend, we made the trek home to Texas that Monday. Of course I bought stuff w/o realizing at the last minute that I had to put them in the suitcase because I couldn't carry it on the plane (olive oil, creams from Lush). That took some creative packing on my part and a lot of prayers that we would not be charged for excess baggage weight at the airport! We dodged that one by getting our boarding passes printed at the hotel and using the curbside check in! We finally made it home at 10 pm that night. My lovely husband said that the minute my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light! All I can say was that it was the best birthday ever!
How about some knitting content?? I had taken a few weeks back a class on making Lace Headbands. It was pretty cool and I have made two so far. I used the Herringbone Lace pattern in the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar. The first one, in Berrocco's Ultra Silk Wedgewood, turned out ok. A few mistakes on my part, but overall really nice. I completed a second one in the same Ultra Silk in black for a friend at work. I did most of it on the plane trip to and from San Francisco. (The first picture at the top - can't figure out how to get it to post in blog where I want it!)
And here's a closer look at the pattern (2nd picture at the top)
Well that's all for now. Time for me to get ready and head to my Local Yarn Shop for some knitting, stitchn and gabbin!
Have a wonderful weekend!
