This weekend was wonderful. And if you don’t believe me, just look at all the photographic proof!
We arrived in San Francisco around 2 p.m. Friday afternoon, checked in at our hotel, and headed straight for the Buena Vista Cafe.
This year, we brought our lovely neighbors J & L with us.
We enjoyed our fantastic Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista, where they first came to America.
(And it only LOOKS like Joe downed four of the suckers…)
We wrote messages in the fogged windows to see if anyone would notice…
After the Buena Vista, we hit Ghirardelli Square, where we tasted some truly delectable hot chocolate beverages.
We took the second annual “Joe Acting Like a Kid at Christmas” photo…
Then we walked to Pier 39, did some shopping and leisurely walked around. I caught a nice photo of a little ferry all lit up for Christmas! (And you can see Ghirardelli in the background.)
Joe proudly showed off his wet pants (See, it had been raining All Day Long…or, possibly, he had an accident. Jury’s still out on that.)
Saturday morning, we arrived at the Dickens Christmas Fair right on time — and Joe was excited!
As we entered, the town of London came to life! Check out these great Victorian costumes (and forgive me for the poor quality — it was dark!)…
Here’s Ebenezer Scrooge himself! I wish I had gotten a better picture of him, but you can still tell how perfectly cast this guy was. Throughout the day, Scrooge and his three ghosts played out the entire Christmas Carol story.
Our second annual “Happy Christmas at Dickens” photo! (And my favorite from pretty much this whole trip.)
Scrooge isn’t the only guy who can play a good part. Check us out as the Cobbler and his wife!
The J’s model a couple of classic Londonesque hats that this sweet old lady was “peddling” around town.
The candlemaker demonstrated how he makes his masterpiece waxworks. First, he dips a molded candle into various colors, cooling them off between each dip so it will stay nice and layered…
…And after all the dipping, he slices into the warm wax to make beautiful designs like this! Tell me that’s not the coolest thing you’ve ever seen.
I couldn’t resist getting my hair done in a “crown” braid at the London beauty shop. I may not have been able to dress up like a true Victorian, but I had the hair!
Heaven! The bookstore where there were tons and tons of old (and some original!) copies of Dickens-era literature.
A study in contrasts: I loved seeing people in period-appropriate Victorian dress right next to 21st-century folks in jeans.
Tea time! We’re very sophisticated. See the pinkies?
Here are some carolers singing lovely Christmas tunes in their fabulous Victorian costumes.
Now on to Sunday, where we headed down to Monterey to visit the aquarium. The rain had finally begun to let up, and we saw a few beautiful rainbows like this one on our drive south.
We’re here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and don’t we look great?
We were just in time to see the feeding of the sea otters, and this little guy was too cute!
Here’s Lloyd, feeding his friends in the kelp forest. That eel behind him is almost six feet long!
I’m still a kid at heart. And that’s what I told the little punks who tried to get on my clam before me! (Kidding, kidding…)
I just love all the bright colors that live under water!
We took a very similar picture last year, only this time we didn’t have to take it ourselves. Yay for bringing friends along!
That’s a seahorse in the middle. Talk about a fascinating creature.
Face-off.
Jelly love.
Lots and lots of jelly love.
Invisible jelly love.
These seahorses are like, less than an inch tall. Thank you, macro setting.
Our last stop before heading back to Santa Barbara was Cannery Row (after ice cream sundaes at another Ghirardelli store, of course). The boys demonstrate how much easier charades would be if we could all use giant sardine cans.
***
Well, there you have it. The weekend in pictures (and some words). Believe it or not, I have about two hundred MORE pictures, so it was tough to narrow it down. Once I upload them all to facebook, I’ll update this post with the link, for those of you who just can’t get enough of my mediocre photography skillz.
Happy Tuesday!
It was a lovely weekend. And, as a couple of people have suggested, I think I will do a picture-heavy post to share the highlights with you guys…tomorrow.
Tonight, I just want to lament for a moment about the fact that I ALMOST got to meet another blogger in real life this weekend, but it didn’t happen. So, looks like I still have to wait until May…
But it will be SO. WORTH. THE. WAIT!
Stay tuned tomorrow for the actual weekend-in-review picture post.
Oh, and think some happy thoughts (or, you know, pray) for my grandpa. There’s some crap that has SEVERELY hit the fan this weekend…but hopefully it will all end, once and for all, and we can put this craziness behind us.
Hopefully.
My baby brother turns sixteen today. SIX-FREAKING-TEEN. He can get his driver’s license. Wah, I am in disbelief. Sixteen years ago was the early nineties, people. Do you remember when we all thought that the year 2000 would NEVER come?
I do.
And apparently, by extension, I thought my little brother would never grow taller than me. But oh boy, did he EVER grow taller than me. That kid is going to be 6′10″ before you know it.
