San Francisco - Day 2

DH is off to his convention so I thought I'd write up a quick blog entry before heading off for my day.

We started off the day riding the cable cars to Union Square.  It's too bad the photos don't capture the depth of the hills here and the stomach tilting sensation you get when you top a big hill to find that it's just as steep on the other side.

After convention registration we stopped at the restaurant Mel's Drive in for breakfast.  I love diners.  My scrapbook room is diner themed so I'm pretty happy whenever we get the chance to see more diner decorating.  The breakfast potatoes were fabulous and the service was the fastest I have ever seen.  The omelette though - not so much.  I didn't pay attention to the menu description when it said that I had a choice of cheeses.  She didn't ask - I didn't clarify so I got an omelette filled with "cheese product".  I always thought that would taste fine to but now that I've tried it...ummm...no.

Next we caught a bus over to the Ferry building and begun to walk back along the Piers.  This is a great walk and I highly recommend it!  This view came of the Bay Bridge came from Pier 1.

There were a few shops in behind and we stopped in Sur La Table hoping to find a zombie cookie cutter.  Although I came up empty handed in that quest - I did find a cookie pan for pumpkins, ghost and skulls which I had to buy.  Halloween addicts anonymous strikes again.

Continued along the piers...Pier 7 has a great boardwalk in it.  That picture is on my camera and will have to uploaded later.

Then I got it in my head that we should walk up to Coit Tower.  I wonder if someone has counted how many steps go up this hill.  Get an idea here and then add more because we took a round a bout way.  Many panting breaths, aching muscles and dirty looks from my husband later we reached the top.

The views were worth it (and I thought the steps were fun despite their torture...cute little walkways and garden areas).

We hitched a ride on the bus back down the hill (we bought a week's bus pass which has worked out really well!) to Pier 39.

When I was here last in 1997 - all of these platforms were covered in sea lions.  Apparently because of the time of year and the fact that they have found a couple other favorite spots - this is what's left.  Not as loud as I remember them being, it could be because they have enough room to spread out and not spend their time pushing each other off to get more space.

We wandered Fishman's Wharf and a few shops inside.  Didn't shop - but might have to go back to get a couple things for the kids and to visit the Lefty Store again.

We stopped at the Musee Mechanique during our walk back to our hotel and I took great pleasure in beating my husband at car racing...twice.

At the hotel we rested our feet for half an hour while making a dinner reservation and then headed out for Chinatown.

The stores in Chinatown were fun to poke around in - all sorts of weird "treasures" to be had.  It is an experience that shouldn't be missed. Here are a few of the things we spotted in the stores:

We rounded off the night by eating at Brandy Ho's....

After eating here we decided it deserved 3.5/5.  The pot stickers and egg rolls were really good.  The peanut sauce was out of this world delicious.  The other dishes were just ok.

We stopped at a store called It's Candy on the way back to our hotel.  Cereal box size containers of Nerds, giant twizzlers etc.  Fun.

Well - off to enjoy day 3.  It's shopping day and I'm looking forward to it.  :)

San Francisco - Day 1

Good morning everyone!

It's early on day 2 in San Francisco and I've just woken from what I think is the best sleep I have ever had.  Our bed is the MOST comfortable bed ever.  It definitely helps that its a king but the mattress is that perfect combination of firm with a soft top!  Based on that alone I'm in love with our hotel.

Every person we told about going to San Francisco told us that we need to go try their clam chowder.  I have never tried clam chowder before at all mainly because it has the word clam in it.  Have I also mentioned that I haven't tried clam - ever?  Although I went through a phase of eating all seafood in sight while I was pregnant with our son, the instant he was born I went back to not liking lobster, crab, shrimp and therefore by relation: clam.  

Fast forward to yesterday around 8pm.  We hadn't eaten since 7am and had begun to eye up passerby's as possible sources of food. Enter the Blue Mermaid Chowder House & Bar.  During our 20 minute wait for a table we sat at the bar and quizzed the guy beside us on what he was eating.  Emboldened by  a glass of Sailor Jerry and coke on a very empty stomach I weaved to our table and announced boldly that I wanted the Chowder sampler as an appetizer.  Eyeballing the many choices of chowda' we finally settled on three: New England Clam Chowder (traditional creamy-bottom left in photo), Manhattan Clam Chowder (tomato base) and waiter recommended Dungeness Crab and Corn Chowder (with bacon!).   All three were excellent!!  I am IN LOVE with the Dungeness Crab and Corn Chowder!!  Before we leave I will be having that one in a bread bowl for lunch one day.  

