san fran: day 3

for our third day in san fran we didn’t have as much planned. that morning we hopped on the bus to go see the painted ladies. the bus rides became a source of entertainment for us as the people watching was just too good {and i also thoroughly embarrassed myself and still laughing about it}...

because of the mess i ran into getting to sf we missed our night tour of alcatraz but we were able to reschedule it for Sunday {just not the night tour, sorry dani}. i’m not usually a big group tour person – but this audio tour really was great…

after we got off the boat we headed straight to ghiradelli square...

where i devoured this pb & choc combo…

then we spotted the bushman hiding out. my feet were killing me by this point so i stopped in gap to pick up some flats. i couldn’t tell if they were “real” shoes or slippers. i asked the salesperson and she didn’t know either. so I thought if it wasn’t obvious they were house shoes i didn’t care. they were the most comfortable things ever. so i slipped them on and off we went to boudin for dinner where i had an awesome sourdough pizza. {i am now convinced since they have a fur type lining they are slippers}.

we crashed early that night to get ready for our next big day in napa.

san fran: day 2

on saturday dani and i hit all the tourist attractions {warning: long post}. we hit the ferry building first thing for their market day. lots of neat specialty food shops and it was packed...





we then walked {up a very steep hill} to chinatown. street was lined with souvenir type shops...




we did find the alley that held the fortune cookie factory and got a sample, of course...


then it was off to find those dern cable cars. that was the one thing about san fran that i didn’t expect. i thought the cable cars were a viable mean of transportation for all san franciscans. they seem to be a more touristy thing to do. we let the first one pass by as it was packed and we weren’t exactly sure what to do...

we rode the next one to lombard street...

dani saw one of these and wanted to rent one...

then we hopped back on the cable car to only ride it a few blocks to fisherman’s wharf.

we grabbed a burger at in-n-out. we didn’t eat at the one in scottsdale so we had to try it this time. nothing special to us. {later we found out that the “real” in-n-out’s are only in southern California}.

we walked along fisherman’s wharf and found these guys.

it was a beautiful day with tons of sailboats out around alcatraz...

we hopped the bus to coit tower for a great view of the city, the bridge, and alcatraz...

then we had to go see the golden gate bridge...

we ended the day at the crab house where dani proudly sported her bib...

getting to san francisco

dani and i had our annual get together this month in san francisco. it was a great trip with great weather, great food, great wine, and a great friend.

the trip started off somewhat rocky. as i am sitting in the birmingham airport waiting for my 6:55am departure I get a text from dani saying that she had been “detained by the police” in st. louis. turned out she had forgotten about some pepper spray in her carry-on. after a background check and questioning from the authorities she was on her way. well, when i arrived in dallas my flight to san fran had been cancelled. i called dani dying laughing about our morning thus far. i was put on two stand by flights which were already overbooked. so six hours later i am headed to los angeles. as i am running to my next gate I pass lo {from the hills}. i arrived at my gate sweaty from the 79 degree la weather which had crept its way in the terminal and maybe the fact that I was dressed for the 23 degrees it was in alabama that morning and carrying my winter coat. but I was on my way to san fran. when i get to sf i just knew my bag didn’t make it. and it didn’t. it went to ohio. at this point i am exhausted and i look like it. i caught a cab to the hotel where dani had been patiently waiting out shopping for the past seven hours. dani and i went to a mexican restaurant down the street and it was delish. we called it a night and i slept in my same clothes until my bag arrived at 2am. thankfully i knew things just had to turn up.

{will be back soon to post on our much better day two.}

best bungalow on beech

every night when i pull in at home i just smile. even though this house is down the street i can see it's lights shining from mine. michael and i were walking one afternoon and saw the guy outside putting up his decorations while wearing his au jersey. i had no idea every square inch of the house and yard would be covered. i love it. war eagle.

christmas 2010 {round 2}

the day after christmas we headed to rockford to celebrate with my family. after church we had a great lunch and wayyy too much food. then the girls got right to it opening all the gifts...



mallory did a great job keeping up with her big sisters...



then we had to have a fashion show...


we had a great time this year. it just seems like it came and went too quickly!

christmas 2010 {round 1}

this year's christmas was pretty calm as we were able to stay in one place each day. the festivities began with a christmas eve service at st. stephen's. on christmas morning i got up early to make monkey bread....


and play with the dogs...

then we headed over to the holden's. we didn't think the jamison's were going to make it as megan and peyton had been sick {and the fact that it was snowing}. it was so strange opening presents without them -but they made it later that afternoon.




frank made paella....

and poor boo hid under the crib with all the commotion...

but finally came out to see what it was all about....

tripp loved his legos....

and his little riding toy...

later that evening we had the annual putman christmas party. it was so great to see everyone that came in from missouri to atlanta.