Update

I just changed the settings here so anyone - not only gmail addresses can leave a comment.


~Liz

Its officially COLD in the city..

Ok, so I knew the weather was too good to be true for so long, we truly had pretty great weather, until yesterday. Wow, was it cold!

The good thing though is that it really makes it feel like Christmas time, and so its time for scarfs, hats, warm coats, Uggs, and a delicious hot drink to hold in your hands.
Green chi tea...Mmmmm...


Yesterday we made out way to Union Square for some holiday shopping. Just us and tons of tourists! We all know how terrible the economy is, so I was shoked at how many people were out shopping at Macy's yesterday.

Union Sq., is turned into a holiday wonderland, complete with an ice rink, a huge lit tree, and about a dozen or so people dressed in Santa Suits. Yes, seriously.


I love the randomness you see here sometimes. There were about 8 counples on motorcycles riding around the area and stopping for pictures. Their bikes and their clothes were covered decorated in christmas lights. They were so bright when they lined up all together. I did my best to get some shots but my camera is terrible at night (pretty obvious by the quality of the pics on this post).



Here are a few more christmas theme pics:

My work lobby

Street view



Gatta go, I've got some papers to write!

Back from hiatus? =/

Sorry for the disappearing act but I've had a lot going on for quite a while now, and lets face it...I'm not that great at juggling too many things properly, so some things slip through the cracks, and it has mainly been my "keeping in touch" skills.

So, we're planning our wedding (which for a while had me traveling between SF and OC quite A LOT), I'm finishing up the semester, and I am trying to work as many hours as I can in my job. Whew!

But, things are finally mellowing out a bit, and I've got some fun things coming up this holiday season. I'm going to my work Christmas party which will take place this next Friday at the Ritz Carlton that is about 5 minutes away from where I work in the Financial District. I ordered myself a lovely filet mignon entree - can't wait!
Next, I will going to Candi's work holiday party a week from Friday, and there are other fun things which I will write later about.

The Ritz SF:


Adam and I are quite the walkers - or should I say hikers (some of these hills still surprise me) on the weekends. This is such an amazing city to walk and explore, I literally look forward to walking around on the weekends that we're here. This last weekend alone we walked about 8 or nine miles all together.

Found this crazy homemade bike we saw in Little Italy on Sunday...

Also in that neighborhood we found this great church that I LOVED, these pictures don't do it justice - its so beautiful!

A dreary day indeed...

This last pic for this post I took a few weeks ago. Adam, Candi and myself had been on a quest to find the famous Painted Ladies that are on most tourist lists as a "must see". We tracked them down and here they are:

Kinda disappointing, they look like most old Victorians & Edwardians that are all over the city. But at least we got to scratch that off our list of places to see here.

~Liz

Big News.......We're ENGAGED!

I am so excited to say that as of this past Saturday night, Adam and I got engaged. He surprised me with a drive up to Coit Tower which is a prominent San Francisco landmark that has sweeping views of the city and the bay.

It was about 9pm when we arrived and he wanted for us to see the view to the Golden Gate Bridge, and there at the top with all the twinkling city lights below us, he got down on one knee and proposed. It was the most romantic moment of my life, and after lingering for a long while up there, we left to get a drink at Hotel Nikko to celebrate and followed with dinner at the cutest restaurant called First Crush which he had made reservation at. Very appropriate ;)

We're so happy, and with him now living in the city (approximately 1 mile away from my place) life is great!

Adam Arrives (yay!) and Fleet Week

So Adam is making a LONG drive up to the bay all the way from Orange County today. He loaded up the big truck he rented and left OC at about 7am, arriving up here at about 3pm. It was an obstacle for him seeing that he didn't have his iPod with him, the truck had no CD player, he couldn't go faster than about 60mph, and to make all matters worse, Sofie who he was transporting in her kennel had terrible motion sickness the entire way and lets just say she got sick in every way possible =/

So they finally made it here and are all set to go. Next up we will see the Blue Angels tomorrow for the beginning of Fleet Week. I love the air show because I remember going to see them with my family as a kid many times at the El Toro base. Candi, Adam and I plan on walking down to the Marina Green at about noon to get a spot, eat some picnic food and watch the show. Can't wait!

Settling In

So things are getting a wee bit more normal. I have a routine that I'm getting used to and my weekends seem to be pretty busy. Oh - and I am going home this weekend for a few days, I'm excited about that!

Becky and Joe were in the Bay Area last weekend and Candi and I got to spend Saturday with them and their family. We went to Golden Gate Park and rode the paddle boats around Lake Stow.

This was a great work-out for the legs. All that walking in Pac Hts. finally paid off!

Cute duck family!

So after the boats, we had lunch at the De Young museum where we checked out the Chihuly exhibition afterwards. And for those who don't know who he is, he is the same artist that created the beautiful glass art that covers the ceilings in the Bellagio's main front lobby in Las Vegas.

After that, we walked over to the Japanese Tea Gardens (still in the park)...

