Not Much Happening Here

Hello internet,

Ever since the sister sister visit my life has been nicely quiet. Nothing too noteworthy or exciting. I got my car back on Monday, all shiny and practically new again. Hopefully this time is lasts for more than a week!

Biggest event of my life: my lemon tree has little lemons on it now! They're so cute and green at the moment. There are a zillion of them! It's getting colder at night so I bring it inside to protect my harvest. This tree is like my pet.

They're even bigger now, this picture is about a week old

Lately I've been doing a lot of baby shower planning and Christmas shopping because I am just that good. I am trying to have anything that I need to purchase in California done by Thanksgiving so I can use my two free checked bags flying Southwest to transport stuff when I fly home on turkey day. 

So that's all that's new with me! Not much but it's nice being able to do whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. I've settled in and now am learning more about the area, if you know of anything I should check out, let me know!

Sista Sista Weekend!! Part 2!

Sunday rolled around and we took our sweet time getting ready in the morning. After some research into public transit options we decided to take BART into the city then cabs/walking from there. That's just how sucky public transit is here. The only thing I hate more than sucky public transit is needing to take a cab. It's one thing to take a cab when you're lazy but it's another to have very few or no other options. I could go on forever about my public transportation opinions, but I'll spare you, my dear blog readers.

We headed to the Presido, a part of a national park but it was open but it was by stuff that was closed and I think this whole "nation parks are closed" thing is a bunch of bull. At least for parks in the middle of a city like this one. Anyways, we went there because there was a congregation of food trucks! One of the things Maggie wanted to do while she was in SF was eat at a food truck and we had the best opportunity to do just that. Apparently during the summer this happens at The Presidio every Sunday and I need to make friends so I can go every Sunday because it was amazing. Lemon ricotta donuts, carnitas tacos, bacon/shallot/cheddar biscuts, banana and dulce de leche empanadas, and wood fire pizza were all consumed. Tummys were filled to the brim and we somehow figured out how recycling vs composting works....maybe.

This was the only picture I took on Sunday. Me and the pizza truck!

From there we walked 2.2 miles to get to Ghiradelli Square. We followed Heidi's GPS on her phone and we were convinced it was set to "Adventure Mode" because we went places the normal GPS shouldn't take you. Since we had worked off most of the food we gorged ourselves with at the food trucks we rewarded ourselves by splitting a sundae at the Ghiradelli cafe. Then we took a nap on a grassy park thing that was nearby and watched a couple doing cirque de sole type yoga practicing...Only in San Francisco... Then we walked down to Fisherman's Warf basically so Heidi and Maggie could say they saw it. We stayed there all of 10min then took a street car back to BART and went back to my apartment for a evening of baby shower planning and take out food. 

I loved having my sisters visit and can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving. I've decided they visited on a freakishly chilly weekend because when I got out of work the past two days it was in the 80s and warmer outside in the shade than it was sitting at my desk. Oh well, at least California didn't spoil them too much! 

If you're wondering how my car fiasco is going I finally have made progress on getting repairs made! The police report was finally available on Monday (after 10 business days, aka 2 real day weeks) and the motorcycle guy's insurance company is taking liability for the accident which means I don't have to pay anything and they are being super awesome with finally getting my car repaired. Apparently the other guy was so out of it after flying off his motorcycle that he didn't even know my car was hit by his bike. His insurance had no clue there would be someone with a claim against him until my insurance company called them after I submitted the police report. But tomorrow, aka Thursday, morning I drop my car off at the body shop and have a rental as long as it takes for the repairs to be completed. All with zero cost to me! I can't wait to have this behind me! I realized today that my brand new car has existed inured in my presence more than it has intact. That's not okay. 

I have no super concrete plans for this weekend other than a phone call to catch up with my bestie and a skype date with a Kappa sister to drink wine and talk about our post-grad lives. I can't wait to sleep in and not have anything urgent to do! 

Sista Sista Weekend! Part 1

First, before the fun of my sisters visiting, I promised a recap of the bluegrass festival. I met up with Terry and Pat, my dad's childhood friend's cousin and his wife, and they took me to what I think is one of my first real SF experiences. Hanging out in a park, listening to music and enjoying good company/food. I think this picture sums up the crowd nicely. I tried to get a video of them dancing but I was too slow.

...hippies...old hippies...

Now onto the fun of this past weekend!!

Heidi and Maggie came to visit because they love me so much and Heidi had Columbus Day off from school and this weekend also happened to line up with one of Maggie's off weekends. It was just meant to be! I picked them up from the airport late Friday night, didn't hit any poles, and we pretty much just got back to my apartment and crashed before our fun filled Saturday.

Saturday morning we didn't really know what we wanted to do but knew we had a sail boat ride scheduled for that night so we would want to drive to wherever we were. Well we drove right into San Francisco and I can confidently say I never want to do that again. Holy hills, Batman! Never. Again. 

On the way into the city we stopped at my office so Heidi and Maggie could see where I work. The found the place quite nice and we stole snacks from the snack closet. I think the company can spare some Famous Amos and juice boxes. 

This is my desk!

They enjoyed the game room

After the field trip to my office we started out our day by going to Golden Gate Park and walking around, seeing some of the sights. Among other things, Heidi had her tarot cards read and we walked through a rose garden. Naturally we had to stop and smell the roses. 

From there we thought it would be cool to go see the Full House houses. Ya know the ones in the opening credits when they are having a picnic on some grassy knoll? Well they're called the Painted Ladies and driving to see them was when I found myself in hilly driving hell. And then in parking hell. I got so wound up and so frustrated that I got a headache. Many expletives were used and I may have cursed the entire city of San Francisco at one point. The houses were pretty but in our opinions there were far prettier ones in the area and we were underwhelmed. 

pretty.....but not gorgeous

After the painted ladies we decided that driving across the Golden Gate Bridge would be cool so we headed north! But just before the last exit before the bridge, we decided that we would try and get somewhere along the shore on the San Francisco side of things to try and take a picture with the bridge. Because of the government shutdown, most of the coast is "closed" because it is a lot of national park land but as evidenced in many different parks around the nation you can't really keep people out of an open area like that. It became "enter at your own risk" and we were just fine with that. 

Yay probable trespassing! 

Then we drove across the bridge!

Then we took more pictures on the other side of the bridge and of San Francisco!

For dinner we stopped at a random Italian place we saw on the side of the road and had some delish homemade pastas. Then it was time for the sail boat ride. I had seen this deal on Travel Zoo for a city lights bay cruise with complimentary desserts and champagne and have been waiting for new visitors so I didn't have to go alone. It was awesome! The people of SF Bay Adventures were super nice and while we had dressed warmly, they provided everyone with blankets and we didn't even have to share. That's top notch service in my book. 

Maggie and I aggressively snuggling to stay warm

Cheers to a sister weekend!
(don't worry, Heidi gave her drink to us)

We went under this bridge, I think it's famous or something

That's the end of day 1! Since this is getting rather long and it is way past my bedtime I am going to call it a night and leave you in suspense for Sunday's activities. Just a warning....they were delicious. 

I Feel A Little Older

Today...I received my California license plates. And put them on my car. The most car maintenance I've ever done is refill the washer fluid then drive it to get fixed. This required a screw driver, people.

Thanks for the Valpo alum plate holder, Hans and Maggie!

It doesn't get more grown up than license plates from a state that you didn't grow up in on the car you bought all on your own without a cosigner and an alumni license plate holder!

Also, yesterday I went to a Hardly Stricktly Bluegrass.....I'll blog about that later. Preview: it was everything I was told San Francisco would be.