Thursday, August 14, 2014

I Got It From My Momma

I was looking forward to my Mom coming for weeks! As an early birthday present she was flying up from LA to spend my third weekend in SF with me.

Moving to San Francisco was not an easy transition. Although I was excited and nervous to start my job, I had a million other things on my mind. My first priority was finding an apartment to rent as soon as possible. I made the five hour drive up to San Jose in a car packed to the brim with suitcases stacked together with tetris like precision. After meeting up with Scott, we drove around the city with everything I owned in the trunk, looking at places I found on craigslist. It was not an easy experience (one apartment used to be a massage room, no thank you), but luckily the next day, I met with some friends of a friend in Inner Sunset and decided in 10 minutes that I would be moving in later that week.

An hour drive back down to San Jose and a celebratory call to my mom later, I was headed down to San Diego with Scott for his graduation party. There we had a few drinks, I said my real and official goodbye to the family, and made the official drive back up to the bay on Sunday.

The following week was a whirlwind of starting my first week of work ever, living out of my car, signing leases, and shacking up with a sorority sister. Finally, I moved into my new apartment complete with only a bed, mattress cover, blanket, and pillows.

Needless to say my first two weekends proved a little busy, as I slowly pulled my apartment together and tried to get everything in order. So, I could not have been more excited knowing that my Mom was flying up to visit for my third weekend in the city. Not only was it going to be great seeing her, but it finally was a weekend where I could play tourist in my brand new home (instead of spending all weekend attempting to put together Ikea furniture).

Scott and I picked up my Mom bright and early from the San Francisco airport, and headed to my apartment to grab food. A quick look around and we were off for breakfast at a tiny local brunch restaurant. Art's Cafe is a single bar breakfast place, that is known for it's delicious hash browns (and cheap food!). My Mom and I shared an omelet with hash browns, and almost ordered more, but decided to save our appetite for the rest of the food ahead.


Scott was nice enough to drive us around, and we started our day off at the Golden Gate bridge to walk part of it and take tons of pictures. Our next stop, was Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder bread bowls and hanging out outside to enjoy the rare sunny day. After lunch, we decided to work off breakfast and took a long hike up to Chinatown. We enjoyed the sun, and passed by Lombard street, and checked out the shops selling jade carvings and whole fried geese.








My Mom's first activity on her to do list was to ride a cable car in SF. We were lucky enough to unknowingly skip the huge lines and prices by jumping on at the Chinatown stop, and were literally holding on tight as we hung off the side. Once we made it back to the wharf area, we headed straight for Ghiradelli Square where my Mom and I shared and inhaled a salted carmel sundae.


Soon, it was time to check into our hotel. As excited as I was to have an apartment in the city and a new couch, I was even more excited to stay in a fancy hotel with my Mom. Scott dropped us off at the hotel, and we had just enough time to run up to our room, get excited about the "Happy Birthday" bottle of champagne, and make it to the free happy hour in time for a few glasses of wine.



It was the ideal amount of wine to help ignore the cold while hopping back on the trolley to North Beach in a little black dress. From that point on, we had a classic night in the city and one of my top two nights out in SF. From befriending the owners of a small Italian seafood restaurants, and managing to bypass the two hour wait, to tisply devouring a steaming bowl of cioppino. Filled to the brim with seafood, eating at Sotto Mare was the best food decision I've made in the city to date. We grabbed a photo of us sitting at the booth before rushing off to our next activity.


My mom had been told to go see Beach City Babylon by her friend and had bought us tickets in advance. I hadn't heard anything about it or done any research, so I walked into the theatre not expecting anything. I was blown away by the performance and spent the whole time laughing. The costumes were amazing (and amusing) and the pop culture references were hilarious. Afterwards, I introduced my mom to the wonders of Uber and we grabbed a ride back to the hotel. 




The next morning we sadly checked out of the hotel and shared an omelette at a neighboring diner. A quick walk around Union Square and a tour of the area where I work, and we were off on MUNI back to my apartment where maternal instincts took over and my Mom helped mop my floors to get rid of the ridiculous amount of dog hair in my room. 


The rest of the day was spent fighting off tourist for a quick photo opp of the Japanese tea garden, before walking back to my place stopping only for a late lunch and dessert at La Boulange.



It was sad driving back to the airport, but it was one of my favorite weekends in the Bay Area to date! I'm so happy my Mom could help me celebrate my birthday a little early and see my new start in SF.