our productive mini weekend getaway

I had the early shift this past Saturday, 4am snack for the fisherman's conference! so I was able to get off by 1pm and didn't have to work Sunday, so we decided to borrow a Hume longbed pickup truck and head out on a furniture hunt/mini date weekend. And NO MATTER WHAT, we were going to return home with a couch in tow! I decided on one I liked, but unfortunately the nearest Ikea to us is either Burbank or Palo Alto. They are about the same distance apart, like 4 hours, so we weighed the two options and decided it would be a lot more fun to visit the beautiful bay area than ugly LA. My sweet husband booked a 4 star hotel in San Jose for the night so we checked in and freshened up, then headed over to Ikealand. We tried out the couch, did a once around the store, made a shopping list for the next day, then went out for a nice dinner. There were also a couple of the exact sofa I wanted listed on craigslist in SF, but unfortunately didn't get to them in time. =(

Sunday morning we got up early and drove into downtown San Francisco. It was an absolutely lovely day for exploring. Clear, sunny, warm. We knew we only had a short time to enjoy sightseeing, so we took care of the musts. Clam chowder in a bread bowl on Fisherman's Warf. MMMmm. Drove over the Golden Gate. (which costs more than the bread bowl by the way, 6 bucks!) We also by chance happened to be there on the day Escape from alcatraz triathlon was ending. Super exciting. We got to watch the some of the athletes cruising in at the finish.

It was fun getting to explore a little bit and see some sights, but then we had to get back to business! The next few hours were spent navigating ikea for everything we needed. Man, that place is nuts on the weekends...the sound of screaming children and the smell of Swedish meatballs just make the experience complete. But we got pretty much everything we were looking for, success! The couch, a bedframe (which I just realized we missed a piece of, so it's sitting half assembled in our bedroom. sucky. we slept in the living room last night...), a storage unit for the laundry room, shelving for above the washer and dryer, a floor lamp, throw pillows, candles, closet storage for Aaron, and a coat rack! Whew!

There was a game that afternoon, wish we could've had time to go...

Bay Bridge

The famous Pier 39

YUM. Even at 10 in the morning.

I have no idea what this place is, but it's huge and looks like it belongs in Europe.

It really is quite a sight...

don't laugh at my lack of photo editing skills. i'm just trying to make these more interesting...

We did navigate Lombard Street, which was slightly precarious in our big truck...

CHINATOWN

My only thought is, why come to America if you're just going to build China over again and only live and hang out with Chinese? besides escaping communist oppression that is...

NOW FOR HOUSE PICTURES!!! It really looks like a home now! We love it!

We moved the table to where the tv was, fits so well! Now we can have dinner guests!

New lamp!

And here she is! Yes yes, I know what you're thinking. White?? Are they crazy? But I've got two words for you. WASHABLE COVERS! oh, and another word...BLEACH! I just love the look of a white sofa. It's so fresh and plushy looking. (= Don't you want to come and visit so you can sleep on this!!

OH! and I'd like to mention how amazing and thoughtful my husband is. He surprised me the other day with something I've had my eye on, but only casually mentioned to him once. A sewing machine! He's the best...

Stay tuned for my adventures in trying to learn how to sew...should be interesting...I'm going to start out with something easy, like curtains. (= And I'm also gonna try and sew some pillowcases for all those throw pillows we got for the sofa!

Another example of how nice my honey is...making me chocolate chip pancakes one morning. (=

Well that was alot of pictures. That should hold for awhile...until next time! Love you guys and miss you!