Plans

I have been excited about September since June probably. So many good things are coming in the next few weeks. I am so poor, but that will not stop me from having fun. Hello debt!
8/31 - The Ten opens in Gainesville. I want to do dinner and a movie. The drive will be long from Blue Highway to the movie theater, but whatever. It will be awesome. You must come. Kim is going.
9/13 - Andrew Bird. I asked for the time off work and my boss hasn't okay'd it yet, but I will remind her Monday if she still hasn't.
9/25 - DO MAKE SAY THINK. I am so fucking excited about this. I saw them with/as Broken Social Scene in November and it was the best show ever.
9/29 - Rilo Kiley - Maybe. In Atlanta. We'll see.
10/4 - Okkervil River. If James can get off work.

Picture from Andrew Bird's myspace.

SF Day 5

Today James and I went into San Anselmo and walked around. I had Chinese chicken salad from Comforts and James had a bagel. I had forgotten how good bagels can be. Bagels in Gainesville are terrible. Cream cheese in Gainesville is also bad.
We stopped at all the cute little shops, but we are way too poor to buy anything. Also, I have no money. The hotel room hasn't been charged yet and that makes me nervous. When we checked out the woman barely said anything to us and just waved us away. I am hoping that somehow they magically never charge us. I could use the extra $150.
I feel like we are wasting our day, but I don't know what to do. It is impractical to drive into the city and we are going back to Berkeley tomorrow. I wouldn't mind finding something for the afternoon though.
I don't want to ever leave, but with money running out, I am kind of happy we are leaving soon.

This is so long

We are still in California. Let's play catch up.
Wednesday, we ate brunch at Mama’s. It was good though I don’t know if it was worth the wait. I should have gotten pancakes and fruit, the ultimate test of quality.
We checking into our hotel room, at Hotel Metropolis. It was on the border of a shady-ish neighborhood, but the hotel itself was wonderful. There was a mix-up with my reservation but everything turned out okay (though slightly more than I expected).


We shopped. I spent way too much money at Anthropologie, but I got a beautiful dress and a very pretty skirt and a shirt that I am still nervous about, though it looks nice on me so I think I am happy. I also bought a kick ass pair of red Nike’s from Urban Outfitters. They are a boy’s size six and they were the display shoes so they were half off and then UO was having a sale (probably online too) that gave half off anything on sale which brought the $80 shoes down to $20. They were also a million times better for walking around than my beat-up old Asics.

We walked around the city a bunch and shopped more and ate at Blondie’s (I am officially a bigger fan of Fat Slice) before heading back to our room and hanging out before we went to our show. It was at the Great American Music Hall (a beautiful venue), which is on O’Farrell St. O’Farrell scared me very much (mostly all the homeless) and I felt guilty about being afraid, but in my defense, the Florida homeless don’t wear large coats (because it is a million degrees) and the San Francisco homeless do, so they look bigger and more menacing.

-The weather has been beautiful-
The show! It was so awesome. The crowd was very cool, very indie, but not like pretentious indie. Everyone was a lot of fun and really seemed to enjoy themselves. The first act was Ingrid Michaelson. She was amazing. I had no idea who she was or what to expect, but she had a beautiful voice and a charming personality and I just adored her. She played with Ally Ross who I developed a crush on during the show, so much so that when she waved to the audience I WAVED BACK. I felt like such a nerd, but man, she was lovely. They were so good and the crowd for them was small but adoring. I felt so bad for the people that showed up late and missed them. Had they been it, it still would have been worth the $15 ticket. BUT then, The Little Ones performed. I had also never heard of them and AGAIN I was amazed by the quality. They were so good and energetic. They were quite a bit different than Ingrid Michaelson, but I was able to dance to them and the songs were so catchy and fun. Again, the show was only $15! It was so good. Finally (though it didn’t take long really) The Magic Numbers performed and I almost died a little. They are larger than life in so many senses (including the fact that they are all a bit overweight). Their set was amazing and even the lesser songs from the albums were good live. They didn’t perform one song I wanted to hear, but everything sounded so good that I was okay with it. I stood right in front of Angela which was a good place to be as she was the most adorable of the bunch. After their set ended, I asked one of the staff members from GAMH for the set list when he got back onstage. Not only did he give it to me, but he said “Only for you, darling,” which, of course, I adored.
The next day we went to Specialty’s for breakfast (I love Specialty’s) and cookies and the cookies were amazing, as usual.

We then headed to Chinatown, through North Beach, to Pier 39 (for In-N-Out) and then back up through North Beach to Union Square where I got See’s Candy and some lipgloss from Sephora (I didn’t have much time there),
We took the ferry home and I took a million pictures of everything, including San Quentin, because I am obsessed with prisons. I also got some beautiful shots of the city.


