Browse Author: beakatude

Weekend in the City

This past weekend was epic for SF as a city.  It could have been our very own Carmageddon but luckily we have public transportation that actually works well enough to accommodate.  This past weekend, the following events were happening at the same time: Fleet Week (Blue Angels Air Show), America’s Cup Challenger’s Series, Giants game, 49ers game, Rarely Strictly Blue Grass Festival, Italian American Parade, and the Castro Street Festival.  Crazy, right?!  Well, we were part of that record-breaking crowd on Saturday and it wasn’t all the bad as long as we weren’t in a hurry and were committed to a full day of activity.

The three of us packed up the stroller around noon and rode the special E Embarcadero service that went back and forth between CalTrain and Pier 39.  They ran the old trolleys along this line and we were able to get a seat since we got on by our house.  It was nice to just roll by all the car traffic and we had a nice window seat that gave us a good view of the activity along the waterfront.

Then at Pier 39, we got off and walked through Fisherman’s Wharf and Aquatic Park to watch part of the Air Show that featured a bunch of different aircraft showing off their best moves in the sky.

After a climb over the Fort Mason hill, we were treated to a gorgeous view of the GG Bridge and stopped at Off the Grid for lunch.

They had a circle of food trucks and plenty of chairs to sit and eat while watching the 747 fly by along with the F22 that is crazy fast and nimble.

After lunch, we walked over to Marina Green to watch the Blue Angels do their stuff.  We usually watch them from our rooftop each year but this year we saw them up close along the water.

They were super loud as they zoomed over us and surprisingly Kumquat didn’t even flinch and slept through part of the show.

Next was the America’s Cup race.  Once the crowd thinned out, we found a spot along the water to sit and watch.  Unfortunately, most the official viewing area had moved a bit farther out so we weren’t able to hear the play-by-play over the speakers.  After the first race, we headed home on the bus and then the light rail along with thousands of other people who were headed our way to get to the baseball game.  Our train was CROWDED but we managed to get home in one piece.  Phew, that was fun.

New Goal!

I simply love cookies and I just read this list of the Best 12 Cookies in SF and realized that I’ve had only one of the 12.  Dang.  I’m behind.  So this is my new goal: Try every cookie on the list before I leave this city.  I don’t think we’re moving out of SF any time soon but I suppose anything can happen, right?!  So if we all of a sudden have to pack up and move to Hawaii or something, I will need to fulfill this goal before we move – even if I have to use up my last two days driving around the city picking up one of each!

So far the only one I’ve tried is the Gingersnap from Miette but I might be able to convince my co-worker to snag me a chocolate chip walnut from Mission Beach Cafe since his boyfriend is THE Alan Carter, the pastry chef.

Weird Bug

On Monday afternoon, I had a yucky, swollen, itchy feeling in my throat.  That evening, I threw up my dinner.  I thought it was food poisoning but Jes made my dinner and he had eaten the same exact thing with no problems.

The next day, I woke up with aches in every muscle and joint in my body and had a raging headache that wouldn’t go away.  I decided to call in sick and I was so glad that I did.  I was useless all day and struggled just to get up in the morning to feed that baby at 7 am.  I was also thankful that Mirian was still able to come in for her usual day with Kumquat.  I slept for most of the morning, woke up briefly but unable to get out of bed, and then slept right through lunch.  I spent part of the time staring out the window wishing I could enjoy the sunshine and rare 90-degree weather in SF that day.  But no, I was in my house worthless.  Finally around 2 pm, I was feeling better, took a shower, and managed to finish a load of laundry that I had started the night before.  That was about all I could handle.  Luckily I was well enough by 5 to drive Mirian home since I didn’t have a parking spot for her car that day.

The next day I woke up feeling about 75% so I went to work.  Unfortunately I was still fatigued, still a bit queasy, and my headache hadn’t really gone away.  I didn’t and couldn’t really eat much all day and just went to bed around 8:30 pm.

This morning I woke up refreshed and energetic again.  Maybe it was because the bug had passed and maybe it was because Kumquat slept ALL NIGHT without a peep.  I even had enough energy to wake up to my 6 am alarm and walk the dog before anyone else in the house was awake.  Boy, what a difference 24 hours can make!  And no, I’m not pregnant!

McWino Playdate

On the evening of my birthday, we had our annual McWino Night (Chicken McNuggets, fries, and of course wine) and this time we had two little monkeys to entertain us.

Sophie charmed us with her little tricks and Kumquat ended up falling asleep in Tia Patty’s arms by the end of the night.

Here’s a group photo of us at the end of the night.  Too bad Kumquat was asleep already because she missed out on the photo op.  Thanks for coming over, Ladies!  It was another awesome McWino Night for the books.

Kumquat saved the day!

This has been an unusually stressful week in our house.  It started when Kumquat caught a cold over the weekend and we just felt crummy that our little one had to sleep with a stuffy nose.  Then on Tuesday morning, I got a text from Jes saying that the dog had puked a huge amount after I left.

That same day, I got a warning light on the dashboard saying that I had low tire pressure and this was on top of the service light that we had on for the past month.  So, this morning I had to leave my sick baby and sick car at home and take BART into work.  It’s usually not so bad but I was running late and I HATE being late to work.

As if the day couldn’t get any worse, I got a text and photo from our nanny about a water leak coming from our kitchen lights in the ceiling.  What the heck?!  So I texted Jes and he called the building engineer who took care of it.

I was so frazzled by the end of the day that I made myself walk home from the BART station to work off my frustrations.  By the time I got home, I was ready to hang out with my baby girl and we went for a long walk with Koa before her last feeding.  Then, as I was about to say “good riddance” to the day, Kumquat decided to save the day by rolling for the first time!  Ah…what a great day after all.  You can just hear the excitement in my voice in the video.  I guess I needed SOMETHING to make me feel better and this did the trick.

Click here if you can’t see the video above.