Home Tour

I figured I'd just post some pictures of our house since we've done lots of painting and such over the past few years.  Then I also have it documented what we've done sort of when for painting and updates to our house.

front door view 

dining room (right of front door)

living room (left of front door)

living room

guest bedrom

guest bathroom 

guest bedroom

office... and our Captain Jack benefit tree

kitchen (cabinets painted)

kitchen and family room

poker and pool table in basement

view near poker table

view from treadmill

view of my school stuff from tree

Christmas re-cap

Not many pictures from Christmas that Luke and I hosted but it was great.  We moved Christmas to a few days later and ordered pizza and wings from Pontillo's. Amazing idea since I did not have to play with the oven and store a bunch of food in my fridge.  Here are some pictures from before people came over of our decorations.  Some family did have to work that evening, but overall most were able to make it.  6 pizzas and 8 dozen wings later (only 2 slices of pizza left over!)

Our fireplace area (family room) all decorated for Christmas.  We have Jen's dorm room tree there as well.  No photo of our "upstairs" tree since it is sideways and blurry.  The tree was in our living room though.  

clothes line of cards

I mod podged clothes pins with scrap book paper and hot glued buttons on the top of them to use as a display for all the holiday cards we received.  Most of the family doesn't mail cards to family since we see each other (it's not that we don't have friends for the "lack" of cards).

all the shoes in the hall

In the basement we had our other tree set up for the kids gift exchange and grab bag.  The basement is the only room large enough for all to be in.  It is not a finished basement but some paint on the walls and lots of area rugs help warm it up a bit.

the bar area...make your own

downstairs tree

visiting Dani and Greg

So it's been about a month since we visited my college friend Dani and her husband Greg.  Luke and I left when he got out of work on Friday and came back on Monday afternoon.  We had so much fun catching up with them and hanging out all weekend.  Dani is expecting in January so it was also a chance for us to hang with just them as well as see their new home.

They live about a 1/4 mile from the sound so we took a walk there to check it out.  After Hurricane Sandy Luke and I weren't exactly sure what to expect but it wasn't bad at all where they live.  They only had one tree fall and their neighborhood didn't loose power.  I know others who weren't as lucky.

Here is a swim/boat buoy washed up next to someones deck.  Other than lots of drift wood their beach was not bad in terms of damage.  This quaint little restaurant was across the street and we made reservations for dinner there.  It happened to be restaurant week so we were able to eat there for $25 each.  It included an appetizer (soup or salad), dinner and dessert.  It was delicious and very cute inside.

They have 5 cats at their house.  Here is Meeko (Dani got him in college)  He was just a kitten when I moved in with her and shared the apartment.  Such a big boy now and taking over baby Michael Geoffry's sitting thing.  

They have a nifty bar in their basement and while Miss D taught me how to make stuffed shells I indulged in a margarita in her special redneck glass.  The boys indulged in a growler from a local brewery.  Dani had some all natural/organic apple juice.  

 Here she is teaching me how to make stuffed shells.  The one of her with her socks off (barefoot and pregnant) came out blurry.  She's about 7 months in this photo incase you are wondering.  Her shells were scrumptious.  I tried to make them at home and it worked but they weren't as pretty as the ones she made.  I'll have to keep trying.

 Kitty feeding time.  They all start to gather in the kitchen when they know it is time to each and sit munching til it's gone.

 Here is Miss D and Champ (their special kitty).  He sits in her lap and "hugs" her belly.  We were playing Wii games and having a blast.  I am so glad that we just stayed in and relaxed instead of going out ant about at night.  We did go to a nearby winery during the day and sat on the deck to enjoy the weather.

 Their crazy clock in the bar that the seller left.  It made me a bit confused more than once.  Time definitely flew by and we hope to get down to see them again.  Although 7-8 hours in the car is no fun. Weather cooperate so we can go visit and meet their little guy!

Giant Race and Relaxing

Traveling to San Fran I checked into running a race while I was out there.  I found the Giant Race was being held while we would be there and signed up the for the half marathon.  The race started outside of AT&T park where the Giants play and finished on the infield of the stadium.

Unfortunately there was a 5k that started about an hour before the race and there was a 10k that started at the same time as the 1/2 marathon.  It was also an out and back course for all races, which meant a very narrow course for the first 4 miles and still narrow after that since it was held through the Presidio near the Golden Gate Bridge.

