Back in the Bay! (San Fran Recap)

Now that it's Thursday, I guess I could post about my trip that I got back from on...Sunday.  Seriously though, work has been kind of insane.  I was only in the office one day last week, due to work travel from Monday-Wednesday, and leaving for Cali on Thursday evening.  Cramming 5 days worth of work into 1 day is not ideal - and it unfortunately caused me to miss out on some non-work events I'd really been hoping to make it to.  Oh well.  Such is life.  I spent most of Monday playing email catch up, worked late on Monday and Tuesday despite getting into the office at 7:30, and am just now beginning to feel like I have my life under control.  Luckily, none of these things stopped me from getting to the yoga studio on Monday.

ANYWAY.  Fun things!  My trip to SF was amazing.  I arrived at SFO late Thursday evening, so Linds and I just went back to her place, and spent some time catching up and drinking scotch :)  On Friday Linz had to work, so I hopped on BART and ventured over to my old 'hood in Berkeley!

I'd lived in Berkeley for a few months already before I realized that somehow, dumb luck had landed me in the best neighborhood in the city, hands down.  We lived right behind the Andronicos on Shattuck and Vine, two blocks from Cheeseboard, a block from Chez Panisse, and near a ton of amazing yoga studios, which I didn't even know about since I wasn't practicing yet at the time. 

the old 'hood

Philz Coffee and a cheese roll from THE CHEESEBOARD!!

My favorite Thai restaurant!  I ate here on one of my first nights in Berkeley, back in 2005.

As I was just wandering about, I walked past Yoga Kula - an Anusara-focused Hatha studio!  I dropped in to pick up a schedule, and immediately determined that I would attend the 12pm all-levels class. The only barrier to achieving this goal was that I was wearing jeans - but that wasn't anything $3 sweatpants from a nearby Wallgreens couldn't solve.  Desperation, or determination?  You be the judge.
That night we had dinner at Burma Superstar, which was fantastic!  Their Tea Leaf salad is advertised as a party in your mouth, and it did not disappoint.  The flatbread and curries were also excellent.

Saturday was Lindsey's birthday, so we kicked it off at our favorite Berkeley brunch spot, La Note!  The toughest thing for me at La Note is deciding whether I want to go sweet or savory, because both are so delicious.  In the end I went with my old standby - scrambled and eggs with goat cheese, tomatoes and toast.

The Latte bowl was an easy decision...

 After brunch, we decided to hit up Muir Woods for some hiking shenanigans.  We were both wearing ballet flats, but figured that we are awesome enough to take on the woods regardless.  Unfortunately when we got there, we could not find parking to save our lives.  Instead of trying hard, we just went "oh well!" and decided to drive into the city to shop and eat cupcakes.  It seemed reasonable.

However, we also both really had to pee.  The only place we could think to stop was Muir Beach, which neither of us had been to before... and we had no idea how beautiful it was!  The sky was ridiculously blue and clear, and the water was sparkling.  We had a little too much fun taking photos on the beach.  This was definitely the best accidental rest-stop/abandoned hiking adventure decision ever made.

tough call...or not...

B-day girl :)

I almost didn't post this because my alignment is so terrible.  I was literally about to fall out of the pose...
balancing in wet sand is harder than you would think.

After our beach adventure, we took advantage of the ridiculously clear skies to stop and take cheesy tourist photos overlooking the Golden Gate bridge.  Having lived here for a little while, I recognize how rare it is to actually be able to see the entire bridge.  I maintain that the the clouds went away in honor of Lindsey's birth and subsequent existance on the earth, but I might be biased.

Posing like tourists

LOVE

Shut up.  When can you ever see the entire bridge??

As we were hitting up Peet's near the Powell BART, we noticed this lovely new addition (possibly new?  I don't know, I haven't been there for 5 years...whatever, it was new to me):

EAT ME NOW

...Obviously we purchased cupcakes immediately.  When presented with sprinkles, I am really left with no choice but to consume them.

I'm just a girl who can't say no...

pre-dinner birthday cake?  why on earth not.

