School's out!

For me, at least. Bubba goes back to school tomorrow, and he's not too thrilled about it, even though he got to go on vacation part of the time.

Since our instructor suggested we not do any homework (online) this week, I've been relaxing and doing other stuff. Here are links to a few of the fun items I've uncovered.

After a 10 year hiatus, we finally got to go back to San Francisco (darned kids and life can do that to you). Fortunately, we had glorious weather (it was not so glorious when we arrived, but was perfect after that) and a grand time with the kids running about.

Don't miss these in San Francisco:

The Top of the Mark (at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins hotel) Nob Hill
We stayed there and only went to the top before we left, but sunset there was very pretty. Got a few photos and enjoyed the view. Too bad the bar was full on a Sunday night. I surely needed a drink (which I didn't get until we got home).

I was looking for something immediately when I woke up Saturday. I had dreams about the patisserie from this place for years. Marilyn got her wedding cake from them when she lived nearby--a custard-filled sponge cake with real strawberries and an ethereal frosting.

So I got a map, and I talked to the concierge and a desk clerk about the shop, but by mistake, they directed me to La Boulange on Russian Hill. It was a jog to get there (I dragged Bubba along to get him outside since he woke up at 0330 Pacific time), but since we had walked so far, I made sure we had plenty of goodies to bring back for Dad. Later, we also ended up at La Boulange's Pine store when Delanghe's was closed on Monday. It wasn't the same, but oh, my goodness. That goat cheese tart they were sampling...superbe!

Angel Island
We took the ferry from Tiburon here and had a blast. We took sandwiches and assorteds from Shark's Deli with us. With three young boys, we opted for the tram tour, because we would have never made it around the island walking. Segways and bikes are available for rent, too.

Following the marathon day on Angel Island, we headed to a crowded Pier 39 and some little fellow at our house got to see the sea lions, which had been his goal since he read a book about them in December. We got him a corn dog when he was hungry, but his stomach did not like it, though.

We retreated to Marilyn and Wes's house and ate Chinese with the kids who felt like eating. For dessert, we walked over to John Campbell's Irish Bakery. I had the Double Chocolate Almond Tart. Dave loved the rhubarb with crumb topping. From reading yelp, I wasn't surprised that people really liked the items from this place. The soda bread, scones and cookies are also pretty amazing.

After all the Angel Island excitment, we slept late on a glorious Sunday, then trekked through Chinatown on our way to Old St. Mary's Cathedral. After that, we also rode the Powell St. cable car to San Francisco Centre. I had Out the Door for lunch, which was lovely. The boys liked their lunches, too. It was a lazy Sunday strolling around downtown after that, shopping and window shopping.

Later Sunday, Marilyn and I met for coffee and strolled around the Laurel Heights neighborhood. We shopped where we could and window shopped everywhere else. When all was said and done, we got dinner for me to take back to the hotel for the boys at Asqew, which they enjoyed.

On our last day, before we headed out, we went to the Presidio and saw a few things in that neighborhood, particularly Crissy Field. We flew home on one of the last non-stops from San Francisco to St. Louis. We'll miss them.

More later...

Impromptu

I really never envisioned vacationing in Arizona in winter, but here I am. Stay tuned for more updates.

Misspent ....

Vacation? Perhaps, but alas, I got more done than I thought I would.

Who would have guessed that one little water leak would lead to a mess and lots of cleanup? That's done, thankfully. And the carpet looks smashing.

As is usual whenever I'm off, there was a whole lot of cooking going on around here. Pans of lasagna, not one, but two kinds of fresh apple pie, a variation of beef stroganoff and a few other things. If only I took pictures...I could have posted them with the recipes!

When you're in a hurry, be careful what you throw in boxes or bags to store. I finally got around to taking care of those assorted boxes and bags in storage. The local charity resale stores got the benefit...lots of clothes, toys, coats and even some furniture. It's amazing how much room you have when you get rid of the stuff cluttering up your storage area! Some of them even pick up which is even better!

And as a reformed technology person, I spent a good chunk of my vacation online. I never check my Facebook account unless I get an e-mail, so I went mulling around there and found a few new cool groups, including one for the Carondelet Historical Society. Besides that, I found a really cool article about saving wet electronic equipment like MP3 players here at cnet.

Sure, I had to do some homework for my online classes, but I got them done in time to start the Christmas shopping (and now I have plenty of room to hide the stuff!) and found all sorts of interesting stuff, including this cool candy selection on www.amazon.com called the 1980s Retro Candy Gift set. Gotta love those wax lips and fangs! I won't reveal any of the other things because some people are too nosy! Just gotta wait for Santa!

Nevertheless, I go back to work soon, but I have aspirations of goodies while I wait. This article about short story writers called Brevity is a Virtue makes me want to write something. We'll just let that idea float around and see what happens.

More to come...check back later.

An interesting perspective

This article from www.nytimes.com talks about women who blog and the blogher conference held recently in San Francisco.

It makes me ponder a few things about how all this works. I blog myself for entertainment. I also maintain other blogs for work-related and hobby purposes.

I took a short vacation from my blogs this weekend (because I purposely left town without my laptop), and I will continue to do the same for a bit until I decide what my real purpose is for this blog. Any suggestions are welcome, even if they aren't used.

More later...

A little George Carlin stuff and vacation

"Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house." George Carlin

Get the rest of A place for my stuff from this site.

Only thirty one days for me to vacation. Hooray!