I took the camera incase I saw anything that caught my eye but I decided to just get the race over with after I was so frustrated at the start organization and narrowness... seriously you are hosting a huge race you should have been forced to go through some training on how to host the event properly.  I should have known after the race expo.  Oh well.  Enough about that and hopefully they figure it out.  I stick to Disney organized races or those hosted by Fleet Feet Rochester (Dave and Ellen are amazing).

start that wraps around a corner

After the race we went out to the Cheesecake Factory that was located on the top floor of Macy's overlooking Union Square.  We got to eat outside and enjoy the view.  Lunch was yummy and the outside seating was very limited compared to inside seating so we were lucky to be seated outside.  

 We figured out that after lunch we would go back to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I really wanted to walk across it since we didn't the other day.  I also wanted to go watch the sunset so we headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I also would have liked to take pictures of it at night but that didn't work out so well (too many lights in the park where we were).  We did walk almost halfway across the bridge this time though.  It wasn't bad except for the very chilly wind.

We did wait in a lot of traffic on the bus just to get dropped off at the  park and then we figured traffic would have been way better and the bus would be back to a consistent schedule after our walk and waiting for the sunset (which we didn't see... notice the heavy clouds/fog).  We sat around the corner from the bus stop semi-blocked from the bone chilling wind.  I guess it is all about timing to capture a good picture of the bridge without fog and such.  

 

Telegraph Hill and the Death Boat

Ok... I know it has been way too long since the last post so I will wrap up our San Fran trip.  We walked up the stairs to Coit Tower to see the beautiful view.  Of course we stopped along the way to take in the view and let people walking down the stairs by.  Once at the top we realized why people were "looking at us funny" on the way up.  Apparently there is a bus that actually drops you at the top of Telegraph Hill.  All those stairs for no real reason.

random sign along the stairs

after already climbing over 200 stairs what's left

Lombard St. and the Bridge

Coit Tower

After taking in the view we caught the bus back down and went over to Pier 39 to take a boat cruise of the bay.  Although it was windy and cold on the boat it allowed us beautiful views and took us out to the Golden Gate bridge and circled around Alcatrez before returning to the dock.

We found out that with our tickets from the boat cruise we could get tickets for the Rocket Boat death boat for $10.  Luke was excited about that and after I had a cup of coffee to warm up we boarded the death boat.  It wasn't actually a death boat but I think it is a more fitting name.  Seriously, hitting waves at high speed and being strapped to a chair on a speed boat is not my idea of fun.  Many people were enjoying the death boat, I was not one of them.  I would have felt better if I was allowed to wear the life jacket instead of having it under my seat in the event that I needed it.

before leaving the dock 

Although the boat ride totaled 30 minutes it felt way longer than the 1 1/2 hour cruise we just took.  You can see the spray and such from the death boat as it made a turn back towards the bridge (this boat went opposite the other tour boat so it was the bay bridge).

Luke and the Death Boat

Stress from the death boat equals a trip to Ghiradelli Square for another ice cream sundae before heading back to the hotel to rest a little bit for my half marathon the next day.  Luke did not complain about calling it an early day after the stairs and walking I'd put him through the past couple days.

the great ear band search...success!

So it is chilly and windy in San Francisco.  I planned on the chilly with 2 jackets.  I did not plan on the wind.  Hence the great ear band search.  We walked in and out of about 20 stores on Saturday during our travels.  I was about out of hope and was just going to tie my ribbon/sash from my race dress around my ears when I found an ear band.  Thank goodness.

It is now Saturday and I have my race tomorrow so we didn't walk as much.  We walked through Chinatown to the financial district so Luke could see the Trans America Pyramid. The sidewalks didn't seem as wide through Chinatown, but there was all sorts of foods and goods for sale on tables outside the shops.  Later, riding the bus through it was all cleaned up and looked a bit like a ghost town.  

TransAmerica Pyramid

 

 Financial District was very quiet (again, it was a Saturday)  I was glad he wanted to see the Pyramid because it allowed me to stumble upon the Port of San Francisco.  It had a nice view of the other bridge in the bay area.  Luke enjoyed the architecture of the District.  It just reminded me of other cities and I'm not a city person.  I prefer pretty views of mountains and things like this:

the bay bridge

Port of SanFrancisco

We could tell that this area is busy during the weekdays.  There were a lot of restaurants and little park areas that weren't being used at the time.  It was eerily quiet.  Not the case on Monday when we had to go through on the bus to get to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz trip.  There were a bunch of people from the Occupy protests marching the street stopping traffic.  Fortunately we didn't miss that boat for our tour time.

You can see Coit Tower in the distance.  We took the bus to near the tower.