I thought this spider web looked kinda cool...

I loved this giant Buddha

After our day-o-fun at the park, we all went back to Becky's aunt's house where we all ate and had a great time....

The Birthday Girl!

Well there was our weekend in a nutshell. It was great to have some friend's in the city again, and we all had the best time.

I also wanted to post a few newer pictures of our place.

This is Charles. He's so cute!

Hi World - I'm BACK!!!!!!!

Ok, so I've been living in the city for almost two weeks now and we just got connected to this world wide web business. Aaaaahhhhhh so excited! Gone are the long hours spent at random coffee houses and libraries in our neighborhoods using their Internet to look for jobs.

A quick recap of the last two weeks:

I moved on Thursday, Adam was sweet to come up that weekend and help with everything which was great help. He was really excited...

Almost there!

Here!

Unloading/assembling out furniture...

We have added a few more things to our place since these pics but I haven't taken new pics. In the meantime here is one just to give you an idea...

We are a short walk to the Fillmore St. shopping district and there we found this place which we love and has the prettiest lattes.

Our first weekend here we got to see Radiohead at the Outside Lands Musical Festival in Golden Gate Park. It was awesome, and the crowd was HUGE. We couldn't get a taxi or a Bus at all that night because of the thousands of people that were in town for this concert. We walked all the way back to our apartment from the park that day. Pretty long night...

I LOVE this city! It's pretty amazing but it took me about a week to realize it. I had a few minor mishaps, my first day of school was great. I really like the campus, my classes, and the students that go there. However on my way home I got completely lost for about an hour and a half. Yes. So, many phone calls later, both Becky and Adam helped me make my way back to my neighborhood. SF's streets are designed on a grid system and are mostly one way streets. Coming back home was tough again because I couldn't find any parking and it seemed like EVERYONE was honking at me which just bummed me out even more. Once I finally found parking, I walked to our apartment and sulked. It doesn't end there. The next morning I walked over to where I parked my car only to see that the front tire was completely flat. When AAA replaced it with a spare, then that tire went flat.

But that was early last week, and everything is great now. I had a small break in between my classes on Thursday and I got to take a quick lunch in a grassy area...so relaxing..

The weather has been completely amazing here. Its been so warm and sunny and I hardly packed any summery clothes because I assumed it would always be on the cooler side. We walk everywhere which is great. I get plenty of exercise just by getting around the city. The hills in Pacific Heights are some of the steepest in all of SF. This city is so beautiful when its sunny. The sailboats fill the bay and people take full advantage of all the outdoor activities. Its been great.

This last weekend we had our first official visitors Erika and Ray who stayed for one night. We went to the Palace of Fine Arts and also the SFMOMA where we checked out the new Frida Kahlo exhibition which was amazing. More pics to come...

OK, so that has been the last two weeks in a nutshell, give or take a few hundred details. We get to see Becky this next weekend - can't wait!

*I will be posting more regularly now that I have this fancy-schmancy Internet =)

Time to Meet Our Humble Abode...

Today is the last day of a looong week. It's my final day at work and after five years there, I'm definitely ready for a change. I made life long friends there - I'm sure of it, so I am definitely leaving on a great note. Later tonight we will pack up the truck, and in the wee hours of Saturday morning will begin trekking up highway 5 towards San Francisco. Candi and I are extremely excited and a bit apprehensive at finally getting to check out our apartment (which we have never actually seen inside) but I think we're ready to make anything work...at least for the 6 months of our lease.

I had a great week. A series of going away parties and a few fun get-together's for our last full week at home.

Friday, Candi and I (and partially for Ad too) had a going away party the was orchestrated by none other that Becky. I was the only one thought that wasn't let in on the plans, so it was a wonderful surprise that I won't forget. We stayed at Kitch bar and then a few of us caroused over to TGIF late that night...sliders and water never tasted so good ;)

Saturday, I got together with some family for lunch at Moreno's, which was very fun. I really wanted to see them all together (although truth be told, this is only about half of them) before I left and since it was my last full weekend here, it was very special to me. Everyone's been so supportive and helpful, so I couldn't ask for anything else.

We pretty much had a very late lunch that ran about 4 to 5 hours long...What, like that's weird?

I think it was Erika and Ray that got me this shot, which they said to just take without smelling but I did smell and.....um, yeah not so much...

So I shared it with these two (suckers)

Sometime after the 5 hour lunch, Adam and I met up with some friends at Strike for bowling. The place was fun and had good music playing. I pretty much was the worst player while Candi, Becky, and Adam competed for the Bowling Olympics.

Group shot...minus Rocio and Dante =/

So, it was a jam packed weekend that ended with Rocio's very pretty bridal shower on Sunday, (I wish I had some pics from there but will try to download them soon).

Its been great hanging out with everyone lately, I went to a few work lunches during the week and also got to check out an Angels game on Tuesday.

I will post very soon with pictures of our place. I hope we have enough closet space :::sigh:::