Today, we went to Berkeley and had a wonderful time. I got a Cal t-shirt, a beautiful vintage skirt, a Criterion, some comics/graphic novels/zines, books, and more In-N-Out (though in Mill Valley, there isn’t one in Berkeley). We went to all the best places: Rasputin’s (the other one), Amoeba (the other one), Mars (thrift shop), Crossroads (thrift shop), the campus bookstore (lame), Comic Relief (HUGE comic shop), Half Priced Books (bookstore), and Tully’s (coffee shop with good tea). The Berkeley campus was beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was a little warm in Berkeley, it got all the way up to 75. I have enjoyed driving the Infiniti we are borrowing from James’ family It drives really fun. Plus, driving in California is kickass. People aren’t slow and meek like in Florida.
I miss Gator Dawgs and the people, but other than that I would love to never leave. Tomorrow, we are headed to San Anselmo. And tonight, we are going to Fairfax (we hate Fairfax) to see Superbad.

SF Day 1

I am in San Francisco for a week with my boyfriend, James.
Our flight arrived early so we grabbed our bags and called our ride and headed into the city. We decided to do The Haight today because it is the opposite direction of everything else we want to do this week. We ate lunch at Fat Slice (which was better than I remember. I got a veggie slice and it was far better than the cheese). We went to Amoeba and marveled at their DVDs (all fairly priced meaning no purchasing. We only buy DVDs that are good deals) and noticed that we own a few off their rare/collectable wall, including the Old Boy tin.
We went to Booksmith and got some cute little books and looked for signed copies of things we wanted but we had less luck this time than last.
I went to a couple boutiques and tried on some dresses but it was mostly unflattering babydoll dresses so I didn’t buy any clothes.
We then walked from Haight and Ashbury to the Powell St. BART station, which was fun. We overheard a conversation in which one man was explaining that he needed to get off the “stuff” but there was no way he was doing methadone treatment. We saw another man speaking softly to his cocaine as he cut it on the windowsill of a convenience store. I had never seen cocaine in person before (I live a very sheltered life) so it was an exciting experience.
We took the Golden Gate Ferry back home. The ride was lovely, though very cold and wet. We sat outside so we could see the city and it was beautiful. The fog never lifted today so as we sailed away, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge peaking out of the fog. Now I am relaxing in Marin County, known for its wealth, specifically BMWs and cocaine use. It is beautiful, the weather is perfect and I never want to leave.
We took a car, a boat, a plane and a train today! I am so nerdy excited about that.

Food

One of my favorite things about the Bay Area is the AMAZING food. Not only is there a wide variety, but competition keeps the food astounding. So I have a huge list of places I plan to eat while I am there. HUGE. I am going to go for walks and eat healthy all the week to make up for the fact that for 7 days, I am going to eat everything I see.

Pizza:
Blondie's: Blondie's has really good, big, delicious slices of pizza. It is NY style.
Gioia: Gioia sells the best pizza I have ever had. Hands down. No question. I will not leave Berkeley until I get a slice of that pizza.
Fat Slice: I always get Fat Slice when I go out, but it isn't my favorite and is the one I will pass on if I am short on time/stomach space.

Mexican:
Taqueria San Jose: It is a bit out of our way, but the look of that burrito (see above) pretty much means I have to eat there. How could I not? I have never seen food that looks better than that.
Taqueria Mi Pueblo: I ate here a number of times the last time we were out. The servings are huge and so tasty. I even ate reheated nachos from there, they were so good. I am really looking forward to going back there.

Other:
In-N-Out: No trip to California can be complete without a trip to In-N-Out. I get a grilled cheese, those delicious fries, and a milk shake. It is the best fast food I have ever had. Someone claimed that Five Guys Burgers and Fries was better. They are wrong.
Comforts: Comforts is the cutest little place in San Anselmo. I love getting lunch to go there. They put it all together for you and it is so good AND cute. What more could you ask for? The staff could be nicer, but the food is good enough to make up for it. I am so excited, so so excited, for their Chinese Chicken Salad. I actually dream about it.
Mama's on Washington Square: Every time we go out, we say we are going to go to Mama's and we have yet to. I have heard nothing but rave reviews of the place. Since we will be in the city breakfast time this time, I think I am going to make the trip. The food looks amazingly good.

I am sure there are more, but those are all I can come up with right now.

Picture is from RoadFood, one of the best sites on the internet.

Food Recommendations

1) Magic Stars from Publix: They are Publix's version of Lucky Charms and they are amazing. I eat them every morning without fail and they're half the price of Lucky Charms.
2) Louisiana Hot Sauce - Not too hot. Very cheap.
3) Trader Joe's Cinnamon Almonds - Ingredients: Almonds, sugar, cinnamon
I JUST FOUND OUT THERE IS A TRADER JOE'S IN ATLANTA.
That alone is worth the trip.
I was going to keep recommending food stuffs, but now I need to plan a trip to Atlanta.

If you eat this, we are not friends

KFC Fish Snacker
An Alaskan Pollock fish filet breaded and fried to golden perfection, then topped with tangy tartar sauce and served on a warm sesame seed bun.