Back to the hotel...it's the little thing that count.  In the bathroom they have 3 full size bottles of shampoo etc to use instead of those tiny little sampler thingys that are impossible to empty.    Then there is this....

The animal print robes and slipper socks in the closet.  That's just fun.  I tried on the leopard one last night - the one in the photo is a little worn but look what they look like new!  I am tempted by those slipper socks though...

Anyway...it's almost 7am and the city awaits me! Bring it on Day 2!

So I'm chewing again...is that a surprise?

I may have to re-enact my "stop Melanie from chewing her fingernails" contest.  I need an intervention!  Think up some ideas...I'll post the official challenge in about 7-10 days!

On to the Kitchen...

Once again for Mrs. Smith who wants pictures of everyone's house to help her decide what to do with hers...

Half of my kitchen...

 Here you will find my cookbooks and cooking magazines.  The little shelves to the right hold wine bottles well but since we aren't big wine drinkers we fill them with salt and pepper shakers that we've picked up on our travels, some seasonings and probably some mystery items stashed in the back.  :)

 Our corner upper.  We keep our plates, cereal type bowls and our pottery in this cupboard.

 A close up inside the corner shelf.

Umbra organizer.  I love Umbra.  :)

Happiness is...

curling up on the couch on a cloudy, flurry-filled Sunday afternoon and catching a cat nap while the kids watch cartoons.

PS Still Meatless 100% - 4 days into Meatless March.  It sounded more impressive until I wrote how few days I have actually gone through.  LOL   The walking - doing pretty well except for today which has been a lazy sleepy day so far.  I should get up and do some laundry.  :)

Manual Storage

I sort manuals into themes like "kitchen", "garage" etc and put them into labelled ziploc bags and store them in a paper box.  It's handy to have them all in one place but tucked away.

Coming next time...kitchen....

Master Bathroom

Just what you wanted to see was pictures underneath our master bathroom sink right?  Blame Mrs. Smith.  All the containers pictured above are from London Drugs.

This handy little find is great for storing curling irons and hair dryers.  The best part is, it hang right on your towel bar.  We found this little treasure at Costco.

Shoe Empire

Both my husband and I have a shoe problem.  We counted them up one day and realized that we are equally afflicted.

We use a Billy bookcase with extra shelves from Ikea to store the empire.

Day 1 of Meatless March

Hey - I am 3% done the month and have been successful!  LOL  No meat today.

Also had over 13000 steps today so I've met that goal too. 

Yay me.

Now Mrs. Smith is poking me to post more photos of my house so stay tuned...

Laundry Closet

Our laundry area is on our upper floor inside of double closet doors.

For Mrs Smith's continued quest to see inside my house - here is the laundry closet

The Tupperware container on the upper shelf contains various stain remover products.  I love the solid stain sticks that you can use and leave on for a few days before doing laundry.  The little garbage can on the washing machine is my lint garbage can.  It's brand name is Umbra - one of my favorite brands!!

Photos for Mrs.Smith

My friend Mrs. Smith has been bitten by the organizational bug.  She is reorganizing and redesigning her entire place and has challenged her friends to post or send pictures of their houses for her to get ideas from.

Here I am posting pictures from the kids bathroom.

In the top of the 3 tiered organizer are tubes of toothpaste and some bubble bath.  In the middle are some bath salts and the bottom is filled with floss sticks.

The brush cup to the left of this is from Ikea and used to live in our kitchen for utensils.

The towels on the shelf above the toilet match the shower curtain which of course I forgot to take a picture of.  :)

Happy Leap Year!

February has come to an end and with it - horrible motivation.  LOL

I gave up Coffee in February and it failed miserably.  I would last a few days only to cave and get a coffee.  I had no willpower.  I've now had a cold for over a month now and I admit it's made me whiny, bitchy and weak.  I had also planned on adding more activity back in but coughing every time I moved put a damper on that too.  Finally mid month I gave up completely and went back to my coffee drinking, lazy chair sitting ways.  Goodbye February.

