so much fun in san francisco

It was so good to see Kate and Krista and enjoy the city. I had a lot of fun! On Friday Billy and Kate picked me up with a quiet and dazed Peter in the back seat. He's so cute. Billy dropped Kate and me off in the Mission on Valencia Street. After a great breakfast at Boogaloos (vegetarian herb cream gravy over cornmeal biscuit), we shopped and shopped and shopped until about 6. I was exhausted from walking around so much, but it was just like old times in good ole Lville. We got great stuff--clothes, jewelry, books, house stuff.

My favorite part of the day was going into a vintage store called Shauplatz. The owner, complete with German accent, spent no less than 10 minutes making me try on every pair of knock-off designer sunglasses to help me find the right ones (which turned out to be ones that make me look a little like a giant bug.) Meanwhile, Kate pulls a beautiful blue, slinky dress from the 70s off the rack and insists that the dress is made for me. When I balk, the owner joins her in insisting that it is perfect for me, and I try it on. When I come out of the dressing room wearing it, they insist that it's perfect and that I have to get it. Because it is clearly a dress made for dancing at disco parties, I ask skeptically where I'd wear it. "Anywhere that you want to feel pretty!" the owner exclaims. Great answer! $50 later, it's mine...and I still have no idea where I'll ever wear it.

Saturday was another gorgeous, warm, sunny day. Krista and I walked to the farmer's market at the Ferry Building, then up to North Beach, down through Chinatown and Downtown, then to Golden Gate Park via the Muni (at the entrance of which we were greeted by a guy peeing into the grate) to walk through the arboretum. I bought the most amazing coat (on sale!) and a beautiful gray drapey wrap at a store called Annabelle in North Beach.

At the end of the day, I felt like I was going to collapse from exhaustion, so we got drinks and appetizers at Chow and waited for Mark to join us for dinner. It was the most amazing dinner--salad and eggplant parmesan but all freshly made from local ingredients.

I had a blast, and it was so good to see good friends. Now I'm back in gloomy and gray Pittsburgh where I'd forgotten it's still winter...but the cats--who refuse to leave my side for a second--are keeping me warm.

Shopping with Kate...

Krista and Mark bought an awesome condo with a great city view in this building in Mission Bay.

Cafe au lait and an awesome breakfast at a cute French bistro.

The Bay Bridge.

Farmer's market at the Ferry Building.

Inside the Ferry Building.

Coit Tower seen from the Embarcadero.

North Beach.

Very busy Chinatown.

Krista warned me that I might see dead animals hanging from their legs in Chinatown, but the only thing I saw were these dried worm-like things. Krista in the aboretum.Me enjoying the biggest ferns I'd ever seen.