I Left My Heart in San Francisco

This year we decided to go to San Francisco for our annual fall trip. It's great to go this time of year because I like to see how different cities are adorned with Christmas decor. We had a great time in San Fran. It's definitely a city full of charm and personality. You've got the bay, mountains, bridges, hilly streets, and a diversity of people and cultures that are visiting from all over the world. I will write a review of what we did each day!

We flew in to SFO on Saturday at around 1pm, and were picked up by one of Nunie's old Marine buddies. The total drive is about 30 minutes from SFO to Union Square. We checked in to our hotel-the Parc 55 which I highly recommend. It's a beautiful hotel, nice staff, great location, and very very nice rooms with a great view of the city. We dropped off our bags and headed straight to Fisherman's Wharf to grab a bite to eat (at this point we were starving)! We ate the famous and delicious clam chowder in sourdough bread from Boudin's Sourdough which is another must do if you're in San Fran! We also stopped to see the entertaining sea lions.

On Sunday we started off the day by having breakfast at the hotel then headed to explore Union Square. Be ready to shop even if you weren't planning on it. Our hotel was right across the street from Westfield San Francisco- a mall that is over 5 stories-go figure! Among those there is Tiffany & Co., Bloomingdale's, Macy's, 5th Avenue Saks, Gap.....etc. etc. Practically every store you can think of. Oh and not to mention the huge Old Navy-it was awesome. We bought a 4 day pass from the MUNI transportation for $18 which allows you to use the buses, electric trolleys, and our favorite and most used the cable cars. It's really not necessary and more PIA to get a rental. We got one for only one day to go to Napa. That evening we went to Alcatraz and really enjoyed the tour. They give you a self guided audio tour with very detailed explanation and allow you to see everything in the cell house. After Alcatraz we had dinner at Fisherman's Grotto. The food was delicious and the restaurant is right in the middle of everything in Fisherman's Wharf. This was another restaurant that was recommened while I did my research, and I second that choice!

Monday we woke up and headed straight to pick up our bikes after breakfast to do our tour of the city and bike ride the Golden Gate Bridge. We picked up our bikes and headed off. We had to stop and get us a sweatshirt as it was very windy and cool. The bike ride was 8 miles from pick up to Saucalito and then you ride the ferry back. We explored the charming neighborhoods that all look like Full House and rode around the bay. You take a bike trail all the way through the bridge. The view is amazing from the bridge and I'm so glad we did this, it was quite fun! Once we arrived in Saucalito we had lunch al fresco in a very cute and yummy restaurant where we ate salmon over rice and salad and Nunie had fish tacos.

On Tuesday we headed straight to pick up our rental. We got a super cute convertible bug.

We headed top down to Napa Valley. The drive was very enjoyable and not long at all from Union Square. I had done some research and discovered that Domain Chandon was highly recommended by many people, so that is where I had my heart set on. We really did not have directions, but we figured once we got to Napa we would ask around. Sure enough we asked and they guided us to the right direction. I knew it was going to be beautiful and it was. We bought the tour and 3 tastings for $25 each and called it a deal! Domain Chandon specialized mostly in sparkling wine, yumm. In the tour they taught us how the blends are made and took us through the factory showing us the fermentation process. It was really neat to see all what happens behind the scene.Once we were done with the tour, the best part was to come. We headed to the tasting room and tasted away. We were supposed to get 3 tastings each but Joe hooked it up. My favorite was Pinot Nior Brut and good thing we brought some bottles home.




Wednesday we were heading back to Houston so we just had breakfast and shopped a little at the Ghirardelli Chocolate store to bring some home. We took a cab to SFO and departed at 2pm.
Over all we had an amazing time in San Francisco and would recommend it to anyone wanting to visit a city with a lots charm and a little romance!
Hope you enjoyed.

Spending QT with Family

So this past weekend was full of spending quality time with our family. It started out on Saturday when Karen came in. We met my parents and Karina at the airport to pick Karen up. I love going to the airport by the way. It just brings back so many memories of going to pick Nunie up at the airport with his family-so exciting.
Anyways, after we picked her up we headed to "Los Cucos" in Kingwood. Karen would have wanted to go hit up her favorite Mexican restaurant when in Houston, but it was a pretty long drive from Bush Intercontinental. Nevertheless, Los Cucos was delish and so was their Margaritas. We all chatted and laughed and ate and chatted some more....it was fun!

On Sunday we woke up early and I finished a few loads of laundry and baked a red velvet cake to take to the gathering. We headed out to Corrine's at noon where we had an early Thanksgiving to celebrate with my FIL. We arrived at around 1pm and even though we had left our house on time, we were still the last ones there. Nobody ever said that being fashionably late was wrong, right? So we had the usual Thanksgiving menu, and I say usual because my MIL helped prepare her yummy stuffing. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserole, rolls, red velvet cake, and cheesecake for desert......and we will have the same next week!
We decided on a gift giving arrangement for Christmas and agreed that this will be the last year we buy everyone a gift. Starting next year we will only buy for the kiddos....that means we better have ours by then to make it worth it, ha!
After leaving Splendora we headed to my mom's and hung out with my family and ate some more. Mom made "pozole", she usually makes it this time of year. We lounged around and tried to recooperate from the large meals. Needless to say it was a weekend full of family time, but also consumed more calories than I would have liked. Then again, that usually takes place around the holidays, bummer!

If you're wondering...

This is probably an irrelevant post, but if you're wondering why the dates don't match up (not that you will probably notice), but it makes me feel better to clear this out. There was a technical difficulty with my previous blog and I had to transfer everything over here. You can't say that I did not warn you on my novice blogging skills, so there. Ok I have to go complete my million things to do for the day. By the way this will be an exciting weekend as Karen comes home today for a month. I will update you on that and post some pics soon.
Goodbye for now,
Mrs. C

Happy Veterans Day

I wasn't thinking about writing a post today since I don't want to get addicted to "blogging", but I have to acknowledge this special day, November 11-Veteran's Day. So this blog is dedicated to all the courageous men and women like my husband and sister who have served our country and have given us the greatest gift-our freedom.
To my #1 hero my husband-I thank you for your service. And yes we're going out to dinner since it's "your" day!

My First Time

So this is the beginning of my blogging experience....and be patient as I am a virgin to this. I have been contemplating on starting a blog for a while now as it serves as a very accessible way to keep in touch with friends and family-so here it goes!
Nunie is loving his new job and I'm enjoying my new batch of kindergarteners! Dora and Logan are only getting bigger and more spoiled with every day that passes but whose to blame, right? We took them to my MIL's house this weekend to have them run around their huge yard, shhh....Logan left a big surprise for Oscar, if you know what I mean. Anyways they had a blast! Now we know what's a must on the list of our forever home-a huge yard!