Anyway, even though I’m away in San Francisco this weekend, I wanted to shout out a little happy birthday to my li’l bro…even though I’m fairly certain he has NEVER read my blog before.
Happy birthday Ben! Much love from your bigger big sister. Can’t wait to see you at Christmas!
We’re headed to San Francisco this morning for the event I’ve been eagerly anticipating for MONTHS. (Well, if we’re being honest, since I went to the very same event last year.)
And I just cannot wait to come home with more great stories, as is practically inevitable. In addition to going to the Dickens Fair on Saturday, we’ve also got some pretty fun stuff on our weekend schedule:
Today:
- All Things Wharf — We’ll visit Pier 39, stroll around down there, probably grab some clam chowder and maybe look at some seals.
- Ghirardelli Square! Ooh I’m excited about this. We couldn’t go last year, so this is gonna be glamorous.
- But before that? Six hours of driving. Which, believe it or not, I think will be fun. Our neighbors will be joining us this year, and we get along really well.
Tomorrow:
- Dickens, of course!
- Possibly getting together with Joe’s friends who live in the area — maybe going to Dave & Buster’s?
Sunday:
- Monterey Bay Aquarium — Yessss! It’s so lovely.
- Cannery Row, and this fabulous little place where we ate brunch last year.
- Another six-hour drive. This one might be a little rougher, only because we’ll be wiped out after such a busy weekend.
Aaanyway. Now that I’ve given you a pre-play-by-play, I’ll have to be extra creative with how I blog about it all AFTER the fact. Suggestions or ideas? Maybe I’ll haiku the heck out of it?
Ack! I’m giddy. Happy weekend, friends!
This whole blogging thing is literally changing my life. I’ve already mentioned once or twice how blogging has helped me to be a lot more open in real conversations, for one thing. But today I’m thinking specifically about how blogging has affected my relationships.
Namely, the fact that I feel closer to some bloggers than to my “IRL” friends. And, as an extension of that, the fact that I spend more time talking to, investing in and seeking advice from my blogging friends than my IRL friends.
Case in point:
My maid of honor? I’ve talked to her for maybe twenty minutes TOTAL since my wedding day. Seen her once, for about ten minutes.
But Cari, Nora, Lucy, and my newest blog friend Kyla? We have gchat conversations pretty frequently, we know more about what’s going on in each other’s lives than I know about my IRL friends, and whenever I feel bummed out or discouraged, they are usually the first ones I think about turning to.
Is this a bad thing? I mean, should I feel guilty for fostering these relationships with people who live clear across the country, whom I’ve never met in real life, more than I foster my friendships with people I’ve known for years, people who were in my wedding?
It’s a touchy subject. It’s caused me to consider what I need in a friendship, what I have to offer, and where my priorities are focused. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what my conclusions are about those things just yet.
All I know is that when Cari called me last weekend — I mean ACTUALLY called me, on the phone, for realsies — and I answered it?
It didn’t feel weird at all. It was, as I told Cari this morning, “awesomely UN-weird.”
And what’s more, Cari is getting married next year. In North Dakota. And I seriously want to go.
Oh, and let’s not forget the little thing about the Blogger Meetup in Vegas. I am THERE. Because THERE is where Nora, Kyla and a million other fabulous bloggers will be. And I want to be where a million fabulous bloggers are.
So does this mean I’m a terrible real-life friend? I mean, let’s be honest: I don’t call people. Like, ever. But send me an email? And I will flood your inbox with life updates and do my darndest to keep up with you THAT way.
It’s totally unfair, I realize that. A lot of my IRL friends aren’t so keen on email or gchat or least of all, blogging. Plus, I’m pretty sure a lot of my friends have basically assumed that now that I’m married, I only hang out with married people, or that I’m too busy getting busy with my husband to stay in touch with them.
(And oh crap, I just realized how true that might be.)
Bottom line…if I can EVER get to the bottom of this ramblefest…is this:
I am way better at electronic friendships than real ones. And part of me feels really awful about that. But then another part of me considers the amazing electronic friendships I have cultivated over the last year or so, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m getting to know people I never EVER would have encountered, and who are so much like me it’s scary. Blogging is like a free-for-all Friend Market, where I can peruse someone’s entire LIFE and decide if this is someone I feel like I could connect with. No more of this let’s-be-friends-because-we’re-both-here-and-it’s-convenient. (NOT to say that I feel that way about ANY of my IRL friends…except the ones I’m not really friends with, just acquaintances.) This blogging thing is opening up a whole world of likeminded people, people who challenge me, people who stick up for me even though WE’VE NEVER MET.
How could I possibly feel bad about that?
Now, it’s just a matter of finding balance. Or losing all my non-blog friends…which would suck.
