Mom in the City

I'm a city girl through and through. I don't know if it was all the SATC we watched in college, the study abroad trips to London, Thailand (various big cities), and Sydney, or just all the great memories in cities like Boston and New York. San Francisco is very much my city - right down to the countless isms that happen here almost daily (isms being things like men hula dancing in Washington Square while wearing traditional Chinese dragon outfits, Sushi restaurants in North Beach staffed by all Mexicans, or people speed walking in suits rocking out on their iPods with flip flops and North Face backpacks as they sprint to work in the financial district).

You can read more about my city love affair on Shabby Apple's blog. This was from the days when I traveled more for work and got to spend a week in NYC and is about one of my favorite city memories hands down. It's also about another love of mine ... great clothes.

p.s. the photo is a definite San Franciscism, not a New Yorkism.

Weekend Roundup: I heart San Francisco

We've been having a lot of "what's next" conversations. Where do we want to live/raise the boys/work/play. I keep thinking a lot about nature v. nurture in how someone's upbringing adds to who they are (e.g. Seattle might give us goth teens, Marin bubble children (I grew up in Marin and loved it, though), San Diego surfer dudes, etc.) Yes, sweeping generalizations. Some days I think we need out of San Francisco to give the boys room to roam, other days I think we need a farm in Oregon so they can play with lamas in the back yard. Hopefully one day my company will go public and I can just have both :o).

Weekends like this, though, make me want to give the boys the city life for at least a few years.

Friday, after a much-too-long week, we had Rob and Emily over for dinner. Saturday brought rock climbing for Matt and walking the town for me and the boys.

Here's our Saturday night:
After a delicious dinner...









And some tunes with daddy:








We took the boys out walking and stopped by Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Washington Square (1-block from our house); we enjoyed the sites including an old Chinese man drinking a 40 who was watching a group of 20-somethings hackey sacking for a group of bums:











Around the corner we stopped for some live music at a restaurant (we were later joined by a guy tap dancing on the sidewalk ... not sure why he had tap shoes on):









All in all, a mellow San Francisco night.

Today I enjoyed a great run over the Golden Gate bridge, followed by "hang" time with a friend and good greasy Mexican food, wrapped up with my mom babysitting so Matt and I could go on a date for the best sushi ever. No really, it's the best.

To do: Enjoy San Francisco when it's warm!

It has been a perfect San Francisco weekend - the sun is out, there's not a cloud in the sky, and we were in town to enjoy it all! Matt's parents came to town Saturday and we went walking all around Coit Tower Hill and North Beach. The afternoon brought a nap in Washington Square (along with 100 of our neighbors). Saturday brought another walk (this time around the Financial District) and another nap.

On the way to the tower:









Matt and I in the park:









Park view:












The rest of North Beach in the park: