Hodge Podge

It's amazing how much busier life has become since our move to San Francisco!  This is a hodge-podge of what we've been up to for the past week...  

Whenever we have free time, we love to choose a new neighborhood to explore.  
This is actually quite close to our home, but I'm constantly amazed at how many 
gorgeous views this city has to offer.

The view from Telegraph Hill

Also from Telegraph Hill, near the famous Coit Tower.  Notice the fog covering the  bridge.

We celebrated the eve of Erik R's birthday at a super fun spot called Leopold's.  
The food was awesome, and the people that run it are a blast.  
It's so fun having Coug neighbors in SF! 

Next we flew to Portland for the weekend, and spent some quality time with dear friends.
We had a great night out in Portland, then spent a fun-filled 24 hours in Manzanita.

Mahoney became a Ducks fan for the weekend, thanks to Auntie Lindsay....

...and got really confused when we had to get on this plane.  But at least it made Auntie Kristen happy.  :)  (this photo is out of chronological order, just fyi)

The beautiful Oregon Coast

Then we got to spend a night with our newlywed friends Jenn & Jon,
who also  just moved to the Portland area.
Mahoney had a blast with their dogs Piper & Luca.  She was in heaven!

Finally, we flew back home to San Francisco just in time to have dinner with our friends Alex & Melissa, who happened to be vacationing here.  We had the most incredible pasta and meatballs at a spot called A16 in the Marina.  There is SO much good food in this city, the options are endless.  We hope they'll move here soon as well! 

I just had to add this pic because this is literally what I wake up to every morning.
We  feel so lucky and  I just wanted to share it again!  Nerdy, I know. :)

RIP Tony Chimo

You lived a rich, full life of 90 years, created a beautiful loving family, and will be remembered always.  May you rest in peace, Papa.

San Francisco Week(end)

It seems like we've spent quite a bit of time traveling during our first month of living in San Francisco, so we were thrilled to be home last weekend.  This time we had two sets of visitors from "up north", and a weekend packed full of activities.  A quick recap:

• We went to a Forrest Day show at The Independent...super fun, great music.
• We had a housewarming party ("apartment-warming" I guess you could call it), and actually fit 20 people in our humble little one-bedroom home!  It was lots of fun, and quite exciting to think we actually have that many friends here. Okay, I'll admit, a few of them were friends-of-friends.  But only a few.  ;)
• We had our first house guests!  Our friends Katie & Andy were the first to experience a night on our air mattress in our living room, and all 4 of us sharing a bathroom.  I'm sure they were thrilled to have a hotel for the rest of their stay, but we were so happy to have them.
• We got to spend a (short) afternoon with Joel & Lindsay!  The Krivosha's were in wine country for a wedding, and came into the city on their way out of town Sunday for some lunch...and a beer or two....and a taco....and some fro-yo.  :)  It was SO great to see them, but far too short, so we're looking forward to our upcoming trip to Portland.
• We went to our first Giants game! AT&T park is a great place for a baseball game, and reminds me in some ways of Safeco Field (but without the retractable roof).  Good food, passionate fans, beautiful setting.  And we had great company!

This week has been pretty hectic.  Mass is still hard at work on the job hunt every day, and now in the beginning stages of a couple of interview processes.  I've started training for a second job, to teach classes at a studio called Burn.  Between starting two new jobs at the same time, and taking three different forms of public transportation all over a city (in which I still wouldn't say I know my way around), I had a mini-nervous breakdown.  It was one of those moments you have nightmares about, where you're on your way to your first day of work, and you get on the underground bus going in the wrong direction...I did that exact thing.  It wasn't pretty.  But it had to happen at some point, and now I've gotten it out of the way. Hopefully. :)

Disco Bay

One of our annual traditions is to spend every Labor Day Weekend with our friends Nate & Serena.  The past 2 years, they traveled to Claremont from their home in San Francisco, to spend the holiday weekend with us in Palm Springs.  But this year, we live in San Francisco too!  So the 4 of us (plus Mahoney) drove out to Discovery Bay, where some friends of theirs have a gigantic home on a beautiful golf course.  Discovery Bay, or "Disco Bay", as the locals call it, is just over an hour drive from the city, and usually about 25 degrees warmer.  We spent the weekend sipping on coconut cocktails, baking in the sun and laying in the kiddie pool, while the boys golfed and played lots & lots of poker.  It was a nice relaxing way to end the summer...although from what I hear, the best part of the year is about to begin here in SF.  It gets better than this?  I can't wait!  :)
(Disclaimer- Kristen, if you're reading this, you and Greg were the missing piece of the tradition this year! LDW wasn't quite the same without you. XO)

Mahoney's new friend Max

The view from their back yard in Disco Bay.  Note the greatest lounge chair on earth.  Apparently it's from Target.  I think everyone needs one of these! (if you're not living in a 1-bedroom, 3rd story apartment)