March begins tomorrow and I'm feeling better.  I am still coughing sporadically but I can breathe and sleep again.  I can climb flights of stairs without breaking into coughs and gags.  My motivation is back and despite a spectacularly crappy day at work today I'm ready to take on March.

Meatless March begins tomorrow.  Yes - I am giving up meat tomorrow for 31 days.   Mrs Smith my trusty work mate and Sven another co-worker will definitely be seeing a lot of me this month as I try to get ideas of different things to eat.  I'm not subjecting my family to this but finding a way to incorporate it into what we are already eating.  Anyone else want to go meatless this month?  I already have a secret partner but promised NOT to reveal them until after the month is over.

I am trying a repeat of last month by adding activity back in for the month.  I was far too pitiful to give this the effort it deserved and so I'm calling a do-over.

Organize This!

I'm not a fanatical housekeeper.  I'm not even a good housekeeper.  LOL.  Amongst the chaos though, there are pockets of organization that make me happy.  Some of these you may have seen before...

Ahh Tupperware's Modular Mates...How do I love thee?  These are the sole reason that I started selling Tupperware.  These are the rectangular ones.  I keep flour, white sugar, brown sugar, icing sugar and potatoes/onions here.

More Modular Mates - some more rectangles and a few ovals.

Did I mention that I like Modular Mates?  And K-Cups?

The little spinning thing to the left is from Regal and it holds all my packets.

This is a look at the inside of my pantry door.  My husband made this after we saw a very similar thing done at my Aunt & Uncle's house.  These were bought at Lee Valley Tools.

A close up look at one of the rows in the pantry door.  These jars are from Ikea and are great for holding my soup ingredients.  This picture reminds me that I need to go shopping for refill ingredients.  LOL

This is the top of my daughter's dresser.  The jars are once again from Ikea.  They are a great way to hold all the little pieces that used to be scattered at the bottom of her toybox.  She loves them in the jars now and uses her stool to grab whatever jar she wants.  The tops of them open easily.

The hanging organizers are from Ikea.  The one on the left is for our seasonal outdoor wear.  Toques, scarves, mittens and more all have homes here in the winter.  In summertime I change it to hats, sunglasses and whatever else we have around.

The clear plastic boxes in the right hand organizer are from Rona. They hold all our craft supplies.  I still need to go buy 2 more and need to label them.  Right now they have markers, pencil crayons, wax crayons, stickers, glue, pom poms, pipe cleaners and more.

Gosh I like coffee...

Did I ever mention how much I hate February?

And it's lack of coffee?

I guess it's less about the loss of coffee and more about the loss of mocha.  I figured since I knew that I only bought it once or twice a week that this month would be smooth sailing. Bah!  I hate February.

The walking isn't going so well.  I've had a cold since the end of January and it's still hanging on.  Every time I climb a flight of stairs or walk too fast/too long I cough until I gag.  Good stuff.   The cold is letting go...slowly, slowly...and I'm hoping that by week's end I might be able to move around again.

Walking and Talking...

Whew - survived Vegas again.  Watch for some pictures coming sometime in February.  :)

January spending went really well.  Even considering my trip to Vegas where I went off the ban-shopping-January I still only bought myself 2 pairs of shoes at the outlet mall and some junk jewelry at a hotel gift shop.  The other things I bought were for the kids and things they needed like shoes (DS' toes were starting to poke through his - LOL!).  I've learned that I'm too impulsive about spending on the little things like coffee and magazines but they really add up.

January sleeping went well too.  Even in Vegas I managed at least 7 hours except for 1 night.  It did help though to catch a cold while I was there and dropping into bed exhausted each evening.

On a side note - I adore King size beds.  Love Love Love!! Covet!

For February I again chose 1 thing to take away and 1 thing to add.

Taking away: Coffee 

Even last month when I wasn't buying coffee I was still bringing it from home.  I think I'm already suffering from withdrawal.  LOL

Taking back: Moving. My butt that is.  :)   They (its always the infamous they) say that a person should take at least 10,000 steps a day.  I've come pretty close or made it each day and have been wearing my pedometer.  Today I am at 7000 so am going to have to walk around the house for a few minutes after this.  :)

Bring it on February!