A Walk Around Noe Valley

Sunday Brunch in the city is more of an event than a meal.  Little brunch cafes all over the city hold crowds of people meeting, talking, enjoying, reminiscing, laughing over egg scrambles and coffee.  Every brunch place has a wait and on a beautiful day like yesterday, hour long waits for outside seating.  After brunch at a cafe in Noe Valley, the boyfriend and I took a walk around the city.  Noe Valley is said to be a "village within a city."  Little shops, lots of babies and dogs, and a surprisingly quiet scenery.

Kitty in the window

How was your Sunday?

Dear Southwest,

This weekend I flew home to Orange County for Valentine's Day and I just have to take this time to talk about the best flight experience, ever!!

First, I had already printed my boarding pass on Southwest Online check-in and I wasn't checking baggage so all I had to do was go straight through security.  It took me literally 5 minutes!

Then I enjoyed bay views and Pete's coffee as I waited to board.  Who knew Oakland airport had such a beautiful view!?

We took off right at sunset, so I said goodbye to my picturesque SF city as the sun went down.

The Golden Gate is in that reddish blur in the middle of this picture.

And then our flight attendant was like a stand up comedian as he went through the usual flight attendant speech...he had the whole plane cracking up.  And because I was flying on Valentine's Day, Southwest gave me a free alcoholic beverage!  And to top it off we landed ten minutes early.

I was just so impressed with the experience I had to share and give Southwest a little promo.

I'll leave you with a little scene from my Valentine's Day.  How was your Vday weekend?

"Heavenly" at Tahoe

It was our 2 year anniversary last Thursday and what better way to celebrate it than a trip to Tahoe.  One of the many benefits of my new location...a short 3 hour drive to Tahoe!!  It was so great to escape the huge stresses we're both under right now-- he is in the "busy season" for accounting right now...meaning 12-14 hour work days, and I am searching for a job in the Bay Area.  I've come to the conclusion that the world has made getting hired such a stressful and time-consuming activity to make you think twice before quitting your current job and looking for another one, thus keeping many people at their current jobs!

Anyway, we enjoyed a long day boarding at Heavenly Resort--which was "heavenly!" with a break for drinks at the "Umbrella Bar."  And then a long Jacuzzi that afternoon.  Unfortunately, I came down with a little cold so the next day we went to brunch and then I napped for a little.  We left that afternoon and stopped at a Pyramid Brewery to catch the second half of the Super Bowl.  I decided that we must be good luck for San Francisco because their amazing turn around started just as we started watching.

Such a great weekend, but way too short.  Looking at these pictures is even me jealous of myself!  I'm back to reality today--waiting to hear back on a few interviews and anticipating a phone interview in a half hour with "Yelp."  Jon thinks this week is gonna be a good week for me and I desperately want to believe him.  Cross your fingers everyone!  

How was your weekend?

Adventures in The City

My sister and her Nick came to visit me this weekend, and it was an amazing weekend, as all weekends in San Francisco seem to be.  There was lots of craft beers, good food, and sights being seen.  I was feeling so very refreshed for this week ahead of me until I spent the day interviewing, applying, and getting a rejection from an interview last week.  The job application process is on the list of worst activities possible right under Chinese torture and above cramming for finals.  But...

"Nothing good, ever came easy."

"Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats." -Amos Bronson Alcott

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. " -Vince Lombardi

My two little lovebirds at Dolores Park.

Restaurant Week in San Diego

So it's apparently restaurant week in San Diego, which means a lot of really great local restaurants offer deals to show case their food.  Since Jon is in Carlsbad for business, I met him down south and we ventured out to a local restaurant participating in restaurant week called Prepkitchen.

The deal was 3 courses for $30, which for this place...was a steal.  We kind of picked all the courses together so that we could try as much as we could!  Great food.  Jon loved his huge burger, I loved the decor of the place.  Books in shelves, candles in jars, pebbles, desert plants...adorable.

And though we were stuffed, we still had desert coming so we loosened the pants and soldiered on!  Gelato and a toffee pudding...oh goodness.

If you are in the San Diego area, make a trip out for restaurant week. My friends, you won't be sorry.

3 Things I'm Thankful for Lately

With the frustrations involved with finding a job, I think its a perfect time for me to think of three things I'm thankful lately.

1)  A beautiful ocean view for my Birthday Brunch.  The boyfriend took me to The Rooftop Lounge in Laguna.  Only in Southern California could you have an outside ocean view brunch in December.  I'll definitely be missing the almost always perfect weather in SoCal when I move.

2) My dog.  I think I'm always thankful for my dog.  I love the time I get to spend with him and I wish I could take him with me when I move.

via

3)  My new Droid Razr mini. I switched over from the Iphone because I broke the screen...yet again, and I wanted a change.  So far I love it.  I'm not big on apple products to begin with and I'm a big Google lover, and this phone is owned by Google.  It was already set up to connect to my gmail, Google+ and Chrome.  I'm still figuring out all the things I can do with it, but I love it.

This weekend.

I had the most wonderful weekend in San Francisco.  There is just so much to do and see in the city.  A random Sunday turns into an exciting and interesting adventure.  And not to mention, being able to spend more than a day with my boyfriend was a blessing in itself.  I took so many pictures I'll have to narrow down what I post.  If only all weekends could be like this last one.

The Wisdom of Justin Bieber?

Is it weird that I used a Justin Bieber song to make a major life decision?  Yes, yes it is probably really weird.

"Ask me what's my best side, I stand back and point at you

You, you the one that I argue with, I feel like I need a new girl to be bothered with,

But the grass ain't always greener on the other side,

It's green where you water it

So I know we got issues baby true, true, true,

But I'd rather work on this with you

Than to go ahead and start with someone new"

I've been going back and forth about my long distance relationship, and whether its really worth it.  And after seeing him for the last few days, this song came on on the radio and it really made me realize.  Whether he is "the one" or not, I'll regret not putting my all into something that has a large chance of being the real thing.  And, if he turns out not to be the right guy for me, its good practice for when the right one does come along, its the effort you put into relationships that keep them going.

So while I hope to make more of my life decisions on my own, thank you Justin Bieber and more specifically Big Sean for helping me along.

Long Talks

Last night the San Francisco boyfriend and I were talking on the phone about his first day at work when my words just started to tumble out of me.  Has that ever happened to you?  You've been holding something back and once you get started into saying something everything just comes out.  I started telling him about the doubts I had in our realtionship and how much pressure I was feeling to make him happy and move up there with him and I just told him all of these worries and doubts I've been having for the last few weeks that I was just too afraid to say out loud. 

He handled everything so well, and listened to me so patiently and didn't once get upset or defensive.  He talked me through everything and made me feel so much better.  And the whole talk ironically made all my doubts and worries feel silly, because he truly is such a great guy and we have a really good relationship.  And so I'm writing this post as a much less anxious and worried me than the past few weeks.  And I guess the advice you can take from this if you can take any, is that good communication in any relationship is so important. 

Jon Moves Today

I mentioned here that Jon would be moving away soon and that day is finally today.  It has surprised me how depressed its made me.  It's only going to be a few months and he's within driving distance (6 hours) but I just can't help thinking about how we can't just grab a quick coffee, or end the day with a movie, or just plain hug and kiss each other whenever we want to.  And its just never been like that for us, and I can't help but be nervous about how its gonna go. 

But instead I'm going to try to focus on my excitement for him and for us as we begin a new chapter into our adult lives and especially on the fact that we're doing it together.



I hope you're having a better Monday.