Dinner was at Wexler's in San Fran - an upscale-ish BBQ joint with a fun atmosphere and delicious drinks.  Lindsey ordered a Manhattan which I normally hate, but when I tried hers I LOVED it.  Any place that can make me love a Manhattan is an immediate winner in my book.   We shared an order of Scotch Eggs as an appetizer, and I ordered the Short Ribs for my meal - they were amaaaaaaaazing.

Finally got to meet some of Linz's Berkely/Oakland friends!

The next morning we had coffee and pastries, bummed around Berkely for a bit more, and then Linz drove me to the airport.  She did not do a great job of hiding her displeasure at my imminent departure.

"...but I have to go to work tomorrow?"

I'm definitely planning to make this an annual event.  Linz is one of my favorite people, and the bay is one of my favorite places...so logically, I should visit more often!  Unfortunately it was kind of a whirlwind trip so I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to...I have a few other friends out in San Fran, and I would have loved to see them too.  Next time!  :)

...we now return to your regularly scheduled eating/sleeping/working on powerpoints that somehow must be finished by 1pm.  Shwaaa??!

Happy MARCH!

Now is not the time, Kato!

Anyone ever seen the original Pink Panther movies? If not, you definitely should - they are so much better than the new Steve Martin versions. Peter Sellers is a genius. But I digress.

If you have seen them, and you do know what I'm talking about, my first childhood exposure to Pink Panther was my dad yelling "Now is not the time, Kato! Now is not the time!!" when my sister would leap at out of some dark corner to pummel him, giggling uncontrollably. She was probably 3 or 4, I was probably 9 or so. This happened frequently and often resulted in bruises. My sister is fierce.

Why do I bring this up now, you ask? This is why:



If there ever was a modern-day, feline version of Kato it would be my parents cat Maggie, who is staying with us for 10 days while my parents are out of town.

Maggie is the master of stealth - except when she's purring. I'm also pretty sure she has no idea what species she is. She might think she's a human, or possibly a dog, but she definitely does not realize she's a cat.

Some other notable traits:
- if she goes for more than about 20 minutes without human company, she goes completely bananas.
- she insists on sitting in a chair during dinner.
- If you are sleeping, she will find you. And she will either a) drool in your ear while purring loudly, b) knead you forcefully with her paws, alsow while purring loudly, or c) sit on the nightstand next to your face, staring at you.
- Maggie enjoys beer.

But it is great having her around. She's a total weirdo and I love her to death.

In other news, today is day 5 of my Yoga Journal Fall Detox - only 2 days to go! It has definitely been an interesting journey and I'll share my opinion of the whole experience after it's done. Here's the short version of days 1-4:

Day 1: Started out not feeling so awesome, but figured it was due to a late night on Friday at First Ave with Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps. I stuck (mostly) to the plan even through my 10 year high school reunion where I was tempted by lots of drinks and apps.


Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps at First Ave

Day 2: Felt a little better than day 1 but still not awesome, and attributed it to continued lack of sleep and also cutting out caffeine. I went to an intense 2-hour yoga practice at The Om Collective with Ali and ran some errands but started feeling pretty exhausted around 5pm, so we stayed in instead of going to a movie like we'd planned.

Day 3: Day 3 was miserable. I woke up with a pounding headache and wanted coffee more than anything in the world but I forced myself to drink green tea instead and tried to get through the 26-minute day 4 yoga sequence. The headache continued all day, rendering me essentially useless at work. I tried to stick to activities that required almost no creative brain capcacity like organizing files and cleaning out my e-mail inbox, but meetings were still a lot of "Sorry could you repeat that?" and "Sure, no problem" having no idea what I had just agreed to. The headache just kept getting worse and even the thought of Kitchiri made me want to vomit so I skipped eating dinner, popped a Tylenol PM for the headache (probably against detox rules...) and went to bed at 8:30.

Day 4: I woke up feeling like a different person. The headache was gone and I didn't feel any strong craving for coffee, so I finally switched from green tea to herbal. I felt a little tired around 4 like usual, but nothing like day 3. And I finally made peace with Kitchiri. Not sure how it happened since I had been feeling such a strong aversion to it but last night I looked at my bowl and thought "you know what Kitchiri, you're not so bad." Kitchiri now feel like my partner - my detox buddy. I'll let you know on day 7 though...haha.