Browse Category: outings

I rode the Bum Bus.

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Today I had afternoon tea at Leland Tea Company before my Machine Hemming class. As usual, I ordered the tea lunch complete with a turkey and cheese sandwich cut into little triangles, a fresh pot of tea, side salad, bowl of fruit, and madeleines. With my tea, I added some of these Honey Pearls along with a dash of milk. Perfect. For some reason, the silverware, presentation of the food, and packaging and name “Honey Pearls” was very appealing to me so I ended up taking a snapshot of my meal.

My class went rather well and I learned how to do a blind hem (by hand), a machine blind hem, and how to shorten pants while keeping the original hem. I now have a brand new pair of pants to wear to work tomorrow!!

My classes usually get out between 9:30 and 10:00 so it’s pretty late. I usually take a cab home, which costs me about $11 and I get home in a jiffy. For some reason, I was feeling a little adventurous today and decided to save myself $11 and caught the 47 bus home. It was a free ride home (with my Muni pass) but it was pretty sketchy. After a couple of stops, I realized that I was taking the Bum Bus. It goes down Van Ness, past Market, turns onto Mission, goes down 10th street to Bryant and ends up at the CalTrain Station. With each stop, more and more bums got on and the bus started to smell like everyone was overdue for a bath. At Bryant and 5th, pretty much everyone got off and I realized that it was a homeless shelter. I guess they were all heading “home” after a long day out on the streets. One guy insisted on sitting right next to me even though the bus was pretty empty. I guess he wanted to talk to me and he did. I think he was a little crazy…nice, but crazy. So was it worth saving $11? Technically yes but not sure it’s worth the risk of getting harassed by a crazy dude. At least I can say I tried it out and survived to tell the story of how I rode the Bum Bus.

Kaboom

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This evening, we went down the street to watch the fireworks.  A local radio station puts on an afternoon concert every year and then has a pretty cool fireworks show at the end.  They closed down The Embarcadero and we got to stand in the street for the show.  It was pretty crowded but not unbearable.  We took Koa and he didn’t really appreciate all the raucous including all of the motorcycles roaring down the street afterwards.  The show was pretty good but I think we missed out on a lot of it because of this big layer of fog hovering over the water.  Bummer.

wine and cheese

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We went on a little outing with the Bangs to Sebastapol and Petaluma today. We tasted wines from Merry Edwards, Siduri, and Novy and came home with bottles of Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Nebbiolo. We then stopped at Petaluma Creamery to taste some yummy cheeses and ice cream. I had some quark for the first time and it was so tasty! I bought some Jersey smoked Jack and lemon quark. Hopefully I can figure out how to use to quark to make a yummy tart or cheesecake.  Before heading home, we stopped at a deli and had a pretty tasty tri-tip sammich, which ended our outing quite nicely.

Happy Hour

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One of the best things about my new job is having some pretty fun co-workers to hang out with. On Friday, we went to Happy Hour for some tall, cold glasses of beer.  I also tried beer-battered fried pickles dipped in ranch for the first time and they were awesome! Ranee was a little grossed out and has a pretty picky palate already so I paid her a dollar to try one. The look on her face was well worth it. What a trooper. I decided not to post the photo online (just yet). I may need it later to blackmail her. Muhahaha…

A Day with My Bike

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I went for a bike ride with some friends to Sausalito. At 9:30 am, Ryan was waiting downstairs for me and we took off. I was a little shaky at first since I hadn’t ridden my bike in over a year so the clips, gears, and I all had to get reacquainted. We rode along The Embarcadero, through Fisherman’s Wharf, through Fort Mason, and over to the Bangs’ in the Marina. Then we rode up to the Golden Gate Bridge where there was a steep climb to the start of the bridge and then it was smooth sailing over the bridge. It was a beautiful day in SF with the sun shining and slightly cooler temps than yesterday.

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Once we got over the bridge, we rode down the hill to Sausalito. It was ALL downhill and I was going superfast…scary fast. At the Sausalito Ferry Station, we met up with Michelle, Jack, and Amy and then headed over to Fred’s Coffee Shop for some brunch. They believe in table sharing so the 6 of us had to share a round table with a pair of two annoying fellas. Fortunately for us, they sat down towards the end of our meal and I had a fantastic meal of pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns. It was just enough fuel for the ride back.

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On our way back through town, I lost my footing while trying to make a curb stop and bailed in the street. It wasn’t my most graceful moment and I guess it’s not a successful riding day if you don’t come home with a little road rash on your knee. At least I wasn’t the only one. Bang actually bailed earlier on our way to brunch and he suffered a harder fall and a bigger boo-boo on his knee. After almost deciding to take the ferry back to the city, I mustered up enough energy and motivation to get myself back up the hill to the bridge. It was a long climb and I made it – bloody knee and all.

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Once we got back to SF, the Bangs went home and Ryan and I took off for a second adventure. We rode through the Presidio (yes, more hills) and over to Michelle’s friend’s house in the Richmond District to pick up the car they had been borrowing. That’s where I got a taste of city riding with having to stop at traffic lights and watching for cars. At about 2:30 pm, Ryan and I logged a total of 20 miles and we were exhausted. Taking the car ride home was awesome.

Here are photos from today’s adventure.

Cupcakes and Tootsie Pops

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Last night we went to The Gallery Lounge for a double 30th birthday celebration for Kevin and Regina. Jenn reserved the entire bar for the party and they managed to fill it up and then some. The place is your usual dive bar and they actually don’t charge rent for reserving the place for the private party. All they ask is that you and your guests cover the tab for the night, which I think they managed to do as well.

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The night was very warm and it felt like we were in Southern California again.  Jenn baked 100 cupcakes for the party and had bowls of Tootsie Pops out for everyone to enjoy. It was fun hanging out with everyone and luckily the walk home was easy.